The Standing Stone: Sleaty, Church and Crosses, Co. Laois.

After many months of absence I am glad to be back and contributing to this blog again after a turbulent end to 2010.

For this post I have selected a small church ruin North of Carlow town but inside County Laois. I particularly like this place because of the two early Christian crosses next to a much later ruin. You really get a sense of time here.


The original post can be read on 'The Standing Stone.'


Location – A few km north of Carlow town on the banks of the River Barrow.
OS: S 713 791 (map 61)
Longitude: 6° 56' 27.43" W
Latitude: 52° 51' 27.83" N
GPS: S 71327 79054 (Accuracy – 7m)
See map at the bottom of the page.

Description and History – The remains at Sleaty appear to be nothing out of the ordinary apart from the two early Christian crosses which betray its importance as the former residence of the Bishop of Leinster. This is a very early Christian foundation, of which only the two crosses remain. Associated with St. Fiacc the church is medieval in date, although some of the larger stones used in its construction may come from the earlier foundation. Large boulders were common in early Christian construction. The original monastery was on the other side of the river but when 60 monks died at the site (how I don’t know) it was moved to its present location. Aodh lived here in the 7th century who was one of the first biographers of St. Patrick. The last historical reference to the site is from 1055, after which the site lost importance.

The medieval church is largely ruined and a stone font (date unknown) sits inside. The smaller of the two crosses from the earlier foundation is roughly 1.5m high and is decorated with a rough ringed cross. It is badly eroded and barely visible now. The second cross is 2.8m high and is undecorated. I had seen photographs of this cross before and you can’t really appreciate its size until you see it for yourself.
This is a nice little site and well worth the trip.

Difficulty – Easy enough to get around but it is set back from the road and easy to drive by without seeing. There is no parking here.

The churchyard from the roadway.

View The Standing Stone in a larger map

Mass in the Church of St. Mary and the Angels

Instead of the annual pilgrimage to the Church of St. Paul on Dublin's Arran Quay, there was a Latin Mass in the Capuchin Church of St. Mary and the Angels just around the corner on Church St. It was held there because Ecclesia Dei - Ireland, another Latin Mass Association had had to postpone their 2010 AGM to 2011.













The foundation stone of the Church was laid on 12th June, 1868. It is build in a 14th century gothic style to the design of JJ McCarthy. It was dedicated in 1881 but not consecrated - there are no consecration crosses on the walls. JJ McCarthy was also responsible for St. Saviours (also 14th century gothic), Maynooth College Chapel, Mount Argus Church, Celbridge Parish Church and Kilcock Parish Church where the Latin Mass is sometimes celebrated.

The two side Altars to Our Lady and to St. Francis were installed in 1876. They were the work of Farrell and Sons, then of North Gloucester Street Lower (now Sean McDermott Street). Their most famous work in Dublin is the monuments to Archbishop Troy and Cardinal Cullen in the Pro-Cathedral, the statues of Sir John Grey and William Smith O'Brien on O'Connell St. and the sculptural aspects of Refugium Peccatorum in Rathmines.

A beautiful Sacred Heart Chapel used to run the length of the Church to the north. It was built in 1908-9 but was enclosed and converted into a large sacristy and parish hall a few years ago.




Queen of Angels, pray for us!

Beatification Report - Bl. John Henry Newman Shrine and Exhibits

As part of its celebrations of the beatification of its founder, Cardinal John Henry Newman , the Birmingham Oratory opened its shrine dedicated to Newman.

The first pilgrim to pray at the shrine was the Holy Father, who visited the Oratory following the beatification Mass. Formerly St Phillip's Chapel, it was refurbished before being rededicated to Newman. The refurbishment was carried out by International Fine Art Conservation Studios and consisted of laying a new floor and some redecoration whilst preserving older decoration in some areas. The new elements echo the Oratory's baroque style and include stencilled designs.

The Shrine contains a number of relics taken from Newman's grave. Over the altar hangs a copy of Walter Ouless's portrait of Newman, the original of which is in the possession of the Oratory.

A considerable amount of work has clearly gone into the detail of the shrine. A particularly nice touch is design of the lamps to resemble a Cardinal's galero.

Since its opening the shrine has played host to many other pilgrims following in the Holy Father’s footsteps. Some have emulated him by admiring another of the Oratory’s increasingly famous residents, Pushkin. Pushkin is a delightful black Persian cat that has risen to fame since he was featured across the media as the recipient of the Pope’s attention and now even gets his own fan mail.

For those able to visit, the shrine is open whenever the Church is, usually before and after Mass, Saturday and Sunday. A pilgrims’ Mass is held in the shrine at 11am on Saturday mornings.


The Birmingham Oratory’s shrine is one of many erected or commissioned over recent months in memory of Newman; these include the London (Brompton) Oratory and Oxford Oratory as well as places as far afield as New York.



Also at the Oratory is a small exhibition of Newman’s personal items (generally only open at weekends). It features information about Newman’s life largely taken from some very effective poster versions of sections from Father Beaumont’s official beatification biography, a very interesting book. Hopefully soon the displays will be augmented with the items from the Newman Exhibition at the Birmingham Museum, as this featured some truly stunning pieces, photographs of which can be seen here.




This is the conclusion to my series of reports about Cardinal John Henry Newman, his beatification and the events that took place as part of its celebration; links to the earlier posts are listed below. As there are already reports of a second miracle being investigated it appears we may reasonably be hopeful that the sequel to this series may be appearing in the not too distant future!

Life of John Henry Newman
Newman and Birmingham Lecture
Cardinal Newman Exhibition
JH Newman and his Biographers, Official Beatification Conference
Performance of The Dream of Gerontius
Beatification of Cardinal Newman
Newman the Authorised Biography

Eighth Annual Pilgrimage to Kildare

Pilgrimage in honour of St. Brigid of Kildare on Saturday 26th 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.

A Map of the locality can be found here.

St. Knut's Day - The Last Day of Christmas in Sweden

Today is the feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers but in Sweden it is celebrated as the Twentieth Day of Christmas and the feast day of St. Knut (Tjugondag Knut). Other countries may celebrate the twelve days of Christmas ending on the 6th of January but in Scandanavia we celebrate the twenty days of Christmas ending today. Today was obviously a special day in ancient times because the feast day of St. Hilary gives the name to the whole academic term in many Universities and even in some Legal Systems around the world. It is also interesting that the liturgical season of Christmas that once lasted a whole forty days until Candlemas on the 2nd of February was shortened to the twenty days and ended on 13th January in the new rubrics of Blessed Pope John XXIII (VIII De Anni Temporibus N. 72).

The St. Knut who is celebrated was King Knut or Canute IV of Denmark, which, in those days, included Sweden and Norway too. His uncle had been the King Canute who also ruled England so the era we are talking about is the end of the Viking era and the beginning of the modern (and Christian) era in Scandanavia. The feast isn't really celebrated in Denmark maybe because Canute was very ambitious and warlike and the nobles of Denmark, who elected his half-brother to be king before Canute, were tired of the war and war taxes that he introduced. He attempted to invade England to regain his uncle's crown and he assembled the last Viking army and fleet ever to be assembled but delay meant that the invasion wasn't a success.

However, the feast is an important day in the calendar of Norway and Sweden. King Canute was a devout Catholic who strongly supported the Church. He was martyred in the year 1086. There was some interesting research some years ago on his bones buried in the Cathedral of Odense on the Island of Funen, where he was martyred. It showed that he died of a single wound from the sacrum through the abdomen and with no signs of struggle, seeming to confirm the account of his death without a struggle from a lance wound. Soon after his death King Canute's reputation for holiness and the miracles reported to happen at his grave caused him to be regarded as a saint. His reputation became so great that in 1101 Pope Pascal II recognised public devotion to him.



However, this day isn't really his feast day, which is in July but it is the day that he is remembered because it is the last of the twenty days that he decreed should be celebrated as the Christmas season. It is another date in the Christian Calendar that we Swedes celebrate but in a different way and at a different time, like the feast of All Souls and how we celebrate the eve of Christmas and the eve of Easter and the eve of St. Walpurga's Day.

As usual with Swedish feasts, there are special songs. One tells us the meaning of the feast:

På Tjugondag Knut dansas julen ut och då plundras och kasseras granen.

This translates to "on St. Knut’s day, dance Christmas away and then plunder and scrap the spruce tree".

On this day we obey the law of St. Knut by plundering the Christmas tree of its decorations (especially the chocolate ones!) and drive out Christmas by throwing the Christmas tree out (usually through the window) and singing that rhyme. We also knock on the walls to scare out any Jultomten who are hiding in the house! Sometimes there is a man dressed as “Knut” in a kind of crazy ragged costume who helps to sweep out Christmas.

Another song of St. Knut's Day was written by Sigrid Sköldberg-Pettersson and reminds me of the frog song for St. John's Day: It's really a song that is sung during the whole Christmas season (starting from St. Lucy's Day) but the last verse is especially about today.

Raska fötter springa tripp, tripp, tripp!
Mamma har så bråttom klipp, klipp, klipp!
Juleklappar lackas in.
Dörren stängs för näsan din.
Det är bara roligt.

Pappa har gått ut i sta'n, sta'n, sta'n;
Köper där en präktig gran, gran, gran.
Den skall hängas riktigt full,
Först en stjärna utav gull,
Nötter sen och äpplen

Se nu är ju allting klart, klart, klart.
Barnen rusa in med fart, fart, fart.
Vem står där i pappas rock?
Jo, det är vår julebock.
Han har säkert klappar.

Alla barnen ropa: "Ack, ack, ack;
Snälla rara pappa, tack, tack, tack"!
Margit får en docka stor.
Gungehäst får lille bror.
Stina får en kälke.

Snart är glada julen slut, slut, slut.
Julegranen bäres ut, ut, ut.
Men till nästa år igen
Kommer han vår gamle vän,
Ty det har han lovat.

This translates to:

Rushing feet run tripp, tripp, tripp!
Mother is so busy cut, cut, cut.
Christmas gifts are wrapped.
The door is closed before your nose.
But it is all fun.

Daddy has gone to town, town, town;
To buy a grand Christmas tree, tree, tree.
It is going to be well-decorated,
first a star of gold,
followed by nuts, and apples.

Look, everything is done, done, done.
The children rush in with speed, speed, speed.
Who is standing there in father's coat?
Yes, it is our Christmas goat.
I'm sure he's got presents.

All the children shout Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
Dear Daddy, thanks, thanks, thanks!
Margit has got a big doll.
Rocking horse for little brother.
Stina gets a toboggan.

Soon the lovely Christmas is at an end, end, end.
The Christmas tree is carried out, out, out.
But next Christmas once again
Our old friend will return.
Because he promised!



There really isn't a good choice on YouTube for this song but this is the best. The second song is about the arrival of the snow... so a real Autumn song in Sweden!

Saint Hilary of Poitiers and the Irish Church

January 13 is the feastday of one of the great Western fathers of the Church- Hilary of Poitiers. As O'Hanlon remarks in his Lives of the Irish Saints:

The Irish, from the very earliest period of their Christian initiation, entertained the highest veneration for this illustrious saint. They even contrived to spread his fame in Scotland, and on the Continent of Europe.... Into biographical particulars, the scope of this work will not enable us to enter; but as many ancient offices, antiphonaries, and calendars of Ireland have his name inscribed, we could not wholly omit to notice him.

The Martyrology of Oengus records:

13. We shall have their blessing!
a strong prayer without importunity:
Sulpicius (Severus) famous, delightful,
(and) Hilary abbot of Poitou.

Saint Oengus has thus acknowledged the link between the abbot of Poitiers and the biographer of Saint Martin of Tours, Sulpicius Severus, because his writings also helped to promote the cult of Saint Hilary. The Life of Saint Martin by Sulpicius Severus was a well-loved text in Ireland and a complete copy of it is preserved in the Book of Armagh, written about the year 900. But Saint Hilary also features in a number of other sources which I will summarize below:

1. The Irish Liber Hymnorum. Saint Hilary is credited with being one of the first hymn writers, who introduced some of the hymnology of the Eastern Church when he returned to Europe. He is thus credited with the authorship of one of the most popular hymns of the Early Irish Church - Hymnum Dicat Turba Fratrum, a hymn on the life of Christ. This hymn is preserved in ten different manuscript sources dating from the seventh to the thirteenth century. It is the very first hymn transcribed in the Bangor Antiphonary, where it appears under the title Ymnum Sancti Hilari de Christo, five other manuscripts also attribute it to Saint Hilary as does the ninth-century Hincmar of Rheims. The 19th-century translators of the Irish Liber Hymnorum accepted the attribution of this hymn to Saint Hilary, but modern scholars have argued that it may actually be the composition of a native author. Such is the view of Father Michael Curran, MSC, who writes:

I believe that Hymnum dicat was written by an Irish man at the end of the sixth century. .. Prudentius had written a hymn on the life of Christ .. An Irishman got to know this hymn and liked it so much that he decided to write a similar work, one that would be at once simpler and more in keeping with the needs and aspirations of Irish prayer.

The popularity of the hymn in Ireland testifies to the signal success of the author; the hymn became the favourite expression of Irish piety and prayer of Christ the King. They, or perhaps the author himself, gave St Hilary the honour of writing it, and no doubt this too contributed to its authority and popularity. Irish monks propagated it in Britain and on the continent from the seventh century onwards. It was known and cited by Hincmar of Rheims and by Bede, and its presence was felt in Spain possibly as late as the tenth century.

Yet, even if it is true that the Hymnum Dicat is an Irish composition, it is still indicative of the respect which Saint Hilary commanded in Ireland that authorship was attributed to him.

2. The List of Parallel Saints. Staying on the theme of Saint Hilary as a hymnographer, it is worth noting that in the list of parallel saints, Saint Sechnall, reputed author of the hymn in praise of Saint Patrick, Audite Omnes Amantes, is equated with Saint Hilary. The list records: Hilary, bishop and sage = Bishop Sechnall.

3. Irish Psalm Commentaries. Saint Hilary in his role as a patristic commentator on the Psalms was also well-known to the Irish Church. The Irish from early times referred to the Psalms as 'the three fifties', a designation already used by Saint Hilary. He is cited as an authority in the Treatise on the Psalter in Old Irish and texts of Saint Hilary are used along with those of other Church Fathers in other Irish commentaries. Father Martin McNamara's collection of studies The Psalms in the Early Irish Church published in 2000 contains details of these various texts. Curiously he too suggests that in addition to the actual Saint Hilary of Poitiers there may also have been an Irish Hilary, as some of the texts and views attributed to 'Hilary' in these sources cannot be traced back to the saintly bishop of Poitiers. Indeed on at least two occasions, the author of the Treatise 'attributes views to Hilary that are the direct opposite of those held by the saint'.

4. The Stowe Missal. Saint Hilary appears in the litany of the saints which is part of the eucharistic rite preserved in the Stowe Missal. He was not part of the original text of the Missal, which confined the group of saints to the Mother of God and the Apostles, but was added by a later scribe Moel Caich. He expanded the Litany to include some famous names of the universal church - Saints Stephen, Martin, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory and Hilary- before going on to list over twenty Irish saints. Thomas O'Loughlin in his study, The Stowe Missal: The Eucharist as Refreshment, comments:

That he should include 'the greats' of the western church is not surprising: the cult of Martin was ubiquitous, Steven as first martyr likewise, and in a monastery the great writing saints Jerome, Augustine, Hilary and the monk-doctor Gregory would have been the saints held in the greatest honour for their wisdom and holiness.

5. Personal Devotion to Saint Hilary by Irish Saints. As a final testimony to Irish regard for Saint Hilary, there is the personal devotion by one particular Irish saint, Fridolin, an early missionary to Europe. He commenced his labours in Poitiers and was so devoted to the memory of its patron that he sought out the lost relics of Saint Hilary. Fridolin had a vision of Saint Hilary in which the location of the relics was revealed to him and he was able to have them solemnly translated into a shrine at the restored church at Poitiers. Saint Hilary further appeared to the Irishman and directed him to journey on towards Germany, where he eventually founded the monastery of Säckingen, dedicated, of course, to Saint Hilary.

References

Michael Curran, MSC., The Antiphonary of Bangor (Irish Academic Press, 1984), 33-34.
Martin McNamara, The Psalms in the Early Irish Church. (2000), 56-7.
Rev. John O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints, Volume 1 (Dublin 1875), 190.
Thomas O'Loughlin, Celtic Theology: Humanity, World, and God in Early Irish Writings (Continuum, 2000), 139.

This post was first published here.

Fourth Monthly Mass in St. Joseph's Church, Berkeley Road

Ever since October 2010 there has been a monthly Extraordinary Form Mass in St. Joseph's Church on Berkeley Road Dublin 7 that is staffed by the Discalced Carmelites. It is celebrated at 12 noon on the second Saturday every month. The whole Church is beautiful but the Extraordinary Form Mass is celebrated at the stunning side altar of Our Lady.

Trettondag Jul - Epiphany in Sweden

The Epiphany, the feast of the Three Holy Kings, known in Swedish as Trettondedag Jul (Thirteenth day of Christmas, just as the day after Christmas Day is Annandag Jul, Second day of Christmas) is the most controversial of our Christian Public holidays. The "Almega" employers union disapproves of the religious theme of the holiday - nothing to do with having to give employees a day off of course!

Public holidays in Sweden are called Röda Dagar (Red Days, just like "red letter days") because the important Church feasts were marked in red in Church calendars. There are 13 Red Days. They are Nyårsdagen (New Year's Day), Trettondedag Jul (Epiphany), Langfredagen (Good Friday), Påskdagen (Easter Monday) Forsta Maj (1st May), Kristi Himmelsfardsdag (Ascension Day), Pingst (Pentecost Sunday) - Annandag Pingst (Pentecost Monday) was a Red Day but was replaced by - Sveriges Nationaldag (Swedish National Day, 6th June), Midsommardagen (Midsummer Day on the Saturday between 20th and 26th June), Alla Helgons Dag (All Saints/Souls Day on the Saturday between 31st October and 6th November), Juldagen (Christmas Day) and Annandag Jul (26th December).

Everyone in Sweden also celebrates a few other days like Julafton (Christmas Eve), Midsommarafton (Midsummer Eve) and Nyårsafton (New Years Eve) as full holidays and Trettondagsafton (Epiphany Eve), Skärtorsdagen (Easter Thursday), Påskafton (Easter Saturday), Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Eve), Kristi Himmelsfärdsdag (Ascension Eve), and Allhelgonaafton (All Saints/Souls Eve) as half holidays. Also, if the Red Day falls on a Tuesday or Thursday we take the Klämdag (squeeze day between the Red Day and the weekend) as a holiday too!

Only 1st May, the Swedish National Day and Midsummer are not Christian Days, unless you include the feast day of St. Joseph the Workman and the election of King Gustavs I Vasa, who founded the Reformation in Sweden, and the feast day of St. John the Baptist as Christian Days!

Back to the Epiphany or Thirteenth Day of Christmas. It was celebrated in Sweden during the Middle Ages with Mystery Plays. It used to be the day that stjärngossar (Star Boys) dressed in white with cone hats with stars on would put on pageants of the journey of the Three Kings to Bethlehem and they would make a procession from house to house. Balthazar carried a star lantern on a pole and Caspar and Melchior would carry swords. The other children dressed as biblical characters. All would go singing songs and hymns and collecting gifts. The most famous of these biblical characters was always Judas in a big beard. The one dressed as Judas would jingle a bag with the 30 pieces of silver he received for betraying Jesus.

In Sweden today children dress as stjärngossar on Luciadag (St. Lucy's Day) instead but in a few places in Norway they can still be seen on Epiphany.