The Rape of Wexford
“Before God's altar fell sacred victims, holy priests of the Lord. Of those who were seized outside the church some were scourged, some thrown into chains and imprisoned, while oth ers were hanged or put to death by cruel tortures. The blood of our noblest citizens was shed so that it inundated the streets. There was hardly a house that was not defiled with carnage and filled with wailing "
- Dr Nicholas French, Bishop of Ferns, writing to the papal nuncio (January 1673)
Cromwell’s soldiers again ran amok in Wexford and their officers seemed incapable of restraining them. Cromwell needed the town for winter quarters, but the sol diers did so much damage to property that the town became uninhabitable. They killed indiscriminately, defenders and civilians alike; priests, monks and nuns were again especially singled out and tortured before being killed. This is borne out in a letter to the papal nuncio writ ten by Dr Nicholas French, the Bishop of Ferns, who was lying ill in a neighbouring town and thus escaped the slaughter: “On that fatal day, October 11th, 1649,1 lost everything I had. Wexford, my native town, then abound ing in merchandise, ships, and wealth, was taken at the sword’s point by that plague of England, Cromwell, and sacked by an infuriated soldiery.”
