KILLALOE, DIOCESE OF. — It comprises parts of the Irish counties of Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, Galway, Limerik, and Leix.
Out of a population of 116,508, it has 112,936 Catholics (1936 census), distributed among 57 parishes with 161 secular and 42 regular priests, 6 male and 7 female religious communities, one seminary, 283 primary schools, 13 secondary schools, and 11 vocational schools. The diocese is a suffragan of Cashel; the episcopal residence is at Ennis.
Its Irish name is Cill-da-Lua, after s. Lua, an abbot who lived at the end of the 6th century. But its patron is its first bishop, s. Flannan (feast on 18 December), who is said to have been consecrated in Rome ca. 640. At the end of the 12th century, two ancient dioceses were added to K.: that of Inniscathy, founded by s. Senan at the beginning of the 6th century, and that of Roscrea, formed and developed around the monastery founded by s. Cronan. From the death of s. Flannan until 1150, only the names of five successors are recorded; from 1150 onward, the list is complete. Among the long line of bishops of K., particular prominence should be given to the Franciscan Cornelius Ryan, consecrated in 1576, and Giovanni O Moloney, consecrated in 1671. At present the episcopal see and the Cathedral are located at Ennis, capital of the county of Clare, which grew up around the Franciscan convent founded in the middle of the 13th century. The most celebrated monastery of the
diocese is Quin Abbey, founded by the Franciscans ca. 1402.