Church Roman Catholic Church Predecessor Paul Cullen Archdiocese Dublin Successor William Joseph Walsh | Appointed 4 April 1879 Name Edward MacCabe Term ended 11 February 1885 | |
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Edward MacCabe or McCabe (Dublin, 14 February 1816 – Kingstown, 11 February 1885) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 1879 until his death and a Cardinal from 1882.
Biography
He was the son of poor parents, educated at Father Doyle's school on the Quays and at Maynooth College, and was ordained priest on 24 June 1839. After his ordination he served successively as curate in Clontarf and at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Marlborough Street in Dublin. He was selected, in 1854, for the see of Grahamstown in South Africa. He turned it down, and in 1856 became parish priest of St. Nicholas Without, in Dublin.
He was transferred to the more important parish of Dún Laoghaire (then called Kingstown), Monkstown and Glasthule from 1865 until 1879, and became a member of the chapter and vicar-general. For the twelve following years his was the ordinary life of a pastor. In 1877 he was appointed Titular bishop of Gadara and Auxiliary of Dublin, and on the death of the incumbent Archbishop Cardinal Paul Cullen he was chosen in 1879 to be his successor
Three years later, on 27 March 1882, Pope Leo XIII created him Cardinal-Priest of S. Sabina. His pastoral letter in October 1881 denouncing in fierce terms the No Rent Manifesto of the Irish National Land League, that his return from Rome with the "red hat" almost went un-noticed.
The six years in which he was Archbishop of Dublin were troubled times in Ireland, the years of the Land League and of the National League, of violent agitation and savage coercion, when secret societies were strong in Dublin, and the Phoenix Park Murders and many others of less note were committed. Like his predecessor, Cardinal McCabe had a distrust of popular movements. Brought up in the city, he was unacquainted with agrarian conditions and he identified with the political movement under Parnell and Davitt. In pastorals and public speeches he ranged himself against agitation and on the side of government and law, with the result that Nationalist newspapers and public men attacked him as a "Castle" bishop, who favoured coercion and was an enemy of the people. His life was threatened and for a time he was under the protection of the police.
His papers are available in Dublin for consultation by scholars.