Pope Benedict XVI confers "Dunshaughlin honour" on Irish Vatican Diplomat Pope Benedict XVI has appointed an Irish priest, Monsignor Eugene Nugent, as Papal Nuncio to Madagascar and as Apostolic Delegate to La Réunion and the Comoros. Monsignor Nugent has been given the titular see of Domnach Sechnaill (Dunshaughlin) County Meath with the title of Archbishop. A "titular see" is given by the Pope to a Bishop who does not have responsibility for a diocese. Titular sees are essentially dioceses that no longer functionally exist. The Diocese of Domnach Sechnaill (Dunshaughlin) refers to the ancient church founded by Saint Seachnall, who was sent by Saint Patrick from Britain or Gaul to Ireland in the year 439AD. History records that Seachnall wrote a hymn in honour of Saint Patrick, which is probably the first Christian Latin hymn composed in Ireland. He died on 27 November 448AD and was buried in Dunshaughlin. He is reputed to have been the first bishop to die in Ireland. Six hundred years later, the church in Dunshaughlin was burnt to the ground and, by 1152, the Diocese of Dunshaughlin was suppressed, having become part of the future Diocese of Meath, together with Trim, Ardbraccan, Slane, Fore and Skryne. Monsignor Nugent is a native of Scariff, Co. Clare and studied for the priesthood in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth and the Pontifical Irish College, Rome. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Killaloe in 1983 and served as curate in Ennis. He returned to Rome and completed the Doctorate in Canon Law at the Gregorian University. He entered the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See in 1992 and served in Turkey, Israel and the Philippines.

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