DROMORE, DIOCESE OF. – In Ireland. The name derives from the Gaelic Drom-mór, meaning a great rock. It comprises parts of the counties of Down, Armagh, and Antrim. The bishop resides at Newry. The diocese was founded in the 6th century by St Colman, its first bishop and patron; however, for several centuries few names of its bishops are recorded, and it is believed that during this period it was governed by Armagh.
Dromore, Diocese of – Cathedral of Newry (19th century).
The succession can be established from the 13th century onwards. Towards the end of the 15th century, George Brann was bishop of Dromore. He is said to have been a Greek born in Athens, later procurator in Rome of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Sassia. He was transferred to the see of Elphin, also in Ireland. In the modern cathedral of Newry, the Christian Brothers run a school on the very site of the Cistercian abbey founded in 1144 by St Malachy, first archbishop of Armagh and later bishop of Down.
The diocese covers an area of 1,650 sq km; it has about 100,000 inhabitants, of whom 41,807 are Catholics; it comprises 19 parishes with 42 churches, 75 diocesan priests and 5 regular clergy; a diocesan seminary, St Colman’s College, at Newry; 3 male religious communities and 16 female convents (1949). The diocese is a suffragan of Armagh.