CONRY (CONRIUS), FLORENT. - Franciscan theologian, born in Ireland (Connaught) in 1560, died in Madrid on 16 Nov. 1629. He entered the Reformed Franciscans. Created by Clement VIII Archbishop of Tuam (30 March 1608) in Ireland, he supported the action of the Spaniards, sent by Philip III, in aid of Irish Catholics against the oppression of Queen Elizabeth. But when they were defeated at Kinsale, C. was proscribed and from then on lived between Belgium (1609-24) and Spain, mostly devoted to the study of St Augustine, of whom he became an excellent interpreter and prolific commentator. In 1606, with the help of the King of Spain, he had founded in Louvain for his Irish confrères the college of St Anthony.
His writings on St Augustine mostly concern the doctrine of Grace. Noteworthy are: *De s. Augustini sensu circa b. Mariae conceptionem* (Antwerp 1619; C. had also promoted the cause of the Immaculate Conception in Rome); *Tract. de statu parvulorum sine Baptismo decedentium* (Louvain 1624), much appreciated; *Peregrinus Ierichuntinus...*, i.e. on human nature in its fallen state (Paris 1641); *Tract. de gratia Christi* (ibid. 1646).