Peter Talbot (archbishop)

Peter Talbot, (1620-1680), was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 1669 to his death.

Talbot was born at Malahide, County Dublin, Ireland in 1620. At an early age he entered the Society of Jesus in Portugal. He was ordained a priest at Rome, and for some years thereafter held the chair of theology at the College of Antwerp. In the meantime in the British Isles during the Commonwealth period, Charles II and the royal family were compelled to seek refuge in Europe. Throughout the period of the king's exile, Talbot's brothers were attached to the royal court. The eldest brother, Sir Robert Talbot, Bt., had held a high commission under Lord James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde in the army in Ireland and was now reckoned among the king's most confidential advisers. A younger brother, Colonel Richard Talbot, was also devoted to the cause of the exiled monarch and stood high in royal favour.

Peter Talbot himself was constantly in attendance on Charles II, and his court. On account of his knowledge of the continental languages, he was repeatedly dispatched on private embassies to Lisbon, Madrid, and Paris. On the return of the king to London, Talbot received an appointment as Queen's Almoner, but the Clarendon and Ormond faction, which was then predominant, feared his influence with the king. He was accused of conspiring with the aid of four Jesuits to assassinate the Duke of Ormond, and he was forced to seek safety by resigning his position at Court and retiring to the Continent. The king allowed him a pension of three hundred pounds a year. Before his return to England, Talbot had, with the approval of the General of the Jesuits, severed his connection with the Society. He was appointed Archbishop of Dublin on January 11, 1669, and was consecrated at Antwerp, assisted by the Bishops of Ghent and Ferns.

During this period, the English persecution of Catholics in Ireland was more lenient than usual, owing to the sympathy of the king. In August 1670, Talbot held his first diocesan synod in Dublin. It was opened with High Mass, which for forty years many of the faithful had not witnessed. In the same year an assembly of the archbishops and bishops and representatives of the clergy was held in Dublin. At this assembly the question of precedence and of the primatial authority gave rise to considerable discussion and led to an embittered controversy between the Archbishop of Dublin and Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh. Both prelates considered that they were asserting the rights of their respective sees, and each published a treatise on the subject. Another meeting of the Catholic gentry, convened by Talbot, at which it was resolved to send to the Court at London a representative who would seek redress for some of the grievances to which the Catholics of Ireland were subjected. This alarmed the Protestants in Ireland, who feared that the balance of power might shift to the Catholic majority. They protested to King Charles, and in 1673 some of the repressive measures against Catholics returned to Ireland, and Talbot was compelled to seek safety in exile.

During his banishment he resided generally in Paris. In 1675, Talbot, worn out with infirmities, obtained permission to return to England, and for two years he resided with a family friend at Poole Hall in Cheshire. Towards the close of 1677, he petitioned the Crown for leave "to come to Ireland to die in his own country", and through the influence of the Duke of York (later James II) his petition was granted. Just then the Popish Plot was being organised by Lord Shaftesbury and Titus Oates, and information was forwarded to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Ormond, to the effect that a rebellion was being planned in Ireland, that Peter Talbot was one of the accomplices, and that assassins were hired to murder the duke himself. On October 8, 1678, Ormond signed a warrant for the archbishop's arrest. He was arrested near Maynooth at the house of his brother, Colonel Richard Talbot, and was removed to Dublin. For two years Talbot languished in prison and suffered from disease. He died in prison in the beginning of November 1680.

Talbot is said to have been interred in the churchyard of St. Andeon's, close by Lord Portlester's tomb. From his prison cell Talbot had written on April 12, 1679, petitioning that a priest be allowed to visit him, as he was bedridden for months and was now in imminent danger of death. The petition was refused, but Oliver Plunkett was a prisoner in an adjoining cell, and on hearing of Talbot's dying condition forced his way through the warders and administered to the dying prelate the last consolations of religion.