Killaloe

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(LAONIA)

A suffragandiocese ofCashel; it comprises the greater part of County Clare, a large portion of Tipperary, and parts of King's and Queen's Counties,Limerick, andGalway. ItsIrish name is Cill-da-Lua, so named from St. Lua, anabbot who lived about the end of the sixth century, and whose oratory can still be seen in Friar's Island, near the town of Killaloe. Though St. Lua gave his name to thediocese, St. Flannan is itspatron saint. He was of royal lineage, hisfather being the saintly Theodoric, King of Thomond, who towards the close of his life received the monastic habit from St. Colman atLismore. St. Flannan was the firstBishop of Killaloe, and is said to have beenconsecrated atRome byJohn IV about 640. In the time of St. Flannan, the Diocese of Killaloe was not so extensive as it is at present. It did not then include the olddioceses of Roscrea and Inniscathy. It was only when these were suppressed at the Synod of Rathbresail in the first quarter of the twelfth century, that Killaloe assumed its present shape, which is almost coterminous with the boundaries of the ancient Kingdom of Thomond. Theparish of Seir Kieran in King's County, though in Thomond, was allowed to remain subject to theDiocese of Ossory, out of respect to the memory of St. Kieran.

The old See of Roscrea grew around amonastery founded there bySt. Cronan about the middle of the sixth century. Thismonastery became a famousschool, and it was within its walls that the scribe Dimma wrote forSt. Cronan the copy of theFour Gospels now in the Library of Trinity College,Dublin, for which Tatheus O'Carroll, chieftain ofEly, made a costly shrine in the twelfth century. The Diocese of Roscrea was coextensive with the territory of the O'Carrolls, added to that of the O'Kennedys. Ware holds thatSt. Cronan wasBishop of Roscrea, butLanigan thinks that Ware has been misled by the fact that Roscrea became anepiscopal see. Like the Diocese of Roscrea, the Diocese of Inniscathy grew around themonastery of Inniscathy, founded bySt. Senan in the early portion of the sixth century. There is no question aboutSt. Senan being the firstbishop of the Diocese of Inniscathy, which comprised the Baronies of Moyarta, Clonderlaw, and Ibricken, in Clare; the Barony of Connello, in Limerick; and in Kerry, the ancient region of the Hy-Fidgente. The lastBishop of Inniscathy was Hugh O'Beachain, who died in 1188. Nevertheless, there weretitularbishops of thesee up to the close of the fourteenth century. The remains of thecathedral church of Inniscathy and a round tower now mark the ancient see ofSt. Senan. The Clog-oir, too, still in existence in County Clare, is a highly-prized relic of Inniscathy. St. Brecan's churches of Carntemple, Doora, and Clooney, St. Tola's church at Dysert O'Dea,St. Senan's hermitage at Bishop's Island, near Kilkee, St. Caimin's church andschool at Iniscaltra,St. Brendan's andSt. Cronan'sabbeys at Birr and Roscrea may be named amongst hundreds of churches,schools, and hermitages, which covered Killaloe like a network and which in their decay attest to the devotion to theCatholicFaith of the far-famed Dalgais.

Some of these foundations deserve mention. Iniscaltra, a green little island in Lough Derg, was celebrated nursery ofsanctity and learning in Thomond. It is associated principally with St. Caimin, who made Iniscaltra the seat of a very famousschool, which attracted pupils even from foreign countries. A fragment of the commentary on the Psalms collated with the Hebrew text, written by St. Caimin (640), is preserved in theFranciscanconvent, Merchant's Quay, Dublin. Birr also was a celebrated seat of learning in Thomond, founded bySt. Brendan (550). The Gospels of McRegol, now in the Bodleian Library, were written by McRegol,Abbot of Birr, in 820. Terryglass also was aschool of great repute founded by St. Columba (552). It was here thatSt. Patrick is said to havebaptized the Dalgais from Northern Thomond, who crossed Lough Derg in their coracles to meet him. Themonastery of Lorrha, founded bySt. Ruadhan (550), can claim that it was within its walls that the famous StoweMissal, now in thelibrary of Lord Ashburnham, was written; but the desertion of Tara owing to the alleged cursing ofSt. Ruadhan, is without historical foundation. Theabbeys at Ennis and Quin are striking illustrations of thepiety and munificence of the foremost chieftains of the Dalgais.

About 1240 Donogh Cairbreach O'Brien built themonastery forConventual Franciscanfriars. It was considered one of the finest houses of the order inIreland, and ultimately it became the occasion of Ennis being made the capital of County Clare. Even in ruin it is beautiful; the east window especially is much admired for its size, grace, and symmetry. Here are buried some of the Kings of Thomond and their chieftains. The Abbey of Quin is one of the noblest remains of monastic antiquity inIreland, and is in so perfect a state of preservation that little more than a roof is required to make it fit to house themonks and have their chant daily re-echo within its walls. It was founded by Sheda McNamara in 1402. In 1641 acollege was opened at theabbey, which soon had eight hundred students. But the most interesting historical remains are to be found at the picturesque little town of Killaloe, the ancient seat of thebishop, which is built on a ridge commanding a fine view of Lough Derg. For here we have the oratory of St. Lua in Friar's Island, the very perfect stone-roofed oratory of St. Flannan, and St. Flannan'scathedral, built in 1160 by Donald O'Brien, King ofLimerick, near the site of Brian Boroimhe's royal palace of Kincora. St. Flannan'scathedral was, till the early years of Elizabeth's reign, theCatholiccathedral of the Diocese of Killaloe. Since then it has been inProtestant hands. Owing to the cruelpersecution of theCatholic religion and itsbishops andpriests, and the suppression of themonasteries in Clare at the opening of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the churches andmonasteries fell into decay and ruin, theHoly Sacrifice of the Mass being offered up on some rock on a mountain-side, or some lowly "Mass house." It is only since the time of Catholic Emancipation, a glorious era in the annals of Killaloe when thepriests of Clare gave powerful aid to O'Connell to win the Clare election, that a "second spring" has come, and that Thomond has been again covered with handsome and commodious churches.

The first successor of St. Flannan in the Diocese of Killaloe whose name has come down to us, is Cormacan O'Mulcaishel, who died in 1019; and from the death of St. Flannan to the time of the learned O'Lonergain in 1150, the names of only fiveprelates have been recorded. But from this period the succession becomes regular and complete. In 1179, Constantine O'Brien, fifth in descent from Brian Boroimhe, wasBishop of Killaloe; he attended the Council of Lateran. Conor O'Heney, anotherBishop of Killaloe, also attended the Council of Lateran in 1215. Cornelius Ryan, aFranciscanfriar, and brother of a chieftain, wasconsecratedBishop of Killaloe in 1576. He had a remarkable career. From the time of his appointment he used his marked ability and great organizing power in aid of the Earl of Desmond, who championed theCatholic cause, and succeeded in obtaining for him the support ofGregory XIII and Philip ofSpain. For years he shared in all the perils of the insurrection, and he was regarded by Elizabeth and her minions as a most formidable opponent. When the Desmond insurrection ended in disaster, he escaped to the Continent and died atLisbon in 1617.

John O'Moloney was another eminentBishop of Killaloe. He was born in Kiltanon, County Clare, in 1617, was a doctor of the Sorbonne and, before his appointment to Killaloe, had been canon ofRouen, inFrance. He was namedbishop byPropaganda in 1671, at the urgent request of theCatholics of thediocese, his qualifications for the exalted office being set forth in various testimonials from thedoctors of theUniversity of Paris, and severalFrenchbishops andarchbishops. In 1673 he was deputed by theIrishbishops to visitFrance and endeavour to induce the French king and his minister to found anIrishecclesiastical college inParis. He succeeded in his mission, and a few years later theIrish college, of which he is regarded as the founder, was opened. In 1689 he was namedBishop ofLimerick, retaining Killaloe in administration, but he was soon forced to flee toFrance, where he died in 1702 at the Sulpician house at Issy, nearParis. The presentbishop is the Most Reverend Dr. Fogarty, born in 1859 near Nenagh, County Tipperary. Before his elevation to the episcopate he was vice-president ofMaynooth College, where he had been for fifteen years previously a distinguished professor of dogmatic andmoral theology. Hisconsecration took place in 1904, at the procathedral at Ennis, the seat of thebishop and also of a well-equippeddiocesan college.

Thediocesan chapter, including dean,archdeacon, and canons, was re-established bypapaldecree on 11 February, 1903.Catholic population, 137,574, according to census of 1901; non-Catholic population, 8329;parishes, 57;secular clergy, 142;parochial and district churches, 143; houses ofregularclergy, 2, viz.Franciscans at Ennis,Cistercians at Roscrea;convents ofSisters of Mercy, 12; Convent of Sacred Heart, 1; number in community, 198;monastic houses, 6; number in community, 63.

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