Richard Creagh

Richard Creagh (born at Limerick early in the sixteenth century; died in the Tower of London about December 1586) was an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman who was the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in the second half of the sixteenth century. Life The son of a merchant, his family (see Creagh) were Gaels, but had lived in Limerick City for generations. He chose a mercantile career and made many voyages to Spain. A providential escape from shipwreck led him to embrace a religious life, and after some years of seminary study abroad, he was ordained a priest. Returning to Ireland, he taught school for a time at Limerick. Creagh declined promotions to the See of Limerick and See of Cashel. but the Papal nuncio, David Wolfe, was determined to conquer Fr. Creagh's humility andnamed him for the primacy when it became vacant, and would accept no refusal. Creagh was consecrated Archbishop in Rome, and in 1564 returned to Ireland as Archbishop of Armagh. At the time, Seán Mac Cuinn Ó Néill, known in later centuries as "Shane the Proud", was the most powerful Irish clan chief in Ulster and, from the first, The O'Neill and Archbishop Creagh were at variance.