Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly

Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly Archidioecesis Casheliensis et Emeliensis Ard-Deoise Chaisil agus Imligh
File:ThurlesCathedral.JPG Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles
Location
Country	Ireland
Territory	Most of County Tipperary and parts of County Limerick.
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Cashel and Emly
Statistics
Area
Population - Catholics	81,609
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	United 10 May 1718
Cathedral	The Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles
Patron saint	St Ailbe
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Kieran O'Reilly, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly
Map
The Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly is the metropolitan see of its ecclesiastical province. The Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly is the metropolitan see of its ecclesiastical province.
Website
cashel-emly.ie

The Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly (Irish: Ard-Deoise Chaisil agus Imligh) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese in mid-western Ireland. The archdiocese is led by the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, who serves as pastor of the mother church, the Cathedral of the Assumption and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Cashel and Emly. The Diocese of Cashel was established in 1111 by the Synod of Rathbreasail. The ecclesiastical province, which was roughly co-extensive with the secular province of Munster, was created in 1152 by the Synod of Kells. The cathedral church of the archdiocese is located in Thurles, County Tipperary.

Province and geographic remit

The Province of Cashel and Emly is one of four ecclesiastical provinces that together form the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland; the other provinces are Armagh, Tuam and Dublin. The geographical remit of the province includes most of County Tipperary as well as an eastern slice of County Limerick, including the towns of Cashel, Galbally, Newport, Pallasgreen, Templemore, Thurles and Tipperary. The suffragan dioceses of the province are:

• Cloyne
• Cork and Ross
• Kerry
• Killaloe
• Limerick
• Waterford and Lismore
• Kilfenora - administered by the Bishop of Galway in the Province of Tuam.

Ecclesiastical history

The archdiocese consists of two older entities: The "Diocese of Cashel" and the "Diocese of Emly". Since the Papal Legate, Cardinal Paparo, awarded the pallium to Donat O'Lonergan of Cashel at the Synod of Kells, his successors have ruled the ecclesiastical province of Cashel and Emly or, as it was known until 26 January 2015, the province of Cashel (also sometimes called that of Munster). The diocese of Emly took its name from the village of Emly in County Tipperary, which was the location of the principal church of the Eóghanacht dynasty. The original dioceses of Cashel and Emly have been governed by the same bishop since 1718 (in the Roman Catholic Church), with the archbishop of Cashel acting as apostolic administrator of Emly, until they were united on 26 January 2015 to form the new metropolitan see of Cashel and Emly. Following the Reformation in Ireland, the two dioceses of the established church were united in 1569. This union lasted until 1976. Since that date, the Church of Ireland diocese of Cashel was merged with United dioceses of Cashel, Waterford, Lismore, Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin while Emly was merged with the United dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Emly.

Cathedral

Despite the name, the archdiocese's episcopal seat (the cathedra) lies in neither of the towns of Cashel and Emly, but in nearby Thurles. This is due to the supplanting of the Roman Catholic archbishops from their see by the appointees of the crown on behalf of the established Church of Ireland. From the time of the English Reformation onwards, those archbishops appointed by the Holy See had to make their throne in whichever house in Tipperary would hide them from the forces of the Crown. This state of affairs continued until the late 18th century when some of the harsher provisions of the Penal Laws were relaxed.

James Butler 2nd (1774-91), on being appointed by Rome, moved his residence and cathedra from Cashel, favouring Thurles instead, where his successors continue to reign today in the Cathedral of the Assumption.

Ordinaries

Main article: Archbishop of Cashel

Deaneries and Parishes

File:ParishesInCashelAndEmlyWithLegend3.jpg

Parishes in Cashel and Emly

The archdiocese is divided into eight deaneries, each of which is divided into a number of parishes (or combined parishes). They are Ballingarry, Cashel, Fethard, Galbally, Hospital, Murroe, Thurles and Tipperary.

See also

• Bishop of Emly
• Synod of Cashel
• Diocese of Cashel and Ossory (Church of Ireland)

External links

• GigaCatholic

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: