Michael Moore

(Or MOOR)

Priest, preacher, and professor, b. at Dublin, Ireland, 1640; d. at Paris, 22 Aug., 1726. Educated at Nantes and Paris, he taught philosophy and rhetoric at the Collège des Grassins. Returning to Ireland, he was ordained priest in 1684, and appointed Vicar-General of the Diocese of Dublin by Archbishop Russell. When the Revolution of 1688 drove James II from his British dominions, Ireland was held for him by Richard Talbot, Earl (afterwards Duke) of Tyrconnell. The provost of Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. Huntingdon, fled to England when James landed in Ireland. The college was seized by the Jacobites, the chapel was made a powder magazine, one portion of the building was turned into a barrack, and another into a gaol for persons suspected of disaffection to the royal cause. Moore was chaplain and confessor to Tyrconnell through whose influence and on the recommendation of the Irish Catholic bishops, he was appointed (1689) by James, provost of Trinity College - the only Catholic who ever held that position. He upheld the rights of the college, secured it from further pillage, and endeavoured to mitigate the treatment of the prisoners. With the librarian, Father McCarthy, he prevented the soldiery from burning the library, and by preserving its precious collections rendered an incalculable service to letters. A sermon which he preached in Christ Church cathedral offended the king so deeply that he was obliged to resign (1690), and retired to Paris. When James, after the battle of the Boyne (1690), fled to Paris, Moore removed to Rome, became Censor of Books, and won the favour of Innocent XII and Clement XI. When Cardinal Barbarigo established his college at Montefiascone, he appointed Moore rector, and professor of philosophy and Greek. The college attracted men of learning, and received from Innocent XII an annual grant of two thousand crowns. After the death of James II (1701), Moore returned to France, where through Cardinal de Noailles, he was appointed Rector of the University of Paris (10 Oct., 1701 to 9 Oct., 1702). He was also made principal of the Collège de Navarre, and professor of philosophy, Greek, and Hebrew in the Collège de France. In 1702 he was selected to deliver the annual panegyric on Louis XIV, founded by the City of Paris. Moore joined Dr. Farrelly (Fealy) in purchasing a house near the Irish College for poor Irish students. Blind for some years he had to employ an amanuensis, who took advantage of his master's affliction to steal and sell many hundred volumes of his choice library. What remained Moore bequeathed to the Irish College. He died in the Collège de Navarre, and was buried in the vault under the chapel of the Irish College. His published works include: "De Existentia Dei, et Humanae Mentis Immortalitate, secundum Cartesii et Aristotelis Doctrinam" (Paris. 1692); "Hortatio ad Studium Linguae Graecae et Hebraicae" (Montefiascone 1700); "Vera Sciendi Methodus" (Paris, 1716).

WARE, The Writers of Ireland, ed. HARRIS (Dublin, 1745); MORERI, Morus (Michael) in Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique (1740); TAYLOR, History of the University of Dublin (1845); GILBERT, History of Dublin (1861); JOURDAIN, Histoire de l'Universite de Paris au XVIIe siecle et au XVIIIe siecle (Paris, 1862-66); WEBB, Compendium of Irish Biography; MAUCAULAY, History of England; Dict. of National Biography.

P. J. Lennox