Michael Fogarty (bishop)

Michael Fogarty, DD (b 12 October 1859; d Ennis 26 October 1955)^[1] was a long serving Irish^[2] Roman Catholic Bishop.^[3]

Early life and education[]

Fogarty was born 11 October 1859 in Kilcolman near Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. He had one brother, Daniel, who also became a priest. Fogarty was educated at St Flannan's College in Ennis and later at Maynooth College, where he was ordained a priest (1885).^[4] He served on the staff of St. Patrick's, Carlow College before returning to Maynooth, where he served as professor of moral theology (1890–1904), becoming vice-president in 1903.^[5]

Episcopal Ministry[]

Fogarty was appointed bishop of Killaloe in July 1904 and received Episcopal ordination later that year in Ennis Cathedral and almost immediately involved himself closely in the social and political challenges facing Ireland. He frequently spoke out against landlordism, supported tenant ownership and agricultural self-sufficiency, and intervened in labour disputes such as the Clare railway strike (1910).^{[citation needed]}

It is believed he disapproved of the Easter Rising of 1916 but signed the 1917 manifesto against the partition of Ireland, and in an open letter on the death of Thomas Ashe spoke of the ‘hideous atrocities’ that the triumph of British culture perpetrated on Irish nationalists.^[6] The following year he shared a platform with Éamon de Valera during the Clare by-election campaign, and in April 1918 decried the threat of conscription in Ireland, insisting the Irish were ‘not slaves’.^{[citation needed]}

He acted as a trustee for the first Dáil loans and was in Dublin for talks on peace proposals with Archbishop Patrick Clune during what was regarded as an assassination attempt by Black and Tans when they attacked his Ennis residence.^[7] His Lenten pastoral of 1921 stuck rigidly to the republican position, insisting that Irish nationalists had only to remain steadfast to win a united Ireland, and that ‘anyone who knows the psychology of the Irish people is well aware that brute force will never appease them nor intimidate them into surrender of their national rights’. In view of his republican sentiments and activities, he surprised many by supporting the Anglo–Irish treaty.^{[citation needed]}

He celebrated the Requiem Mass of Michael Collins (Irish leader) in August 1922 in Dublin.^[8]

Although his interest in politics receded after independence, he seems to have found it difficult to forgive de Valera for his actions during the civil war, and after Fianna Fáil's election in 1932 he criticised the economic war with Britain as ‘tariff madness’.

In 1951 he unveiled a memorial in Dublin to Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins and paid generous tribute to their role in the foundation of the state. A passionate horseman, cattle breeder, and agriculturist, he won prizes at agricultural shows throughout the country for his horticultural produce.

Personal Title of Archbishop[]

He had the longest episcopate in the history of the hierarchy in modern times and it was only towards the end of his life that he availed of the assistance of a coadjutor bishop. In July 1954, at the age of 95 he was given a personal title of Archbishop although he had no metropolitan responsibilities.^[9] He died just over a year later at the age of 96 at his residence at Westbourne - which he had purchased as an episcopal residence ^[10] and is buried in Ennis.

References[]