Patrick McKenna

Who was Patrick McKenna?

The Most Rev. Dr. Patrick McKenna was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher in Ireland.

Born at Moybridge in the parish of Errigal Truagh,County Monaghan, he studied at St. Macartan's College, Monaghan and Maynooth College. He was a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Clogher, Ireland, ordained in 1894. Following post-graduate studies at Maynooth he returned to the Diocese to serve as curate in the parish of Currin. He had taught for a time in St. Kieran's College, Kilkenny, following which he returned to Clogher Diocese to become curate in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. He was appointed Professor of Moral Theology & Canon Law in Maynooth in 1904.

He was appointed the Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher on 1 June 1909, following the death of his predecessor, Richard Owens.

He was ordained bishop on 10 October 1909. During his term he had to contend with political strife and enormous political change, most especially the effects of the partition of Ireland- which also partitioned his diocese.