The Standing Stone: Clonenagh Church and Cross Slabs, Co. Laois

Before getting to the subject of today's post I just want to answer some of the questions that were asked in the comment box concerning Ardristan and other topics. I felt the questions needed some proper thought and the proper space to deal with them that the comment box doesn't provide.

JTS wrote: ‘Has Ardristan been included on any heritage preservation list? If not why not? Does the standing stone have a view on this?’

All archaeological sites in Ireland are protected under the National Monuments Acts of 1930 and 2004. If an owner of an archaeological site wishes to interfere with or carry out work near that site 2 months notification must be given to the relevant Minister and the National Monuments Service will assess if and how this work can be carried out. Unfortunately this doesn’t protect a site from simply falling down which is sadly the case at Ardristan. There are four basic strategies that are employed when dealing with historical sites.

1. Restoration – This is probably the best option even if the real motivation is earning money from tourism. It ensures that work is carried out to make a place safe and stable and we get a fairly accurate glimpse of a place as it once was.

2. Conservation – This makes a place safe and stable with no rebuilding being carried out. It preserves places in their current state for future generations.

3. Ignore the site – This is the most common practice and is exactly what is happening to Ardristan.

4. Demolition – The site is destroyed. Fortunately this costs money so doesn’t happen too often. Road building is mostly to blame for sites being destroyed.

I would like to see more done for sites. We are fortunate to have so much archaeology in Ireland left for us today but it is rapidly disappearing from our landscape. Basic conservation work could stop a lot of this but it is, of course, a costly exercise. Most restoration that is carried out is done to sites in private ownership. For example, there is the trend in Ireland to convert castles into hotels. However tasteless this may appear it does prevent further destruction to the site. I have been told by many sites owners, who are seeking to carry out restoration or conservation work, that it is very hard to get permission to do so because of the amount of ‘red tape’ that has be worked through. In recent years it has become easier to restore and conserve sites because of the involvement of the EU who are keen to preserve sites in Ireland for tourism.

I apologise for the lengthy answer.

Random Thinker wrote: ‘Looks like an unspoilt site. Is it just a good camera angle or is this really a site that is not under threat from development?’

As far as I am aware there are no plans to develop near Ardristan. It is largely farm land surrounding the site. There are two standing stones to the North of the church and one to the south so I would imagine that developing anywhere in the area would be difficult.

Alice W wrote: ‘Do you take a view on the preservation of these sites and their relevance to the modern inhabitants to them? Clearly there is some ambivalence in the modern attitude to them, possibly informed by increased materialism/secularism/distance from a common rural heritage. At the same time, it doesn't appear that the Irish have embraced such sites even after emancipation from penal oppression. In fact, it would appear that there was a flight from associations with oppression from early on in the Roman Catholic revival in 19 cent. Ireland. Any views?’

In regards to the preservation of sites please read the answer I gave to JTS above. I totally agree that there is ambivalence in the modern attitude. Modern materialism may have something to do with this as you suggest. We have gone through such a rapid change in the past 30 years that we may have become too obsessed with being modern and this has come at the expense of our history. I don’t believe secularism has had a negative effect on historical sites because the ambivalent attitude you mentioned is not confined to ecclesiastical sites. Castles, churches, ancient tombs and more modern fortified houses are victim to the same attitude. Secularism has allowed for a plurality of views and attitudes when dealing with historical sites. The lack of a rural heritage amongst communities may be part of the problem as people no longer feel any connection to a site whether it be positive or negative. These places have now just become part of the scenery so to speak. Maybe in time as the memories of oppression fade people will begin to find a new found interest in these sites. Hopefully it will not be too late.

I hope I didn’t spend too long on these questions and that I answered them sufficiently for you. I look forward to your response.

Please enjoy this week’s article which deals with the fascinating site of Clonenagh in Co. Laois.


Location – On the N7 between Mountrath and Portlaoise. The church is located on one side of the road while the cross slabs are on the other. Parking is easy here. The church is located at OS: S 387 956 and the cross slabs are located at OS: S 389 958.

Description and history – Little remains now of this once important ecclesiastical site. Now divided by the N7 this is all part of the one complex allegedly founded in 548 by St. Fintan. Nothing remains of the original structure which was destroyed in 838 by the Vikings. The site was plundered again in 937 by the King of Cashel and the Danes of Waterford. Legend says that 7 churches have been located at this site in its history with the remains of one still there and archaeological evidence for 2 others. The present remains are of a 16th century church which was later used as a Protestant church and the graveyard is still used. A holy well, now destroyed, was associated with the site as is a holy tree located there. Before the tree collapsed some years ago, the water that collected in the trunk was thought to have healing properties. The tree collapsed due to severe metal poisoning. It was traditional to hammer coins into the tree as a votive offering. Fortunately new branches have started to grow from the remaining stump, but the coins still persist. I would advise that you don’t hammer coins into the tree and pull out any that you can.

As you would expect of an important site there are many stories surrounding the complex. One interesting story is about a Protestant minister, Rev Sandys, who, after appearing drunk in the pulpit was expelled from the Church of Ireland. He, however, convinced his parishioners that he was still the serving minister and began to offer marriages at any time for the price of 1 pound. He didn’t even require witnesses in order to write out a marriage certificate. Eventually, nearby ministers made sure that Sandys was found out and he was sentenced to death which was reduced to a short term of imprisonment. He was forcibly removed from Clonenagh. As a form of revenge on the Church of Ireland he eventually became a Catholic priest.

Two interesting stories involve St Fintan himself. One tale is that St Fintan would quarry the sand for the building of the church late at night from the Downs in Portlaoise. The local people wondered where he got the sand from and one man set to find out. One morning he saw Fintan returning from the Downs with his horse who he was guiding with a stripped holly branch. The man asked Fintan where he got the sand from. Fintan was so angered at this display of mistrust that he turned the horse into stone and threw the holly stick down which grew into a holly tree. The location of this stone horse is rumoured to be between Clonenagh and Ballyfin but locals who know of its location will not divulge its location to others.

The second tale is that one day Fintan was returning from the Downs once again with his cart full of sand and met a woman who was building a house. She asked for some sand but Fintan refused saying he needed it for his church. She asked if he would give a thimbleful to her and he agreed and when the thimble was full all the sand was gone.

Onto the church and cross-slabs...

Church – Dating to the 16th century, little now remains of this sandstone and limestone building. It is roughly 9m in length and 6.5m wide. Around the arches there are some fine examples of hammer-dressed limestone. In the surrounding churchyard is a stone carved with a human face and another with a skull and crossbones. I was unable to locate these two stones because of the long grass.

Cross Slabs – These recently discovered stones are a wonderful sight and give you a glimpse into the art of the early church in Ireland. These stones date to the 6 and 7th centuries and have a variety of decoration on them. On some stones there are some more modern designs carved onto the early stones and these designs date to the 17th century. These stones are rare in Laois and are important for the county. However, there are fast eroding and when compared to photographs taken only 15 years ago the amount of erosion is shocking. As a matter of conservation they need to be removed to the safety of a museum. The graveyard in which they are kept is poorly maintained and the stones are surrounded with rubbish that had been thrown in by people stopping in the car park. These stones will not be around much longer unless conservation work is carried out.

Difficulty – These two sites are easy to get to and are located directly on the N7. Be careful of the traffic as cars race around this area. The graveyards are poorly maintained and there are many low grave markers that can be easily tripped upon.

This post appeared originally on 'The Standing Stone' and can be found here.

The pictures do not do these slabs justice.

This is what remains of the holy tree after years of poisoning by coins.

Saint Fine, Abbess of Kildare

This is the first in a series of posts on saints of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin from my blog Under the Oak. My site is dedicated to the saints of Ireland and I explore their lives and the spiritual legacy of the early Irish church. I use as a primary source the Lives of the Irish Saints by John, Canon O'Hanlon, supplemented by other sources and more recent scholarship.

O'Hanlon has a very short entry for Fine or Finia, an eighth-century abbess of Kildare, whom the great 17th-century Irish hagiologist, Father John Colgan, believed had reposed on January 9 in the year 800, an event recorded in the Irish Annals:

St. Finia or Fine, Abbess of Kildare. [Eighth Century.]

Because truth and innocence of life distinguish holy virgins, they live without stain before the throne of God. We are informed by Colgan, that Finia, Abbess of Kildare, died on the 9th of January, a.d. 800. The same year is set down for the death of this Fine, in the Annals of the Four Masters.

Although it is not expressly stated, Colgan seems to regard this day as dedicated to her memory.

It seems impossible to discover much else about this particular successor to Saint Brigid as an individual, but Christina Harrington, in her valuable work on the role of women in the Irish church, can place the office of abbess into a context for us:

The sources of material on Irish abbesses are extremely patchy, and the overall quantity of evidence quite slim. The Irish left no guiding or prescriptive texts on this office; there is no surviving correspondence such as is found in Anglo-Saxon England and which proves so illuminating for the abbess’s position there. There is a small but important quantity of legal material in which are found occasional notes concerning abbesses’ rights and privileges; there is a large amount of hagiography containing anecdotes about abbesses; and there are annal entries for abbesses of the most famous houses...

In female saints’ Lives, the characterization of the foundress serves repeatedly to restate the holy ideal not only for the ordinary nun, but also for the abbess, since in Ireland the major female saints were abbesses. As the spiritual heir of the foundress saint, the abbess was supposed to manifest at least in part her patron’s virtues and be in her own lifetime a role model in the religious life. The Lives also offer insights into the practicalities of an abbess’s duties, both to her own nuns and also to the outside world. Thus the foundress formed the prototype for the abbess’s role, both spiritually and practically....

In her community of nuns, the abbess too was the supervisor and governor, domina and mother. In the female Lives, the abbess is the person who is directly responsible for ensuring the monastery’s survival. She decides if the community is to move location. She procures food and beer in times of scarcity, and organizes help in fending off attackers in times of danger. It is she, for example, who asks for charitable help from clerics, monasteries, and other nunneries when her own community runs into difficulty.

Decisions on who joined the familia were within the abbess’s remit: it was she who approved the intake of novices and the adoption of fosterlings and abandoned babies. She was responsible for the maintenance of the moral standard and adherence to the rule. Then there were matters of discipline, and in the Lives the abbess appears as inspector, judge, and setter of punishments.

Like the foundress saint whose heir she was, the abbess had to strive to embody the seemingly contradictory qualities of world-renunciation and temporal dominion. She was to uphold the ascetic tradition whilst at the same time shoring up and even expanding her church’s sphere of control...

One of the abbess’s most important tasks in the continued work of aggrandizing her church was the provision and reception of hospitality, which in early medieval Ireland formed one of the major currencies of social interchange, social cohesion, and assertion of power and status. Failing to provide hospitality to those whose rank warranted it brought dishonour upon the failed host; providing abundantly brought status, and fulfilled economic and/or ecclesiastical obligations...

The ideal abbess was a provider of abundance to all the religious superiors who came to her community. A poem attributed to St Brigit from the tenth or eleventh century, shows her as the giver of hospitality: the feast she provides is one of spiritual nourishment, and her overlord is none less than Christ and the hosts of heaven. Hospitality was a Christian virtue and Brigit its exemplar, just as Monenna was treated as an exemplar of the discipline of fasting.

C. Harrington, Women in a Celtic Church- Ireland 450-1150 (Oxford University Press, 2002), 165-169.

Harrington has much more to say about the office of abbess, and has a particularly interesting analysis of the power that these women were able to wield in both the secular and the ecclesiastical spheres. Irish law did not see women as legally competent and some of the sources upheld the need for all women to have a male 'head'. In theory this would seem to create a problem for Abbesses as the equivalent of male 'heads' of religious communities. Yet the sources also indicate that this was not necessarily so in practice. Harrington sees the accounts of abbesses acting as confessors or soul-friends as especially important to the question of 'headship', although of course an Abbess could not hear confession in the sacramental sense. Indeed, some Abbesses were even prized as soul-friends by men, Saint Samthann of Clonbroney is one famous example. Abbesses like Fine were also drawn from the Irish aristocracy of the day and thus derived some of their authority from their connections to powerful ruling families. In her case this authority was bolstered by the fact that Fine was the heir to a foundress of exceptional sanctity, and it is surely a mark of how important a figure the Abbess of Kildare was felt to be that the Irish Annals continued to record the deaths of the successors of Saint Brigid for centuries after her passing.

This post was originally published here.

Pilgrimage in honour of St. Brigid of Kildare

Pilgrimage in honour of St. Brigid of Kildare on Saturday 20th February 2010.

Procession to St. Brigid's Well, Tully, departs from St. Brigid's Parish Church Kildare Town at 12.30 p.m.

Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite in St. Brigid's Parish Church Kildare Town at 2.30 p.m. followed by Benediction.

Mass @ St. Paul's

St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association organised a Mass this morning for Christian Unity Octave, or Week for Christian Unity, in St. Paul's Church, Arran Quay, the home of the Irish San Egidio Community. This was the second time that we had been to St. Paul's, the last being last January, during the Holy Year of Saint Paul.

This year the celebrant was Fr. James Larkin, P.P., who gave a magnificent sermon on Christian Unity that, he said, was not the work of human dispute resolution like the Labour Court or the result of a compromise on the essentials of the Faith, but was the work of the Holy Spirit, which was why we need to pray, especially during this Christian Unity Octave, for the unity of all who believe in Christ.

The soloist during the Mass was the magnificent Miss Máire Mullarkey, who was able to lead the congregation in singing the common of the Mass and traditional hymns, as well as singing the Mozart Ave Verum (k. 618) and Panis Angelicus from César Franck's famous Messe à trois voix.

The Standing Stone: Ardristan Church, Co. Carlow.

This will be the first in a series of posts about some of the ecclesiastical ruins in the Kildare and Leighlin Diocese which I hope will be informative and not too boring for you. I run a small website called ‘The Standing Stone’ which deals with places of historical interest in the midland region. I was kindly asked to contribute to this blog with information and history about certain places. I have followed the format that I use on my own site. First, I will give the location of the site with Ordinance Survey co-ordinates. Second, I will give a description of the site along with any history that is known and finally I will mention how difficult it is to visit the site. For my first post I have selected Ardristan Church in county Carlow. It is in a poor state and will give you an indication of the condition of some of our history.

As for myself, I am a biblical historian and run my website purely out of interest in our wonderful heritage in my spare time.

I hope one day we will meet amongst the ruins…

Ardristan Church, Co. Carlow.

Location – On the N81 just S of Tullow. OS: S 842 711 (map 61).

Description and History – This ruined church is in a very poor state in one of the worst kept graveyards that I have visited. This is very unfortunate since some of the graves are still visited and it must be upsetting for the relatives to have to battle the undergrowth to get to the grave of their loved one. I visited this site in November and it was all but impenetrable so in the height of summer it must be a nightmare. The church is in a poor condition but there was probably more to see under the brambles. I couldn’t even get into the church to see. The foundation of West gable is exposed and consists of some massive boulders. The nave and chancel was divided by a pointed arch which collapsed in the 1940’s – luckily the E gable is still standing to a height of about 4m. The church would have been about 17m in length and 7m wide. It is hard to date this church since little is known about it but it clearly medieval and built in the Gothic style.

Difficulty – Easy to find and has a small lay-by for parking. There is a memorial to people who died in the 1798 rebellion there and steps leading to the graveyard. Effort, at some point in time, was put into this site but it has clearly not been kept up which is sad.







This article was originally posted on 'The Standing Stone' and can be found by clicking here.

A Tale of Two Towers

A view of Arran Quay from the West where the River Liffey flows

under Mellows Bridge with the Campanile of St. Paul's Church

and the Dome of the Four Courts Building on the skyline.

Two further pilgrimages for the Holy Year of Priests will be made on Saturday, 23rd January, to St. Paul's Church '@Smithfield' , Arran Quay, Dublin 7, for Mass in the Gregorian Rite at 11 a.m., and on Saturday, 1st May, to the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow, for Mass in the Gregorian Rite at 11.30 a.m.

Last year, we had Mass in St. Paul's to mark the Holy Year of St. Paul during the Octave for Christian Unity and we are glad to have the permission of the Administrator of the Church to return again during the Octave.

The details of the pilgrimage to take place in March will be announced later.

The Mass on the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker will be the first celebrated there in the Gregorian Rite in more than 40 years. The funeral of Bishop Thomas Keogh in 1969 would have taken place before the publication of the Novus Ordo Missae but the Liturgy would have followed the reforms of 1965 and 1967.

The Campus of Carlow College with the Cathedral of the Assumption.

Sixteenth Monthly Mass in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin

Five unfortunates made their way through hazardous conditions today to attend the regular monthly Mass in the Gregorian Rite celebrated by a Priest of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, to be told that it had been cancelled the day before, although nobody bothered to tell even those local people who have attended faithfully for many months. It was the only Mass cancelled today in the Parish of Newbridge.

If consolation can be drawn from these figures, it is that the new low is only slightly lower than previous lows. 8 persons attended the Mass in November. 10 persons attended the Mass in October. 10 persons attended the Mass in June.


Approaching the town of Newbridge from the Bog of Allen, one crosses the Railway at Mooney's Bridge. The first sight is the distant clock tower of Newbridge College run by the Dominican Order since 1852, the same year as the completion of the Parish Church. The Dominicans have a long and proud association with the area since the year 1356. The FitzEustace family were the first patrons of the Dominicans in Kildare, which is one source of the devotion to St. Eustace, who is the patron of the Dominican Church. The symbol of St. Eustace, the stag with the cross between its antlers, familiar to patrons of Jägermeister beer, is found in several places in the Church and adjoining Priory.


This is a closer view of the same scene. It looks down towards the clock tower from the west from the top of Mooney's Bridge, which crosses the Railway Tracks between Mount Carmel Estate and Ailsbury Park Estate.


The Church of St. Eustace staffed by the Dominican Order is the third to stand on the site, having been consecrated in 1966 by Michael Cardinal Brown, O.P., who had been Rector Magnificus of the Angelicum, Master of the Sacred Palace, Master General of the Dominicans, and who served the Church with great credit during the Second Vatican Council. The Church was built in a traditional plan with the choir at the 'eastern end. The High Altar has as much space in front as behind, indicating that it was built to accomodated Masses celebrated both versus Deum and versus populum.

The Church has a set of stained glass windows depicting scenes from the book of the Apocalypse and has a large number of works by Fr. Henry Flanagan, O.P., who was a member of the Dominican Community in Newbridge for many years. He is responsible for the Stations of the Cross, the Calvary scene above the High Altar, the Statues of Our Lady within and of St. Dominic and Blessed Peter O'Higgins, O.P. without the Church. Five Sunday Masses were celebrated here today - none were cancelled.

Walking towards the Parish Church along the River Liffey, looking back upstream towards the Dominican Church and Newbridge College.


A view of Newbridge College from 'The Bridge' of Newbridge. The Church tower can just be seen over the trees to the left. The clock tower of Newbridge College can just be seen over the trees to the right.


The campanile of the tower of St. Conleth's Parish Church, Newbridge, County Kildare, where five Sunday Masses were celebrated today - none were cancelled.


St. Conleth's Parish Church, was built close to the banks of the River Liffey (from where this photo is taken). St. Conleth himself lived not far from here until called to become Bishop at the nearby Ecclesiastical City of St. Brigid at Kildare.


St. Conleth's Church Parish Church was built on land donated by the local Mansfield family in a very prominent spot, unlike so many Irish Catholic Churches of the period that are hidden away in back streets our outside the centre of towns on account of the prejudice of the powerful Protestant minority.

Construction began in 1847, at the height of the Great Irish Famine, and was completed in 1852. The Transepts and Sanctuary are later additions. The stone was carried by the local people by horse-drawn cart from the hill of Boston several miles away. The local people of Newbridge know how to thrive in difficult circumstances.

Next to the Parish Church is the Patrician Brothers' Primary School. The Congregation was founded in the Diocese by Bishop Daniel Delaney of Kildare and Leighlin in 1808. The school, in red brick, was completed in 1914. The Patrician Brothers took over the Boys National School in 1939.


Cill Mhuire (The Church of Our Lady) where three Sunday Masses were celebrated today - the only Mass to be cancelled there was the monthly Gregorian Rite Mass, cancelled without warning to the Congregation.

You are welcome to use the images in this post but please credit this blog when doing so.

Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us!

Making the News (Part 4)

In this Part, I'm going to take a look at coverage of other religious events in Ireland by Pathé newsreels.

Corpus Christi Processions

The Corpus Christi Procession was a feature of Catholic life not only in Ireland but throughout the Church since the establishment of the feast in the 13th Cent. However, Ireland took a particular pride in honouring Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, for example, in Galway in 1924, in Artane in 1924 and 1925, the Irish Defence Forces in the Curragh Camp in 1925, Navan in 1930, in Bandon in 1941,

May Processions

As with Corpus Christi Processions, usually in June, the Irish made great efforts to honour Our Lady in her month of May. Good examples are found at Inchicore in 1921, then at Mount Argus in 1922 and 1923. However, Inchicore returned to pride of place again in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1931.

Other Events

Pathé also covered the procession of the Franciscan Third Order in Killarney in 1921 and, in 1926, the celebrations marking the centenary of the arrival of the Dominicans in Waterford. In 1926, Sodalities are shown processing into St. Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin. The Mullingar Confraternity processes in 1927.

The Patrician Year

In 1961, Ireland celebrated the 1,500th anniversary of the death of St. Patrick. Pathé newsreels cover the celebrations in Dublin and Armagh. I would also include the coverage of St. Patrick's Day for 1950.

Traditional Mass in Celbridge

After the success of the Traditional Mass on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Parish of Celbridge, Co. Kildare, has decided to have another Traditional Mass at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 6th January, the feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord.

Well done Celbridge!

Making the News (Part 3)

Back in August, 2009, I posted twice on the Pathé newsreels available online. Part 1 covered the Bishops of Kildare and Leighlin (Drs. Foley, Cullen and Keogh). Part 2 covered Archbishop Byrne of Dublin (although this clip of his enthronement in 1921 was omitted). In Part 3, I want to look at the newsreel coverage of other Irish Prelates.

Archbishops of Armagh

Michael, Cardinal Logue (1840-1924) was elevated to the Archiepiscopal and Primatial See of Armagh in 1887. He was created Cardinal in 1893. He is shown attending the meeting of the Irish Hierarchy at Maynooth in 1921 and shown again before entering the Conclave that was to elect Pope Pius XI. His death in 1924 was the subject of a newsreel.

Patrick, Cardinal O'Donnell (1856-1927) succeeded Cardinal Logue as Archbishop of Armagh in 1924. He is seen here visiting Dundalk, a town in his Archdiocese, in 1926, the year he was raised to the purple of the Cardinalate. Also in 1926, his Eminence attended the famed Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. There are some outtakes from the same scene. His funeral, the following year, was also covered in newsreels.

Joseph, Cardinal McRory (1861-1945), was elevated to Armagh in 1928 and to the purple in 1929. In 1938, his Eminence blessed the new Mother House of the Columban Missionaries, the Maynooth Mission to China, at Dalgan Park, Navan, Co. Meath. In 1942, he was in Dublin to celebrate Mass in celebration of the Episcopal Jubilee of Pope Pius XII.

John, Cardinal D'Alton, Archbishop of Armagh (1882-1963) was appointed Archbishop of Armagh in 1946 and was created Cardinal in 1953. His death was marked both in Dublin and in Armagh.

In 1963, in the last ceremony in the Traditional Rite, Archbishop, later Cardinal, Conway, was enthroned as Archbishop of Armagh.

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly

In 1910, Most Reverend Dr. Fennelly, the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, conducted a ceremony at the Rock of Cashel.

Archbishop of Melbourne

It's hard to say where the Archbishops of Melbourne stood in order of precedence in the Irish Hierarchy but Archbishop Mannix stood head and shoulders above them all. In 1920, protests about the outrageous mistreatment he received at the hands of English Armed Forces was protested in London. He visited a partly free Ireland in 1925. The principal consecrator of Dr. Mannix was Dr. Fogarty of Killaloe (see below for Ardagh and Clonmacnoise).

Lord Abbot of Mount Melleray

In 1931, Dom Stanislaus Hickey received the Abbatial Blessing as Lord Abbot of Mount Melleray Abbey in the Knockmealdown Mountains just to the North and East of Cappoquin, Co. Waterford. It is interesting to note that the Blessing took place in the old Abbey Church, which was soon to be replaced. Dom Stanislaus, likewise, was to be replaced in April of 1933 by the noted Dom Celsus O'Connell. Mount Melleray celebrated its centenary in August 1933, on which occasion Cardinal McRory (see above) laid the foundation stone of the new Abbey Ahurch. Preparations for building were started immediately, but the actual work did not start until January 1935. The striking new Church was completed and solemnly blessed in November of 1940.

Bishop of Kilmore

In 1937, Most Reverend Dr. Michael Lyons (d. 1949) was consecrated Bishop of Kilmore at the then Cathedral Church of St. Patrick in Cavan Town, Co. Cavan. Dr. Lyons also celebrated the centenary of the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1939.

Dr. Lyons was responsible for the building, between 1938 and 1942, of the present Cathedral in Cavan, the Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Felim. It was, thus, one of the last cathedrals to be built in Ireland. It post-dates the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar, the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Meath, by three years. Only Galway's Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, consecrated on its titular feast, 15th August, 1965, post-dates it.

Cavan Cathedral has the almost unique distinction among Irish Cathedrals in having the full length of its Altar Rails intact. Mirabile Dictu! Like its near neighbour, Longford Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise (see below), it uses the column as a principal feature.

Bishop of Cork

In 1920, the Most Reverend Dr. Daniel Coholan, Bishop of Cork, presided at the funeral (also here) of Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, who had died a prisoner of the English. He is to be seen from about 2 minutes and 14 seconds in the first and at 2 minutes 50 seconds in the second. Dr. Coholan himself died in 1952 and was buried from his Cathedral Church. Dr. Coholan was at the heart of the struggle for Independence, witnessing not only the escalation of the War of Independence but also the ravages of the Black-and-Tans who shot and harrassed his Priests and People as well as burning a large area of the City of Cork in reprisal for the efforts of the Irish Volunteers.

Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise

In 1927, the funeral of Bishop Hoare of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise was filmed at the Cathedral Church of the Diocese in Longford Town, Co. Longford. Dr. Hoare having been appointed to the See in 1895, was 32 years as Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.

One of Dr. Hoare's early acts as Bishop was to establish scholarships to the Diocesan College, St. Mel's College. He was equally concerned with the state of the library system that was being developed through the Carnegie Trust. He wrote: "I think the Organising Committee should have nothing to do with the Carnegie institution unless it allows you to select your own books," which was a measured compared with that taken by his confrere, Dr. Fogarty of Killaloe:

"I will have nothing to do with a Carnegie Library. I have seen some of these institutions. They are storehouses of wretched novels and semi-pagan stuff of the same cultural level as penny illustrated papers from England, which, I am sorry to say, our people buy and smoke like opium, with the same narcotic effect on their brains and better life. We have enough of that poison without taxing the people to supply more of it. What advantage are the ratepayers, already overburdened, from the mountains of Kinnitty to the bogs of Edenderry, going to get from supplying out of their slender purse lounges and novels to the cigarette-smoking, idle, mooning youths of Tullamore and like towns; for no one else is going to resort to your fanciful treasure houses? Any money that Ireland has to spare, even to the extent of millions, should be first of all put into making secure that cardinal industry on which her life depends. When that essential structure is made perfect, then we can think of libraries."

Dr. Fogarty, although he was 'only' the Bishop of Killaloe, was, in fact, an Archbishop and reigned in Killaloe from 1904 to 1955.

Dr. Hoare was succeeded as Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise by Dr. McNamee who was to participate in the Second Vatican Council and die in office in 1966, having reigned over the Diocese for 39 years.

St. Connat of Kildare

Today is the feast given in the Martyrology of Donegal for St. Connat or Comnat or Comnantan who was Abbess of Kildare in succession to St. Brigid until her death in the year 590.

Nothing is recorded of her life but it is an excellent opportunity to recall to mind the many excellent women of the Convent of Kildare, particularly her sister Abbesses, St. Darlaugdach, Abbess of Kildare, who was the immediate successor of St. Brigid and lived for but a year after the great foundress, St. Tulalla, a near contemporary of St. Connat, St. Sebdana, Abbess of Kildare, who died in the year 726, St. Affrica, Abbess of Kildare, who died in the year 738, and St. Finnia, Abbess of Kildare, who died in the year 801.

All ye holy Abbesses of Kildare, pray for us!

Majestic Irish Cathedral Destroyed by Fire

(image: RTÉ)

The north-central Irish Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise has suffered the tragic loss of its 150-year old cathedral yesterday morning in what may have been an act of arson. Just a few hours after the bishop celebrated Midnight Mass, the fire broke out. By the time it was extinguished the beautiful interior was completely gutted.

A video showing the destroyed cathedral can be seen here. The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Dr Colm O'Reilly, has said he will restore St Mel's Cathedral in Longford , though it will cost over €2 million. Bishop O'Reilly said he celebrated midnight mass to a packed Cathedral. He said that it was an extraordinary contrast the next morning. Construction on St Mel's started in 1840 and it opened in September, 1856.

More on this story here.

Though details of any fundraising efforts have yet to emerge, the Diocese can be contacted as follows:-

The Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois
Diocesan Office,
Ballinalee Road.
Longford.
Co. Longford.
Phone: +353 (0)43-3346432
Fax: +353 (0)43-3346833
Email: ardaghdi at iol.ie

The Cathedral itself is a Neo-Classical structure begun in 1840 by Bishop William O'Higgins. The inspiration for the design by Joseph B. Keane was said to be the Madeleine Church in Paris, the Pantheon and St. John Lateran - although he executed a similar design for St. Mary's in Clonmel.

The cathedral is cruciform consisting of a nave, two transcripts, two aisles and a spacious sanctuary. The nave contains 24 large columns local limestone and windows by the noted Harry Clarke. The original high altar was of French marble. The erection of this building cost £60,000 which was a vast sum to collect during a time of evictions, persecutions and famine.

The completion of St. Mel's was deferred for ten years due to the effects of the famine. The roof and tower were completed under Dr. Kilduff who succeeded Dr. O'Higgins in 1853. Bishop Kilduff blessed the Cathedral on 24th September, 1856.

Longford Cathedral 'Before'

Under Bishop Woodlock, most noted for his contribution to the cause of the Catholic University, further additions were made and the Solemn Consecration took place on the 19th May, 1893, the fifth-third anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone. The belfrey was completed in 1860 after a design of John Bourke. The portico in 1893 to the design of the great George Ashlin.

Longford Cathedral 'After'

An Taisce, the Irish Heritage Trust, described it thus: "……… St. Mel's Cathedral, begun to the design of Joseph Keane in 1840. While the portico lacks the sophistication of Keane's great Dominican Pope's Quay Church in Cork, the interior, by contrast, is now regarded as noblest of all Irish Classical church interiors. It is designed in the style of an early Christian basilica, with noble Grecian Ionic columns and a curved apse. It also shares the remarkable distinction of being the only major Catholic Church in Ireland to have actually been improved by internal reordering, when the fussy later altar was removed and replaced by a simple modem table altar, which accords harmoniously with the early Christian style of the interior. The tower and portico give a striking approach to the town from Dublin."

Longford Sanctuary 'Before'

In the 1970s, the noted Cathedral wreckovator, Cathal Cardinal Daly, to whose credit Belfast and some of Armagh Cathedrals' present state can also be put, was Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. The high altar and stalls were removed, leaving the Sanctuary without any clear focus, the present altar being too small to make any visual impact. The insertion of a tapestry to add impact to the 'President's Chair' where the high altar and tabernacle once stood, is singularly ineffective.

Longford Sanctuary 'After'

The words of Desmond, Cardinal Connell, who was Archbishop of Dublin at the time, during an interview with The Sunday Business Post, published on 4th March, 2001. Asked whether he had any plans to build a cathedral in Dublin. (At present, the Anglican Church of Ireland has two cathedrals in the capital – Christ Church, the diocesan cathedral, and St Patrick's, the national cathedral. The Catholic Church has only a `pro-cathedral') reresponded: ‘None whatsoever. If I had the wealth of Croesus itself, I would not build a cathedral because liturgy and architecture at the moment are in such confusion that anything that would be built at this stage would be rejected in a very short time.’

The restoration of St. Mel's is greatly to be hoped for, both a physical and a moral restoration, an Irish Church rising from the ashes.

Bishop Colm O'Reilly, one of only a handful of Irish Bishops to have celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass publicly in recent years, has promised that St. Mel's will be restored but Bishop O'Reilly is 75 on 11th January, 2010. By that time, there will be three vacant Sees in Ireland (six, depending on your point of view). The question is whether the restoration of Longford Cathedral will be in the hands of another 'Godfather of Irish Sanctuaries' or a Bishop after the Holy Father's own heart. Only time will tell. Qualis Pastor, talis Parochia.

St. Mel of Ardagh pray for us!

The Pope who finished the Council of Trent

On this day in 1559, Giovanni Angelo Medici was elected Pope, taking the name Pius, the fourth of that name. Among his many achievements can be numbered the final sessions (XVII-XXV) of the Council of Trent that took place from 1562 to 1563.

His other great achievement is the Profession of Faith of the Council of Trent or the Creed of Pope Pius IV, which, with the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed, is one of the four Authorised Creeds of the Catholic Church.

It ends thus: "This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved, which I now freely profess and to which I truly adhere, I do so profess and swear to maintain inviolate and with firm constancy with the help of God until the last breath of life. And I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same faith shall be held, taught, and professed by all those over whom I have charge. I do so pledge, promise, and swear, so help me God and these Holy Gospels."

However, despite what we would consider to be towering achievements for the Catholic Faith, the gentleness of Pope Pius IV with which he treated the weak creatures who strayed from the path of the Faith, meant that his own orthodoxy was doubted by some in his own day. One fanatic, the wretched Benedetto Ascolti, even attempted to assassinate the Pope!

Of further interest is this venerable Pope's appointment to the post of Cardinal Nephew - by then the precursor of the Cardinal Secretary of State rather than the sinecure of a Pope's relation - his fellow Milanese, Saint Charles Borromeo. Pope Pius IV was succeeded by yet another Saint, Pope St. Pius V, after his death on 9th December, 1565.

All ye holy Pontiffs, pray for us!

Urbi et Orbi Christmas 2009

Pope Benedict XVI Attacked

Reports (BBC and CNN) are coming through of an attack made upon the person of Our Most Holy Father the Pope as he entered St. Peter's Basilica this evening for Midnight Mass. Pope Benedict XVI appears to be unhurt and continued immediately with Mass. Roger, Cardinal Etchegaray was taken to hospital following the incident. A statement from the Holy See followed.

Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Benedicto!

Dominus conservet eum,

et vivificet eum,

et beatum faciat eum in terra,

et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius. (Ps. xl:3)

Thanks be to God for Pope Benedict XVI!

Christmas Eve in Sweden

In Sweden we really start celebrating Christmas a long time in advance with the beginning of Advent and St. Lucy's Day which is taken very seriously here in Sweden. Here in Gothenburg the whole city is covered in lights from Liseberg Park to the Harbour. This year the really cold weather has helped to create the perfect atmosphere (especially if you are warm and indoors looking out the window!).

The Swedes, being a particurly difficult people, prefer to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 24th. (Same thing with Easter - we really are a tricky bunch!) Traditions differ between families, but for most people Christmas is one of those seasons when you enjoy spending time with your family. We decorate the Christmas tree together, cook, drink glögg (mulled wine) or julmust (very sweet like beer but with no alcohol) and eat far to many oranges, knäck (fudge), lussekatter (St. Lucy buns eaten right through Advent) and pepparkakor (little ginger bread men). Then, at precisely three o'clock Christmas starts for real - with Donald Duck on TV.

After about an hour of pretending not to laugh at the same silly things as the year before it's finally time to start eating. A traditional Swedish Christmas dinner or julbord is a huge meal with many differnet kinds of inlagd sill (pickled herring) and ägg (eggs - sometimes mixed together as gubbröra), rödbetor (beetroot), salad, prinskorv, fläskkorv and isterband (types of sausages), köttbullar (meatballs), rödkål, grönkål and brunkål (different kinds of cabbage - pickled and cooked), sweet bread, julost, bondost, herrgårdsost, prästost and getost (types of cheese), salmon, omelette, rökt ål (smoked eel), lutfisk, a special fish dish, paté and all sorts of pickles and condiments.

Recipes for the most important dish julskinka, the Christmas ham, are handed down through generations - they still all manage to taste exactly the same. The ham is enjoyed with mustard or apple sauce and is often accompanied by dopp i grytan, which means 'dip in the cauldron,' a slice of vörtlimpa (sweet bread) that's been dipped in the water in which the ham's been boiled.

Another Swedish Christmas tradition is the julbocken or Christmas goat. In the same way that the julbord is a reminder of pagan feasts the julbocken is pagan tradition based on the legend of the god Thor who used to ride in a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr but the tradition has been Christianised into the devil who would appear to menace St. Nicholas in the medieval mystery plays. In past centuries people used to play pranks disguised as the julbocken in the same way as on the Dymmelonsdag ('clapper Wednesday'). This is very like the Julebukking of Norway.

In some places, the julbocken brings the presents to children instead of jultomten, the Swedish Santa Claus. Unfortunately, not in my city. I would have loved a Christmas goat to bring me presents! Some towns such as Gävle build huge straw goats for the celebrations. Small straw goats wrapped in red ribbon can also be bought as a Christmas decoration.

There is also a tradition of carol singing associated with the julbocken that is very similar to the Wren Boys of Ireland.