Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 172, Wednesday 30 October 2024

‘Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last’ (Luke 13: 30) … ‘Punchestown Conyngham Cup, 1872, The Double’, John Sturgess (1840-1908), one of a set of four coloured aquatints (1874)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Last Sunday after Trinity (27 October 2024).

Before the day begins, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, 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.

‘Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last’ (Luke 13: 30) … being bowled out first allowed me to enjoy the match … an old postcard seen in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 13: 22-30 (NRSVA):

22 Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few be saved?’ He said to them, 24 ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”, then in reply he will say to you, “I do not know where you come from.” 26 Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” 27 But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!” 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. 29 Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’

‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able’ (Luke 13: 24) … the ‘Holy Door’ in Saint Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

Like many of the shophouses in this part of Kuching, the entrance to our flat is through a narrow door and up narrow steep stairs. And we are so high up above the street, that we cannot hear anyone knocking at the door below.

A few weeks ago, in our Sunday Gospel reading, we read how the disciples James and John wanted to be in the ‘in-gang’, to be the first ones in the door, to be picked for the first team, and to have the best seats.

I never made it to the first team in sports at school, perhaps to the disappointment of my parents, and to the reluctant acceptance of my teachers, who always told me I never reached my potential, either intellectually or physically.

That still did not stop from enjoying sports later in life. I tried valiantly, but failed to tog out for Wexford Wanderers when I was in my early 20s, and I still tried to play cricket with the Irish Times team when I was in my early 40s, but was mercifully bowled out immediately.

My experiences at trying to play cricket in middle age reminded me of an old postcard I once saw in Cambridge: being bowled out at an early stage allowed me to enjoy watching the rest of a game.

I still remember my father trying to teach me to row when I was 15. But I was too late in years when I got to study at Cambridge, nor was I there long enough, to think about taking up rowing.

But that does not dull my enthusiasm for rugby, soccer, cricket and rowing.

It sounds glib to say now, but it should never be about winning, but about taking part, and how we take part, whether it is with enthusiasm and honesty on one hand, or, on the other, half-heartedly or, even worse, determined to win at the expense of others who deserve recognition.

The saying ‘It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game’ is often attributed to the American sportsman and coach Grantland Rice (1880-1954), who was a highly regarded sports writer who was known for his eloquent and philosophical approach to sports journalism.

Rice emphasised the importance of integrity, sportsmanship, and character over mere victory.

Winners get the medals and get to write biographies that are published. But, as I found out at a second-hand book stall at a charity sale, few people want to buy the memoirs of Michele Smith or Lance Armstrong.

Even among the best sellers, Jeffrey Archer’s real character was thinly veiled in some of the Freudian choices for the titles of his blockbusters. First Among Equals (1984) betrays many of Archer’s own pretensions and lies about his life. The title of his The Eleventh Commandment (1998) refers to the rule, ‘Thou Shalt Not Get Caught’ – but Archer was eventually caught and jailed for perjury and many critics accuse him of plagiarism.

I hope I have learned in life, not to worry about coming first or last, or how I have performed when I have been chosen or selected. To be among the saints and the disciples should be good enough, and I hope never to be jealous of the achievements or recognition of others, for ‘people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God’ (Luke 13: 29).

Fact or Fiction? Winners get the medals and write their biographies … but who reads the biographies of cheats and liars? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 30 October 2024):

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), is ‘All Saints’ Day’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by the Revd Dr Duncan Dormor, General Secretary, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 30 October 2024) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for archbishops and senior leaders across the Anglican Communion. Grant them wisdom and discernment as they guide the Church and its people.

The Collect:

Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of all grace,
your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry
with the bread of his life
and the word of his kingdom:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your true and living bread;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Merciful God,
teach us to be faithful in change and uncertainty,
that trusting in your word
and obeying your will
we may enter the unfailing joy of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last’ (Luke 13: 30) … my lack of skills never dulled my enthusiasm for Cricket (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

How James Joyce refers to Penny Mordaunt’s family in ‘Portrait of the Artist’

Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare … James Joyce’s contemporaries included Patrick Rath, who makes passing appearances in ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’

Patrick Comerford

I am writing in the Wexford People and other newspapers in Co Wexford this week about Penny Mordaunt and the Tory leadership hopeful’s deep family roots in Co Wexford.

But there is also an interesting – even if distant – link with James Joyce too.

Esther or Hester Mordaunt (ca1843-1881) of Clone married Francis Rath of Garrydaniel in Enniscorthy on 15 September 1869. She was a sister of Edward Mordaunt (ca1831-1917), the great-great-grandfather of Penny Mordaunt.

Esther and Patrick Rath emigrated to Argentina, where they farmed extensively. She died in 1881 and is buried in the Mordaunt family plot marked with a headstone erected by her husband, Francis, who by then was a wealthy sheep-farmer in San Pedro, Buenos Aires.

Their only son, Patrick Rath (1873-1936), then, is a first cousin of Penny Mordaunt’s great-grandfather, Patrick Mordaunt (1874-1914), a warrant officer in a cavalry regiment.

Patrick Rath was aged about eight when his mother died in Argentina and he was sent home to Ireland to be educated in Clongowes Wood College. He was the Paddy Rath, a fellow student at Clongowes Wood College, who is referred to twice by James Joyce in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, first published in 1916.

James Joyce was at school in Clongowes Wood from 1888 to 1891. Many of his contemporaries in Clogowes appear as characters in Portrait. They include ‘decent’ Fleming, Jack Lawton, ‘Nasty’ Roche, Wells who pushes Stephan Dedalus into a the ‘square ditch,’ Athy, Aubrey Mills, and Mike Flynn.

Other schoolboys in Clongowes at the time who are named by Joyce include Rody Kickham, Cecil Thunder, Simon Moonan, Hamilton Rowan, Dominic Kelly, Tusker Boyle, Jimmy Magee, Paddy Rath, Corrigan, Cantwell, Saurin and Anthony McSwiney. They serve as foils and sharp contrasts to Stephen Dedalus, representing the opposite of Stephen's artistic temperament and introspective behaviour. For the most part, they are either crude, disrespectful, or overtly physical.

Soon after he arrives at Clongowes, Stephen Dedalus, Joyce’s alter ego, is in the refectory when he observes: ‘Then the higher line fellows began to come down along the matting in the middle of the refectory, Paddy Rath and Jimmy Magee and the Spaniard who was allowed to smoke cigars and the little Portuguese who wore the woolly cap. And then the lower line tables and the tables of the third line. And every single fellow had a different way of walking.’

As he is on his way to receive corporal punishment, Stephen Dedalus wonders ‘What would happen? He heard the fellows of the higher line stand up at the top of the refectory and heard their steps as they came down the matting: Paddy Rath and Jimmy Magee and the Spaniard and the Portuguese and the fifth was big Corrigan who was going to be flogged by Mr Gleeson.’

After leaving school, Patrick M Rath wrote ‘Up Country in the Argentine’ for the school magazine, The Clongownian (Christmas, 1900, pp 14-17). Rath addresses his paper to ‘old Tullabeggars and Clongownians’ and describes the life on his ranch from a traditional perspective, with many colourful descriptions of the pampas and of work on a sheep-farm and depictions of gauchos similar to William Bulfin’s characters.

Paddy Rath was living on Northumberland Road in Dublin when he married Sarah Murtagh on 4 July 1906. She was the daughter of Francis Murtagh, a shopkeeper, of Elm Grove, Ranelagh. The witnesses are their wedding in Rathmines were Eileen Meehan and James M Magee, the ‘Jimmy Magee’ also referred to by James Joyce in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Paddy also played rugby for Bective Rangers. He and Sarah had no children. His funeral in 1936 was attended by the leader of the opposition and former Taoiseach, WT Cosgrave, and his wife Louisa (Flanagan), as well as members of the extended Mordaunt family.

Paddy Rath and his cousin Patrick Mordaunt (1874-1914) were contemporaries of Edward Mordaunt (1866-1957), a Jesuit who was born in Gorey, Co Wexford. Although Edward was a lay brother in the Jesuit community in Milltown Park, perhaps this explains why Paddy Rath was sent to school with the Jesuits in Clongowes Wood, and Patrick Mordaunt’s son, New Mordaunt, Penny Mordaunt’s grandfather, was sent to school with the Jesuits in Mungret College, Co Limerick.

At least three women in this Mordaunt family were nuns: Elizabeth Mordaunt (born 1867) was a Sister of Charity teaching at Saint Paul the Apostle, Monkgate, York (1891, 1901, 1911); Margaret Mordaunt (born 1879) was a Sister of Charity teaching at Saint Patrick’s Convent, York Road, Leeds (1911); and Mary Mordaunt (born 1880 ) was a Sister of Charity of Saint Paul in Saint Paul's Convent, King’s Norton, Worcestershire (1901).

They are further interesting insights into the family background of the Tory hopeful Penny Mordaunt who was also educated at a convent school.

‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ (1916) makes two references to Paddy Rath … he was a first cousin of Penny Mordaunt’s great-grandfather, Patrick Mordaunt

Praying with the Psalms on Trinity Sunday: 12 June 2022 (Psalm 109)

‘Do not be silent, O God of my praise’ (Psalm 109: 1) … ‘A Thoughtful Silence’ by Eleanor Swan, in Glazed Stoneware, the Kildare Gallery at Carton House (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is Trinity Sunday (12 June 2022). Later this morning, I am reading one of the lessons in a short broadcast service recorded for Clare FM, and I plan to attend the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford.

But, before today begins, I am taking some time this morning to continue my reflections from the seasons of Lent and Easter, including my morning reflections drawing on the Psalms.

In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 109:

Psalm 109 is sometimes known by the Latin name Deus, laudem, from its opening words, Deus, laudem meam ne tacueris (‘Do not be silent, O God of my praise’). In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this is Psalm 108.

This is one of the Imprecatory Psalms, invoking judgment, calamity or curses on one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God. The major imprecatory Psalms include Psalm 69 and Psalm 109, while Psalms 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 79, 83, 94, 137, 139 and 143 are also considered imprecatory.

Psalm 109 is attributed to King David and noted for containing some of the most severe curses in the Bible, such as verses 12 and 13.

This Psalm opens with the psalmist’s plea (verses 1-5), followed by an extensive imprecation (verses 6-19, concluded or summed up in verse 20). The renewed pleading in verse 21 is made with appeals on the grounds of God’s steadfast love, the details of the psalmist’s own misery, and the request for vengeance on the enemies. But the lament ends with the vow to offer praise, which is common in this type of psalm (verses 30-31).

In verses 8-14, the curse by the psalmist extends through three generations: on the person (verse 8), on the person’s children (verses 9-13), and on the person’s parents (verse 14). The extinction of a family and its name was considered the most extreme calamity.

In verse 4, there is evil given ‘in return for my love.’ The curses here are consistent with Proverbs 17: 13, where ‘if evil is given for good then evil will not depart from their house.’ Returning evil for good is also seen in other psalms, namely 41, 69 and here in 109.

In verses 2 and 30, there is an inclusio near the opening and closing of the Psalm: in the opening, the Psalmist is facing the lies of accusers mouths, while in the close his own mouth greatly praises God.

In verse 12 (‘May there be no one to do him a kindness, nor anyone to pity his orphaned children’), the Hebrew phrase (משך חסד, mō-šêḵ chā-seḏ) can also mean ‘to draw out mercy’ in the sense of ‘causing it to continue and last’ (see Psalm 36: 11, Jeremiah 31: 3).

The close of Psalm 109 has God at the right hand of the poor man, in striking contrast with the opening of Psalm 110, where God calls a man to sit at his right hand, made forever like the priest king, Melchizedek.

Psalm 109 was used by Thomas Hardy in his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. Michael Henchard, the protagonist of the novel, is drinking with the choir after practice when he sees his rival, Donald Farfrae, whom he hates. He later persuades the choir to sing Psalm 109. The choir master remarks of this psalm that, ‘Twasn’t made for singing. We chose it once when the gypsy stole the parson’s mare, thinking to please him, but parson were quite upset. Whatever Servant David were thinking about when he made a Psalm that nobody can sing without disgracing himself, I can’t fathom.’

‘May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit’ (Psalm 109: 10) … the Famine Memorial by the sculptor Rowan Gillespie on Custom House Quay, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 109 (NRSVA)

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

1 Do not be silent, O God of my praise.
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
3 They beset me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
4 In return for my love they accuse me,
even while I make prayer for them.
5 So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.

6 They say, ‘Appoint a wicked man against him;
let an accuser stand on his right.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin.
8 May his days be few;
may another seize his position.
9 May his children be orphans,
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children wander about and beg;
may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit.
11 May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.
12 May there be no one to do him a kindness,
nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.
13 May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation.
14 May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the Lord,
and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually,
and may his memory be cut off from the earth.
16 For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy
and the broken-hearted to their death.
17 He loved to curse; let curses come on him.
He did not like blessing; may it be far from him.
18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat,
may it soak into his body like water,
like oil into his bones.
19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around himself,
like a belt that he wears every day.’

20 May that be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
of those who speak evil against my life.
21 But you, O Lord my Lord,
act on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is pierced within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love.
27 Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but you will bless.
Let my assailants be put to shame; may your servant be glad.
29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonour;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle.
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save them from those who would condemn them to death.

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Focus 9/99,’ which is introduced today by the Revd M Benjamin Inbaraj, Director of the Church of South India’s SEVA department. He writes:

‘Focus 9/99 is a programme in which one local church in each of the 99 districts of the five southern states of India, where the Church of South India is based, is trained along with representatives of the community on the promotion of child rights. They learn to identify and report instances of violation and abuse of the girl child to the respective State Commissioners for the Protection of Child Rights and to the National Commissioner.

‘The campaign is focused on rights and justice issues concerning the education, food, nutrition, and health of the girl child that will secure her future. Care providers and significant others are trained in legislation that will protect and enhance the dignity and rights of the girl child. A child protection policy is drawn up during the course of the campaign to demonstrate the Church of South India’s commitment to protect the children from harm and abuse. Joining with the global initiative of the World Council of Churches and UNICEF, the Church of South India is also working on the ‘principles for child-friendly churches.’

Sunday 12 June 2022 (Trinity Sunday, World Day Against Child Labour):

‘Let the little children come to me,
And do not hinder them.’
Almighty God,
You teach us to care for children.
Help us to prevent their exploitation.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Today is Trinity Sunday … a sign on the notice board at Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

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

Poems for Holy Week 2021: 6, Katharine Tynan, ‘All in an April Evening’

‘Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world’ … the Byzantine-style crucifix by Laurence King (1907-1981) in the crypt of Saint Mary le Bow on Cheapside in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Friday 2 April 2021

Good Friday, The Three Hours, 12 noon to 3 p.m.

Reading: John 18: 28 to 19: 16a.

Our second poem for these ‘Three Hours’ on Good Friday is ‘All in an April Evening,’ by the Dublin-born poet Katharine Tynan (1859-1931), or Katharine Tynan Hinkinson.

Her nephews included the comedian Dave Allen (born David Tynan O’Mahony) and his brother Peter Tynan O’Mahony, one of the journalists who recruited me to the staff of The Irish Times in the mid-1970s.

Despite its opening line, the title of this poem is taken from the last stanza, drawing attention to the real subject matter, which is not the beauty of pastoral scenes in the countryside at Spring time, but the Crucifixion and death of Christ on the evening of Good Friday.

TS Eliot opens ‘The Waste Land’ with the words:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

But Katherine Tynan has a very different impression of April days. Her poem became popular and well-known after it was set to music by Sir Hugh Roberton (1874-1952), who gave it a tender and light but reverent setting for two-part chorus and piano accompaniment. Based on a wonderful poem by Katharine Tynan, this memorable song is steeped with pastoral imagery and natural energy.

During Lent, as we move on from the lambing season, it has been a pleasure to watch the lambs in the fields growing, yet still dependent on their mothers for guidance, protection and safety. The lambs in the fields are a reminder that God’s Creation is at its best and most beautiful when it is nurtured in unconditional love.

Now, on Good Friday, we face one of the ironies or paradoxes of our faith, in which the Good Shepherd becomes the Lamb of God.

Throughout the Liturgy we refer to Christ as the Lamb of God – in the Gloria, when we say: ‘Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.’ Prayer 2 in Holy Communion 2 in The Book of Common Prayer refers to Christ at Passiontide, Holy Week and Easter Week as ‘the true passover Lamb.’ In Agnus Dei, we proclaim: ‘Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.’

The Lamb of God is the title given to Christ at his Baptism in the Jordan by Saint John the Baptist, declaring: ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1: 29), and exclaiming: ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ (John 1: 36). Christ is the True Lamb who takes the place of the sacrificial Paschal Lamb of the Passover (see Mark 14: 12).

In the Prophetic literature, the word ‘Lamb’ means both servant and lamb. Christ is the Suffering Servant who is spoken of by the Prophets, and who sacrifices himself for his brothers and sisters.

To understand this a little more we read Isaiah where the Prophet speaks of the Suffering Servant:

He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53: 3-4)

In the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Philip explains this passage about the Suffering Servant to the Ethiopian courtier: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth’ (Acts 8: 32-33).

The Lamb that was slain in order that we may enter more deeply into the Mystery of Christ’s saving act of Redemption, and we still meet him in the Eucharist, in the Word proclaimed, and in service to one another and to the world.

‘All in the April morning, / April airs were abroad; / The sheep with their little lambs / Pass’d me by on the road’ … sheep grazing with their lambs on the Curragh, Co Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

All in an April Evening, by Katharine Tynan

All in the April morning,
April airs were abroad;
The sheep with their little lambs
Pass’d me by on the road.

The sheep with their little lambs
Pass’d me by on the road;
All in an April evening
I thought on the Lamb of God.

The lambs were weary, and crying
With a weak human cry,
I thought on the Lamb of God
Going meekly to die.

Up in the blue, blue mountains
Dewy pastures are sweet:
Rest for the little bodies,
Rest for the little feet.

But for the Lamb of God
Up on the hill-top green,
Only a cross of shame
Two stark crosses between.

All in the April evening,
April airs were abroad;
I saw the sheep with their lambs,
And thought on the Lamb of God.

‘Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene’ (John 19: 5) … ‘Crucifixion with figures’ (1952-1958) by Graham Sutherland (1903-1980), chalk, ink and wash, in a recent exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 18: 28 to 19: 16a (NRSVA):

28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, ‘What accusation do you bring against this man?’ 30 They answered, ‘If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.’ The Jews replied, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death.’ 32 (This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)

33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ 35 Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ 36 Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ 37 Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ 38 Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’

After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, ‘I find no case against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ 40 They shouted in reply, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a bandit.

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.’ 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.’ 7 The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.’

8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ 11 Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.’ 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.’

13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!’ 15 They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ 16a Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

Collect of the Word:

Merciful God,
who gave your Son to suffer the shame of the cross:
save us from hardness of heart,
that, seeing him who died for us,
we may repent, confess our sin,
and receive your overflowing love,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Antoinette Fleming’s Dancers (1988) in the Katharine Tynan Memorial Plot in Tallaght (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Continued this afternoon

This afternoon’s first poem



Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

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

Saint Mary’s: The Parish Church that Looks Like Part of the College

St Mary’s Church, Maynooth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

St Mary’s, the Church of Ireland parish church in Maynooth, is incorporated into the outer wall of St Patrick’s College, and while few students or graduates may have been inside the church, many still think it is part of the college buildings.

The church was originally built as a private chapel for Maynooth Castle when it was one of the principal residences of the FitzGeralds of Kildare.

At the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, the church at Laraghbryan was included in Strongbow’s list of church properties belonging to the Diocese of Glendalough in 1173. Soon after, however, Laraghbryan became subservient to Saint Mary’s, Maynooth, which was built by the FitzGerald family.

Maynooth was part of a pocket of churches and parishes in this part of north Kildare that were in the Diocese of Glendalough. St Mary’s became a Prebendal Church of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, in October 1248, at the request of Maurice FitzGerald. Richard de Carren was the priest of the parish at the time. From then on, the tithes of the parish supported one of the canons of the cathedral, and this canon, the Prebendary of Maynooth, was also the incumbent (parish priest or rector) of Maynooth. Medieval rectors and prebendaries included John de Sandford, later dean of St Patrick’s and Archbishop of Dublin; and Alexander de Bicknor, also a future archbishop.

Gerald FitzGerald, ninth Earl of Kildare, built and endowed a college at Maynooth in 1518, rebuilt the castle chapel and attached it to his college. But, at the Reformation, what had become the ‘King’s College of Maynooth’ was suppressed and the chapel became the Church of Ireland parish church of Maynooth.

St Mary’s Church, like other churches of the day, suffered in the Reformation conflicts, and rectors were appointed or removed at whim, depending on the religious fashions of the day. Edward Dillon, who was also dean of Kildare, was put to death as a rebel in the castle in 1535; Richard Johnson was pensioned off at the suppression of the cathedral chapter of St Patrick’s in 1547, was reappointed in 1555, was deprived again within six or seven weeks, and was appointed for a third time in 1572. In between, John Doyne spent less than a year at Maynooth before he was dismissed on charges of adultery.

Later, it was said, the church fell into disrepair and was used for keeping cattle. However, St Mary’s was extensively renovated in the 1630s by Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, father-in-law of George FitzGerald (1612-1660), 16th Earl of Kildare. At the same time, Boyle was rebuilding Maynooth Castle.

During the wars of the 1640s, both the castle and the church fell into ruins. The FitzGeralds returned to appointing parish clergy after the Caroline restoration. Robert Price, who had survived the Cromwellian era, became the Restoration Bishop of Ferns, and his successor, Thomas Price, who was prebendary of Maynooth and Bishop of Kildare at the same time (1661-1667), became Archbishop of Cashel (1667-1678).

For much of the time, however, many rectors of Maynooth were absentees, pluralists, or both, and the real liturgical and pastoral work in the parish became the burden of the vicars or curates they appointed. However, the benign interest of the FitzGeralds ensured the parish did not suffer from clerical negligence, and a new schoolhouse was built beside the church in 1702.

James FitzGerald (1722-1773), first Duke of Leinster and father of Lord Robert FitzGerald, repaired St Mary’s Church in 1770, shortly after he had built Leinster House in Dublin, and the church was used by the Church of Ireland parish once again. The church was restored or repaired once more by the FitzGerald family in 1828, again in 1859 by Augustus Frederick FitzGerald (1791-1874), third Duke of Leinster. Throughout these times, the FitzGeralds retained the right to appoint priests to the church until disestablishment.

The large East Window is unusual because it is made of wood and set in stone. During the restoration in 1770, this window was taken from the church in Laraghbryan, which had fallen into ruin. Other windows came from the castle’s council chamber. The back end of the church and churchyard contains the last fragments of the medieval curtain wall of the castle.

From 1821 to 1875, the fifteenth-century tower was a mausoleum for the third Duke of Leinster, who lived at Carton, his wife Lady Charlotte Augusta Stanhope (1791-1874), duchess of Leinster, and seven members of their family. Before that, the family was buried in St Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare.

One clergyman was also buried here: Canon George Dacre Blacker came to the parish in 1838, and was rector and prebendary of Maynooth from 1841 to 1871. His death coincided with disestablishment, and the pulpit is also his memorial. The positions of rector of Maynooth and prebendary of Maynooth were separated at disestablishment, and the patronage of the FitzGerald family was abolished.

A medieval font from Saint Coco’s Church in Kilcock was moved to Saint Mary’s in 1991. The small organ, dating from around 1820, is one of the few untouched Telford organs in Ireland. The church plate includes a large silver flagon and an alms dish given by Mary FitzGerald, Countess of Kildare, in 1744, and a chalice and paten dating from 1697. The church still exhibits prayer books from 1860 that identified the pews of the Duke of Leinster and his family.

The area on the north side of the church, behind the vestry, was a parish school from 1770 to 1859, when it was moved to the Geraldine Hall near the Royal Canal. The school closed in 1935.

The Parish of Maynooth was transferred to the Diocese of Meath in 1940 and joined to the Dunboyne group of parishes. The present rector, the Reverend Eugene Griffin, who was appointed in 2018, is also the treasurer’s vicar or a minor canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral. The present Prebendary of Maynooth in St Patrick’s, Canon Mark Gardner, was appointed in 2012.

St Mary’s Church, Maynooth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

This is a chapter in We Remember Maynooth: A College Across Four Centuries, ed Salvador Ryan and John-Paul Sheridan (Dublin: Messenger Publications, 2020, 512 pp), pp 36-38.

Notes on Contributors (p 496):

Patrick Comerford is a priest in the Church of Ireland Diocese of Limerick, a former adjunct assistant professor in TCD, and a former lecturer in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute

Martinstown House, a design influenced by the cottage orné fashion and Strawberry Hill

Martinstown House … one of the few Irish houses designed by the 19th century architect Decimus Burton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During the weekend, I visited Martinstown House, Co Kildare, one of the few Irish houses designed by the 19th century architect, Decimus Burton (1800-1881). This house, built in the 1830s at the edge of The Curragh, is an elegant gothic cottage surrounded by its own miniature park and set in delightful woodland, with an interior that has been beautifully furnished and decorated.

Martinstown House was originally part of the extensive estates of the Dukes of Leinster, and was completed by the Borrowes family in 1832-1840 as a cottage orné.

The cottage orné or decorated cottage style dates back to a movement of ‘rustic’ stylised cottages in the late 18th and early 19th century, when there was a fashion to discover a more ‘natural’ way of living as opposed to the formality of the baroque and neo-classical architectural styles. English Heritage defines the term as ‘a rustic building of picturesque design.’ These cottages often feature well-shaped thatch roofs and ornate timberwork.

Decimus Burton’s design of Martinstown House was inspired by Strawberry Hill House and the cottage ornée style (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

When it came to designing Martinstown House, Burton was inspired by Strawberry Hill House – often known simply as Strawberry Hill – the Gothic Revival villa in Twickenham built by Horace Walpole (1717-1797) in 1749-1776. It is the type example of the ‘Strawberry Hill Gothic’ style of architecture, and it prefigured the 19th century Gothic Revival. Parts of the house were designed by James Essex.

Martinstown House is a fine Strawberry Hill Gothic style cottage ornée in a peaceful setting on its own miniature park, with many fine old trees and a beautiful walled garden. This was originally a farmhouse in the 1730s, but today’s house was built in the early 19th century by Augustus Frederick FitzGerald (1791-1874), 3rd Duke of Leinster and a nephew of the 1798 leader Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763-1874).

The house was designed by Decimus Burton, one of the foremost English architects and urban designers of the 19th century. He worked in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian and Regency styles.

Modern architectural historians, including Guy Williams (1990) and Dana Arnold (2004), say Burton’s contribution to architecture has been grossly underestimated in in the past because many of his works were attributed to Nash, because of the extensive attacks on his work and style by AWN Pugin, and because his family retained his archives, making them inaccessible to scholars for a long time.

Burton’s projects in London included Hyde Park – including the Gate or Screen at Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch – Green Park, Saint James’s Park, and Regent’s Park, the enclosure of the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, the Clubhouse of the Athenaeum Club, Carlton House Terrace, and houses at Kew Gardens. Outside London, he planned and designed the seaside resort towns of St Leonards-on-Sea and Fleetwood, and the spa town of Tunbridge Wells.

For two decades, Burton was engaged on a vast landscaping project to renovate the Phoenix Park in Dublin. He was the architect of Dublin Zoo, including the layout and the gates, and also the architect of what later became Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park, and of the renewal of Queenstown or Cobh as a seaside resort.

Burton was a leading member of Georgian and Regency society in London, and a close friend of Princess Victoria, the future Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Devonshire, Sir John Soane John Nash.

Martinstown House is a cross between a luxury hotel and a private home (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Today, Martinstown is known as a wedding venue with excellent food and a feeling of luxury and elegance. It is a cross between a luxury hotel and a private home, where Edward and Roisin Booth are hands-on owners and engaging hosts. The house also offers dinner parties, lunches, guest accommodation and cooking classes and is a venue for corporate and family gatherings.

Inside, each room has been designed individually to ensure it is unique and dramatic in style and finish.

The Morning Room is decorated with antiques and rare prints of Rome, and is a comfortable, quiet space, with a log fire. The Drawing Room, with double-height ceilings, large sofas, a piano and an open fire, is used for larger parties. The Dining Room is an intimate venue for meals, with a long antique mahogany dining table, sideboards and silver candelabra.

Last weekend, the walled garden was filled with flowers, but it also provides fresh fruit and vegetables. Here, the Vintage Tent hosts large celebrations.

Martinstown House also has a fully working farmyard, and the farm has cattle, sheep, several horses and two rescue donkeys, and the entire estate is a bird sanctuary, with a variety of bird life.

The gardens at Martinstown House were filled with flowers at the weekend (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A notorious resident of Martinstown House in the 1950s and 1960s was Otto Skorzeny (1908-1975), a leading Nazi and the SS commander who captured Mussolini while he was being held by the allies in a hilltop fortress in Italy.

Skorzeny was born in Vienna and joined the Austrian Nazi party in the early 1930s. At the outbreak of World War II, he was involved in fighting on the Eastern Front, taking part in the German invasions of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. By April 1943, he had become the head of German special forces, in charge of a unit of elite SS commandos.

Fritz von der Schulenburg, the grandfather of the Dublin-based journalist Kim Bielenberg, was captured and tortured by Skorzeny after a plot to kill Hitler.

He was tried for war crimes in 1947 but was acquitted. But Skorzeny remained unapologetic about his Nazi activities and showed no remorse for his war-time activities.

He was a pioneer of what is now known as special operations warfare and in the early 1950s, he was an adviser to the Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser, training his army in guerrilla tactics. He later moved to Madrid, where he ran an import-export business, believed by many to be a front for shuttling escaped Nazi war criminals to Argentina. For many years, Skorzeny lived in Argentina where he was Eva Peron’s bodyguard.

Skorzeny first travelled to Ireland from Madrid in June 1957. At a gala reception by politicians and celebrities Portmarnock Country Club hotel, he was feted by Dublin’s social glitterati, including an up-and-coming young Charles Haughey.

Following this warm welcome, Skorzeny bought Martinstown House and the 160-acre farm at the Curragh in 1959, in the hope of becoming a permanent resident in Ireland. He was allowed temporary visas to stay in Ireland with the proviso that he would not travel to Britain.

The latest volume of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy 1957-1961 includes a note from Conor Cruise O’Brien, then a senior official in the Department of External Affairs, in June 1957 referring to a visa application: ‘Skorzeny, who is now stateless, resides in Spain. He is on the UK Home Office blacklist as an undesirable character. I think this means no more than that he made their faces red in the matter of Mussolini. We are not aware of any specific war crimes charges against him.’

Skorzeny applied for permission to become a permanent resident in Ireland. At the end of 1959 another official, Timothy Horan, reported allegations in the French press that Skorzeny was using his residence in Spain to engage shipping arms to Arab countries.

The secretary of the Department of Justice, Peter Berry, advised that Skorzeny be given permanent residency. His view was supported by his minister, Oscar Traynor, but the Minister for External Affairs, Frank Aiken, strongly advised the Department of Justice against granting residence.

Each room in Martinstown House has been designed individually (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

For a few years, Skorzeny lived a peaceful life at Martinstown House as a gentleman farmer. He stood 6 ft 4 in tall, weighed 250 lb, and was known as ‘Scarface’ because of a long, distinctive scar on his left cheek.

But Irish politicians became increasingly concerned that he was engaged in ‘anti-Semitic activities’ in Ireland. Dr Noel Browne raised concerns in the Dail about Skorzeny’s anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi activities.

Newspaper reports in the early 1960s alleged Skorzeny had opened up an escape route for Nazis in Spain and his farm in Kildare was a refuge for fascists on the run.

In the end, he was unable to obtain a permanent Irish visa and in 1962 he moved back to Spain, still ruled by Franco’s fascist regime. He rarely visited Ireland after 1963 and sold Martinstown House in 1971. He died of cancer in Madrid in 1975, aged 67. Skorzeny never denounced Nazism and was buried by his former comrades who gave Nazi salutes and draped his coffin in Nazi flags and colours.

Martinstown House is now a unique wedding venue (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, stands on a site over 1500 years old

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare … Victorian critics said George Edmund Street’s restoration had spoilt ‘a beautiful ruin’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

While I was visiting Co Kildare at the weekend, I spent some time visiting the Cathedral Church of Saint Brigid, one of two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare in the Church of Ireland.

I had been invited by Archbishop Richard Clarke, then Bishop of Meath and Kildare, to preach in the cathedral in 2011 at the ordination to the priesthood of Paul Bogle, now the Dean of Clonmacmoise. But my visit on Friday was my first opportunity to spend some extra time in the cathedral, exploring its history, architecture and heritage.

Saint Brigid is one of the three patrons of Ireland, alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba. She is said to have lived at Faughart, near Dundalk, Co Louth, and that she arrived in Kildare with her followers in the late fifth century, perhaps in the year 480. She was assisted in the rule of her house by an abbot or bishop named Condleth.

Saint Condleth may have died in the year 520 and Saint Brigid in 523. For many centuries, Kildare maintained a unique Irish experiment: the abbess ruled over a double community of women and men, with an abbess, and abbot and a bishop. The original abbey church may have been a simple wooden building in the sixth century.

An effigy in Saint Brigid’s Cathedral said to be Bishop Ralph of Bristol (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The cathedral was devastated perhaps 16 times between the years 835 and 998, and Kildare declined in importance from the 12th century. When the Anglo-Norman Ralph of Bristol was Bishop of Kildare in 1223-1232, he found the cathedral was virtually in ruins, and began rebuilding it.

The cathedral was enlarged and embellished in 1482, but later bishops paid less attention to the building. It may have been semi-ruinous by 1500, and it fell into disrepair in the 16th century after the Reformation. The roof was pulled down and parts of the chancel, tower and north transept collapsed, and Bishop Alexander Craik (1560-1574) sold the cathedral manors and lands for cash.

The bishop’s throne in Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Bishop William Pilsworth (1604-1635) found the cathedral was ruined when he arrived in the diocese, and he failed to recover the lands sold off in the previous century by Bishop Craik. During the Irish Confederate Wars in the mid-17th century, the central tower and the north transept were severely damaged in a military attack, the chancel, nave and south transept were left roofless, and the cathedral was derelict by 1649.

After the restoration, Bishop Thomas Price (1661-1667) refused to spend anything on rebuilding the cathedral, although later it was partially rebuilt in 1686 by Bishop William Moreton (1682-1705), who was also Dean of Christ church Cathedral, Dublin, rebuilt the chancel and had it consecrated for use as a cathedral.

But the building continued to deteriorate and decay. The west wall of the nave was still standing in 1738, but it too had fallen by the mid-19th century, when it was replaced by a modern wall.

Inside Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, looking east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The fabric of the cathedral was in such a condition by the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1869 that there were proposals. Instead, however, a complete restoration of the building was carried out by George Edmund Street (1824-1881). He started working there in 1875, and this work continued after his death in 1881 until it was completed by James Franklin Fuller (1835-1924) in 1896.

The late Victorian restoration by Street and Fuller included a new north transept, new chancel, and new west wall as well as rebuilding three sides of the square tower. A new oak roof, supported on stone corbels, was built into the wall buttresses.

The restored cathedral was consecrated on 22 September 1896 by Archbishop Plunket of Dublin, who was also Bishop of Kildare. The sermon was preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward Benson, who died three weeks later.

More recent restorations have included new internal porches, repairs to the internal and external stonework and rebuilding the organ.

Inside Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, looking west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The cathedral is an imposing building but is primarily of late 19th century construction, incorporating the fabric of the 13th century church and later reconstructions. The cathedral is built in the Gothic Revival style and successfully incorporates the earlier fabric to such a degree that it is difficult to distinguish between the various phases of construction.

It has a six-bay, double-height nave with single-bay, double-height north and south transepts, a two-bay double-height chancel at the east end, and a single-bay, three-stage tower at the crossing on a square plan with a battlemented roof and a parapet wall.

The cathedral is built in rubble stone with cut-stone dressings and is a fine example of the high quality of stone masonry traditionally practised in the area. This is seen especially in the carved detailing, including the surrounds to the doors and windows and its decorative motifs such as gargoyles to the parapet walls.

An unusual mediaeval ‘indulgenced’ carving in Kildare Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The exterior retains most of its original features and materials, while replacement fabric has been installed in keeping with the original integrity of the building.

The cathedral is cruciform in plan without aisles in the early Gothic style with a massive square central tower. All the windows are lancet windows, singles or doubles, but triple lancets in the four gables.

The design features include arches that span from buttress to buttress in advance of the side walls. The parapets are of the stepped Irish type. They have been much restored, but probably date from about 1395, when a Papal relaxation was given to those who visited Kildare and gave alms for the conservation of the church.

The chancel and high altar in Saint Brigid’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Inside, the cathedral is plain, the window splays are not moulded, but the rear-arches are moulded and spring from shafts with moulded capitals. These shafts are short and terminate in small curved tails. The construction of the lancet arches at the crossing, which have retained their original shape, together with the exposed timber roof construction, are also worth noting.

The altar tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley in the south transept (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The cathedral has a rich collection of carved cross slabs, grave slabs, effigies, tombs a decorative tiled floor, stained glass windows and an ornate reredos and arcading by Fuller in the chancel.

One of the most striking features is the altar tomb of Walter Wellesley, Bishop of Kildare, who died in 1539. This altar tomb is an example of 16th century sculpture and was originally at Great Connell Priory. It was moved to the cathedral in 1971 for preservation.

The cost of restoring the tomb was largely funded by the Duke of Wellington on behalf of the Wellesley family.

Christ the Man of Sorrows (‘Ecce Homo’) on a panel on the altar tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

An effigy of the bishop lies on the mensa or top piece. At each end are carvings of Christ the Man of Sorrows (Ecce Homo) surrounded by instruments of the passion, and the Crucifixion with images of the Virgin Mary and Saint John; on the sides are some remaining figures of apostles and saints.

The crucifixion depicted on a panel on the tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

On the underside of the mensa is a small but stunning female exhibitionist figure. It is often referred to as a sheela-na-gig.

A hidden image on the tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley is said to be a ‘sheela-na-gig’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The chapter and choir stalls are of solid oak, with acorn and oak leaf carvings.

Also worth seeing are the Bishop’s throne, the carved Caen Stone pulpit with carvings of the four evangelists and Irish marble columns (1887), the brass eagle lectern (1896) and the organ built by Conacher in 1898.

The chapter stalls and pulpit in Kildare Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A font made of solid granite is said locally to have been the font in which Saint Laurence O’Toole was baptised in 1123.

The font in which Saint Laurence O’Toole is said to have been baptised (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The east window above the high altar is a memorial to Dr Samuel Chaplin (1829-1891), the Kildare county surgeon who played a crucial role in the cathedral restoration.

The west window is dedicated to the three patrons of Ireland and is a memorial to Archbishop Edward Benson of Canterbury (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The west window is dedicated to the three patrons of Ireland, Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Columba, and is a memorial to Archbishop Edward Benson of Canterbury, who preached at the consecration of the cathedral in 1896.

The stained glass window of Saint Luke (1974) by the Czech artist Gerda Schurmann is a memorial to George Frederick Graham, Dean of Kildare (1938-1952).

Christ in Majesty in the window in the Lady Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The north transept, known as the Lady Chapel, has a modern window depicting (from left) Saint Paul, Christ in Majesty and Saint Peter.

The round tower to the north-east of the cathedral dates from 1150 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

To the north-east the cathedral is one of five round towers in Co Kildare. At 33 metres, it is the second highest in Ireland, and is open to visitors to climb. It is built of Wicklow granite and local limestone. It dates from ca1150, which is comparatively late for an Irish Round Tower, although it may have replaced an earlier tower.

The high cross in the grounds of the cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The plain granite high cross in the grounds of the cathedral is 3 metres tall with a damaged ringed head and a tapering shaft mounted on a square base. Because it lacks decoration, this High Cross is difficult to date. The base is massive for such a slender shaft and head and may not be the original.

According to local lore, Saint Brigid’s Fire was kept alight in an ancient oratory known as Saint Brigid’s Fire House. The shape of this oratory and the thickness of the remains of the walls and foundations are evidence of its antiquity.

To the south-east of the cathedral, a disused burial chamber is known locally as ‘Saint Brigid’s Kitchen.’

Some critics 19th century critics said Street’s restoration had spoilt ‘a beautiful ruin.’ But without Street, Kildare might have no cathedral today.

Until 1846, the Deans of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, were also Bishops of Kildare. The Diocese of Kildare was united with Dublin in 1846, and since 1976 Kildare has been united with the Diocese of Meath.

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare … one of the two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Harbour House and Duke’s Harbour: part of Maynooth’s Georgian past and elegance

Harbour House or Bean House … a reminder of the Georgian elegance of Maynooth, Co Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Today Maynooth is primarily associated with Maynooth University and Saint Patrick’s College, and the dominant architectural features are Pugin’s college buildings and McCarthy’s college chapel.

But Maynooth, Co Kildare, is also an elegant Georgian town, with planned streets, squares, public buildings and townhouses that owe much to both the benign interest and patronage of the FitzGeralds, Dukes of Leinster, and the prosperity brought by routing the Royal Canal through Maynooth.

Maynooth is on the Royal Canal, which is navigable from central Dublin to this point. Although it is now used mostly for leisure purposes, the Royal Canal once provided an important stopping point before Dublin in the period directly before the coming of the railways to Ireland in the first half of the 19th century.

The harbour, known locally as Duke’s Harbour, is roughly triangular in shape and on the north side of the canal, opposite the railway station, and it is a popular fishing area. Leinster Street, named after the Dukes of Leinster, links the college gates, the old castle and the Main Street with Duke’s Harbour.

The former Church of Ireland school on Leinster Street which is now a scout den, the former RIC barracks which is now a Garda station, and the surviving Georgian townhouses on one side of the street indicate that this street was once at the heart of social life and fashionable living in Maynooth in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

But the visitor has to look for these buildings, and this search is not helped by the presence of a large and ugly car park that occupies much of the west side of the street.

On our way back to Askeaton from Dublin at the weekend, two of us stopped in Maynooth on Saturday afternoon, where we spent time enjoying the presence of a pair of swans and their family in Duke’s Harbour, before making our way back to a family lunch in a restaurant on the Main Street.

I knew many of these streets in Maynooth as a theology student and church history researcher in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But I had often passed by Harbour House or Bean House of Leinster Street, from my way from the campus to the train station, without appreciating its contribution to the Georgian streetscape of Maynooth.

The name Harbour House indicates the connection of this house with Duke’s Harbour and the Royal Canal. Work on this major project began in 1790 and lasted 27 years before finally reaching the Shannon in 1817, at a total cost of £1,421,954.

Building was unexpectedly expensive, and the project was riven with problems, so that in 1794 the Royal Canal Company was declared bankrupt. William FitzGerald (1749-1804), 2nd Duke of Leinster and elder brother of the 1798 leader Lord Edward FitzGerald, was a leading member of the board of the company building the Royal Canal and a major investor. He insisted that the new waterway would take in Maynooth, and the builders had to deviate from the planned route. This diversion required building a ‘deep sinking’ between Blanchardstown and Clonsilla, and called for building the Ryewater Aqueduct at Leixlip.

Harbour House, which takes its name from Duke’s Harbour, is also known as Bean House. This is a terraced, five-bay, two-storey house, built ca 1760 over a raised basement house.

This was first built as a detached house, and it is possible to imagine how much more elegant it was than its present appearance. The house was built on a symmetrical plan with its round-headed door opening at the centre approached by flight of ten stone steps that has cast-iron railings.

At the main door, the cut-stone Gibbsian surround is painted and has a keystone. The original door was replaced with a timber panelled door around 1990, but the original overlight has been retained. The roughcast walls are unpainted. There is a cut-stone stringcourse to the basement, and there are square-headed window openings and stone sills. Around 1990, the original windows in the house were replaced with uPVC casement windows.

The house is set back from the line of the road on Leinster Street, and sections of the original cast-iron railings can be seen at the forecourt. It has a gable-ended roof with slate, clay ridge tiles and roughcast chimney stacks, and cast-iron rainwater goods on the eaves course.

The house has an attached, three-bay, two-storey outbuilding to the right, on the south-east side of the house. This was also built ca 1760, and has a square-headed integral carriageway on the left ground floor, and a gable-ended roof with slate.

Harbour House or Bean House is an attractive and imposing substantial residence that is of social and historical importance, representing the early development of the suburbs of Maynooth. The scale and massing of the house, together with the fine detailing that includes the attractive Gibbsian doorcase, suggest that the house was originally built by a patron of high status in the locality.

Although the house was renovated in the 1990s, the replacement windows are not attractive. Yet this house and its complementary outbuilding retain most of their original form and character and they remain an attractive feature on Leinster Street and an integral part of Georgian Maynooth.

A family of swans at Duke’s Harbour in Maynooth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)