Sean na Sagart

Common card · No. 494237

Seán na Sagart (Irish for 'John of the Priests'), born John Mullowney (c. 1690 – 1726), was a priest hunter during penal times in Ireland. John Mullowney was born in Derrew, near Ballyheane, County Mayo, c. 1690. Mullowney was a horse thief and was arrested and sentenced to death in Castlebar in his youth. When the grand jury became aware of his low character, they cut a deal with him in which he agreed to turn priest hunter to escape the hangman's noose. The 1709 Penal Act demanded that Catholic priests take the Oath of Abjuration and recognise the Protestant Queen Anne as Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland. Any cleric who refused was sentenced to death by the Anglican-controlled judicial system. Mullowney was reputedly offered £100 for capturing an archbishop or bishop, £20 for a priest, and £10 for obtaining a hedge school teacher. These men would then be executed if they refused to take the Oath of Abjuration. Mullowney used the money to fund his heavy drinking and expensive...

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