Arthur O'Leary

Father Arthur O'Leary, O.F.M. (1729 – 8 January 1802) was an Irish Franciscan preacher and polemical writer.

O'Leary was born at Fanlobbus, County Cork, Ireland. He was educated with the Franciscans of Saint Malo, where he was ordained and acted as prison chaplain till 1777. He returned to Cork to engage in missionary work.

He is charged by James Froude with having received secret-service money from the Government, but other historians consider this unproven. In 1786-88 he argued the Catholic case in the so-called "Paper War" between conservative Protestants and moderates that sought further legal reform of the Penal Laws, leading towards Catholic Emancipation. O'Leary's arguments helped Henry Grattan with his proposal in 1788 to remove the tithe paid by Roman Catholics to the Church of Ireland, but this was voted down by the Parliament of Ireland.

From 1789 till his death he was chaplain to the Spanish embassy in London. He was a wit, and socially acquainted with the circle of Edmund Burke, Richard Sheridan, and Charles James Fox. In the 1790s he built the original St Patrick's Church, Soho Square for the poor London Irish living around St Giles. He died in London and was buried in Old St Pancras Churchyard. His name is listed on the Burdett-Coutts Memorial to the eminent graves lost from the graveyard.

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