Tadhg Mac Cárthaigh was born about 1455 at Innishannon in County Cork, of the noble MacCarthy lineage—likely of the MacCarthy Reagh of Carbery. His father was lord of Muskerry; his mother was said to be a daughter of Edmund Fitzmaurice, ninth Lord of Kerry. Tradition holds that he was educated by the Franciscans of Timoleague (or at Kilcrea) and prepared for the priesthood under an uncle, Canon Thady Mac Cárthaigh. He continued studies in Paris with a kinsman, Professor Don Raymond, at the University of Paris, was ordained in Cork by Bishop William Roche, and afterward pursued further formation in Rome, where he appears to have served in one of the Roman tribunals.
His gifts so impressed the Roman Curia that Pope Sixtus IV, though Tadhg was only about twenty-seven, named him Bishop of Ross after the death of Bishop Donald. On 3 May 1482 he was consecrated in the Church of Santo Stefano del Cacco in Rome by Stephen Teglatius, Archbishop of Antivari, assisted by other bishops. Returning to Munster he found the see already held by Hugh O'Driscoll, appointed earlier by the same pope. In the tangled politics of Gaelic kings and Anglo-Irish lords, rival dynasties and false accusations branded him an impostor. He was declared an intruder, excommunicated, and the sentence was confirmed under Innocent VIII in 1488. He appealed; a commission cleared him, the excommunication was lifted, and on 21 April 1490 he was appointed Bishop of Cork and Cloyne.
Again he met usurpation. Gerald FitzGerald and local powers barred him from the cathedral with armed force. For two years he went from place to place with the papal documents of his rightful title, refusing violent retaliation by his own kin until even they abandoned him. Destitute of status and security, he returned once more to Rome. Innocent VIII gave him a brief dated 18 July 1492 ordering the powerful Earl of Kildare and others to restore him under pain of censure. Fearing for his life, he set out for Ireland disguised as a simple pilgrim.
Some fourteen weeks later, on the evening of 24 October 1492, a lone traveler in a coarse habit, marked with the pilgrim's shell, reached the hostel for pilgrims at Ivrea, worn out by the journey. The warden received him kindly. At dawn a strange radiance shone from his cell; the pilgrim was found dead, his body bathed in light. He was thirty-seven. The local bishop, Nicholas Garigliatti, had dreamed that night of a man in episcopal robes ascending in glory; recognizing the dead stranger, he examined the few belongings—a wallet, water vessel, and staff—and found papal papers and a bishop's ring. Clothed in pontifical vestments, the body was borne to Ivrea Cathedral, laid in state amid throngs of the faithful, and buried beneath the altar of Saint Andrew.
His tomb became a place of local devotion. When opened in 1742 the body was found incorrupt. In the famine year 1847 the clergy and people of Ivrea sent generous relief to Ireland and sought news of the pilgrim-bishop whose intercession was already linked with many favors. After investigation, Pope Leo XIII in 1896 confirmed the immemorial cult of Blessed Thaddeus. Relics were given to the Irish dioceses and are venerated at Cork, Cobh, Youghal, and elsewhere. Honored as the "White Martyr of Munster" for the long interior and exterior trial he endured without bitterness, he never ruled his flock in peace yet never ceased to seek the Church's justice and to walk the pilgrim road in humility.
May Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy obtain for us the grace of patient fidelity under injustice, and let us imitate today his meek perseverance when every human support fails.
