John Sleyne

rdf:langString John Sleyne

rdf:langString John Baptist Sleyne (Irish: Seán Baisteach Mac Sleimhne; c. 1638 – 16 February 1712) was Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork and Cloyne and Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Ross, who was an enthusiastic patron of the Gaelic language and culture, and an advocate of the severely repressed Roman Catholic population, in Ireland during the early period of the Penal Laws. He was one of only two bishops to minister in Ireland at the end of the 17th century. Sleyne was very learned in languages and moral theology, and had traveled widely. He was known to and had interactions with kings, queens, popes and wider cultural and religious establishment throughout Ireland and Europe. Because Sleyne "remain[ed] in the kingdom contrary to the [penal] law", of the time, he went into hiding. He was eventually brought before the courts in 1698 and spent five years in prison in Cork Gaol. During his time as Bishop, both as fugitive and prisoner, Sleyne ordained many priests (estimated to be 38) and consecrated several bishops in Ireland. He was eventually exiled to Portugal, on 11 February 1703, where he was given shelter in the Irish Dominican Convento do Bom Sucesso, Lisbon. He died in Portugal on 16 February 1712, aged 74 years and is buried at the altar of the Sacred Heart in the Church of Nossa Senhora do Bom Sucesso. There are many references to Sleyne throughout documents dating from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Sleyne was sometimes referred to as Joannes Baptiste Mac Sleyne in the Irish college at Sorbonne, as Monsignor Giovanni Batista Sleyne in Rome, as João Baptista Sleyne in Portugal or as John Slyne in the records of the Grand Jury in his native Cork. In Gaelic literature, Sleyne was referred to as Eoin Baiste Mac Sleighne sometimes spelt as Mac Sleidhne. The molded capitals, at the top of the internal columns of St Colman's Cathedral of Cobh refer to him as Bishop Sliney. The portrait of Bishop Sleyne, originally held at St. Isidore’s (the church of the Irish Franciscans, Rome) and now held at the [Cork and Ross Diocesan archives, is thought to be the oldest portrait in existence of any Catholic Bishop of Cork.