The Wardenship of Galway

CHAPTER XXXIII p. 316

WARDENSHTP OF GALWAY The city of Galway originally belonged to the see of Enaghdune which was united in 1324 to the archdiocese of Tuam Malachy Mac Aeda or MacHugh in the chair of Jarlath Philip de Slane bishop of Cork who was sent on an embassy to the Pope by King Edward II and who discharged his commission with address and who on his return to Ireland was appointed privy councillor was instrumental in effecting this union The business seems to have regarded the reform of the ecclesiastical state of Ireland and the Pope armed this prelate and the archbishops of Dublin and Cashel with authority to inform themselves of what was expedient for the welfare of the country A council having been convened at which many of the nobility and gentry were present among other things it was thought proper to annex the sees of Enachdune Achonry and Kilmacduach to the metropolitan church of Tuam The union of Achonry and Kilmacduach has not taken place The union with Tuam being accomplished the church of St Nicholas one of the finest ecclesiastical structures in Ireland was governed by vicars who were instituted by the archbishop and who were commonly of Irish extraction They were entirely different in their manners and habits of life as well as in principle from their English parishioners Under such a state of things discontent grew up and the affaire being badly circumstanced Donatus O Murray archbishop of Tuam in the ar 1484 erected the church of St Nicholas into a collegiate one and xempted it from his jurisdiction by letters under his seal and which were confirmed by the bull of Pope Innocent VIII and Donatus also attached to it the parish church of Balenclair or Claregalway William Joyce archbishop of Tuam and a native of Galway confirmed by his deed all the former grants and privileges of the collegiate church wardens and vicars and soon after united to it the churches of Furanmore Moycullen and Skryne The people of Galway were remarkable for their urbanity and elegance of manners equalling those of the most refined community John Lynch bishop of Killala in his life of Francis Kirwan his predecessor says that the city of Galway was adorned with green marble walls flanked by numerous towers and that within the precincts of these walls were edifices of the same material its noble squares and fair proportions elegant and symmetrical gladdened the vision and that it appeared to him as Jerusalem did to the prophet Jeremias a city of most perfect beauty Gilway far famed for its beauty has been equally so for its piety and devotion as well m its attention to the splendor of Catholic ceremonial in public worship as Galway appeared to Rinuccini the nuncio extraordinary from the court of Rome to the people of Ireland to be nearest his ideal of a Christian church The following verses taken from Hardiman's History of Galway will illustrate the ancient piety and devotion of the fourteen principal families of Galway as well as the splendor of their city Rome boasts seven hills the Nile its seven fold stream Around the pole seven radiant planets gleam Galway Conacian Rome twice equals these She boasts twice seven illustrious families Twice seven high towers defend her lofty walls And polished marble decks her splendid halls Twice seven her massive gates o er which arise Twico seven strong castles towering to the skies Twice seven her bridges through whoso arches flow The silvery tides majestically slow Her ample church with twice seven altars flames An heavenly patron every altar claims While twice seven convents pious anthems raise Seven for each sex to sound Jehovah's praise The warden of Galway sometimes styled quasi bishop was a prelate chosen triennially by the lay patrd of the town exercised episcopal jurisdiction over a large district and population in the capital of the province but subject to the visitation of the metropolitan every third year His institution by th vicars conferred upon him all necessary faculties for his jurisdiction He possessed a power of visitation over all religious foundations within the wardenship sent two students to the college of Maynooth was entitled to vote in synod with mitre crozier and pontificals as other prelates t The vicare were also elected by lay patrons and at the time of the abolition of the wardcnship the vicars were inferior to none in the kingdom for piety learning and zeal in the discharge of their sacred functions It is recorded that only one in the series of Wardens has been selected who did not give satisfaction The collegiate church of Galway for extent and architectural beauty is a lasting monument of the piety the wealth and the public spirit of its founders It is erected on a gentle eminence on the site of a small chapel formerly the only place of worship belonging to the settlers The present church was founded in the year 1820 and was dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra the tutelar saint of mariners