IT is difficult to determine the time when this see was founded. St. Columb-Cile, a man of great virtue and piety, and born of royal blood, founded a monastery here, which was afterwards enlarged and repaired by other holy men. But it is the received opinion, that St. Eunan erected the church into a cathedral, and was the first bishop of the see. History is very defective in the account of his successors, until the arrival of the English. In conformity with the recent Church Temporalities Act, the see of Raphoe was annexed to that of Derry, on the decease of Dr. William Bissett, in 1834. 1 Sir James Ware, or, more properly, the subsequent editors of his works, narrate some very extraordinary circumstances that rendered the close of the life of this prelate very remarkable and unfortunate; but we feel unwilling to transcribe them, though there seems to be no doubt of their truth. BISHOPRIC OF DOWN, CONNOR, AND DROMORE. 66 a THE church of Down was repaired by St. Malachy Morgair, who was at first bishop of Connor, afterwards archbishop of Armagh, and who, having resigned the archiepiscopal see, became bishop of Down in 1137. About forty years afterwards, Malachy, the third bishop of Down of that name, by the assistance of John Courcey, called the Conqueror of Ulster, enlarged and beautified it. This conqueror also, in 1183, removed the secular canons from the church, and in their room substituted Benedictine monks, out of the abbey of St. Werburgh, in Chester; and about the same time, at the instance of Courcey, the cathedral, although it was before consecrated to the Blessed Trinity, was dedicated to St. Patrick. Christopher Pembridge says, in his Annals, great many were of opinion that Courcey, by this action, drew on himself the vast train of misfortunes which afterwards befel him." The sepulchre of St. Patrick anciently brought this place into great reputation; and the bodies of St. Columb and St. Bridget were afterwards translated to it. The last bishop of this see, before the real union (as it is called) of the churches of Down and Connor, was John Cely, a Benedictine monk; but he having been deprived in 1441, John, bishop of Connor, obtained an union of both sees from pope Eugene IV., and from that time they have been united and governed by one bishop. Dromore became united to Down in 1842. The combined diocese comprises the counties of Down and Antrim, with portions of Armagh and Londonderry. It is suffragan to Armagh. 477 1739 1743 1752 Robert Downes; translated from Ferns and 1752 1612 Arthur Smyth; translated from Clonfert; 1753 James Trail, chaplain to the lord-lieu- 1765 William Dickson, chaplain to the lord- 1783 Nathaniel Alexander; translated from Kil- 1804 1823 1849 John Tod, dean of Cashel [He held the see of Dromore in commen- James Dundas, chanter of Moray in Scot- Robert Echlin, a Scotsman Henry Leslie, dean of Down; translated Samuel Foley Edward Walkington, archdeacon of Ossory, BISHOPRIC OF DROMORE. (Now annexed to Down and Connor.) THE see was founded by St. Colman, a Florentine, the instructor of St. Finian, circa 556. The cathedral is dedicated to Christ the Redeemer. Down and Connor when Dr. Jeremy Taylor was made bishop; but was again sepaDromore was united to rated on his death in August 1667. Conformably with the provisions of the late Church Temporalities Act (passed in 1833) the see of Dromore became finally united to Down and Connor in 1842. This eminent and pious English divine, illustrious in ethical and theological literature, was interred in the chapel here, built at his own cost, upoa the ruins of the old cathedral. 1732 را BISHOPRIC OF KILLALOE, KILFENORA, CLONFERT, / AND KILMACDUACH. THE see of Killaloe is supposed to have been founded by St. Molua, abbot, whose disciple, St. Flannan (son of king Theodoric), was consecrated at Rome by pope John IV. about 640, and was first bishop. The church was esteemed of great sanctity, and was much resorted to in pilgrimage. Connor Mac Dermod O'Brian, king of Thomond and Desmond, died in pilgrimage to it in 1142. About the end of the twelfth century, the ancient see of Roscrea was united to Killaloe. Of this latter see, St. Cronan, who flourished about 620, was bishop, or as some say, abbot, and the founder of the church. There is no certainty concerning the foundation of the see of Kilfenora. Some writers think that St. Fachnan, to whom the church was dedicated, was the founder and first bishop. In the ancient distribution of the bishoprics of Ireland, made by cardinal Paparo, it was suffragan to the archbishopric of Cashel; but at the Restoration of Charles II. it was annexed to Tuam, and so continued until it was united to Killaloe. Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, and Kilmacduach now form one bishopric, under the provisions of the Church Temporalities Act. The diocese includes the county of Clare and the King's County, with parts of Limerick, Galway, and Tipperary; and is in the province of Dublin. The list of bishops is very defective, as no dependence can be placed on the accounts, before the arrival of the English. 1 Laonia, commonly called Killaloe, is seated on the western bank of the Shannon, near the noted cataract which stops the navigation of that river. It takes its name from the abbot St. Molua. In the annals of Inisfall, and by almost all the Irish writers, it is called Kill-da-lua, i. e. the church or cell of Lua, that being the name of this abbot, to which name Mo is added by way of endearment only; so that Kill-da-lua is the church dedicated to Lua, or Mo-lua. 479 1555 Thomas Bernard, dean of Derry; translated to Limerick 1780 1794 1570 John Rider, dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin: succeeded 1612 Lewis Jones, dean of Cashel 1633 Edward Parry, dean of Lismore, and friar of Christ-Church, Dublin 1647 Hon. William Knox, chaplain to the house nor 1804 · 1804 1820 1823 1828 Hon. Edmund Knox, dean of Down; trans- [On the translation of Dr. Knox to Li- Christopher Butson. See Clonfert. 1803 1836 Hon. Ludlow Tonson, rector of Ahern, 1839 1745 BISHOPRIC OF CLONFERT. (Now united to the see of Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, and Kilmacduach.) ST. BRENDAN, the son of Finloga, contemporary with St. Brendan of Birr, and his fellow student, founded an abbey at Clonfert, in 558, and was himself abbot. He died in May 577, at Enaghdune, whence his body was conveyed to Clonfert, and there interred. His life is extant in jingling monkish metre, in the Cottonian Library. In his time, the cathedral of Clonfert (famous in ancient times for its seven altars) was |