![]() Even before the Maquires assumed control of Fermanagh, Giolla Mochuda Mór Ó Caiside was famed throughout Ireland as a prince of learning. He flourished from 1130 to 1140 and his Gaelic verse is still read. Equally famous was the Penal Day poet, Tomás Ó Caiside. Archdeacon Rory Cassidy helped with the Annals of Ulster and he compiled the Clogher Register in 1525. The Cassidys were also herenachs at Devenish and they supplied the Church with many clerics. Most of these laboured during the Penal Days and some of them were Franciscans. Father Ó Gallachair has given us an account of these in the Clogher Register of 1956. Despite the limited franchise there were fourteen Cassidy voters in Fermanagh in 1796. Perhaps the most famous Cassidy in the last century was William (1815-73), the great American Catholic politician. from The Fermanagh Story by Pedar Livingstone; 1969 |
Here are some translations and definitions of some words and phrases used above:
Herenachs: a family with an hereditary title to Church property.
Penal Days: 1690-1750 Laws enacted in Ulster which essentially deprived all adherents to the Catholic faith of their civil rights.
Motto: Frangas non flectes.... meaning literally "broken not bowed". A less literal translation, used by the Cassidy-L mailing list, is "You can break me, but I'll never bend."