25‭ ‬February‭ ‬1570:‭ ‬Pope Pius V [above] excommunicated Queen Elizabeth of England on this day.‭ ‬He issued a Papal Bull called‭ ‬Regnans in Excelsis‭ (‘‬ruling from on high‭’) ‬that absolved all her subjects from any obligations of allegiance to her.‭ ‬As Elizabeth claimed Ireland as part of her inheritance this Papal decree released by inference the Catholics of Ireland from any sense of obligation to her they may have felt.‭ ‬While the excommunication was of no personal interest to Elizabeth‭ ‬-‭ ‬who had long since abandoned the Catholic Faith‭ ‬-‭ ‬the political ramifications were profound.‭ ‬The Excommuncation made her dealings with the Catholic Powers of Europe more problematical and difficult and increased the chances of Spain under Philip II in particular lending his support to revolts within these islands.

In addition to being personally excommunicated the Bull also forbade any follower of the Church from helping here under pain of excommunication themselves:


It declared that:

...the nobles, subjects and people of the said realm and all others who have in any way sworn oaths to her, to be forever absolved from such an oath and from any duty arising from lordship. fealty and obedience; and we do, by authority of these presents , so absolve them and so deprive the same Elizabeth of her pretended title to the crown and all other the above said matters. We charge and command all and singular the nobles, subjects, peoples and others afore said that they do not dare obey her orders, mandates and laws. Those who shall act to the contrary we include in the like sentence of excommunication....

Given at St. Peter's at Rome, on 25 February1570 of the Incarnation; in the fifth year of our pontificate.

Pius PP



In response the Elizabeth increased anti-Catholic persecution and set out to eliminate the presence of the Jesuits from her territories.‭ ‬The position of the‭ ‘‬New English‭’ ‬Protestants in Ireland was made even more precarious as the Catholics here saw that the Pope himself was now openly opposed to her rule.‭ ‬The English Monarch did not have a high opinion of the Irish anyway as she expressed in a Letter to Sir Francis Walsingham in that month of February‭ ‬1570:

We have heard and knowne it to be true,‭ ‬that certain savage rebells,‭ ‬being men of no valour,‭ ‬had fled out of our realme of Ireland into Spaine,‭ ‬and to cover their lewdness,‭ ‬and procure both reliefe for themselves and for such like as they are in Ireland,‭ ‬they do pretend their departure out of the land for matter of religion,‭ ‬where indeed they be neither of one nor other religion,‭ ‬but given to beastiality,‭ ‬and yet have they writt enough to shewe hypocrisy for their purpose.