KERRY AND AGHADOE, Diocese of. - In Ireland. It comprises the whole county of K. (except Kilmurrily) and part of the county of Cork.

Out of a population of 160,891 inhabitants, it counts 158,586 Catholics. There are 50 parishes, 150 diocesan priests and 12 regulars, two seminaries (St. Brendan's College and St. Michael's College); 8 male religious communities and 24 female ones (1950).

It appears that Christianity was preached in the region around the middle of the 5th century by St. Benignus, sent there by St. Patrick. The first known bishop is St. Erc, d. in 512, who also had jurisdiction over the south-west of Limerick. The patron of K. is St. Brendan, commemorated on 16 May. United to K. is the ancient diocese of A., where the first church was built by St. Finian the Leper (d. ca. 615), founder of the monastery of Innisfallen (Cottineau, I, coll. 1456-57). Before 1110 A. was united with K.; the diocese of K. was re-established by a brief of Pope Pius IX in 1858, after having remained without bishops from 1610 to 1641 and from 1653 to 1703, during which periods it was governed by apostolic vicars. The episcopal residence is in Killarney.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: D. O'Connor, s. v. in Cath. Enc., VIII, pp. 627-28; Irish Catholic Directory and Almanach 1950, Dublin 1950, pp. 291-97.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec7_kerry_e_aghadoe_diocesi_di, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Kerry e Aghadoe, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {680--681}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/kerry-e-aghadoe-diocesi-di} }

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Kerry and Aghadoe, Diocese of

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