DERRY, DIOCESE of. — In Ireland. The name D. is a transliteration of the Gaelic doire, meaning a grove of oak trees.
Within the territory of the diocese there was first an episcopal see at Ard Stratha, where St. Eugenio founded a monastery in the sixth century. The diocese of Ard Stratha was subsequently absorbed into that of D., founded in 1158. It is suffragan to Armagh.
Worthy of special remembrance is Bishop Redmond Gallagher, who was killed by English soldiers in 1601. The cause of his martyrdom is now before the Congregation of Rites. D. became famous for its monastery and its school, founded in the year 546 by St. Colmeille (the name, meaning dove of the church, was Latinized as Columba), one of the greatest Irish saints and apostle of the Picts of Scotland, of whom it was the first and favorite foundation. In 1158 its abbot was placed at the head of all the Columbian monasteries of Ireland. The abbey was destroyed by the English in 1600.
Another monastery of Columbian monks was founded at Fothian (Fahan) in the seventh century by St. Mura, whose crozier is now preserved in the National Museum of Dublin.
The diocese covers an area of 2,500 sq. km., with 217,000 inhabitants, of whom 126,500 are Catholics. It has 39 parishes with 87 churches, 136 diocesan priests, 2 male religious communities (Christian Brothers), and 14 female ones (1948). Under the immediate direction of the bishop, D. has St. Columb's College.