Diocese of Elphin

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For other uses, see Elphin

The Diocese of Elphin is a diocese of the Catholic Church lying in the counties of Roscommon, Sligo and Galway. Its Cathedral originally established in Elphin, is now in Sligo Town, County Sligo, Ireland. Its history dates to the earliest days of the Irish Church:

From the History of Elphin Diocese:

From the time of St. Patrick in the 5th century to the Synod of Rathbreasail in Ireland in 1111 AD, monastic settlements, rather than dioceses, characterised the organisational structure of the Irish Church. Like other dioceses, Elphin's origins can be traced to such a monastic settlement, one founded by St. Patrick during the 5th century in the town of Elphin in County Roscommon.^[1]

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Suffragan of Tuam, Ireland, a see founded by St. Patrick. All the known facts respecting its first bishop are recorded in two important memorials of early Irish hagiography, the "Vita Tripartita" of St. Patrick, and the so-called "Patrician Documents" in the "Book of Armagh" (q. v.). On his missionary tour through Connaught, which he entered by crossing the Shannon at Drum-boilan, near Battlebridge, in the parish of Ardcarne, in 434 or 435, St. Patrick came to the territory of Corcoghlan, in which was situated the place now called Elphin. The chief of that territory, a noble Druid named Ono, of the royal Connacian race of Hy-Briuin, gave land, and afterwards his castle or fort, to St. Patrick to found a church and monastery. The place, which had hitherto been called, from its owner's name, Emlagh-Ono, received the designation of Elphin, which signifies "rock of the clear spring", from a large stone raised by the saint from the well opened by him in this land and placed on its margin, and the copious stream of crystal water which flowed from it and still flows through the street of Elphin.^[2]

In the Church of Ireland, Elphin is part of the Dioceses of Kilmore, Ephin and Ardagh.