The following is an attempt to record the names and contributions of diocesan historians, tge men - and indeed women - who have contributed to the documentation of the history and antiquities of ancient kingdoms and church territories, and the Catholic dioceses established by the Synod of Rath Breasail in 1118.

Where a separate entry for the person exists elsewhere on this website, this is indicated in red (click on the name to view).

Because the history of the diocesan church in Ireland is so bound up with the history of Maynooth College, a small number of historians not educated there are included here, with their names marked with an asterisk.

 

ACHONRY: Liam Swords Liam Swords was born in Swinford, Co. Mayo, Ireland in 1937. As a young cleric in the 1960s he realised the power of media and was very involved in the popular TV series ‘Radharc’. The programme filmed in Ireland and in over 75 countries explored issues such as human rights, injustice, faith, religion, persecution, famine and Christian heritage. Fr. Swords was an active historian and accomplished author whose many publications included stories of the Irish in Paris during the French Revolution. In the 1970s he became the first Irish priest to take up residency in the Irish College in Paris since the 1950s. He was a much loved chaplain who was instrumental in creating a strong Irish cultural community in Paris and encouraging national interest in the development of the Irish College into a vibrant cultural centre and residency for Irish students, now known as the Centre Culturel Irlandais.
   In 1995 Fr. Liam Swords returned to Dublin where he continued his life as a researcher and published books on the history of Achonry diocese. Fr. Liam Swords valued his time abroad and sought before his death in 2011 to establish a Foundation which would help other Irish students or researchers spend time in Paris as part of their studies. This Foundation is being administered by Trustees in Ireland. Source: Liam Swords Foundation

ARMAGH:John Bradley

 

Armagh: Tomás Ó Fiaich

 

Armagh: Raymond Murray

 

CORK: Sr Angela Bolster* One of the most unassuming and under-rated of historians, the labours of Evelyn Bolster (1925-2005) were wide-ranging, encompassing the history of her religious order, the Sisters of Mercy (where she was enrolled and served from 1944 until her death) and its founder Catherine Macauley, the work of Irish religious sisters during the Crimean War, 

Working from diverse material gathered by Canon Patrick Cahalane (1888-1963) she produced a full-scale three volume history of the diocese of Cork at the request of Bishop Lucey, working from the extensive research notes of Canon Patrick Cahalane (1888-1963)

An extensive entry on Sr. Angela by Patrick Maume in the Dictionary of Irish Biography can be viewed here

 

 

DOWN & CONNOR: James O'Laverty (1828-1906) was born in Lecale, County Down, and was educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast, and Maynooth, where he was ordained in 1851. He was curate in Ahoghill and Portglenone, and in 1857 he became dean of the diocesan seminary in Belfast and chaplain to the Belfast Workhouse. He was parish priest of Holywood, County Down, for over thirty years until the time of his death. He established a National School in 1869 and erected a church dedicated to to St Colmcille. He wrote many articles for the Ulster Journal of Archaeology. From 1878 until 1887 he produced the definitive Historical Account of Down and Connor (4 vols), which he acknowledged as owing a debt to the work of Bishop William Reeves. A fifth volume dealt with the bishops of the diocese. In 1904 he became Monsignor. He is buried in the church-yard in Holywood. Source: Dictionary of Ulster Biography

 

Dublin: Daire Keogh

Ferns: William Grattan Flood

Kildare & Leighlin: Michael Comerford

Killaloe: Ignatius Murphy

Limerick: John Begley

 

 

MEATH: John Brady John Brady was born in Dunboyne on 29th July 1905, the second child of William Brady, a publican, and his wife Frances. He was educated at Belvedere College, Mullingar, and St. Patrick's College,  Maynooth, where he was ordained on 5th June 1932 for service in his native diocese of Meath.. From 1932 to 1935 he worked as a missionary priest in the Archdiocese of Southwark, London and while there he visited the British Museum and other libraries in search of material relating to Meath. When Father Brady returned to Meath in mid 1935 he was appointed Diocesan Catechist. He was appointed Diocesan Historian in January 1936. In March 1937 he issued the first number of a series of extended pamphlets under the title A Short History of the Parishes of the Diocese of Meath, 1867-1937, in continuation of Father Cogan’s history of the diocese.  The first number contains a short biography of Fr Cogan. Father Brady also published articles in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Archivium Hibernicum, The Irish Book Lover, The Irish Independent and Ríocht na Midhe. He died in September 1963. In the early 1990s Bishop Michael Smith of Meath commissioned Olive Cullen to prepare Fr. Brady's work for publication in a set of three volumes, with additional material supplemental material, including a list of the succession of parish priests in the diocese from 1700, based on research by Fr. Paul Connell, later Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.  Sources include Navan Historical Society website

 

Meath: Anthony Cogan

 

MEATH: Olive C. Curran Olive Curran is a native of Laragh, Cootehill, Co. Cavan who served as executive assistant to Bishop Michael Smith during the early years of his episcopacy in the diocese of Meath. She was commissioned by the bishop to produce a history of the diocese from the early 1860s, when Fr. Anthony Cogan's seminal work appeared, to the early 1990s.

Ossory: William Carrigan

Waterford & Lismore: Michael Olden

Waterford & Lismore: Patrick Power