PRIESTS WHO WERE BORN IN THE PARISH.

Down the centuries the geographical entity now known as the Catholic parish of Templeorum, produced a number of priests who served elsewhere, both within the Diocese of Ossory, in other dioceses and overseas. Here under is alist of them going back to the 17th century and ending in the 20th century, spanning periods of scarcity and plentifulness in the history of vocations to religious life and the priesthood. In the 19th and arly 20th century, the modern Catholic parish of Mooncoin produced more than its quota of diocesan clergy per head of population. Diocesan priests were drawn from particular social classes - the comerfortable farming class and the professional and merchant classes. With the increase in missionary work overseas, the missionary orders in the 20th century, inparticular, attracted entrants from a wider spread of social classes, which included non-farmers, non-business people and non-professional people, in orders words that cliched description, the working classes. Education was not free in the diocesan colleges such as St. Kieran's in Kilkenny but in the missionary orders such as the Oblate Fathers, Columbians and Mill Hill Fathers, to name but a few. Religious life conferred a status on individuals and their families. In the south Kilkenny world of comerfortable small and medium size farmers, in the parish of Mooncoin, for instance, there is a saying handed down through the generations which goes as follows: ‘Three churns in the yard, a bull for the cows and a priest in the family.' constituted the pinnacle of economic and social achievement in that rural society in the late 19th and 20th century up to the early 1960s, when the world was beginning to become, in the now hackneyed phrase; “A global village.”

Rev. Dr. William Daton, Bishop of Ossory born in 1664 and died in 1712. He, according to Carrigan, belonged to the Anglo-Norman family of Daton, of Kildalton.

Rev. Dr. M. Fleming, Baungorriv. Bishop of St. John's Newfoundland in 1830s.

Rev. James Walsh, Turkstown, baptised on 5th January 1827. He was parish priest of Kilquade, Dublin.

Rev. James Norris, Turkstown, baptised 16th April 1859. On the mission in Springfield U.S.A.

Rev. Edward Walsh, Fiddown, born 4th October 1863. He was curate at Glenmore.

Rev. Philip Walsh, Fiddown, born on 13th May 1867. On the mission in Sydney. He die din 1919.

Rev. Jospeh Furniss Coughlan, of Oldcourt Templeorum, baptised 24th July 1806 and died parish priest Kilmurry Diocese, Clare 1875.

Rev. James Norris, Piltown Chapel, baptised 3rd January 1844. He die din Auckland in 1874.

Rev. Edward Larkin, Tybroughney, baptised on 11th January 1815 and died administrator of St. John's Kilkenny in 1864.

Rev. Michael Malone, Rogerstown, baptised on 25th November 1866. On the mission in Sydney, ordained in 1892.

Rev. John Carroll, Brenar, baptised on 24th December 1865. On the Sydney mission, became Bishop of Lismore in Australia. He is buried in his native place, old graveyard in Piltown.

Rev. James Walsh, Ballycaslane, who died parish priest of Doora, Clare in 1894 aged about 60.

Rev. Joseph Murphy, Whitechurch, baptised 3rd January 1867, chaplain to workhouse, Callan, ordained in 1892.

Rev. John Cleary, Ballyhenebry, who died parish priest of Kilmacow in 1858 aged 69.

Rev. John Dunne, Ballyhennebry, born on 11th August 1866. On the mission in Sydney, ordained in 1892 and died 1st March 1924.

Rev. Thomas Moore, Rogerstown, baptised on 3rd January 1827, on the mission in Brooklyn.

Rev. Patrick Malone, Garryduff, baptised 2nd March 1848 and died parish priest of Aughrim, Elphin, on 5th May 1892.

Rev. Thomas O'Farrell, Curraghmore, born 21st March 1863. He was curate at Kilmanagh and died 1926.

Rev. John Dalton, Jamestown, born on 2nd March 1865. On the mission in Sydney, ordained 1892.

Rev. John White, Mullinbeg, born on 31st January 1823. Dean of Sydney. He was curate of Glendalough and died on 1st September 1866.

Rev. Patrick White, Mullinbeg, born on 31st January 1826, Dean of Sydney. He died 3rd November 1881.

Rev. Edward Walsh, Harristown, who died curate of Rosbercon in 1872 aged 50.

Rev. Michael Phelan, Raheen, born 14th September 1842. On the mission in Dundee.

Rev. Edward Feehan, Tybroughney, who died curate in Templeorum on February 2nd 1838, aged 42.

Rev. James Aylward, Corbally, born 25th March 1836, who die din Auckland a few months after ordination, in 1856-66.

Rev. Thomas Moloney, the Avenue, Ballynametagh, on the misison in the Archdieocese of Westminister, England.

Rev. T. Power, Garrygaug, ordained on 24th June 1909, on the mission in Melbourne.

Rev. Patirck Maher, Garrygaug, on the mission in the Diocese of Davenport U.S.A. in 1884.

Rev. Richard Maher, , Garrygaug, ordained 1923, on the mission in Davenport. U.S.A. He returned to his native Garrygaug to tetire in the 1970s and is buried in the family plot in Templeorum churchyard.

Rev. Richard O'Shea, Mullinbeg, ordained in June 1920 for Ossory.

Rev. Edward O'Shea, Templeorum, ordained June 1922, for China mission.

Rev. James Fitzpatrick, Gorthrush, 1905 ( whether born or ordaine din 1905 is not indicated. He served in Diocese of Dublin.

Rev. Richard McCarthy, Raheen, ordained June 1920 for Ossory.

Rev. Patrick Maher, no address given, probably Garrygaug, ordained 1920, for Melbourne.

Rev. Thomas Cahill, son of Templeorum National School Principal, John Cahill, ordaind in 1930, for Hexham and Newcastle.

Rev. Laurance Brophy, no address given, ordaine din 1931 for Dublin. He maybe son of the Piltown creramery accountant Brophy.

Rev. Richard Meade, no address given, ordained 12th Jult 1931, for San Francesco.

Rev. Edward Hogan, no adres given, ordained 27th July 1930, a member of the Augustinian Order.

Rev. Patrick Walsh, Springfield, ordained June 1923, for Adelaide, Dublin.

Rev. Joseph Meade, no address given, ordained June 1925 for Dublin.

Rev. Thomas Purcell, Ballyhennebry, ordained 1927, and died in 1928 in Australia.

Rev. Joseph O'Shea, Ardclone, ordained June 1940 for Ossory.

Rev. Andrew O'Dwyer, Ballynacrony, ordained in 1940 for Ossory. He served in, among other places, curate at Mooncoin and before his retirement as parish priest of Tullaroan. He retired to his native Owning in the 1991. He died June 2005.

Rev. Patrick Grace, Ballynacrony, ordained June 1948 for Ossory.

Rev. Pierce Malone, no address given, probably Rogerstown, ordained June 1945 for Ossory.

Rev. Seamus Doyle, no adress given, ordained in June 1945 for Hexham.

Rev. Thomas Lynch, ordaine dJune 1945 for Arundel.

Rev. James Brophy, no address given, ordained in June 1936 for Dublin.

Rev. Gerard White, Mullinbeg, ordained in 1938 for England. He died in October 1992 and is buried in the family plot in Templeorum churchyard. Grand-nephew of Rev. John White and Patrick White above.

Rev. James Culleton.
A Mass of Christian burial was to be offered Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Church of the Assumption in Templeorum, Piltown, County Kilkenny , Ireland for Father James Culleton, a senior priest of the Diocese of Peoria and a former pastor in Princeton , Bloomington and Seneca.

Burial followed in the parish cemetery, where Father Culleton's parents are buried. Father Culleton died Nov. 29, 2004 , in Ireland , where he had been residing. He was 84.
Born Oct. 17, 1920 , in Ashtown,Piltown, County Kilkenny , to George and Mary (Walsh) Culleton, Father Culleton began his studies for the priesthood at St. Kieran's Seminary in Kilkenny before completing his final two years at Kenrick Major Seminary in St. Louis .
Father Culleton came to the Peoria diocese from Ireland in 1946 at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Schlarman and his uncle, Msgr. Patrick O'Connor Culleton, then pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Peoria .
He was ordained a priest of the Peoria diocese on Dec. 22, 1946 , at St. Mary's Cathedral.
Following his ordination, Father Culleton served as an assistant pastor at Holy Trinity Parish, Bloomington, from 1947-48; St. Mary's, Pesotum, 1948-49; St. Paul's, Odell in 1949; Visitation, Kewanee, 1949-55; St. Joseph's, Pekin, 1955-57; and St. Pius X, Rock Island, 1957-60.
He was named pastor of St. Louis Parish in Princeton in 1960 and its missions in Bureau and Wyanet. While at Princeton , he oversaw the opening of St. Louis School in 1964 and the construction of the school building.
He served as pastor of Holy Trinity, Bloomington , and St. Mary's in Downs from 1975 to 1983 and St. Patrick's Parish in Seneca from 1983 until his retirement in 1996.
Father Culleton also served as chaplain of the Dwight Veteran's Hospital in 1949 and taught classes in religion, sociology and English at Trinity High School in Bloomington and Alleman High School in Rock Island .
From: Catholic Post - December 5, 2004 issue

Rev. Michael Drennan, Lickawn, ordained June 1965, for San Diego, and in later years joined the Jesuit order.
Rev. Martin Drennan, Lickawn, brother of above Michael, ordained in June 1968, a Professor of New Testament Scripture in Maynooth until made Auxillary Bishop of Dublin in September 1997. Installed as Bishop of Galway on 3 rd July 2005.
Rev. Francis Purcell, Ballyhennebry, ordained in March 1978 for Ossory. Currently curate in Thomastown. He is the last priest to be ordained from the Catholic parish of Templeorum, since at least the 1600s and maybe the last for a considerably longer time.

Curates Parish Priests