O'Cullenan, Gelasius
(Glaisne), Cistercian, Abbot of Boyle, Ireland, b. probably near
Assaroe Abbey, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal; martyred, 21 Nov., 1580.
Three of his brothers were Cistercian abbots, and a fourth Bishop
of Raphoe. Gelasius, the eldest, studied at Salamanca University,
went thence to Paris where he took his doctorate at the Sorbonne,
made his monastic profession, and was created Abbot of Boyle, Co.
Roscommon. This abbey had been confiscated and granted to Cusack,
Sheriff of Meath; but the Irish regulars continued to appoint
superiors to the suppressed houses. The young abbot went
immediately to Ireland and is said to have obtained restoration of
his abbey. He was, however, seized at Dublin by the Government and
imprisoned with Eugene O'Mulkeeran, Abbot of Holy Trinity at Lough
Key. Refusing to conform, they were tortured and finally hanged
outside Dublin, 21 November, 1580. O'Cullenan's body was spared
mutilation through his friends' intercession. His clothes were
divided as a martyr's relics among the Catholics.
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