Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/427

 UUKK.

COKK

liis (MfiS), in a charter of Edward IV, wo find only lovon churches m.'iitioiiod. Of the churches in coun- ry (hstricts diirinj; this long period we have no efinite account. The Cannclitcs were introduced ito Kinsalc in 1334 by Robert Bulrain; nuich earlier,

I the seventh century, we find mention of Saint robban, abbot of a monastery of regular canons in he same town. In Bantry Dermot O'SuUivan Beare uilt a convent for Franciscans about 1463, and Ict'arthy Lauder had done likewise at Balymacadane n the Bandon Road in 1460. Tracton Abbey, two liles west from Carrigaline, was begun in 1224, and he great monastery of Kilcrea, five miles west of 'ork, was founded by MacCarthy Mor in 1466, who ! interred in the middle of the choir.

At the Reformation, when Bishop Bennett was de- irived of the temporalities of the see (1.535), such of he churches as remained passed into Protestant ands. ,\mong others the old clmrch of St. Finbarr, ailed Gill Abbey, after a famous bishop of the welfth century (11.52-72), seems to have remained !i some form till 172o. At tliat date it was removed make room for a more modern buikling, which in urn has been succeeded by the present Protestant athedral. After the Sequestration the Catholics had lerforce to rest contented with very humble " Mass- ,ou.ses ", as contemporary accovmts describe them. In he reports given by government officials in 1731 we nd many of them put down as huts; and the addi- ion "built since George the 1st" applied to the ames of many more. The existing churches of the iocese have been erected in recent years on. or near, he sites of those last monuments of persecution. In he five parishes into which the citv is divided there re thirteen public churches, besides private orato- ies and chapels attached to institutions. In each of he thirty parishes in coimtry districts there are one, wo, or three churches, according to the population,

II of recent erection, and built in a manner that befits he groat mysteries they enclose. Of the city par- ihes two — that called the North, or St. Mary's, and hat of Sts. Peter and Paul — are held by the bishop, n the former stands the pro-cathedral, begun by Dr. loylan in 1720, a red sandstone structure, overlooked ly a magiiificent tower of the same material, due to he energy of a well-known Cork priest.

The lists of successors to St. Finbarr in the bishop- ic vary considerably with the different authorities, "he present (190S) occupant of the see is described as he 50th, or the 105th, from the first bishop. The ittor number seems to bo the more correct, though omowhat too large. Two have been raised to the Itars of the Church — St. Nessan and Blessed Thad- cus McCarthy. The veneration of the former dates roni ancient times, that of the latter from 1492, when e died a pilgrim at Ivrea in Piedmont. Italy. First pjjointod Bishop of Ross, and expelled therefrom on

false charge, he was nominated to the united Dio- esos of Cork and Clo^me. I'nable to occupy the see wing to the opposition of the Goraldinos, etc., he Durneyed to Rome, won his cause, but died amid .•ondiTfu! evidences of sanctity on the return journey, 'he docroe of his beatification was iniblished in 1895. iiolla .\edh O'Muighin ( 1 1 .52-72 ) was a famous bishop, le practically refounded the old monastery of St. 'inbarr; like his great predecessor he belonged to a 'onnacht clan. The Four Masters speak of him as 'th(! lower of the virginity and wisdom of the time".

Three centuries after his death (1430), at the in- tance of the Bishop of Cloyno. tlie two Dioceses of !ork and Cloyne were united, and remained thus for hroe hundred years (1747). During the seventeenth entury the united bishoprics were more than once 2, and again in 11566-76. During the same period 'at hdlio citizens of ("ork wore more than once expelled or their religion; frequently the Catholics of the
 * ovornod by vicars ai>ostolic. This occurred in 1614—

province wore forbidden to live in walled towns or fortified places (1644, .56, 72). In 1693, on the repre- sentation of King .lames, the administration of Ro.ss was given to tlio reigning Bishop Slcyne. It seems to have remained in tiie hands of his successors until 1747, when it passed into the jurisdiction of the newly enfranchised Bishopric of St. Colman.

The Diocese of Cork possessed a chapter, with twelve prebendaries and the usual dignitaries. Though re-established by Dr. Delancy in 1858-59, it dates from the twelfth century; naturally it ceased to exist during the years of persecution. The relig- ious orders and congregations in the diocese are eight in number: Augustinians (second foundation, Red Abbey, in fifteenth century) ; Dominicans (first foundation Abbey of the Island, 1220); Friars Minor (first foundation near Wi.se 's Hill, 1214); Carmelites (Kinsale): Franoiscan Capuchins: Vinoentians; Fath- ers of Charity; Society of African Missions, the last four being quite modern foundations. There are in addition two teaching orders of men, the Christian and Presentation Brothers, liesides 1 1 communitiesof nuns; the latter are: Presentation (4 houses), Ursidines (2 houses). Sisters of Mercy (4 houses), Sisters of Charity (4 houses). Good Shepherd (1 house), French Sisters of Charity (2 houses), Sisters of Marie R^paratrice (1 house), Bon Secours (1 house). Sisters of the Poor (1 house). Sisters of the Assumption (1 house), the last nursing the poor in their own homes.

At the census of 1891 the Catholic population of the diocese numbered 178,461. They are attended by one bishop and 114 priests, who administer 35 parishes, of which 5 are in the city. Kilcrea Abbey and Gougane Barra are the best preserved among the early monuments of the diocese. A great part of the former still stands. The latter is an islaiul on which are the ruins of a square court, with walls fourteen feet thick, in which are eight cells or cloisters rudely arched over. Each of the cells is ten feet deep by seven broad, and the court fifty feet square. It was here that St. Finbarr prepared himself by prayer and seclusion in the lonely shadows of the mountains that surround the lake for the great work of founding a city and a diocese.

Brady, Episcopal Succession in England, Ireland, and Scot- land (Rome, 1876), II, 78-98; Archaolagical Journal (Cork), passim; Smith, Cork (1750. new ed. 1815), with Notes by Choker and Caci, I III. I' d'iirk. 18<):S); Tvckky, Cork Remem- brances (Cork, ls:!7 ; IvNrii. Cambrensis Evcrsus (1662), passim; 0'Dono\ w fii. ■. Ann-tls of the Four Masters, passim; CusACK, Histori/ of III,' (■,/.; „n.l County (Dublin, 1875); GiB- so.v, Hist, of the Count!/ and City of Cork (London, 1861).

P. Sexton.

Cork, ScHooiy OP. — The monastic School of Cork had a wide reputation, especially in the seventh and eighth centuries. The name is derived from the Irish corcayh. which means a marsh, for in ancient times the floods of the River Lee covered the low ground on which most of the present city of Cork was afterwards built. The founder of the School and Diocese of Cork was Barra or Bairre (Barry), more commonly called Finbarr the Fair-haired. His family belonged to the Hy Brinin Ratha, a tribe that dwelt on the eastern shore of Lough Corrib, in the Cbunty Gal way; but his father, a skilful cerd, or certified worker in brass, was forced to migrate to Hy Liathain, in the west of the County Cork, whore the saint was born about the middle of the sixth century. His chief teacher was a certain MacCuirp, or Curporius, who himself, it is said, had been a student under St. Gregory the Great in Rome. To perfect himself in the science of the saints, Barra retired to a hermitage in a small island of the lonely lake which still bears his name, Gougane Barra. Callanan's splendid [loem in praise of the romantic beauty of this lake has made its name familiar to all Irishmen. From Gougane Barra, it would appear, Barra returned to his native territory, where he founded some dozen churches before he