Richard Butler (1578-1652/3)

St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny. Biography here.

Unfinished, the monument gives a date of death of 1651. The address to the reader (viator - ‘traveller’) at the end is very common in ancient Roman inscriptions, and is also found in the epitaphs of Swift and Yeats.

English Translation:

Sacred to the memory of the most Illustrious and Noble Lord Richard Butler, Viscount Mountgarret, Baron of Kells etc.

Born into one of the most ancient and senior families of Irish nobility, a great-grandson of Piers Butler, Earl of Ormond and Ossory and Margaret FitzGerald, daughter of the Earl of Kildare, he was conspicuous in war and peace for his faith in God, his patriotism, and his loyalty to the King.

He proved himself most worthy of his King, his Country, and the Church of God, for each of whom he stood bravely in the most disturbed and dangerous times.

Father to happy and healthy children, he dutifully set up this monument on behalf of himself, his ancestors, and his descendants; he has left this memorial of himself that will never die. He passed away … in the year 1651

Traveller, pray for the deceased, and for the most noble family of the Viscounts Mountgarret.