The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1,
August 1865, by Society of Clergymen

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, August 1865

Author: Society of Clergymen

Release Date: September 12, 2010 [EBook #33708]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL ***

Produced by Bryan Ness, Josephine Paolucci and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.)

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.

AUGUST, 1865.

THE SEE OF DROMORE.

The see of Dromore, though founded by St. Colman, seems for several
centuries to have comprised little more than the abbey of that great
saint and its immediate territory. In the synod of Rathbreasil (A. D.
1118), in which the boundaries of the various dioceses were defined, no
mention is made of Dromore, and the territory subsequently belonging to
it was all comprised within the limits of the see of Connor. The acts of
the synod of Kells held about fifty years later, are also silent as to a
bishop of Dromore; and Cencius Camerarius, compiling his list of sees in
1192, again omits all mention of this see. Nevertheless, the abbot of
the monastery, "de viridi ligno", which gave name to the town of Newry,
ruled this diocese with episcopal authority during the later half of the
twelfth century, and a bishop of this see named Uroneca (_alias_ O'Rony)
is mentioned in a charter of donations to the abbey of Neddrum, about
the year 1190 (see Reeves' _Ecclesiastical Antiquities_, pag. 192).

The last episcopal abbot of this great monastery was _Gerard_, a
Cistercian monk of Mellifont, who, in 1227, was chosen bishop, and died
in 1243. A controversy then arose between the chapter of Dromore and the
monastery of Newry. Each claimed the right of electing the successor to
the deceased bishop; and the Archbishop of Armagh gave judgment in
favour of the former. The matter being referred to Rome, all controversy
was set at rest by Pope Innocent VI., who by letter of 5th March, 1244,
addressed "t