Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 24, Tuesday 28 April 2026

‘What my Father has given me is greater than all else … The Father and I are one’ (John 10: 29-30) … Christ the Pantocrator depicted in church domes in Rethymnon, Panormos and Iraklion in Crete (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (5 April 2026) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (24 May 2026), or Whit Sunday. This week began with the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Easter IV, 26 April 2026), sometimes known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’.

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Peter Chanel (1803-1841), a French missionary in the South Pacific and martyr. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10: 27) … street art in Carlingford, Co Louth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 10: 22-30 (NRSVA):

22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ 25 Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.’

The Stoa of Attalos beneath the Acropolis in Athens … it gives an idea of what the Stoa or Portico of Solomon in Jerusalem looked (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

This week’s theme in the lectionary of the Good Shepherd in the ‘Good Shepherd Discourse’ (John 10: 1-42) continues in the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today. We read verses 1-10 on Sunday, and verses 11-18 yesterday. Today we read verses 22-30.

Saint John’s Gospel focuses on major biblical festivals, such as Passover, Shavuot (which this year from 21 May 2026 until 23 May 2026) and Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles (this year from 25 September to 2 October ), and Jesus is seen to connect his mission with each of the these major festivals.

In Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus celebrates Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights in Jerusalem: At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon (John 10: 22-23, NRSVA).

Hanukkah is not one of the major Jewish festivals. It is not included in the Torah, nor is it referred to in the writings of the Prophets. It is a feast of dedication, remembering the Maccabees who recaptured the Temple from Antiochus Epiphanius after it had been captured and desecrated more than 150 years before Jesus was born (see I Maccabees 3-4; II Maccabees 8: 1 to 10: 18).

The Books of Maccabees describe the events over eight days that Hanukkah commemorates. The requirements for the rededication of the Temple seemed impossible, with only one day’s supply of oil for the temple menorah or lampstand remaining. According to these accounts, God miraculously allowed the oil to last the full eight days so that the dedication would be complete.

The name of Antiochus Epiphanes means ‘god manifest’. He was one of the successors of Alexander the Great and sought to unify his empire by establishing a single religion. Judaism and its practices, including Sabbath observance, scripture reading and the circumcision of eight-day-old boys, were outlawed, and the Temple was desecrated when a pig was sacrificed to Zeus there.

Under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, a nickname meaning ‘hammer’, the Jewish people fought a guerrilla-style war against the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes. Although greatly outnumbered, the Jewish rebels were victorious and retook the Temple. On the 25th day of the month Kislev 164 BCE, the defiled Temple was reconsecrated and sacrifices were offered to God.

The people joyfully celebrated the rededication of the Temple for eight days. At the conclusion of the festivities, it was decreed that a similar festival be held each year beginning on 25 Kislev (I Maccabees 4: 36-39).

Hanukkah was not one of the required pilgrimage festivals (see Exodus 23), but those who attended celebrated the days with great rejoicing.

According to Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus is in Jerusalem during Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights, a celebration of hope and justice against dark oppression and tyranny. The account in John 10: 22-42 concludes a festival cycle in John 5: 1 to 10: 42: Sabbath (John 5), Passover (John 6), Tabernacles (John 7: 1 to 10: 21), and Dedication (John 10: 22-42).

In other places, Jesus tells his followers that they are the light of the world and should not be hidden away but to be like a lamp stand (or menorah), and to ‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5: 14-16).

Hanukkah continues to be celebrated in Jewish homes and communities. Hanukkah and Christmas are not the same, nor are they equivalent. But, during both festivals, we are called to be lights in the midst of darkness.

With all the evil, division, oppression and injustice that is taking place in the world today, it is important for us too to be the lights of this world for all around us who desperately need light in their darkness.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the Temple-like portico built by the Williamson brothers at Emo Court in Co Laois (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 28 April 2026):

‘Prayer and Action in Pakistan’ provides the theme this week (26 April to 2 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 50-51. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 28 April 2026) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, as communities continue to to heal and rebuild, may our prayers spread like a vast tent over the nation, covering every person with your mercy, care, and enduring peace.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Father,
you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd,
and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again:
keep us always under his protection,
and give us grace to follow in his steps;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep:
teach us to hear your voice
and to follow your command,
that all your people may be gathered into one flock,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Jesus was walking in the Temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the portico of the Duomo di Sant’Andrea in Amalfi (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

Daily prayer in Easter 2025: 24, Tuesday 13 May 2025

‘My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10: 27) … street art in Carlingford, Co Louth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (8 June 2025), or Whit Sunday. This week began with the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Easter IV, 11 May 2025), sometimes known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’.

Later this evening, I hope to take part in a meeting of the Town Centre Working Group in Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the Temple-like portico at Plassey House in the University of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 10: 22-30 (NRSVA):

22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ 25 Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.’

‘Jesus was walking in the Temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the portico of the Duomo di Sant’Andrea in Amalfi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

This week’s theme in the lectionary of the Good Shepherd in the ‘Good Shepherd Discourse’ (John 10: 1-42) continues in the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today. We read verses 1-10 yesterday, and today we return to verses 22-30, which we also read on Sunday.

Saint John’s Gospel focuses on major biblical festivals, such as Passover and Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles (which this year begins on 1 June 2025), and Jesus is seen to connect his mission with each of the these major festivals.

In Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus celebrates Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights in Jerusalem: At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon (John 10: 22-23, NRSVA).

Hanukkah is not one of the major Jewish festivals. It is not included in the Torah, nor is it referred to in the writings of the Prophets. It is a feast of dedication, remembering the Maccabees who recaptured the Temple from Antiochus Epiphanius after it had been captured and desecrated more than 150 years before Jesus was born (see I Maccabees 3-4; II Maccabees 8: 1 to 10: 18).

The Books of Maccabees describe the events over eight days that Hanukkah commemorates. The requirements for the rededication of the Temple seemed impossible, with only one day’s supply of oil for the temple menorah or lampstand remaining. According to these accounts, God miraculously allowed the oil to last the full eight days so that the dedication would be complete.

The name of Antiochus Epiphanes means ‘god manifest’. He was one of the successors of Alexander the Great and sought to unify his empire by establishing a single religion. Judaism and its practices, including Sabbath observance, scripture reading and the circumcision of eight-day-old boys, were outlawed, and the Temple was desecrated when a pig was sacrificed to Zeus there.

Under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, a nickname meaning ‘hammer’, the Jewish people fought a guerrilla-style war against the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes. Although greatly outnumbered, the Jewish rebels were victorious and retook the Temple. On the 25th day of the month Kislev 164 BCE, the defiled Temple was reconsecrated and sacrifices were offered to God.

The people joyfully celebrated the rededication of the Temple for eight days. At the conclusion of the festivities, it was decreed that a similar festival be held each year beginning on 25 Kislev (I Maccabees 4: 36-39).

Hanukkah was not one of the required pilgrimage festivals (see Exodus 23), but those who attended celebrated the days with great rejoicing.

According to Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus is in Jerusalem during Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights, a celebration of hope and justice against dark oppression and tyranny. The account in John 10: 22-42 concludes a festival cycle in John 5: 1 to 10: 42: Sabbath (John 5), Passover (John 6), Tabernacles (John 7: 1 to 10: 21), and Dedication (John 10: 22-42).

In other places, Jesus tells his followers that they are the light of the world and should not be hidden away but to be like a lamp stand (or menorah), and to ‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5: 14-16).

Hanukkah continues to be celebrated in Jewish homes and communities. Hanukkah and Christmas are not the same, nor are they equivalent. But, during both festivals, we are called to be lights in the midst of darkness.

With all the evil, division, oppression and injustice that is taking place in the world today, it is important for us too to be the lights of this world for all around us who desperately need light in their darkness.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the Temple-like portico built by the Williamson brothers at Emo Court in Co Laois (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 13 May 2025):

‘Health and Hope in the Manyoni District’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Dr Frank Mathew Haji of the Integrated Child Health and End Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Programme in Tanzania.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 13 May 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, we pray that this project contributes to lowering the national rate of mother and child mortality in the Manyoni district. May lives be saved, and families strengthened as husbands and relatives all gain a greater knowledge and understanding of the issue.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Father,
you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd,
and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again:
keep us always under his protection,
and give us grace to follow in his steps;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep:
teach us to hear your voice
and to follow your command,
that all your people may be gathered into one flock,
to the glory of God the Father.

Collect on the Eve of Saint Matthias:

Almighty God,
who in the place of the traitor Judas
chose your faithful servant Matthias
to be of the number of the Twelve:
preserve your Church from false apostles
and, by the ministry of faithful pastors and teachers,
keep us steadfast in your truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

A Hanukkiah or Hanukkah menorah in Murano glass in Venice (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

Joe Biden’s Irish ancestry is part of a long tradition among US Presidents

A colourful street scene in Carlingford, Co Louth … Owen Finnegan and Jane Boyle were married in Carlingford in 1839 (Photograph Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Joe Biden is due to be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States later this month, in a public ceremony in front of the Capitol Building in Washington on Wednesday 20 January.

Already, links to the new president have been claimed by Co Louth, Co Mayo, and – more recently – Co Wexford. According to genealogist John Hamrock, all eight of Joe Biden’s great-great-grandparents on his mother’s side were born in Ireland in the first half of the 19th century and two great-grandparents on his father’s side were born in Ireland too.

Joseph Robinette Biden jr was born on 20 November 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His parents, Joseph Robinette Biden Sr and Catherine Eugenia (Jean) Finnegan, were married in 1941, and he grew up in a family steeped in Irish culture and values.

He once told RTÉ: ‘My grandfather and grandmother Finnegan, all my mother’s brothers, and my father told us about the courage and commitment it took for our relatives to emigrate from Ireland – in the midst of tragedy to distant shores, where they didn’t know what awaited them. It took great courage.’

His closest link to Ireland is his great-grandfather, James Finnegan, who emigrated from Carlingford, Co Louth, as a child in 1850, and his great-grandmother, Catherine Roche, who left Taghmon, Co Wexford, in the 1840s.

* * *

Saint Munn’s Church, Taghmon, Co Wexford … the hymnwriter Henry Francis Lyte was a curate while the Roche family was living in Taghmon (Photograph Patrick Comerford)

The family history research company Ancestor Network has carried out extensive research into the new President’s family tree. According to the genealogist John Hamrock, he has strong Irish roots. In the way Americans calculate or define Irish identity, President Biden is five-eighths Irish, with ten of his 16 great-great-grandparents born in Ireland.

John Hamrock’s research shows all eight of Joe Biden’s great-great-grandparents on his mother’s side were born in Ireland in the first half of the 19th century, and two great-grandparents on his father’s side were born in Ireland too.

Jean Finnegan was the daughter of Ambrose Joseph Finnegan and Geraldine Blewitt, who were married in 1909. Ambrose Finnegan was born in 1884, the son of Catherine (Roche) and James Finnegan, who lived in New York and moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Ambrose Finnegan’s parents, Owen and Jane Finnegan, were from the Cooley Peninsula, near Carlingford, Co Louth. Owen Finnegan was born ca 1820, and while no record of his baptism survives, his parents may have been James Finnegan and Mary White. Owen Finnegan and Jane Boyle were married in 1839 in Carlingford. He emigrated to New York in 1849, and his wife Jane arrived a year later, with three children, James (7), Stephen (5) and Patrick (infant). Jane died in 1874 and Owen died in 1875.

Another son, Ambrose Joseph Finnegan, later married Catherine Roche, whose parents, Thomas and Roche and Bridget (née Fox), were from Taghmon, Co Wexford. Thomas Roche, who was born in 1813, was a stonemason. His daughter Catherine Roche emigrated from Taghmon in the 1840s; she later married Ambrose Joseph Finnegan, and they are great-grandparents of Joe Biden.

Paul Roche from Camolin, Co Wexford, uncovered Mr Biden’s connections with Taghmon and other parts of Co Wexford, going back seven generations to Maurice Roche, whose son Patrick married Mary Roche from Taghmon. Thomas and Bridget (Fox) Roche emigrated to America with their daughter Catherine, who married Ambrose Finnegan.

Sunset on the River Moy … Edward Blewitt was living in Ballina in the 1820s and 1830s (Photograph Patrick Comerford)

* * *

The Blewitt family also had strong Irish connections. Geraldine Blewitt’s four grandparents – Patrick Blewitt and Catherine (Kate) Scanlon, and James Stanton and Mary Arthurs – were all born in Ireland.

The Blewitt and Scanlon families were from Rappacastle, near Ballina, Co Mayo. Joe Biden’s great-great-great-grandfather, Edward Blewitt, emigrated to the US in 1851 on the SS Excelsior. He left Ireland with his wife Mary Mulderrig (sometimes given as Redington) and their seven children, including Patrick Blewitt, then 18, who is Joe Biden’s great-great-grandfather.

The Blewitt family from Rappacastle was living in Ballina by the 1820s. Edward Blewitt was a brickmaker, supplying bricks for the building of Ballina Cathedral in 1827, and his son Patrick Blewitt was baptised in Ballina in 1832.

Edward is thought to have worked with the Ordnance Survey in Mayo in the 1830s, and the family left Ballina for neighbouring Ardagh after an outbreak of cholera in Ballina, before moving to America.

Joe Biden also has Irish ancestors on his father’s side of the family. His great-great-grandparents, John Hanafy and Mary Ward, were born in Ireland. Mary Ward’s parents – Joe Biden’s great-great-great-grandparents – John and Mary Ward, were from Co Galway.

Today, Mr Biden’s Irish relations through the Finnegan family include the Ireland rugby internationals Rob and Dave Kearney. Their father, David Joseph Donald Kearney, is a fifth cousin of the president-elect, according to research out by Epic, the Irish Emigration Museum.

Kamala Harris and
an Irish slaveholder

The new Vice-President, Kamala Harris, has strong family roots in Jamaica through her father and in India through her mother. But Irish genealogists recently explored whether her great-grandmother from Jamaica, Iris Finegan, had another Irish link to match Joe Biden’s links with Louth, Wexford and Mayo.

However, if there is an Irish link in Kamala Brown’s ancestry, it is most likely through Hamilton Brown, who was from Co Antrim.

Her father, Professor Donald J Harris, is the son of Beryl and Oscar Harris, known to the family as ‘Miss Beryl’ and ‘Maas Oscar’. His paternal grandmother, Christiana Brown, was known as ‘Miss Chrishy’ and his maternal grandmother, Iris Allen or Finigan, was ‘Miss Iris.’

He has told how Miss Chrishy was a ‘descendant of Hamilton Brown, who is on record as a plantation and slave owner and founder of Brown’s Town.’ The Harris family was based in Orange Hill, Brown’s Town.

Kamala Harris’s great-grandmother Christiana Brown was born about 1881. According to Donald Harris, she was a descendant of Hamilton Brown, a slave owner and the founder of Brown’s Town.

* * *

The grave of Hamilton Brown in Jamaica … was the slaveowner from Co Antrim an ancestor Kamala Harris? (Photograph: Find a Grave)

Hamilton Brown was an Ulster Presbyterian and settled in Jamaica when he was about 20. He became a prominent plantation and slave owner, and was a lawyer and a member of the Jamaican Assembly. He was described as ‘an ignorant, brutish and fiend-like man, well calculated to be a member of the House of Assembly or any house disposed to uphold slavery.’

Hamilton Brown campaigned vigorously against the abolition of slavery and resented ‘the interference of the home government with their slaves.’ At the abolition of slavery in 1834, Brown was associated with compensation claims involving more than 1,000 slaves. He returned to Ireland to recruit new labourers in Ballymoney, Kildare and Limerick to replace the slaves on his plantations.

Brown died on 18 September 1848, and he is buried at Saint Mark’s Anglican Church in Brown’s Town.

Donald J Harris’s father, Kamala Harris’s grandfather, was born on 5 April 1914 and at birth was named Oscar Wilde Brown, perhaps as a tribute to the Irish writer. But his birth was re-registered as Oscar Joseph Harris in 1950. Meanwhile, the connection between Hamilton Brown and Kamala Harris remains unproven.

Biden’s links with
the Wexford Kennedys

The ‘Emigrant Flame’ on the Quays at New Ross, Co Wexford … the great-grandparents of John F Kennedy and Joe Biden may have left New Ross for America around the same time (Photograph Patrick Comerford)

Paul Roche was amazed when he came across Joe Biden’s links with Co Wexford. Already Co Wexford had one of the most significant connections with any American president in John Fitzgerald Kennedy, whose great-grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, was from Dunganstown, Co Wexford.

‘Where the Roches lived was only 18 miles from Dunganstown,’ he told the Wexford People. ‘Both great-grandparents possibly left New Ross around the same time for America.’

One genealogist said, ‘it’s fair to say’ that Joe Biden is ‘the most Irish of Irish presidents since John F Kennedy.’ The Kennedys were from Co Wexford and the Fitzgeralds from Bruff, Co Limerick.

Thomas Fitzgerald from Bruff emigrated to Boston and married Rosanna Cox from Co Cavan. Their son, John Francis (‘Honey’) Fitzgerald, was Mayor of Boston, and the father of Rose Kennedy, mother of the brothers John F, Bobbie and Ted Kennedy.

* * *

The John F Kennedy memorial and sculpture on the quayside in New Ross (Photograph Patrick Comerford)

In all, 22 US Presidents to date have Irish ancestry, from parents to seven times great grandparents and the children of immigrants. Although none was actually born in Ireland – if they were, they would not be eligible for the Presidency – many have come back to Ireland to visit their ancestral homes.

Andrew Jackson, the seventh President (1829-1837), was the first with Irish ancestry. He was born in 1767 to parents who emigrated from Carrickfergus just two years earlier with their two Irish-born sons. His father died at 29, just a few weeks before his birth.

James Buchanan also had Irish parents. His father, also James Buchanan, emigrated from Milford, Co Donegal, in 1783, and he raised James and his ten siblings in Pennsylvania.

Other presidents with immediate Irish ancestry include James Knox Polk, Ulysses S Grant, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, the Bush father and son, and – of course – Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

As for Donald Trump, his only connection with Ireland seems to be his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare. And that is probably more than enough.

The Trump golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare … Donald Trump’s only connection with Ireland (Photograph Patrick Comerford)

This feature was first published in January 2021 in the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough)

‘How long will you keep us in suspense?’ … ‘I give them eternal life, and they will never perish’

‘My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10: 27) … street art in Carlingford, Co Louth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 12 July 2020

The Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V)

9.30 a.m. The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2): Castletown Church, Kilcornan, Co Limerick

11.30 a.m. The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2): Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick

Readings: I Peter 2: 1-10; Psalm 121; John 10: 22-29

‘Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the Temple-like portico at Plassey House in the University of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Last week, we reopened the churches in Askeaton and Tarbert, and this morning we are back in Castletown and Rathkeale. This is our second Sunday as we reopen our churches this morning, and, perhaps, we are beginning to cope with this new stage in the Covid-19 pandemic.

I know, many of us have mixed feelings. As the statistics rise again, the weekend behaviour of many people must leave us wondering whether, in fact, things are getting better.

Is this just a temporary relaxation of the lockdown?

Is everything going to be all right?

We are conscious of those who are not here this morning, because they are feeling vulnerable, even fearful.

If you were not in church last week, then you are going to find the restrictions this morning strange and off-putting: wearing masks, leaving contact details for tracing, sitting in pews that are not of your choice, wondering about the markings.

Like last week, there are things that are different this morning: fewer readings and hymns, so we spend less time in a closed space; listening to but not singing hymns; not sharing the peace; the strange way of administering the Holy Communion … We are trying to make ourselves safe, but many of us are still feeling awkward, uncomfortable and vulnerable.

Is this the ‘new normal’?

Hopefully, we can return to living out the ideal of the Church as community, the church as the living body of the Christ … ‘we being many are one body, for we all share in the one bread.’

How do we balance the joy of reopening our churches with the obvious restraints we must respect?

How do we balance our celebrations with the real mourning and grieving that our families, our parish, our community, our diocese, our nation, all need to acknowledge?

It is difficult to balance the joy of reopening this church with the obvious restraints surrounding everything we do.

No wonder many people are going to ask where God has been in the midst of this crisis. Has God been present in the church? Has God heard our prayers? Is God going to answer our prayers?

Our psalm this morning, Psalm 121, promises us that God will guard us and look after our well-being, our health, and our lives, both day and night.

The Lord will keep us from all evil. ‘The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.’

In the New Testament reading (I Peter 2: 1-10), we are told we have come out of darkness into God’s light, and have received God’s mercy. We are asked to put behind us all the problems that marked previous ways of living and to enjoy being in the presence of God.

We are reminded that the Church is not just bricks and mortar. The Church is – or should be – a living presence in the world today, and we are like living stones, being built into a spiritual house.

The cornerstone of this house is Christ himself. Although he has been rejected by others (the builders), he has become the very cornerstone of this new edifice that is the Church.

As for us, we are the Church because we are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.’

If we have been waiting in suspense for many months for this church to open once again, then Christ in the Gospel reading (John 10: 22-29) reminds us what all our waiting has been for.

He promises us not immediate satisfaction but eternal life: ‘I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.’

No matter what fears we may continue to have in the weeks and months to come, Christ in his love for us ensures that we cannot be separated from God’s love for us and God’s care for us.

The Dean of Lichfield Cathedral, the Very Revd Adrian Dorber, concluded his weekly letter on Friday with this thought:

‘Tough times are ahead but we live by hope. Bishop David Jenkins of Durham used to say, “you can’t keep a good God down”. I agree. It’s time for renewed confidence in his love and purpose.’

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

‘Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house’ (I Peter 2: 5) … a cross carved into a corner stone at the church in Vlatadon monastery in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I Peter 2: 1-10 (NRSVA):

1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation – 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:

‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’

7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner’,

8 and

‘A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

John 10: 22-29 (NRSVA):

22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ 25 Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.’

‘Jesus was walking in the Temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the portico of the Duomo di Sant’Andrea in Amalfi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introductory prayer:

Lord, be with us as we open the door.
Come in with us, go out with us.
Do not sleep when we sleep,
but watch over us, protect us and keep us safe,
our only help and maker. (cf Psalm 121)

The Collect:

Almighty God,
we praise you for the many blessings
you have given to those who worship you here:
and we pray that all who seek you in this place may find you,
and, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
may become a living temple acceptable to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
Hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Introduction to the Peace:

Peace to you from God our heavenly Father.
Peace from his Son Jesus Christ who is our peace.
Peace from the Holy Spirit the Life-giver.
The peace of the Triune God be always with you.
And also with you.

Preface:

You have revealed your glory
as the glory of your Son and of the Holy Spirit:
three persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour,
yet one Lord, one God,
ever to be worshipped and adored:

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father in heaven,
whose Church on earth is a sign of your heavenly peace,
an image of the new and eternal Jerusalem:
grant us in the days of our pilgrimage
that, fed with the living bread of heaven,
and united in the body of your Son,
we may be the temple of your presence,
the place of your glory on earth,
and a sign of your peace in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Concluding Prayer and Blessing:

Heavenly Father,
you have not made us for darkness and death,
but for life with you for ever.
Without you we have nothing to hope for;
with you we have nothing to fear.
Lift us from anxiety and guilt
to the light and peace of your presence,
and set the glory of your love before us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Liturgical colour: Red. Green is the colour for Ordinary time, Red symbolises both the Holy Spirit and the witness of the Church in the lives of the great saints and martyrs.

Hymns:

330: God is here! As we his people (CD 20)
374: When all thy mercies, O my God (CD 22)

‘Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon’ (John 10: 23) … the Temple-like portico built by the Williamson brothers at Emo Court in Co Laois (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

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

The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

Material from Common Worship is © The Archbishop’s Council, the Church of England.

Two priests in one diocese, and they both claimed to be chiefs of the O’Hanlon clan

The church ruins in Ballylongford, Co Kerry … the Revd Alexander Hanlon worked in the parish throughout the Great Famine in the 1840s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I was writing this morning about some of the unusual titles and exotic genealogical claims of some of the priests and bishops in the Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert over the centuries.

But, perhaps, the most curious title claimed by any of the clergy in this diocese was the title of ‘The O’Hanlon,’ an ancient title for the head of a Gaelic Irish clan. It is even more intriguing that this title was claimed by two near-contemporaries, whose time in the diocese almost over-lapped, yet they seem to have no close ties of kinship with each other.

The Revd Dr Alexander Patrick Hanlon (1814-1898), who called himself ‘The O’Hanlon,’ was born at Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, the son of Patrick Hanlon, a local Roman Catholic farmer.

Hanlon entered Trinity College Dublin late in 1839 at the age of 23, and graduated BA in 1844. He later studied for ordination and was ordained deacon in 1846 by the Bishop of Killaloe for the Diocese of Ardfert, and priest in 1847.

He was first a curate in 1846-1848 in Murhir, 4.5 miles south of Tarbert, close to border of Co Kerry and Co Limerick, making him one of my predecessors. The main town in the parish today is Moyvane or Newtownsandes. He seems to have lived in Ballylongford, and today Murhir and Ballylongford are part of the Kilnaughtin Parish within the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes.

During his time in this parish, he was praised for his ‘unremitting’ and ‘constant’ work with local people suffering during the Famine and for his ‘genuine charity.’ He freely distributed milk, bread and medicine, working with orphans and the elderly, and it was said: ‘ Not a house in which fever is to be found (and they are the greater in number), but he visits in person.’

Moyvane was at the heart of the Revd Alexander Hanlon’s parish on the Kerry/Limerick border (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

He later served in parish ministry at Kingscourt, Co Meath (1848-1849), Altedesert, Co Tyrone, in the Diocese of Armagh (1849-1851), Saint Caimin’s (Iniscaltra), Mountshannon, Co Clare, in the Diocese of Killaloe (1851-1871), Tallow in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore (1872-1875) and Kilashee and Ballymackcormick, Co Longford, in the Diocese of Ardagh (1872-1875).

He seems to have been considering an appointment to Dingle parish during the vacancy in 1864 and was visiting the parish when his wife suffered an epileptic attack while bathing in Dingle Harbour with their young children. She died soon after, and she was buried in Saint James’s churchyard in Dingle.

Hanlon stayed on in Mounshannon for another few years, and he received the degrees LL.B. and LL.D. from Trinity College Dublin in 1865. In a speech in 1867, he defended his work with the Irish Society and the Irish Church Missions, but he was at pains to deny he had any antagonism towards Roman Catholicism.

He married a second time in 1871; his second wife Rebecca Parker was a daughter of James Parker of Ballhalmet House, Tallow, Co Waterford. A year later, he moved from Mountshannon to Tallow Parish in west Waterford, and remained there until he became deputy secretary of the Irish Society in 1879. He was feted at a garden party in Dugort organised by the Achill Mission in 1889.

He died at Ballyhalmet House, Tallow, Co Waterford, at the age of 84 on 10 December 1898, and was buried inside the ruins of Kilwatermoy Church.

The French Church, Portarlington … William Hanlon was born in Portarlington in 1849 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

His younger, near contemporary, the Revd William Hanlon (1849-1916), also worked in ministry in these dioceses and also claimed the title of The O’Hanlon. He was the only son of Dr Michael William Hanlon (1810-1890) of Portarlington, and a grandson of Captain William Hanlon of Mountmellick.

He was born on 20 August 1849. He studied at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1873, MA 1876), and was ordained deacon in 1874 and priest in 1875 by the Bishop of Cork. He was curate in Youghal, Co Cork (1874-1877) before becoming Rector of Dromtariffe, Co Cork (1877-1879).

Dromtariffe parish is halfway between Millstreet and Kanturk in north-west Co Cork, but at the time it was in the Diocese of Ardfert, and in the Roman Catholic church it remains in the Diocese of Kerry.

In 1877, Hanlon married Elizabeth Letitia Elrington, daughter of the Vicar of Swords, and granddaughter of the Revd PW Drew, Rector of Youghal, and he moved back from Ardfert diocese to the Diocese of Cork and Cloyne in 1879 when he became Rector of Innishannon, Co Cork (1879-1916). His father died at Hanlon’s rectory in Co Cork on 6 July 1890.

In 1907, Hanlon assumed the title of ‘The O’Hanlon’ by deed registered in the Irish Court of Chancery. Along with the title of ‘The O’Hanlon,’ he also claimed to be chief of the Sept of O’Hanlon and Hereditary Standard Bearer of the King in Ulster. In the pedigree he compiled in support of his claims, Hanlon said his lineal ancestor had given Saint Patrick the site in Armagh for his first cathedral.

Hanlon claimed this ancestry down through 1244, when Henry III invoked the help of the O’Hanlons and other Ulster clan chieftains against the Scots. From there, Hanlon claimed descent from Patrick O’Hanlon, lived in Co Louth, son of Phelim O’Hanlon, and who was named as an outlaw in 1660. Patrick O’Hanlon’s son Shane settled in Portarlington at the end of the 17th century, and became a member of the Church of Ireland. His son Michael held land in the Portarlington area, and his only son was said to be Captain William Hanlon, the father of Dr Michael Hanlon.

Hanlon, who was also an honorary chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, died at Innishannon Rectory on 26 April 1916, two days after the Easter Rising broke out in Dublin.

Redmond O’Hanlon was said to have escaped by swimming across Carlingford Lough (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This all sounds fantastic. Except, for the minor detail that the last person before either of these two 19th century priests to have been accepted generally as the head of the family was the rapparee Redmond O’Hanlon, also known as ‘the Count.’

Redmond O’Hanlon was probably born in Poyntzpass, Co Armagh, ca 1640, but local lore says he was born at the foot of Slieve Gullion, a legend that helped to link him the mythical hero Cu Chulainn.

Redmond’s father, Loughlin O’Hanlon, was the heir to the chiefdom of the O’Hanlon clan. Eochaidh O’Hanlon had ruled all the land from Newry to Armagh in 1599, but his son sided with Sir Cahir O’Dochertaigh in a doomed rebellion. Eochaidh Og was exiled to Sweden, while most of the O’Hanlon lands were confiscated and given to Scottish and English planters. The O’Hanlons lost their castle at Tandragee in 1611 when it was given to Oliver St John.

Some of their land was returned to the O’Hanlon family and Redmond O’Hanlon was educated at ‘an English school.’ However, it is said, he fled to France after the Irish Confederation was defeated in 1652 and joined the French army.

After the Caroline Restoration, Redmond O’Hanlon returned to Ireland and installed himself as clan chief over the old O’Hanlon territories, styling himself ‘the Count.’ He was declared an outlaw in 1674 and became a rapparee around Newry and Carlingford Lough, and was described as being ‘pre-eminent among all the Tories in Ulster.’

In one incident in 1679, Henry St John and the Revd Lawrence Power of Tandragee were attacked by a group of bandits, and St John was shot dead. O’Hanlon was blamed for the attack, and a reward of £200 was offered for his apprehension.

Art McCall O’Hanlon, Redmond’s foster brother, shot Redmond O’Hanlon in an exchange on the night of 25 April 1681 at a camp in the hills above Eight Mile Bridge in Co Down. By the time soldiers arrived to retrieve his body, Willie O’Shiels had severed Redmond’s head and fled. His head was put on display at Downpatrick prison.

After Redmond O’Hanlon’s death, other members of the O’Hanlon family and their circle were hunted down as ‘Tories,’ and his surviving family fled to Co Donegal. Redmond O’Hanlon was originally buried at Ballynabeck, near Tandragee, but local stories say his son, also Redmond O’Hanlon, exhumed his body, and reburied him in the Church of Ireland churchyard at Conwal Parish in Letterkenny … which is a long way from Portarlington and Drumtarifffe, and a long way from Miltown Malbay and Moyvane.

As for Tandragee Castle, it was rebuilt by the Montagu family, Dukes of Manchester, in 1836, and remained in their family until 1939. Today, it is a popular tourist attraction known as ‘Tayto Castle.’

Buildings of the former Achill Mission in Dugort … Alexander Hanlon was feted by the Achill Mission at a tea party in Dugort in 1889 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A Sunday at famine commemorations in Glasnevin and ordinations in Belfast

The National Famine Commemoration takes place in Glasnevin Cemetery this morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

It looks like being a busy Sunday today [11 September 2016].

I have been invited to represent the Church of Ireland at the National Famine Commemoration, which takes place at 11 a.m. in Glasnevin Cemetery. The attendance includes President Michael D Higgins.

I have been asked to write one of the prayers for this commemoration, and hope to use this prayer this morning:

In the Beatitudes, we are reminded: ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled’ (Matthew 5: 6, NRSV) or ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.’

This morning, as we remember those who were driven from this land in their hunger, in their thirst, and in their quest for justice and mercy, and how they left on the high seas, let us pray for those who are driven from their own lands as they hungered and thirsted for justice and mercy.

Let us pray in particular for the people of Syria, for those who are on the high seas in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, and those who flee places where climate change and our inaction deprives them of justice and forces them to choose between, on the one hand, hunger and thirst at home, and short measures of justice and mercy in the countries they reach.

May God hear our prayers in our words this morning, and may those who seek justice and mercy see the response to those prayers in our action.

Lord God, we ask you to open our eyes and ears to those who seek justice and mercy, to open our mouths to speak out on their behalf, and to open our hands in generosity and in meaningful action.

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Later today, I hope to be in Belfast for the service of Ordination of Deacons in Saint Anne’s Cathedral at 3.30 p.m. The Revd Danielle McCullagh will be ordained to serve an internship in Saint Brigid’s, Mallusk, and the Revd Dr Christopher St John will be ordained to serve an internship in the parish of Holy Trinity, Woodburn, Carrickfergus.

Perhaps on the way back to Dublin later this evening I shall stop to take a break in the old walled town of Carlingford, Co Louth, and to go for a walk along the harbour.

From summer in the Mediterranean to a wet, rainy weekend in Ireland

A walk along the shore at Carlingford Lough on the way back from Belfast to Dublin last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

Arriving back in Dublin from Greece in the early hours of Sunday morning [13 September 2015] was a real shock to the system.

The temperatures in Crete all last week were in the high 30s each day, the skies were blue, and I was able to swim in the warm blue waters of the Mediterranean and walk along the long sandy stretch of beach east of Retymnon each day.

But I awoke to a chilly Dublin, and as two of us set off for Belfast late on Sunday morning or early on Sunday afternoon, it was a cold day, and it rained heavily for much of the journey, making driving conditions on the M50 and the M1 quite treacherous.

With an old friend from Lichfield, Dean Pete Wilcox of Liverpool, in Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast

I was in Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, for the ordination of four students as deacon. It is not possible in this ordination season to get to all the ordinations, but happily many of the other students whose ordinations I have been missing were there too.

There was a warm welcome from both Bishop Alan Abernethy of Connor and Dean John Mann of Belfast, and I was asked to read the Epistle reading (Romans 12: 1-12).

It was a pleasure too to find that the preacher was an old friend, the Very Revd Pete Wilcox, who is Dean of Liverpool Cathedral. He and his wife Catherine Fox have has been good friends since he was the Chancellor of Lichfield Cathedral and they lived in the Cathedral Close in Lichfield.

Sheep hung out to dry … clever street art in Carlingford, Co Louth (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

On the road back from Belfast, the rain had eased off and the fields of the Down and Armagh countryside were arrayed in autumn colours of green and gold.

In Carlingford, Co Louth, two of us stopped for a meal in the Bay Tree. This is a charming mediaeval town, with a number of castles and mediaeval houses and buildings.

Before darkness closed in on Carlingford and before going to eat, I went for a stroll around the harbour, and then through the narrow streets of the town, where some of the vacant buildings are decorated with captivating and amusing paintings.

Later, after dinner, I had another brief walk along the shoreline. It was dark by now, but Carlingford Castle was lit up, and bird calls could still be heard from the waters of Carlingford Lough.

Summer is gone, and I shall have to wait until next year for hopes of Mediterranean summer sun. But hopefully autumn may linger a little and allow some more walks in the countryside and the beaches.

Carlingford Castle lit up last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

A walk along the shore at dusk in mediaeval Carlingford

Dusk on the shores of Carlingford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

On the way back from Belfast to Dublin on Sunday evening, we broke the journey halfway at Ballymascanlon, and left the M1 for a walk and a meal in Carlingford, on the shores of Carlingford Lough and beneath the slopes of Slieve Foy on the Cooley Peninsula in north Co Louth.

Carlingford is full of character and claims to be one of the best preserved mediaeval villages in Ireland. The Vikings may have had a sheltered harbour and a temporary base in Carlingford Lough in the eighth and ninth Centuries, although there are no records to support this and the only evidence to support this claim is the name Carlingford (Old Norse, Kerlingfjǫrðr, “narrow sea-inlet of the hag”).

King John’s Castle stands on a rocky outcrop overlooking the harbour and Carlingford Lough (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

In the 1180s, the Anglo-Norman adventurer Hugh de Lacy laid the foundations for a castle on a strategic outcrop of rock. But the castle became known as King John’s Castle after King John visited Carlingford in 1210.

The eastern part of the castle was built in the mid-13th century. The original castle had an enclosed D-shaped courtyard with two rectangular towers at the entrance. The eastern part of the castle, built in 1261, included a number of rooms and a great hall, and further alterations and additions were made in the 15th and 16th centuries.

A town quickly grew up under the shadows of the castle, and because of its strategic position Carlingford quickly became a thriving port.

Although the town was burnt to the ground by a Scottish raiding party in 1388, Carlingford enjoyed mercantile prosperity in the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries, and received five charters in the time – from the first in 1326 by Edward II’s charter in 1326 to a charter granted by James I to 1619.

Carlingford’s rich merchants built a pretty town, and surviving gems from that time include the remains of the Mint and Taffe’s Castle.

However, the wars and conflicts of the mid and late 17th century severely damaged the economy of Carlingford, and by 1744 the town was in a “state of ruin.”

Because no heavy industries developed in Carlingford, the town has retained much of its mediaeval charm and many of its archaeological artefacts remain relatively intact.

Taaffe’s Castle, a fortified town house, survives from the early 16th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

We parked beside Taaffe’s Castle, a fortified town house that once belonged to the Taaffe merchant family who became Viscounts Taafe and Barons Ballymote in 1628 and Earls of Carlingford in 1661. The main tower of the castle was built in the early 16th century while the extension to the side is a late addition. The ground floor probably served as a trading depot while the upper floors provided the Taaffe family with a town house.

Nicholas Taaffe, 2nd Earl of Carlingford, was killed at the Battle of the Boyne fighting for King James in 1690. After the Williamite wars, the family joined the flight of the Wild Geese from Ireland, and moved to Austria.

Despite their Jacobite loyalties, the family titles were restored, and the fourth and last Earl of Carlingford was Theobald Taaffe, who died in 1738.

The subsidiary family titles, Viscount Taaffe and Baron Ballymote, survived in a branch of the family that also held the Austrian title of count or Graf von Taaffe. But Heinrich Taaffe (1872-1928), Graf von Taaffe and 12th Viscount Taaffe, aligned himself with Austria and Germany against Britain in World War I, and the Taaffe title was one of only three primary titles – along with those of the Duke of Albany and the Duke of Cumberland – declared forfeit under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917.

In 1919, the Austrian title was abolished along with all other Austrian noble titles, and Heinrich became plain Mr Taaffe. In 1967, with the death of the 12th Viscount’s son and heir, Edward Charles Richard Taaffe (1898-1967), all these titles and any claims to them became extinct.

Today, Taaffe’s Castle is a pub, with an attractive flower-filled beer garden between the modern premises and the old fortified tower-house.

The Market Square … the main street of Carlingford, with a layout that dates back to 1358 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

From Taaffe’s Castle we strolled into Market Square, now the main street of Carlingford, but with records of a weekly market dating back to 1358.

We were taken aback by the choice of restaurants in Carlingford on Sunday night. Eventually, across the street from Taafee’s Castle, we opted for the Baytree, a chef-owned family business linked with the Belvedere House Bed and Breakfast. There, we had hand-made Agnoletti of sweet potato and spinach, served in a gorgonzola cream sauce, and salmon, and two glasses of house wine.

Darkness was closing it as we left the restaurant, and a strong wind had blown over the potted bay trees at the door into the Baytree. The tide was in, and there was no opportunity for a walk on the beach or a further stroll through the mediaeval town.

The Baytree … dinner for two in Carlingford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

We only had a short stroll along the shoreline by the harbour. But we never got to see the Tholsel, the Mint, the Dominican Friary, the Town Wall, Ghan House or the former Church of Ireland parish church, the Church of the Holy Trinity, now used as a local heritage centre.

A silver moon was rising in the east, and darkness enfolded the countryside as we rejoined the Belfast-Dublin road at Ballymascanlon, north of Dundlak.