Charles McNally (1787 – 21 November 1864) was the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Bishop of Clogher in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Early life and education

Born at the townland of Ardaghy, near

Monaghan town Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Letterken ...

in County Monaghan, he entered Maynooth in 1808, aged 21 matriculating in Logic and was ordained for service in the Diocese of Clogher on 13 June 1813. In 1815 he was appointed professor of Logic, Metaphysics and Ethics, and in 1820 he was appointed Prefect of the Dunboyne Establishment at

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland. ...

. In 1843 McNally was appointed the

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

of the Diocese of Clogher in Ireland succeeding less than a year later on 20 February 1844, following the death of his predecessor Bishop

Edward Kernan Edward Kernan (born 1771 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland) was an Irish priest in the Diocese of Clogher ordained in 1795. He was educated at Portora Royal School, and studied for the priesthood in the Irish College in Salamanca, Spain ...

Bishop of Clogher

The esteemed Irish ecclesiastical historian Donal Kerr assessed McNally as an "O'Connellite Bishop and Reforming Pastor", the son of a 'middling farmer' who grew up in the aftermath of the

1798 Rising The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

and would live long enough to see the stirrings of the Fenian Rising. He was O'Connellite in that he tolerated his clergy speaking on political matters, specifically the issue of the day which was the Repeal of the 1800/1 Acts of Union 1800 and in this regard he was in conflict with his

Metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the b ...

William Crolly William Crolly (8 June 1780 – 8 April 1849) was the Bishop of Down and Connor from 1825 to 1835, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh from 1835 to 1849. Early life and education A native of Ballykilbeg near Downpatrick, Crolly w ...

. He witnessed at first hand the

Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...

and wrote of "corpses lying out in the fields...and none but the clergy can be induced to approach." He died in office in on 21 November 1864 having served as bishop of his diocese for over twenty years. McNally was succeeded by Bishop James Donnelly. Perhaps Bishop McNally's most enduring accomplishment is the decision to build Monaghan's St. Macartan's Cathedral. The bishop presided at a meeting of the Catholics of Monaghan where it was resolved that a church in the town was urgently needed. He then purchased an site on the outskirts of the town from Humphrey Jones of Clontibret. On 21 June 1861, the foundation stone was solemnly laid in the presence of most of the bishops of Ireland.

Early life and education

Bishop of Clogher

References

See also