Gallagher, Mary Caroline (2009) Bishop Thomas Lewis O’Beirne and his church-building programme in the diocese of Meath 1798-1823. PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
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Abstract
The first quarter of the nineteenth century was a time of great change and
uncertainty in Ireland. The rebellion of 1798 was followed in 1801 by the Act of Union,
which brought about legislative and ecclesiastical union from Britain. If the Church of
Ireland was ever to make a success of its mission in-Ireland, it was in these early years of
the nineteenth century. On the eve of this opportunity Thomas Lewis O’Beime, an Irish
convert and former Roman Catholic seminarian, was translated from the diocese of
Ossory to Hie see of Meath. Availing of compensation monies, ecclesiastic bursaries and
gifts or loans from the trustees of the Board of First Fruits, the bishop began twenty-five
years of infrastructural change and pastoral reform on a scale not seen in any diocese in
the history of the reformed church.
This study has not one, but two main concerns. The first is to set out, for the first
time, a full as possible account of the infrastructural changes instituted and maintained by
Bishop O’Beime during his time in the diocese of Meath. The second is to record by
architectural inventory, what remains of the churches built or rebuilt during his
episcopate. The latter is particularly pressing, as already, a number of those buildings no
longer dress the landscape and several others, due to their current dilapidated state, will
soon disappear.
In order to gain an understanding of this spate of church building and reform, it is
first necessary to investigate the bishop himself, his background, career, views, political
and religious associates. Hence, O’Beime is the subject of the first chapter. To fully
appreciate the scale of O’Beime’s work in Meath and provide some historical context, the
second chapter sets out the extent of the diocese and provides an overview of its history.
This includes land distributions made at the time of the dissolutions, the resulting
arrangement of parish patronage and tithe impropriations and the role of some of
O’Beime’s episcopal predecessors. Chapters three and four concentrate on the
infrastructural changes brought about by O’Beime. Chapter five examines the
contribution of parish patrons, tithe impropriators, congregations and parishioners at
large.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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Keywords: | Bishop Thomas Lewis O’Beirne; Meath; 1798-1823; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > History |
Item ID: | 5212 |
Depositing User: | IR eTheses |
Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2014 08:40 |
URI: | https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/5212 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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