[William Maziere]. Irish churchman, born in Dublin in 1825, his family being prominently identified with public affairs. He was graduated at Trinity College, Dublin. On being ordained, he was appointed chaplain to several successive lord-lieutenants, and became rector of Farahy, County Cork, in 1851, and later of Donoughpatrick, Meath. Though adhering to the Protestant and established church, he was outspoken in his criticisms thereon, and finally resigned his appointments and entered the Roman Catholic Church in 1873. He was instrumental in securing the disestablishment of the Protestant Church in Ireland. He was the author of many antiquarian and other writings, among which are The Irish Reformation and Alleged Conversion of the Irish Bishops (1866); Essays on the Irish-English State Church in Ireland (1869); The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875 (1876); Annals of the Catholic Hierarchy in England and Scotland, A.D. 1585 to 1876 (1877); Rome and Fenianism (1883); Anglo-Roman Papers (1890); etc.
