lass
windows, and tore to shreds the costly pictures which adorned it.

A year before his death, Dr. Courcy resigned the administration of his
see, and petitioned the then reigning Pontiff, Leo X., to appoint as his
successor John O'Murrily, Abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of _de Fonte
Vivo_. The deed by which he thus resigned the see of Ross was drawn up
in the presence of three witnesses, one of whom was the Lady Eleanor,
daughter of the Earl of Kildare; and it assigns as the motive of his
resignation, that he had already gained his eightieth year, and that
his increasing infirmities rendered it impossible for him to give due
attention to the wants of the diocese. King Henry VIII. wrote to His
Holiness, praying him to accede to the wishes of the aged bishop, and to
appoint to the see of Ross the above-named Cistercian abbot, who is
described as adorned with every virtue, and especially remarkable for
modesty, mildness, and learning. We give in full this letter of Henry
VIII., as it is a solemn condemnation of the subsequent rebellion of
that monarch against the authority of the Vicar of Christ:--

"Beatissime Pater, post humillimam commendationem et devotissima
pedum oscula beatorum. Exposuit nobis Reverendus in Christo pater
Episcopus Rossensis in dominio nostro Hiberniae, se quibusdam
idoneis caussis moveri ut suam Rossensem Ecclesiam Reverendo patri
Domino Joanni Abbati Monasterii Beatae Mariae de fonte vivo
resignet, quibus caussis a nobis cognitis et probatis, intellectis
praeterea egregiis dicti Domini Joannis virtutibus et imprimis
praecipua modestia, probitate ac doctrina, Vestram Sanctitatem
rogamus ut praedictam resignationem admittere, eundemque Dominum
Joannem ad supradictam Ecclesiam provehere dignetur. Praeterea ut
honestius ac decentius Episcopalem dignitatem sustinere queat,
quoniam dictae Ecclesiae Rossensis reditus et proventus admodum
tenues et perexiles esse cognovimus, Vestram Sanctitatem rogamus ut
una cum eodem Episcopatu Rossensi praedictam Abbatiam S. Mariae cum
nonnullis aliis beneficiis in commendam ei concedere dignetur. Quod
ut gratum nobis erit, sic eidem Ecclesiae utile futurum non
dubitamus. Et felicissime valeat Vestra Sanctitas, etc.

"Ex Regia nostra apud Richemontem die xvii. Julii, 1517"--(Theiner,
_Monumenta_, etc., pag. 520).

Before giving his sanction to the newly-elected bishop,