Suffragans of the Archdiocese of Dublin;

for though those two were originally distinct, yet at last they were united, and so continued till the time of David O'Brogan, bishop of Clogher, in the time of Henry III. For then all the Deaneries of Ergal which were heretofore subject to the bishop of Louth or Clogher, together with the Church of Louth, were taken from it, and united to the diocese of Armagh. Concerning which we have extant the action of the said David, dated at Perusium, în the Id. of August 1252, commenced against Reiner, archbishop of Armagh, though to no purpose. Lastly in this distribution, (which is not to be omitted) there is wanting the sees of Dromore, Clonmacnoise, and Triburnia; which last was afterward called Kilmore, from the time that Andrew (Brady, if I mistake not,) bishop of that place, about the year 1453, with consent of Pope Nicholas V. erected the parochial church of S. Felim of Kilmore into a Cathedral. As to the order of sitting among the suffragan bishops of Ireland in councils and else where, the bishop of Meath had the first place, the bishop of Derry the second, and the rest took their places according to the time of their ordination.

"The see of Glendelach, which in the bull of Pope Lucius III. dated in 1182, (obtained by John Comin archbishop of Dublin,) is called the bishopric of the Islands, was afterward united to the see of Dublin, in the time of Henry Loundres, archbishop of Dublin. Some say that the see of Ferns was heretofore subject to the see of Menevia in Wales, but we pass such imaginary

conceits.

"Of these the see of Iniscatti, after the coming of the English was united to the See of Limerick, and that of Rosscrea to Killalow: so likewise the sees of Waterford and Lismore were united, and those of Cork and Cloin, and Emly and Cashel.

"Of these the see of Mayo was afterwards united to that of Tuam, as also (though omitted in the distribution) that of Enaghdun. Likewise the see of Rosscoman was translated to Elphin, and that of Cluan was united to the province of Armagh, after a long debate at Rome between the archbishops of Armagh and Tuam. For I cannot but think that Cinani is corruptly there read for Cluana, (commonly Clonmacnoise,) both for the affinity of the name, and propinquity of that see, being divided from the Province of Tuam only by the river Shenan. . . . There are likewise other episcopal sees in

and of Tuam.

How Derry happens to

in the above enumeration.

Ireland, before the coming of Paparo, whereof mention is made in writers, as of the see of Trim, Slebti, Slane, Lusca, Ardmore, Ardsrath, and to omit others, Saigre. But those partly in the synod above mentioned, partly soon after, were added to other sees.

On the above list Dr. Lanigan observes that be inserted it is odd that the see of Derry is there named among those which existed at the time of the Council of Kells, as it appears that there was no regular episcopal see in that place until A.d. 1158. But he expresses in the same place a reasonable doubt as to whether the suffragan sees enumerated by Cencius were exactly the same as those fixed by the Synod of Kells. For this Cencius Camerarius, who was afterwards Pope Honorius III. completed his Census Camerales (from which the above enumeration is extracted) only in A.D. 1192, and so, many years after the holding of the synod.* (See Lan. E. H. iv. 148, 149, 345; Bren. i. 328.)

Another list of the ancient

Irish sees, from Camden. (No. 3.)

The following is another list of the ancient episcopal sees of Ireland, extracted from an old Roman Provincial by Camden, and given in his Britannia, at p. 735, Lond. 1607. (Gibson's Camden Lond. 1722. Col. 1329) Lan. ut sup.

The omission of Elphin from the same enumeration was owing probably to its having been already united with the see of Roscommon. And a like reason will account, with equal probability, for the absence of the name of Dromore, as comprised in the see of Down, or perhaps Armagh.

of the old sees of Ire

the Tracts'

The following tabular view of the ancient bi- Catalogues shoprics of Ireland is taken from Vol. 2 of the Tracts relating to Ireland, published by the land, from Irish Archeological Society, and comprehends, of the Irish Archæologias will be seen from inspection, six lists of our cal Society. old sees, derived from various sources, as men- (Nos. 4-8.) tioned at the head of each column. They include, it will be observed, among the rest, the Rathbreasail catalogue, which has already been given to the reader in a former page of this work.