Ralph of Bristol (died 24 August 1232), also known as Radulphus de Bristollia, was the

bishop of Kildare The Bishop of Kildare was an episcopal title which took its name after the town of Kildare in County Kildare, Ireland. The title is no longer in use by any of the main Christian churches having been united with other bishoprics. In the Roman Cat ...

. He had previously acted as treasurer of

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral ( ir, Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig) in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral, is currently the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Christ Church Cathedr ...

, adding sufficient ornamentation that allowed it to be converted into a cathedral. Ralph was appointed bishop of Kildare, the first Englishman to hold the post and instructed that

Kildare Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St. Brigid, Kildare, in Kildare, County Kildare, is one of two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare of the Church of Ireland in Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. History Early hi ...

be rebuilt as it was in near ruins.

Works

Ralph was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, before moving to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. Here, by 1200, he had become a canon at St Patrick's and was appointed first treasurer of the cathedral by the Archbishop

Henry of London Henry de Loundres (died 1228) was an Anglo-Norman churchman who was Archbishop of Dublin, from 1213 to 1228. He was an influential figure in the reign of John of England, an administrator and loyalist to the king, and is mentioned in the text o ...

, going on to be witness for a number of Henry's charters. As

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

, Ralph is credited with the repair and

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

of St. Patrick's, leading it to be converted into a full cathedral -

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral ( ir, Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig) in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral, is currently the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland ca ...

. Ralph was also a clerk of William de Payvo, bishop of Glendalough, from whom he received half the church of Salmonleap, with a pension of half a mark from Conephy. In 1223, he was consecrated bishop of Kildare, the first Englishman to take the role. After him, there was a line of English and Anglo-Irish bishops which carried on for 200 years.

was at this time in near ruins and Ralph is credited with rebuilding it. At the same time, he was responsible for replacing monks who had dedicated themselves to St. Brigit of Kildare with

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...

priests and built churches dedicated to other saints. Henry of London gave Ralph the task to write the biography of St. Laurence O'Toole, the archbishop of Dublin, collecting together all evidence of his sanctity and miracles to allow for the saint's

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

and

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

. The collection is preserved in

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ralph of Bristol Year of birth unknown 1232 deaths Bishops of Kildare Clergy from Bristol 13th-century English Roman Catholic bishops