Daily prayer in Ordinary Time with French saints and writers 2: 4 February 2024

Francis Le Jau (1665-1717) … a French-born Anglican priest who studied at TCD and became an SPG (USPG) missionary in South Carolina

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany came to an end on Friday with the Feast of the Presentation or Candlemas (2 February), and we are in Ordinary Time, the time between that season and the 40 days of Lent. Today is the Second Sunday before Lent.

n the past, this Sunday was known as Sexagesima, one of those odd-sounding Latin names once used in the Book of Common Prayer for the Sundays between Candlemas and Lent: Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima. Later this morning I hope to be part of the choir singing at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

Charlotte and I are planning to visit Paris later this week. So, in these 11 days in Ordinary Time, my reflections each morning are drawing on the lives of 11 French saints and spiritual writers.

I admitted yesterday that I have never been very comfortable with many aspects of French spirituality, such as Sacre Coeur and the political associations of devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the way Joan of Arc has become a symbol of the far-right in France, Bernard’s preaching of the Crusades, or the way Calvin is read today by modern neo-Calvinists. I realise I need to broaden my reading in French spirituality, and so I have turned to 11 figures or writers you might not otherwise expect. They include men and women, Jews and Christians, immigrants and emigrants, monks and philosophers, Catholics and Protestants, and even a few Anglicans.

Before today begins to get busy, I am taking some time for reflection, prayer and reading this way:

1, A reflection on a French saint or writer in spirituality;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Long Room in the Library in Trinity College Dublin … Francis Le Jau studied theology at TCD (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

French saints and writers: 2, Francis Le Jau (1665-1715):

Francis Le Jau (1665-1717) was a French-born Anglican priest who studied theology at Trinity College Dublin and became a missionary in South Carolina with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), now USPG.

Le Jau was born into a French Huguenot family in Angiers in 1665. At the age of 20, he fled France during the persecution of Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, became an Anglican and studied in Trinity College Dublin (MA 1693, BD 1696, DD 1700).

The Duke of Ormond had made Dublin a safe place for Huguenot refugees, and there Le Jau worked from 1695 on behalf of William King, Bishop Derry and later Archbishop of Dublin, to obtain many books in French, including works published in Paris, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, the Irish Nonjuror, Canon Charles Leslie (1650-1722), Chancellor of Connor, had fled to Paris after he was deprived of his Church offices for refusing to take the new oath of loyalty to William of Orange after the Battle of the Boyne. He was said to have been named after Charles I, who was executed the year before Leslie was born.

From Dublin, Le Jau moved to London, where he was installed a canon of Saint Paul’s Cathedral (1696-1700). In 1700, the year he received his doctoral degree (DD) from TCD, he moved to St Christopher’s Island, where he served for 18 months at the request of Henry Compton, Bishop of London from 1675 to 1713. King became Archbishop of Dublin in 1703, and Le Jau continued to correspond with him about books published in France until 1704.

Meanwhile, SPG was founded in 1701, and from 1706 until his death in 1717 Le Jau was a missionary with SPG in to South Carolina, based in Goose Creek. He arrived in South Carolina in December 1706 and wrote numerous letters to SPG describing in the colony as well as his own activities. He describes the colonists celebrating their victory over an attempted French invasion from 27 to 31 August 1706.

Le Jau lived through both the Tuscarora War (1711) and the Yamasee War (1715) in South Carolina During the Yamasee War, a coalition led by the Catawba tribe attacked his home area of Goose Creek and many his parishioners were involved in the fighting.

At the height of the Yamasee War, Le Jau’s family went to live in Charleston with Gideon Johnsons, a fellow missionary and former classmate in TCD. During that time, Henriette Johnson, a painter who shared a French Huguenot background, painted a portrait of Le Jau. Le Jau’s son went on to serve as an aide de camp under General Maurice Moore for the remainder of the Yamasee War.

In his letters to SPG, Le Jau repeatedly refers to the ‘Savannah tongue’ – probably the Shawnee language – as a trade language understood from the Carolinas to Canada. He believed there was a potential use for missionary work, and sent a copy of the Lord’s Prayer in the Savannah language to the SPG. He also refers to the Creek language.

Many of his letters provide an insight into the difficulties SPG missionaries faced in the colonies: the dangers and cost of the journey across the Atlantic, fears of bad weather, piracy and war, and the many setbacks they faced when trying to establish homes and churches after their arrival. Le Jau wrote frequently about his family’s difficulty in acclimatising to a hostile environment, endemic sickness in the area, and attempts to sustain his household with limited assistance from his parishioners.

Le Jau was dependent on the financial and material resource of SPG, as well as local networks of professional support from other neighbouring clergy. But his limited material comfort was underwritten by his purchase of three slaves to help maintain his household.

He was strongly critical of the treatment of Native Americans by the colonists in South Carolina. He describes a plantation owner in Goose Creek burning a Native American slave to death. However, his exploitation of enslaved people within his own household sits uneasily alongside his frequent denunciations of the cruel behaviour he had observed in neighbouring slaveowners. He compromised with slaveowners who were concerned that baptised slaves would seek freedom and equality, and composed a mandatory declaration for slave converts that their baptism was not ‘out of any design’ to free themselves ‘from the Duty and Obedience you owe to your master while you live, but merely for the good of your soul.’

Francis Le Jau died on 10 September 1717. Before he arrived in South Carolina, one eighth of the colony’s white population was of Huguenot descent in 1690; after his death, those numbers had increased and reached 20% in 1722.

For many years, Leslie was the Anglican chaplain at the Jacobite court in St Germainen-Laye. Meanwhile, Charles Leslie returned to Paris in 1717, the year Le Lau died, and published a two folio-volume edition of his Theological Works in 1719. Leslie returned to Ireland in his last days, and died at Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan, in 1722. Leslie later influenced some of the writings of John Henry Newman and the Tractarians. Over 13 pages of the British Museum library catalogue are devoted to his books and pamphlets, making Leslie and Le Jau early Irish literary and Anglican links with Paris.

Saint James Church, Goose Creek … Francis Le Jau was a missionary with SPG based in Goose Creek, South Carolina

John 1: 1-14 (NRSVA):

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

‘In the beginning was the Word’ (John 1: 1) … pages from Saint John’s Gospel, the first complete handwritten and illuminated Bible since the Renaissance, in an exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 4 February 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Gender Justice in Christ.’ This theme is introduced today by Ellen McMibanga, Zambia Anglican Council Outreach Programme:

Many men and women are holding hands to put a stop to abuse in households and the community as the call for gender justice continues to be raised by humanity.

‘Gender equality is the goal that will help abolish poverty,’ asserts Graça Machel (founder of the Graça Machel Trust and a member of The Elders), ‘which will create more equal economies, fairer societies, and happier men, women and children.’

By accepting that men, women and children are equally made by God, freely reconciled by Christ, and given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit, we can establish and uphold justice. The call for gender justice serves as a reminder to everyone to treat one another with respect and love, honouring the reality that God loves us (II Corinthians 5: 17). ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28).

In order to promote gender equity and eradicate injustices that are being practised in our homes, communities and countries, it is the responsibility of the Church and all of us.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (4 February 2024, the Second Sunday before Lent) invites us to pray in these words:

Loving God,
Let us renew our love for all of humanity.
May we focus on spreading
the faith, hope and love
you give to us.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our creator,
by your gift
the tree of life was set at the heart of the earthly paradise,
and the bread of life at the heart of your Church:
may we who have been nourished at your table on earth
be transformed by the glory of the Saviour’s cross
and enjoy the delights of eternity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
give us reverence for all creation
and respect for every person,
that we may mirror your likeness
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection (Rashi)

Continued Tomorrow (Eugénie Mouchon-Niboyet)

Francis Le Jau’s exploitation of enslaved people in his own household sits uneasily beside his denunciations of the cruelty of neighbouring slaveowners

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

A lockdown ‘virtual tour’ of a dozen hotels in Ireland

Sunrise at the mouth of the River Slaney at the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on image for full-screen view)

Patrick Comerford

The lockdown introduced in response to Covid-19 pandemic is beginning to be eased, and many of us are probably beginning to think about – if not planning – staycations in Ireland as soon as the opportunity arises.

When I was in my late teens, I hitched hiked all over Ireland and England, staying in youth hostels, over pubs and in bed and breakfast guesthouses.

It is left me with a taste for ‘cheap and cheerful’ hotels, rather than the expensive plush hotels I have sometimes found myself staying in during working trips.

But there are some hotels I have stayed in that I have come to regard as worth staying in, no matter where they are, simply because of themselves. And at the tope of this list in Ireland is the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford.

In the spirit of my recent ‘virtual tours’ during this lockdown, I offer this ‘virtual tour’ of a dozen of my favourite hotels in Ireland. Perhaps it might help readers as they think about a ‘staycation’ later this year.

1, The Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford:

All bedrooms in the Ferrycarrig Hotel look out onto the River Slaney (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

If there is one hotel in Ireland that I would stay in just for its own sake, then it has to be the Ferrycarrig Hotel, is just 3 km from Wexford Town.

I lived in Wexford almost 50 years ago, and still feel that I am part of Wexford and that Wexford is part of me. In the past, when I returned to Wexford, I wanted to stay in the town, staying with friends or in a variety of hotels and guesthouses. Ferrycarrig seemed to be far out, even though I walked there regularly in my early 20s.

Now I know it is actually very convenient to the town, and I have stayed in the Ferrycarrig Hotel on a number of occasions in recent years. and before dinner last night two of walked around the streets of the old town.

All the bedrooms in the Ferrycarrig Hotel look out onto the River Slaney, and there is nothing comparable to waking up to this sight any morning, any time of the year.

In the corridors of the Ferrycarrig Hotel in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the morning, the colours on the Slaney and in the skies slowly can change from greys and dull blues to contrasts of bright orange and silver sparkle and then to bright blues and reflections of the landscape in the water. Time moves on – in history, in life and on river – and each passing phase brings new opportunities and new blessings.

in one of the corridors of the hotel, among a large collection of posters from the Wexford Festival, I came across a poster from the 1994 festival, that is the same as a block-mounted poster in the my house in Knocklyon.

However, unlike my own poster in Dublin, the hotel’s copy is not fading, a reminder of my continuing, harboured and cherished memories of Wexford that never fade.

2, Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan:

Castle Leslie exudes old-world grandeur and hospitality(Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I stayed many years ago in Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan, while I was attending the ordination of four former students. Castle Leslie, at the village of Glaslough, is a country house hotel exuding old-world grandeur and hospitality, and is free from distractions and intrusions.

The 1,000-acre Castle Leslie Estate includes the charming and eccentric Castle Leslie with its own equestrian centre and hunting lodge set in unspoiled countryside, with ancient forests, rolling hills, green fields, lakes and streams. Castle Leslie stands on the site of an earlier castle, and was designed in 1870 by Charles Lanyon and WH Lynn for Sir John Leslie in the Scottish baronial style.

Castle Leslie is beside the pretty village of Glaslough (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The colourful history of the Castle Leslie Estate is a story that is bedecked with politics, royalty and war, with a family that includes much-married bishops, exiled opponents of William of Orange, a woman said to be the granddaughter of George IV and his mistress, cousins of Winston Churchill, prisoners-of-war, and eccentrics who believe we are about to be invaded by flying saucers and UFOs.

Swift wrote many verses about the Leslies, not all of them complimentary:

With rows and rows of books upon the shelves
Written by the Leslies
All about themselves.

3, The Zuni Hotel, Kilkenny:

The Zuni Hotel is close to all the attractions of Kilkenny

I have stayed in many hotels in Kilkenny, at clergy conferences, church meetings, eating in some of my favourite restaurants, or visiting some of my favourite places, including Saint Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny Castle, Rothe House and Ballybur Caste, or exploring the streets, lanes and churches of Kilkenny.

But one of my favourite places to stay in Kilkenny is the Zuni Hotel on Patrick Street, a short walk from Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny Design Centre and Kilkenny’s main shopping district and many fine restaurants and bars.

The Zuni Hotel has its own award-winning restaurant

But, despite all these attractions so close at hand, the Zuni Hotel is a boutique hotel with its own award-winning restaurant.

4, Markree Castle, Co Sligo:

Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo … this was once the coldest place in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I stayed at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo, during a family wedding in Sligo Cathedral. Markree Castle is a small family-run hotel, owned by the Corscadden family who also own Cabra Castle Hotel, Co Cavan, Ballyseede Castle Hotel, Co Kerry, and Bellingham Castle, Co Louth.

The hymn-writer Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) is said to have written the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful while she was a guest there of the Cooper family in 1848.

The staircase leading into Markree Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Markree Castle, which is partially moated by the River Unshin, is the ancestral seat of the Cooper family. The castle, as we see it today, dates from 1802 with exterior changes by the architect Francis Johnston. Some later changes, mainly to the interior, were made in in the late 1860s and in the 1890s.

Charles Cooper transformed his ancestral castle into a hotel in 1989. The castle’s restoration was featured in a television documentary, and the renewed facilities included a hotel and restaurant.

Markree Castle was run as a hotel by Charles and Mary Cooper, the tenth generation of the family to live there. After four centuries, the castle finally changed hands in 2015 when it was sold for an undisclosed sum after being on the market with an asking price of €3.12 million. The hotel is now run by the Corscadden family.

5, Castle Durrow, Co Laois:

Castle Durrow was built over 300 years ago by the Flower family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Castle Durrow, in the Midlands village of Durrow, Co Laois, is a country house hotel on the N8 old Dublin-Cork road, about an hour from Dublin. The house was built over 300 years ago in 1712-1716 as his family home by Captain William Flower, whose family later held the title of Viscount Ashbrook.

The pre-Palladian design and formal gardens were the height of fashion in those days, and the grey/blue cut stone contrasts with the breath-taking views of the landscape.

In the grounds of Castle Durrow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The banks foreclosed in 1922, and the Flower family were forced to sell up and move to England. The Land Commission divided up the lands and the Forestry department took over many of the woods for plantation, but the great house was left empty. The Parish of Durrow bought the estate for a mere £1,800 and Castle Durrow was transformed into Saint Fintan’s College and Convent.

Peter and Shelly Stokes bought Castle Durrow in the 1990s and began renovating the castle over three years. The Stokes family manage the daily running of the castle and are an intricate part of this charming hotel.

6, Strand Hotel, Dugort, Achill Island:

The Strand Hotel looks out onto the beach at Dugort, below Slievemore, on Achill Island (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Strand Hotel is north coast of Achill Island, Ireland’s largest off-shore island. The hotel is beneath the slopes of Slievemore, Achill's highest mountain, and looks out across the beach at Dugort facing out onto Blacksod Bay.

I first visited Achill Island in 1974, and first stayed in the Strand Hotel around 1979. The proprietor, Billy Scott, was so kind, that in the 1980s it became a regular retreat on occasions when I needed solitude and a place to write in peace and quiet, just a short walk from Saint Thomas’s Church.

On the beach at Dugort, below the Strand Hotel, on Achill Island (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This became a regular venue for family holidays in the 1990s. Although I have been back in recent years for summer schools and seminars, I have not stayed in the Strand Hotel for 15 years or more.

However, the location remains inviting, and the view of the beach in Dugort remains inviting.

7, The Station House Hotel, Kilmessan, Co Meath:

The Station House Hotel, Kilmessan, Co Meath … an old railway station with all the charm of a country house hotel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Kilmessan is a quite village off the M3 and just a short distance from Dunshaughlin, Navan, Trim and Ratoath. The Station House Hotel is a country house hotel and restaurant set in acres of woodlands and manicured gardens, providing an idyllic a country escape, away from the bustle of daily life.

This has been run as an hotel for more than 35 years but was once a train station and the hotel grounds retain some of the original fixtures, including the old railway bridge and turntable.

The old signal cabin still stands at one end of the former station (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Chris and Thelma Slattery, who also owned the Waterside House Hotel in Donabate, Co Dublin, bought the Station House Hotel in 1981, the third family to own the old train station, and transformed it into a guest house in 1983.

The remains of the old station at the Station House Hotel today include the safe made by Milners Safe Company Ltd, London and Liverpool, fireplaces and the platforms, which stand outside the main door of the hotel. The remainder of the turntable lies at the end of the wooded area near the bridge.

8, Mount Wolseley, Tullow, Co Carlow:

Mount Wolseley House near Tullow, Co Carlow … sold in 1925 for £4,500 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I stayed some years ago in Mount Wolseley on the edges of Tullow, Co Carlow, during a family wedding. Mount Wolseley House is the ancestral home of a branch of the Wolseley family from Wolseley in Staffordshire, and the Irish branch included the famous general Viscount Wolseley and Frederick York Wolseley who gave his name to a stylish car.

Mount Wolseley was bought by the Morrissey family in 1994 and has been developed into a four-star hotel. The house and gardens are private and remain the home of the Morrissey family, but they can be viewed in the near distance from the entrance gate beside the hotel.

The hotel at Mount Wolseley retains many memories of the original family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The hotel and the grounds are now owned by Lismard Properties and Enterprises. One wing of the hotel includes Aaron’s Lounge, a name that comes from a misunderstanding of the name of Mount Arran, first given to the estate by the Butler family, Earls of Arran, in the late 17th century. The name of Frederick’s Restaurant is a tribute to Frederick York Wolseley.

However, as the estate was developed over the past 20 or 30 years, the replica site of the Battle of Waterloo in the grounds was turned into an 18-hole championship golf course, and the Duke of Wellington’s battle plan can no longer be traced in the greens, fairways and the willow-lined ponds.

9, BrookLodge, Macreddin Village, Co Wicklow:

Autumn colours at the BrookLodge Hotel … a country spa hotel near the forgotten borough of Carysfort, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Another recent family wedding took place in Macreddin Village in south Co Wicklow, when I stayed overnight in BrookLodge Hotel, a country spa hotel 6 km north of the village of Aughrim.

The BrookLodge Hotel and Wells Spa opened in 1999, and the resort includes an equestrian centre, golf course, bakery, smokehouse, pub and microbrewery, and food, wine and craft shops. BrookLodge includes the Strawberry Tree, which claims to be Ireland’s only certified organic restaurant, and La Taverna Armento, an Italian taverna.

Macreddin, once known also as Moycreedin, is said to take its name (‘the Valley of Credin’) from Credin, a fifth century local saint chief who is said to have been killed by his enemies and brought back to life by Saint Kevin of Glendalough.

The Strawberry Tree claims to be Ireland’s only certified organic restaurant (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Macreddin was granted to the monastery of Saint Saviour, Glendalough in the 12th century. When the Diocese of Glendalough was merged with the Archdiocese of Dublin, Macreddin was transferred to the Priory of All Hallows in Dublin. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, it was transferred to Dublin Corporation.

Co Wicklow was shired in 1606-1607, and so was the last county to be formed in Ireland, taking in the southern part of Dublin (with the exception of three ‘islands’ or enclaves of church property, and the northern part of what was then ‘Catherlough’ or Co Carlow, including Arklow. Two decades later, when Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland, was Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1625-1628, a fort was built at Macreddin and was named Carysfort in his honour.

10, WatersEdge Hotel, Cobh:

The WatersEdge Hotel in Cork is a special venue in every sense of the word (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The last hotel in Ireland I have stayed in is the WatersEdge Hotel in Cork, which is a special venue in every sense of the word. Nestled in the harbour town of Cobh near Cork and situated on the waterfront, we really had a ‘room with a view.’

This is a boutique hotel that commands breath-taking views, with spacious, comfortable accommodation and bistro-style food. It is an hotel to come to time after time.

A view of Cork Harbour from our room in the WatersEdge Hotel, Cobh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The large balcony rooms are spacious and comfortable with a waterside terrace that is hard to leave.

We had a view right across the harbour with its islands, and we were within walking distance of the see-front museums, restaurants and the sites linked with the stories of the Titanic and the Lusitania.

11, Mustard Seed, Ballingarry, Co Limerick:

The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge … fine dining in a country house setting in Ballingarry, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Mustard Seed, an oasis of countryside bliss surrounded by verdant pastures in the heart of Co Limerick. It is within my own parish in West Limerick, but also on the doorstep to Adare.

This boutique hotel with a restaurant that is legendary with superb food and warm hospitality. Sitting on acres of manicured lawns, an orchard and a working kitchen garden, this hideaway is perfect house for a stopover, romantic nights, lazy days and special occasions.

The Library at the Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge in Ballingarry, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Originally, Echo Lodge was a long, thatched dwelling located in what is now the kitchen garden. This thatched house was a stopping house for the great Daniel O’Connell on his journey from Derrynane to Dublin.

The Revd Timothy Ryan Shanahan built the present Echo Lodge as a parochial house in 1885. Later, it passed to the Sisters of Mercy for one penny. Dan Mullane set up the Mustard Seed restaurant in Adare in 1985, and 10 years later moved the Mustard Seed to Echo Lodge, allowing diners the opportunity to stay overnight.

The Mustard Seed changed hands from Dan to his manager John Edward Joyce in 2016.

12, Charlemont Arms Hotel, Armagh:

The Charlemont Arms Hotel … three and a half centuries of history in Armagh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

In recent years, when I have been in Armagh at General Synod of the Church of Ireland, I have tended to stay in the Charlemont Arms Hotel in English Street, a third-generation, family-run hotel in the centre of the cathedral city.

The motto on the coat-of-arms of the Earls of Charlemont, over the hotel front door, which gives its name to the hotel, proclaims boldly: Deo Duce Ferro Comitante, ‘God is my leader, the sword is my companion.’ The first part of the motto may be appropriate for synod members staying in Armagh – but I have serious problems about the second part.

The hotel, which has thrived throughout the centuries, was originally home to a Dr Atkinson. By the 1760s, it had become a hostelry known as ‘The Caulfeild Arms.’ It was renamed in 1763, when James Caulfeild (1728-1799), fourth Viscount Caulfeild, was given the title Earl of Charlemont.

In the heyday of the Volunteers, there was a Charlemont Arms in every Irish town of note. However, this hotel may be the only one to survive – something that makes the current proprietors very proud.

In Victorian times, the facilities on offer included Turkish, plunge and other baths. It passed to Robert and Elizabeth Forster in 1934. Today, a third generation of the Forster family is involved in running the hotel.

A monument to the Caulfeild or Charlemont family in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The hotel is perfectly located between the city’s two cathedrals and close to the beautiful Mall, the theatre, city centre shops, the Armagh Planetarium and Observatory, the Armagh County Museum and the old Armagh Women’s Gaol. But it is also a short stroll from the synod venue and many synod members stay here, meaning this is often a place where a lot of back-room synod work is done.

There are many other hotels I could have named. During church and clergy conferences, I have stayed in hotels such as the Dunraven Arms in Adare, Arnold’s in Dunfanaghy, the Skelligs Hotel in Dingle, and other hotels in Athlone, Enniskillen Strandhill, and Kilkenny.

Presents and gifts have allowed me to stay in the Wineport Lodge, the Lough Erne Resort, the Ice House in Ballina, Tinnakilly House in Wicklow and the Maritime Hotel in Bantry.

And, of course, there are many more hotels, as well as the wonderful guesthouses I have stayed in across the island. But I thought I would next look at 12 more hotels in England and across Europe.

Some recent ‘virtual tours’:

A dozen buildings in Tamworth (Part 1);

A dozen buildings in Tamworth (Part 2);

More than a dozen Comberford family homes;

More than a dozen Comerford and Quemerford family homes;

A dozen Wren churches in London;

Ten former Wren churches in London;

More than a dozen churches in Lichfield;

More than a dozen pubs in Lichfield;

A dozen former pubs in Lichfield;

A dozen churches in Rethymnon;

A dozen restaurants in Rethymnon;

A dozen churches in other parts of Crete;

A dozen monasteries in Crete;

A dozen sites on Mount Athos;

A dozen historic sites in Athens;

A dozen historic sites in Thessaloniki;

A dozen churches in Thessaloniki;

A dozen Jewish sites in Thessaloniki.

A dozen churches in Cambridge;

A dozen college chapels in Cambridge;

A dozen Irish islands;

A dozen churches in Corfu;

A dozen churches in Venice.

A dozen churches in Rome.

A dozen churches in Bologna;

A dozen churches in Tuscany.

At the Dunraven Arms in Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John Leslie, ‘the oldest bishop in Christendom’, and his eighteen-year-old wife

Castle Leslie … the home built by Bishop John Leslie at Glaslough, Co Monaghan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

When Bishop John Leslie died on 8 September 1671, he was just a few weeks short of his 100th birthday and was reputed to be the oldest bishop in Christendom. He was also a pugnacious bishop, and was known as ‘the fighting bishop’ because of his active role, despite his years, in the wars that raged throughout Ireland in the 1630s, 1640s and 1650s.

Bishop Leslie must have been a very happy man though. When he died, his wife Catherine was half his age, and in their 33 years of marriage they had ten children in all. John Leslie may have thought he was at the end of his career when he came to County Donegal in June 1633 as Bishop of Raphoe. He was then almost 62, single, and was moving from Scotland where he had a difficult time as Bishop of the Isles, a far-flung diocese. But Ireland brought its rewards in church, politics and in marriage.

Leslie was born at Crichie in Aberdeenshire on 14 October 1571. He was educated at Aberdeen, but left Scotland in 1588 and studied in Padua, Leipzig, Madrid, Salamanca and San Sebastian. He continued to live on Continental Europe for decades, and in Spain he was acclaimed for his learning in Latin.

He was in his late 40s when he moved to England, and he was admitted to read in the Bodleian Library in Oxford in 1618. He was ordained deacon that year by John King, Bishop of London, and at the age of 50 was ordained priest in 1621. On the nomination of King James I, In 1624, he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity (DD) at Trinity College Cambridge in 1624 and was also made a Privy Councillor of Scotland and one of his royal chaplains. That year, Leslie also received his first church appointment, as Rector of Hartlebury in Worcestershire. But he remained there for only three months and returned to London as Rector of Saint Martin Vintry on Saint Patrick’s Day, 17 March 1625, ten days before the king died.

Leslie was now dabbling in politics and war, and he was with George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, at the Siege of Isle de Ré in 1627 in support of the Huguenots fighting against the French crown. The siege was a disaster, but Leslie continued to enjoy royal favour, and he returned to Scotland at the age of 56 when King Charles I appointed him Bishop of the Isles in August 1628. In Scotland, neither episcopacy nor a far-flung diocese along the western coast had their attractions, with strong Presbyterian resistance to Charles I’s efforts to impose a brand of Anglicanism on the Church of Scotland. When Charles I was finally crowned in Edinburgh in June 1633, he rewarded Leslie’s loyalty with a new appointment as Bishop of Raphoe in Co Donegal, and he had Raphoe Castle built.

By then, Leslie was almost 62, but Ireland offered a fresh start, in life and in love. Leslie found many of the diocesan estates had been acquired illegally by lay people, and he used the force of law to recover some of these lands. He had no official residence, and so he built a new, fortified episcopal palace. In his disputes, he found a ready ally in John Bramhall, Bishop of Derry and later the Restoration Archbishop of Armagh. Then, in 1638, the bishop married Catherine Cunningham, daughter of Alexander Cunningham, Dean of Raphoe Cathedral. There was almost a gap of half a century in their ages – he was almost 67, she was only eighteen.

When the rebellion of 1641 broke out, Leslie went to battle for Charles I. Although he was now 70, he raised a company of soldiers, brought ammunition from Dublin to Derry, and relieved a besieged Sir Ralph Gore at Magherabeg, in north-west Donegal.

When most of his fellow bishops of the Church of Ireland abandoned their dioceses and moved to England or Scotland, Leslie remained in Raphoe and did not go to Scotland until 1642. After the execution of Charles I in 1649, he returned again to County Donegal and defended Raphoe against the Cromwellians. He was one of the last royalists to submit in 1653, and was the only Anglican bishop to remain in his diocese in Ireland during the Cromwellian era. During those years, he confirmed children in Dublin, and ordained priests and deacons.

At the Restoration in 1660, Leslie – by now an elderly but sprightly man of 88 – rode from Chester to London in just 24 hours to declare his loyalty to Charles II. He then returned to Ireland and resumed his role as Bishop of Raphoe. A year later, with Bramhall’s reorganisation of the Church of Ireland, Leslie’s loyalty was recognised once more and at almost the age of 90, he was appointed Bishop of Clogher in June 1661. On the recommendation of Charles II, the Irish Parliament voted to him a reward of £2,000. Leslie said he hoped ‘that whatever the house hath given to a prophet may receive a prophet’s reward.’

Leslie used the money to buy Glaslough estate in County Monaghan and renamed the house Castle Leslie. Despite his age, he remained Bishop of Clogher for another decade. When he died on 8 September 1671, he was buried at Saint Saviour’s, the church he had built on his estate.

Catherine and John Leslie seem to have been happily married, and they had ten children. Their eldest surviving son, John Leslie, became Dean of Dromore, while their sixth son, the theologian Charles Leslie (1650-1720), Chancellor of Connor Cathedral, was a leading non-juror, refusing to take the oath of loyalty to William III and following the Jacobite court into exile.

The descendants of this happy marriage continue to live at Castle Leslie in Glaslough – which is, appropriately, a popular wedding venue today. The Castle Leslie estate has recently launched a new gin in honour of Bishop John Leslie; named ‘The Fighting Bishop’, it is produced from beech leaves and botanicals hand-picked from trees planted by the bishop on the estate over 300 years ago.

This paper was first published as Chapter 15, John Leslie, ‘the oldest bishop in Christendom’, and his eighteen-year-old wife, in Marriage and the Irish: A miscellany, edited by Salvador Ryan (Wordwell: Dublin, 2019, 283 pp), pp 50-52.

‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another’

‘It is the sunless stricken Tree, Upon whose branches sore to see’ … bare trees in winter at the Rectory in Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Thursday 18 April 2019

Maundy Thursday in Holy Week

Castletown Church, Castletown, Co Limerick.

8 p.m., The Maundy Eucharist with Washing of Feet

Readings: Exodus 12: 1-4; Psalm 116: 1, 10-17; I Corinthians 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-17, 31b-35.

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

I said on Sunday (Palm Sunday, 7 April 2019) that during Holy Week this year, instead of preaching each day in Holy Week I hoped to read a poem to help our reflections during this Holy Week.

In our Gospel reading this evening (John 13: 21-32), we are at the Last Supper, and Jesus is washing his disciples’ feet. He shows them that at the heart of Christian life is not what others think of us but how we serve others, sacrificial love.

Tomorrow is Good Friday, he is to show finally what sacrificial love is with his death on the Cross.

My choice of a Lenten poem this evening is ‘Holy Cross’ by Sir Shane Leslie (1885-1971) of Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan.

Some years ago, I spent a few peaceful days at Castle Leslie, walking through the woods and by the lakes around Glaslough. This was once the family home the Irish writer and diplomat, Sir Shane Leslie, a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill.

His full name was Sir John Randolph Leslie, and he was born on 24 September 1885 in London into an old land-owning family with an estate of almost 50,000 acres in Co Monaghan, Co Tyrone, Co Fermanagh and Co Donegal that included Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan, the village of Pettigo on the Tyrone-Donegal border, and Lough Derg, the well-known pilgrimage lake and island known as Saint Patrick’s Purgatory.

His family was descended from John Leslie, Bishop of the Isles, who moved from Scotland to Ireland in 1633 when he became Bishop of Raphoe, and who became Bishop of Clogher after the Caroline Restoration, in 1661. His mother, Leonie Jerome, was the sister of Winston Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome.

Shane Leslie’s early education began at home in Castle Leslie with a German governess, and he then went on to a prep school in Berkshire, to Eton and to King’s College, Cambridge. While he was still an undergraduate Cambridge in 1907, he became a Roman Catholic. Later he also became a supporter of Irish Home Rule and adopted the name Shane as an Anglicised Irish variant of his name John.

After graduating in 1907, he began to travel widely, visiting Russia, where he stayed with Leo Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana, and where he developed many of his social values. On his return, his cousin Winston Churchill took an interest in his political ambitions and introduced him to John Redmond, who persuaded Leslie to run as a Home Rule candidate in Derry City in 1910. But he lost the seat by 57 votes.

In 1912, he married Marjorie Ide, a daughter of Henry Clay Ide, the US ambassador to Spain and Governor-General of the Philippines.

At the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted in a British Ambulance Corps. When he became ill he was sent to a military hospital in Malta, where he finished his first major book of verse, The End of a Chapter (1916).

He spoke out against the execution of the leaders of the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916, and was sent back to Washington DC to work with the British Ambassador, Sir Cecil Spring Rice – whose family lived in this parish at Mount Trenchard, and who was the author of the hymn ‘I vow to thee my country.’ Shane Leslie’s role was to soften Irish-American hostility to Britain and to secure US intervention in the war. But he continued to look to Ireland for literary inspiration and edited a literary magazine, Ireland.

The 1918 election, when Redmond’s party lost massively to Sinn Féin, put an end to the political ambitions of a disappointed Shane Leslie. Feeling unwanted in Ireland, abandoned by the British, and no longer able to rely on an income from his landholdings, he dedicated himself to a literary life, becoming a member of the Irish Academy of Letters.

In the decades that followed, he published over 40 volumes, including poetry, novels, short stories, memoirs, biographies and essays, and a study, from a conspicuously Roman Catholic perspective, of the Oxford Movement (1933).

In a review of Ulysses in the Dublin Review in 1922, Leslie accused James Joyce’s ‘book must remain impossible to read, and in general undesirable to quote.’

But his time as the editor of the Dublin Review came to an end with the hierarchy’s disapproval of the sexually explicit scenes in his autobiographical novel, The Cantab (1926).

The wealth of the Leslie family had waned by the 1930s following the Wall Street crash of 1929. He transferred the Castle Leslie estate to his eldest son, John Norman Leslie, and he handed over Saint Patrick’s Purgatory on Lough Derg to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher. But the Leslies continued to maintain their lifestyle, attendance at the London season and entertaining distinguished visitors at Glaslough, including Anthony Eden.

At the outbreak of World II in 1939, he joined the Home Guard. He spent the remainder of his life between Glaslough and London. With the death of his father in 1944, he succeeded to the family title as the third baronet.

His spent his old age in Hove, where he died on 14 August 1971 at the age of 85. He was buried at Castle Leslie.

‘It is the dead impitying Wood … Where none unmoved unweeping could’ … a still moment of reflections by the forests and lakes on the Castle Leslie estate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Holy Cross, by Sir Shane Leslie

It is the bare and leafless Tree
Our sins once sowed on Calvary,
And mockers digged with trembling knee –
Holy Cross.

It is the dead impitying Wood,
That like a crimson pillar stood,
Where none unmoved unweeping could —
Holy Cross.

O fearful sight foretold to man,
The cloven spar, the sacred span,
Whence God’s atoning Blood once ran —
Holy Cross.

It is the Holy Gibbet Tree,
All stained with Love’s last agony
And marked with awful mystery —
Holy Cross.

What stains are these incarnadine,
What scars are these more red than wine
Of more than human Passion sign?
Holy Cross.

It is the sunless stricken Tree,
Upon whose branches sore to see
O mystery, died One of Three —
Holy Cross.

What storm swept o’er its boughs that day,
When God to God did sorely pray.
And human guilt ebbed slow away —
Holy Cross.

When earth shall smoke and sun shall flee,
Alone unmoved o’er sinking sea
Shall stand one all-redeeming Tree —
Holy Cross.

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

‘When earth shall smoke and sun shall flee, Alone unmoved o’er sinking sea’ … sunset on the Shannon Estuary, north of Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 13: 1-17, 31b-35 (NRSVA):

1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7 Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8 Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ 9 Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ 10 Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Liturgical Colour: White

Penitential Kyries:

Lord God,
you sent your Son to reconcile us to yourself and to one another.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus,
you heal the wounds of sin and division.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Holy Spirit,
through you we put to death the sins of the body – and live.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

God our Father,
you have invited us to share in the supper
which your Son gave to his Church
to proclaim his death until he comes:
May he nourish us by his presence,
and unite us in his love;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lenten Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction to the Peace:

Now in union with Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of Christ’s blood; for he is our peace. (Ephesians 2: 17)

Preface:

Through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
who, for the redemption of the world,
humbled himself to death on the cross;
that, being lifted up from the earth,
he might draw all people to himself:

Post Communion Prayer:

O God,
your Son Jesus Christ has left us this meal of bread and wine
in which we share his body and his blood.
May we who celebrate this sign of his great love
show in our lives the fruits of his redemption;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Blessing:

Christ draw you to himself
and grant that you find in his cross a sure ground for faith,
a firm support for hope,
and the assurance of sins forgiven:

Hymns:

431, Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour (CD 26)
432, Love is his word, love is his way (CD 26)
515, ‘A new commandment I give unto you’ (CD 30)

‘Alone unmoved o’er sinking sea Shall stand one all-redeeming Tree’ … trees against a winter sunset at the Rectory in Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

Catching glimpses of Tarbert House during an afternoon in Tarbert Bay

Tarbert House seen from Tarbert Bay during an afternoon sailing (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

I have often passed Tarbert House during my fortnightly visits to Tarbert, Co Kerry. But my first time to see the house clearly was during my afternoon sailing across the Shannon Estuary yesterday [20 June 2017].

Tarbert House is normally hidden by the large trees that surround it. But as we sailed out of Tarbert Bay, the house came into clear view as it rose up from the surrounding trees and parkland in the distance.

Tarbert House, which dates from 1690, is a Georgian era house built by John Leslie or by James Leslie, Bishop of Limerick, in the Queen Anne style of architecture. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage suggests the house was built ca 1720.

In 1786, Wilson describes it as ‘happily situated on an eminence commanding an extensive view.’ Tarbert House was owned by Robert Leslie at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £24 10s.

In the past, visitors to the house are said to have included Jonathan Swift, Benjamin Franklin, the Duke of Wellington, Daniel O’Connell, Charlotte Bronte, Lord Kitchener and Winston Churchill.

After a visit to Tarbert House, Dean Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) wrote: ‘The Leslies have lots of books upon their shelves. All written by Leslies about themselves.’ However, Swift is also said to have written these lines about the leslies of Castle Leslie in Glaslough, Co Monaghan.

John Paul Jones sought shelter for his ship at Tarbert when he was chased by the British navy during the American War of Independence. In order to confuse his pursuers, Raymond McGibney told us in the bay as we looked at Tarbert House, John Paul Jones sent men ashore to place lanterns in the trees, indicating he was still in the bay. Then, under cover of darkness, he sailed silently out to Valentia and on to the US where he founded the US navy.

We were told this story inspired the name of the Lanterns Hotel on the road between Tarbert and Glin.

The US President Benjamin Franklin came to visit Sir Edward Leslie as part of his efforts to rekindle trade between Ireland and America. Franklin presented Sir Edward with a type of rose which, when planted in the gardens of the house, became the inspiration for the famous Rose Pattern that was woven into the curtains that hang to this day in Tarbert House. The pattern has been used since then in curtains as far away as the White House by Nancy Regan, who also visited Tarbert House.

Daniel O’Connell was a friend of the Leslie family and Tarbert House still holds a parchment that is a plea to the House of Commons in 1813 for Catholic Emancipation, signed by bishops, politicians and other notables, including Daniel O’Connell and his brother.

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), the author of Jane Eyre, spent part of her honeymoon at Tarbert House, although there is no record of her visit. She married her father’s curate, the Revd Arthur Bell Nicholls, in April 1854. She went to West Clare first and then came to Tarbert House, where she spent a night or two. They then went on to Tralee and to Killarney, where she missed her step getting into a boat. It turned out she was pregnant at the time but soon after she had a miscarriage and died as a result.

Lord Kitchener, who was baptised in a font that is now at Saint Brendan’s Church in Kilnaughtin, once lived on the Leslie estate at Ballygoghlan, where his father had a farm. Surviving correspondence tells how, as a boy, he came to the shore to gather seaweed for his mother’s bath to help relieve her arthritis.

Sir Winston Churchill’s aunt Leonie Jerome married a Leslie cousin, John Leslie of Castle Leslie and it is said that as a boy Winston Churchill spent some of his school holidays at Tarbert House.

Tarbert House, which is located in ancient parkland, retains many of its original internal features, furniture, pictures and decorative forms. They are testimony to the importance of this house in Ireland’s architectural heritage.

Although the estate was sold to the tenants around 1904, Tarbert House remains the home of the Leslie family to this day, and is occasionally open to the public during the summer months.

Tarbert House is open this year [2017], from May to August, from 10 am to 12 noon, and from 2 pm to 4 pm, and during National Heritage Week (19 to 27 August) the house is open each day from 10 am to 4 pm. However, it is advised to contact the house directly before making any arrangements to visit.

Tarbert House emerges from the surrounding trees and parkland and rises above Tarbert Bay (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Sir John Leslie: a reference in his obituary in ‘The Irish Times’

Sir John Leslie: December 6th, 1916-April 18th, 2016. During the second World War he led a unit that held up the German advance at Boulogne-sur-Mer, buying time for the British evacuation at Dunkirk. Photograph: Naoise Culhane

My work on the genealogy of the Leslie family is referred to an obituary of Sir John Leslie in ‘The Irish Times’ this morning [23 April 2016], and provides much of the background information on his family history:

Sir John Leslie: A second world war hero who delighted in dance

Captain Sir John Leslie, who has died in his 100th year, was a proud Irishman who fought in the British army in the second World War, an Ulster landowner, an accomplished painter of watercolours and a disco-dancing enthusiast who celebrated his 85th birthday with a visit to Privilege, a vast venue dedicated to eardrum-shattering “house music” on the Spanish island of Ibiza.

In recent years he could fairly lay claim to the title of “Ireland’s oldest raver”. Announcing his death this week, his family described dance music as “perhaps his most endearing hobby”, along with membership of the Order of Malta and restoring historic buildings.

The Leslie family of Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan, was known for its allegiance to Ireland and Britain.

John Leslie was the eldest son of Sir Shane Leslie, a writer who had changed his first name from John, converted to Catholicism, embraced Irish nationalism while maintaining friendships with Éamon de Valera and Winston Churchill, to whom he was related. The family had a tradition of producing independent spirits, some would call them eccentrics, of which John Leslie – always known as Jack – was proud to be one.

Ancestry

In earlier centuries the Leslie family included warlike bishops, politicians, social reformers, agricultural innovators, philanthropic women, pre-Raphaelite painters, furniture collectors, writers and war heroes, and they claimed to trace their ancestry back to Attila the Hun, according to writer and Anglican clergyman Patrick Comerford.

Another Anglican clergyman, Jonathan Swift, after a visit to Castle Leslie, dipped his quill in acid and wrote about the library there: “With rows and rows of books upon the shelves Written by the Leslies/All about themselves”.

In 1940, when the British Expeditionary Force in France was retreating and being evacuated under fire, Leslie was an officer in the Irish Guards. He commanded a unit which held up the German advance at Boulogne-sur-Mer for two crucial hours, buying time for the British evacuation at Dunkirk and saving the lives of many of his comrades.

“Bullets were whizzing past my head on both sides,” he said afterwards. “Over and over again, I thought my time had come.”

Captured by the Germans, he spent five years as a prisoner of war, passing the time painting watercolours. He took a considerable risk by sending a postcard through the camp mail to British prime minister Winston Churchill asking him to intervene to exchange prisoners who were in a bad way.

This alerted the Germans to the fact they held a valuable hostage, Leslie’s paternal grandmother Leonie Jerome, and Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome, a celebrated society beauty, were sisters. That postcard is now in the Imperial War Museum in London.

New York

After the war, he moved to New York and later travelled around Europe, settling in Rome in a former monastery. At the age of 78 he returned to his family’s home at Castle Leslie.

He had earlier made over the house to his sister, the writer Anita Leslie. She too had served in the second World War as a mechanic and ambulance driver in the Middle East, and was honoured by France with the Croix de Guerre.

In turn she would pass Castle Leslie on to her younger brother Desmond, who was known for his interest in UFOs, and her son Richard King.

In 2002, Jack Leslie inadvertently disclosed to the press in advance the news that the castle would be used as the venue of the wedding of former Beatle Paul McCartney to Heather Mills.

Educated

John Norman Ide Leslie was the eldest son of Shane (John) Leslie and Marjorie Ide, whose father Henry had been governor general of the Philippines. Leslie was educated in England, at the Catholic Downside school and Magdalene College Cambridge. He joined the Irish Guards in 1937 at the age of 21. He became the fourth baronet of Glaslough and Pettigo when his father died in 1971.

In his 80s Leslie was to be seen “bopping” in nightclubs in the towns of Monaghan, Clones and Carrickmacross, waving his arms around in time to the beat and sporting his trademark Tam O’Shanter.

In 2015, Leslie received France’s highest decoration, the Légion d’honneur at a ceremony in the French embassy in Dublin in recognition of his wartime courage. Leslie never married. His older sister Anita died in 1985, and his younger brother Desmond in 2001.

Why Dr Johnson found Charles Leslie was ‘a reasoner not to be reasoned with’

Castle Leslie, home of Sir Jack Leslie and his Nonjuring ancestor, Charles Leslie, who was admired by Samuel Johnson (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The death of Sir Jack Leslie earlier this week at the age of 99 brought back happy memories of my visits to Castle Leslie in Glaslough, Co Monaghan.

Sir Jack was known everyone who visited Castle Leslie as “Uncle Jack.” Many of the reports and obituaries are discussing his close kinship to Sir Winston Churchill. But I was also reminded this week of his descent from Canon Charles Leslie (1650-1722), who succeeded to the Glaslough estates at the age of 71 but only enjoyed them for a few short months before he died.

Charles Leslie was a leading theologian among the Nonjurors. Oliver Goldsmith said he was an arguer of some wit; Dr Samuel Johnson said “he was a reasoner not to be reasoned with.”

As a Nonjuror, Charles Leslie opposed the accession of William III after the defeat of James II at the Boyne in 1690. He was Chancellor of Connor Cathedral before fleeing to France, where he was a member of the Jacobite court in exile.

In a particularly heated conversation in 1775, Johnson referred to William III as “one of the most worthless scoundrels that ever existed.” He appears determined to disparage William at every opportunity, castigated his rude table manners, accused him of being overbearing towards his immediate family, and despising his narrow militarism.

Johnson was angered by what he saw as the degradation of the Anglican Church that began to set in under the Whig ‘Junto’ that grabbed power under William and so agreed with those who those High Church figures during the reign of Queen who warned about the “Church in Danger.”

His admiration for High Church leaders such as Charles Leslie leads scholars to ask whether Johnson was a closet Jacobite. Remarkably, Johnson’s Dictionary contains no definition of the word ‘Jacobite’ and he defines Nonjuror as “One who conceiving James II unjustly deposed, refuses to swear allegiance to those who have succeeded him.”

Charles Leslie … a Nonjuror allowed to return home in old age

Charles Leslie was a Jacobite and Nonjuror. He was born in Dublin in July 1650s, the son of John Leslie (1571-1671), Bishop of Raphoe and later Bishop of Clogher. He was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, and Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained in 1680, and in 1687 he became Chancellor of Connor, where Jeremy Taylor had been bishop.

Leslie was a firm supporter of the Stuart dynasty, and, having refused to take the new oath of loyalty to William and Mary, he was deprived of his offices in the Church of Ireland. For about 20 years, he lived in England, where he spent his time writing pamphlets in favour of the Nonjuring cause, and against Quakers, Jews, Socinians, Roman Catholics and Deists. He was zealous in his attacks on heretics, his defence of the sacraments, and in his support of the Jacobite cause.

When a warrant was issued for his arrest in 1710 for his pamphlet The Good Old Cause, or Lying in Truth, he left England for France, and joined the Jacobite court in exile in 1711.

After the failure of the Stuart cause in 1715, Leslie accompanied his patron into Italy, where he remained until 1721.

Samuel Johnson later praised Leslie as the only Nonjuror who could reason, saying: “Leslie was a reasoner and a reasoned who was not to be reasoned against.” The sale catalogue of his library shows Johnson owned a copy of Charles Leslie’s two-volume Theological Works, published in 1721.

However, Johnson disagreed with Leslie on many points, Including the duty of passive obedience and the divine right of kings.

Johnson filled his Dictionary with citations from High Church figures during Queen Anne’s reign. In all, he cites four Nonjurors in his Dictionary: John Kettlewell (1653-1695), Vicar of Coleshill, near Tamworth, Robert Nelson (1656-1715), William Law (1686-1761) and Charles Leslie. Johnson knew and admired the work of other leading Nonjurors, including the Nonjuring bishops George Hickes (1642-1715), former Dean of Worcester, and Thomas Brett (1667-1743). He defended their writings against their Whig critics, and Boswell records many political remarks by Johnson that find parallels in the published works of the Nonjurors.

Johnson’s first biographer, Sir John Hawkins, tries to argue that Johnson actually sided with Leslie’s main antagonist, the Whig and Latitudinarian theologian, Bishop Benjamin Hoadly (1676-1761). This has been challenged firmly by many Johnson scholars, but as Nicholas Hudson points out in A Political Biography of Samuel Johnson, published in October 2015, Johnson never showed sympathy for the patriarchal origins of government. Like the great Elizabethan Anglican apologist Richard Hooker, Johnson consistently maintained a secular understanding of the origins and nature of society.

When Johnson praises Charles Leslie as “a reasoner,” he is probably referring to The Case of Regale, published in 1710. This is the work by Leslie that Johnson cites most frequently in the fourth edition of his Dictionary.

However, The Case of Regale is not expressly Jacobite in its arguments, and is best understood as a defence of the autonomy of the Church of England from control by both Parliament and the King. So, while Johnson enjoyed Leslie’s energetic reasoning and faith, he may have disapproved of Leslie’s self-alienation from the Church of England.

At the end of his days, George I pardoned Charles Leslie in 1721, saying: “Let the old man go home to Glaslough to die.” He returned to Ireland and died at Glaslough on 13 April 1722.

Samuel Johnson’s statue in the Market Square, Lichfield … he enjoyed Charles Leslie’s energetic reasoning and faith (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)