‘Or what woman having ten silver coins (drachmae) …’ (Luke 15: 8) … a worn and tattered 10 drachmae note from 1940 was worthless soon after it was issued (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Patrick Comerford
Sunday, 15 September 2019,
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII),
Vocations Sunday.
11.30 a.m.: the Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2), Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin, Tarbert
Readings: Jeremiah 4: 11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; I Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-10. There is a link to these readings HERE.
Torn and ragged drachma banknotes in a tin box outside an antiques shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
In our Gospel reading this morning, Christ speaks in three parables of things lost and found: the one lost sheep among 100; the one sinner who repents in contrast to the 99 righteous people; and the woman who has lost a small coin that others might not even bother to look for.
In the story of the shepherd who has 100 sheep and goes looking for one lost sheep, a rich man shows us how God behaves.
In the story of the woman who has ten silver coins, and who sweeps thoroughly through every dark corner of her house until she finds one lost coin, a poor woman shows us how God behaves.
The first image reminds me how in Achill I once heard about a shepherd who died on a cliff side as he went in search of a lost sheep, and slipped on the edge. A local man reacted by pointing out what a small price sheep fetched in the mart in those days.
When you do find a lost sheep, it has probably been caught in brambles, is full of dirt and matted with droppings. It is not a pleasant fluffy creature, as seen in so many stained glass windows. It may not even be worth bringing home, in the eyes of a shepherd or a sheep farmer. In its panic and distress, it will have lost weight, and may not be possible to sell.
We also have a poor woman who shows us how God behaves.
Ten drachmae might have been a nice sum of money at the time, but was one small coin worth all that time, worry and energy?
I was working in Greece some years ago at a time when the Drachma was being phased out as the national currency, and the Euro was being introduced.
As far as I remember, there were about 330 or 350 drachmae to the Euro. You could still exchange them until 2012, when you needed 587.5000 drachma to get €1.
So, a drachma in my days was worth about as much as a farthing. And when Greeks hear this morning’s Gospel reading, they hear about the woman sweeping her house, searching not for a valuable silver coin but for a tiny worthless coin, searching for a farthing.
The Greek text says not that she has ten silver coins, but that she has ten drachmae and has lost one.
When she finds it, she is rejoicing over very little. And when she throws a party to rejoice with her friends, it is going to cost her more than the rest of her savings if she only has 10 drachmae, it is going to cost abundant generosity, generosity that reflects the abundant generosity of God.
I came across a book a few years that took a light-hearted introduction to Classics, Ancient Athens on Five Drachmas a Day (2008). But you probably would not have been able to even buy a bottle of retsina or a bottle of ouzo in ancient Athens for half of what this woman had saved.
And how the tax collectors who heard this parable (verse 1) must have laughed with ridicule! Finding a drachma certainly was not going to help the party spirit, never mind being worth considering for taxes and tax collecting.
Today is Vocations Sunday in the Church of Ireland.
Our Gospel story provides us with examples of varieties of people who respond to God’s call, who are caught up in God’s call: men and women, young and old, rural and urban, rich and poor, the valued and those who are without value in the eyes of others … even the person seen by others as a sinner cannot escape God’s call when it comes.
Ministry in the Church today is a response to series of calls to young and old, man and woman, rich and poor, those who are valued in society and those who are pushed to the margins, those who are important, and those who humble.
Recently, the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe produced a leaflet on Vocations, in which clergy in the diocese spoke in their own words about their call to ministry in their own words and tell their story of how they came to be ordained.
They ask: ‘How does God call his people to their vocations?’
Vocations are often hidden: either the person engaged in ministry is not recognised for what they are doing, or someone who has the call to ministry needs someone else to uncover, reveal that call, take a light and shine on it wherever it may be hiding.
These parishes may well survive without me. But they are not going to survive without your ministry. The ministry of welcome, hospitality, service; those of you serve on vestries, as wardens, looking after music, finances or buildings, those of you are the face of the church in local society, local life.
But the ministry of readers and priests is important for sustaining and encouraging those ministries, and for sustaining and maintaining the ministry of word and sacrament in the life of the Church.
This sort of ministry comes in many shapes and forms. It includes part-time and full-time commitments, and now in this diocese we are trying to encourage Ordained Local Ministry, where people continue to be involved in parish and local life, but help to sustain and grow the ministry of word and sacrament in one particular parish or group of parishes.
It may be for you. It may not be for you. But it is for each and every one of us to search out those we think may be called to one of these forms of ministry.
That could be your call. To seek out someone who has a call to ministry but it is unsure about, perhaps even afraid of it, afraid of the commitments or the consequences, or thinking like the lost sinner that God would never call them.
It may be your vocation to be like the shepherd who goes after than one sheep in 100, or the woman who sweeps out her house in search of that one lost coin among ten.
Think about it: it may be that your ministry is being well-exercised in this group of parishes, even though it may not be properly acknowledged or appreciated.
But it may also be your role, like that shepherd or that woman, to seek out that one precious person who is being called by God, but is afraid or embarrassed to answer the call.
An so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Old drachmae coins in a tin box outside an antiques shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Luke 15: 1-10:
1 Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
3 So he told them this parable: 4 ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
8 ‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost’ (Luke 15: 4) … ‘Paternoster’ or ‘Shepherd and Sheep’, a bronze sculpture by Dame Elisabeth Frink in Paternoster Square, near Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
Help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Collect for Vocations to Holy Orders:
Almighty God,
you have entrusted to your Church
a share in the ministry of your Son our great High Priest:
Inspire by your Holy Spirit the hearts of many
to offer themselves for ordination in your Church,
that strengthened by his power,
they may work for the increase of your kingdom
and set forward the eternal praise of your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God our creator,
you feed your children with the true manna,
the living bread from heaven.
Let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage
until we come to that place
where hunger and thirst are no more;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hymns:
584, Jesus calls us! O’er the tumult (CD 33)
20, The King of love my shepherd is (CD 1)
105, O the deep, deep love of Jesus (CD 7)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
15 September 2019
Searching in the hidden
places and responding
to God’s call to ministry
Old drachmae coins in a tin box outside an antiques shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Patrick Comerford
Sunday, 15 September 2019,
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII),
Vocations Sunday.
9.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer, Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton
Readings: Jeremiah 4: 11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; I Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-10. There is a link to these readings HERE.
Torn and ragged drachma banknotes in a tin box outside an antiques shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
In our Gospel reading this morning, Christ speaks in three parables of things lost and found: the one lost sheep among 100; the one sinner who repents in contrast to the 99 righteous people; and the woman who has lost a small coin that others might not even bother to look for.
In the story of the shepherd who has 100 sheep and goes looking for one lost sheep, a rich man shows us how God behaves.
In the story of the woman who has ten silver coins, and who sweeps thoroughly through every dark corner of her house until she finds one lost coin, a poor woman shows us how God behaves.
The first image reminds me how in Achill I once heard about a shepherd who died on a cliff side as he went in search of a lost sheep, and slipped on the edge. A local man reacted by pointing out what a small price sheep fetched in the mart in those days.
When you do find a lost sheep, it has probably been caught in brambles, is full of dirt and matted with droppings. It is not a pleasant fluffy creature, as seen in so many stained glass windows. It may not even be worth bringing home, in the eyes of a shepherd or a sheep farmer. In its panic and distress, it will have lost weight, and may not be possible to sell.
We also have a poor woman who shows us how God behaves.
Ten drachmae might have been a nice sum of money at the time, but was one small coin worth all that time, worry and energy?
I was working in Greece some years ago at a time when the Drachma was being phased out as the national currency, and the Euro was being introduced.
As far as I remember, there were about 330 or 350 drachmae to the Euro. You could still exchange them until 2012, when you needed 587.5000 drachma to get €1.
So, a drachma in my days was worth about as much as a farthing. And when Greeks hear this morning’s Gospel reading, they hear about the woman sweeping her house, searching not for a valuable silver coin but for a tiny worthless coin, searching for a farthing.
The Greek text says not that she has ten silver coins, but that she has ten drachmae and has lost one.
When she finds it, she is rejoicing over very little. And when she throws a party to rejoice with her friends, it is going to cost her more than the rest of her savings if she only has 10 drachmae, it is going to cost abundant generosity, generosity that reflects the abundant generosity of God.
I came across a book a few years that took a light-hearted introduction to Classics, Ancient Athens on Five Drachmas a Day (2008). But you probably would not have been able to even buy a bottle of retsina or a bottle of ouzo in ancient Athens for half of what this woman had saved.
And how the tax collectors who heard this parable (verse 1) must have laughed with ridicule! Finding a drachma certainly was not going to help the party spirit, never mind being worth considering for taxes and tax collecting.
Today is Vocations Sunday in the Church of Ireland.
Our Gospel story provides us with examples of varieties of people who respond to God’s call, who are caught up in God’s call: men and women, young and old, rural and urban, rich and poor, the valued and those who are without value in the eyes of others … even the person seen by others as a sinner cannot escape God’s call when it comes.
Ministry in the Church today is a response to series of calls to young and old, man and woman, rich and poor, those who are valued in society and those who are pushed to the margins, those who are important, and those who humble.
Recently, the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe produced a leaflet on Vocations, in which clergy in the diocese spoke in their own words about their call to ministry in their own words and tell their story of how they came to be ordained.
They ask: ‘How does God call his people to their vocations?’
Vocations are often hidden: either the person engaged in ministry is not recognised for what they are doing, or someone who has the call to ministry needs someone else to uncover, reveal that call, take a light and shine on it wherever it may be hiding.
These parishes may well survive without me. But they are not going to survive without your ministry. The ministry of welcome, hospitality, service; those of you serve on vestries, as wardens, looking after music, finances or buildings, those of you are the face of the church in local society, local life.
But the ministry of readers and priests is important for sustaining and encouraging those ministries, and for sustaining and maintaining the ministry of word and sacrament in the life of the Church.
This sort of ministry comes in many shapes and forms. It includes part-time and full-time commitments, and now in this diocese we are trying to encourage Ordained Local Ministry, where people continue to be involved in parish and local life, but help to sustain and grow the ministry of word and sacrament in one particular parish or group of parishes.
It may be for you. It may not be for you. But it is for each and every one of us to search out those we think may be called to one of these forms of ministry.
That could be your call. To seek out someone who has a call to ministry but it is unsure about, perhaps even afraid of it, afraid of the commitments or the consequences, or thinking like the lost sinner that God would never call them.
It may be your vocation to be like the shepherd who goes after than one sheep in 100, or the woman who sweeps out her house in search of that one lost coin among ten.
Think about it: it may be that your ministry is being well-exercised in this group of parishes, even though it may not be properly acknowledged or appreciated.
But it may also be your role, like that shepherd or that woman, to seek out that one precious person who is being called by God, but is afraid or embarrassed to answer the call.
An so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
‘Or what woman having ten silver coins (drachmae) …’ (Luke 15: 8) … a worn and tattered 10 drachmae note from 1940 was worthless soon after it was issued (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Luke 15: 1-10:
1 Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
3 So he told them this parable: 4 ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
8 ‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost’ (Luke 15: 4) … ‘Paternoster’ or ‘Shepherd and Sheep’, a bronze sculpture by Dame Elisabeth Frink in Paternoster Square, near Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
Help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Collect of the Word:
O God, overflowing with mercy and compassion,
you lead back to yourself all who go astray.
Preserve your people in your loving care,
that we may reject whatever is contrary to you
and may follow all things that sustain our life in your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
The Collect for Vocations to Holy Orders:
Almighty God,
you have entrusted to your Church
a share in the ministry of your Son our great High Priest:
Inspire by your Holy Spirit the hearts of many
to offer themselves for ordination in your Church,
that strengthened by his power,
they may work for the increase of your kingdom
and set forward the eternal praise of your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hymns:
584, Jesus calls us! O’er the tumult (CD 33)
20, The King of love my shepherd is (CD 1)
105, O the deep, deep love of Jesus (CD 7)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
Patrick Comerford
Sunday, 15 September 2019,
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII),
Vocations Sunday.
9.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer, Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton
Readings: Jeremiah 4: 11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; I Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-10. There is a link to these readings HERE.
Torn and ragged drachma banknotes in a tin box outside an antiques shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
In our Gospel reading this morning, Christ speaks in three parables of things lost and found: the one lost sheep among 100; the one sinner who repents in contrast to the 99 righteous people; and the woman who has lost a small coin that others might not even bother to look for.
In the story of the shepherd who has 100 sheep and goes looking for one lost sheep, a rich man shows us how God behaves.
In the story of the woman who has ten silver coins, and who sweeps thoroughly through every dark corner of her house until she finds one lost coin, a poor woman shows us how God behaves.
The first image reminds me how in Achill I once heard about a shepherd who died on a cliff side as he went in search of a lost sheep, and slipped on the edge. A local man reacted by pointing out what a small price sheep fetched in the mart in those days.
When you do find a lost sheep, it has probably been caught in brambles, is full of dirt and matted with droppings. It is not a pleasant fluffy creature, as seen in so many stained glass windows. It may not even be worth bringing home, in the eyes of a shepherd or a sheep farmer. In its panic and distress, it will have lost weight, and may not be possible to sell.
We also have a poor woman who shows us how God behaves.
Ten drachmae might have been a nice sum of money at the time, but was one small coin worth all that time, worry and energy?
I was working in Greece some years ago at a time when the Drachma was being phased out as the national currency, and the Euro was being introduced.
As far as I remember, there were about 330 or 350 drachmae to the Euro. You could still exchange them until 2012, when you needed 587.5000 drachma to get €1.
So, a drachma in my days was worth about as much as a farthing. And when Greeks hear this morning’s Gospel reading, they hear about the woman sweeping her house, searching not for a valuable silver coin but for a tiny worthless coin, searching for a farthing.
The Greek text says not that she has ten silver coins, but that she has ten drachmae and has lost one.
When she finds it, she is rejoicing over very little. And when she throws a party to rejoice with her friends, it is going to cost her more than the rest of her savings if she only has 10 drachmae, it is going to cost abundant generosity, generosity that reflects the abundant generosity of God.
I came across a book a few years that took a light-hearted introduction to Classics, Ancient Athens on Five Drachmas a Day (2008). But you probably would not have been able to even buy a bottle of retsina or a bottle of ouzo in ancient Athens for half of what this woman had saved.
And how the tax collectors who heard this parable (verse 1) must have laughed with ridicule! Finding a drachma certainly was not going to help the party spirit, never mind being worth considering for taxes and tax collecting.
Today is Vocations Sunday in the Church of Ireland.
Our Gospel story provides us with examples of varieties of people who respond to God’s call, who are caught up in God’s call: men and women, young and old, rural and urban, rich and poor, the valued and those who are without value in the eyes of others … even the person seen by others as a sinner cannot escape God’s call when it comes.
Ministry in the Church today is a response to series of calls to young and old, man and woman, rich and poor, those who are valued in society and those who are pushed to the margins, those who are important, and those who humble.
Recently, the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe produced a leaflet on Vocations, in which clergy in the diocese spoke in their own words about their call to ministry in their own words and tell their story of how they came to be ordained.
They ask: ‘How does God call his people to their vocations?’
Vocations are often hidden: either the person engaged in ministry is not recognised for what they are doing, or someone who has the call to ministry needs someone else to uncover, reveal that call, take a light and shine on it wherever it may be hiding.
These parishes may well survive without me. But they are not going to survive without your ministry. The ministry of welcome, hospitality, service; those of you serve on vestries, as wardens, looking after music, finances or buildings, those of you are the face of the church in local society, local life.
But the ministry of readers and priests is important for sustaining and encouraging those ministries, and for sustaining and maintaining the ministry of word and sacrament in the life of the Church.
This sort of ministry comes in many shapes and forms. It includes part-time and full-time commitments, and now in this diocese we are trying to encourage Ordained Local Ministry, where people continue to be involved in parish and local life, but help to sustain and grow the ministry of word and sacrament in one particular parish or group of parishes.
It may be for you. It may not be for you. But it is for each and every one of us to search out those we think may be called to one of these forms of ministry.
That could be your call. To seek out someone who has a call to ministry but it is unsure about, perhaps even afraid of it, afraid of the commitments or the consequences, or thinking like the lost sinner that God would never call them.
It may be your vocation to be like the shepherd who goes after than one sheep in 100, or the woman who sweeps out her house in search of that one lost coin among ten.
Think about it: it may be that your ministry is being well-exercised in this group of parishes, even though it may not be properly acknowledged or appreciated.
But it may also be your role, like that shepherd or that woman, to seek out that one precious person who is being called by God, but is afraid or embarrassed to answer the call.
An so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
‘Or what woman having ten silver coins (drachmae) …’ (Luke 15: 8) … a worn and tattered 10 drachmae note from 1940 was worthless soon after it was issued (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Luke 15: 1-10:
1 Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
3 So he told them this parable: 4 ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
8 ‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost’ (Luke 15: 4) … ‘Paternoster’ or ‘Shepherd and Sheep’, a bronze sculpture by Dame Elisabeth Frink in Paternoster Square, near Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
Help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Collect of the Word:
O God, overflowing with mercy and compassion,
you lead back to yourself all who go astray.
Preserve your people in your loving care,
that we may reject whatever is contrary to you
and may follow all things that sustain our life in your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
The Collect for Vocations to Holy Orders:
Almighty God,
you have entrusted to your Church
a share in the ministry of your Son our great High Priest:
Inspire by your Holy Spirit the hearts of many
to offer themselves for ordination in your Church,
that strengthened by his power,
they may work for the increase of your kingdom
and set forward the eternal praise of your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hymns:
584, Jesus calls us! O’er the tumult (CD 33)
20, The King of love my shepherd is (CD 1)
105, O the deep, deep love of Jesus (CD 7)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
How Templeglantine
grew up around the
church built in 1829
The Church of the Holy Trinity, Templeglantine, was built 190 years ago in 1829 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Patrick Comerford
During the commemorations of Max Macauliffe and his contribution to Sikh life in Templeglantine earlier this week [11 September 2019], I also visited the Church of the Holy Trinity, across the street from the community centre and the school once attended by Max Macauliffe.
The name Templeglantine (Teampall an Ghleanntáin) means ‘the church of the little glen,’ although it is also known locally as Inchebaun or An Inse Bhán, meaning the ‘White River meadow.’ The village is on the N21 from Limerick to Tralee, five miles south-west of Newcastlewest.
Templeglantine is a chapel village that grew up around the church built 190 years ago in 1829 by Father James Cleary, who was Parish Priest of Monagea. Templeglantine parish was created in 1864 following the transfer of Father James O’Shea to Rathkeale. He had been parish priest of Monagea, and Templeglantine was a part of Monagea parish until this change.
The O’Macasa family ruled the area until the 12th century when they were replaced by the FitzGerald family, Earls of Desmond. After the defeat of the Desmond FitzGeralds in 1583, this part of West Limerick passed to Sir William Courtenay and the Earls of Devon.
Inside Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Westropp describes an old church ruin in Templeglantine. The site of this church is now surrounded by Templeglantine graveyard. The east end of the church was levelled before 1840. The remainder of the church was defaced and overgrown with ash and thorn.
The walls of the church were about 6 or 7 feet in height, according to Westropp. While the ruins of the church no longer exist, a small wall has been built to show the site of the west gable of the church. The church was originally about 70 ft by 30 ft.
According to Tadhg O’Maolcatha, there was a thatched Mass House at Roche’s Cross in Meenoline before 1829. Earlier still there was an Abbey in Templeglantine West.
The gallery and west end of Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Holy Trinity Church in Templeglantine is one of the oldest churches still in use today in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick. An inscription on the wall says the church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity in 1829. The baptismal font and the holy water fonts in the porch are presumed to date from 1829. The year 1829 also marked the passing of legislation on Catholic Emancipation.
This is double-height, gable-fronted church, with a three-bay nave and a later porch, built in the 1930s, a single-bay chancel, a two-bay single-storey sacristy, and a single-bay lean-to and flat-roofed extensions.
The church retains many attractive architectural features, including the dressed rubble stone walls with limestone quoins, and the numerous window styles, including unusual bipartite windows. The use of tooled limestone to the window surrounds and hood mouldings enhance the appearance of the church.
The stained-glass window of Saint Patrick in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Inside, the well-maintained interior has a finely carved marble reredos. Behind the High Altar, the stained-glass window depicts the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ.
There are stained-glass windows of Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid at the back of the church, and a stained-glass window in the gallery of Christ gathering or minding his flock.
The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity by Fergus Costello (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity on the north side of the nave was commissioned in 1999 to mark the millennium in 2000. The medallion is the work of the liturgical artist Fergus Costello at his studios in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary.
At the centre of the medallion, a motif from the Book of Kells shows unending circles, without beginning or end, as a symbol of Divinity. The Father is represented by the all-seeing eye; the Son is represented by the Cross of Redemption; the Holy Spirit is represented by the Dove.
The Dove is carved in pine; the all-seeing eye and the cross are carved in bog oak and bog yew wood that is probably thousands of years old.
The Stations of the Cross date from around 1946 when they replaced the original Stations of the Cross. The church also has a silver chalice from 1796, predating the church.
The porch was built in the 1930s through a donation from parishioners who had emigrated to America.
The free-standing belfry in the grounds of the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Bridget (Sexton) Kiely of Glenshesk donated a bell to the church in the early 20th century, and it was mounted on the west gable. By the mid-1950s, the bell was taken down for safety reasons, a new free-standing belfry was built in the church grounds, and the old bell was sent to the missions in Africa.
A large stone statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in front of the church in 1995. It was sculpted from limestone and is the work of the sculptor Annette McCormack from Newbridge, Co Kildare.
The stained-glass window of Saint Brigid in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
A new graveyard behind the church opened in September 1983. Before that, the only graveyard in the parish had been in the grounds of the old church in Templeglantine West. That graveyard is said to have been in use for around 800 years, but the oldest headstone is from 1866, in memory of Michael Gallwey RM.
The community centre across the road was officially opened in 1977 by Bishop Jeremiah Newman, and was the venue for this weeks commemorations of Max Macauliffe.
Today, Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, forms a pastoral unit with Tournafulla and Mountcollins.
Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, is one of the oldest churches in use in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Patrick Comerford
During the commemorations of Max Macauliffe and his contribution to Sikh life in Templeglantine earlier this week [11 September 2019], I also visited the Church of the Holy Trinity, across the street from the community centre and the school once attended by Max Macauliffe.
The name Templeglantine (Teampall an Ghleanntáin) means ‘the church of the little glen,’ although it is also known locally as Inchebaun or An Inse Bhán, meaning the ‘White River meadow.’ The village is on the N21 from Limerick to Tralee, five miles south-west of Newcastlewest.
Templeglantine is a chapel village that grew up around the church built 190 years ago in 1829 by Father James Cleary, who was Parish Priest of Monagea. Templeglantine parish was created in 1864 following the transfer of Father James O’Shea to Rathkeale. He had been parish priest of Monagea, and Templeglantine was a part of Monagea parish until this change.
The O’Macasa family ruled the area until the 12th century when they were replaced by the FitzGerald family, Earls of Desmond. After the defeat of the Desmond FitzGeralds in 1583, this part of West Limerick passed to Sir William Courtenay and the Earls of Devon.
Inside Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Westropp describes an old church ruin in Templeglantine. The site of this church is now surrounded by Templeglantine graveyard. The east end of the church was levelled before 1840. The remainder of the church was defaced and overgrown with ash and thorn.
The walls of the church were about 6 or 7 feet in height, according to Westropp. While the ruins of the church no longer exist, a small wall has been built to show the site of the west gable of the church. The church was originally about 70 ft by 30 ft.
According to Tadhg O’Maolcatha, there was a thatched Mass House at Roche’s Cross in Meenoline before 1829. Earlier still there was an Abbey in Templeglantine West.
The gallery and west end of Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Holy Trinity Church in Templeglantine is one of the oldest churches still in use today in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick. An inscription on the wall says the church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity in 1829. The baptismal font and the holy water fonts in the porch are presumed to date from 1829. The year 1829 also marked the passing of legislation on Catholic Emancipation.
This is double-height, gable-fronted church, with a three-bay nave and a later porch, built in the 1930s, a single-bay chancel, a two-bay single-storey sacristy, and a single-bay lean-to and flat-roofed extensions.
The church retains many attractive architectural features, including the dressed rubble stone walls with limestone quoins, and the numerous window styles, including unusual bipartite windows. The use of tooled limestone to the window surrounds and hood mouldings enhance the appearance of the church.
The stained-glass window of Saint Patrick in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Inside, the well-maintained interior has a finely carved marble reredos. Behind the High Altar, the stained-glass window depicts the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ.
There are stained-glass windows of Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid at the back of the church, and a stained-glass window in the gallery of Christ gathering or minding his flock.
The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity by Fergus Costello (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity on the north side of the nave was commissioned in 1999 to mark the millennium in 2000. The medallion is the work of the liturgical artist Fergus Costello at his studios in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary.
At the centre of the medallion, a motif from the Book of Kells shows unending circles, without beginning or end, as a symbol of Divinity. The Father is represented by the all-seeing eye; the Son is represented by the Cross of Redemption; the Holy Spirit is represented by the Dove.
The Dove is carved in pine; the all-seeing eye and the cross are carved in bog oak and bog yew wood that is probably thousands of years old.
The Stations of the Cross date from around 1946 when they replaced the original Stations of the Cross. The church also has a silver chalice from 1796, predating the church.
The porch was built in the 1930s through a donation from parishioners who had emigrated to America.
The free-standing belfry in the grounds of the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
Bridget (Sexton) Kiely of Glenshesk donated a bell to the church in the early 20th century, and it was mounted on the west gable. By the mid-1950s, the bell was taken down for safety reasons, a new free-standing belfry was built in the church grounds, and the old bell was sent to the missions in Africa.
A large stone statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in front of the church in 1995. It was sculpted from limestone and is the work of the sculptor Annette McCormack from Newbridge, Co Kildare.
The stained-glass window of Saint Brigid in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
A new graveyard behind the church opened in September 1983. Before that, the only graveyard in the parish had been in the grounds of the old church in Templeglantine West. That graveyard is said to have been in use for around 800 years, but the oldest headstone is from 1866, in memory of Michael Gallwey RM.
The community centre across the road was officially opened in 1977 by Bishop Jeremiah Newman, and was the venue for this weeks commemorations of Max Macauliffe.
Today, Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, forms a pastoral unit with Tournafulla and Mountcollins.
Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, is one of the oldest churches in use in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)
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