Edmund Tanner

Who was Edmund Tanner?

Edmund Tanner was an Irish Jesuit, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, Ireland, from 1574 to 1579.

The statement in his brief of appointment that he was born in the ecclesiastical Province of Dublin is all that is known of his early life. His surname was borne by persons of humble station at Calverstown, Co. Kildare, which, coupled with his familiarity with the Eustaces of Baltinglas, may give colour to a surmise that he was a native of that district.

In 1565 he was at Rome, being then probably in Holy orders, and entered the Society of Jesus; after a year in the Roman College he was sent to Dillingen University in 1567, and became doctor of divinity. His health, however, failed and he left the Society. In 1574 he was again at Rome, and the See of Cork and Cloyne being vacant, he was appointed thereto, 5 November 1574, and was consecrated at Rome.

In May, 1575, he set out for Ireland with exceptional faculties for his own diocese and for those of Cashel, Dublin, and its suffragan sees in the absence of their respective prelates.