reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

@Rhabanus wrote:

And who is the striking figure on the pastor’s right (viewer’s left)? The Lord High Executioner? The Lord Bishop? Or The Lord High Everything Else? Whoever he may be, the mobile telephone attached to his belt denotes a personage of high importance.

Sicut invenitur in pagina sacra: “Ubicumque fuerit corpus, illuc congregabuntur aquilae.” (Mt 24:27)

Looks like a meeting of the local Sanhedrin. Do they often meet like this in the wilderness?

“When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?”

–From Macbeth (I, i, 1-2)

could be the curate?

Talking of church restoration: here we have a case of church completion. St Lorenzo in Florence built by Brunelleschi between 1420-1440. The facade was never finished but plans had been drawn up as early as 1517 by Michaelangelo for the project. It now looks as though the Florentines are finally about to build the facade to the 1517 plans:

St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin, New Zeland

St. Joesph’s was hacked to pieces in 1970 but a group of people saved the High Altar and had it installed in the local museum. The usual barbarity was done on the sancturay of the cathedral. A further renovation took place in 1990s which saw the return of the High Altar.

The photographs below show St. Joseph’s before, after, and after the after.

@Praxiteles wrote:

Just get a look at this mouthful of guff published by Paddy Jones on the webpage of the National Center for Liturgy.

The extract is taken from the minutes of the 2006 meeting of the Liturgical Commission of the Irish Bishops Conference chaired by the bold bishop himself:

“The decision of An Bord Pleanála to refuse planning permission for the liturgical reordering of St Colman&#8217]http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://www.liturgy-ireland.ie/gradua1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.liturgy-ireland.ie/liturgy-newsandviews.html&h=1536&w=2048&sz=168&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=upbEycWjec7BMM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522%2BSean%2BTerry%2522%2Bliturgy%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN[/url]

Whoever is paying the Guffmeister to bray on as he does is not getting his money’s worth – unless of course he is loooking for cheap entertainment.

Here is a striking example of the Guffer’s din: “The sanctuary designed in the 19th century is certainly inadequate.” By whose standard? The Guffster fails to point out exactly HOW the sanctuary of St Colman’s cathedral Cobh is “certainly inadequate” or by what criteria this charge is being made. Is the reader supposed to accept without question or comment this claim based, not on a well-reasoned argument invoking specific liturgical legislation or pointing to logistic inadequacies, but on the sole authority of Guffer Jones? Arguments based exclusively on authority are the weakest of all arguments. Interested readers would prefer an argument supported by facts, logic, and reason to the unsubstantiated claims of a surpliced Svengali.

Let’s consider some serious liturgical reasons for wreckovating Cobh cathedral. Is the diocese pullulating with so many candidates for the priesthood that the sanctuary affords inadequate space for so many prostrate bodies? If this were a real concern, then the candidates could prostrate themselves in the sanctuary and down the main aisle, using the aisle parallel to the Communion rail (where visible) for the overflow number of ordinandi.
Does liturgical legislation identify specific directions that leave Cobh cathedral in violation of liturgical law? Does the present arrangement prevent the sacraments and other spiritual goods of the Church being giving to the faithful? Just the facts, please.

How, Paddy dear, is the sanctuary of Cobh cathedral CERTAINLY INADEQUATE for the liturgy of the Catholic Church today or tomorrow?

And what prattle will he be uttering after the coming motu proprio will have been issued in May 2007? Perhaps on that ground alone, Cobh cathedral may be the only cathedral in Ireland NOT in need of any renovation whatsoever. Never mind the dangers threatened by the cold snap of a distant winter, Prax. The dotards comprising the HACK may not survive the Second Spring.

Perhaps the Guffer agrees after all with Oscar Wilde’s Lady Bracknell: “I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing.”

Direct me to the “No Guff” zone, please.

The Crucifixion in the Spanish Chapel in Santa Maria Novela in Florence:

Some of the details from Andrea di Buonaiuto’s fresco in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella in Florence from the mysteries of Christ’s Passion:

1. The Carrying of the Cross

2. The Crucifixion

3. The Descent into Hell

4. The Resurrection

5. The Ascension

Praxiteles now hears that the parish priest of Bantry intends to gut the interior of the Parish Church. One of the prime targets is the depiction of the Crucifixion over the present High ALtar. very efforts is being being made to denigrade the artistic qualities of the picture so as to enable its removal. However, I hops that someone out tere realizes that this picture -or perhaps its original version- was placed there whenthe church was built in the 1820s by Brother Michael Augustine O’Riordan. The picture is forms part of an sanctuary suite of pictures as can be seen from St Berrahane’s in Castlehaven and from the chapel of the Ursuline nuns in Blackrock. If it it needs restoration then please restore it. But, do not lets have the guff that it simply of no relevance.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/474788951/in/set-72157600141174376/ Look here for an exampl e of remarkably fine plastering in a medieval church. The interior of the nave however is not plastered but in consolation the rubblework is about as attractive as could be.

Speaking of ‘rubblework’ look at the masonry break in Clonamery church http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/477261589/in/set-72157600157077521/ How infinitely superior the pre-norman tradition was aesthetically.

@Rhabanus wrote:

If only it could be restored to its pristine purity! The ceiling over the sanctuary seems odd, though, both in the original disposition and subsequently in the renovation of the 1940s. In fact, in the latter the ceiling, although arched, seems even lower than before. Had there been some kind of canopy or gallery over it in the original arrangement?

I wonder what happened to the panels that flanked the sanctuary. They were replaced later by stations of the cross. The side altars installed later do little to enhance the sanctuary. Perhaps the pulpit may turn up in the basement or in a garage nearby. One can only hope.

Can a moratorium on wreckovation of historic churches not be invoked?

That is what is hoped by insisting on the application of the Planning and Developemnt Act of 2000.

In the case of Cobh, however, it is clear that the Urban District Council cannot be trusted to administer the Act. Its officials, as we have seen, are quite prepared to leave any old vandal enter the Cathedral at any time of the day or night and dig holes in the floor and they are not willing to do anything about it.

Thanks Ake for the lovely shots of St. Mary’s Collegiate Church in Youghal, Co. Cork.

The Chancel details are very interesting. The Chancel itself was rebuilt in the 19th century having been derelict for over a century. The Chancel arch was filled in and the window above opened.

In the restored Chancel you still have the vestiges of the medieval arrangement:

1. The Piscina for disposing of the water used for the wasing of the priest’s hands during Mass and Sedilia (arranged according to the Sarum use of the Cathedral of Salisbury i.e. Priest closest to the Altar, on lower level came the Deacon, and on a lower level -now missing- the Subdeacon). In the Roman usage, the Priest sits in the middle with the Deacon on his right and the Subdeacon on his left.

2. The Easter Sephelcur, opposite the Sedilia, which was used as the Altar of Repose on Maundy Thursday and also contained a figure of the Dead Christ. The original Altar did not survive.

3. At the Chancel arch, you can still see the stairway leading to the Rood Loft which originally closed off the sanctuary.