The Synod of Thurles was the first synod of Catholic clergy since the Middle Ages. The Synod was called by Paul Cullen who had been just appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. The Synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

 took place in St. Patrick's College, Thurles

St. Patrick's College, Thurles

St. Patrick's College, Thurles is a third level college of education in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, formerly a seminary the College specializes in Humanities courses in Accounting, Business Studies, Irish and Religious Studies.-History:...

, County Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

, Ireland and commenced on Thursday, 22 August 1850.

The synod was used to standardise many practices in the Irish Church

Roman Catholicism in Ireland

The Catholic Church in Ireland is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, the Christian Church with full communion with the Pope, currently Benedict XVI...

 which may have evolved differently to the practice on the continent. The synod also occurred at the sensitive time following the devastation of the Famine. Counteracting proslytising efforts by the protestant churches was also discussed.

One of the main commitments from the Synod was to establish a Catholic University in Ireland in response to the establishment of the Queen's Colleges and the Queen's University of Ireland

Queen's University of Ireland

The Queen's University of Ireland was established formally by Royal Charter on 3 September 1850, as the degree-awarding university of the Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway that were established in 1845 "to afford a university education to members of all religious denominations" in...

 by the Universities Ireland Act of 1845 by the British Government. The consequence was the Catholic University of Ireland

Catholic University of Ireland

The Catholic University of Ireland was a Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland and was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its associated colleges which were nondenominational...

 established in 1851 and the invitation from the bishops to Cardinal John Henry Newman to become its chancellor and its foundation in 1854.

Decrees of the Plenary Synod of the Bishops of Ireland (Decreta Synodi Plenariae Episcoporum Hiberniae) was published in 1851 following the synod.