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I would regard it as highly foolish of R. Hurley to have attempted anything like an antiphonal church arrangement in Maynooth of all places where he simply begs uncomplimentary contrast with JJ McCarthy’s great Choir Chapel disposed in a true antiphonal fashion and architecturally articulating all of the main spaces to be included in a Catholic church -with the exception of the nave, which the circumstances of Maynooth College did not require. When one looks at the faux antiphonal pastiche and at the poor quality conception of the the furnishings of St. Mary’s Oratory, one begins to realize that one is facing a true example of a misbegotten and malformed Bauhaus offspring (their unremembering hearts and heads, base born products of base beds ). The “explosion” of colour surrounding the tabernacle, for example, dwarfs into sham insignificance when one beholds the exquisite kaleidescope of colours of the glass in the lancet windows above and at either side of Kim En Joong’s magnum horrendum, especially when seen in the declining light of a summer’s afternoon. Clearly, neither the form or content of the tabernacle surround has any Christian significance whatsoever and could pass equally well, indeed better, in the departure lounge of a suburban bus depot. Was the provision of panelling along the northand south walls of the chapel a conscious effort to emulate the panelling in the College Chapel? If so, I am afraid that all it serves to illustrate is the sad decline in Irish architecture and craftsmanship over the past century for it is but a shodow of JJ McCarthy and the magnificent wood carving of the Monan Brothers from Dundalk to say nothing of the almost total intellectual demise of the Catholic Church in Ireland – even in those sciences which one would consider essential for the adequate execution of its mission. Truly, St. Mary’s Oratory is a symbol but not, I am afraid, of what is officially propagandized.
The grace and elegance of Hurley’s efforts in St. Mary’s oratory in Maynooth can easily be understood from the thought and art-historical acumen invested in the furnishings:r
http://www.fitzgeraldsofkells.com/images/samples/p_maynooth2_small.jpg
Qiuite clearly, Richard Hurley has not read the Institutio Genralis Romani Missalis as his arrangement in St. Mary’s Chapel, Maynooth, does not conform to the requirements laid down for the celebration of the Eucharist – not least being the demarkation of an area that is specifically a “presbyterium”. Even in churches where there has been an antiphonal arrangement for the celebartion of the Liturgy of the Hours, such always antecedes the presbyterium, as is the case in an abbatial church where the offices are daily sung, or indeed in JJ McCarthy’s great masterpiece which is the College Chapel in Maynooth. It is very difficult to see where R. Hurley is taking his cue from but one thing is certain – it is not from the established norms governing Catholic worship.
Maynooth College Chapel, from the presbyterium:
Another prototype for St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh is the Cathedral of St. Pierre in Saintes where we find the combination of the white caen stone of the walls off set by a timber vaulting.
Saintes Cathedral:
The Cobh variant on the theme:
ANother example of this kind of hooliganism is the interior of St. Peter’s Church in the North Main Street in Cork City. The prize winning conversion of the church to an exhibition space saw the removal of all the funerary monuments (with the exception of one or two 17 century examples well embedded in the walls) and their stacking in the base of the tower at the back of the church. It was a little too poignant to see the monuments to those slaughtered on the Somme piled like a load of junk into the back of the church. Indeed, nobody seemed to take literally the inscriptions on many of these which declare them to be sacred – and in a civilized society – therefore untoucheable.
Correct Sangallo. There are thirty such panels in the spandrels of the nave in Cobh Cathedral all framed in cornices of pierced quadrafoils directly inspired by Ghiberti’s doors in the Baptistry of Florence.
In Cobh, the nave panels depict the early and more recent history of the Church in Ireland.
The O’Neill project does appear to have quite as distinct an artistic pedigree. But, after the Turnerelli event in the Pro Cathedral, I am sure that Professor O’Neill would not shrink from improving on Ghiberti too.
Rheims Cathedral is also a prototype for Cobh especially in matters relating to the internal decoration and to external detail e.g. the figure of Our Lady in the porch of the West Portal in Rheims.
For the tower on the north corner of the west facade in Cobh, the south tower on the west facade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens must surely have been the prototype?
To facilitate comparison of the south elevation of Chartres with that of Cobh, enclosed is a copy of E.W. Pugin and G. C. Ashlin’s contract drawing of 1869 for the south elevation of Cobh.
The last three upper windows of the sanctuary in Cobh seem to be directly modelled on their Chartres counterparts, while the lower three windows of the sanctuary seem to have been modelled on the wndows of the Chartres ambulatory.
The clerestory windows in the nave in Cobh Cathedral seem to have been drawn directly from the windows in the south aisle of Chartres.
From the images of the Cathedral of Norte Dame de Chartres in the inclosed link, I think that it is more than clear that it is an important prototype for the building of Cobh Cathedral. The tympanum of the Royal Portal was clearly an influential ptototype for the West Portal in Cobh, but then so was the roof line of Chartres which is clearly evident in the drawing of the south elevation. Detach the apse ambulatory from the Chartres prototype and the line becomes even more clearly similar to Cobh. Note also the shallow and narrow south transept both in Chratres and in Cobh.
Chartres – South elevation
Cobh – South elevation
The original plan was to build the Pro-Cathedral on Sackville Street on the site of what is now the GPO. The project had to be abandoned and a site found in a side street since the law forbade the construction of a Catholic church on the King’s highway. At this period, while France had been through the throws of an egalitarian revolution, in Ireland (and indeed in England) the prevailing social mores insisted that Catholics should know their place in society. That meant that at home they should only be found downstairs; and in public they should confine themselves to the alley-ways and back street of towns. The first Catholic church built on the King’s highway in Ireland was St. Paul’s, Arran Quay. In many towns, especially in the south of Ireland, the problem was solved by purchasing two plots of land, one on the highway the other immediately behind it. The Catholic church was built on the latter plot and the former kept free. This is why in towns such as Mallow and Fermoy, the Catholic churches are fronted by elegant gardens or railed off areas.
Another example of the prototype for Thurles Cathedral is Cremona with its typical romanesque complex of Cathedral, external baptistry and campanile:
http://www.italiamedievale.org/sito_acim/concorso_2004/concorso_2004_cremona.html
Aother prototype for Thurles is the Cathedral of Monza :
Re Baptistry of Thurles Cathedral: Some more examples of external baptistries:
Florence: http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/monu/bc.htm
Interior of the Florentine Baptistry: http://firenze.arounder.com/florence_baptistry/fullscreen.html
The Porta del Paradiso: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/ghiberti/paradiso/
The external Baptistry in Pisa
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Pisa (1063-1350) prototype for the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles.
I add a picture of the magnificent Sanctuary Lamp of the Honan Chapel in Cork. It was commissioned by the Rev. Sir John O’Connell, to the glory of God, in memory of the Honan benefactors. It was designed by William Alphonsus Scott, first Professor of Architecture in the NUI, and executed by Edmond Johnson of Dublin.
The Sanctuary Lamp weighed 28 lbs. in sterling and consisted of a bowl of open-work interlace decoration embellished with blue enamel studs. It was suspended on chains.
Despite the dedicatory inscription which did not envisage the lamp being moved anywhere, it disappeared during the unfortunate (but reversable) 1980s re-ordering of the Honan Chapel. There is no liturgical justification for its removal. When placed in the Chapel in 1916, it was so placed in accordance with liturgical norm which found its way into the first Code of Canon Law published in 1917. The text of the 1917 canon on sanctuary lamps was transcribed practically verbatim into the 1983 Code of Canon Law which currently governs the positioning of sanctuary lamps. The assertion that the liturgical reform of Vatican II required the removal of the Sanctuary Lamp from the Honan Chapel is not only misleading but is positively mendacious.
The real reason for this bit of vandalism, I suspect, is to be found in an article by Gearoid O Suilleabhan entitled The re-ordering of the Honan Chapel in Verginia Teehan and Elizabeth Wincott-Heckett’s otherwise excellent monograph on the Collegiate Chapel The Honan Chapel: A golden vision , published in 2004 by Cork University Press. G. O Suilleabhan, aided by Richard Hurley and Vincent Ryan, reproduces a scanty potted version of the history of the Latin Rite for the past 2000 years. What is not mentioned, however, is that the historography employed in this potted history is that patronized by Odo Cassell and, the more notorious, Annibale Bugnini. This particular school posits a three fold division of the history of the liturgy: a primitive period: the golden age reached under Gregory the Great (d. 604); and a period of decline and degradation from the 7th century. In this school, the reform of the liturgy is seen in terms of an almost archeological restoration of the liturgy as celebrated at the time of Gregory the Great and a total jettisoning of any thing or practice to have arisen after that period. G. O Suilleabhan fails to tell us that this school of liturgical historiography was never completely accepted and has been even more eclipsed – if not indeed discredited- in liturgical research, especially over the past twent years. Alternative historical approaches, such as that advocated by Dom Alquin Reid, OSB, emphasise the continuity and organic development of the liturgy over a long period of time. That organic development sees the gradual emergence of new things and the demise of old things but excludes the kind of brutal caesura imposed on many Cathedrals and churches throughout the English speaking world in the name of the liturgical reforms of Vatican II.
I understand that plans are afoot to restore J.G. Mac Gloughlin’s grille to the west door of the Collegiate Chapel. Could it be too much to hope that such an important element in the decorative scheme of the Honan Chapel as the Sanctuary Lamp could not also be restored to its proper position.
I also include a picture of the High Altar of the chapel and would draw your attenton to the red altar light which is sitting on the mensa of the altar. It is surprising that the liturgists responsible for the removal of the Sanctuary Lamp (which should contain the light) did not seem to know that liturgical norms specifically prohibit placing anything of the like on an altar.
Re the former sanctuary lamp serendipidously happend on in the choristers’ gallery in the Pro- Cathedral in Dublin, I just happened to notice that in the photographs posted in # 149 there is no trace of a hanging sanctuary lamp. Since most of the sanctuary seem to be under the cupola, it is difficult see whence it could be hung – if not from the lantern of the cupola. The Lawrence collection photograph in #184 (taken last decade of the 19th century) does not show a hanging sanctuary lamp. Curiously, the 1847 print from the London Illustrated News showing the obsequies of Daniel O’Connell in the Pro-Cathedral does depict a hanging sanctuary lamp. Is it possible, if the depiction is accurate, that this was removed sometime between 1847 and 1890? In the event that it was this is an interseting discovery. But, having restored it, what are they going to do with it?
