The Franciscan friary in Nenagh was founded by 1252, perhaps by Theobald Butler of Nenagh Castle and Bishop Donal O’Kennedy of Killaloe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
The three-day annual clergy conference for priests of the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe and the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry continues for a second day today in Adare, Co Limerick.
Before the day begins, I am taking a little time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading. Each morning in the time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am reflecting in these ways:
1, photographs of a church or place of worship;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
My theme for these few weeks is churches in the Franciscan (and Capuchin) tradition. My photographs this morning (19 October 2021) are of the ruins of the Franciscan Friary in Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
The crowning glory of the abbey was its east gable (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The former Franciscan friary or abbey in the centre of Nenagh, Co Tipperary, may have been founded by Theobald Butler, who built Nenagh Castle. But it is also associated with Donal O’Kennedy, Bishop of Killaloe, so that Nenagh friary may have been founded before 1252 with O’Kennedy sponsorship.
The abbey is located in the centre of Nenagh, not far from the castle, the courthouse and the town’s parish churches. The site is on a lane to the south of Pearse Street, the town’s main street, and can be reached from Friar Street, Abbey Street and Martyr’s Road.
Today, the main surviving features of the friary include the walls of a large rectangular church, aligned East/West, which is 43 metres long and 10 metres wide. There is a triple lancet window at the east end and a series of 15 impressive lancet windows along the north wall. The former tower has fallen. Portions of the sacristy survive along the east end of the friary. This sacristy measured 10 x 4 metres.
The Gothic features included the doors and windows. There are sandstone dressings for the piers, jambs, and arches, while limestone was used for the main walls built of random rubble.
The crowning glory of the abbey was its east gable, with three large, elaborate lancet windows, with piers of solid masonry between that are deeply splayed.
There is a small gable light over the east lancet windows, above the level of the roof-slates but below the level of the ridge-piece. This was made for ventilation and for access between the inner and outer roofs to allow for repairs.
A small door in the south wall stood towards the east side that leads to the sacristy. The door has sandstone dressings and is about 5 ft high. There is only one window in the south wall. This tall window in the sanctuary had two lights, and has an eastern jamb that splays widely inwards and a western one that splays only slightly.
The rest of the light for the choir and sanctuary came from the east window and from the 11 tall, narrow, pointed, single-light windows, splaying inwards on the north wall. As well as the 11 windows in the choir, there were four smaller windows in the nave.
The ambulatory across the church divided the nave and choir. The church also had doors in the north and south walls, opposite each other.
The main entrance door is in the middle of the west gable wall. The original west doorway was remodelled around the 15th century with the insertion of a limestone arch and orders.
The bellcote on the apex of the west wall appears to be contemporary with the doorway. Over the west door, there is a vine scroll with a decorated finial and a carved head inserted into it. The figure is wearing a 15th century headdress,and was once thought to be part of an effigy, while the decoration it crowns formed part of an archway. The bell was supplied by Father Eugene Callanan and remains functional to this day.
There are four buttresses on the south wall. Three of these are were not original parts of the abbey and are thought to have been added in the 15th century to support and reinforce the wall. One buttress has started to separate from the wall.
Pattress plates and tie bars run between the north and south walls at the lancet windows are. This supports the walls and stops them from falling outwards, especially the north wall which has a noticeable tilt. Along with the buttresses, the pattress plates and tie bars are keeping the wall from tilting any further.
The friary in Nenagh became the principal Franciscan house in Ireland, and a provincial synod was held at the friary in 1344.
The Annals of Nenagh, which chronicles the deaths of notable local families, was compiled in Nenagh between 1336 and 1528.
At the time of the Reformation, the friary was closed at the suppression of monastic houses throughout Ireland, and the friary was granted to Robert Collum. But it suffered a more serious assault in 1548 when the O’Carrolls burnt Nenagh, including the friary, which was then a conventual house.
The Franciscans continued to maintain a presence in Nenagh until about 1587. No efforts were made to continue that Franciscan presence for almost half a century until the Observant friars arrived in Nenagh in 1632.
The friars were expelled by the Cromwellians but returned after the restoration. A community was still living in Nenagh in the early 18th century, but this had broken up by 1766. Friars continued to work in the area as parish clergy until the last Franciscan in Nenagh, Father Patrick Harty, died in 1817.
The earliest inscribed headstone in the churchyard is for Mrs Frances Minchin, and is dated 1696.The abbey grounds continue to be used as a burial ground.
HG Leask wrote a comprehensive description of the Friary in 1937, when he described the ruin as a simple, long rectangle, without any obvious division into nave and chancel. He recorded the fine windows in the east gable, and 11 windows in the north wall of the choir.
The Franciscan Friary is known popularly in Nenagh as the Abbey, and has given its name to surrounding street such as Friar Street or Abbey Street and local businesses like Friary Iron Works, the Abbey Court Hotel, Abbey Furniture and Abbey Machinery.
The carvings over the west door include a carved head wearing a 15th century headdress (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Luke 12: 35-38 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 35 ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.’
There was a series of 15 windows along the north wall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (19 October 2021) invites us to pray:
Let us pray for the Zambia Anglican Council, which represents Anglican churches across Zambia.
Looking into the ruins from the west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Nenagh Castle … the Franciscan friary in Nenagh may have been founded by Theobald Butler of Nenagh Castle; Bishop Michael Flannery planned to incorporate the castle into a new cathedral in Nenagh in the 1860s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
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
19 October 2021
A place of sanctuary
and spiritual rest in
Saint John’s, Lichfield
Welcome to my place of spiritual sanctuary and spiritual rest in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
Patrick Comerford
For 50 years now, I have found spiritual sanctuary and spiritual rest in Lichfield in the Chapel of the Hospital of Saint John Baptist without the Barrs. Fifty years ago, by happenchance, I walked into this chapel late on a summer afternoon, and felt filled with the light and love of God.
I was only 19, it was 1971, and it was a foundational moment in my life, changing my values and priorities, challenging my social, political and personal values, offering me a new focus and new directions in life, and eventually leading me along the path to ordination.
Ever since, I have made efforts to return each year to the Chapel in Saint John’s Hospital, to give thanks for the gift of the light and love of God’s in my life. Despite the pandemic restrictions this year and last that interrupted these regular visits, I have returned to this chapel two or three times a year, and it was a special privilege to be invited to preach at the Festal Eucharist on Saint John’s Day, 24 June 2015.
It was natural, then, that the chapel in Saint John’s was the first, and the last, place I visited during last week’s visit to Lichfield.
The chapel in Saint John’s is the first, and the last, place I visit when I return to Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
I was interviewed in the chapel some years ago by local historian David Moore for a series of five short YouTube films, talking about my life, my connections with Lichfield, and the links between Lichfield and the Comberford family. Inspired by this, I recorded a short video clip for a school assembly in a few weeks’ time – I recorded two others outside Lichfield Cathedral and inside the ruins of Coventry Cathedral.
However, last week’s visits, first and last, were about prayer, thankfulness and gratitude.
It is interesting to see, as the years roll by, the changes that take place in Saint John’s. John Piper’s East Window, ‘Christ in Majesty,’ was installed in 1984. It was probably inspired by Graham Sutherland’s large tapestry in Coventry Cathedral, and since its installation it has become an integral part of my own spirituality and prayer life.
Simon Manby’s sculpture of ‘Noah and the Dove’ was commissioned by the trustees in 2006 and stands in the quadrangle. Saint John’s was extended extensively in recent years, and the new almshouses were opened by the Duke of Gloucester on 25 July 2017.
The new almshouses in Saint John’s were opened on 25 July 2017 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
The chapel in Saint John’s has been my place of spiritual sanctuary and spiritual rest in Lichfield for the past half century. But inside the porch of the chapel it was a joy last week to see that this chapel is actively supporting ‘Lichfield City of Sanctuary.’
Lichfield City of Sanctuary says it is ‘Welcoming Everyone to Lichfield with Respect and Kindness’ and states:
‘We believe Lichfield is an open-hearted place where all are welcome and treated with respect and understanding. We work to support local people and organisations to make Lichfield a welcoming and supportive city that provides sanctuary and support to all who need it, especially vulnerable people.’
City of Sanctuary is a national movement working to make the United Kingdom a welcoming place of safety for all. Cities throughout the United Kingdom, including Lichfield, are working to support a culture of welcome and hospitality to all.
The first City of Sanctuary was founded in Sheffield in 2005. City of Sanctuary has become a national movement, and is still growing: 110 communities in cities, towns and villages have been recognised as cities of sanctuary, committed to nurturing a culture of welcome and hospitality, celebrating and promoting the contribution of people seeking sanctuary in the country. It is the story of a hundred thousand welcomes.
A small group of Lichfield residents came together in 2019 at a meeting chaired by the Revd Warren Bardsley of the Methodist Church and committed to working towards the recognition of Lichfield as a City of Sanctuary.
Lichfield City of Sanctuary says:
‘We support people in Lichfield, especially newcomers, who face discrimination or exclusion due to displacement, immigration, racism, sexuality, poverty, disability, abuse, violence.
‘We come alongside individuals and organisations throughout the district of Lichfield to coordinate welcome and support for those who need it.
‘We challenge visions of Lichfield that exclude any individuals and groups that live and work here.
‘We hold events, exhibitions, campaigns and meetings to engage and inform about the issues that concern us all.’
People who become a Lichfield City of Sanctuary Partner are invited to join the groups, to help shape the future, to support the vision and principles, to take part in events and campaigns, and to provide practical support for marginalised and excluded people and groups.
Lichfield City of Sanctuary website is at: http://lichfield.cityofsanctuary.org You can follow on Twitter: @LichfieldCos
Lichfield City of Sanctuary … part of a poster in the porch of the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
Patrick Comerford
For 50 years now, I have found spiritual sanctuary and spiritual rest in Lichfield in the Chapel of the Hospital of Saint John Baptist without the Barrs. Fifty years ago, by happenchance, I walked into this chapel late on a summer afternoon, and felt filled with the light and love of God.
I was only 19, it was 1971, and it was a foundational moment in my life, changing my values and priorities, challenging my social, political and personal values, offering me a new focus and new directions in life, and eventually leading me along the path to ordination.
Ever since, I have made efforts to return each year to the Chapel in Saint John’s Hospital, to give thanks for the gift of the light and love of God’s in my life. Despite the pandemic restrictions this year and last that interrupted these regular visits, I have returned to this chapel two or three times a year, and it was a special privilege to be invited to preach at the Festal Eucharist on Saint John’s Day, 24 June 2015.
It was natural, then, that the chapel in Saint John’s was the first, and the last, place I visited during last week’s visit to Lichfield.
The chapel in Saint John’s is the first, and the last, place I visit when I return to Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
I was interviewed in the chapel some years ago by local historian David Moore for a series of five short YouTube films, talking about my life, my connections with Lichfield, and the links between Lichfield and the Comberford family. Inspired by this, I recorded a short video clip for a school assembly in a few weeks’ time – I recorded two others outside Lichfield Cathedral and inside the ruins of Coventry Cathedral.
However, last week’s visits, first and last, were about prayer, thankfulness and gratitude.
It is interesting to see, as the years roll by, the changes that take place in Saint John’s. John Piper’s East Window, ‘Christ in Majesty,’ was installed in 1984. It was probably inspired by Graham Sutherland’s large tapestry in Coventry Cathedral, and since its installation it has become an integral part of my own spirituality and prayer life.
Simon Manby’s sculpture of ‘Noah and the Dove’ was commissioned by the trustees in 2006 and stands in the quadrangle. Saint John’s was extended extensively in recent years, and the new almshouses were opened by the Duke of Gloucester on 25 July 2017.
The new almshouses in Saint John’s were opened on 25 July 2017 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
The chapel in Saint John’s has been my place of spiritual sanctuary and spiritual rest in Lichfield for the past half century. But inside the porch of the chapel it was a joy last week to see that this chapel is actively supporting ‘Lichfield City of Sanctuary.’
Lichfield City of Sanctuary says it is ‘Welcoming Everyone to Lichfield with Respect and Kindness’ and states:
‘We believe Lichfield is an open-hearted place where all are welcome and treated with respect and understanding. We work to support local people and organisations to make Lichfield a welcoming and supportive city that provides sanctuary and support to all who need it, especially vulnerable people.’
City of Sanctuary is a national movement working to make the United Kingdom a welcoming place of safety for all. Cities throughout the United Kingdom, including Lichfield, are working to support a culture of welcome and hospitality to all.
The first City of Sanctuary was founded in Sheffield in 2005. City of Sanctuary has become a national movement, and is still growing: 110 communities in cities, towns and villages have been recognised as cities of sanctuary, committed to nurturing a culture of welcome and hospitality, celebrating and promoting the contribution of people seeking sanctuary in the country. It is the story of a hundred thousand welcomes.
A small group of Lichfield residents came together in 2019 at a meeting chaired by the Revd Warren Bardsley of the Methodist Church and committed to working towards the recognition of Lichfield as a City of Sanctuary.
Lichfield City of Sanctuary says:
‘We support people in Lichfield, especially newcomers, who face discrimination or exclusion due to displacement, immigration, racism, sexuality, poverty, disability, abuse, violence.
‘We come alongside individuals and organisations throughout the district of Lichfield to coordinate welcome and support for those who need it.
‘We challenge visions of Lichfield that exclude any individuals and groups that live and work here.
‘We hold events, exhibitions, campaigns and meetings to engage and inform about the issues that concern us all.’
People who become a Lichfield City of Sanctuary Partner are invited to join the groups, to help shape the future, to support the vision and principles, to take part in events and campaigns, and to provide practical support for marginalised and excluded people and groups.
Lichfield City of Sanctuary website is at: http://lichfield.cityofsanctuary.org You can follow on Twitter: @LichfieldCos
Lichfield City of Sanctuary … part of a poster in the porch of the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
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