The Archbishop of Tuam ( ; ) is an

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

which takes its name after the town of

Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The title was used by the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

until 1839, and is still in use by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

History

At the

Synod of Rathbreasail A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

in 1111,

was named as the seat of a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

corresponding roughly with the diocese of Elphin, whilst Cong was chosen as the seat of a diocese corresponding with the later archdiocese of Tuam in west

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

. There is no record of any bishops of Cong, and no bishop was given the title "bishop of Tuam" in the Irish annals before 1152. However the annals recorded some "archbishops/bishops of Connacht" such as Cathasach Ua Conaill (died 1117), Domhnall Ua Dubhthaigh (1117–1136), Muireadhach Ua Dubhthaigh (1136–1150) – the latter was succeeded by Áed Ua hOissín. At 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 ...

in 1152, the archdiocese of Tuam was established with six suffragan dioceses. During the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, the bishopric of Annaghdown was annexed to Tuam in c. 1555. After the Reformation, there were parallel

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the Christian ministry, ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the Twelve Apostles, apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been ...

s: one of the

and the other of the

. ; In the Church of Ireland In 1569, the Church of Ireland bishopric of Mayo was annexed to the archbishopric. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, a number of other bishoprics were also united to the archbishopric. The bishopric of Kilfenora was united to Tuam from 1661 to 1742, Ardagh from 1742 to 1839, and Killala and Achonry from 1834. On the death of Archbishop Le Poer Trench in 1839, the

Ecclesiastical Province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

of Tuam lost its metropolitan status and became the united bishopric of Tuam, Killala and Achonry in the Province of Armagh. ; In the Catholic Church After an unsettled period in the mid to late sixteenth century, the Catholic archbishopric has had a consistent succession of archbishops. In 1631, the Catholic bishopric of Mayo was formally joined to Tuam by

papal decree A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden seal ('' bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal bulls have been in use at l ...

.History
. ''Archdiocese of Tuam''. Retrieved 3 November 2009. The current archbishop is the Most Reverend Francis Duffy who was announced as the new archbishop of Tuam by the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

on 10 November 2021 and subsequently installed on 9 January 2022. The archbishop's residence is the Archbishop's House, Tuam, County Galway, Ireland.

Pre-Reformation archbishops

Archbishops during the Reformation

Post-Reformation archbishops

Church of Ireland succession

Catholic succession

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Archdiocese of Tuam
by GCatholic.org

– info from ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' {{Catholic Church in Ireland

Religion in Tuam