Friday, January 20, 2012

Synod of Rathbreasil Remembered 900 Years On

While debate has existed for centuries about the exact location of the famous Synod of Rathbreasil, which is responsible for the current administrative layout of the Catholic Church in Ireland a small community in County Tipperary recently commemorated the Synod at one of the sites it is said to have taken place.

Recently a number of historical conferences have taken place about the Synod with historians in University College Cork and Saint Patrick's College in Thurles commemorating the famous Synod, which took place in 1111.  

While there is some debate that it took place near Mountrath in County Laois, locals in the village of Drom near Templemore in North Tipperary recently erected a plaque at the local graveyard to commemorate the Synod that took place 900 years ago.

Speaking at the commemoration local historian Michael Long said, “The weight of evidence suggests that the Synod took place in the Drom area.”  

He said that a number of local sites and townlands such as Clonbrassil, Brookley House, a local well (Tobar Bhreasil) and a bivallate fort, are all mentioned in the annals of the great ecclesiastical meeting that took place at Rathbreasil.

Furthermore, he pointed out, a forthcoming book by local historian Frances Maxwell will lay further claim that the Synod took place locally. 

The people of Drom are now hoping to make the commemoration of Rathbreasil an annual event each December.

The Synod of Rathbreasil is perceived to be one of the most important that ever took place, in that it marked the transition of the Irish church from a monastic to a diocesan and parish based church. 

Many Irish present day dioceses trace their boundaries to decisions made at the synod.  

The synod was attended by no fewer than 50 bishops, 300 priests and over 3,000 laymen. 

It established two provinces: Armagh and Cashel.  

Each province consisted of 12 territorial dioceses. 

Rathbreasil was the second of four great reforming Irish synods, the other three were at Cashel (1101), Kells-Mellifont (1152) and Cashel again (1172).