founded. Colgan makes St. Brendan the founder and first bishop of Clonfert, and says that he abdicated, and placed St. Moena in his room. Others again make St. Moena the first bishop. We find in the Ulster Annals, under the year 571 or 572, the death of the first bishop of this see thus mentioned: "Moena, Bishop of Clonfert-Brenain, went to rest." Brendan's true name was Nennius or Nennio; but it is common with the Irish to add the monosyllable mo, signifying mine, to the proper names of their saints, out of respect and tenderness.

The church of Kilmacduach was founded by Colman, the son of Duach, who was descended from a noble family at Connaught, and very nearly related to Guair, king of that country. To distinguish him from other Colmans, his contemporaries, he was usually called after his father, Macduach, or the son of Duach. He was very fond of an ascetic life, and is said to have lived in a wilderness in the south parts of Connaught, seven years, with only one companion. From this life of retirement, he was, in the end, made bishop, and fixed his see in a place, which, from his surname, was called Kilmacduach, or the "Church of the son of Duach." The see has been united to Clonfert since 1602. Both sees were united to Killaloe and Kilfenora in 1834. Killaloe.

See

BISHOPRIC OF KILMACDUACH.

THE following is an imperfect catalogue of the bishops of Kilmacduach.

BISHOPRIC OF KILMORE, ELPHIN, AND ARDAGH. KILMORE signifies a great church. The bishops of Kilmore borrowed their title from a territory called Brefiny or Brefne: they were sometimes named Brefinienses, sometimes Triburnenses, bishops of Triburna; because they are said to have had their residence near a village of that name; but in 1454, Andrew Mac Brady, bishop of Triburna, by the assent of pope Nicholas V., erected the parish church of St. Fedlemid or Felimy (which he found to be in a more commodious situation), into a cathedral.

On the death of Dr. Beresford, of Kilmore, in 1841, the two sees of Kilmore and Ardagh became vested in the existing bishop of Elphin, under the provisions of the Church Temporalities Act, and all three now form one bishopric. The combined diocese includes the county of Roscommon, the greater part of Cavan, parts of Sligo, Galway, and Mayo, a portion of Leitrim, and a small part of Fermanagh. The see is suffragan to Armagh.

THIS is among the most ancient sees in Ireland, having been founded by St. Patrick, who made his nephew the first bishop. Ardagh was united to Kilmore in 1660. In 1692 it was separated from that see for a short time; but the two sees were subsequently conferred upon one prelate. In 1742, Ardagh was again disjoined from Kilmore, and it formed a portion of Tuam until that archdiocese was reduced to a bishopric by the operation of the Church Temporalities Act. Kilmore, Elphin, and Ardagh now form one see.

BISHOPRIC OF ELPHIN.'

(Now united to Kilmore.)

ST. PATRICK founded a cathedral in this place, near a little river issuing from two fountains, about the middle of the fifth century, and placed over it St. Asicus, a monk, a great lover of penance and austerity, whom he consecrated bishop, and who filled it with monks. After many centuries, and a little before the arrival of the English, Elphin was enriched with many large estates, on its union with the see of Roscommon; and the sees of Ardcarn, Drumclive, and others of less note, were also annexed to it. By these unions, the see of Elphin became one of the richest in Ireland.

Only the names of two of the successors of St. Asicus are to be found in history previous to the twelfth century.

! Some persons erroneously suppose that the name of this place was taken from a huge stone, there to be seen, called the stone of the giant Fin Mac Cool. Others, with some probability, interpret the name to signify a stone of a clear transparent fountain, Ail, signifying, in old Irish, a stone, and fin, or fion, white.

1810

BISHOPRIC OF LIMERICK, ARDFERT, AND AGHADOE. DONALD O'BRIEN, king of Limerick, founded and endowed the cathedral of Limerick, about the period of the arrival of the English in Ireland. The more ancient see of Inis-Scattery was united to Limerick about the beginning of the thirteenth century; but, according to Usher, its possessions were divided among the sees of Limerick, Killaloe, and Ardfert. Inis-Scattery is said to have been founded by St. Patrick, and to have been governed by him for some time.

The see of Ardfert was formerly called the bishopric of Kerry; its cathedral was dedicated to St. Brandon; the cathedral of Aghadoe, dedicated to St. Finian, is situated within two miles of the town of Killarney. These two sees have long been united. The three sees of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe were combined into one under bishop Fuller in 1667. The diocese comprises the counties of Limerick and Kerry, with small portions of Clare and Cork; and is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin.

The cathedral of Ardfert was entirely destroyed, with the exception of the walls, in the great rebellion of 1641; after that time a small part of it was fitted up for divine service for the parishioners, and was kept in decent repair. Nothing now remains of the cathedral of Aghadoe, save a part of the outer walls, near which is a stump of one of the round towers, and the ruins of a small old castle. - Beatson.