The Primacy of Ireland was historically disputed between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin until finally settled by Pope Innocent VI. ''

Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

'' is a

title of honour A title of honor or honorary title is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits. Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed d ...

denoting ceremonial precedence in the Church, and in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

there was an intense rivalry between the two

archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

s as to seniority. Since 1353 the Archbishop of Armagh has been titled Primate of All Ireland and the Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland, signifying that they are the senior churchmen on the island of Ireland, the Primate of All Ireland being the more senior. The titles are used by both the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

bishops. The distinction mirrors that in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

between the Primate of All England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Primate of England, the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

History

The episcopal see of Dublin was created in the eleventh century, when

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

was a Norse

city state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

. Its first bishop,

Dúnán Dúnán (died 6 May 1074) was the first bishop of Dublin, appointed under Dublin's Hiberno-Norse kings. He is known also as Donatus or Donat. The diocese was put on a regular basis, in 1028, at the request of Sigtrygg Silkbeard. In his obit i ...

(or Donatus), was described at his death as "chief bishop of the Foreigners". From the first, Dublin had close ties to the

see of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

. The fifth bishop of Dublin, Gregory, was only a subdeacon when he was elected bishop by what Aubrey Gwynn called "the Norse party in the city". He was sent to England where he was consecrated by Archbishop Ralph of Canterbury, but on his return, he was prevented from entering his see by those who wanted Dublin integrated with the Irish hierarchy. A compromise was reached by which Gregory was recognised as bishop of Dublin, while he in turn accepted the authority of Cellach, archbishop of Armagh, as primate. In 1152, the

Synod of Kells The Synod of Kells (, ) took place in 1152, under the presidency of Giovanni Cardinal Paparoni, and continued the process begun at the Synod of Ráth Breasail (1111) of reforming the Irish church. The sessions were divided between the abbeys o ...

divided Ireland between the four archdioceses of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Tuam. Gregory was appointed archbishop of Dublin. The papal legate, Cardinal John Paparo, also appointed the archbishop of Armagh "as Primate over the other bishops, as was fitting."

Henry de Loundres Henry de Loundres (died 1228) was an Anglo-Norman churchman who was Archbishop of Dublin, from 1213 to 1228. He was an influential figure in the reign of John of England, an administrator and loyalist to the king, and is mentioned in the text o ...

, archbishop of Dublin from 1213 to 1228, obtained a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

from

Pope Honorius III Pope Honorius III (c. 1150 – 18 March 1227), born Cencio Savelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 July 1216 to his death. A canon at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, he came to hold a number of impor ...

prohibiting any archbishop from having the cross carried before him (a symbol of authority) in the archdiocese of Dublin without the consent of the archbishop of Dublin. A century later, this bull led to a confrontation between

Richard FitzRalph Richard FitzRalph (also Fitz Ralph; c. 1300 – 16 December 1360) was a scholastic philosopher, theologian, and Norman Irish Archbishop of Armagh during the 14th century. His thought exerted a significant influence on John Wycliffe's. Life F ...

, archbishop of Armagh, and

Alexander de Bicknor Alexander de Bicknor (1260s? – 14 July 1349; usually spelt "Bykenore" in original Middle English sources) was an official in the Plantagenet kingdom under Edward I of England, Edward II of England, and Edward III of England. Best known to histor ...

, archbishop of Dublin, when FitzRalph, acting on letters of

King Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ...

specifically allowing him to do so, entered Dublin in 1349 "with the cross erect before him". He was opposed by the prior of Kilmainham on the instructions of Bicknor, and forced to withdraw to Drogheda. On Bicknor's death, and the succession of

John de St Paul John de St Paul ( 1295 – 1362), also known as John de St. Pol, John de Owston and John de Ouston, was an English-born cleric and judge of the fourteenth century. He was Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, Archbishop of Dublin 1349–62 and Lo ...

to the see of Dublin, King Edward revoked his letters to FitzRalph and forbade the primate to exercise his jurisdiction in Dublin. In 1353 the matter was referred to Avignon. There Pope Innocent VI, acting on the advice of the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...

, ruled that "each of these prelates should be Primate; while, for the distinction of style, the Primate of Armagh should entitle himself ''Primate of All Ireland'', but the Metropolitan of Dublin should subscribe himself ''Primate of Ireland''."

Status

The Archbishop of Armagh's leading status is based on the belief that his See was founded by St. Patrick, the city of Armagh thus being the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland. On the other hand,

is the political, cultural, social, economic and secular centre of Ireland, and has been for many centuries, thus making the Archbishop of Dublin someone of considerable influence, with a high national profile. Dispute has "flared up" on a number of occasions, including in 1672 between Catholic archbishops

Oliver Plunkett Oliver Plunkett (or Oliver Plunket) ( ga, Oilibhéar Pluincéid), (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who was the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 an ...

of Armagh and Peter Talbot of Dublin, and again in the late 18th century. Since the 1870s one or other of the Catholic archbishops of Armagh and Dublin has been a member of the

. Due to Ireland's small size, two Irish reigning diocesan cardinals are unlikely to be created.That does not mean there has not been more than one Irish person in the College of Cardinals. Irishmen based in the Vatican have been awarded the red hat alongside Irish-based archbishops. In addition, after

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

introduced a mandatory retirement age at which point cardinals cease to have a vote in the College of Cardinals, Ireland had the experience of having two diocesan cardinals, both emeriti (retired):

Desmond Connell Desmond Connell (24 March 1926 – 21 February 2017) was an Irish cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. He was an Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland. Cardinal Connell was one of a number of senior clergy to have been heavily criticised ...

of Dublin (a "voting" cardinal), and

Cahal Daly Charles (Cahal) Brendan Cardinal Daly KGCHS (1 October 1917 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish philosopher, theologian, writer and international speaker and, in later years, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Daly served as the Roman Cat ...

of Armagh (over 80 years old). Connell passed 80 years of age in 2006, and a third red hat went in the following year to Archbishop Seán Brady of Armagh. An apparent dominance of Dublin over Armagh was shown in the 1850s when the then Archbishop of Armagh, Paul Cullen was transferred from Armagh to the nominally inferior see of Dublin, where he became the most high-profile Catholic prelate in Ireland. Some years after the First Vatican Council, in which he played a central role in the proclamation of

Papal Infallibility Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...

, he was made Ireland's first cardinal, ahead of the nominally superior Archbishop of Armagh. Cullen's successor in Dublin, Archbishop

Edward MacCabe Edward Cardinal MacCabe or McCabe (Dublin, 14 February 1816 – Kingstown, 11 February 1885) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 1879 until his death and a Cardinal from 1882. Biography MacCabe's father was a poor shopkeeper. Edwa ...

was also made a cardinal but after that, the cardinal's red hat went invariably to the Archbishop of Armagh, until

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

awarded the red hat not to the low-key pastoral Seán Brady of Armagh, but to the higher-profile, more intellectual, and clearly conservative,

of Dublin. However, in 2007 Pope Benedict XVI decided to give the honour again to the See of Patrick, creating Brady a cardinal rather than the reigning Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, previously a high-profile Vatican official.

Primates today

As of 2022, the Archbishop of Armagh in the Catholic Church is

Eamon Martin Eamon Martin KC*HS (born 30 October 1961) is a prelate of the Catholic Church from Northern Ireland who has been Archbishop of Armagh and the Primate of All Ireland since 2014. Early life and education Martin was born in Derry, Northern Irel ...

and

John McDowell John Henry McDowell, FBA (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, ...

holds the equivalent office in the Church of Ireland. The current Catholic Archbishop of Dublin is

Dermot Farrell Dermot Pius Farrell KC*HS (born 22 November 1954) is an Irish Roman Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Dublin since 2021. Early life and education Farrell was born in Garthy, Castletown Geoghegan, County Westmeath, on 22 Novem ...

while the current Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin is

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

References

Bibliography

* New York, 1909: ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''; Robert Appleton Company

External links