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 EILMORE

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KILMORE

From Hugh O'Finn, appointed 1136, to Andrew Mac- Brady, consecrateii in 14-15, the bishops of this see were often styled Episcopi Biefinue; and no bishop outside of Breffney is known to have ever claimed jurisdiction over it. With a hiatus or tvfo, all its rulers during this period have been ascertained. Many of them are also sometimes called bishops of Triburna, probably from the name of a village near Butlersbridge, close to which village was the episcopal church and most probably the episcopal residence. The spot now marked by the grave- yard of Urney (Triburna) contains some remains of this very ancient structure.

Towards the middle of the fif- teenth century the above-mentioned Andrew MacBrady (1445-5.5) rebuilt on a much larger scale the primi- tive church of St. Fedlemid, situated about seven miles due south of Tri- burna, and in 14.54, with the ap- proval of Pope Nicholas V, made it his cathedral. Thenceforth this church (ciU mur, i. e. great church) imparted its name to the surround- ing parish and also to the diocese, just as the church of Triburna did before, or ju.st as the town of Cavan has given its name to the whole County of Cavan. Bishop Mac- Brady lived at Kilmore. During the penal times many of his successors, in striving to discharge their sacred functions, suffered untold hardships. Richard Brady (1580-1607), for instance, was three times thrown into chains. In 1601 the friary of Multi- farnam, in which he sought refuge, was burned over his head by the English soldiers. As late as the mid- dle of the eighteenth century. Bishop Andrew Camp- bell (1753-1769 or 1770), to escape the dangers that beset him, had to go on his visitations disguised as a Highland piper. A

(1619)

beautiful oil-painting rep- resenting him so attired is preserved in the dining-room of the dioc- esan college at Cavan. The cathedral chapter of Kilmore originally con- sisted, besides the bishop, of eleven canons, together with a dean and an arch- deacon. But in 1636 the latter two titles alone re- mained. Of later years they too have wholly dis- appeared. The seal of the ancient chapter of "Tir- brina " was dug up at Ur- ney about sixty years ago. In 1 636 Kilmore was de- scribed as having forty

pari.shes. In July, 1704, in compliance with the provi- sions of the act passed the previous year for " register- ing the popish clergy", thirty-nine Kilmore "popish parish priests" gave in their names. "Curates or as- sistants" were excluded, being placed on the same footiiig as regulars, and "had to depart out of this Kingdom before the 20th July " under divers pains and penalties. It is worth noting that twelve of these thirty-nine priests had been ordained by Oliver Plunket, the saintly Primate of Armagh; and one of them, the Rev, Owen McHugh of Killcsher, at Rome, in 1682, by Pope Innocent XI. Three parishes claim to have been foimded by St. Patrick in person : Drum- lease, Cloonclare, and Oughteragh (now Balliuamore).

Father Maguire, a well-known controversialist, died parish priest of the last-mentioned place. Drumlease derives its name (drum-lias, ridge of the huts) from the sheds St. Patrick is said to have raised there; and the neighbouring village of Dromahair was for long called Canig-Padruig, or Patrick's Rock. The saint, struck by the scenic beauty of the surroundings, de- signed to establish there his prima- tial see. For twenty years he left his foster-son antl destined succes- sor, Benignus, in charge of it; and it was only towards the end of his life that he reluctantly changetl his in- tention, and adopted Armagh.

In the seventh century the dio- cese gave illustrious names to the Church; to the parish of Mullagh we owe St. Kilian (d. 688), the Apostle of Franconia; to Killinkere, St. Ultan (d. 656); and to Templeport, St. .\idan, or Mogue (d. 651). In- ishmagrath, in the next century, was probul)ly the birthplace of the scholarly St. Tighernach; Balla- ghameehan, in the previous century, was under the care of St. Molassius (or Laserian; d. 563), the founder of Devenish; his copy of the Gospels, which was encased in a reliquary about the year 1001, is now in the Dublin Museum. The most famous religious house in Kilmore was St. Mary's friary in Cavan town, founded by the O'Reillys in 1300. The Dominicans were the first religious to be introduced; in 1393 they left and were replaced by Franciscans. After the Suppression, in the time of James I, the monastery was converted into a court- house . In the beginning of the last century it was used as a Protestant place of worship. The crumbling tower of this church is all that remains of it. In its grave- yard the remains of three noted Irislmien were interred : Owen Roe O'Neill, Ire- I land's noblest soldier, who died a t Clough Oughter in 1 649 ; Hugh O'Reilfy, Bish- op of Kilmore (1625-28), Primate of Armagh ( 1 629- 52), and founder of the Catholic Confederacy; most probably also Myles O'Reilly, sumamed the Slasher, Ireland's great- est swordsman. Their graves were purposely concealed through fear of desecration, and can- not now be pointed out. The other chieftain family of Breffney, the I O'Rourkes, founded

r r y N Creevelea (creeve, branch,

and liatli, grey) beside Dromahair in 1508, and brought thither the Fran- ciscans. A beautifully chased silver chalice, bear- ing an inscription declaring that it was presented to this monastery in 1619 by Mary the wife of "Thad- deus Ruaire" ", is still in use in Butlersbridge chapel in the parish of Cavan. Creevelea, as the annals declare, and as its ruined chancel and cloisters attest, was one of the most imposing of the many noble structures that the Franciscans had. The priory of Drumlane, estab- lished before 550, was confiscated in 1670. Its round tower is still in a good state of preservation. An abbey yet traceable beside St. Fedlemid's church in Kilmore is said to date from the sixth century, and to have been founded by St. Columbcille. On Trinity Island, two