At my ordination as deacon in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 25 June 2000 with (from left) Canon Roy Byrne, who was ordained priest that day, and the Revd Avril Bennett and the Revd Tim Close, who were ordained deacons (Photograph: Valerie Jones, 2000)
Patrick Comerford
I was ordained deacon 20 years ago today [25 June 2000], and priest 19 years ago yesterday on the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist [24 June 2001].
At the ordination of deacons, bishops recall that deacons ‘remind the whole Church that serving others is at the heart of all ministry.’
They go on to say: ‘Deacons have a special responsibility to ensure that those in need are cared for with compassion and humility. They are to strengthen the faithful, search out the careless [those with no-one to care for them] and the indifferent, and minister to the sick, the needy, the poor and those in trouble.’
Deacons are asked at ordination: ‘Will you be faithful in visiting the sick, in caring for the poor and needy, and in helping the oppressed? Will you promote unity, peace and love …?’
In today’s world, with the rise of racism, anti-Semitism and far-right populism, who needs compassion that is extended with humility?
How do I care for the sick, the poor and the needy, and speak up for the oppressed today?
How do we promote unity, peace and love among all?
I hope these challenges have guided me through 20 years of ordained ministry, and that continue to challenge me in the years ahead.
I recalled yesterday how my path to ordination began 49 years ago when I was a 19-year-old in Lichfield, following very personal and special experiences in a chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist – the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield.
Later that same day, after Choral Evensong in Lichfield Cathedral, I was challenged by, I think, Canon John Yates (1925-1980), then the Principal of Lichfield Theological College (1966-1972) and later Bishop of Gloucester and Bishop at Lambeth. He amusingly asked me whether a young man like me had decided to start going back to church because I was thinking of ordination.
As I said yesterday, I had taken the scenic route to ordination. Eventually I was ordained deacon by Archbishop Walton Empey in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on 25 June 2000 along with the Revd Averill Bennett and the Revd Tim Close – Canon Roy Byrne was ordained priest that day too – and I was ordained priest a year later on 24 June 2001.
With Archbishop Walton Empey at my ordination as deacon in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 25 June 2000 (Photograph: Valerie Jones, 2000)
I had been in reader ministry in Saint Maelruian’s Parish, since 1994, and was ordained for Whitechurch Parish, Rathfarnham. I remained there as a curate until 2006, when I joined the full-time staff of the Church of Ireland Theological College.
This morning, I pray for those preparing for ordination and recall and pray too for the 13 other men and women who were ordained deacons that same summer 20 years ago:
● The Revd Avril Bennett, a resource teacher at Kildare Place School, was ordained for the Parishes of Crumlin and Chapelizod (Dublin). She is now an NSM curate in Saint Maelruain’s, Tallaght (Dublin).
● The Revd Christopher Bennett was ordained for the parish of Larne and Inver (Connor). He is now curate assistant, Belvoir (Down).
● The Revd Tim Close was ordained for Glenageary (Dublin), and is now priest-in-charge of the Church of the Ascension, Cloughfern, Newtownabbey (Connor).
● The Revd Hilary Dungan was ordained for Saint Mark’s Parish (Armagh). She retired as Rector of Maryborough in 2011, and she has been an interim, part-time Dean of Residence and Chaplain in Trinity College Dublin.
● Canon Michael Johnston became Bishop’s Vicar and curate assistant in Kilkenny (Ossory). He was the Rector of Shinrone (Killaloe) the Prebendary of Saint Munchin’s and Tulloh (Limerick and Killaloe) until he recently retired from ministry.
● The Revd Melanie Lacy, ordained for Saint Comgall’s, Bangor (Down). She was the Ireland team leader at the Crosslinks mission agency and today she is Director of the Theology and Praxis for Children’s and Youth Ministry stream at Oak Hill College, London.
● The Revd David Luckman, a former RE teacher in Poole, Dorset, was ordained for Saint Mark’s, Portadown (Armagh), and has been the Ireland team leader at Crosslinks since 2015.
● The Revd Alan Millar, once in ordained ministry in the United Church of Canada, was ordained for Drumglass, Dungannon (Armagh). He was the Rector of Rathcoole (Connor) from 2006 until he retired in 2011.
● The Revd Willie Nixon, who had worked on the family farm, was ordained for Saint Paul’s, Lisburn (Connor), and has been the Rector of Drumbeg (Down) since 2012.
● The Revd Daniel Owen, who had worked in an outdoor activity centre in Sligo and in the RCB offices in Dublin, was ordained for Saint Donard’s Parish, Belfast (Down). Since 2015, he has been the chaplain at Saint Columba’s College, Rathfarnham.
● The Revd David Somerville, a former RE teacher in Rathfriland, was ordained for Shankill Parish, Lurgan (Dromore). He was the Rector of Richhill Parish (Armagh) and had been appointed a Vicar Choral in Armagh Cathedral when he died suddenly in 2016.
● The Revd Alice Stewart was ordained for the Church of the Ascension, Cloughfern (Connor).
● The Revd Louise Stewart was ordained for Saint John’s Church, Malone Road, Belfast (Connor). Since 2011, she has been the Rector of Finaghy (Connor).
Letters of ordination as deacon on 25 June 2000 by Archbishop Walton Empey
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.
Inside the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital in Lichfield … the beginning of the road to ordination (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
25 June 2020
Dysert Castle and a holy
well near Askeaton with
links to Saint John’s Day
Dysert Castle, Barrigone, standing alone in fields between Askeaton and Robertstown, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)
Patrick Comerford
Dysert Castle near Barrigone is west of Askeaton, near Aughunish and Robertstown half-way on the road to Foynes. I have passed it many times but only viewed it from a distance until earlier this week.
Today the castle stands in ruins, lonely and abandoned in the middle of a field behind a farmhouse. But in the past it was associated with the O’Brien, Gould, Wakeman and Wingfield families, and nearby is a holy well that was once a focus of local pilgrimage on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, which is celebrated today (24 June).
Older people in area used to say that the name Borrigone is derived from the name of Saint John the Baptist, Barraig Eoin or ‘the rough lands of Saint John.’
Dysert Castle was known in Irish as Díseart Muirdeabhair, and later as Diseart Murdebrair, Disuirt Murdewar (1201) and Dissert Marrgeoin (1336).
The Limerick historian and antiquarian Thomas Johnson Westropp (1860-1922) noted that in 1584 Morris mac Tirrelagh Mac Moryertagh O’Brien, who held the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, also held Crag mac teigh, near Dissert, in Conyllagh.
When James Gould died in 1600, he held Craige and Disertbargeon as a tenant of the Bishop of Limerick. Later, Dysert Castle was held by J Wakeman held the castle and the surrounding lands.
Craige and Dissert Castle had passed to the Wingfield family by 1638, when Sir Edward Wingfield died. The Civil Survey in 1654-1656 recorded that Sir Edward Wingfield was in possession of the lands of ‘Craige and Dissarte,’ which included a castle and 72 Irish acres.
The Wingfield family has been in Ireland since the mid-1500s and is descended from an Elizabethan soldier, Richard Wingfield, who became Marshal of Ireland. The Very Revd Richard Wingfield was Dean of Kilmacduagh in in 1621-1624.
Another Richard Wingfield, who lived at Dysert Castle in Robertstown parish, probably came to this part of Ireland through his marriage to Honora O’Brien, daughter of Teige McMurrough O’Brien and granddaughter of Murrough O’Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond.
Honora and Richard Wingfield were the parents of Sir Edward Wingfield of Dystert Castle, who died on 22 April 1638. Sir Edward Wingfield’s wife, Anne Cromwell, was a daughter of Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell, a direct descendant of Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540), Henry VIII’s Chief Minister until 1540, when he was beheaded on the king’s orders in 1540, and one of the most powerful proponents of the English Reformation.
Sir Edward Wingfield’s son, Lewis Wingfield, was the grandfather of Richard Wingfield (1697-1751), 1st Viscount Powerscourt.
The ruins of Dysert Castle stand on low-lying pasture overlooking the wet floodplains of the Robertstown River to the east. Dysert Caste dates from the late 15th century, when it was probably built by the O’Brien family. This is a four-storey tower house about 50 ft high, measuring 19 ft by 13 ft inside and with walls that are 4.5 ft thick.
It has a barrel stair of 68 steps on the north-west side, beside the door which is protected by a ‘murder-hole.’ The lower and third storey are vaulted, with a closet in the wall on the second floor. There are slight traces of a side wing and bawn, all much injured.
Today the castle appears well-preserved but is covered in ivy.
I failed earlier this week to find the nearby holy well dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Older people in area used to say that the name Borrigone is derived from the name of the saint, barraig Eoin or the rough lands of Saint John.
In the past, people visited the well ‘to make the rounds’ on the Saturday before May Day and on the eve of Saint John’s Day, and a ‘pattern’ was held at the well on 15 August each year, when people came there to perform a ‘rounds’ or pilgrimage. People stayed there all night and throughout the following day. Bonfires were lit and open-air dances were held near the well.
It was all so quiet earlier this week, I failed to find the well, and I wondered what might have been had the Wingfield family decided to make Dysert Castle their principal residence rather than Powerscourt near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.
Dysert Castle probably passed from the O’Brien family to the Wingfield family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)
Patrick Comerford
Dysert Castle near Barrigone is west of Askeaton, near Aughunish and Robertstown half-way on the road to Foynes. I have passed it many times but only viewed it from a distance until earlier this week.
Today the castle stands in ruins, lonely and abandoned in the middle of a field behind a farmhouse. But in the past it was associated with the O’Brien, Gould, Wakeman and Wingfield families, and nearby is a holy well that was once a focus of local pilgrimage on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, which is celebrated today (24 June).
Older people in area used to say that the name Borrigone is derived from the name of Saint John the Baptist, Barraig Eoin or ‘the rough lands of Saint John.’
Dysert Castle was known in Irish as Díseart Muirdeabhair, and later as Diseart Murdebrair, Disuirt Murdewar (1201) and Dissert Marrgeoin (1336).
The Limerick historian and antiquarian Thomas Johnson Westropp (1860-1922) noted that in 1584 Morris mac Tirrelagh Mac Moryertagh O’Brien, who held the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, also held Crag mac teigh, near Dissert, in Conyllagh.
When James Gould died in 1600, he held Craige and Disertbargeon as a tenant of the Bishop of Limerick. Later, Dysert Castle was held by J Wakeman held the castle and the surrounding lands.
Craige and Dissert Castle had passed to the Wingfield family by 1638, when Sir Edward Wingfield died. The Civil Survey in 1654-1656 recorded that Sir Edward Wingfield was in possession of the lands of ‘Craige and Dissarte,’ which included a castle and 72 Irish acres.
The Wingfield family has been in Ireland since the mid-1500s and is descended from an Elizabethan soldier, Richard Wingfield, who became Marshal of Ireland. The Very Revd Richard Wingfield was Dean of Kilmacduagh in in 1621-1624.
Another Richard Wingfield, who lived at Dysert Castle in Robertstown parish, probably came to this part of Ireland through his marriage to Honora O’Brien, daughter of Teige McMurrough O’Brien and granddaughter of Murrough O’Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond.
Honora and Richard Wingfield were the parents of Sir Edward Wingfield of Dystert Castle, who died on 22 April 1638. Sir Edward Wingfield’s wife, Anne Cromwell, was a daughter of Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell, a direct descendant of Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540), Henry VIII’s Chief Minister until 1540, when he was beheaded on the king’s orders in 1540, and one of the most powerful proponents of the English Reformation.
Sir Edward Wingfield’s son, Lewis Wingfield, was the grandfather of Richard Wingfield (1697-1751), 1st Viscount Powerscourt.
The ruins of Dysert Castle stand on low-lying pasture overlooking the wet floodplains of the Robertstown River to the east. Dysert Caste dates from the late 15th century, when it was probably built by the O’Brien family. This is a four-storey tower house about 50 ft high, measuring 19 ft by 13 ft inside and with walls that are 4.5 ft thick.
It has a barrel stair of 68 steps on the north-west side, beside the door which is protected by a ‘murder-hole.’ The lower and third storey are vaulted, with a closet in the wall on the second floor. There are slight traces of a side wing and bawn, all much injured.
Today the castle appears well-preserved but is covered in ivy.
I failed earlier this week to find the nearby holy well dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Older people in area used to say that the name Borrigone is derived from the name of the saint, barraig Eoin or the rough lands of Saint John.
In the past, people visited the well ‘to make the rounds’ on the Saturday before May Day and on the eve of Saint John’s Day, and a ‘pattern’ was held at the well on 15 August each year, when people came there to perform a ‘rounds’ or pilgrimage. People stayed there all night and throughout the following day. Bonfires were lit and open-air dances were held near the well.
It was all so quiet earlier this week, I failed to find the well, and I wondered what might have been had the Wingfield family decided to make Dysert Castle their principal residence rather than Powerscourt near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.
Dysert Castle probably passed from the O’Brien family to the Wingfield family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)
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