reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches
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Of all the fonts we have seen so far, this is by far the most serious travesty of the Sacrament of Baptism that we have come acorss.
You have guessed accurately, it is from the now infanous Dromaroad Church, and is a product of Brian Quinn’s Tablet inspired approach to liturgy.
As can be seen from our tour of Baptisteries, this has no connection at all with anything Christian. It is merely a joke in bad taste.
And for a bit of fin-de-siècle from the Tablet:
(scroll down to Letter from Rome)
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/pdfs/1533/bookmarks/#pagemode=bookmarks
On the subject of Baptismal fonts, here is William Burgess’ drawings for the font in St. Fin Barre’s in Cork and the font as realized. Fortunately, it has fared better than most of its Catholic contemporaries though one could question the suitibility for this red stone for a Baptismal font We shall not, of course, be surprised to see that Burgess raised the font on an octagonal plinth.
@Praxiteles wrote:
Of all the fonts we have seen so far, this is by far the most serious travesty of the Sacrament of Baptism that we have come acorss.
You have guessed accurately, it is from the now infanous Dromaroad Church, and is a product of Brian Quinn’s Tablet inspired approach to liturgy.
As can be seen from our tour of Baptisteries, this has no connection at all with anything Christian. It is merely a joke in bad taste.
What? No dead twig in a brass vase? How demode! BQ, I’m disappointed in u!
Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. No we’re in Drumaroad! Prax, get us out of here, before someone drops a house on us, too. Follow the yellow brick road! By the way, was that Tin Man over there actually wearing a donkey jacket? Take me back to the world of organised religion, please! Now click those ruby buskins!
Here we have a picture of the font of the internal Baptistery of Siena Cathedral. It certainly puts Dromaroad in its place!
And here we have the famous font from Marktl-am-Inn in Bavaria.
IN the 1970s, it was dumped out of the parish church and used as a bird bath in the presbytery garden. It was subsequently rescued by the local museum which took it in and gave it shelter until last year when the parish priest had to go cap in hand to get it back in time to re-install it before the Pope arrived in Marktl-am-Inn. And, of course, he managed to get it wrong, he installed it in the Sanctuary in front of the High Altar (which seems to have been shorne of its steps). We have seen enough of Baptisteries to realize that this positioning is a theological absurdity.
Carlow Cathedral
This photograph shows that the Baptistery seems to have succumbed to what looks like another Richard Hurley creation.
Here is teh font. Make what you will of it!!
And here we have an iconic statement of the decline of religious faith in Carlow. I wonder if these people usually walk on the kitchen table at home?
And here we have a rare survivor: the Baptismal Font from the medieval Cathedral of Clonard in Co. Meath.
It has an iconographic and decorative scheme wholly consonant with what one would expect to find in any part of Christendom.
It is octagonal, with the panels representing the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, the Baptism in the Jordan, St. Peter, St. Finian and a number of angels. the panels of the plinth depict flora and fauna (probably of the Jordan as in the mosaics in the Baptistery of the Basilica at Mount Nebo).
And here is a description of the Clonard Font. Praxiteles is unsure as to its present whereabouts and would be grateful were anyone able to confirm that it is still in CLonard:
This medieval stone font was brought to this church in 1991 when the local Church of Ireland was closed to public worship. This vessel has been noted by historians as far back as the 18th century. The font is octagonal in shape with deeply chamfered under panels depicting episodes of our Lord’s life. The basin is circular and has a centre drain.
Beginning the very obvious Flight into Egypt and proceeding from left to right, we see the Blessed Virgin holding the Infant Jesus while seated on a donkey, with Joseph walking along side. Next panel is known as a ‘filler’ and shows an angel holding a book. The Baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan comes next. The upper part of St John the Baptist shown standing on the river bank is obliterated by damage.
To the right is a tree with opposed leaves and two berries on top of the stem growing out of the vase. This too could be a ‘filler’. Next come six angels, five having blank shields and the sixth one holds an open book. The following panel shows an angel pointing to what was originally written on an open scroll. Then comes St Peter, seated, and holding in his left hand his emblem – the key and in his right hand a spear.
The eight panel has a Bishop and angel with an open book. The former holds a Crozier and is locally thought to be St Finian. The lower part of the font has four panels of shield-bearing angels some not fully carved and four panels of foliate motifs-wine and grapes, oak leaves and acorns. The base represents eight oak panels. The date is thought to be around 15th/16th centuries.
On Irish Baptismal Fonts:
ANd here we have some medieval English examples:
The font at Edington priory -with which we are familiar from our survey of prime examples of English Perpendicular churches.
The font at St. Botolph’s in Norfolk
The font is octagonal and dates from about 1350. The hexagonal canopy dates from c. 1490 and originally contained the cover of the font.
Waterford Cathedral
This must surely rank as one of the worst Baptisteries ina ny Cathedral in Ireland and one that clearly attributes little if any significance to the Sacrament of Baptism. It is doubtful that it is in its original position and of course lacks its monumental cover and plinth.
The Baptistery of St. Peter’s Basilica designed by Carlo Fontana and installed in 1692.
The Baptistery is located in the first chapel on the left entering St. Peter’s.
The cover is by Giovanni Giardoni, the chapel is dominated by a mosaic reproduction of Carlo Maratta’s Baptism in the Jordan executed in 1722, the frescoeos in the dome are by Francesco Trevisani.
The font is of porphyry and originally served as a sarcophagus for the emperor Otto II and was located in the atrium of old St. Peter’s. Some believe taht it was also used as the sarcophagus for the emperor Hadrian.
For more pictures see here: http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Baptistery/Baptistery.htm
Some notes published by A.W. N. Pugin on Baptismal fonts in the Dublin Review of May 1841. Clearly, somethings never change….
“Plastered and cemented assembly rooms” is what he called them then…and it is true now too.
@ake wrote:
St.Peter’s church, Phibsborough.
The present condition of this church is a terrible pity, as it is probably the catholic church in Dublin that comes closest to rivalling St.Colman’s, just ahead of SS Augustine and John. The scale of it is the same as Cobh and sculptural furnishings are equal in quality and amount. Unfortunately, it has been significantly re-ordered, the altar now being in the crossing. That’s not a serious problem, it’s quite reversible and the original high altar was not hacked into pieces. It’s still there, intact. One of the transept chapels however is totally destroyed, housing a monstrous modern Mary. The other transept has an adjacent adoration chapel which is modern and open to the church but not too bad. The ceiling is in dire need of (high quality) stenciling. Right now it’s poster painted red and looks truely awful. The wall surfaces are also very bare, and need to be decorated one way or another.
One thing it has which Cobh does not is an ambulatory with many altars off it, all with very good, stone scultped. More shots here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/sets/72157600701940560/The previous church in this area
Described as “R. C. Chapel and Free Schools, Circular Road, Philsborough”A print from June 1852showing ST. Mary’s Pope’s Quay as built by Kearns Deane and before the addition of the Portico. Note that the twoer of St. Mary’s Shandon has the cenopic urns at all three stages.
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This is the better preserved of the Wexford town twin churches, beside the Adoration Convent. It’s a real beauty, largely untouched by re-ordering. It’s greatest fortune is to be painted a beautiful, sensible cream white, rather than crazy schemes of purple and orange. The most beautiful feature is the intact altar railings, which really makes the church- intact except for the gates taken off their hinges and left leaning against the rails for some reason- presumably temporary.
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[ATTACH]6124[/ATTACH][ATTACH]6125[/ATTACH]Does anyone know anyting about a really lunatic scheme to dmolish 75% of St. Mary’s Church at Ballygunner, Co. Waterford in what looks like a repitition of the partial demolition of the parish church in Dingle, Co. Kerry?
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