Maurice Eustace, the eldest
son of Sir John Eustace, Castlemartin, County Kildare, Ireland, was
martyred for the Catholic Faith, during Nov. 1581. Owing to the penal
laws which were imposed on the Irish Catholics, he was sent to be
educated at the Jesuit College at Bruges in Flanders, where, after the
completion of his secular studies, he desired to enter the Society of
Jesus. His father, however, wrote the superiors of the college to send
him home.
Maurice returned to Ireland, much
against his own inclinations, but in hope of being able, later on, to
carry out his desire. After a brief stay, during which he tried to
dissuade his father from opposing his vocation, he went back to
Flanders. His old masters at the College of Bruges on learning his
father's determination advised him to return to Ireland and devote
himself in the world to the service of religion. Shortly after his
arrival in Ireland he got an appointment as captain of horse, in which
position he did much to edify, and even win back to the Faith, those who
served under him. He never abandoned the idea of becoming a priest, and
secretly took Holy Orders. His servant, who was aware of the fact, told
his father, who had his son immediately arrested and imprisoned in
Dublin. A younger brother William, desiring to inherit the family
estates, also reported Maurice to be a priest, a Jesuit, and a friend of
the Queen's enemies. As a consequence Maurice was put on trial for high
treason. During his imprisonment Adam Loftus, Protestant Archbishop of
Dublin, offered him his daughter in marriage, and a large dowry if he
would accept the reformed religion. Yielding neither to the bribery nor
persecution, Eustace was sentenced to public execution, and hanged.
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These pages © Ronald Eustice, 2007
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