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 ELUSA

395

ELVIRA

of Maothail (Mohill) was covered by Rory O'Conor, and an embroidery of gold placed over it by him in as good style as relic was ever covered in Ireland. It is, therefore, fair to conclude that this beautiful work was also executed in the school of art founded by St. .\ssi- cus in the Diocese of Elphin. Within four miles of the present town of Elphin is Ratherroghan, the famous palace of Queen Meave and the Connaught kings; Relig-na-Righ, the Kings' Burial Place; also the well of Ogulla, or the Virgin Monument, the scene of the famous conversion and baptism of Aitlmea (Eithne) and Fidclm, the daughters of Leoghari, monarch of Ireland in tlie time of St. Patrick. Ware states that after the union with Elphin of the minor sees of Ros- common, Ardcarne, Drumcliffe, and other bishoprics of less note, finally effected by the Synod of Kells (1152), the see was esteemed one of the richest in all Ireland, and had about seventy-nine parish churches. The Four Masters describe its cathedral as the " Great Church" in 1235, and speak of the bishop's court in 1258. It had a dean and chapter at this time, as we learn from the mandate of Innocent IV, sent from Lyons, 3 July, 1245, to the Archbishop of 'Tuam, noti- fying him that the pope had annulletl the election of the Provost of Roscommon to the See of Elphin, and onlerins him to appoint and consecrate Archdeacon

Mi i\^ MF Cistercian Abbey (1161) Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland

John, postulated by the dean Malaohy, the archdea- cons John and Clare, and the treasurer CSilbert. Among the early bishops was Bron of Killaspugbrone, a fa- voured disciple of St. Patrick. He was also the friend, and adviser of St. Brigid when she dwelt in the plain of Roscommon and founded monasteries there. Accord- ing to Ware, of the succe.ssors of St. Assicus in the See of Elphin he found mention of only two before the coming of the English, Domhnall O'Dubhthaigh (O'Duffy), who died in 1036, and Flanachan O'Dubh- thaigh, who died in 1168. There is reference to at least two other bishops of Elphin, in 640 and 1190. From St. Assicus to 1909 the names of at least fifty-four occupants of the see are enumerated in the ecclesiastical annals and public records of Ire- land and Rome. Many of them were renowned for learning, wisdom and piety. During the Reformation and subsequent persecutions, there continued in Elph- in an unfailing succession of canonically appointed Catholic bishops. They were faithful dispensers of the divine mysteries, like George Brann and John Max; confessors true to the Catholic Faith and the See of Peter, through years of persecution and exile like O'Higgins and O'Crean; martyrs sealing their testi- mony with their blood, like O'Healy and Galvirius. The present Diocese of Elphin includes nearly the whole of the county of Roscommon, with large por- tions of Sligo and Galway. In the census of 1901 the population was : Catholics, 125,743 ; non-Catholics,

7661. The present chapter consists of a dean, arch- deacon, treasurer, chancellor, theologian, penitentiary, and four prebendaries. The parishes number 33, par- ish priests and curates 100. There is a convent of Dominicans at Sligo. The female orders in the dio- cese are: Ursulines, Sligo; Sisters of Mercy, in various places; and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, at Loughlynn. To the convents are attached primary schools attended by 2500 girls. Three of them have also industrial schools for orphan and homeless chil- dren. The Ursulines conduct a boarding-school for young ladies. The diocesan seminary is the college of the Immaculate Conception at Sligo. The Marist and Presentation Brothers teach large schools. The cathedral of the diocese at Sligo, an early Romanesque structure, simple and massive, was erected by Most Rev. Dr. Gillooly, and consecrated in 1897. He also built St. Mary's Presbytery, and the College of the Ira- maculate Conception, Sligo. These, with a Temper- ance Hall, form a group of ecclesiastical buildings worthy of their beautiful scenic surroundings.

Bishop Gillooly was succeeded, 24 March, 1895, by the Most Rev. John Joseph Clancy, born in the parish of Riverstown, County Sligo, in 1856. He was edu- cated at the Marist (College, Sligo, and Summerhill Col- lege, Athlone, and entered Maynooth in 1876, where he spent two years on the Dunboyne Establishment. In 1883 he was appointed professor in the Diocesan College, Sligo, and in 1887 professor of English Litera- ture and French in Maynooth College, which office he held until he was made Bishop of Elphin.

Book of Armagh (Reeves-Gywnn, facsimile edition); Ware- Harrls. Bishops and Writers of Ireland (Dublin, 1739-46); Annals of the Four Masters, ed. O'Donovan (Dublin, 18.56); A?mals of Ulster, ed. Hennessy and McCarthy (Dublin, 1887 sqq.); j4nna/s of LocA CV (1014-1590), ed. Hennessy; Brady, Episcopal Succession in England and Ireland (Rome, 1876). J. J. Kelly.

Elusa, a titular see of Palrestina Tertia, suffragan of Petra. This city is called XeXXoiis in the Greek text of Judith, i, 9. It is also mentioned by Ptolemy, V, xv, 10 (in Idumaea), Peutinger's "Table", Stephanus By- zantius (as being formerly in Arabia, now in Pates- tina Tertia), St. Jerome (In Isaiam, V, xv, 4), the pilgrim Theodosius, Antoninus of Piacenza, and Joan- nes Moschus (Pratum Spirituale, elxiv). In the fourth century, as is to be learned from St. Jerome's life of St. Hilarion, there was at Elusa a great temple of Aphrodite; the saint seems to have introduced Chris- tianity there ("Vita Hilarionis" in P. G., XXIII, 41). Early in the following century a Bishop of Elusa after redeeming the son of St. Nilus, who had been carried off from Mount Sinai by the Arabs, ordained both him and his father (P. G., LXXIX, 373-93). Other bishops known are Theodulus, 431; Aretas, 451; Peter, 518; and Zenobius, 536 (Lequien, Or. christ., Ill, 735). To- day the ruins of the city are seen at El-Khalaja (Kha- la?ah), about nineteen miles south of Bersabee, in a large plain belonging to nomad tribes. Many inscrip- tions have been found there (Revue Biblique, 1905, 246-48, 253-55). In the vicinity, according to the Targums, was the desert of Sur with the well at which the angel found Agar (Gen., xvi, 7). (See Revue Biblique, 1906, 597).

The ancient See of Elusa (Eauze) in Gaul was united with that of Auch (q. v.) probably in the ninth cen- tury.

Reland, Palastina (Utrecht, 1714), II, 717, 755-757; Rob- inson. Biblical Researches in Palestine (London, 1856), I, 201- 202; Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus (Cambridge, 1871), II, 385; Gelzer, Georgii Cyprii descriptio orbis Romani (Leipzig, 1890). 199.

S. Vailh6.

Elvira, Council of, held early in the fourth cen- tury at Elliberis, or Illiberis, in Spain, a city now in ruins not far from Granada. It was, so far as we know, the first council held in Spain, and was at- tended by nineteen bishops from all parts of the Pea-