Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)

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Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland. The Roman Catholic Church has a similar role, heading the Archdiocese of Dublin. In both cases, the Archbishop is also Primate of Ireland.

Pre-Reformation history

Before the Diocese

The Dublin area was Christian long before Dublin had a distinct diocese, and the remains and memory of monasteries famous before that time, at Finglas, Glasnevin, Glendalough, Kilnamanagh, Rathmichael, Swords, Tallaght, among others, are witness to the faith of earlier generations, and to a flourishing Church life in their time. Several of these functioned as "head churches" and the most powerful of all was Glendalough. In the early church in Ireland, the church had a monastic basis, with greatest power vested in the Abbots of the major communities. There were bishops but not organised dioceses in the modern sense, and the offices of abbot and bishop were often comprised in one person. Some early "Bishops of Dublin," back to 633, are mentioned in Ware's Antiquities of Ireland but the Diocese of Dublin is not considered to have begun until 1038, and when Ireland began to see organised dioceses, all of the current Diocese of Dublin, and more, was comprised in the Diocese of Glendalough.

The Danish diocese and early bishops

Following a reverted conversion by one Norse King of Dublin, Sitric, his son Godfrey became Christian in 943, and the Kingdom of Dublin first sought to have a bishop of their own in the eleventh century, under Sitric MacAulaf, who had been on pilgrimage to Rome. He sent his chosen candidate, Donat (or Donagh or Donatus) to be consecrated in Canterbury in 1038, and the new prelate set up the Diocese of Dublin as a small territory within the walled city, over which he presided until 1074. The Bishop of Dublin answered to the Archbishop of Canterbury and did not attend councils of the Irish Church. Sitric also provided for the building of Christ Church Cathedral in 1038 "with the lands of Baldoyle, Raheny and Portrane for its maintenance."[1]

The second Bishop of Dublin was Patrick or Gilla Pátraic (1074-1084), consecrated at St. Paul's, London, followed by Donngus Ua hAingliu (Donat O'Haingly), 1085-1095, consecrated at Canterbury, and in turn succeeded by his nephew, Samuel Ua hAingliu (Samuel O'Haingly) (1096-1121), consecrated by St. Anselm at Winchester.

At the Synod of Rathbreasail, convened in 1118 by Gillebert (Gilbert), Bishop of Limerick, on papal authority, the number of dioceses in Ireland was fixed at twenty-four. Dublin was not included, the city being described as lying in the Diocese of Glendalough, but the Danish Bishops continued, still attached to Canterbury. From 1121, the fifth and last Bishop of Dublin was one Gréne (Gregory), consecrated at Lambeth by Ralph, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Reorganisation of the Church in Ireland, 1152

Then, in 1151, Pope Eugene III commissioned Cardinal Paparo to go to Ireland and establish four metropolitans, and at a general synod at Kells in 1152, Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, were created archiepiscopal sees. In a document drawn up by the then Archbishop of Tuam in 1214, the cardinal is described as finding both a bishop based in Dublin, who at the time exercised his episcopal office within the city walls only, and "He found in the same Diocese another church in the mountains, which likewise had the name of a city [Glendalough] and had a certain chorepiscopus. But he delivered the pallium to Dublin which was the best city and appointed that the diocese (Glendalough) in which both these cities were should be divided, and that one part thereof should fall to the metropolitan." The part of North County Dublin known as Fingall was taken from Glendalough Diocese and attached to Dublin City. The new Archdiocese had 40 parishes, in deanaries based on the old senior monasteries. All dependence upon English churches such as Canterbury was also ended.

Early Archbishops

Gregory, the existing Bishop of Dublin, was elevated as the first Archbishop, with the Bishops of Kildare, Ossory, Leighlin, Ferns, and Glendalough reporting to him. The second Archbishop was Lorcán Ua Tuathail (Saint Laurence O'Toole), previously Abbot of Glendalough, who had previously been elected as Bishop of Glendalough but had declined that office. During his time in office, religious orders from the continent came to Ireland, and as part of this trend, Laurence installed a community of canons to minister according to the Aroasian Rule in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, later known as Christchurch.

Not only was the Irish Church transformed in that twelfth century by new organisation and new arrivals from abroad, but Ireland's political scene was changed permanently by the coming of the Normans and the influence of the English Crown. Saint Laurence's successor was a Norman, and from then onward to the time of the Reformation, Dublin's Archbishops were all either Norman or English. High offices in the Church were never free of political influence, and in fact many of Dublin's Archbishops exercised civil authority for the English crown. Archbishop Henry of London's name appears in the text of the Magna Carta along with the names of English Bishops as witnesses. In 1185, the Pope had granted a petition to combine the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough, to take effect on the death of the then Bishop of Glendalough. The union took effect in 1216, with the approval of Innocent III, and the dioceses have remained merged ever since.

The University Project

Archbishop Leech of Dublin received a Papal Bull from Clement V in 1311, authorising him to establish a university at Dublin, and this process was completed in 1320, when the university statutes were confirmed by Pope John XXII to the next Archbishop, Alexander de Bicknor. The statutes mention the Chapters of both St. Patrick's and Christ Church Cathedrals, which are granted the power to confer degrees, and the aim appears to have been to provide lectures at the former. The then Dean of St. Patrick's, William Rodyard, was elected first Chancellor of the University, and in 1358, King Edward III issued letters patent conferring protection on the students. In 1364, a Divinity Lecture was endowed, and in 1496, the Diocesan Synod granted stipends for the lecturers of the university. The university ended with the dissolution of the cathedral organisation under King Henry VIII, though Archbishop George Browne attempted to revive it, and Archbishop Adam Loftus originally supported this also (before he became first Provost of Trinity College). Later, Dean Jonathan Swift appears to have believed the Chapter of St. Patrick's retained the power to confer degrees.[2]

Archbishops of Dublin and Primates of Ireland

Archbishops of Dublin and Primates of Ireland

Due to the increasing association of the Archdiocese with the administration, and the significant secular roles of many office-holders, the Irish clans sought, and received, bishops of their own, designated as Bishops of Glendalough, despite the union of the Dioceses; at least six such appointments were made.

  • 1256-1271 Fulk de Sandford
  • 1279-1284 John de Derlington
  • 1286-1294 John de Sandford, O.P.

Thomas de Chadworth was elected but not consecrated in 1295, and may also have served in 1299

  • 1296-1298 William of Hotham, O.P.
  • 1299-1306 Richard de Ferings

Richard de Haverings, elected Archbishop of Dublin in March 1307, was never consecrated and resigned in November 1310

History from the Reformation

Following the death of Alen, Henry VIII put pressure on the Chapters of Dublin's cathedrals, who elected (January 1536) an Archbishop of his choice, George Browne. Although Browne was conscecrated by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, he was never recognised by the Pope, but began the Church of Ireland succession.

Church of Ireland Archbishops of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough, and Primates of Ireland

Diocese of Kildare united to Archdiocese of Dublin, 1846

Diocese of Kildare removed from Union with Dublin and placed in Union with Diocese of Meath, 1976

Cathedrals

Since the Middle Ages, the seat of the Archbishop of Dublin has been Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, although for many centuries, it shared this status with St. Patrick's Cathedral. See those articles for details of the role of the Archbishop with respect to each.

Status

Please see Primate of Ireland for a discussion of the roles and status of the Archbishops of Dublin and Armagh and their functions as Primates.

Lord Spiritual

Prior to the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin was entitled to sit in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual, along with the other Archbishops in rotation.

Notes and references

  1. ^ Dublin: Catholic Truth Society, 1911: Bishop of Canea: Short Histories of Dublin Parishes, Part VIII, p. 162
  2. ^ London: Newman, Cardinal Henry; The Rise and Progress of Universities, Chapter 17 (The Ancient University of Dublin), 207-212.

Sources

  • New York, 1909: The Catholic Encyclopedia; Robert Appleton Company

External links

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