In the accounts of the Co Clare diocese of Killaloe, published yesterday, it confirms the money was split across three years for accounting purposes and it shows that the diocese received €468,074 last year in a will.
This brings the total amount received from the will from one individual to €1.048m.
However, the deceased benefactor stipulated that the monies be ring-fenced for use in a fund to promote vocations and the education of priests.
The diocese has only one priest training for the priesthood at Maynooth, and the former hotel manager is due to be ordained in 2015.
Diocesan spokesman Fr Brendan Quinlivan said yesterday that the specific legacy "is an expression of hope by that person that more will come for the priesthood and that there will be an increase in vocations".
Generosity
Diocesan vocations director Fr Iggy McCormack said yesterday that the €1m bequest "is an act of extraordinary generosity".
"It leaves us in a position where resources for promoting vocations are not a problem like they may be in some other dioceses, and we can pour resources into it," he said.
Fr McCormack said that the diocese's own financial difficulties were previously an issue in sourcing funding for promoting the priesthood.
He added that not much from the fund will be spent over the next 12 months as priests and prominent lay people across parishes in the diocese are currently identifying men that may choose the religious life.
The accounts also reveal that an additional specific donation of €200,000 from an anonymous donor was received last year.
The donation came after the diocese's accounts revealed priests were paying from their own pockets to keep parishes out of the red.
The 2011 accounts confirm that priests paid a combined €131,312 from their annual salaries -- ranging from €22,000 to €27,240 -- to bring the total amount donated by the priests between 2009 and 2011 to €475,225.