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 TUAM

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TUAM

Ih' See of Galway established as a regular episcopal see, suffragan to Tuam.

The Diocese of Cong included all the parishes sub- ji'ot to the Abbey of Cong, which wsis founded by St. Fechin in 626. The abbots seem to have exercised (luasi-episcopal jurisdiction over nineteen parishes in tiie Baronies of Ballynahinch, Ross, and Kilmaine, which for the most part were served by the monks as \icars under the abbot. In the Synod of Rath Brea- sail Cong w;i,s counted .as one of the five dioceses of Connacht, but there is no mention of it at the Synod iif KclLs in 1152. King Rory O'Conor retired to the alihey for several years and died there.

The Diocese of Mayo like that of Cong had its origin in Mayo .4bbey, founded by St. Colnian about litiT for Saxon monks who had followed him from I.iiidisfarne. In 1152 it was recognized by the Synod nf KelLs as one of the Connacht sees, and mention is made of the death of Gilla Isu O'Mailin, Bishop of Mayo, in 1184, but on the death of Bi.shop Cele o'lhilTy in 1209 no successor was apiiointod and the see was merged in that of Tuam, probably thnuigli the influence of King Cathal O'Conor and Iijs relative .\rclibisho]) Feli.x O'Ruadan of Tuam. But bisho|)s of .Mayo reapjiear from time to time in the annals down 111 1579 wlien Bishop Patrick ( >'H('aly coming home to lake possession of his See of Mayo was seized with his .iiMipanion Friar O'Rourkc and hanged at Kilmallock liy Drury, the English President of Mvmster. Atone time Mayo had no fewer then twenty-eight parishes under its jurisdiction, which extended from the Dalgin River at Kilvineto .\chill Head. At present this is a small rural parish, and the "City of Mayo" comprises nnt more tlian half a dozen houses.

< )f the Dion St- of Aghagower we need say little. It wa.-; founded in 441 by St. Patrick who placed over it Bishop Senach; the "Book of Armagh" tells us that liisliops dwelt there in the time of the writer (early purl of the ninth century). The jurisdiction of Agha- L'lixMT extended over the "Owles", the territory iiouiiil Clew Bay, comprising the modern deaneiy of \\ istport. But at an early date the.se churches were alisdrbed first into the Diocese of Mayo and .after- wanls into that of Tuam.

Monasteries. — Besides the great monasteries of .\iiiiaEhdown, Cong, .and Mayo, there were others in tlic archdiocese that deserve mention. The mona-s- Icry of St. Enda at Killeany in Aran became famous in tlie first (|uartcr of the sixth centur>'. Ne.ar it was the oratory- TempuU Benain, which Benan, or Benig- nus. of Kilbannon, the disciple of St. Patrick, had I milt. It is ver\- small but strikingly beautiful, and its Cyclopean walls have not lost a stone for the last fourteen hundred years. There .are in addition to the .\r:m Islands many other holy islands around this wild western coiist, as Island Mac Dara, which all the fishermen salute by dipping their sails, Cruach of St. Caelainn, .Vrdilaun of St. Fechin, St. Colman's Inis- boffin, Caher of St. Patrick. The Cistercian Abbey of Knockmoy (dc Colic Victoriir), six miles from Tuam, founded in 11S9 by King Crovedearg, was one of the largest and the wealthiest in the West of Irel.and. Mention, too, is made of a Bishop of Knockmoy. The ruins are full of interest, for some of its walls were frescoed and the sculptured tomb of King I'elim O'Conor is well preserved. .At its suppression in 1542 it was found to be in the possession of the rectories of several churches, and large estates in G.alway, Ro.s- common, and Mayo. The same King Cathal of the Red H.and fovmded in 1215 the .Abbey of Ballintubber close to St. Patrick's holy well. It was .admirably built and h.as been p.artly restored as the parochi.il church of the district. It contains the tomb and monument of the first Vi.scount Mayo, the son of Sir Richard Burke and Crania I^aile, C^ueen of Clew Bay. The Dominican Abbey of .\thenry w:ls established In 1241 by Meyler De Bermingham who endowed it with XV.— 6

ample possessions. It usually contained thirty friars. The "main" building was erected by Meyler; King Felim O'Conor built the refectory; Flann O'Flynn built the "Scholar house", for the friars kept a noted school; Owen O'Heyne built the dormitory; Con O'Kelly built the "chapter house", and so on with the guest chamber and the infirmary. In Queen Mary's reign this convent was selected to be a uni- versity college for Connacht, but the project was never reaUzed. Buried there are many of the early Burkes of Clanrickard, who in life were benefactors and pro- tectors of the convent.

The Benedictine Nuns had a convent at Kilcree- v.anty, situated on the Dalgin River, four miles from

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Tuam. It was founded in 1200 by the same King Cathal O'Conor for the royal ladies of his family, and of other high chieftains by whom it was richly en- dowed. It held estates not only in Galway but also in Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, and VVestmeath, and the recrories of a score of different jjarishes. Its inmates at one time secured at Rome a curtailment of the archbishop's rights of visit.ations and procurations, but after a short experience, the pope found it necessary to restore his full rights to the archbishop. It was however the greatest and wealthiest convent in the West. There were many smaller religious houses in the archdiocese. The .Vugustinians had ten; the Do- minicans three; the Franciscans three or four; the Cistercians two; the Templars one, and there were .also three or four nunneries.

Archbishops. — In the long list of the Archbishops of Tuam there are many illustrious names which can be referred to here only briefly. Hugh O'Hession was present at the Synod of Kells in 1152, where he re- ceived the pallium from the papal legate, .and so be- came the first .Archbishop of Tuam. He died in 1161 and was succeeded by Colhal, or Calholicus, O' Duffy, who reigned for forty years. In 1172 he was present with his suffragans .at the Council of Cashel, which gave formal recognition to the claims of Henr\' II. Later, in 1175, he was deputed to sign the Treaty of Windsor on behalf of King Rory O'Conor, by .which Rory consente<l to hold his Kingdom of Connacht in subjection to the English monarch. O'Duffy was also present at tlie l.ateran Council in 1179, and in 1201 held a provincial synod .at Tuam under the presidency of the Roman cardinal. He then retired to the Abbey of Cong where he died the following summer. His successor, Felix O'Riiailiiin, who previously h.ad been a Cistercian, probably at Knockmoy, filled the see for thirty-six years. He wa-s a near relative of Rory 0'( 'onor, which strengthened his great influence in the province. Next year he convoked a great synoil of the province at Tuam in which it was decreed to unite the tcrmon lands of the monasteries to their respective bishoprics. Tuam thereby acquired vast estates in