LIMERICK, DIOCESE of. - Diocese and capital city of the county of the same name in Eire. It comprises most of the county of L. and a small portion of that of Clare.
It has a population of 117,560 inhabitants, of whom 114,630 are Catholics. It has 48 parishes served by 119 diocesan priests and 165 regular clergy; a diocesan seminary (St. Munchin's Diocesan Seminary) and the Sacred Heart College, conducted by the Jesuits; 12 male and 22 female religious communities.
After St. Patrick, who evangelized the region, came St. Senan, abbot of Scattery Island, and St. Munchin, founder of a monastery and a school at Mungret, which soon became very flourishing. The Danes occupied L.; but they were expelled at the end of the 10th century by Brian Borvihme. L. became the capital of the Kingdom of Thomond, and had its bishop dependent on Canterbury. Around 1110 the abbot of Bangor, Gillebert, became bishop of L.; at the Synod of Rathabreasal the boundaries of the diocese were determined. Under Bishop Donato O'Brien (1179–1207), the cathedral of St. Mary was erected and Scattery Island was united to L. In 1460 Bishop Cornelio O'Dea distinguished himself. In the 16th and 17th centuries L. suffered greatly, and from 1702 to 1720 the see remained vacant. Under the episcopate of Monsignor Ryan (d. 1864), many churches and convents were built, and in 1856 the foundation stone was laid for the new cathedral dedicated to St. John.