Parish Details

The Parish of Devenish lies to the north-east of Enniskillen, along the shores of and including part of Lower Lough Erne, in County Fermanagh. The northeast corner of the parish is situated in Co Tyrone. Today the focal point of the parish is the town of Irvinestown where the Church of the Sacred Heart is located. There is also St Molaisse’s church at Whitehill.

The modern parish takes its name from Devenish island on Lough Erne, founded in the 6^th century by St Molaisse. In its time, it was one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland and its influence as a monastic diocese shaped the boundaries and much of the history of the parishes of this part of Fermanagh and beyond. Today, the island contains a twelfth-century round tower, a fifteenth-century High Cross and the remains of an Augustinian Priory from the twelfth-century. The Soiscél Molaisse, an eleventh-century shrine for holding a small book of the Gospels, originated at Devenish and is now in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.