CLOGHER, Diocese of. – In Ireland, a suffragan of Armagh. The name comes from the Gaelic *Clochar* (= stone church). The see was founded by St Patrick, who around 454 appointed St Macartan, his disciple and companion, as the first bishop.
Among the pastors of this see, Heber MacMatron (1643–50) deserves mention; after the death of O’Neill, he was chosen to succeed him as leader of the Irish army against Cromwell. He was captured and beheaded. The cause of his martyrdom has been introduced before the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
In the diocese, at Loch Derg, is situated the “Purgatory of St Patrick,” where every year, from 1 June to 15 August, thousands of pilgrims gather for three continuous days of fasting, prayer, and penance.
In the National Museum of Dublin are preserved two relics of early Christian art from this diocese: the Cross of C. and the *Dominach Alrgid*, a silver urn for the custody of a copy of the Gospels said to have been given by St Patrick to St Macartan.
The diocese has 40 parishes, 88 churches, 110 diocesan priests, 22 regular priests, one community of regular clergy, 4 lay-brotherhoods, 11 convents of nuns, 9 seminaries, and a population of 117,250, of whom 83,569 are Catholic (1946).