Francis Harold

Irish Franciscan and historical writer, d. at Rome, 18 March, 1685. He was for some time professor of theology in the Irish College at Prague; and afterwards went to Rome, where he spent the remaining years of his life in the Irish Franciscan College of St. Isadore, fulfilling the duties of librarian. In 1662 he published at Rome in two folio volumes an epitome of the "Annals" of his uncle Like Wadding, extending from 1208 to 1540, to which he prefixed a life of Wadding, dedicating it to Cardinal Francesco Barberini. This life was again published at Rome in 1731. He also wrote "Beati Thuribii Alphonsi Mogroveii archiepiscopi Limensis vita exemplaris", published at Rome in 1683. A copy of this work with the author's manuscript corrections is still preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. His "Lima Limata conciliis, constitutionibus synodalibus et aliis monumentis . . . notis et scholiis illustrata", published at Rome in 1673, contains a collection of documents connected with the councils and other affairs of importance in the Church of Peru.

Ware-Harris, Writers of Ireland, II (Dublin, 1739-40), 200-01; Gilbert in Dict. Nat. Biog., XXIV.

STEPHEN M. DONOVAN