Tallaght Monastery was founded in the eighth century by Máel Ruain, at a site in Tallaght

Tallaght

Tallaght is the largest town, and county town, of South Dublin County, Ireland. The village area, dating from at least the 17th century, held one of the earliest settlements known in the southern part of the island, and one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres.Up to the 1960s...

, a few miles south west of present-day Dublin, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. It operated until the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

.

History

The site was given in honour of God and St. Michael by Cellach

Cellach mac Dúnchada

Cellach mac Dúnchada was a King of Leinster of the Uí Dúnchada sept of the Uí Dúnlainge branch of the Laigin. He was the son of Dúnchad mac Murchado , a previous king. This sept had their royal seat at Líamhain...

 (d. 18 July, 771) of the Ui Donnchada, grandson of a Leinster

Leinster

Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...

 king, Donogh (d. 726).

One of Máel Ruain's companions was Óengus the Culdee, who with him is believed to have compiled the Martyrology of Tallaght

Martyrology of Tallaght

The Martyrology of Tallaght, which is closely related to the Félire Oengusso or Martyrology of Óengus the Culdee, is an eighth- or ninth-century martyrology, a list of saints and their feast days assembled by Máel Ruain and/or Óengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery, near Dublin...

.

Others associated with Tallaght were: Airennan (10 February), second abbot, Eochaid (28 January), second bishop, Joseph (5 January), and Dichull (d. 889).

In 1179 Tallaght, with its subsidiary chapels of Killohan and St. Bride's, was united to the Archdiocese of Dublin by a Bull of Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...

 (20 April 1179), and in 1223 the deanery of Tallaght was annexed to St. Patrick's Cathedral by Archbishop Henry de Loundres

Henry de Loundres

Henry de Loundres was an Anglo-Norman churchman who was Archbishop of Dublin, from 1213 to 1228. He was an influential figure in the reign of John of England, an administrator and loyalist to the king, and is mentioned in the text of the Magna Carta, the terms of which he helped to negotiate.He...

.

In 1324 Alexander de Bicker built or restored an archiepiscopal manor at Tallaght, which was fortified later to protect the English in Dublin from the attacks of the O'Byrnes.

Reformation and after

At the Reformation it passed into the hands of the Protestant Archbishops; its ruins and grounds were acquired in 1812 by the Dominican Order

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

, who erected a novitiate and church there.

See also

• List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Dublin)