ROSS
202
ROSS
Thomaf^ O'Herlihv a,ssisto(l at the Council of Trent,
and ruled from 1562 till his death on 11 March. 1580.
It was not until 15S1 that Queen Elizabeth ventured
to appoint a Protestant prelate under whom, in
1.584, the Sees of Cork and Cloyne were annexed to
Ross However, in the Catholic arranpieinent Ross
continued independent, and Owen MacEgan died
a confessor in January. 1602-3. In 1625 the bishop
(de Torres) w:is a Spaniard, who ruled his diocese
through a vicar-general. In 1647 the nave and tower
of the cathedral were levelled by the Puritans;
and the bishop (MacEgan) was basely hanged by
Lord Hroghill. on 10 April. 16.50. At length, in
1693. Bi.^hop Sleyne of Cork was given Ross in
oommcndam, and the see continued under his suc-
cessors till 1748. when it was united to Cloyne,
under Bishop O'Brien. From 1748 Ross was ad-
ministered by the Bishops of Cloyne, but it regained
its autonomy under Bishop Crotty, and in 1857
-
J^SH^^I
r
in
M-ilUBEKEE.N
Bishop O'Hea was consecrated to Ross. During
the episcopate of Dr. O'Hea (the Catholic popula-
tion was then 65,000) the episcopal see was trans-
ferred to Skibbereen, and the diocese was materially
improved under his fostering care. His successor,
Wilham Fitzgerald (1877-97) also laboured zeal-
ously. The present bishop, the Most Rev. Denis
Kelly, was bom near Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, in
1852, and was educated at Ennis and Paris. He was
appointed president of the Killaloe Diocesan College
in 1890, and was consecrated 9 May, 1897. Bishop
Kelly has acted on several Royal commissions, and
has recently (1911) been named one of the two
commis.sioners for the projected Home Rule finance.
In 1901 the Catholic population was 46,694, and there
were eleven parishes — two of which were mensal —
served by 28 priests. The latest returns give the
Dumber of churches as 22, and there are three Con-
vents of Mercy, respectively, at Skibbereen, Clona-
kilty, and Ros.scarbery. There is no chapter, but
there are two vicars forane.
CaUriAar of Papal ReaUlers (9 vols., London, 189.3-1911); Brady, Rec'irdn of Cork, Cloyne, and Rons (Dublin, 1864); Idem, EpUcMpal .Succenxion (Rome, 1876); Archdall, MoiiaKliron Hibernieum CDublin, 187.3); Smith, Cork (new cd., Cork, 1893); Irith Calholic Directory (1911).
W. H. Grattan-Flood.
Robs, School of, now called Ross-Carbery, but formerly Ross-Aililhir from the large number of monks and students who flocked to its halls from all over P^urope, was founded by St. Fachtna, who is generally rf-Karded as the same who founded the Diocese of Kil- fenora, for the fea.st in both cases is kept on 14 August; and in both the saint's descent is traced to the princely race of Corca Laighde. Fachtna was bom at a place called Tulachtcano, and died at the
early age of forty-six, in what year we cannot say,
but probably late in the sixth century, and is buried
in his own cathedral church at Ross. Like many
other great Irish saints, he received his first lessons
in piety from St. Ita of Killeedy, the Brigid of Mun-
ster, from whose care he passed, according to some
writers, to St. Finnbar's seminary at Loch Eirce,
near Cork. He founded the monastery Molana, on
the little island of Dririnis in the Blackwater, not
far from the town of Youghal. Returning to his
native territory, he set about a more important
foundation on a rocky promontory situated in the
midst of woods and green fields between two
lovely bays. This was the monastic School of Ro.ss,
called in the "Life of St. Mochoemoc", magnum
studium scholarium, for it quickly became famous
for its study of Sacred Scripture, and the attention
given to all the branches of a liberal education.
One of the assistant teachers was St. Brendan the
Navigator, whom Fachtna had known and loved as a
companion when under the care of St. Ita. An old
flocunient quoted by U.sher represents Brendan as
being at Ross in 540. While engaged in teaching
here, St. Fachtna was stricken with total blindness.
On appealing to God in his distress, he was directed
by an angel to make apjilication to Nessa, the sister
of St. Ita, who was about to b(>come the mother of
St. Mochoemoc. Fachtna did as he was directed
and his sight was miraculously restored. Fachtna,
it is generally thought by the best authorities, re-
ceived episcopal orders, and became the first Bishop
of Ross. He is sometimes called Facundus, in al-
lusion to his eloquence, to which, as well as to his
sanctity, unmistakable testimony is borne by St.
Cuimin of Connor. Cuimin describes him as "the
generous and steadfast, who loved to address as-
sembled crowds and never spoke aught that was base
and displeasing to God".
His immediate successor in the School of Ross was St. Conall. and we read al.so of a St. Finchad. a former schoolmate at Loch Eirce. Both were probably tribes- men of his own, for we are told that he was succeeded by twenty-seven bisho])s of his own tribe, whose names unfortunately have not been preserved. Under sev- eral ninth-century dates we find in the Four Masters reference to the abbots of the School of Ross; and under date 840 we are told that the institution was ravaged by the Danes. Once only in the two centuries that followed is there mention of a bishop, Neachtan MacNeachtain whose death is set down under date 1085. In all other references to Ross the word nir- chinnect is used, as if showing that tlie govormnent of the school had fallen into the hands of hiyiiieii, who nodoubt employed ecclesiastics to iM-rfonn thcsjjirilual duties and functions. Nevertheless the School must have continued to flourish, for we read under date 866 — according to the "Chronicon Scotorum", 868 — of the death of Feargus who is described as a cele- brated scribe and anchorite of Ross-Ailithir. But more remarkable evidence still of the extent and variety of the literary work done at Ross is furnished by the geographical poem in the Iri.sh language still extant, compo.sed by MacCosse or Ferlegind, a lecturer at this school, and used no doubt as a text-book in the different clas.se8. When we take into ac(!ount the period at which MacCosse lived, his geographical treati.se may fairly be thought one of the most accu- rate and interesting of its kind that has ever yet been written. Of the later history of the School we have but few details, but mention of the native spoiler is not missing in them. In 1127, according to the "Chronicon Scotorum", one Toirdhealbach O Conor sailed to Ross-Ailithir, and laid waste the land of Desmond. He was followed by the Anglo-Normans under P'itzStephen, who towanls the do.se of the; cen- tury completed the devastation. All record of this ancient seat of learning is then lost.
