Saint Eithne and Saint Fidelma, the daughters of King Laoghaire, receive Communion from Saint Patrick … a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Patrick Comerford
A busy week begins this morning, with meetings in Askeaton, Limerick and Dublin throughout this week. But, before this day gets busy, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.
I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:
1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February);
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Saint Eithne and Saint Fidelma, the daughters of King Laoghaire, are commemorated traditionally in Irish church calendars and in the Roman martyrology on 11 January.
These sisters were the daughters of King Laoghaire of Connacht, and among Saint Patrick’s first converts to Christianity. They received the veil of religion from his hands, and the tradition is that g immediately after receiving Holy Communion from him they gave up their innocent souls to God.
The name Fidelma means ‘beauty’ or ‘constant,’ and the name Eithne means ‘kernel of a nut or seed.’
The story is told that one summer day Eithne and Fidelma, who were barely out of childhood and full of fun, went for their daily bath in a private place near the palace, a place to which no one ever came so early in the morning. But on this day they were surprised to hear voices and see tents encamped on the grassy slope near the pool.
They could hear the notes of a strange language and every now and again a sweet voice broke into song and mingled with the song of the birds in the nearby woods and the murmuring of the river. Saint Patrick and his companions, who had arrived during the night with a message for the King of Connacht, were praying the Divine Office in Latin.
Finally, each group noticed the other.
The older princess asked, ‘Who are you, and where do you come from?’
Saint Patrick hesitated, and then said: ‘We have more important things to tell you than just our names and where we’re from. We know who the one true God is whom you should adore …’
The girls were delighted and something seemed to light up inside them, to make a blinding white blaze in their hearts and minds. They knew at once that this was real, true news and asked a torrent of questions:
‘Who is God?’
‘Where does he live?’
‘Will he live forever?’
Saint Patrick answered each question quickly and simply. He, too, was delighted: the light that blazed up in the girls was in the man, too, and the three lights together made a tremendous glow. Everyone else stood listening, witnessing the saintly man and the young women in conversation in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
‘Oh, tell us how to find the good God. Teach us more about the kind Jesus, who died upon the Cross. Tell us more, more, more,’ the princesses urged. But there was no need for more; the two had already received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Saint Patrick led them to their bathing pool, and there he baptised them. For a short time after, Eithne and Fidelma were quiet and deep in prayer. Meanwhile, Saint Patrick prepared to say Mass. Then the princesses began again.
‘I want to see Jesus Christ now,’ said Eithne.
‘And so do I,’ echoed Fidelma. ‘I want to be with him in his home forever.’
Saint Patrick was moved by this loving longing. He gently explained that they would not be able to see God until after their death. They were still young, so it would be a long time before they could see him as he is.
The girls pondered this as Saint Patrick began to celebrate the Eucharist. Everyone was still, but the river and woods seemed to sing God’s praises. Then the youngest man rang a small bell and all bowed their heads. Christ was present, and Saint Patrick beckoned the princesses forward and gave them Holy Communion.
For a while, the princesses looked so happy and so beautiful that they were like angels.
It said Saint Eithne and Saint Fidelma died on 11 January 433.
Mark 1: 21-28 (NRSVA):
21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
The prayer in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) invites us to pray this morning (11 January 2022):
We pray for new mothers, that they might feel supported at this exciting and nervous time in their lives.
Yesterday: Archbishop William Laud
Tomorrow: Saint Aelred of Rievaulx
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
11 January 2022
How Trinity Church died and
found new life, as a church,
in inner city Dublin
Trinity Church was built as the Protestant Episcopal Church on Lower Gardiner Street in 1839 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Patrick Comerford
My recent stroll around the north inner city in Dublin allowed me to see three former inner city churches: the former Welsh Chapel on Talbot Street; the former Gloucester Street Presbyterian Church on Seán McDermott Street; and the former Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church on Lower Gardiner Street.
Alone among these three, Trinity Church is in use once again as a church.
Trinity Church at the south end of Gardiner Street began life as the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1838, and closed in 1916. For many years it was an unemployment or labour exchange, but it was opened once again in the 2000s by an independent Christian group using the name as Trinity Church.
Trinity Church was designed by Frederick Darley, who designed many buildings in Trinity College Dublin, and the church would have accommodated up to 1,800 people.
The story of the church begins with the Revd John Gregg (1798-1878), a charismatic and controversial preacher who attracted the funds and the congregation to support building a church that was independent of the parish structures in the Church of Ireland.
John Gregg was born on 4 August 1798 near Ennis, Co Clare, the son of Richard Gregg, a landowner, and educated at Trinity College Dublin. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1826 and 1827, and he soon gained a reputation as an eloquent preacher, fluent in the Irish Language. He was Bishop of Cork when he died on 26 May 1878.
Gregg was the assistant chaplain and then chaplain of the Bethesda Chapel, Dublin, until when Trinity Church was built on Gardner Street. His son Robert Gregg (1834-1896), was Bishop of Ossory (1874-1878), Bishop of Cork (1878-1893), and Archbishop of Armagh (1893-1896); his grandson John Allen Fitzgerald Gregg (1873-1961), was Bishop of Ossory (1915-1920), Archbishop of Dublin (1920-1939) and Archbishop of Armagh (1939-1959).
The architect Frederick Darley junior (1798-1872) designed and built many prominent buildings in Dublin, including New Square, Trinity College Dublin, the Carpenters’ Asylum, Gloucester Street (now Seán McDermott Street), Merchants’ Hall, the King’s Inns Library, Henrietta Street, and the Bethesda Chapel, a former Church of Ireland church on Dorset Street, now demolished.
Darley was a son of the builder and architect Frederick Darley Senior, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1808-1809. His mother, Elizabeth (Guinness), was the eldest daughter of Arthur Guinness of Beaumont.
Frederick Darley junior was a pupil of Francis Johnston. He was the architect of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the Church of Ireland Diocese of Dublin in 1833-1843, and a founding member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).
During the 1830s, he was also architect to Trinity College Dublin, a position he held until at least 1850. As architect to the Board of National Education (1848-1856), he was responsible for designing a series of model schools and model agricultural schools throughout Ireland.
In addition, Darley was patron of Aged and Infirm Carpenters’ Asylum, advisory architect to the Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Gardens Company (1863-1870), and one of four architects involved in restoring Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
The first chaplain of Trinity Episcopal Church was the Revd John Gregg, from 1839 until he was appointed Bishop of Cork in 1862.
A wealthy Dublin businessman named Vance funded half the building costs on condition that Gregg could raise the other half of the money needed. It was a proprietary or trustee church, independently funded by wealthy laypeople. The term ‘Episcopal’ was used to distinguish it from other evangelical movements of the day that were outside the Church of Ireland.
From the beginning, Trinity Episcopal Church was evangelical, verging on Calvinist. Similar Protestant Episcopal chapels in Dublin at the time included: the Bethesda Chapel, Dorset Street; Saint George’s Church, Temple Street; the Free Church, Great Charles Street; the Episcopal Chapel, Upper Baggot Street; Swift’s Alley Free Church, Francis Street; Plunket Street Meeting House, Plunket Street (now Dillon Street); the Magdalen Asylum Chapel, Leeson Street; and the Mariner’s Church, Dún Laoghaire.
A parochial district was assigned to Trinity Church in 1847 from Saint Thomas’s Parish. Those who attended church services included George Howard (1802-1864), 7th Earl of Carlisle, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1855-1858), and John Pentland Mahaffy, future provost of Trinity College Dublin.
Gregg was succeeded by the Revd John Nash Griffin (1862-1879), the Revd Thomas Preston Ball (1879-1884),and the Revd Dr John Duncan Craig (1884-1902). Craig was a poet, chaplain in the Franco-Prussian war, and a deputy chaplain in the Orange Order.
Craig’s successor, the Revd John Olphert Gage Dougherty, was the last chaplain (1902-1904), and in 1904 the parish was joined to Saint Thomas’s as a mission church.
The original setting of the church has been compromised by the Loop Line railway bridge (1888-1889) which has blocked the view from the Custom House so that it is difficult to see the church in its context from a southern vantage point.
The church was closed in 1916, was later sold, and was used as a labour exchange from the 1920s. The galleried hall was probably removed in the 1920s and mid-20th century concrete reinforced columns now support the first floor.
A school was built to the rear of the church in the mid-19th century with similar detailing and materials. Both buildings retain many of the original ventilation measures, including their internal controls and the external vents, a particular preoccupation of Victorian construction.
The rendered accommodation block to the side was built at the same time as the church and retains its original windows at the rear laneway.
The former church was bought in 2006 by the Fellowship Bible Church, which reopened it as a church in the Trinity Church Network. The recent re-conversion from a labour exchange has restored the large space on the first floor that had been subdivided and this room retains its original cornice.
The large space to the top floor has had recent reinforcement of the original large spanning timber queen-post trusses and reversion to its original single space. The building retains a substantial amount of its original features and fenestration and its recent refurbishment has successfully maintained these characteristics.
Patrick Comerford
My recent stroll around the north inner city in Dublin allowed me to see three former inner city churches: the former Welsh Chapel on Talbot Street; the former Gloucester Street Presbyterian Church on Seán McDermott Street; and the former Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church on Lower Gardiner Street.
Alone among these three, Trinity Church is in use once again as a church.
Trinity Church at the south end of Gardiner Street began life as the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1838, and closed in 1916. For many years it was an unemployment or labour exchange, but it was opened once again in the 2000s by an independent Christian group using the name as Trinity Church.
Trinity Church was designed by Frederick Darley, who designed many buildings in Trinity College Dublin, and the church would have accommodated up to 1,800 people.
The story of the church begins with the Revd John Gregg (1798-1878), a charismatic and controversial preacher who attracted the funds and the congregation to support building a church that was independent of the parish structures in the Church of Ireland.
John Gregg was born on 4 August 1798 near Ennis, Co Clare, the son of Richard Gregg, a landowner, and educated at Trinity College Dublin. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1826 and 1827, and he soon gained a reputation as an eloquent preacher, fluent in the Irish Language. He was Bishop of Cork when he died on 26 May 1878.
Gregg was the assistant chaplain and then chaplain of the Bethesda Chapel, Dublin, until when Trinity Church was built on Gardner Street. His son Robert Gregg (1834-1896), was Bishop of Ossory (1874-1878), Bishop of Cork (1878-1893), and Archbishop of Armagh (1893-1896); his grandson John Allen Fitzgerald Gregg (1873-1961), was Bishop of Ossory (1915-1920), Archbishop of Dublin (1920-1939) and Archbishop of Armagh (1939-1959).
The architect Frederick Darley junior (1798-1872) designed and built many prominent buildings in Dublin, including New Square, Trinity College Dublin, the Carpenters’ Asylum, Gloucester Street (now Seán McDermott Street), Merchants’ Hall, the King’s Inns Library, Henrietta Street, and the Bethesda Chapel, a former Church of Ireland church on Dorset Street, now demolished.
Darley was a son of the builder and architect Frederick Darley Senior, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1808-1809. His mother, Elizabeth (Guinness), was the eldest daughter of Arthur Guinness of Beaumont.
Frederick Darley junior was a pupil of Francis Johnston. He was the architect of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the Church of Ireland Diocese of Dublin in 1833-1843, and a founding member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).
During the 1830s, he was also architect to Trinity College Dublin, a position he held until at least 1850. As architect to the Board of National Education (1848-1856), he was responsible for designing a series of model schools and model agricultural schools throughout Ireland.
In addition, Darley was patron of Aged and Infirm Carpenters’ Asylum, advisory architect to the Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Gardens Company (1863-1870), and one of four architects involved in restoring Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
The first chaplain of Trinity Episcopal Church was the Revd John Gregg, from 1839 until he was appointed Bishop of Cork in 1862.
A wealthy Dublin businessman named Vance funded half the building costs on condition that Gregg could raise the other half of the money needed. It was a proprietary or trustee church, independently funded by wealthy laypeople. The term ‘Episcopal’ was used to distinguish it from other evangelical movements of the day that were outside the Church of Ireland.
From the beginning, Trinity Episcopal Church was evangelical, verging on Calvinist. Similar Protestant Episcopal chapels in Dublin at the time included: the Bethesda Chapel, Dorset Street; Saint George’s Church, Temple Street; the Free Church, Great Charles Street; the Episcopal Chapel, Upper Baggot Street; Swift’s Alley Free Church, Francis Street; Plunket Street Meeting House, Plunket Street (now Dillon Street); the Magdalen Asylum Chapel, Leeson Street; and the Mariner’s Church, Dún Laoghaire.
A parochial district was assigned to Trinity Church in 1847 from Saint Thomas’s Parish. Those who attended church services included George Howard (1802-1864), 7th Earl of Carlisle, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1855-1858), and John Pentland Mahaffy, future provost of Trinity College Dublin.
Gregg was succeeded by the Revd John Nash Griffin (1862-1879), the Revd Thomas Preston Ball (1879-1884),and the Revd Dr John Duncan Craig (1884-1902). Craig was a poet, chaplain in the Franco-Prussian war, and a deputy chaplain in the Orange Order.
Craig’s successor, the Revd John Olphert Gage Dougherty, was the last chaplain (1902-1904), and in 1904 the parish was joined to Saint Thomas’s as a mission church.
The original setting of the church has been compromised by the Loop Line railway bridge (1888-1889) which has blocked the view from the Custom House so that it is difficult to see the church in its context from a southern vantage point.
The church was closed in 1916, was later sold, and was used as a labour exchange from the 1920s. The galleried hall was probably removed in the 1920s and mid-20th century concrete reinforced columns now support the first floor.
A school was built to the rear of the church in the mid-19th century with similar detailing and materials. Both buildings retain many of the original ventilation measures, including their internal controls and the external vents, a particular preoccupation of Victorian construction.
The rendered accommodation block to the side was built at the same time as the church and retains its original windows at the rear laneway.
The former church was bought in 2006 by the Fellowship Bible Church, which reopened it as a church in the Trinity Church Network. The recent re-conversion from a labour exchange has restored the large space on the first floor that had been subdivided and this room retains its original cornice.
The large space to the top floor has had recent reinforcement of the original large spanning timber queen-post trusses and reversion to its original single space. The building retains a substantial amount of its original features and fenestration and its recent refurbishment has successfully maintained these characteristics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)