Background
Wadding was born on 16 October 1588 in Waterford to Walter Wadding of Waterford, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia Lombard (sister of Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland).
Wadding was born on 16 October 1588 in Waterford to Walter Wadding of Waterford, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia Lombard (sister of Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland).
Little is known of his early education in Waterford, although it would seem that he acquired a knowledge of Latin, probably not a difficult task for someone with such linguistic flair: in his lifetime he became proficient in Hebrew, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.
He began his studies in philosophy and theology in Portugal and was then invited to join the Spanish Franciscan province.
Educated at the school of Mrs. Jane Barden in Waterford and of Peter White in Kilkenny, in 1604 he went to study in Lisbon and at the University of Coimbra.
He collected the funds for the establishment of the Irish College of St Isidore in Rome, for the education of Irish priests, opened 1625, and for fifteen years he was the rector.
He hecame a Franciscan in 1607, and in 1617 he was made president of the Irish College at Salamanca. The next year he went to Rome and stayed there till his death.
Like his fellow Irish Franciscan Florence Conry, founder of St Anthony’s in Louvain, Wadding recognised the need for the establishment of a house of studies for Irish students in Rome. With the assistance of Cardinal Ludovico Ludovis, the cardinal protector of Ireland and one of Wadding’s many influential friends in Rome, he founded St Isidore’s College in 1625.
He collected the funds for the establishment of the Irish College of St Isidore in Rome, for the education of Irish priests, opened 1625, and for fifteen years he was the rector.
A voluminous writer, his chief work was the Annales Minorum in 8 folio vols. (1625 - 1654), re- edited in the 18th century and continued up to the year 1622; it is the classical work on Franciscan history. lie published also a Bibliothecn of Franciscan writers, an edition of the works of Duns Scotus, and the first collection of the waitings of St Francis of Assisi.
Although Wadding spent most of his adult life on the Continent, his influence in Ireland and his interest in Irish affairs often led him into controversy. From the 1630s the Vatican often consulted him with regard to episcopal appointments and other offices in Ireland. His own wealthy Old English family background, along with the constant rivalry in the seventeenth century between the Irish and Old English for ecclesiastical and political authority, led to accusations of Old English bias.
He also occasionally became embroiled in the machinations of European and Franciscan factions in Rome, mainly centred on French and Spanish jealousies.
His pleas to an otherwise disinterested papacy and Spanish monarchy led to Archbishop Rinuccini being sent as papal envoy to Ireland in 1645. He also managed to obtain support for Owen Roe O’Neill and the Irish brigades on the Continent to return to Ireland. In consequence he got the reputation of being a gun-running priest.
Despite that, in the maelstrom of conflicting Irish Catholic factions of the Confederacy, Wadding was at various stages criticised by all sides. It would appear that in promoting his main concerns, that of ensuring that Ireland remained Catholic and of maintaining a united Franciscan province in Ireland, he fell foul of many.
He died in St Isidore’s in Rome on 18 November 1657 and is interred in the college he had founded.
Wadding founded the Pontifical Irish College for Irish secular clergy. In 1900, Wadding's portrait and part of his library were in the Franciscan friary on Merchant's Quay, Dublin. Through Wadding's efforts, St Patrick's Day became a feast day. In 2000, the Waterford Institute of Technology dedicated a new library building to his name.
(Wadding, Luke, 1588-1657. Wadding Papers, 1614-38. Edited...)
After his mother’s death from the plague in 1602, Wadding accompanied his brother Matthew, a merchant, to Lisbon and soon afterwards joined the Franciscans.
In an Irish context, his influence and also his precarious position between so many Irish factions came to a head during the Catholic Confederacy in the early 1640s.
