Father Patrick Prendergast (c. 1741–1829) was the last Roman Catholic

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of Cong and guardian of the

Cross of Cong The ''Cross of Cong'' (, "the yellow baculum") is an early 12th-century Irish Christian ornamented cusped processional cross, which was, as an inscription says, made for Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (d. 1156), King of Connacht and High King of Ir ...

. Prendergast may have been a

seminarian A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

at St Omer, which was suppressed in 1791. A ''Patricius Prendergast'' of the diocese of Tuam is noted as having graduated

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

''in utroque jure'' from Paris in June 1783. Prendergast was appointed parish priest of Cong in 1795, and was the last titular abbot of the Augustinian

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

, holding that position until his death (the decision being made to not appoint a successor). Sir William Wilde described him as "a very fine, courteous, white-haired old man". Prendergast not only re-discovered the Cross of Cong, he appears to have been responsible for the return to Ireland of the

Cathach of St. Columba The Cathach of St. Columba, known as the Cathach (meaning "the Battler"),O'Neill (2014), p. 12 is a late 6th century Insular psalter. It is the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin psalter in the world. Its cumdach ...

from

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in the early 19th century. Prendergast died in 1829 and was succeeded by Fr. Patrick Waldron.

References

* ''The Return of the Cathach to Ireland'', Michael Herity, in ''Seanchas:Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of

Francis John Byrne Francis John Byrne (1934 – 30 December 2017) was an Irish historian. Born in Shanghai where his father, a Dundalk man, captained a ship on the Yellow River, Byrne was evacuated with his mother to Australia on the outbreak of World War II. A ...

'', p. 461, 62, 63; Dublin, 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Prendergast, Fr. Patrick 1740s births 1829 deaths 18th-century Irish abbots 19th-century Irish abbots Christian clergy from County Mayo