Dossier 139 - Commentarius Rinuccinanus

The file includes photographic copies of pages from one of most important primary sources for the history of early modern Ireland. Known as the ‘Commentarius Rinuccinanus’, the work provides a history of the mission of Archbishop Giovanni Battista Rinuccini (1592-1653) to Ireland during the Confederate Wars of 1645-9 and the subsequent Cromwellian invasion. Written entirely in Latin, the ‘Commentarius’ was composed in Florence, Italy, by two Irish Capuchin friars, Fr. Richard O’Ferrall (d. 1653) and Fr. Robert O’Connell (c.1623-1678). The work’s full title is ‘De haeresis Anglicanae in Iberniam intrusione et progressu, et de Bell Catholico ad annum 1641 caepto, exindeque per aliquot gesto, Commentarius’ (‘A Commentary on the intrusion and progress of the English heresy in Ireland, and of the Catholic War begun in 1641 and waged for some years afterwards’). The original ‘Commentarius’ manuscript was held in the City Archives in Milan. It was destroyed in a bombing raid on Milan in 1943. Fortunately, it already had been transcribed by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. and published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission.

The original 'Commentarius' manuscript was first consulted by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. in 1923 who subsequently published the work in its entirety in six volumes between 1932 and 1949. Further information can be obtained in section 1.3, p. 13 at http://www.capuchinfranciscans.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2.-Descriptive-List-Web-Sources-for-Early-Irish-Capuchins.pdf