St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church

The Collegiate Church of St Nicholas in the centre of Galway was founded in 1320 and was dedicated, like many other European churches in seaports, to St Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of seafarers. His feast day is celebrated on Dec. 6 and he is also the saint on whom Santa Claus is based. The church is the largest medieval parish church in Ireland in continuous use as a place of worship. It was raised to the status of a collegiate church in 1484, the same year in which Galway was granted a Royal Charter and given mayoral status. Both events were commemorated in the Galway Quincentennial Year, 1984.

The granting of collegiate status in 1484 required that the City of Galway, and some surrounding parishes, be severed from the Archdiocese of Tuam. The priests of the city were constituted into a College of Vicars, who elected, from among their number, a Warden. The Warden, a position and title unique in Irish ecclesiastical history, was the spiritual leader of the city and was entitled wear the regalia (mitre and crozier) traditionally associated with a bishop, while not having the power of ordination. The Reformation saw the creation of two Wardenships - the official Anglican Wardenship and an underground Roman Catholic Wardenship. These Wardenships continued until the early nineteenth century. The Anglican Wardenship was discontinued by the Church of Ireland and replaced by the parish of Galway under the care of a rector while the Roman Catholic Wadenship was discontinued by the Holy See and the city and a large area of its hinterland was reconstituted as the Diocese of Galway.
Over the centuries St Nicholas' has played a central role in the life of the city. For many years the triennial elections of the Mayor and Corporation (City Council) were held within its walls. Only male members of certain old Galway families, popularly known as the Tribes of Galway had the right to vote.
Recent research has confirmed that Christopher Columbus most likely worshipped there when he visited the city in 1477.