Cork, See of

The foundation of the SEE OF CORK is generally ascribed to St. Barr or Finbarr, in the early part of the 7th century: his relics, which were enclosed in a silver shrine, were carried away from the cathedral, in 1089, by Dermot, the son of Turlough O'Brian, when he pillaged Cork. St. Finbarr is said to have been succeeded by St. Nessan. In 1292, Bishop Robert Mac Donagh was twice fined £130 for presuming to hold pleas in the ecclesiastical courts for matters belonging to the Crown; and these two fines were paid, with the exception of £84. 14. 2., which was remitted.

In 1324 Philip of Slane was sent in embassy to the pope by Edward II., and discharged his commission with such address that he was made one of the privy council of Ireland. On his return, an assembly of bishops, noblemen, and others was held, at which it was resolved that all disturbers of the public peace should be excommunicated; that the small and poor bishopricks not exceeding £20, £40, or £60 per annum, and which were governed by the mere Irish, should be united with the more eminent bishopricks; and that the Irish abbots and priors should receive Englishmen into lay brotherhoods, as in England. In 1430, the sees of Cork and Cloyne being both vacant, Pope Martin V. united them, and appointed Jordan, chancellor of Limerick, bishop of the united diocese. The last Roman Catholic bishop before the Reformation was John Fitz-Edmund, of the noble family of the Geraldines, who was appointed bishop by the pope in 1499. After his death his powerful relatives seized the revenues of Cloyne and part of those of Cork.

In 1536, Dominic Tirrey, who was reckoned favourable to the Reformation, was appointed bishop by mandate of Henry VIII., and held the see 20 years, during which period the pope appointed two ecclesiastics to the united see, neither of whom took possession. Matthew Sheyn, who was appointed bishop by Elizabeth in 1572, was a great enemy to the veneration paid to images, and, in October, 1578, burnt that of St. Dominick at the high cross of Cork, to the great grief of the people. William Lyon was consecrated bishop of Ross in 1582, and on the 17th of May, 1586, Elizabeth annexed the sees of Cork and Cloyne to Ross, in favour of this prelate, who, in a return to a regal visitation held about the year 1613, states "that the bishoprick of Cloyne was granted by his predecessor, in fee farm, at five marks rent; that Cork and Ross, when he came into possession, were worth only £70 per annum, but that he had improved them to £200 per annum; that he built a mansion-house at Ross, at an expense of at least £300, which, in a little more than three years after, was burnt down by the rebel O'Donovan; that he found no episcopal house at Cork, but that he built one, which cost him at least £1000; and that he never was in possession of the house belonging to the bishoprick of Cloyne, which was withheld from him by Sir John Fitz-Edmund Fitz-Gerald in his lifetime, and since his death by his heir."

After Bishop Lyon's decease, the see was successively occupied by John and Richard Boyle, relatives of the Earls of Cork: the latter, who was afterwards archbishop of Tuam, died at Cork in 1644, and was buried in the cathedral, in a vault he had prepared during his prelacy. While he occupied this see, he is stated to have repaired more ruinous churches and consecrated more new ones than any other bishop in that age. This prelate was succeeded by Dr. Chappel, provost of Trinity College, Dublin, whose successor was Michael Boyle, son of Dr. Chappel's predecessor. Bishop Boyle was succeeded by Dr. Synge, who, by will dated May 23rd, 1677, left several legacies to the poor of St. Finbarr's (Cork), Youghal, Cloyne, and Innishowen. From the death of this prelate, the see of Cloyne was held separately from the united see of Cork and Ross until 1835.

Dr. Wetenhall, who was the first Bishop of Cork and Ross, "suffered great cruelties and oppressions from the year 1688 to the settlement under King William," and at his own expense repaired the episcopal palace at Cork. Dr. Brown, Provost of Trinity College, was promoted to this bishoprick in 1709, and held it till his death, in 1735. By his encouragement several churches were rebuilt or repaired, and glebe-houses erected; and a handsome public library, with a large room for a charity-school, was built near the cathedral. He expended more than £2000 on a country house, built in a demesne of 118 acres belonging to the see, at Ballinaspick or Bishopstown, near Cork, which he occupied as a summer residence, and left to his successors free from any charge. By will he left £300 contingently, of which one-third of the interest was to be paid to the librarian of the library recently erected near the cathedral (to which he also bequeathed some of his books), one-third for the purchase of books for its use, and the remainder for the widows and children of poor clergymen; he also left £20 to the poor of St. Finbarr's parish, and £100 for clothing and apprenticing poor children.

On the death of Dr. Brinkley, bishop of Cloyne, in 1835, that bishoprick was added to Cork and Ross by the Church Temporalities Act of the 3rd of William IV., and the united see is called the bishoprick of Cork, Ross, and Cloyne. By the act for amending the Church Temporalities Act, £1500 per annum, commencing Sept. 14th, 1835, has been granted out of the funds at the disposal of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to compensate Dr. Kyle, the present bishop, for the loss he has sustained in exchanging the temporalities of Cork and Ross for those of Cloyne.

The diocese is one of the eleven which constitute the ecclesiastical province of Cashel; it is entirely within the county of Cork, extending about 74 miles in length and 16 in breadth, and contains an estimated superficies of 356,300 acres. The chapter of Cork consists of a dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon, and the twelve prebendaries of Kilbrogan, Kilbritain, Killaspigmullane, Cahirlog, Liscleary, Killanully, Inniskenny, Kilnaglory, Holy Trinity, St. Michael, Desertmore, and Dromdaleague. The see lands comprise 3306 acres, about one-half of which is profitable land; and its gross annual revenue, on an average of three years ending Dec. 31st, 1831, was £2630. 1.; the whole is now vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, under the Church Temporalities Act.

To the dean belong, as the corps of the deanery, the rectory and vicarage of Templebready, and the rectories of Cullen and Templemartin, the tithes of which amount to £921. 4. per annum; besides which he has a residence, or deanery, and the right of nomination to the perpetual cure of Templebready, of the annual value of £56. 6. 7., and to the curacy of St. Finbarr's of the annual value of £100. To the precentor belong the rectories of Carrigrohane, Curricuppane, a third of Corbally, and a fourth of Kinneigh, the tithes of which amount to £858. 6. 8. per annum; to the chancellor belongs the consolidated rectory of St. Nicholas, the tithes of which amount to £315; to the treasurer belong the rectory entire of Ballinadee, and the tithes of the townlands of Kilgoban, Rathdowlan, and Mackloneigh, amounting altogether to £651.10. 8 ½.; to the archdeacon belong the rectories of St. Peter, in the city of Cork, and those of Nohoval, Kilmanogue, Dunbollogue, and Dunisky, the tithes of which amount to £856. 4. 7., and about £200 of which is paid as minister's money, in lieu of tithes, for St. Peter's parish.

The endowments of the prebends will be found in the accounts of the parishes after which they are named. The cathedral is also the parish church of St. Finbarr's, and is described in the account of that parish in a subsequent part of this article. The annual income of the economy estate, on an average of three years ending Aug. 30th, 1831, was £786. 3. 6., principally arising from the tithes of two-thirds of that part of the parish of St. Finbarr which is in the city, and of the whole of that part which is in the county, of Cork. The expenditure consists of repairs of the cathedral, and payments to its officers, &c, but principally in the building and support of St. Michael's chapel at Blackrock, from which, in 1831, the economy estate was in debt £1400. This is the only fund under the control of the dean and chapter in their corporate capacity, and the only benefices in their patronage are the perpetual cure of Marmullane and the chapelry of St. Michael.

The four vicars choral possess a net annual income of more than £1200, arising from the tithes of several parishes and the rents of some houses in Cork, and yielding to each above £300 per annum. The palace is the only portion of the property of the see, except the mensal and demesne lands, that is not vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The consistorial court of the dioceses of Cork and Ross is held in the chapter-house at Cork; its officers are a vicar-general, registrar, and proctors; the registrar is keeper of the records of the see, which consist of original wills, oaths, declarations, canons, and records of the proceedings of the bishops, the oldest of which commences in 1521. The total number of parishes in the diocese is 84, of which 11 are unions; they are comprised in 65 benefices, 6 of which are in the patronage of the Crown, 2 in the alternate patronage of the Crown and the Bishop, 41 in the gift of the Bishop, 5 in the gift of incumbents, and the remaining 11 in the patronage of laymen. There are 58 churches and 26 school buildings, besides which are other houses licensed by the bishop, in which divine worship is regularly performed. The glebe-houses are 25 in number.

In the R. C. divisions Cork forms a separate bishoprick, comprising 35 parochial districts, containing 81 chapels: of these, 71 are parochial, 3 annexed to presentation convents, and one to each of the Dominican, Capuchin, Augustinian, Carmelite, and Franciscan friaries; one to an Ursuline convent, and one to the Magdalen Asylum, Cork. The total number of the R. C. clergy, in 1835, including the bishop, was 74, of which 35 were parish priests and 39 coadjutors or curates. The parochial benefice of the bishop, who resides in Cork, is the union of Shandon, called the North Parish.