Stephen Kirwan (a.k.a. Kerovan and O'Kirwan) was an Irish Anglican bishop. He was 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 ...

Bishop of Clonfert The Bishop of Clonfert () is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clonfert in County Galway, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title; but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with oth ...

from 1582 until before 4 November 1601.

Life and career

Kirwan was a member of the

tribes of Galway The Tribes of Galway () were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. They were the families of Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Brown ...

, previously a

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 ...

educated in Oxford, Paris and Rome. He became an Anglican in the mid-16th century and was the Archdeacon of Annaghdown from 1558 and the first reformed Church of Ireland

Bishop of Kilmacduagh The Bishop of Kilmacduagh was an episcopal title which took its name after the village of Kilmacduagh in County Galway, Ireland. In both the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church, the title is now united with other bishoprics. Histo ...

from 13 April 1573. Nominated 30 March 1582 for

Clonfert Clonfert () is a small village in east County Galway, Ireland, halfway between Ballinasloe and Portumna. The village gives its name to the Diocese of Clonfert (Roman Catholic), Diocese of Clonfert. Clonfert Cathedral is one of the eight cathedr ...

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

were issued 24 May 1582 and he was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

to Clonfert the same year. Kirwan was involved in local government in Connaught, serving as a justice and commissioner for the province from 1580 until his death. He died before 4 November 1601. Other members of his family included: *

John William Kirwan John William Kirwan (died 29 December 1849) was the first President of Queen's College, Galway. Kirwan was a member of one of The Tribes of Galway, and was noted by contemporaries as an outstanding preacher. Biography He was appointed parish pr ...

* Augustine Kirwan *

Richard Kirwan Richard Kirwan, LL.D, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, FRSE Membership of the Royal Irish Academy, MRIA (1 August 1733 – 22 June 1812) was an Irish geologist and chemist. He was one of the last supporters of the theory of Phlogiston theory, ...

* Sir John Kirwan *

Dominick Kirwin Dominick Kirwin was an Irish Confederate, ? Kirwin was a member of one of The Tribes of Galway, and led the raiding party that seized a ship anchored near Galway early in the morning of 19 March 1642. It was a British naval vessel under the comma ...

References

* ''Religion and the Laity in Early Modern Galway'', Thomas Connors, ''Galway:History and Society'', 1996, pp. 131–148. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirwan, Stephen Christian clergy from County Galway 16th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland Bishops of Clonfert (Church of Ireland) Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism Bishops of Kilmacduagh