''The Diocese of Meath'' is a nineteenth-century publication on the history of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Meath from medieval to nineteenth century times, written by one of the Diocese's priests,

Dean Cogan Dean Anthony Cogan (1826–1872) was a nineteenth-century Roman Catholic Irish priest, (awarded the religious title of ''dean''), born in Slane, who wrote a history of the Diocese of Meath in Ireland. Published in two volumes in 1862 and 1867, Cog ...

, a priest in Navan, the then Diocesan capital. Published in two volumes in 1862 and 1867, it was an important history of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

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 ...

, because Cogan made use of three sources of information: * folklore and memories of people alive in Meath the 1850s and 1860s (covering the period from the Penal Laws to the Great Famine (1845–49)) which were recorded in great detail. * access to the Meath diocese's archives; when the Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath moved from his former seat in Navan to the new cathedral in Mullingar in the early twentieth century (the diocesan seminary, ''St. Finians'', also moved from Navan to Mullingar) the diocesan archives were lost in the process. How the priceless records, many of them by Cogan in his research in the 1860s, were lost remains a mystery; * access to papers relating to the church in Meath in the

Irish Public Records Office The National Archives of Ireland ( ga, Cartlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the official repository for the state records of Ireland. Established by the National Archives Act 1986, taking over the functions of the State Paper Office (founded 17 ...

. The Irish Public Records Office was destroyed by the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

in 1922, in effect destroying one thousand years of records, including most of the records from that source quoted by Cogan. As a result, Cogan's book details parish histories, information on derelict churches, information on old burial sites where those who died in the Famine were buried, names of priests, details of the Penal Law, and information on the re-appearance of a Roman Catholic clerical structure following the reformation from sources that are no longer available to historians.

References

Volume 2Volume 3
1862 non-fiction books 1867 non-fiction books Books about Christianity Religion in County Meath {{RC-book-stub