The ones that got away - Edenderry

It is one of the greatest ironies of the modernist liturgical/architectural movement in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin that 20th century Churches, and mid-twentieth century Churches at that, have generally come off worst when it comes to the destruction of sanctuaries.

"They have razed our proudest castles, spoiled the Temples of the Lord,
Burned to dust the sacred relics, put the Peaceful to the sword,
Desecrated all things holy, as they soon may do again,
If their power to-day we smite not, if to-day we be not men!

One of the few early 20th century Churches in the Diocese - and a gem of neo-Hiberno-Romanesque - is new St. Mary's Church, Edenderry, Co. Offaly. It's own re-ordering was delayed by the Planning and Development Acts and the decision of An Bord Pleanala (Ref. No.:19.RF0970) which provided that the construction of a new sanctuary area, a modified seating arrangement and the conversion of the baptistry to a "reconciliation room" would require planning permission.

To quote again from a certain Cardinal Ratzinger to the then Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin: "It is certainly true that a great number of churches since the Second Vatican Council have been re-arranged; such changes, while inspired by the liturgical reform, cannot however be said to have been required by the legislation of the Church."

William Byrne and Son, who were responsible for the new towers additional to the Parish Churches in Abbeyleix (1906) and Mountmellick (1904), and for the Parish Church in Suncroft (1906) in a simple gothic idiom, had submitted a design for a romanesque Church with aisle, small transepts and short belltower with pyramidal roof in Edenderry. What was built was not far from that description but it was the work of Anthony and William Scott, father and son.

Anthony Scott designed the mortuary chapel in Naas cemetery (1907) as well as the Convent of St. John of God next to St. Mary's Edenderry (1914), However, his practice as regards Churches was generally confined to renovations and alterations of pre-existing structures. The elder Scott was to die in 1919. St. Mary's and the Convent seem to have been the only work undertaken by the younger Scott in the Diocese.

The first sod of St. Mary's was turned 1913 and the foundation stone laid in 1914 by Bishop Foley of Kildare and Leighlin. The Church was opened for public worship in June, 1919, and, in 1932, became one of the few Churches of the Diocese to be Consecrated. The entrance gates are attributed to Arthur Williams (1921). The magnificnet interior is partly the work of the firm of the great George Ashlin in partnership with Thomas Coleman. In his previous partnership with Edward Welby Pugin he was responsible for the Church of the Sacred Heart, Arles, and, appropriately enough, St. Coleman's Cathedral, Cobh. Ashlin and Coleman are responsible for the High Altar, Sacred Heart Altar, pulpit, Shrines of St. Brigid and St. Anthony, communion rail, mosaics, etc. In short, it is their contribution that was principally under threat from the new liturgical requirements of somebody-or-other.

The ones the got away - Emo

It has been pointed out to me that this series is (inadvertently) providing a 'hit list' for the wreckovators. Sadly, as I said in my first post, the (misplaced) zeal of architectural modernists has by no means been abated either by the pastoral failure of their plans, the increasing poverty of the country or by Pope Benedict's hermenutic of continuity. If I were to make a guess, nothing this side of the grave is going to abate their zeal to destroy beauty.

Another example of the beauty of traditional ecclesiastical architecture is the Church of St. Paul at Emo, Co. Laois, which has been featured several times on this blog and which has occasionally welcomed the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior since the promulgation of Summorum Ponfiticum.

The details of the Church will be found on previous posts here and here but I include a few of the earlier pictures by way of illustration:







It's our Catholic heritage and we want it preserved!

The ones that got away - Ardattin

+
D O M
Huius Ecclesiae
Immaculatae Conceptioni Dedicatae
Hunc Lapidem Primarium
Benedictum Posuit
Rev.mus et Ill.mus Thomas Keogh
Epus. Daren. et Leighlinen
Die Festo Immaculatae Cordis B.V.M.
Anno Domini MCMLIV

Thus reads the 'corner stone' of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Ardattin, Co. Carlow, which is another that has, thus far, gotten away from the hands of the modernist iconoclasts. The Churches of Kildare and Leighlin built later in the halcyon days before liturgo-architectural reordering have seemed to suffer the worst at the hands of architectural moderisers. Of those nine Churches built during the reign of Bishop Thomas Keogh (1936-1967), most have been radically, even shockingly reordered. In the first part of my article 'The Builders of Kildare and Leighlin' I quoted Prof. Robert Krier: “If you wish to see great Modernist architecture you must have plenty of time and your own Lear jet” but I think an exception can be made for Ardattin.

The Diocesan Year Book says: "The new church has been designed to follow the established lines of historic Irish Romanesque tradition, evolved on principles consonant with the religious requirements and the materials available of the present age. No actual historical example has, therefore, been closely followed. It has been sought rather to let the conditions create the architecture and to reflect within it some of that sturdy and tenacious Catholicism, that spirit of fidelity and sacrifice, so typical of the parish in all ages and so well shown at all times by its people. The church has been built by Messrs. D. and J. Carbery Ltd., of Carlow, whose foreman, Mr. Thomas Corcoran, has produced for them a most excellent building. The decorative work has been carried out by Messrs. Michael Creedon and Co. Ltd., of Dublin, who, with the craftmanship of Mr. John Carney, have left here a memorial worthy of their reputation".

It also points out that two stained-glass windows, Our Lady and St. Joseph, that were in the sanctuary of the old Church are re-set in the windows over the main doorway of the new church. The window of the Sacred Heart and St. Margaret Mary is re-set in a nave window on the Gospel side. The sanctuary lamp that hung for many years in the old church, telling of the Sacramental Presence, will be used in the new church to tell the same message of love. The windows, so a notice across the road from the Church tells us, were presented to the old Church by Bro. Boniface Carroll of Ballinastraw, in memory of his aunt and uncle Honoria and Eugene O'Neill. Bro. Carroll went on to become Superior General of "the Order". The notice also tells us that the Church contains a prie-dieu once owned by Blessed John Henry Newman, donated by Major and Mrs. Stanley Barrett of Ballynoe. The Stations of the Cross, likewise, were a gift of Kilbride GAA in memory of Edward Butler of Ballinastraw (a former player).

The sod having been turned in April, 1954, that corner stone was laid on 22nd August, 1954, the Marian Holy Year, and the Church was blessed (but not consecrated, it seems, despite the land being a gift of Matthey Murphy, Ardoyne) on Sunday, 13th May, 1956. It features in the Irish Builder of 2nd June, 1956.

On first view, the Church reminds us of the ancient Irish churches of stone such as are still to be seen in Glendalough. The projecting triple-arched doorway is surely evocative of Killeshin as well as the massive west doors of Gothic cathedrals. Killeshin is, however, nearer to the door of Caragh Church, by the same architect as Ardattin. Over the door is a statue of Our Lady of Grace.

The interior is filled with light, courtesy of the alternating arrangement of the wall elements. Pairs of tall round-headed windows in six bays of the nave are alternatively shortened by confessionals and a side door but, where the windows are shortened to admit the Gospel side confessional recessed into the wally, the windows are full-length on the opposite wall of that bay, and so on.

If there is a criticism to be made of Powell as an architect, it is the striking similarity of all his church designs. His Whitefriar St. bears all the hallmarks of his Church of the Assumption and St. Patrick, Rathangan, and his Church of Our Lady and St. Joseph, Caragh, at least as regards the interior. A decade earlier, he was responsible for the side aisles of the Church of the Most Holy Rosary in Tullow. Perhaps only his Church of the Immaculate Conception, Allenwood, is notably distinct, although not so different, being in a Gothic idiom, although hardly so conventional a Gothic as his masterpiece 'Hatch Hall' on Hatch St., Dublin. Of his Churches in the Diocese, Allenwood, Rathangan and Caragh, have been 'reordered' so only Ardattin remains as an example of his own vision. It is a vision well worth preserving - and a higher and greater vision than those visions given form in the 'rearrangements' of his other Churches.

The roof of the Church is stunning. It is cusped but the central arch runs the length of the building with no distinction made between nave and Sanctuary. The effect is stunningly dynamic, drawing the eye forward to the Sanctuary.

The Altar rails run from wall to wall just before the Sanctuary. They were the gift of Edward and Michael Donohoe, Thornhill, in 1956. The rails are slightly curved at the centre and consist of white marble pierced in triplet round-headed arches with light yellow marble pillasters between. Wonderful to say, the Sanctuary gates are intact and in situ. An original picture of the Church in 1956 shows no pulpit and none is present now. The Baptismal font, perhaps another element from the old Church, was a gift by the parents of Rev. J. Murphy, Ardoyne, who died in Toronto, 1st February, 1911, aged 26. It is a white marble octagonal bowl standing on a red marble pillar with a white marble plinth.

The Sanctuary is a model of sensitive 'reordering' that manages not to break the lines of the Sanctuary. The 'east' wall has three round-headed arches, two being windows, the central one being a blind niche running the full height of the Sanctuary and containing the Crucifix for the High Altar. The High Altar itself, a gift of Michael Murphy, Newstown, in memory of his parents, is fully intact. It is in white marble with two low gradines either side of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is domed with a pedimented front face in which the Holy Ghost is represented over the Tabernacle door, which is flanked by pillars in yellow marble. The mensa is intact and is supported by six yellow marble columns that reveal seven yellow marble panels of round-headed arches.

The modern Altar, erected in 2000, is plainer than the original, standing on two bulks of white marble, each with a pair of white marble pillars flanking a yellow round-headed panel. It rests upon two wooden steps on the level of the first two steps of the High Altar. One remarkable point is that in a sizeable Sanctuary, the front of these steps drops sheer in front of the modern Altar. The cliff, whereby it is impossible to celebrate Mass 'versus Deum' from in front of the Altar, is a common liturgical symbol of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin!

If there is one discordant note it is the anomaly of the first bay of the nave. The double windows clearly indicate that a choir loft was intended. I wonder what happened. The Church is painted in shades of green and is a riot of light and colour. However, I think it easily avoids garishness and remains another gem of the Diocese that has, so far, gotten away - Deo Gratias!















It's our Catholic heritage and we want it preserved!

The ones that got away - Kilquiggin

In researching a series of articles on the physical Catholic heritage of Kildare and Leighlin for CHRISTVS REGNAT, I have come across a number of Churches in the Diocese untouched - or almost untouched - at least for the moment, by the hand of architectural modernist iconoclasm. This is particularly odd in a Diocese where great zeal has gone into dismantling sanctuaries in the name the liturgical requirements of the Second Vatican Council, despite the words of a certain Cardinal directly addressed to the most zealous Bishop of the Diocese in a letter he was required to produce by the Irish Courts in a case to save the High Altar of his Cathedral from oblivion: "...I could not but acknowledge that in this legislation there exists no mandate, in the primary sense of the term as a command or order, to move the tabernacle from the high altar to another position in the church..."

That zeal seems unquenched but these Churches are the ones that got away - at least for now. This is an account of one, the Church of St. Finian, Kilquiggin (or Kilquiggan), Co. Wicklow, in the Parish of Clonmore.

Kilquiggin was one of those areas devastated by the Great Irish Famine (1845-'49) and the memory of those events is still recalled by the Union Road, a works project of the local Poor Law Union, and spot called the Gate of Tears, where those who could leave took a last look upon their home place.

Cill Chomhgáin in Irish, the nearby ruin of 6th Cent. Aghowle Church, reputed to have been built by St. Finian of Clonard on his way back from missionary work in Wales, gives the title to the Church. The present Church sits on a prominance of land, an early gothic granite structure with small belfrey over a gable containing three lancets and single entrance that leads to a flight of stone steps down to the road.

It is too fine a structure not to have been professionally designed but the only reference I can find is in the Irish Builder for 1st November, 1887, referring to Walter Glynn Doolin, a Dublin-based architect whose practice included many ecclesiastical commissions. His work is found mostly in Waterford and Tipperary and Kilquiggin Church is roughly between the two. Kilquiggan is very similar to some of Doolin's smaller churches, the Church of the Sacred Heart, Killusty, Co. Tipperary (1881-2), and the Church of the Sacred Heart, Dunhill, Co. Waterford (1883-4). It also shares much with his Church of St. Brigid, Templebraden, Co. Limerick (1882), his Church of St. Brigid, Clonakenny, Co. Tipperay (1899), and his Church of St. Brendan, Cloghane, Co. Kerry (1900)

By the time he was working on larger commissions such as Castlebar (1890-1901) and Borrisoleigh (1892), Nenagh (1893-1906), New Ross (1894-1902), his gothic is decorated, using tracery and quatrefoil lights.

The interior is lit by five single lancets on each side of the nave and a further two on the gospel side of the square-ended Sanctuary, with three lancets over the High Altar. The roof of the nave is in white with the rafters left exposed. The projecting stone supports or 'springers' for the wallposts are of the simplest form of 'cyma reversa'. They are at two heights, bewteen and just above the arches of the window spaces, giving an added layer of richness to the design. There is trefoil piercing right across the wooden trace-board along the bottom of the nave roof's interior.

The white marble Altar Rails run the width of the Church mid-way between the last two windows. They are just short of the wall at each side. The Sanctuary gates are missing. Each side of the Altar Rails consists of three solid pillasters with blind lancets between which are four pierced lancets. Half-way into the final bay of the nave, the sanctuary space is raised by two steps. A low, five sided, octagonal marble pulpit sits low upon a pillared base on the gospel side of the Sanctuary, an octagonal baptismal font on the epistle side.

The Novus Ordo Altar rests on this level in the centre. It isn't clear if this is was once part of the High Altar of this Church - which retains a mensa - but the twin pairs of green marble pillars on either side of the front face reflect the green marble panels in the reredos of the High Altar, which the pink marble pillars supporting the present sepulchre under the mensa do not. If it is a coincidence it is a very happy one. The central panel of the modern Altar is a fine white interlaced 'IHS' upon a red marble ground. Beneath is a plaque stating: "Altare Privilegiatum Quotidianum Perpetuum" indicating that this Altar is not new, even if it is not original to this location.

The Sanctuary Arch is simply moulded. The ceiling of the Sanctuary is panelled in diagonal 'criss-cross' panels painted with what appear to be monograms of 'IHS' and Our Lady. A massive Crucifix, about half life-size, hangs from the centre of the Sanctuary roof, requiring the Sanctuary Lamp to hang from the epistle-side wall.

On either side of the High Altar are fine antique statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady crowned. The High Altar itself is of a familiar neo-Gothic pattern with three pinnacles, a floreated rather than crocketed pinnacle at either end, and a more slender one topped with a cross over the throne over the Tabernacle with two attendant finials at either side. Between these are panels topped with trefoils consisting of green marble panels recessed into cusped arches in plain white marble with carved white marble spandrels between. The Throne is flanked by red marble pillars with a central collar or 'astragal' in white marble. The Tabernacle has the Holy Ghost in the pediment and two dark red marble pillars on either side of the door. Beneath the mensa is a sepulchre containging a recumbent figure of the dead Christ bracketed by grey marble pillars.

The windows are all in diamond or square lights in clear glass or light yellows and pinks, with a thin border of red glass. They allow light to flood into the interior without dazzling.

Overall, this Church is a gem. It sits discreetly in its surroundings, a well-appointed building well suited to its surroundings. The interior has been sensitively and imaginatively modified in a way that retains the beauty and reverence of the space.






















It's our Catholic heritage and we want it preserved!