The diocese of Ossory was one of the twenty-four dioceses established at the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111 and coincided with the ancient Kingdom of Ossory (Osraige); this is unusual, as Christian dioceses are almost always named for cities, not for regions. The episcopal see has always been in Kilkenny, the capital of Ossory at the time of the Synod of Rathbreasail. The erroneous belief that the cathedral was originally further north at Aghaboe is traced by John Bradley to a 16th-century misinterpretation of a 13th-century property transfer, combined with the fact that the abbey at the site which became St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, was a daughter house of Aghaboe Abbey.[1]
List of bishops up to 1386. Note the change from Gaelic names to Norman and English names after the Norman conquest of IrelandList of bishops from 1386 onward — Catholic succession
The following list of bishops is inscribed in St Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny and was listed on the Roman Catholic diocese's website.[2] Bishops in the early Irish church ruled over a kingdom, in this case, Osraige or Ossory, but were also often associated with a particular monastery and may have been in some matters subordinate to its abbot.
^Bradley, John (2015). "Pulp Facts and Core Fictions; Translating a Cathedral from Aghaboe to Kilkenny". In Purcell, Emer; MacCotter, Paul; Nyhan, Julianne; Sheehan, John (eds.). Clerics, Kings and Vikings: Essays on Medieval Ireland in Honour of Donnchadh Ó Corráin. Four Courts Press. pp. 169–184. ISBN 9781846822797.
^"The Bishops of Ossory". ossory.ie. Roman Catholic Diocese of Ossory. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
^ a b c dFryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
^ a b c dMoody, T. W.; Martin, F. X.; Byrne, F. J., eds. (1984), Maps, Genealogies, Lists: A Companion to Irish History, Part II, New History of Ireland: Volume XI, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-821745-5
^Bagwell, Richard (1885–1890). Ireland Under the Tudors. Vol. 1. p. 305.
^Diocese of Ossory. Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
^"Monsignor Dermot Farrell named Bishop of Ossory". 3 January 2018.
^"Donegal priest appointed new Bishop of Ossory". RTE News. Retrieved 28 October 2022.