ARMAGH, PRIMATIAL SEE OF

Located in the southern region of Northern Ireland, the See of Armagh (Armachanus) has been the primatial see of All-Ireland since 1152. Founded by St. patrick c. 450, Armagh developed on Irish monastic lines; its abbots were also bishops until c. 750. The school was famous both in Great Britain and on the Continent. Armagh's ecclesiastical preeminence appears in documents from 640 and in periodic visitations of other provinces carried on from the eighth century by its head, a cleric who bore the title of Comharba Phádraig (successor of Patrick).

Despite a culdee foundation (8th–16th century), Armagh declined with the coming of Danish raids and

local warfare (9th–10th centuries). The way was thus opened for the intrusion of lay abbots from a local family, the Clann Sínaigh (965–1129), one of whom, Ceallach (St. Celsus), ended the abuse by having himself consecrated bishop (1106).

At the Synod of Rathbreasail (1111), which assigned jurisdictions to Irish sees, Armagh received what is roughly its present territory in the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, and Derry (Northern Ireland) and in Louth and Meath (Irish Republic). Ceallach chose as his successor St. malachy, who resigned the see after much opposition. Gelasius (1137–74) received the pallium at the Synod of Kells (1152); Concord (1174–75) is still venerated at Chambéry, where he died.

The Anglo-Norman invasion brought a struggle between Irish and English for the see and prepared the ground for conflicts with Dublin about the primacy. Maolpadraig O'Scanlan (1261–70) built a larger cathedral, of which the present Protestant cathedral is an 18th-century rebuilding. Nicholas Mac Maolíosa (1272–1303) was the last Irish prelate till the Reformation. Of the Norman prelates, the most noteworthy was richard fitzralph (1346–60), known for his contests with the mendicant orders. In these years the see was virtually partitioned between the Irish in Armagh, Tyrone, and Derry under an Irish dean and the English in Louth, where the archbishop resided. At the Reformation, George Cromer (1521–42) and George dowdall (1553–58) opposed doctrinal changes, but failed to provide the leadership of their successors.

Outstanding prelates under the penal laws were Richard Creagh (1564–85), who spent 18 years in the Tower of London before his death, Hugh O'Reilly (1628–53), who played a prominent part in the Confederation of Kilkenny, Edmund o'reilly (1657–69), Oliver plunket (1669–81), and Hugh McMahon (1714–37), who defended Armagh's primatial rights against Dublin. Peter Lombard (1601–25) and Hugh McCaughwell (1626), two of Armagh's distinguished scholars, spent their lives in exile. In 1731 the see still had 26 places of worship served by 77 secular priests and 22 friars.

The easing of persecution in the late 18th century allowed many small churches to be built. Discipline was restored by Richard O'Reilly (1787–1818). William Crolly (1835–49) took up residence in Armagh and began the building of the neo-Gothic St. Patrick Cathedral (dedicated in 1873). Paul cullen (1849–52) transferred to Dublin after the national synod of Thurles (1850). Within the ecclesial territory of Armagh, the shrines of St. brigid (Faughart) and Bl. Oliver Plunket (Drogheda) continue to attract many pilgrims.

Bibliography: j. stuart, Historical Memoirs of … Armagh, ed. a. coleman (Dublin 1900). h. j. lawlor and r. i. best, The Ancient List of the Coarbs of Patrick (Dublin 1919). j. b. leslie, Armagh Clergy and Parishes (Dundalk 1911, suppl. 1948). a. gwynn, The Medieval Province of Armagh, 1470–1545 (Dundalk 1946). Seanchas Ardmhacha (Armagh 1954–), annual journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, ed. t. Ó fiaich.

[t. Ó fiaich/eds.]