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Diocese of Ossory

Ossorien(sis)

The Diocese of Ossory is a Latin Church diocese covering most of County Kilkenny and parts of Counties Laois and Offaly in Ireland, suffragan to the Archdiocese of Dublin. Following the transfer of Bishop Niall Coll to Raphoe, Bishop Ger Nash of Ferns was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Ossory effective 25 January 2026.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
1111
Latin
Ossorien(sis)
Patron
Saint Kieran (Ciaran of Saigir)
Annuario code
001002485

The see in figures

Catholics
84,244
Population
88,592
Catholic shareof the people living within its bounds
95.1%
Priests
51
Catholics per priest
1,652
Extent
1,971 km²
Catholics per km²
43

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Apostolic Administrator
Niall Coll
Born
25 August 1963
Birthplace
Letterkenny

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

St Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny stands in Ossory, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Dublin

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Dublin.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

Compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. Corrections: hello@catholicintelligence.com.