Qualla: Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora

Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sheila1988, CC BY-SA 4.0. The name is the size of a sentence: Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora. Three ecclesiastical entities folded into one diocese through a series of papal compromises and Tudor-era reorganisations. Galway from the city; Kilmacduagh from the seventh-century monastery of St Colman MacDuagh under his leaning round tower in south Galway; Kilfenora from the small cathedral town in the Burren of County Clare. The current ordinary is Bishop Michael Duignan, appointed on 11 February 2022, who also serves as bishop of the neighbouring Diocese of Clonfert - a doubling-up that the Holy See announced in 2021 to reflect the shrinking number of Catholic clergy in modern Ireland.

Image: Sheila1988 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora: Three Cathedrals, One See

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KevinSchnippkoweit, CC BY-SA 4.0. The diocese covers Galway city, parts of County Galway, and the northern coastal strip of County Clare. Large population centres beyond the city include Ennistymon at the foot of the Cliffs of Moher, Oranmore east of Galway Bay, and Oughterard on the road to Connemara. The cathed...

Image: KevinSchnippkoweit | CC BY-SA 4.0

Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora: The Wardenship of Galway

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bert Kaufmann, Public domain. From 1484 to 1831, Galway's ecclesiastical affairs were managed under a strange and Galway-specific arrangement called the Wardenship of Galway. The fourteen merchant Tribes of Galway, the city's mercantile rulers, had secured a papal privilege from Pope Innocent VIII to elect th...

Image: Bert Kaufmann | Public domain

Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora: Pope Benedict XIV's Compromise

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Miguev at English Wikipedia., CC BY 3.0. The bishopric of Kilmacduagh had existed since the early medieval centuries. Kilfenora's bishopric was created in the twelfth century. Both were ancient and both were small. In 1750 Pope Benedict XIV decreed that the two should be united - but with a twist that solved a delicate ...

Image: The original uploader was Miguev at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 3.0

Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora: 1883 and After

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bishop John McEvilly of Galway was made Apostolic Administrator of Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora in 1866. When he was made coadjutor of the Archdiocese of Tuam in 1878, he kept Galway. When he succeeded as archbishop of Tuam in 1881, he kept Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora. Pope Leo XIII f...

Image: Andreas F. Borchert | CC BY-SA 4.0

Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora: The Five Deaneries

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Bogman assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.5. Today's diocese is organised into five deaneries, each headed by a Vicar Forane appointed by the bishop. The Deanery of Galway City East takes in the cathedral parish along with Ballybane, Ballinfoyle, Good Shepherd, Mervue, Renmore, Saint Augustine, Saint Francis, and Saint Patr...

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Bogman assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 2.5