Bridgeman, Joanna (Sister Mary Francis)
Bridgeman, Joanna (Sister Mary Francis) (1813–88), Sister of Mercy, educator, and Crimean war nurse, was born in Ballagh, Ruan, Co. Clare, one of four children (two sons and two daughters) of St John Bridgeman and his wife Lucy Reddan. Her mother was a relative of…...
Brigit (Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Bridget)
Brigit (Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Bridget) (possibly c.450–524), reputed foundress and first abbess of Cell Dara (Kildare), is the female patron saint of Ireland, but it is uncertain whether she existed as a person. Most scholars regard her as a ghost personality generated in the…...
Brinkley, John
Brinkley, John (1766?–1835), astronomer and bishop, was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, and baptised 31 January 1767, illegitimate son of John Toler and Sarah Brinkley, who later married James Boulter. He was educated by clergymen in Suffolk (it is not known at whose expense…...
Bristol, Ralph of
Bristol, Ralph of (d. 1232), bishop of Kildare, was a native of Bristol. It is not known when he came to Ireland, but he probably arrived in the train of Henry of London (qv) (d. 1228), who became archbishop of Dublin upon the death…...
Bristow, William
Bristow, William (1736–1808), clergyman and sovereign of Belfast, was born 24 October 1736 in Wiltshire, son of Skeffington Bristow, Church of Ireland clergyman, and Elizabeth Bristow (née Grattan), clergyman's daughter and cousin of Henry…...
Brittaine, George
Brittaine, George (1788–1848), protestant evangelical preacher and novelist, was born in 1788 in Dublin, the son of Rev Patrick Brittain (1762–1804), curate of St James's parish from 1789 to 1804. (The spelling Brittaine was adopted by George). He entered…...
Briúinsech Cael (Briuineach)
Briúinsech Cael (Briuineach) (6th cent.?), church foundress and saint in the Irish tradition; her father is named as Crimthann, but her lineage is unrecorded. She is said to have had two sisters, Luchad and Tudella. Briúinsech apparently became a member of the community of…...
Broccán (Brogan) Clóen
Broccán (Brogan) Clóen (‘squint[-eyed]’) (d. 650), abbot of Ros Tuirc in Ossory, was credited with the poem, ‘Ní car Brigit búadach bíth’, on the miracles of St Brigit (qv). According to its preface, Broccán's…...
Brodrick, Charles
Brodrick, Charles (1761–1822), Church of Ireland archbishop of Cashel, was born 3 May 1761 in London, the fourth son of George Brodrick (1730–1765), third Viscount Midleton, and his wife, Albinia, née Townshend (c.1737–1808). The Brodrick family had estates in England and…...
Brontë, Patrick
Brontë, Patrick (1777–1861), Church of England clergyman and writer, was born 17 March 1777, in Emdale, Drumballyroney, Co. Down, the eldest of the ten children of Hugh Prunty , or Brunty, a protestant farm labourer, and Eleanor or Alice (née McClory), born a catholic. He is known…...
Brooke, Robert
Brooke, Robert (1744–1811), soldier and industrialist, was second son of Robert Brooke, artist, of Rantavana, Co. Cavan, and Honor Brooks of Kinawley, Co. Fermanagh. Entering the Bengal establishment of the East India Company as an ensign in 1764, he was promoted to the rank of…...
Brooke, Stopford Augustus
Brooke, Stopford Augustus (1832–1916), clergyman and author, was born 14 November 1832 at ‘Glendoen’, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, eldest of eight children of the Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, the local curate, and Anna Brooke (née Stopford). When his maternal grandfather and…...
Brooke, William Graham
Brooke, William Graham (1834–1907), public servant, influential Church of Ireland layman, and promoter of education, was born 16 July 1834 in Wyton, Huntington, England, the second son of Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, curate of Glendoen, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal (and from…...
Brown (Browne), Nicholas
Brown (Browne), Nicholas (1661?–1708), clergyman and writer, was the son of John Brown, gentleman, and Edith Brown (née Slacke), daughter of a clergyman; both parents were from Co. Fermanagh. He entered TCD (1678) and was awarded a…...
Brown, David
Brown, David (c.1485–c.1559), Dominican priest and provincial, probably belonged to the Kerry branch of the Norman-Irish Brown family. The description of him as a distinguished filius of the Dominican priory of Tralee indicates that he entered the order…...
Browne, Francis Patrick Mary
Browne, Francis Patrick Mary (1880–1960), photographer and Jesuit priest, was born 3 January 1880 in Sunday's Well, Cork, youngest of eight children of James Browne, flour merchant and JP, and Brigid Browne (née Hegarty; 1840–80), who died…...
Browne, George
Browne, George (d. c.1556), archbishop of Dublin, began his career as an Augustinian friar, most probably in the early 1520s. An Englishman by birth, he remained a relatively obscure figure until, in 1532, he emerged as prior of the Augustinian friars’ London convent at…...
Browne, Henry Martyn
Browne, Henry Martyn (1853–1941), classicist and Jesuit priest, was born 7 August 1853 in Claughton, Woodchurch, Cheshire, England, the second of four sons and one daughter of John Wilson Browne, hardware merchant, born in Portugal (1824), and Jane Susan Browne (née McKnight), one…...
Browne, Mary Bonaventura
Browne, Mary Bonaventura (d. ante 1694), abbess and chronicler, was one of at least four children (two daughters and two sons) of Andrew Browne, a merchant of Galway city with substantial landholdings across Co. Galway. Her mother was probably Helen Lynch, the earlier of her…...
Browne, Maurice
Browne, Maurice (1892–1979), priest and novelist, was born in Grangemockler, Co. Tipperary, son of Maurice Browne, schoolteacher, and Catherine Browne (née Fitzgerald). Educated at Rockwell and then Clonliffe Colleges, he was ordained from Maynooth as a priest in the Dublin diocese in…...
Browne, Michael (David)
Browne, Michael (David) (1887–1971), Dominican and cardinal, was born 6 May 1887 at Grangemockler, Co. Tipperary, son of Maurice Browne and Catherine Browne (née Fitzgerald), and was christened David. He attended the local school, of which his father was headmaster, and later…...
Browne, Michael John
Browne, Michael John (1895–1980), catholic bishop of Galway, was born 20 December 1895 in Westport, Co. Mayo, fifth child of Michael Browne, draper, and Elizabeth Browne (née Higgins). Educated at CBS Westport, St Jarlath's College,…...
Browne, Peter
Browne, Peter (c.1665–1735), theologian, provost of TCD, and bishop of Cork, was born in Co. Dublin, son of Richard Browne. After schooling by Mr Crow, he entered TCD in 1682, graduating BA…...
Browne, Robert
Browne, Robert (1844–1935), catholic bishop, was born probably 9 August 1844 in Charleville, Co. Cork, youngest of three sons of Robert Browne and Margaret Browne (née Mullins). Educated at St Colman's College, Fermoy, from 1859, he matriculated (1860) for St Patrick's College,…...
Brown, Ignatius
Brown, Ignatius (1630–79), Jesuit, was born on either 1 or 9 November 1630 in Co. Waterford, and by the late 1640s he was studying philosophy at Compostella in Spain. On 27 June 1651 he entered the Society of Jesus as a novice at Villagarcia before resuming his studies, this time…...