Roman Catholic Bishop of Ardagh

The Bishop of Ardagh was a separate episcopal title which took its name after the village of Ardagh, County Longford in the Republic of Ireland. It was used by the Roman Catholic Church until 1756, and intermittently by the Church of Ireland until 1839. Tradition states that a monastery was founded at Ardagh by St Patrick, and that his nephew, St. Mel (died c.490), was its bishop or abbot. Although there is no historical or archaeological evidence to support it, Mel is regarded as the founder of the see. The diocese of Ardagh was established in 1111 at the Synod of Rathbreasail as the see for east Connacht. At the subsequent Synod of Kells in 1152, its area was reduced to the territory of the Conmaicne. Ardagh Cathedral was severely damaged by warfare in 1496 and was never restored. There are remains of an eighth- or ninth-century church at Ardagh, which is known as St. Mel's Cathedral, although it dates from three centuries after the saint's death, and predates the introduction of a diocesan system in Ireland.