Cloyne Diocese, Cork, Ireland , Lewis, 1837 description ©Jane Lyons

This page is part of an Irish genealogy web site 'From Ireland' ©Dr. Jane Lyons, Dublin, Ireland.

County Cork

Ireland

DIOCESES

Cloyne

The Diocese of CLOYNE is called, in the ancient Roman Provincial, ‘Cluain-Vanian,’ and by the Irish historians ‘Cluain-Vama.’ Of the successors of St. Colman little in recorded till after the arrival of the English in the reign of Hen. II.; the only names that have been preserved from the foundation of the see till that period are those of O'Malvain, who died in 1094 ; Nehemiah O'Moriertach, who presided from 1140 till 1149 ; and of his successors, O'Dubery and O'Flanagan, of whom the former died in 1159, and or the latter in 1167. At the time of the English invasion, Matthew, whose surname is supposed to have been of O'Mongagh, presided over the see; he died in 1192 and from that time till 1430 there was, with very little to intermission, a regular succession of prelates, though few particulars of their history are recorded.

Upon the election of Daniel, a Franciscan friar, in 1249, the dean and chapter refused to present him to the king for his Approbation, and proceeded by apostolic mandate to the archbishop of Cashel and the bishops of Killaloe and Lismore, to have him consecrated. The king (Hen. III.) consequently refused to invest him with the temporalities, but ultimately consented upon the condition that the dean and chapter should give security by patent not to make any election for the future, without first obtaining licence, nor to proceed to consecration without previously presenting the person elected to the king for his approbation.

During the prelacy of Maurice O'Solehan, who succeeded to the prelacy in 1320, Edw. III. wrote to Pope John XXII., stating that, in consequence of the poverty of the bishopricks of Cork and Cloyne, he designed to unite them into one see, to which the pope readily consented, and issued his apostolic bull, dated Aug. 2nd, in the 11th year of his pontificate, for that purpose, which was to take place on the death or avoidance of the present bishops. Walter Le Reed was translated from the see of Cork to the archbishoprick of Cashel, in 1330, but the bull having been lost in the mean time, the union was not effected. John de Swafham, who succeeded in 1363, was sent by the parliament, in commission with the bishop of Meath and others, in 1313, to represent to Edw. III. the state of the kingdom of Ireland, the result of which was the mission of the Earl of March into Ireland. This prelate was distinguished for his writings against the Wickliffites, for which, in 1316, he was promoted to the see of Bangor by Pope Gregory XI. In 1377, his successor, Bishop Wye, applied to Pope Gregory to remedy the loss of the bull, and an exemplification of it was sent to him from Rome, which bull equal validity ; but Wye being deprived for misconduct, nothing was done till the accession of Bishop Pay, in 1421, when he referred the matter to the parliament in Dublin, but they refused to interfere, and Milo Fitz-John, then Bishop of Cork, refusing his sanction to the union, the case was referred to the court of Rome. Bishop Pay died in 1430, and the see of Cork being also vacant by the death of Milo Fitz-John, who died in the came year, the two vacant sees were both canonically united and conferred by Pope Martin V. upon Jordan, Chancellor of Limerick, who succeeded in 1431. From this time the sees continued to be united for more than 200 years, till 1638, when George Synge was consecrated Bishop of Cloyne, and William Chappel, Bishop of Cork and Ross, which two sees were united on the separation of that of Cloyne.

In 1639, the wardenship of the collegiate church of Youghal was united in perpetuity to this see, and so continues ; but the late Bishop Brinkley obtained an act for separating the rectory from the wardenship, and it is now presented to as an ordinary benefice. From the death of Bishop Synge, in 1653, the see remained vacant till the Restoration, when it was united to those of Cork and Ross, and continued so during the prelacies of Michael Boyle and Edward Synge; but on the death of the latter, in 1678, it was again separated, and continued to be a distinct see till September, 1835, when, on the death of the last bishop, Dr. John Brinkley, it was, by the provisions of the Church Temporalities Act of the 3rd of Wm. IY., re-annexed to the see of Cork and Ross.

The diocese is one of time eleven that constitute the province of Cashel; it is wholly within the county of Cork, and comprehends an estimated superficies of 539,700 acres. The lands belonging to the see comprise 12,482 statute acres, much of which is rough un-profitable mountain ; and the gross yearly revenue amounted, on an average of three years ending on the 3lst of December, 1831, to £3402. The gross revenue, including the union of Ahada, which was formerly annexed to the see, but which has been separated by the provisions of that act, was previously £5008.

The chapter consists of a dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon, and the 14 prebendaries of Donaghmore, Aghultie, Inniscarra, Brigown, Kilmacdonough, Cahirultan, Killeaemer, Glenore or Glanworth, Cooliney, Ballyhay, Coole, Kilmaclenan, Subulter, and Lackeen ; there are also five vicars choral not members of the chapter. The economy fund, on an average of three years ending with 1831, amounted to £559. 10s. 8d., per annum, arising from rents of land, tithes and glebes reserved by lease, and one sixth-part of the tithes of the parish of Cloyne ; it is appropriated to the payment of officers' salaries, and to the maintenance of the cathedral in repair.

The consistorial court, held in the chapter-house, on the north side of the cathedral, every third Tuesdays consists of a vicar-general, a surrogate, two advocates, two registrars, four proctors, and an apparitor.

The total number of the parishes in the diocese is 125, of which 22 are unions, the whole comprising 91 benefices, of which 13 are in the patronage of the Crown, 69 in that of the Bishop, 2 in that of the Incumbents, 6 in lay patronage, and one in the alternate patronage of the Bishop and a layman. The number of churches is 64, and there are 21 school and other houses in which divine service is performed till churches can be built the number of glebe-houses is 29.

In the Roman Catholic divisions this diocese is united with that of Ross, forming the bishoprics of Cloyne and Ross, and comprising 42 parochial beneficent or unions, containing 89 chapels, which are served by 90 clergymen, 42 of whom, including the bishop, or parish priests, and 58 coadjutors or curates. The parochial benefice of the bishop is the Great Island, including the parish of Clonmel, and that part of the parish of Temple Robin which is on that island. There is no cathedral belonging to either of the sees ; the bishop resides in his parish, near Cove.

The rectory of Cloyne is appropriate to the economy estate and the vicars choral of the cathedral, and two curates are appointed to discharge the duties of the parish. the parochial tithes amount to £1317, of which one-sixth is payable to the economy estate, and five sixths to the vicars choral.

The cathedral, which is a dedicated to St. Colman, and is used as the parish a church, is a large cruciform edifice, in the later English a style of architecture, and is supposed to have been erected so early as the 14th century. The principal entrance is from the west, beneath a lofty pointed arch, and on the north side is a small, low, pointed doorway.The interior is remarkably neat, and kept in a good state of repair : the choir is tastefully fitted up, and is used as the parish church, but being found too small or that purpose, the organ was removed, in 1780, to the Junction of the nave and transepts, by which the choir has been lengthened 21 feet. In 1899, galleries were built to accommodate the increasing congregation, and pews were erected, in 1836, round the communion table. On the north side of the choir is the entrance to the chapter-house, which is evidently much more modern than the cathedral. In the north transept is a handsome monument erected to the memory of Dr.Woodward, and in the south transept, one for Dr. Warburton, both formerly bishops of this see. The transepts also contain some elegant monuments of the Longfields, Lumleys, and other families of note.