reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches
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Some further information on the restoration of St Eloi:
http://www.eloi.asso.fr/menu1.asp?nav=2
Most interestingly, this was the parish church of Sieur Michel de Montaigne of Les Essais fame.
His dauughter was baptized here and subsequently founded a religious order here.
And and few further details of the “historique” of the re-opening of St. Eloi:
St Eloi, Bordeaux
Some of the side altars – here, unlike Cobh Cathedral, the side altars are properly dressed and covered with dust cloths.
Johnglas, commenting recently on the Benedictine liturgical reform, mentioned that what had been undone could again be done were the current liturgical renewal to take root. Perhaps that may well be so if the following pictures from St. Paul’s, Belfast are anything to gho by. They represent a Mass celebrated there in the usus antiquior on 15 August 2008 with the resumption of the use of the original sancturay fittings dating from th 1930.
Concerning the altar furnishings Praxiteles was sent the following: “Special mention should be made of the efforts of the MC and his team to recreate the Liturgical Movement style of Altar arrangements as designed by Mr Padraig Gregory, the architect who installed the original Sanctuary and side altars in St Paul’s in 1939. Gregory’s use of mosaic, marble revetments and not to mention the baldachino and ‘liturgical’ altar could once be seen in many of his churches in the Northern Irish Dioceses. His clean and attractive designs extended even to the altar furnishings and sanctuary appointments, and here can be seen in the very altar candlesticks and altar cards, with a complimenting 1930’s cloth-of-silver set of Marian Vestments”.
And, I am sure that in coming up with something quite so tasteful, P. Gregory did not have the benefit of a short course at the Chicago Theological Institute!
If the Benedictine renewal can reach Belfast, it can reach almost anywhere.
I wonder if our liturgical consultant in those parts of the globe has any comments.
Very nice pictures; the ‘restoration’ is a bit timid, with a rather tame altar frontal and no altar rails (and that ambo!). However, it’s certainly progress and the baldacchino is quite superb (Gregory’s work is the essence of restrained good taste).
I recently saw a pic of the interior of the cathedral in Belfast; a vast improvement on what had good before, but one laments the loss of its baldacchino – a candidate for early restoration?
I’ll get back soon with my suggestions for topics for the conference.Some further shots of Bordeaux’s medieval churches. This time St Seurin (or Severinus), dedicated to the 4th Bishop of Bordeaux who arrived in this part of Gaul c. 410. The antiquity of the church is attested by a reference in the Chanson de Rolan to Charlemang’s having placed the horn Oliphant of Roland on the High Altar of St Seurin follwoing his defeat of the Saracens near Bordeaux.
Here we have the present west facade which is now covered by a portico of an indifinite modern period. Behind this, however, we still have the original romanesque portal with a stunning array of capitals that could come from the Book of Kells.
Prominent among them is the capital of the Sacrdifice of Abraham on the left, and on the right peacocks holding bunches of grapes alluding to the new and eternal sacrifice of the New Testament, the Eucharist. Both depict sacrifices sanctioned by God.
The Abraham capital shows God stayoing the hand of Abraham, followed by Isaac very reastically laid out as a sacrificial offering (something perhaps not entirely unknown among the tribes of western Gaul) and finally, the ram caught in the bushes that would substitute for Isaac.
The Abraham capital
a. God staying the hand of Abraham
b. Isaac on the altar of sacrifice
c. The ram cought in the thornsOn St Seurin, Bordeaux
Basilica of Saint-Seurin, the most ancient church in Bordeaux. It was built in the early 6th century on the site of a palaeochristian necropolis. It has an 11th century portico, while the apse and transept are from the following century. The 13th century nave has chapels from the 11th and the 14th centuries. The ancient crypt houses sepulchres of the Merovingian family
You may not see this:
https://archiseek.com/content/showpost.php?p=84831&postcount=1911On the subject of the glass lobby proposed for the Honan Chapel, Praxiteles would point out that this appears to to be the latest “liturgical” fad. A similar ghastly thing was installed last year in St. Patrick’s Church in the Lower Glanmire road in Cork and now we have an application before Cork County Council for another glas box for the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Viorgin Mary in Ballyhooley, Co. Cork.
This last church was designed by Pugin adnd Ashlin. Drawings were published in the Irish Builder on 15 May 1867. The foundation stone was laid on 29 August 1867. The church was consecrated by Bishop Keane in 1870 following his return from the First Vatican Council.
Praxiteles is beginning to wionder whether the Cobh Cathedral [botching] Restoration Committee is not about to try to install something like this inside the main doors of Cobh Cathedral?
St Seurin, Bordeaux
The south elevation: here we have a glimpse of the south transept with its octagonal tower on a square base.
St Seurin, Bordeaux
One of the great treasures of this church is the South Portal with its tympan of the glorified Christ surrounded by angels carrying the insttruments of the passion and preiding over the resurrection of the dead. The composition is in many ways similar to that at Moissac -which we have seen before – and like Moissac was a place of departure for the pilgrimage to San Diago de Compostella.
St. Seurin, Bordeaux
South Portal,
a. west side
b. east side
c. the famous statue of St. James depicted as the patron of pilgrims on route to Compostella.St Seurin Bordeaux
Interior.
The present (modern) High Altar under which is the sarcphagus of containing the relics of St. Seurin.
The North transept
The South Transept
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