Francis Walsh (1654-1724), Franciscan priest, Gaelic scholar and lexicographer, was ordained in 1677 in Prague and taught philosophy and theology in the Franciscan colleges at Louvain, the Spanish Netherlands and Rome. On his return to Ireland in 1703, he was appointed guardian of the Franciscan friary in Clane, Co. Kildare, was parish priest in Tattoo, Co. Kildare and in 1709 became vice-provincial of the Franciscan order in Ireland and from 1714 he was guardian of the Franciscan friary in Cook Street, Dublin. In 1712 he re-established the confraternity of Saint Francis known as the Cord of Saint Francis. He compiled an English-Irish dictionary and published other works on Irish grammar. He worked for 15 years on his Lain-English-Irish dictionary which was completed after his death by Tadhg Ó Neachtain whose circle of Gaelic scholars he had been a part of. Some of his works were published posthumously including his Funiculus Triplex. It is divided into three parts. The first deals with the origin and history of the Confraternity of the Cord of Saint Francis, the second part deals with the indulgences to be gained by the "Brethren and Sisters of the Cord" and a catalogue of the days on which these can be granted and the third gives the Rules and Statutes of the Confraternity and a "Calendar of all the Feasts on which Indulgences may be gained". According to Gilbert, this book was condemned in Supplement to the Roman Catholic Expositor, and Friend of Ireland; published under the direction of the Society for Promoting Religious Inquiry in Ireland; published under the direction of the Society for Promoting Religious Inquiry in Ireland ... No. II[1824]. This edition includes a six page Life of St. Francis of Assisium not in hte earlier editions.

Physical description: 122 pages ; 14 cm.