Catholic Church

ST AUDOENS PARK AND TWO CHURCHES WITH THE SAME NAME

May 4, 2022 by Infomatique

ST AUDOENS PARK AND TWO CHURCHES WITH THE SAME NAME

St. Audoen’s park lies beside St. Audoen’s Church which was built in 1300 A.D. It is the only remaining parish church from that time. The church is dedicated to St Ouen, the 7th century bishop of Rouen and patron saint of Normandy.

The park features Dublin’s original stone walls (1100 A.D.), the last surviving entrance to the old city and Fagan’s Gate which was named after the nearby Fagan’s Tower.

St Audoen’s Church is the church of the parish of Saint Audoen in the Church of Ireland, located south of the River Liffey at Cornmarket in Dublin, Ireland. This was close to the centre of the medieval city. The parish is in the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough. St Audoen’s is the oldest parish church in Dublin and still used as such. There is a Roman Catholic church of the same name adjacent to it.

Fagan’s castle and gate were situated in Page’s Court, a passage between Cornmarket and Cook Street within the old Dublin City Walls. Fagan’s Castle stood there until 1788. They may have been named after the Fagans of Feltrim. Feltrim, near Malahide, was the site of their ancestral residence. Their burial place in the 16th and 17th centuries was at St. Audeon’s Church within the old city walls

ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH AND NEARBY

March 3, 2022 by Infomatique

ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH AND NEARBY IN THE EAST WALL AREA OF DUBLIN

St. Joseph’s Church is a Catholic church situated on Church Road in the East Wall area of Dublin, Ireland.

Originally this area was part of St Laurence O’Toole Parish, North Wall, in the diocese of Dublin. From 1919 there was a church known as the ‘Tin Church’ on Church Road, at a site opposite Seaview Avenue. In 1941 this became the parish church of the newly constituted parish of East Wall. This building is now a gym.

In 1954 it was decided to build a new, bigger church, the present St Joseph’s Church, at the junction of Church Road and St Mary’s Road. The Foundation Stone was blessed on 8 November 1954, and on 29 July 1956 the then Archbishop John Charles McQuaid blessed and officially opened the new Church of St Joseph in East Wall.

St Joseph’s church has seen significant changes since it was built. Many of these changes are reflected in work that has been carried out on the church building over the years. The Sanctuary was reordered. This enables the priest to celebrate Mass facing the people. The reordered Sanctuary is a much bigger space and facilitates the active involvement of lay people.

In the late 1980’s, the mortuary chapel was converted to a Blessed Sacrament Oratory that could accommodate small groups for the celebration of Mass. At the present time, the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in this area.

In the 1990s, the marble baptismal font was moved from its original location off the front porch area to a position in front of the Sanctuary where Baptisms are now carried out in front of the Sanctuary.

The building was modified in order to be inclusive of the needs of all people, whatever their disabilities. New ramps have been constructed outside the front of the church, elimination of the step at the main door. Special toilet facilities are available inside the main entrance. Changes for people with hearing and visual impairments have also taken place: improvement of the sound system and the introduction of a loop system, and improvement of lighting within the church.

The establishment of a new Radio Link enables housebound parishioners to participate by radio in the liturgical life of the parish.

THE CHURCH OF THE THREE PATRONS IN RATHGAR DESIGNED BY PATRICK BYRNE

January 14, 2022 by Infomatique

THE CHURCH OF THE THREE PATRONS IN RATHGAR DESIGNED BY PATRICK BYRNE

The Church of the Three Patrons was one of the last buildings by the architect Patrick Byrne. Its primary purpose was to fulfil the spiritual needs of the many catholic domestic servants working in large wealthy Protestant homes in the area. My grandmother referred to it as the “Servants’ Church” but to my grand-aunt it was “The Maids Church”.

The Irish Times, then the voice of unionism, was not happy about the new church. “The adherents of the Papacy in this country seem to be determined to brave the law and public decency to the utmost,” said the paper. “On Sunday last, the Protestant and quiet township of Rathgar was the scene of mob fanaticism and priestly display. A chapel, it seems, is to depreciate the value of the property of the neighbourhood and drive the Protestant occupants from the place.”

Patrick Byrne (1783 – 10 January 1864) was an Irish architect who built many Catholic churches in Dublin. He also served as a vice president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.

He studied under Henry Aarond Baker (1753–1836) at the Dublin Society Schools from 4 February 1796. As Baker had been a student and partner of James Gandon, Byrne would likely have been introduced to neoclassicism around this time. Byrne won a second class premium in 1797 and a first class premium in 1798.

Between 1820 and 1846 he worked as a measurer and later as an architect with the Wide Streets Commission. Although there is no record of Byrne designing any building before St. Pauls’ Church in 1835, Brendan Grimes says that Byrne must have acquired sufficient experience to have been awarded the commission. He suggests that if Byrne did not have his own firm, then he “…was almost certainly working as a partner or chief assistant with another architect”; likely his teacher, Henry Aaron Baker, or Francis Johnston. After the Catholic Emancipation of 1829, limits to church building were removed and he was commissioned to design many Catholic churches in Dublin.

The cornerstone of St. Audoen’s Church was laid in July 1841. Like St. Paul’s it is of a neoclassical design, this time Byrne opting for Corinthian columns. And like St. Paul’s, it features three statues atop the pediment. A particular challenge in the design was the building of the church on a steep slope. To compensate, the church has a double-level crypt.

Byrne was a council member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland between 1842–1843 and 1846-1854. In 1847 he became a fellow and later a vice president between 1855 and 1864. He was also a vice patron to the Aged and Infirm Carpenters’ Asylum between 1842 and 1847. A member of the Society of Irish Artists from 1845 to 1849 and an architect to the Trustees of the Royal Exchange between 1847 and 1851.

He lived in Blackrock at 3 Waltham Terrace from 1855 until he died on 10 January 1864. He was buried in the family plot at Glasnevin cemetery.

The parish priest of the Rathmines Church, William Meagher gave a eulogy of Byrne, “Of this gifted man whose talents and disinterested care have laid us under such obligations, of him who designed the portico of St Paul’s and erected the majestic shrine of St Audoen’s and the solemn cathedral-like pile of St James and the bold and beauteous dome of Our Lady of Refuge, of the accomplished and good and generous Patrick Byrne how truly may it not be said that he regarded the beauties of classical and mediaeval art with equal reverence, studied their several excellencies with equal assiduity & wrought upon the principles of both with equally supereminent success.”

Other churches by Patrick Byrne in chronological order.

St. Paul’s, Arran Quay, Dublin (1835–1841)
St. Audoen’s, High Street, Dublin (1841–1852)
St. John the Baptist, Blackrock, Dublin (1842–1845)
St. James, James’s Street, Dublin (1844–1854)
Mary Immaculate Refuge of Sinners, Rathmines, Dublin (1850–1856)
Church of the Immaculate Conception (Adam and Eve’s), Merchant’s Quay, Dublin (1852)
St. Assam’s Church, Raheny, Dublin (1859–1864)
St. Nicholas of Myra (Without), Francis Street, Dublin (1860) Major enhancements to the existing church

SAINT MALACHY’S CHURCH

November 19, 2020 by Infomatique

SAINT MALACHY’S CHURCH ALFRED STREET IN BELFAST – MAY 2015

Earlier in the day I visited St Annes Cathedral and had a bit of an argument when a voluntary contribution [stated on notice at entrance] was in fact an excessive set fee [I think that it was £5.00] and I was a bit annoyed as I was accused, by a very aggressive lady, of entering without paying.

Later in the day When I entered Saint Malachy’s Church I noticed a teacher and her class rehearsing for their first communion so I decided not to disturb them and to leave and return the next day.

As I was walking Russell Street I thought that I heard someone calling me and I turned around to see a priest running to catch up with me. It turned out that it was the Parish Priest and he asked me if I wanted to photograph the interior of the church and I said that I had not to disturb the the teacher and the young girls but he insisted that I must return and photograph his beautiful church.

Saint Malachy’s Church is a Catholic Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is located in Alfred Street, a short distance from Belfast City Hall. The Church is the focal point of the local parish community and Saint Malachy’s Parish is one of the 88 parishes in the Diocese of Down and Connor. After Saint Mary’s Church in Chapel Lane and St Patrick’s Church, Belfast in Donegall Street, Saint Malachy’s is the third oldest Catholic Church in the city of Belfast.

In the beginning Saint Malachy’s was administered by the priests of Saint Mary’s Parish until The Parish of Saint Malachy was created in 1866 and Fr Geoffrey Brennan was appointed Administrator. The first Parish Priest of Saint Malachy’s, a post created in 1909, was Fr Daniel McCashin.

The Church was designed by Thomas Jackson of Waterford and it is in the ecclesiastical style of the Tudor period. It is cruciform in shape, 113 feet wide, 52 feet wide and 40 feet high. The original High Altar, Pulpit and Altar Rails were of Irish Oak however they were replaced with marble when the Church was renovated in 1926. All that remains of the original ornaments is the canopy over the pulpit which has been painted white to match the marble of the present altar furnishings. The Sanctuary floor is mosaic, the principal colour being blue. At the foot of the Altar is a pelican, a common Christian symbol of sacrifice.

Saint Malachy’s is, perhaps, best known for its fan vaulted ceiling which is an imitation of the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey. Sir Charles Brett stated: It is as though a wedding cake has been turned inside out, so creamy, lacy and frothy is the plasterwork. There are two Side Altars in the Church, on either side of the Sanctuary. One is dedicated to Saint Joseph, the other to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church also has statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Saint Philomena, Saint Malachy himself, and Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, known as “The Ragged Saint” by the people of Belfast and throughout Ireland.