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Capital of County Roscommon,Ireland; owes origin and name to amonastery founded by St. Coman in the first half of the eighth century on a "ros" or wooded point amidst marshes. Ware and his copiers make Coman author of a monastic rule observed throughout three-fourths of Connaught; but this statement is wronglydeduced from annalistic records of the collection of dues by St. Coman's successors, under the title of "Lex Comani", from the Teora Connachta, tribes occupying a portion of the province. The records indicate, indeed, that with support from the King of Connaught St. Coman's foundation had some pre-eminence, if notjurisdiction. He himself may have been, asColgan believed, abishop; some of his earliest successors certainly were. Whilst the tribal system prevailed thebishops at Rosecommon, aspastors over the patrimonial territory of the provincial king, would hold in theChurch a position analogous to his in the state, and through this analogy would be the "high" or "noblebishops of the Connaughtmen". Roscommon became a seat of learning as well as of authority, and had scholars and scribes celebrated in the national annals. From the middle of the tenth century, if not earlier, it was closely united with Clonmacnoise and shared with that greatschool the fame of Cormac O'Cillene andTighernach O'Braoin, theannalist. It shared also in the prosperity of the Connaught kings, after they had risen to the monarchy ofIreland. Toirdhealbhach O'Conchubhair's son, Maol-Iosa, wasAbbot of Roscommon, and he himself was a liberal benefactor; he bestowed on themonastery a piece of thetrue cross brought him fromRome in 1123, and had it enshrined in the famous Bachal Buidhe, lately named the Cross of Cong, a masterpiece of design and workmanship, now one of the greatest treasures in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. When theIrishmonasteries exchanged their primitive rules for those of the great orders of theChurch, themonks at Roscommon becameAugustinian canons, but remained till the latter part of the fifteenth century anIrish community under native superiors despite the Norman castle built within their fields in 1268 and the policy of ousting theIrish from theirmonasteries. During the greatWestern Schism, Thomas Macheugan (Mac Aodhagain) whom theantipopeClement VII madeprior of this house, came fromAvignon as Clement's agent, and convening theprelates,clergy, andlaity of Connaught at Roscommon, secured the adhesion of all except theBishop ofElphin, who did not attend, and theBishop ofKillala, who sent hisarchdeacon to uphold the right ofUrban VI. When the O'Conors made terms with Queen Elizabeth, theabbey and its possessions were attached to the constableship of Roscommon Castle, and subsequently granted to Sir Nicholas Malbie; even the site is scarcely traceable.
TheDominican friary that was situated at Roscommon was founded in the year 1253 by Fedhlimidh O'Conchubhair, King of Connaught, andconsecrated to the Blessed Virgin in 1257; in 1265 the founder ended his stormy life within its walls, and was buried there. His monument, still extant represents him recumbent in long robes of peace and wearing a royal crown. In subsequent centuries this church was the chosen burial-place of several of his and other princelyfamilies. After the confiscation this friary, like the house ofAugustinian Canons, was first attached to the constableship of Roscommon and then granted to Malbie; but thefriars lingered around the spot. Under Cromwell several of them, amongst whom O'Heyne mentions Donald O'Neaghten, Edmund O'Bern, Raymund MacEochaidh, and Bernard O'Kelly, wereput to death. Afterwards they obtained a small house and land and assembled a community numbering sixteen in 1791, but it died out in 1844. Of the original buildings only ruins of the church remain. TheFranciscans also had aconvent at Roscommon for a brief period; founded in 1269, it was burned down in 1270, and on account of the founder's death never rebuilt.
ARCHDALL, Monasticon Hibernicum (Dublin, 1786); LANIGAN, Eccles. Hist. of Ireland (Dublin, 1829); WARE, De Scriptoribus Hiberniae, (Dublin, 1639); USSHER, Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates in Works (Dublin, 1847); O'HEYNE, Irish Dominicans ed. COLEMAN (Dundalk, 1902); De BURGO, Hibernia Domincana (Cologne, 1762); WELD, Statistical Survey of Co. Roscommon (Dublin, 1832).
APA citation.McNeill, C.(1912).Roscommon. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13190a.htm
MLA citation.McNeill, Charles."Roscommon."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 13.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13190a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph E. O'Connor.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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