Thomas Gilmartin

Styles of Thomas Gilmartin, D.D.
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Grace or Archbishop

Thomas Patrick Gilmartin, D.D. (1861–1939) was an Irish clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Clonfert from 1909 to 1918 and Archbishop of Tuam from 1918 to 1939.

Life

He was born in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland on 18 May 1861,^[1] the son of Michael Gilmartin, Rinshiona, Castlebar. Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1883,^[1] he served as Dean of Formation and Vice-President of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity by Rome in 1905.

He was appointed the Bishop of the Diocese of Clonfert by the Holy See on 3 July 1909 and was consecrated on 13 February 1910 by the Most Reverend John Healy, Archbishop of Tuam.^[1][2] On the death of Archbishop Healy, he was translated to the Metropolitan see of Tuam as archbishop on 10 July 1918.^[1][3]

Dr Gilmartin was involved in the controversy over the appointment of Letitia Dunbar (a member of the Church of Ireland and graduate of Trinity College, Dublin) to the County Mayo librarianship in 1931.^[4]

T.H. White describes meeting the Archbishop on the top of Croagh Patrick on an annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage during the 1930s in his book The Godstone and the Blackymor and having a cup of tea with him on the top after overenthusiastically kissing his ring.

He died in office on 14 October 1939, aged 78 years.^[1][3]

Works

Dr Gilmartin wrote the Memoir of Primate Joseph Dixon in Healy's ‘Centenary History of Maynooth’ in 1895. He wrote a number of other books on Church History, including the three volume A manual of Church History by Rev. Thomas Patrick Gilmartin, published by Gill, M. H., Dublin.

References

1. "Archbishop Thomas P. Gilmartin". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
2. Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 419.
3. Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 444.
4. A Churchman Remembered Mayo News, 16 January 2008.

Bibliography

• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.