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The Bishop of Ardagh was a separate episcopal title which took its name after the village of Ardagh, County Longford in Ireland. It was used by the Roman Catholic Church until 1756, and intermittently by the Church of Ireland until 1839.

Tradition states that a monastery was founded at Ardagh by St Patrick, and that his nephew, St. Mel (died c.490), was its bishop or abbot. Although there is no historical or archaeological evidence to support it, Mel is regarded as the founder of the see.

The diocese of Ardagh was established in 1111 at the Synod of Rathbreasail as the see for east Connacht. At the subsequent Synod of Kells in 1152, its area was reduced to the territory of the Conmaicne.

Ardagh Cathedral was severely damaged by warfare in 1496 and was never restored. There are remains of an eighth- or ninth-century church at Ardagh, which is known as St. Mel's Cathedral, although it dates from three centuries after the saint's death, and predates the introduction of a diocesan system in Ireland.

Following the Reformation, there were parallel apostolic successions. In the Roman Catholic Church, the bishopric has been united with Clonmacnoise since 30 May 1756. Until the mid 19th-century, the parish church of Ballymahon had served as a pro-cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. A new St Mel's Cathedral in Longford was built for the diocese between 1840 and 1856. The building was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Christmas Day 2009.

In the Church of Ireland, Ardagh was intermittently held with Kilmore between 1604–1633, 1661–1692 and 1693–1742, then held with Tuam 1742–1839. Ardagh was again united to Kilmore 1839–1841. Since 1841, Ardagh has been part of the bishopric of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh.

Pre-Reformation bishops

Bishops during the Reformation

Post-Reformation bishops

Church of Ireland succession

Roman Catholic succession

Notes

• These two bishops appear as rival bishops, and the rivalry was continued to 1237.
• There was a disputed election after the death of Uilliam Mac Carmaic in 1373. Cairbre Ó Feaghail died at Avignon in 1378, and it is not certain that he ever got possession of the see. John Aubrey, O.P., friar of Trim, was one of the three rival candidates in 1373. (The third candidate was Richard O'Farrell, Dean of Ardagh).
• The date of Cormac Mác Shamhradháin's resignation is uncertain, but a 'Joh.', bishop-elect of Ardagh, was in Rome in 1463.

References

1. Fryde, Handbook of British Chronology, pp. 328–329, 378–379 and 412–413.
2. Cotton, The Province of Ulster, pp. 179–182.
3. Ryan, J. J. "Ardagh". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
4. Galloway, The Cathedrals of Ireland.
5. Fryde, Handbook of British Chronology, pp. 328–329.
6. Cotton, The Province of Ulster, pp. 178–182.
7. Moody, Maps, Genealogies, Lists, pp. 271–273.
8. ^ "Historical successions: Ardagh". Crockford's Clerical Directory. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
9. Fryde, Handbook of British Chronology, pp. 332, 378, and 413.
10. Moody, Maps, Genealogies, Lists, pp. 273, 339, and 395.
11. Fryde, Handbook of British Chronology, pp. 378–379.
12. Cotton, The Province of Ulster, pp. 182–185.
13. Moody, Maps, Genealogies, Lists, pp. 395–396.
14. Fryde, Handbook of British Chronology, pp. 412–413.
15. Moody, Maps, Genealogies, Lists, pp. 339–340.

Bibliography

• Cotton, Henry (1849). The Province of Ulster. Fasti Ecclesiae Hiberniae: The Succession of the Prelates and Members of the Cathedral Bodies of Ireland. Vol. III. Dublin: Hodges and Smith.
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
• Galloway, Peter (1992). The Cathedrals of Ireland. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN 0-85389-452-3.
• Moody, T. W.; Martin, F. X.; Byrne, F. J., eds. (1984). Maps, Genealogies, Lists: A Companion to Irish History, Part II. New History of Ireland. Vol. XI. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821745-5.

External links

• The Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnaois
• The Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh (Church of Ireland)

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise
• Lists of Irish bishops and archbishops
• Bishops of Kilmore or Elphin or of Ardagh
• Bishops of Ardagh
• Roman Catholic bishops of Ardagh
• Bishops of Ardagh (Church of Ireland)
• Conmaicne Maigh Rein
• Conmaicne Angaile
• Lists of bishops and archbishops of former Anglican dioceses in Ireland