{{Short description|Irish Roman Catholic Prelate (1814–1885)}} {{distinguish|Patrick Dorrian (baseball)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific_prefix = [[The Most Reverend]] | name = Patrick Dorrian | title = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor|Bishop of Down and Connor]] | image = | alt = | church = [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] | archdiocese = | diocese = | see = [[Down & Connor|Diocese of Down and Connor]] | term = 1865–1885 (died) | predecessor = [[Cornelius Denvir]] | successor = [[Patrick MacAlister ]]<!-- Orders --> | ordination = 1837 | ordained_by = | consecration = 19 August 1860 | consecrated_by = [[Joseph Dixon (bishop)|Joseph Dixon]] | rank = [[Bishop]] <!-- Personal details --> | birth_date = | birth_place = [[Downpatrick]], [[County Down]], Ireland | death_date = 3 Nov 1885 | death_place = [[Belfast]] | previous_post = | coat_of_arms = }}

'''Patrick Dorrian''' (1814–1885) was an Irish [[Roman Catholic]] [[Prelate]] and 23rd [[Down and Connor|Lord Bishop of Down and Connor]].

==Early life and education== Dorrian was born in [[Downpatrick]] on 29 March 1814,<ref>{{cite book | last=Canning | first= Bernard| author-link= | title= Bishops of Ireland 1870–1987| location= [[Ballyshannon]] | publisher= [[Donegal Democrat]]| pages=112–115| year=1988 | isbn= 1870963008}}</ref> one of four sons of Patrick Dorrian and his wife Rose (née Murphy), and was educated first by a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister in the classical school in the town, where he excelled, and then in [[St Patrick's College, Maynooth]], where he was ordained in 1833.<ref>{{Cite ODNB | url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-52695 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/52695| year=2004| last1=MacAulay| first1=Ambrose| title=Dorrian, Patrick (1814–1885), Roman Catholic bishop of Down and Connor &#124; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography}}</ref>

==Priestly ministry== His first appointment was as a curate in the then developing town of [[Belfast]], attached to [[St Patrick's Church, Belfast]], where he ministered for ten years. At a relatively young age he was appointed parish priest in [[Loughinisland]], (from 1847 to 1860) at which time he became Bishop of Gabala ([[Qabala]]) and [[Coadjutor Bishop]] of [[Down and Connor]] to assist the ailing, frail and irenic Bishop [[Cornelius Denvir]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdorrian.html | title=Bishop Patrick Dorrian &#91;Catholic-Hierarchy&#93;}}</ref>

==Episcopal ministry== Dorrian was consecrated bishop on 19 August 1860, in [[St Malachy's Church, Belfast]], and eventually succeeded as bishop five years later on 4 May in 1865. Dorrian was known for his authoritarian style of leadership, referred to as "[[Cullenite]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Magee|first=Jack|title=Barney: Bernard Hughes of Belfast, 1808–1878 : Master Baker, Liberal and Reformer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2ZzmDQvtYMC&pg=PA112|year=2001|publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation|isbn=9781903688052|page=112}}</ref> As the post-Famine population of Belfast grew, so too did sectarian attitudes, especially among those moving into the city from rural districts all over Ulster looking for work. Dorrian sought to defend Catholic interests, insisting on the necessity of separate Catholic education and seeking, where possible, to influence the social and political interests of his church.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbmszhLD4TkC&q=bishop+patrick+dorrian&pg=PA128 |title = A Past Apart: Studies in the History of Catholic Belfast, 1850–1950|isbn = 9780901905727|last1 = Hepburn|first1 = Anthony C.|year = 1996}}</ref>

In this respect historians [[Sean Connolly (academic)]] and Gillian McIntosh refer to Dorrian's "pugnacious" presiding over the rapid expansion in priests, churches and religious houses in contrast to the "scholarly but ineffective" Bishop Denvir.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/media/Media,759563,en.pdf |title=Belfast 400 people, place and history |website=Queen's University Belfast |access-date=6 April 2018 |archive-date=6 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406225934/https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/media/Media,759563,en.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

It is estimated he was responsible for doubling the number of Catholic churches in the city of Belfast, and in 1866, early in his episcopate, [[St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast]] in Derby St in the Lower Falls area was first used as a pro-cathedral. His episcopal chair, placed in that church for the occasion, is still in use by the bishops of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor|Diocese of Down and Connor]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/jules79/2860382269|title = St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast|date = 14 September 2008}}</ref> He attended the [[First Vatican Council]] and was one of the leading Irish delegation to the event.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Dorrian died at the Episcopal Palace, Chichester Park, Belfast, on 3 November 1885, at 7 a.m., the Feast of [[Saint Malachy]], Patron of the Diocese; his remains were interred within the chancel of [[St Patrick's Church, Belfast]], on Friday 6 November.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

At a meeting of the parish priests held in the chapel of the [[St. Malachy's College|Diocesan College]], 6 November 1885, immediately after the funeral of Dorrian, [[Patrick MacAlister]] was elected [[Vicar Capitular]] of [[Down and Connor]]. McAllister was then named by [[Pope Leo XIII]] as Dorrian's successor as the 24th [[Down and Connor|Lord Bishop of Down and Connor]].{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

In November 2017 the historic chapel of Belfast's [[Mater Infirmorum Hospital]] was re-opened after extensive refurbishment. It has, as a result of its connection with Dorrian, become known as the Dorrian Chapel.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.northernbuilder.co.uk/projects/dorian-chapel-2/ |title = Dorian Chapel refurbishment, Mater Hospital Belfast|date = 2017-08-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.belfasttrust.hscni.net/about/3041.htm | title=The Mater Chapel – Restored and Renewed}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdorrian.html Bishop Patrick Dorrian at catholic-hierarchy.org] {{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Ireland|portal4= History}} {{Roman Catholic Bishops of Down and Connor}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorrian, Patrick}} [[Category:1814 births]] [[Category:1885 deaths]] [[Category:People from Downpatrick]] [[Category:19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth]] [[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Down and Connor]] [[Category:Christian clergy from County Down]]