Michael MacDonagh, O.P. (1698–1746) was an Irish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who served as the

Bishop of Kilmore The Bishop of Kilmore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the parish of Kilmore, County Cavan in Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bisho ...

from 1728 to 1746. From Coleraine, County Londonderry, he joined the Dominicans in St. Mary's Coleraine, before pursuing his formation in Pesaro, Italy, before going to Rome and the Irish Dominicans at SS Sixtus and Clement. He completed further study at College of St Thomas in Naples and was ordained in 1723 by the bishop, Pietro Orsini, a fellow Dominican and the future pope Benedict XIII.Bishop Michael MacDonagh OP
by Sean P Donlon, Dictionary of Irish Biography. A Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

, he was appointed the

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of the Diocese of Kilmore by the

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on 2 December 1728., ''Handbook of British Chronology'', p. 436., ''A New History of Ireland'', volume IX, p. 349. His

episcopal ordination A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

took place in the

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on 12 December 1728; the principal

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches ...

was

Pope Benedict XIII Pope Benedict XIII (; ; 2 February 1649 – 21 February 1730), born Pietro Francesco (or Pierfrancesco) Orsini and later called Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 May 1724 to his death in ...

. Bishop MacDonagh returned to

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in 1730, but was forced to flee the country in 1739. In a

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, held in

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on 6 December 1740, he informed the

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that he had personally governed the see for nine years, but was incarcerated by Irish

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

s in July 1739. As a Roman Catholic prelate, he would have incurred the penalties of

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had he not been rescued from the hands of his jailers. On making his escape to

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a reward of £200 was offered for his apprehension. His

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, rings, books and papers had been taken from him to serve as evidences of his

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rank. He remained in exile until his death in

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on 26 November 1746, aged 48, and was buried there in the College of Corpo Santo church of the Irish

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

., ''The Episcopal Succession'', volume 1, p. 285.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonagh, Michael 1698 births 1746 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Kilmore 18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland 18th-century Irish bishops Irish Dominicans Dominican bishops People from County Londonderry