Henry Ó Cormacáin, last Abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

 of Clonfert

Clonfert

Clonfert is a small village in east County Galway, Ireland. It is half way between Ballinasloe and Portumna.Clonfert Cathedral is situated in the village, which is the see of the Diocese of Clonfert.-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland...

, fl. c.1534-c.1567.

Ó Cormacáin was a member of an eccleiastical family based in Síol Anmchadha

Síol Anmchadha

Síol Anmchadha was a sub-kingdom or lordship of Hy-Many, and ruled by an off-shoot of the Ui Maine called the Síol Anmchadha , from whom the territory took its name....

, in what is now south-east County Galway

County Galway

County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

. Two members of the family served as Bishop of Clonfert - Muirchertach Ua Carmacáin

Muirchertach Ua Carmacáin

Muirchertach Ua Carmacáin, Bishop of Clonfert, 1195-1203.Ó Cormacáin was a member of an eccleiastical family based in Síol Anmchadha, in what is now south-east County Galway...

 (died 1203) and Uilliam Ó Cormacáin

Uilliam Ó Cormacáin

Uilliam Ó Cormacáina, Archbishop of Tuam 5 May 1386-1393.Ó Cormacáin was a member of an eccleiastical family based in Síol Anmchadha, in what is now south-east County Galway...

 (died 1398).

The family appear to have founded an abbey in the parish of Abbeygormican, from which it takes its name, sometime prior to 1309.

Writing from Loughrea

Loughrea

Loughrea is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The town lies north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains.The town expanded in recent years as it increasingly becomes a commuter town for the city of Galway.- Name :...

 on 5 November 1838, John O'Donovan

John O'Donovan (scholar)

John O'Donovan , from Atateemore, in the parish of Kilcolumb, County Kilkenny, and educated at Hunt's Academy, Waterford, was an Irish language scholar from Ireland.-Life:...

 gave the following account of Abbot Henry Ó Cormacáin:

"Henry O'Gormacain was abbot, at the time of the general suppression on Monastries. He never surrendered the abbey [Clonfert] but continued seized of the temporalities of it till his death, notwithstanding the king had, on the 24th of November in the 35 (XXV(? sic) year of his reign, united them for ever to the bishoprick. Immediately on the death of Henry, William O'Gormacain supported by the sept of the O'Maddens procured the abbey from the popu and kept quiet possession thereof till about the year 1657."

Clonfert Abbey eventually came to be held by the Earl of Clanricarde

Earl of Clanricarde

Earl of Clanricarde is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, first in 1543 and again in 1800. The former creation became extinct in 1916 while the 1800 creation is still extant and held by the Marquess of Sligo since 1916....

.

O'Donovan noted that the surname Cormican was then still in existence in the parish of Abbeygormican.

Reference

• http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=
• Ordnance Survey Letters Galway 1838 and 1839, pp. 182–183, ed. Michael Herity, FourMasters Press, Dublin, 2009. ISBN 978 1 903538 15 9