William Crolly (8 June 1780 – 8 April 1849) was the

Bishop of Down and Connor The Bishop of Down and Connor is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Downpatrick (located in County Down) and the village of Connor (located in County Antrim) in Northern Ireland. The title is still used by the Catholic Chur ...

from 1825 to 1835, and the

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh The Archdiocese of Armagh ( la, Archidioecesis Ardmachana; ga, Ard-Deoise Ard Mhacha) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the northern part of Ire ...

from 1835 to 1849.

Early life and education

A native of Ballykilbeg near Downpatrick, Crolly was born on 8 June 1780 and like his successors as Bishop of

Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, ( ga, Deoise an Dúin agus Chonaire) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the ...

Cornelius Denvir Cornelius Denvir (1791–1866) was an Irish Roman Catholic prelate, mathematician, natural philosopher and former Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. He is noted for ministering in Belfast amidst growing sectarian tension, taking a moderate and ...

and

Patrick Dorrian Patrick Dorrian (1814–1885) was an Irish Roman Catholic Prelate and 23rd Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. Early life and education Dorrian was born in Downpatrick on 29 March 1814, one of four sons of Patrick Dorrian and his wife Rose (née M ...

, was educated at Mr. Nelson's Classical school in Downpatrick. At the age of 18 he witnessed the upheaval and aftermath of the 1798

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

rising at the county jail in Downpatrick, where it is believed that one of the assistant schoolmasters was imprisoned. Crolly went to

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. ...

where he excelled as a student, obtaining a first in Dogmatic Theology in 1806, the same year he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Troy. Crolly was in demand as a lecturer at Maynooth and spent several years on the academic staff, but in 1812 moved to

St Patrick's Church, Belfast St. Patrick's Church, Belfast ( ga, Eaglais Naomh Padraig) is a Roman Catholic church located in Donegall Street area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The first church was opened on the site in 1815 while the current building dates from 1877. Fir ...

. He preached at the opening of the original church on 5 March 1815 in a ceremony presided over by Bishop

Patrick MacMullan Bishop Patrick MacMullan (17 March 1752 – 25 October 1824) was an Irish Roman Catholic Prelate and 20th Bishop of Down and Connor. He was a native of mid Down and details of his early life in the latter half of the eighteenth century are sket ...

whom he would eventually succeed.

Bishop of Down and Connor

In 1825 Crolly was appointed

and received episcopal ordination in St. Patrick's Church, Donegall St, the first time a Catholic Bishop had ever been ordained in Belfast. Dr Crolly spent a decade ministering in his native diocese and among the most important and enduring aspects of his episcopate was the establishment of St. Malachy's College in 1833, although he also oversaw the construction of many churches in rural parishes. One writer estimates this was only possible by Crolly living with his curates in a single house in Belfast.

Archbishop of Armagh

In 1835 Crolly was appointed

Archbishop of Armagh In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

in succession to Thomas Kelly who has served under three years in office. He began the construction of the Cathedral in Armagh and laid the foundation stone on St Patrick's Day, 1840. He appointed

Thomas Duff Thomas John Duff (1792–1848) was an Irish architect from Newry, County Down. Duff was the principal architect of a number of Roman Catholic churches and cathedrals in the northeast of Ireland. His work included three churches dedicated to St ...

architect and also decreed that work be suspended because of the

Great 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 ...

. His support for non-denominational education and his cautious welcome of the Queen's College's in 1845, a position at variance with most other Irish bishops of the time, led to him being remembered at his death as a "thoroughly tolerant man ... who devoted himself heart and soul to the advancement of his church". He died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

, Co. Louth, in April 1849. An obituary notice in

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

noting the suddenness of his death recorded that 'his amiable qualities, his charitable bearing, and his moderate and conciliatory political course, secured him universal esteem, and will cause his death to be universally mourned in Ireland.' His birthplace in Ballykilbeg, Co. Down, is remembered on a blue plaque.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crolly, William 1780 births 1849 deaths Deaths from cholera People from Downpatrick 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic theologians Roman Catholic archbishops of Armagh 19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Roman Catholic bishops of Down and Connor