Cathedral Church of St. Fachtna

The Cathedral Church of St. Fachtna, also known as the Cathedral Church of St Faughan, Ross Cathedral, and Rosscarbery Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Rosscarbery, County Cork in Ireland. Located in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin, it is the smallest cathedral in Ireland. Having once been the mother church of the Diocese of Ross, it is now one of three Anglican cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, alongside Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral and Cloyne Cathedral. Dating from the 1600s, it was extensively refurbished in the 19th century. History Early history Fachtna of Rosscarbery came to the area in the late sixth century and founded a monastic site. It was known contemporaneously as , or "wood of the pilgrims". This had been the principal monastery of West Cork; Brendan the Navigator taught there, and it was a school for international students in its time. The ruins of a church erected by St Faughnan [sic] still exist on the southern slope of the land on which Rosscarbery is built. A church or cathedral has occupied the site since at least the tenth century, and after Bishop John Edmund de Courcy resigned in 1517, Pope Leo X ordered an inquiry into the state of the diocese, and it was noted that by then a cathedral stood on the site. It was known at that time as , or "Feachtna's big temple".