Campbell, Andrew, 1711-1769, former Jesuit Novice and Bishop of Kilmore
- Person
- 30 November 1711-01 December 1768
Born: 30 November 1711-, Claristown, County Meath
Entered: 07 September 1736, Seville, Spain - Baetica Province (BAE)
Ord: pre entry
Died: 01 December 1768
Left Society of Jesus: 17 March 1737,
Bishop Andrew Campbell †
Date Age Event Title
30 Nov 1711 Born
5 Mar 1735 23.2 Ordained Deacon Deacon
25 Mar 1753 41.3 Selected Bishop of Kilmore, Ireland
3 Apr 1753 41.3 Confirmed Bishop of Kilmore, Ireland
3 Jun 1753 41.5 Ordained Bishop Bishop of Kilmore, Ireland
23 Dec 1769 58.0 Died Bishop of Kilmore, Ireland
◆ Francis Finegan SJ Biographical Dictionary 1598-1773
He was born November 30, 1711 at Claristown, County Meath, parish of Dunany, County Louth, and was already a priest when he entered the Novitiate at Seville, September 7, 1736.
He left the Novitiate on St Patrick’s Day of the following year, and eventually became Bishop of Kilmore.
He died December 1, 1768 and was buried at the family tomb at the old Church of Port, Dunany.
◆ County Louth Archaeological and History Society
Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 18, No. 4 (1976), pp. 298-303
Andrew Campbell, Bishop of Kilmore, 1753-1769
Student Days in Spain
Micheline Walsh
During searches on the Continent for unpublished documents of Irish interest I found several relating to Andrew Campbell. As little is known of his student days in Spain it has been suggested to me that I translate these documents from the original Castilian and Mallorqu?n for publication in Ireland. They are in the Archivo Histórico de Mallorca, the Archivo Capitular de la Catedral de Palma de Mallorca, the Archivo del Palacio Arzobispal de Sevilla and the Archivo General de Simancas.
Andrew Campbell was born about the year 1711 in the County Louth parish of Dunany and Port, now the parish of Togher. In 1733 he was a student in the English College of Saint Gregory in Seville where he studied humanities and philosophy for three years and theology for one. Already a priest, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Seville where he was such an instigator of intrigue, as his superior wrote later, that he was dismissed from the Society. The same superior gives an interesting testimonial to Campbell's qualities in stating that in view of his talent and competence he was admitted to the Jesuits.
In the summer of 1737 Campbell made an application to the King of Spain stating that he had completed his studies of philosophy and theology and asking for the usual financial grant to help him to return to the North to preach the gospels. Having apparently failed in this application, the granting of which was usually a matter of form, it is possible that he continued his studies in the famous Complutensian University of Alcalá de Henares, although he does not say so himself, and he claimed that he was awarded a doctorate of theology by the less prestigious University of Sigüenza.
In March 1740 the sisters Maria and Margarita Lawless of Palma de Mallorca appointed Campbell their agent in Madrid and four months later he again applied to the King for financial aid to enable him to return to Ireland. In this he was successful but, for some reason about which we can only speculate, it was not until 19 September 1741, over fourteen months later, that the treasury order for one hundred ducats was signed in favour of Andrew Campbell.
After this date I have found no further evidence of Campbell in Spain and I assume that he returned to Ireland shortly afterwards. On 3 April 1753 he was appointed Bishop of Kilmore; on 30 September 1769 he made his will which has been published by Canon Carrigan, and he died on the first of the following December. From the Vatican Archives Father Cathaldus published a reference to Campbell stating that he finished his studies in Alcalá de Henares and, having received a degree in a different small university, he returned home (studia terminavit Compluti, et accepta laurea in alia parva universitate, rediit in patriam). Philip O Connell found his tomb in the old graveyard of Port in the Bishop's native parish and Father Patrick Campbell of the same parish of Togher has thrown much light on the local background.
My very succinct and incomplete summary of Campbell's student days in Spain is based on the following documents to which I add some explanatory observations for their better understanding :
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Don Andrés Cambel is listed in the registers of the English College of Saint Gregory in Seville
as having received tonsure and minor orders on 18 September 1733, the subdiaconate on 18 Sept ember 1734 and the diaconate on 5 March 1735.
Cambel: this was the simplified spelling of his name by which Campbell was known during his studies in Spain. -
On 7 August 1737 the following letter was written by the King's secretary to the Scot Jesuit, Father William Clarke, confessor to King Philip V of Spain. From 1726 until his death in 1744 Father Clarke was confessor to the King and his adviser on affairs concerning Scot, Irish and English clerics in Spain and on these matters his opinion was all important. The letter is:
Reverendísimo Padre,
By the order of the King J send you the five enclosed memorials from Don Andrés Candel [sic], Don Carlos Lynch, Don Diego Nolan, Don Juan Coleman and Don Patricio Shaw, apostolic missionaries, so that you may forward your views concerning their requests. May God keep you as I wish. Buen Retiro, 7 August 1737.
El Marqués de VerrenApostolic missionaries: during part of the sixteenth and throughout most of the following two centuries, Spanish ecclesiastics usually spoke of the Church in Ireland as the Irish Mission and referred to priests in Ireland as missionaries or apostolic missionaries
Buen Retiro: this was one of the King's residences in Madrid and its grounds are now a famous public park.
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Campbell's memorial, enclosed with the preceding letter, is written in the third person following the usual practice in such petitions to the King and it reads as follows:
Señor,
Don Andrés Cambel, collegian of the English College of Saint Gregory of the University of Seville and apostolic missionary, places himself at the royal feet of Your Majesty and says that he has finished his courses of philosophy and theology as appears from the attached testimonial which he presents to Your Majesty; he proposes going to the North to preach the gospels and to defend the catholic faith against the heretics, but he is unable to accomplish stich a holy purpose without the viaticum which Your Majesty, with catholic zeal, is accustomed to grant in similar cases; therefore, with all humility, he begs your Majesty to order that he be helped with the said viaticum to enable him to achieve his holy objective. The petitioner will thereby receive great favour from the royal and catholic bounty of Your Majesty.Viaticum: from the late sixteenth century Spanish university and ecclesiastical authorities often contributed towards the expenses of young Irish priests returning to Ireland on the completion of their studies, and from the middle of the seventeenth century this aid was undertaken in a gradually more regular way by the King. This royal contribution was called viaticum and the applicant had to present a certificate that he had completed his ecclesiastical studies and to give an undertaking that he was returning to Ireland. As a rule the viaticum varied between fifty and a hundred ducats according to the time or the strength of the lobby. As the value of the ducat of those times in our money of to-day would range at least from four to six pounds the viaticum was a generous contribution the obtaining of which led on occasion to abuses. There are records of some who preferred the more comfortable fife in Spain and no longer had the courage to face the dangers and hardships in Ireland. They managed to get the viaticum and then remained in Spain where sometimes we find them as tutors in wealthy families or chaplains in Irish regiments in the Spanish service. In order to counter such abuses the royal treasury often ordered that the viaticum be paid only at the last moment at a named port of departure for Ireland.
As it is possible that Campbell studied in Alcal? de Henares following his failure to get the viaticum in 17371 it should be noted that the Irish College of that city was in a privileged position with regard to the viaticum. In Spain there were four colleges, apart from those in Spanish Flanders, for the education of Irish ecclesiastical students for the secular clergy. The Irish College in Madrid is usually numbered as a fifth but in fact it was more of an Irish ecclesiastical hostel than what we would understand as a college. Of these four colleges, that of Alcal? de Henares was the only one not directed by the Jesuits and the students there elected their own rectors usually from the senior students of theology. This led to a frequent change of rectorship which was a much sought-after post if only for the reason that, on setting out for Ireland, all ex-rectors got the viaticum of the time doubled.
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The testimonial attached to Campbell's memorial is in the form of a printed statement with blank spaces for the name of the person, the date and the number of years spent in the study of theology; these spaces are filled in by hand and the document is signed by the prefect of studies and four professors. Similar testimonials were produced by the other young applicants mentioned in Document 2. As the document is in straightforward Latin a translation is not necessary:
IHS
Praefectus Generaiis Studiorum, & Professores Sacrae Theologiae in hoc Hispalen praecipuo Societatis Jesu Collegio universis has literas visuris notumfacimus, & testam D. Andream Cambel in his publicis nostris scholis Artibus, & Philosophiae per trienniu Theologiae vero per quadriennium operam impendisse, ac toto eo tempore egregium specimen d?disse, turn in modestia, pietate, ac morum probitate, turn etiam in profect utraque fac?ltate, quarum actibus, & exercitationibus assiduus interfuit, ingeni judicii praeclara exhibens argumenta. In quorum fide his subscripsimus Hispali eodem Sancti Hermenegildi Regis Martyris Collegio, die n mensis Junij anno 1737Ihs + Ihs
Josephus de Iturrate Josephus de Tenas Josephus Gomez Joannes de Escazena
Stud. Pfs. Gens. Sacre Scripture Interpte. Prime. Cathe. Profr. RespSimon Real
Philosophiae ProfessQuadriennium: it would appear from the original, and there remains a suggestion of i in the photographic copy reproduced on page 303, that quadriennium was written over erasion of a shorter word. This might explain the apparent contradiction between the statement of the testimonial that Campbell had read four years of theology in the college and the declarat of Father Valderas in his letter to Father Clarke three months later that Campbell had st one year of theology in the college.
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Before making any recommendation Father Clarke apparently thought it well to wri further information to the rector of the college in Seville; I have been unable to trace his but the following is the answer he received:
Padre mío y Se?or,
With reverence I have received your letter. I rejoice in your health and offer mine to you, wishing that you use it in anything that may please you.
I have no knowledge of the order which you say His Majesty {may God keep him) has given concerning the students who return to their country; my books only show evidence of the alms of fifty ducats as help for the viaticum. When His Majesty was in Seville I made repeated representations to have these alms established on a regular basis but I was not successful. For this reason the students ask for various testimonials in order to present their own petitions and very often, so as not to offend the truth, they cannot be given with the necessary exactness, all the more when they are requested for other legitimate ends connected with the students promotion and advantage.
Don Patricio Shaw's testimonial may be treated favourably by your reverence for he is in the fourth year of theology which he is unable to finish owing to ill-health and it is necessary to send him to the mission without delay. Don Juan Coleman went to England more than two years ago but did not notify me of his arrival as others do. Cambel's case is worse; he studied philosophy and one year of theology in this college. In view of his talent and competence he was admitted to the Company, being already a priest, but he was tempted in his vocation and was such an instigator of intrigue in the novitiate that our Father General, on being consulted, advised that he be dismissed, which was done. I have strongly opposed his readmission and he is not lacking in supporters. They have made representations to me concerning testimonials, which I have refused to give except in the form which you have seen. They say that the said Cambel is in this city and I have no evidence that he intends to return to the mission. Your reverence will decide according to your judgement in Domino and will let me know what I must do. May God keep your reverence many years. Seville, 24 September 1737.
Luis Vaideras.Company: an abbreviation for the Company of Jesus (Society of Jesus)
Company: an abbreviation for the Company of Jesus (Society of Jesus).
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In the papers of Mallorquín notary John Ginard, which are preserved in the Historical Archives of Mallorca, there is a power of attorney for Campbell made by Maria and Margarita Lawless and dated 8 March 1740. It is a long document and would make tedious reading were it published verbatim with all its repetitious and legalistic formalism. It suffices for our purpose to state that it gives full and absolute authority to Andrew Campbell to represent the sisters in all matters referring to their property and business in the Court of Madrid.
Maria and Margarita were two of four sisters of Captain-General Patricio Lawless, governor of the Balearic Islands, one of the most distinguished Irishmen in Spain during the previous thirty years and who had died in 1739. Lawless had left Ireland for France after the Treaty of Limerick and he was subsequently outlawed in absentia and his property confiscated. In 1704 he passed with permission from the French to the Spanish service where his promotion was both extraordinary and rapid. From being a major in O Mahony's Dragoons he became an officer in the King's Guards, was made major-general and entrusted with some well-known and very important missions by Philip V. In 1709, on the recommendation of the King, he was made knight-commander of the order of Alc?ntara and, most unusual double honour, he was also granted a commandery in the order of Santiago.
Later Lawless was appointed lieutenant-general and we may be excused a twinkle of amusement on hearing that in 1713, on the signing of the treaty of Utrecht at the end of the war of the Spanish succession, this outlawed felon from Ireland appeared in London to present his credentials to Queen Anne with all the diplomatic immunity of Spanish ambassador to the Court of Saint James. Having spent several years in this post he was appointed ambassador to France and finally, in December 1721, he was rewarded for his very distinguished services to the Crown by being made captain-general and governor of the Balearic Islands. After thirty years' absence from Ireland Lawless then invited his sisters to share the residence and prestige of the new governor.
We know from Bishop Campbell's will that his sister Margaret married a Patrick Lawless to both of whom he bequeathed half the lands as ordered in my father s will. Neither Campbell's will nor the Lawless sisters' power of attorney mentions any relationship; if there be none, how ever, one must wonder how the very aristocratic and influential sisters of Mallorca should know and place such absolute confidence in the very unimportant, and as yet almost unknown, young Irishman from Louth four hundred miles away in Madrid. One might also wonder if the renown and influence of the Lawless family of Mallorca were not a significant factor in changing the attitude to Campbell of the King's adviser between 1737 and July 1740, the latter date being a few months after Campbell had been appointed by the Lawless sisters their full and absolute agent in the Court of Madrid.
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In July 1740 Father Clarke was again consulted about Campbell in a letter from the King's secretary:
Reverendísimo Padre,
By order of the King I send you the enclosed memorial of Don Andr?s Cambel so that you may express your views concerning his request. May God keep you many years as I wish. Buen Retiro, 8 July 1740.
Berdo Verdes Monteno. -
This second memorial from Andrew Campbell to the King suggests that he had used the intervening years to good purpose :
Señor,
Don Andr?s Cambel, priest of the Irish nation, Doctor of the University of Sigüenza, places himself at the royal feet of Your Majesty and with the greatest humility says that, having finished his studies of philosophy and theology and having acquired the necessary competence for the apostolic mission of his persecuted country, he has resolved to go to the said holy mission to preach the gospel. But he is unable to do so owing to lack of funds for his journey and, as he knows that for this purpose Your Majesty has most generously granted the viaticum to other apostolic missionaries in a similar case, he begs Your Majesty to order that he be given the customary viaticum for his journey and he will thereby receive favour from the bountiful generosity of Your Majesty. -
There was no certificate from the University of Sig?enza confirming that Campbell had completed his ecclesiastical studies satisfactorily and Father Clarke does not appear to have made enquiries there as he did in Seville three years before. We can only surmise as to the reason and as to why he seems to strain the truth in making his recommendation so entirely favourable :
Muy Señor mío,
I write in compliance with the King's order which you transmitted to me concerning the request made by Don Andrés Cambel in his memorial. I have seen a testimonial from the rector of the English College in Seville who states that the person in question studied, in that college, philosophy for three years and theology for one year. He did not continue because he was in poor health and the climate did not suit him. However, as it is evident that he continued and concluded the courses of theology in other universities of Spain, I believe that it would be fitting that His Majesty's favour be extended to him and that he be granted the usual viaticum for his journey to the missions of Ireland for the glory of God, the good of those catholics and the conversion of heretics. His Majesty will decide according to his pleasure. May God keep you many years as I wish. Madrid, 13 July 1740.
Guillermo Clarke -
A brief note attached to Document 8 above states that an order for the payment by the Spanish treasury of one hundred ducats by way of viaticum to Don Andr?s Cambel was issued on 19 September 1741, over fourteen months after this application, and this is the last reference we have to Bishop Campbell's student days in Spain.