reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

Roger Rosewell

Discovering Irish Glass
Despite its importance in the history of Early Christian art, Ireland retains not a single panel of medieval stained glass in situ. Scarcity of evidence has inevitably hampered the study of painted glass in the country. Recently however, using a combination of historical sources and archaeological discoveries and reconstruction, some important preliminary conclusions about pre-Reformation glazing in Ireland have been published in a new volume about Irish art in the Middle Ages: Art and Devotion in Late Medieval Ireland. The author of the chapter on stained glass, archaeologist Jo Moran, spoke to Vidimus about some of her findings and the need for continuing research.

‘Ireland was originally well stocked with medieval glass. Documents from the thirteenth century onwards record the use of painted glass in cathedrals such as St Patrick’s, Armagh, and in numerous parish churches. Among records of local patronage, for example, it is recorded that the Mayor of Galway “put up all the painted glass in the Church of St Nicholas” in 1493. At the time of the Dissolution, glass was also listed among the assets of monasteries, including a Dominican friary in Dublin, Franciscan houses in Kildare and Castledermot, and the Cistercian monastery at Inishlounaght, Co. Tipperary.

‘Similarly, documentary records show that glaziers, possibly of English abstraction, were resident in Dublin from at least 1258. There is also a suggestion of craftsmen moving in the other direction. In 1352, for example, a ‘Johannes de Irland, verreour’ was made a freeman of York. Although no evidence of workshops has yet been excavated, there are some tantalising hints of an indigenous craft. In February 1490, a shipment of coloured glass was part of a mixed cargo of goods sent to Limerick and Galway by a consortium of three merchants from La Rochelle and two from Dieppe.

‘Archaeological evidence has also thrown useful light on the scale and type of medieval glazing in Ireland. Fragments of plain, grisaille and coloured glass, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, have been recovered from a number of sites, primarily monastic. Although we cannot be sure whether it was painted in Ireland or imported from England, documentary sources suggest that at least some of this work was of extremely high standard. In 1648, for example, Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, who held both the post of nuncio to the Confederate Catholics of Ireland and the archbishopric of Fermo in Italy, offered the then-huge sum of £700 to buy the stained glass of St Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny and ship it to Rome. Similarities between the excavated grisaille patterns found at Kells Augustinian priory (Co. Kilkenny) and St Saviour’s Dominican priory (Limerick), and contemporary designs in English cathedrals, Lincoln and Salisbury in particular, raise in turn interesting questions about sources, design and the dissemination of ideas between the two countries. The study of medieval stained glass in Ireland hasn’t just been circumscribed by the lack of original glass in situ. Even when hoards of fragments have been excavated, such finds have been notable for two important omissions: a paucity of coloured glass and the absence of lead cames, the latter almost certainly having been stripped and melted down when the glass was smashed. We do not know why so little coloured glass has been found; one possibility is that it was used sparingly, another is that it was removed from the site for safekeeping or re-use elsewhere.

‘Little is known about figurative glass in Ireland, but there was some. Although we cannot be sure whether it was painted in Ireland or imported from England, documentary sources suggest that at least some of this work was of extremely high standard. The glass that Rinuccini offered to but appears to have shared the same iconographical traditions as elsewhere in western Christendom. Scenes of Christ’s life, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension filled the east window. The date of this glass is not, unfortunately, known. It was destroyed by Cromwell’s soldiers.

Bunratty Castle, The Gort Furniture Trust: a dragon supporter, English, perhaps from Hampton Court Palace, early 16th century.
Bunratty Castle, The Gort Furniture Trust: shields of arms, German, late 15th century. ‘Some Irish churches do contain medieval glass, though imported from the continent. Panels incorporated into a nineteenth-century window at St Mark’s Church, Newtonards (Co. Down), are said to be from the Dominican priory in the town, though their similarity to continental glass bought by the wealthy Londonderry family and installed in a chapel at their home, Mount Stewart, has also been noticed. More recent imports of Netherlandish and other medieval and enamel-painted glass can be seen in public collections, especially at Bunratty Castle (Co. Clare), home of the Gort Collection (figs 1 and 2). There is a small group of English medieval panels in the Hunt Museum, Limerick.

‘The study of Irish medieval glazing is in its infancy. There is still much more to do, and new information is always welcome. Fruitful areas for further research, both documentary and archaeological, include where the glass was made, relationships between English and Irish glaziers, and the role of donors.’

A full version of Jo Moran’s study appears in the recently published volume, available from booksellers and on line from Amazon books. The volume also includes chapters on medeival devotional practice, image and meaning in Irish wall painting, and the art and cult of the Virgin.

Roger Rosewell

Reflections on the Altar by

Dino Marcantonio, Architect and lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture,

Thoughts on the theory and practice of architecture.

The altar is the central focus of the Christian religion. So, naturally, it is the central focus of every church building. St. Germanus is marvelously succinct about it:

The holy table corresponds to the spot in the tomb where Christ was placed. On it lies the true and heavenly bread, the mystical and unbloody sacrifice. Christ sacrifices his flesh and offers it to the faithful as food for eternal life.
The holy table is also the throne of God, on which, borne by the Cherubim, He rested in the body. At that table, at His mystical supper, Christ sat among His disciples and, taking bread and wine, said to His Apostles and disciples: “Take, eat, and drink of it: this is my body and my blood” (cf Mt 26:26-28). This table was prefigured by the table of the Old Law upon which the manna, which was Christ, descended from heaven.

Of all the parts of the church building, the altar is the most ancient in provenance with roots stretching deep into the book of Genesis. It is also, perhaps, the one element church buildings hold most in common with other religions. Many pagan religions involve sacrificial practices of one sort or another–from ancient Greek animal sacrifice, to the Aztecs who offered human victims to Huitzilopochtli, to the Hindus who beg the favor of Kali. It seems that man naturally understands that Justice demands some kind of sacrifice be offered to God or the gods. Burning the victim converts it to smoke, effectively sending it up into the celestial spheres. So the Jews were not unique with their altar-building.

An altar dedicated to the goddess Diana depicts preparations for sacrifice.

The earliest reference to an altar in Sacred Scripture is Genesis 8:20 when Noah offered sacrifice after the flood. Its form was simple: a collection of rough stones set upright to support a sacrifice over a fire. Other such Altars of Holocaust (from holos and cauma, meaning a thing wholly burnt) followed Noah’s, those of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There was no church to surround these altars. They were built out in the open, usually in a high place.

After the Hebrews were liberated from bondage in Egypt, when they roamed the desert, God revealed to Moses a precise form for the Altar of Holocaust. It was essentially a portable framework to contain a fire and support a grille. In addition, Moses was commanded to build the much smaller and more precious Altar of Incense. Built of an extremely durable wood called setim-wood and covered in gold, no victims were burnt on it. Finally, for our purposes here, Moses was commanded to build the Ark of the Covenant, a chest of setim-wood and gold which contained the Tables of the Law, the Rod of Aaron, and a golden urn containing a bit of the miraculous manna which fed the Jews for forty years. On top of the chest were the images of two Cherubims whose wings sheltered the chest.

In the image above, Moses points to the Ark of the Covenant in the right foreground. The Altar of Incense is just behind, and in the background in front of the Tabernacle is the Altar of Holocaust.

These three items were situated in hierarchical order in the Tabernacle, and in the Temple at Jerusalem. The Altar of Holocaust was outside the Temple proper, the Altar of Incense was in the Holies, the nave-like room inside the Temple, and the Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy of Holies, the most sacred room of all. Over top of the Ark, over the wings of the Cherubims, God’s presence was miraculously imaged as a cloud by day and a fire by night–the Shekinah. For this reason the cover of the Ark was called the Mercy Seat, or the throne of God, and the Holy of Holies symbolized Heaven. Indeed, the Cherubims surely hearken the Cherubims which guarded the gate of Eden after Adam and Eve were cast out.

The arrangement was like a narrative of spiritual progress–less bloody the closer one gets to Heaven. Blood was smeared on the horns at the corners of the Altar of Incense and merely sprinkled in the Holy of Holies only once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The “mystical and unbloody sacrifice” is the natural next step. For St. Germanus also states that the Christian altar is prefigured by the table of the Last Supper, at which Jesus and the Apostles shared the Passover ritual.

Does he mean that the altar has become a table for a communal meal? Not really.

Passover commemorated that event which made the Altar of Holocaust, the Altar of Incense, and the Ark of the Covenant possible. “Moses and Aaron went in, and said to Pharao: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may sacrifice to me in the desert” (Exodus 5:1). In return for each family’s sacrificing and eating a whole lamb and sprinkling its blood on their doorposts, God would liberate the Jews. The feast/ritual instituted to commemorate the event, the Passover seder, prominently features unleavened bread and wine. And at the Last Supper, Jesus commanded that the bread and wine substitute for the sacrificial lamb, and that He is the True Lamb which the Paschal lamb foreshadowed. The sacrifice has not become a memorial meal. Rather a memorial meal has become the Sacrifice, and the only way to undo the Fall and recover the Garden of Eden.

While the earliest Christian altars were built of wood (remember, the early Church was more or less an underground movement), stone altars became the norm as Christianity flourished–the better to symbolize the permanence of the New Covenant and Christ the Corner Stone. And from very early on, altars were built over the tombs of martyrs. The most spectacular examples are those which sit atop a confessio, which is a tomb that has a grate on one side, a fenestella, so that the faithful may see the relics of the saint.

The altar and confessio at San Giorgio al Velabro
The more typical altar has a simple stone box set in it, appropriately called the sepulchre, which contains a first class relic.

Altars are always four-sided, in imitation of their Old Testament forebears, to symbolize the four corners of the earth. In the Orient, the altars are perfect cubes. While the earliest altars were free-standing, in the West it gradually became the norm to move the altar against the wall out of a practical need for space for the ceremony. In the eastern rites, the altars are always free-standing.

The top, confusingly called the table, must always be of a single hefty piece of stone. The vertical supports for the table can be slabs called stipites (visible in the image above on the far right and left of the altar) or columns. The space between supports may be closed with stone panels, or left open. And panels, of course, can be highly decorated. Here is an absolutely gorgeous Cosmatesque altar in a truly sorry state in the crypt of Santa Prassede in Rome.

Altar in the crypt of Santa Prassede, Rome

Once the Spaniards had built an empire over which the sun never set, they could not be outdone by the Italians. Here is an altar that might make even King Solomon envious.

High Altar at the Cathedral of Seville, Santa Maria de la Sede,
the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.

Sorry Praxiteles, I’m in need of your mentoring skills once again.:o I’m probably wrecking your poor head with more questions about Latin quotations. I’m currently undertaking the decoration of another sanctuary in a Church dedicated to the ‘Familiae sanctae’
The Chancel is a five sided apse in shape, with each of the three central walls having representations in stained glass windows with stories of the Holy family. Each wall measures approximately three meters in length & I’m looking to create a Latin worded decorative frieze (300mm deep) along the complete length of the upper wall area with five relevant quotations along the top of each 3m section.

*SANCTÆ FAMILIÆ IESU, MARIÆ, IOSEPH* might be one i could use.
*sanctum sanctorum* or *Credo in Unum Deum* would be to short to adequately fill the space’s & are not particularly relevant.
Alternatively one continuous Hymn would suffice but I’m not having much luck here either. .

This one is just to long;
Domine Iesu Christe, qui Mariae et Ioseph subditus, domesticam vitam ineffabilibus virtutibus consecrasti: fac nos, utriusque auxilio, Familiae sanctae tuae exemplis instrui; et consortium consequi sempiternum: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patri in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who, being subject to Mary and Joseph, didst sanctify home life with unspeakable virtues: grant, that, by the aid of both, we may be taught by the example of Thy Holy Family, and attain to eternal fellowship with it: Who livest and reign-est, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated.:)

@apelles wrote:

Sorry Praxiteles, I’m in need of your mentoring skills once again.:o I’m probably wrecking your poor head with more questions about Latin quotations. I’m currently undertaking the decoration of another sanctuary in a Church dedicated to the ‘Familiae sanctae’
The Chancel is a five sided apse in shape, with each of the three central walls having representations in stained glass windows with stories of the Holy family. Each wall measures approximately three meters in length & I’m looking to create a Latin worded decorative frieze (300mm deep) along the complete length of the upper wall area with five relevant quotations along the top of each 3m section.

*SANCTÆ FAMILIÆ IESU, MARIÆ, IOSEPH* might be one i could use.
*sanctum sanctorum* or *Credo in Unum Deum* would be to short to adequately fill the space’s & are not particularly relevant.
Alternatively one continuous Hymn would suffice but I’m not having much luck here either. .

This one is just to long;
Domine Iesu Christe, qui Mariae et Ioseph subditus, domesticam vitam ineffabilibus virtutibus consecrasti: fac nos, utriusque auxilio, Familiae sanctae tuae exemplis instrui; et consortium consequi sempiternum: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patri in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who, being subject to Mary and Joseph, didst sanctify home life with unspeakable virtues: grant, that, by the aid of both, we may be taught by the example of Thy Holy Family, and attain to eternal fellowship with it: Who livest and reign-est, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated.:)

Not at all Appelles! There is oodles of stuff available in the Brevirium Romanum for the feast of the Holy Family. e.g.

The ANtiphons for the psalms of Matins:

1. Cun inducerent puerum Iesum parentes eius, accepit eum Simeon in ulnas suas, et benedixit Deum.

2. Ut perfecerunt omnia secundum legem Domini, reversi sunt in Galilaeam in civitatem suam Nazareth.

3. Puer autem crescebat et confortabatur plenus sapientia, et gratia Dei erat in illo.

Responsories of the first Nocturn:

1. Propter nos egenus factus est, cum esset dives. Ut illius inopia nos divites essemus

1. Deus noster in terra visus est. Et cum hominibus cinversatus est. Hic adinvenit omnem viam disciplinae, et tradidit illam Iacob, puero suo..
2. Beati qui habitant in domo tua, Domine. In saecula saeculorum laudabunt te.

Antiphons of the Second nocutrn:

1. Consurgens Ioseph accepit Puerum et Matrem eius nocte, et secessit in Aegyptum.
2. Angelus Domini apparuit in somnis Ioseph in Aegypto, dicens: Surge et accipe Puerum et Matrem eius, et vade in terram Israel.
3. Et veniens habitavit Nazareth, ut adimpleretur, quod dictum est per Prophetas: Quoniam Nazarenus vocabitur.

Versicle: Dominus vias suas docebit nos. Et ambulabimus in semitis eius.

Antiphons of the Third Nocturn

1. Ibant parentes Iesu per omnes annos in Iurusalem in die sollemni Paschae.
2. Cum redirent, remansit Iesus in Ierusalem, et non cognoverunt parentes eius.
3. Noninvenientes Iesum regressi sunt in nIerusalem, requirentes eum

Responsories of the third Nocturn:

1. vere tu es rex absconditus. Deus Israel, Salvator. Tu doces hominem scientem.

2. Venit Nazareth et subditus illis.

THH ANTIPHONS OF LAUDS

1. Post triduum invenerunt Iesum in templo sedentem in medio doctorum, audientem illos, et interrogantem eos.

2. Dixit Mater Iesu ad illum: Fili, quid fecisti nobis sic? Ecce pater tuus et ego dolentes quaerebamus te.

3. Descendit Iesus cum eis, et venit Nazareth et erat subditus illis..

4. Et Iesus proficiebat sapentia et aetate et gratia apud Deum et homines.

5. Et dicebant: unde huic sapientia haec et virtutes? Nonne hic est fabri filius?

Hymn for Vespers

Maria, dives gratia, o sola, quae casto potes fivere Iesum pectore, cum lacte donans oscula.

Tuque ex vetustis patribus delecte custos Virginis, dulci patris quem nimine divina Proles invocat.

De stripe Iesse nobili nati in salutem gentium, audite nos, qui supplices vestras ad aras sistimus.

Versicle:

Ponam universos filios tuos doctos a Domino. Et multitudinem pacis filiis tuis.

Antiphon for the Magnificat

Maria autem conservebat omnia verba haec, conferens in corde suo.

The biblicl texts hee are cited from the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate.

@apelles wrote:

Domine Iesu Christe, qui Mariae et Ioseph subditus, domesticam vitam ineffabilibus virtutibus consecrasti: fac nos, utriusque auxilio, Familiae sanctae tuae exemplis instrui; et consortium consequi sempiternum: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patri in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who, being subject to Mary and Joseph, didst sanctify home life with unspeakable virtues: grant, that, by the aid of both, we may be taught by the example of Thy Holy Family, and attain to eternal fellowship with it: Who livest and reign-est, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated.:)

This text is not a hymn but an oration or prayer.

m mm. .Not sure if there’s to much text in these. . I done this to scale. .the lettering looks a little to condensed for the panel size, & quite difficult to read, do ya think?

@Praxiteles wrote:

Paddington bear believes that the semicircular steps are quite incongruous and even more so by the upper step being rectangular! 😉

Church decoration in The Holy Trinity -Allen http://www.allenparish.ie/churches

Does anyone know anything more or have pictures of the interior of this church in Co. Kildare. . The superbly stenciled decoration looks like it might be the work of the Hodgkinsons of limerick.

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Church of the Holy Trinity – Allen[/align:1b3x2bmk]

The church still contains a complete decorative scheme in the sanctuary area and, according to Mary McGrath, conservator of fine art, Rosetown Lodge, Newbridge, this is the original decorative scheme dating back to 1868-1870, when the church was built. Intact, original decoration is now quite rare as a result of redecoration over the past 150 years and the changes in the liturgy after Vatican II. This painted decoration is, consequently, significant in a historical context. It is of a very high quality, detailed, complex and carefully designed to enhance the architectural features of the sanctuary, chancel arch and side altars.
[align=center:1b3x2bmk]

The figure of the Holy Trinity, wearing a three-crown mitre[/align:1b3x2bmk]

Decorative schemes were individually tailored for a specific churches, although some design motifs were employed over and over again. The church in Allen has a polygonal apse which required a considerable amount of planning to decorate.
[align=center:1b3x2bmk]

A highly-worked stencil decoration of St Brigid, in the sanctuary[/align:1b3x2bmk]

Stencil decoration was much favoured in the 19th and early 20th century for church decoration. Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-52), an outstanding architect and a convert to Catholicism, formulated a series of designs and colours considered appropriate for church interiors.

Furthermore, a book called the Grammar of Ornament, published in 1856 by Owen Jones, formally outlined what parts of a church should be decorated, and how and why. The basic rule is that decoration should not be used for itself alone – its function is to enhance architectural features.

It can be assumed that the land for the Church of the Holy Trinity in Allen was donated by Sir Gerald George Aylmer succeeded his father as 8th Baron of Donadea in 1816.

The church was designed by J. S. Butler in 1866. This was just a short time after the Great Famine in Ireland when the country was still recovering from that overwhelming natural disaster.

When the Rev. Eugene O’Reilly decided to build a new church in Allen, he appointed John Sterling Butler as architect. Butler was one of the foremost ecclesiastical architects of his time and the catalogue of his works is most impressive – churches, convents, great houses etc. all over Ireland. He was elected Dublin City Architect on 1st October 1866. His works in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin include:

*
St Bridget’s Church, Clogherinkoe 1861,
*
Broadford Church 1862,
*
Church of St Fintan, Mountrath, Co. Laois 1861,
*
Church of St Paul, Emo, Co. Laois 1861-1866,
*
Courtwood Church, Co. Laois 1877,
*
Raheen Church, Co. Laois 1859,
*
Mountmellick Convent, Co. Laois 1860,
*
Parochial house, Portlaoise 1861,
*
Additions to Clongowes Wood College, Clane 1873.

The cut stone, Gothic Revival church in Allen was put out to tender in June 1866, with the closing date for acceptance of tenders as 12th October 1866. Construction work began in early 1867.

First Mass
The church is built of dressed limestone and has an octagonal spire atop a square tower. It was completed in 1869 at a cost of £4,000 and the first Mass was celebrated in the new church on Easter Sunday 1872.

The cross on the steeple was made locally by Michael Dempsey, blacksmith, the grandfather of Sheila Dooley, Skew Bridge, Allenwood South.

The bell was cast in James’s St Foundry, Dublin, and placed in the Belfry in 1891.

The church was renovated in the 1920s (during the pastorate of Rev. John Kane) with money bequeathed for this purpose by Rev Edward Lawlor. Some minor repair work was carried out on the roof of the church in the early 1960s.

@apelles wrote:

Call on the services of a Latinist Prax? no not at all..I’ve spoken to the P.P & he’s very happy to go with your suggestions.

I’m constantly surprised by how few P.PS (even elder ones) seem confident enough to decipher or translate Latin competently. . I’m beginning to think that some of them can’t even read it!

A couple of times I’ve had to relinquish & use English texts instead when some sticky committee member can’t get their heads around it.

I love the use of Latin as decoration in Church interiors. . It adds to the deeper sense of the great mystery.
Probably because no one understands it.:)

One from the Early collection.

That is rather good news. When it comes to decorating -at least Catholic – churches, then Latin is the onlyrealistic option as it still remains the official language of the Church.

Some examples of orant angels from the Basilica of St. Vitalis in Ravenna dating from c. 540.