OSSORT
343
OSSORY
the Suir, on the east by the Barrow, on the west by sail (1118) the limits of the diocese were permanently
Tipperary and King's County, and on the north by fixed substantially as they have since remained. At
Queen's County. It has an area of 600,000 acres, the same time the see was transferred from Seir-Kieran
and corresponds geographically with the ancient King- to Aghaboe (see Canice, S.^int), but at the end of the
dom. of Ossory, whose first king, Aengus Osrithe, twelfth century it was transferred to Kilkenny, where
flourished in the second century of the Christian era. it has since remained. It is probable that St. Canice
His successors extended
their boundaries to in-
clude part of Tipperary.
In the fifth century the
neighbouring tribe of the
Deisi, aided by the Corca-
Laighde, conquered South
Ossory, and for over a
century the Corca-Laigh-
de chiefs ruled in place of
the dispossessed Ossory
chiefs. Early in the sev-
enth century the ancient
chiefs recovered much of
their lost possessions, the
foreigners were overcome,
and the descendants of
Aengus ruled once more.
One of the greatest was
Carroll, prominent in the
ninth century and distin-
guished in the Danish
wars.
Ossory had been Chris- tianized long before this. St. Kieran, its apostle, now the patron of the diocese.
Ul
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St. M,\ry's Cathedral, Kilkenny
was born about the fourth century at a place now
known as St. Kieran's Strand, near Cape Clear, and
was probably converted to the Faith by foreign trad-
ers. According to the tradition, he went to Rome and
was there ordained priest and bishop. Having met
St. Patrick, St. Kieran received from him a bell with
the charge to return
to Ireland and found
a monastery on the
spot where the bell
should first sound.
When the saint had
passed beyond Os-
sory, and was de-
scending the western
slopes of Slieve
Bloom, the bell at
length sounded; and
here St . K ieran estab-
hshed tlie monastery
of Seir-Kieran, thi
centre from whu li
Ossory was evang( 1-
ized. St. Patrick
also visited Ossory
and preached and
founded churches
there. There is some
difficulty in accept-
ing the story of St.
Kieran having
preached before St.
Patrick, since the
founded a monastery at
Kilkenny, and not unlikely
that the beginnings of a
town soon appeared there,
to become more important
when the bishops changed
from Aghaboe. Kilkenny
also became the residence
of Marshall, Earl of Pem-
broke, Strongbow's heir
and descendant, by whom
Kilkenny Castle was built.
Before the fourteenth
century Marshall's in-
heritance passed to the
Butlers, and under them
Kilkenny became great. It
was made up of an Irish
and an English town, each
with a charter, and each,
until ISOO, returning two
members to the Irish Par-
liament. The united towns
were incorporated by a
charter from Elizabeth,
and by a further charter
from James I, as a free city,
former is said to have flourished in the sixth century.
It is, however, certain that St. Kieran laboured in
Ossory. In the centuries following the newly-con-
verted kingdom was ruled from Seir-Kieran by the
abbots. They had other monasteries subject to them.
with a mayor. The city still returns a member to the
Imperial Parliament. The Butlers, ennobled as Earls
and Dukes of Ormonde, have always interested them-
selves in its welfare. These powerful nobles were
sometimes charged with the government of Ireland;
not infrequently Kilkenny was the residence of the
viceroy and saw a
Parliament sitting
within its walls, and
there the Statute of
Kilkenny was passed
(13G7). The Or-
mondes were always
favourable to Anglo-
Norman develop-
ment at Kilkenny,
and after the begin-
ning of the thirteenth
century no Irisliman
was appointed to the
See of Ossory. In
the reign of Bishop
Hugh De Rous (1202
-15J the cathedral of
St. Canice was built.
Two subsequent
bishops, De Mapil-
ton (1251-60) and
Thomas Barry
(1427-60), filled the
oflice of treasurer
of Ireland, while
another, Richard De
of Ossorj'. Co. Kilkenny, Iri
Northalis (1387-95), acted as the King's ambassa-
dor abroad. At the Reformation, though the Earls
of Ormonde were among the first to conform, Ossory
clung to the Faith; and when John Bale was appointed
bishop by Edward VI, and endeavoured to Protestant-
and probably other bishops, and perhaps were not ize the people, he was roughly handled and driven
always bishops themselves, though at Seir-Kieran, as from Kilkenny, leaving Ossory in peace. The peace
at lona, there was always a bishop. Their jurisdiction ended with the death of Mary, and in Elizabeth's
was tribal rather than territorial, and hence the dio- reign the see was vacant for seventeen years. From
cese was enlarged or contracted as the fortunes of the 1602 to 1618 Ossory was again without a bishop, and
Ossory chiefs rose or fell. At the synod of Rathbrea- when Dr. Rothe was appointed (1620) there waa not a
