Thaddeus was born in West Cork around 1455, and is claimed as one of the McCarthy
Reagh Family. There is uncertainty about his exact place of birth. He studied
abroad and we know he was in Rome in 1482, aged only 27. Pope Sixtus IV, a special
dispensation being required because of his age, appointed him Bishop of Ross.
What followed seems strange today, but was part of the administrative complexity
and political interaction of the times.
Thaddeus travelled to Ireland to find that Ross already had a bishop, appointed
nine years earlier by the previous bishop and consecrated by the Archbishop
of Cashel. The incumbent bishop, Hugh or Odo O'Driscoll, saw the newcomer as
part of a political manoeuvre by the McCarthy family against the O'Driscoll
family, a feud already rife on the ground. This was further complicated by allegiances
to the English dynastic civil war known as the War of the Roses, which spilled
over into Irish affairs.
In 1483 Bishop Odo O'Driscoll travelled to Rome to denounce Thaddeus. So successful
was he that Pope Sixtus IV seems to have ordered Thaddeus McCarthy to withdraw
from Ross and accepted the claim of Odo. Thaddeus regarded the documentation
on this as suspicious and continued to uphold his claim.
In 1484 Sixtus IV died and was succeeded by Pope Innocent VIII. He upheld the
reported judgement of his predecessor, declaring that Thaddeus was not the Bishop
of Ross. Thaddeus now requested an independent enquiry to establish the facts.
When this enquiry was complete Innocent VIII declared Odo to be the legitimate
Bishop of Ross by prior appointment. Two years later, in 1490, Thaddeus was
appointed by Pope Innocent VIII as Bishop of the united dioceses of Cork &
Cloyne, which the incumbent, William Roche, voluntarily resigned in his favour.
These dioceses had been united in 1429.
Thaddeus troubles were not, however, over. The same political forces that had
opposed his arrival to Ross, now seized the Cathedral at Cork and supported
another claimant, Gerald Fitzgerald, to the appointment. Thaddeus returned to
Rome to have the issue finally sorted out. In a "motu proprio" dated
18th. July 1492, Pope Innocent VIII clearly established Thaddeus as the legitimate
bishop of Cork & Cloyne.
Thaddeus set out on the return journey to Ireland. His journey was on foot,
travelling along the pilgrims' route and staying at shrines and hostels along
the way. His route, which led from Italy into France, passed through Ivrea where
Thaddeus took shelter in a pilgrims' hospice. The following morning a brilliant
light was seen to shine from his room. On investigation, it was found that Thaddeus
had died during the night and the light, like flickering flames of a fire, shone
from his body and the pallet he lay on. When they opened his travel bag they
discovered his Episcopal insignia and the papal documents which accompanied
him. News spread and crowds gathered, several sick persons being miraculously
cured. The bishop directed his body to be brought to the Cathedral where it
lay in state for several days. His body was laid to rest under the altar of
St. Eusebius in the Cathedral of Ivrea. It bears the inscription: "Cava
S. Eusebii et sepulcrum B. Taddei Ep. Hib."
Devotion to Thaddeus McCarthy grew in Ivrea. Over the years many have attributed
miracles to his intercession. When his tomb was opened in 1742, three hundred
years after his death, Thaddeus's body was found to be complete preserved
Pope Leo XIII declared him Blessed on 14th. September 1896. The bishops, on
their return, brought relics, which are venerated in the Cathedral Churches
of Cork and Cloyne.
A special chapel is dedicated to Blessed Thaddeus in Cobh Cathedral with highlights
of his life portrayed. Here a statue of Thaddeus stands at the centre of the
altarpiece. A casket underneath contains his relics. On the mosaic floor is
the coat of arms of Bishop John McCarthy with the Latin inscription: "Blessed
Thaddeus, Bishop of Cloyne 1490-92."
Representatives of both dioceses attended the celebrations in Ivrea for the
500th anniversary of his death in 1992.