Killaloe, Diocese of

KILLALOE, Diocese of. - It comprises parts of the Irish counties of Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, Galway, Limerick and Leix.

Out of a population of 116,508 inhabitants, it counts 112,936 Catholics (1936 census), distributed in 57 parishes with 161 secular priests and 42 regulars, 6 male religious communities and 7 female, a 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, from St. Lua, abbot, who lived at the end of the 6th century. But as patron it has its first bishop St. Flannan (feast on 18 December), who is said to have been consecrated in Rome around 640. At the end of the 12th century two ancient dioceses were added to K.: that of Inniscathy, founded by St. Senan at the beginning of the 6th century, and that of Roscrea, formed and grown up around the monastery founded by St. Cronan. From the death of St. Flannan to 1150 only the names of five successors are remembered; whereas from 1150 the list is complete. In the long series of the bishops of K., particular mention is due to the Franciscan Cornelius Ryan, consecrated in 1576, and to John O Moloney, consecrated in 1671. At present the episcopal see and the Cathedral are at Ennis, the capital of County Clare, which grew up around the Franciscan convent founded in the middle of the 13th century. The most famous monastery of the diocese is Quin Abbey, founded by the Franciscans around 1402.

Benigno Millett