TUAM, ARCHDIOCESE OF
Tuam is a city and archdiocese in western Ireland. It covers an area of 7,560 square miles and has a population of 158,400, of whom 147,300 are Catholics distributed across 56 parishes, served by 176 diocesan priests and 228 religious; it has one seminary, 15 male religious communities, and 27 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 435). It comprises about half of the counties of Galway and Mayo and a small part of County Roscommon. It is the largest diocese in Ireland. It includes the territories of five ancient dioceses: Tuam, Annaghdown, Cong, Mayo, and Aghagower.
The original diocese of Tuam was founded by St. Jarlath around the year 520 and became an archiepiscopal and metropolitan see of Connacht at the Synod of Kells in 1152.
At that time, seven suffragan bishops were subject to Tuam, namely the bishops of Mayo, Killala, Roscommon, Clonfert, Aghagower, Clonmacnoise, and Kilmacduagh. Currently, the archbishop of Tuam has as suffragans the bishops of Aghagower, Elphin, Clonfert, Killala, and Galway. In 1152, Hugh O'Hession became the first archbishop of Tuam; upon his death in 1161, Cathal O'Duffy succeeded him and was present at the Third Lateran Council in 1179. Maurice O'Fihely, a Franciscan who was appointed bishop in 1506 and died in Galway in 1513, was known as *Flos mundi* because of his great learning; he commented on many works of John Duns Scotus. Another Franciscan, Florence Conry, was archbishop from 1609 to 1629 but never visited his see; he was highly active in the works of St. Augustine and defended the interests of Irish Catholics at the court of Spain and elsewhere during his tenure. Malachy O'Queely, who served as archbishop from 1630 to 1645, reconciled many heretics to the true Church and administered the sacrament of Confirmation to 100,000 souls; he was a zealous patriot and was killed on the battlefield near the city of Sligo. The most representative bishop was John MacHale (v.). John MacEvilly, who died in 1902, was also a learned and zealous prelate: he wrote English commentaries on almost the entire New Testament.
In the diocese of Tuam, near the town of Westport, stands the holy mountain of Croagh Patrick, where St. Patrick (v.) fasted and prayed for forty days and nights; every year on the last Sunday of July, thousands of the faithful go there on pilgrimage. Another pilgrimage site in the diocese is Knock, where the Blessed Virgin, with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, is said to have appeared at the end of the last century; pilgrims from many regions visit Knock every year.