40 a Forgotten episode. 



In 1686 Roman Catholic troops, commanded by an Irish- 

 man called Captain Macarty,* arrived in Castle Cornet. On 

 December 23rd of that year Captain Macarty informed the 

 Royal Court that he had received an order from the King 

 that Mass should be said in the Island by Father Richard 

 Trapp, a priest recently sent over by Royal Authority for 

 that purpose, and requested the Court to find him a suitable 

 lodging and a convenient spot where he could officiate. The 

 Court, perfectly aghast at the temerity of this proposal, flatly 

 refused to consider it, and pleaded that the Act of Uniformity 

 forbade any public exercise of religion save according to the 

 rites of the Anglican Church. On the following day they 

 sent off a letter to Lord Sunderland, President of the .Privy 

 Council, protesting that with all their heart and soul they 

 clung to the Anglican faith and that, within the memory of man, 

 there was " aucun habitant Catholique Romain en cette Isle." 



The only answer to this was that the King, with true 

 Stuart obstinacy, again wrote a letter — this time to Lord 

 Hatton the Governor — saying " that having thought fit to 

 send Mr. Richard Trapps unto that Our Island to say Divine 



Service for Our Roman Catholic Subjects there Our 



Will and Pleasure is that you will take care that a convenient 

 place be appointed for the said Mr. Trapps to officiate in, and 

 that no interruption whatever be given him in discharge of 

 his functions, and We do hereby require the Magistrates and 

 all other inhabitants of Our said Island to take notice of this 

 Our pleasure and to give obedience accordingly." 



But the Royal Court and inhabitants of Guernsey refused 

 to sit down tamely and allow their most cherished convictions 

 and prejudices to be thus trampled upon. Directly on receipt 

 of this order Advocate William Tramalier was despatched to 

 London bearing a Protest signed by the Bailiff and J urats, 

 pointing out that Mr. Richard Trapp not only said Mass in 

 the Chapel of Castle Cornet but had also held services at the 

 little disused " Belfroi " or Mortuary Chapel which then stood 

 at the edge of the Old Cemetery at the bottom of Cornet 

 Street, and within twenty paces of the Town Church itself. 

 They declared that these services interrupted the Anglican 

 congregation in their lawful prayers and demanded that they, 

 the King's faithful subjects, should not be interrupted in the 

 exercise of their religion. Should Mr. Trapp be removed 

 they promised to pay his passage and indemnify him for all 

 costs he may have incurred.* 



* His name is always so spelt in our local records. But this was probably 

 the contemporary Guernsey spelling of the well-known Irish surname MaCarthy. 

 * These letters are to be found in the Guille MSS. at St. George. 



