Daniel O'Daly, a Dominican friar, was (according to Dr. Smith) a native of Kerry. On his ordination he assumed the name of Dominick à Rosario, and retained it during his life. He lived for a time in the convent of Tralee, but was educated chiefly in Flanders; from whence he was invited to Lisbon, in the reign of Philip IV. king of Spain, who then possessed Portugal, which was governed by the Duchess of Mantua, the king's first cousin. O'Daly, being a man of good address, soon became a favourite of that princess, by whose encouragement the new college, called Corpo Santo, was carried on with great success; and when finished, he was made the first rector of it. He afterwards founded a monastery for Irish Dominican nuns at Lisbon, called the Convent of Bon Success.
When Portugal had thrown off the Spanish yoke, and John, Duke of Braganza, was advanced to the throne, O'Daly was appointed confessor to the new queen; and was in such high esteem with the king, that he employed him in many weighty affairs during his reign. In 1655104 he was sent ambassador to Lewis XIV. to treat of a league of affinity between the crowns of Spain and France. At Paris he lived at the convent of St. Honoratus, and would not depart from the rules of the order.
On the death of his king, November 6, 1656, he celebrated the accession of his son and heir, Alphonsus, to the throne of Portugal, with great solemnity, at Paris; gave public largesses to the people, and had splendid fireworks on the Seine. According to the writers of the Dominican Bibliothèque, he was recalled and died the same year, at Paris; but it appears from an inscription upon his monument, at Lisbon, that he lived until 1662. Baronius,105 who gives him a very high character, extends his life to 1666. He refused the bishoprick of Goa and Braga, and was afterwards promoted to that of Conimbria, but died before the bulls were dispatched from Rome. He was censor of the Inquisition, Visitor-general, and Vicar-general of Portugal. He died on the 30th of June, 1662 (not 1666, as Baronius says), in the 67th year of his age, and was buried in the chapel of his convent, under a monument, on which may be read the following inscription:—
‘HIC JACET VENBRABILIS P. M. Fr. DOMINICUS O'DALY, HUJUS ET CONVENTUS MONIALIUM BONI SUCCESSUS FUNDATOR; IN VARIIS REGUM LEGATIONIBUS FOELIX, EPISCOPUS CONIMBRICENSIS ELECTUS; VIR VIRTUTE, LITERIS ET RELIGIONE CONSPICUUS. OBIIT ANNO 1662. ÆTAT. 67.’
He hath written ‘Initium, incrementum et exitus, familiæ Giraldinorum Desmoniæ, comitum palatinorum Kyerria in Hyberniâ, ac persecutionis hæreticorum descriptio, ex nonnullis fragmentis collecta, ac latinitate donata. Ulyssipone, 1655. 8vo.’
This treatise gives a history of the families of the Earls of Desmond, which he brings from Troy, among the followers
Smith's Kerry. , 413, 415.
This small volume is of extreme rarity. A copy was sold in Bindley's sale for twenty guineas. Inferior copies have since been sold by Mr. Thorpe, at eight, ten, and twelve guineas.—(See his most interesting Catalogues.) C.