THE EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION OF CONS KILLALOE (1195-1576) BY W. H. GRATTAN FLOOD, Mus.D., K.S.G. ONSTANTINE O'BRIEN, who was present at the Lateran Council, ruled Killaloe from 1165 till his death in 1194-5, after whom came Charles O'Heney, in 1195. Immediately after the death of Bishop O'Brien, the Chapter had elected Dermot O'Conaing, but Matthew O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, got the election quashed, whereupon Conghal (Charles) O'Heney succeeded. The episcopate of Bishop O'Heney is remarkable for the addition to the see of Killaloe of part of the see of Iniscathy and the whole diocese of Roscrea. In 1212 we find Geoffrey de Marisco as Bishop of Killaloe, but he was an intruder. Conghal O'Heney assisted at the Council of Lateran in 1216, but did not long survive that event, as his obit is chronicled by the Four Masters in 1216. On September 5, 1216, King John granted the custody of the vacant see of Killaloe to the Bishop of Ferns, and on January 14, 1217, Henry III approved of the election of Robert Travers (nephew of the Justiciary). This election was, however, quashed by the Pope, and Donal O'Kennedy was chosen Bishop. The King stood by the election of Travers, who was given the temporalities, but James, Penitentiary of the Pope, deposed him, and on January 7, 1222, the King ordered the Archbishop of Dublin to take over the issues of the see of Killaloe. At length, on May 26, 1226, the Pope approved of the election of Donal O'Kennedy, Archdeacon of Killaloe, but the King did not restore the temporalities till August 20, 1231.1 Although Bishop O'Kennedy was elected to the Archi 1 Close Rolls, Henry III, m. 6. episcopal see of Cashel, in 1237, the King refused his assent, and, in the event, David MacKelly, Bishop of Cloyne, was translated to Cashel.1 Ware says that this prelate 'died during the hot summer of 1253,' but the real date was September, 1252. The Bishop had retired to Limerick, where he died, and was buried in the Dominican Convent. On November 22, 1252, licence for election was issued, and the Chapter elected Isaac O'Cormagan (O'Gorman), who received the royal assent on April 5, 1253. Two months later, on June 23, the Pope wrote to inform Archbishop MacKelly of the appointment of Bishop O'Gorman, who had been consecrated at Rome by the Bishop of Ostia.' After a rule of fourteen years he resigned, and retired to the Cistercian Abbey of Holy Cross, Co. Tipperary. A congé d'élire was issued on November 10, 1267, and Mahon O'Hogan, Dean of Killaloe, was the choice of the Chapter. Bishop O'Hogan's election received the royal assent on March 20, 1268, and he was given the temporalities of the see on the following day. On June 2, 1280, he exchanged with the King the manor of Roscrea for three carucates and 84 acres of land in Newcastle Lyons. Six months later the Bishop was permitted to alienate the lands of Newcastle Lyons to his son James, and he died in August, 1281, being interred in the Dominican Convent, Limerick. Muiredach (Maurice) O'Hogan, Precentor of Killaloe, was elected Bishop in October, 1281, and received restitution of temporalities on February 4, 1282. After a rule of sixteen years he died in 1298, and was buried in his own cathedral. was David MacMahon, Dean of Killaloe, was elected by the Chapter early in 1298, and got restitution of temporalities on April 22 following. In 1306 the value of the diocese given as £317 18s. 4d. Bishop MacMahon died on May 14, 1316, and was succeeded by Thomas O'Cormacain, Archdeacon of Killaloe, whose death is chronicled in 1321. Benedict O'Coscry, Dean of Killaloe, was consecrated 1 Cal. Pap. Letters, i. 184. 2 Ibid. i. 287. 3 Pat. Rolls, 27 Edw. I. m. 28. Bishop early in 1322, but had a very brief episcopate, as his death occurred in 1325. Then followed David MacBrian, of Emly, who was provided by Pope John XXII on May 25, 1326, and whose temporalities were restored six months later, on November 26. Bishop MacBrian ruled for sixteen years, and died on December 12, 1342. Thomas O'Hogan, Canon of Killaloe, was elected to the see of Killaloe in 1343, and ruled for eleven years, his obit being chronicled on October 30, 1354. The Annals of Nenagh add that Bishop O'Hogan was interred five days later, in the Franciscan Friary of that town. On May 29, 1355, the Pope provided Thomas O'Cormacain, Archdeacon of Killaloe (who had been dispensed defectu natalium, in 1343), then in Rome, as Bishop, and he ruled for thirty-two years, his death occurring in 1387. After a two years vacancy, Matthew M'Grath, Dean of Killaloe, was provided by Pope Nicholas IV, and had restitution of temporalities on September 1, 1391. Ware says that Bishop M'Grath ruled till 1400, but he must have either resigned or died, in 1399, for in the latter year Donal M'Grath was Bishop-elect. This Donal held office till his death in 1408. Robert Mulfield, O.Cist., was provided to the see of Killaloe by the Pope, on September 9, 1409, but after a rule of eight years accepted the more congenial position of Assistant Bishop of Lichfield. At length, in July, 1418, the Pope translated Eugene O'Phelan from Kilmacduagh to Killaloe. Bishop O'Phelan ruled from 1418 till his death in June, 1430, but he had resigned six months previously, and had been replaced by James O'Lonergan, on December 9, 1429. Bishop O'Lonergan never entered upon his office, as Thady M'Grath had been canonically elected Bishop of Killaloe in 1430, and had his temporalities restored on September, 1432. He was Augustinian Abbot of Clare, near Ennis, and was backed up by O'Brien, Prince of Thomond. Consequently the Pope translated Bishop O'Lonergan to the see of Annaghdown in 1434. No details have come down as to Bishop M'Grath's rule, but I his obit occurred in 1443. On July 26, 1443, Donal O'Brien, although only in his twenty-eighth year, was provided to the see of Killaloe, and ruled till 1460. His successor was Tadhg M'Grath, who was provided by Pope Pius II, in July, 1460, but whose appointment was soon after annulled. (He exemplified the Charter of Clare Abbey on July 18, 1461.) However, although Mahon O'Griffin, Archdeacon of Limerick, was provided as : Bishop on May 21, 1463, and was duly consecrated in Rome, Bishop M'Grath claimed the see and continued to rule the diocese till his death, in 1482, being interred, according to the Four Masters, in the Augustinian monastery of Canon Island, in the Fergus. Papal Mandates were issued to him in the years 1468, 1470, and 1471.1 There is considerable confusion as to the actual rulers of the see of Killaloe in the second half of the fifteenth century, and Ware does not improve matters by the insertion of John M'Grath, Maurice O'Casey, and Dermot M'Grath. Turlogh O'Brien ruled Killaloe from 1483 till his death in 1525, and was a warlike prelate. In 1523 he made the Pope a present of 100 gold florins. His obit is thus chronicled in The Annals of Loch Cé: 1525. The Bishop of Killaloe died, i.e., Toirdhelbhach, son of Mathghamhain O'Brien, the Gael who received the most, and dispensed it the best, of all who were in his time; and this bishop was a man of eminent general hospitality towards all; and a man for defending his right at home and abroad, with or without consent; and a man for frequently setting large armies against each other, to destroy his enemies and subdue his adversaries; so that there was not near him in his own country, nor in any neighbouring country, any son of a Gael who had not received his earnings and wages from him. And, furthermore, this Bishop O'Brien was the calamity beyond all calamities, and the loss beyond all losses, that occurred in regard to learning in his time. In 1526 James glas O'Currin was provided by the Pope to the see of Killaloe, but in 1539 his orthodoxy was impugned, and on June 16, of that year, Richard O'Hogan, O.F.M., was provided to the see of Clonmacnois, 1 Cal. Pap. Letters, xii. Bishop with the administration of the see of Killaloe. O'Hogan died soon after, and on December 5, 1539, Florence O'Kirwan, O.F.M., was provided to the sees of Clonmacnois and Killaloe, united only for the lifetime of the said Florence. On May 5, 1542, the Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop O'Currin, and appointed Dermot O'Brien, natural son of the King of Thomond, to act as Administrator of the see. This appointment was mainly with a view of securing the all-powerful interest of O'Brien of Thomond, as the nominee was only twenty-two years of age and was empowered to receive the income of the see until he should attain the age of twenty-seven. Four years later Bishop O'Currin died, but the Crown had appointed Cornelius O'Dea as Bishop, who, however, was not recognized by the Holy See, and so, on June 24, 1554, the Pope provided Turlough O'Brien, Dean of Kilmacduagh, to the see of Killaloe, vacant by the death of Bishop O'Currin, bonae memoriae. Bishop O'Brien ruled from 1554 till his death in 1569, and on January 10, 1571, Malachy O'Molony, a priest of the diocese of Cashel, was appointed his successor by the Pope. As the Crown had taken over the temporalities, in 1569, Bishop O'Molony had a trying time of it for over five years, but on August 22, 1576, the Pope translated him to Kilmacduagh. On the same day the Pope appointed Cornelius O'Mulryan, O.F.M., to the see of Killaloe. This great prelate endured much for the faith between the years 1576 and 1580, and was prominent in the Desmond wars. He attended Dr. Sanders, the Papal Nuncio, on his death-bed in April, 1581. In company with the Baron of Lixnaw he went to Spain in September, 1582. ever, ample materials O'Mulryan, and it only at Lisbon early in 1617. How exist for a memoir of Bishop concerns us to add that he died W. H. GRATTAN FLOOD. |