TALLAGHT, ABBEY OF

Former Irish monastery, present-day site of a Dominican college, about five miles south of Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 774 by the reformer, St. Maelruain, as a protest against the contemporary worldly spirit found in many Irish monasteries. The community was sworn to observe the primitive Irish monastic rule in all its strictness. Work was heavy; public and private prayer was constant; strict fasting was enforced. Unfortunately, three years after Maelruain's death (792), the Vikings appeared in Ireland, and Tallaght, being near the coast, was exposed to constant attacks. The reform movement as such collapsed though the monastery survived. In 1111 it was included in the Diocese of Glendalough, and when Glendalough was united with the Archdiocese of Dublin (1214) Tallaght became an archiepiscopal manor. After the Reformation the Protestant archbishops resided there on occasion until 1650. In 1822 the property was sold to the government and the building was demolished. In 1842 the Dominican fathers erected a college there.

The Félire Tamlachta Mael Ruain or "Martyrology of Tallaght" (ed. R. I. Best and H. J. Lawler, London 1931), composed c. 800, contains a very full Roman calendar of saints and a corresponding calendar of Irish saints for each day of the year.

Bibliography: e. ball, "Descriptive Sketch of Clondalkin, Tallaght …," Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 29 (1899) 93–108. e. j. gwynn and w. j. purton, The Monastery of Tallaght (Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 29; Dublin 1911). e. j. gwynn, ed., The Rule of Tallaght (Hermathena 44; Dublin 1927). j. f. kenney, The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: v.1, Ecclesiastical (New York 1929).

[j. ryan]