‘You are here to kneel where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more than an order of words’

‘Here, the intersection of the timeless moment’ ... Clare College Chapel with The Annunciation (1763) by Giovanni Battista Cipriani (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am staying this weekend in Clare College, Cambridge, before moving on Sidney Sussex College where I am spending the week during the annual summer school organised by the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies.

There was a wedding in the Clare College yesterday. But because we are out of term time, there are no Sunday services in the chapel this morning [28 August 2016]. So I am probably going to Saint Bene’t’s Church, where the Revd Anna Matthews is the Vicar.

Saint Bene’t’s has become the nearest thing to a parish church I have when I am in Cambridge, and I hope to be at the early morning Eucharist at 8 a.m. there throughout the week.

The Chapel in Clare College was built in the 1760s to a design by the amateur architect and Master of Caius, James Burrough. The Chapel is at the heart of the college in Old Court, and it is a place of quiet and beauty and of daily prayer throughout term time. With its simple beauty and light-filled space, the chapel is an oasis for peaceful reflection, and all are welcome, even outside term time.

The worship and reflection in the Chapel is an integrated part of college life, seeking to serve and build up the community in peace and virtue, in mutual respect, and with a commitment to the holistic flourishing of every person. There is a daily Eucharist each morning during Full Term, when Choral Evensong is also sung by the College Choir.

According to instructions left by the college founder, Lady Elizabeth de Clare, the chapel, as with the whole college, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The painting above the altar is The Annunciation by Giambattista Cipriani, and was commissioned for the chapel by the Duke of Newcastle in the 18th century.

The window commemorating Richard de Badew, the original founder of the college, offering what was known then as University Hall to the Virgin Mary and Christ Child (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

In the early 20th century, two stained glass windows were installed at the West End of the Chapel. The window on the south commemorates Richard de Badew, sometime Chancellor of Cambridge University and the original founder of the college, which was later re-established, renamed and endowed by Lady Elizabeth de Clare. He is shown offering his foundation, then known as University Hall, to the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child.

Below them is a a map of Europe, with Ireland and Britain comfortably close to the European continental landmass, long before anyone thought of Brexit.

Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding and Bishop Hugh Latimer (right), a martyr in the reign of Queen Mary Tudor, in the north window of the Chapel in Clare College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The window opposite on the north side of the chapel commemorates two of the college’s most distinguished alumni: Bishop Hugh Latimer, a martyr in the reign of Queen Mary Tudor; and Nicholas Ferrar, founder of the community at Little Gidding just before the English Civil War in the 17th century. To the left is a small image of the church built by Nicholas Ferrar and referred to by TS Eliot in his poem ‘Little Gidding.’

The antechapel has memorials to the members of Clare College who died in the two World Wars, including Hamo Sassoon, brother of the war poet Siegfried Sassoon.

The Dean of Clare College, the Revd Dr Jamie Hawkey, is also Director of Studies in Theology. He studied at Girton College and Selwyn College and at Westcott House in Cambridge, and at the Angelicum University in Rome. He came to Clare having been Precentor of Westminster Abbey and a Minor Canon there since 2010. Before that, he was a curate in Saint Mary’s, Portsea, in inner-city Portsmouth. His research interests focus on ecclesiology and ecumenical theology.

In addition to his work at Clare, he serves on the International Anglican-Reformed Dialogue, as a member of the Malines Conversations Group, and he chairs the UK Appeal Committee of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

Bishop John Robinson (1919-1983) was the Dean of Clare College (1951-1959) before becoming Bishop of Woolwich (1959-1969)

Previous deans of Clare College include Archbishop Rowan Williams (1984-1986), later Archbishop of Canterbury (2003–2013). He succeeded the theologian and biochemist Canon Arthur Robert Peacocke (1924-2006) who was Dean, Fellow, and Tutor and Director of Studies in Theology of Clare College (1973-1984).

Before them, one the best-known clerical Deans of Clare College was the theologian and New Testament scholar, Bishop John AT Robinson (1919-1983). He was the Dean of Clare College (1951-1959) and a fellow, and Lecturer in Divinity at Cambridge University before becoming Bishop of Woolwich (1959-1969).

He studied theology at Westcott House, Cambridge, and after retiring as Bishop of Woolwich in 1969, he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in theology and Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was the author of In the End, God (1951) and Honest to God (1963). He preached his last sermon, ‘Learning from cancer,’ to a packed college chapel six weeks before he died.

The Robinsons are an outstanding clerical, theological and missionary family from Monaghan. They were descended from a family that lived in Seagoe area of Co Armagh from the 17th century, and later in Monaghan and Clones. John Robinson’s father, Canon Arthur Robinson, (1856-1928), was a canon of Canterbury Cathedral and the author of several books, and he inherited a house called The Wood just outside Monaghan.

He in turn was a son of the Revd George Robinson (1819-1881), the vicar of a poor Somerset parish near Bristol and Bath. George Robinson was born in Monaghan where his father, Joseph Robinson (1782-1866), a printer and bookseller. Joseph Robinson lived at No 1 The Diamond, Monaghan, beside Saint Patrick’s Church, where he is buried in the vault.

George Robinson was educated at Trinity College Dublin and was ordained deacon (1844) for Donaghcloney in the Diocese of Dromore by Henry Pepys, Bishop of Worcester, and priest (1845) for Barr in the Diocese of Clogher by John Leslie, Bishop of Kilmore. In 1847, he moved to England, where he was curate in Saint James’s, Clapham, Vicar of Keynsham, Somerset and Vicar of Saint Augustine’s, Everton, Liverpool.

George Robinson was back in Ireland in 1854, when he married Henrietta Cecilia Forbes in Collon, Co Louth. She was a daughter of Arthur Forbes and Caroline (Armitage) of Craigavad, Co Down. George and Henrietta had 13 children, including six sons who were priests and two daughters who were deaconesses. He died in 1881 in Marseilles, where he was buried.

But Clare’s association with key Anglican thinkers spans the centuries.

In the early 16th century, when religious debate in Cambridge was fierce, and Hugh Latimer (1485-1555) was one of the principal leaders of the Reformation. He was elected a Fellow of Clare in 1510 while still an undergraduate. Latimer became a chaplain to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in 1534 and Bishop of Worcester in 1535, and was one of the king’s advisers on the dissolution of the monastic houses.

During the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558), Latimer refused to recant his beliefs. He was burned at the stake with Nicholas Ridley in Oxford on 16 October 1555. While he is known to history as one of the ‘Oxford Martyrs,’ he was a product of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare.

Despite the turmoils of the Reformation, Clare Hall, as it was then known, continued to grow in size and wealth in the 16th century. Later, in the early 17th century, Nicholas Ferrar (1593-1637) came into residence at Clare the age of 13, and in Cambridge he became a close friend of the poet George Herbert. With the outbreak of the plague in 1625, Ferrar established the Anglican retreat at Little Gidding that is commemorated by TS Eliot’s in ‘Little Gidding’ in his Four Quartets.

Later in the 17th century, the college fellows at that time, including John Tillotson, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury (1691-1694).

In the mid-19th century, the hymn-writer and historian the Revd Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) graduated from Clare (BA, 1857; MA, 1860). He is remembered for hymns such as Onward, Christian Soldiers and Now the Day Is Over.

At the end of the 19th century, a distinguished fellow of Clare was J. Rendel Harris (1852-1941), a Biblical scholar and curator of manuscripts who was instrumental in bringing back to light many Syriac scriptures and other early documents. His contacts at the Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai in Egypt led to the discovery by the Cambridge twin sisters Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson of the Sinaitic Palimpsest, the oldest-known Syriac New Testament document.

Harris, who was a Quaker, accompanied the sisters on a second trip, with Robert Bensly and Francis Crawford Burkitt, to decipher the palimpsest. He also discovered three other key manuscripts on Mount Sinai. His Biblical Fragments from Mount Sinai was published in 1890. Their story is told by Janet Soskice, Professor of Philosophical Theology at Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College, in The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Lost Gospels (London: Chatto and New York: Knopf, 2009). This was Book of the Week on Radio 4, and in the Best Books of the Year lists of the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and the Library Journal.

The New Testament scholar, CFD (‘Charlie’) Moule (1908-2007), was Dean of Clare (1944-1951), before becoming Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity, the oldest chair in the University of Cambridge, and he remained a Fellow at Clare until his death. Like his great-uncle, Handley Moule, first Principal at Ridley Hall and later Bishop of Durham, he was known affectionately as ‘Holy Mouley.’ He was succeeded as Dean of Clare by John Robinson.

Maurice Frank Wiles (1923-2005) was the chaplain at Ridley Hall, Cambridge (1952-1955), and then succeeded John Robinson as Dean and Fellow of Clare College (1959-1967) before becoming Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford (1970-1991). His son, Sir Andrew John Wiles, the mathematician and Oxford Professor, completed his PhD at Clare and is known for solving Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Maurice Wiles was succeeded as Dean of Clare by Mark Santer (1967-1972), later Principal of Westcott House (1973-1981) and Bishop of Birmingham (1987-2002). He was followed at Clare by Arthur Peacocke (1973-1984) and then by Rowan Williams (1984-1986).

While he was the Dean of Clare, the future Archbishop of Canterbury was an active member of Christian CND in Cambridge; at the same time, I was chair of Christian CND in Ireland and completing a postgraduate dissertation at the Irish School of Ecumenics for Trinity College Dublin on Roman Catholic teachings on the nuclear arms race. Rowan Williams took a leading part in a Christian CND protest at RAF Alconbury near Huntingdon, climbing the barbed-wire fence and holding a brief service of penitence, with the imposition of ashes, on the runway. He was arrested and detained for 12 hours before being released without any charges, but his arrest left the Chapel of Clare without the Dean for Ash Wednesday that year.

That radical tradition of speaking out against injustice was continued by his successor, Canon Nicholas Sagovsky (1986-1997), who went to court in 1990 for refusing the pay the Poll Tax.

As I stood in the chapel of Clare College this weekend, I was reminded of TS Eliot’s reflections on Nicholas Ferrar and his community in ‘Little Gidding’:

If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.
And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
Here, the intersection of the timeless moment
Is England and nowhere. Never and always.

‘England and nowhere’ ... the Fellows’ Garden in at Clare College, Cambridge, I am spending the weekend (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The Cambridge Connection

All Saints’ Church on Jesus Lane, Cambridge … one of the best-preserved Victorian Anglo-Catholic Gothic Revival churches (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

All Saints’ Church is in the heart of Cambridge, England, and has an interesting connection with Monaghan.

All Saints’ closed as a parish church in 1973 and since 1981 has been vested in the Redundant Churches Fund, now the Churches Conservation Trust. It is occasionally used for worship by a variety of groups and is kept open daily by volunteers and the students of Westcott House. When I dropped in recently, the church was hosting an exhibition by a local pottery group.

All Saints remains one of the best-preserved Anglo-Catholic Gothic Revival churches in England. The church was designed by the architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907) and was built in 1863-1864. The beautiful interior includes works by William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, Charles Eamer Kempe, Frederick Leach, Wyndham Hope Hughes and other artists of the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements.

All Saints was Bodley’s first church in the Decorated Gothic style of the early 14th century (1300-1320). It is one of his most successful churches and became his favourite.

The parish dates back to the Middle Ages. The original church stood opposite Trinity College and close to the Divinity Schools, on a site now marked by a triangular piece of land and a memorial cross. This was the old Jewish quarter of Cambridge, the church was known as All Saints in the Jewry and the vicars were appointed by Jesus College.

A MONAGHAN FAMILY

One of the early vicars of All Saints was Joseph Armitage Robinson (188-1933), a Cambridge theologian who is part of the long theological tradition that includes Charles Gore, Joseph Lightfoot, Fenton Hort and Brooke Westcott, and that reaches back to John Cosin, Lancelot Andrewes and Richard Hooker. He was one of the great Patristic scholars at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Armitage Robinson was part of the generation of Cambridge theologians that followed the great Dublin-born Patristic scholar, Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892), who, with Brooke Westcott, was the editor of the New Testament in the Original Greek. But I was surprised to learn during recent visits to Cambridge that Robinson also had strong Irish family connections, for both his father and his mother were Irish-born.

His father, the Revd George Robinson (1819-1881), was the vicar of a poor Somerset parish near Bristol and Bath. George was born in Monaghan, where his father, Joseph Robinson (1782-1866), a printer and bookseller, lived at No 1 The Diamond, beside the parish church. Joseph was descended from a family that lived in the Seagie area of Co Armagh since the 17th century, and later in Monaghan and Clones. He cis buried in the vault of Saint Patrick’s Church, Monaghan.

George Robinson was educated at Trinity College Dublin and was ordained deacon (1844) for Donaghcloney in the Diocese of Dromore by Henry Pepys, Bishop of Worcester, and priest (1845) for Barr in the Diocese of Clogher by John Leslie, Bishop of Kilmore. In 1847, he moved to England, where he was curate in Saint James’s, Clapham, Vicar of Keysham, Somerset, and Vicar of Saint Augustine’s, Everton, Liverpool.

George Robinson was back in Ireland in 1854, when he married Henrietta Cecilia Forbes, in Collon, Co Louth. She was a daughter of Arthur Forbes and Caroline (Armitage) of Craigavad, Co Down. George and Cecilia had 13 children, including six sons who were priests and two daughters who were deaconesses. He died in 1881 in Marseilles, where he was buried.

PATRISTIC SCHOLARSHIP

Armitage Robinson studied classics and theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and graduated in 1881. After graduation, he was a Fellow of Christ’s College (1881-1889), and became a chaplain to Lightfoot, who had become Bishop of Durham in 1882. He then became Dean of Christ’s College (1884-1890), and was also Assistant Curate of Great Saint Mary’s, the university church in Cambridge (1885-1886) , before becoming Vicar of All Saints in 1888.

During Robinson’s three years at All Saints’ Church (1888-1892), artists from the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts Movement continued to decorate and enrich the church. For a brief time (1891-1892), his curate at All Saints was one of his clerical brothers, Canon Forbes Robinson (1867-1904), a Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. Forbes Robinson later became Chaplain of Emmanuel College (1891-1896) and Chaplain and Junior Dean of Christ’s College (1896-1904), and was an expert in the Coptic Gospels.

When Armitage Robinson resigned from All Saints, he became Norrisian Professor of Divinity (1893-1899) in Cambridge, and a canon of Wells Cathedral (1894-1899). As a theologian he succeeded to the mantle of the Cambridge ‘triumvirate’ of Westcott, Lightfoot and Hort. He wrote a commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians, he visited the libraries of Venice with Archbishop Gregg of Dublin, visited Patmos and Athens, and was known for his work on Patristic texts, including the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the works of Saint Irenaeus, Saint Perpetua and Origen.

He left Cambridge to become Rector of Saint Margaret’s, Westminster (1899-1900), and a canon of Westminster Abbey (1899-1902). Then, at the age of 44, he became the Dean of Westminster Abbey (1902-1911), where he revised and modernised the British coronation ceremonies.

He moved to become the Dean of Wells Cathedral (191-1933), where he had close links with Dom Cuthbert Butler and the Benedictine monks of Downside Abbey, took part in the bilateral Anglican-Roman Catholic conversations at Malines convened by Cardinal Mercier and Lord Halifax, and became known for his publications in history.

Robinson received an honorary doctorate (DD) from Trinity College Dublin in 1908 and in 1920 he returned to his father’s alma mater as the Donnellan Lecturer, with a series of lectures on Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache. When he died on 7 May 1933, he was buried in Wells Cathedral.

FAMILY OF THEOLOGIANS

Five of the Robinson brothers were Church of England priests, a unique tally in any family. Apart from Armitage and Forbes, the others were: Canon Arthur William Robinson (1856-1928), a canon of Canterbury Cathedral and the author of several books, who inherited a house called The Wood (Kilnadrain, on the Emyvale Road), just outside Monaghan; the Revd John Robinson, who died while he was a CMS missionary in Nigeria; and Canon Charles Henry Robinson (1861-1925), who died while he was Editorial Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG, later USPG, and now Us).

Another brother, Edward Forbes Robinson (1864-1921), was a missionary teacher in South Africa, where he died, and Dr Frederick Augustine Robinson (1870-1906), was a medical missionary with Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), and died in Natal. Two sisters, Elizabeth and Cecilia, were deaconesses, and a third sister, Henrietta, married a priest, the Revd Charles Edward Bishop.

Canon Arthur Robinson’s son was the famous theologian, New Testament scholar and bishop, John AT Robinson (1919-1983), author of In the End God (1951) and Honest to God (1963), and Bishop of Woolwich (1959-1969). He studied theology at Westcott House and before becoming a bishop he was Dean of Clare College, Cambridge. After retiring as Bishop of Woolwich in 1969, he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in theology and Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge. He preached his last sermon, ‘Learning from cancer,’ to a packed college chapel six weeks before he died.

The Robinsons are an outstanding clerical, theological and missionary family, but until my visits to All Saints’ Church I was not aware of their family roots in Ireland and the Church of Ireland.

Canon Patrick Comerford lectures in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This essay was first published in January 2016 in the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough) and the ‘Church Review’ (Cashel, Ferns and Ossory).

This feature was published as the second of two half-page features on Saint Patrick’s Church, Monagahan, in the Northern Standard, Monaghan, on 21 January 2016, p. 14.

A family of Cambridge theologians with deep roots in Co Monaghan

Dean Joseph Armitage Robinson (1858-1933) … a great Cambridge theologian whose parents were Irish-born (Portrait: Aidan Savage/Wells Cathedral)

Patrick Comerford

All Saints’ Church is in the heart of Cambridge. It stands on part of the site of Westcott House, the Anglican theological college on Jesus Lane, on a corner opposite Jesus College, and just a few steps away from Sidney Sussex College, where I was studying once again last autumn.

All Saints’ Church on Jesus Lane, Cambridge … one of the best-preserved Victorian Anglo-Catholic Gothic Revival churches (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I visit All Saints regularly, and when I dropped in once again a few weeks ago while I was at Westcott House, the church was hosting an exhibition by a local pottery group. All Saints closed as a parish church over 40 years ago and since 1981 it has been vested in the Redundant Churches Fund, now the Churches Conservation Trust. It is occasionally used for worship by a variety of groups and is kept open almost daily by volunteers and the students of Westcott House.

All Saints remains one of the best-preserved Victorian Anglo-Catholic Gothic Revival churches in England. The church was designed by the architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907) and was built in 1863-1864. The beautiful interior includes works by William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, Charles Eamer Kempe, Frederick Leach, Wyndham Hope Hughes and other artists of the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts movements.

All Saints was Bodley’s first church in the Decorated Gothic style of the early 14th century (1300-1320). It is one of his most successful churches and became his favourite.

The site of the original All Saints’ Church, opposite Trinity College and close to the Divinity Schools (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The parish dates back to the Middle Ages. The original church stood opposite Trinity College and close to the Divinity Schools, on a site now marked by a triangular piece of open land and a memorial cross. This was the old Jewish quarter of Cambridge, the church was known as All Saints in the Jewry and the vicars were appointed by Jesus College.

A landmark church

Much of the interior decoration of All Saints’ Church is the work of William Morris and his partnership (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The old church was rebuilt and restored on several occasions, but the site was cramped and dark, and by the mid-19th century it was too small. Jesus College donated the site for a new church in Jesus Lane, the foundation stone was laid on 27 May 1863, the church was consecrated on 30 November 1864, and the new church, with its tower and spire, was completed in 1869-1871. It was once the tallest building in Cambridge, and the spire of All Saints, modelled on the parish church in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, remains a landmark that can be seen throughout Cambridge.

Inside, works by William Morris include the large five-light East Window and later decorative features include work by Charles Eamer Kempe and Frederick Leach. The Cambridge church historian, Owen Chadwick, who died last summer, says Kempe’s work represents “the Victorian zenith” of church decoration and stained glass windows.

The chancel arch painting of Christ in Glory is by Wyndham Hope Hughes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Bodley devised all the wall paintings in the nave, the nave aisle, the sanctuary, and the east end of the south chancel aisle. The walls and roofs are decorated with colourful stencil patterns in red, green and gold, with pomegranates and seeds as a sign of the Resurrection, monograms of IHS and IHC for Christ and a crowned M for the Virgin Mary, as well as inscriptions from the Psalms, the Beatitudes and the Book of Revelation.

The pulpit was designed by Bodley and the panels were painted by Wyndham Hope Hughes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The ceilings are decorated with symbols of the Four Evangelists and the roofs are the work of Frederick Leach. The tempera painting on the chancel arch of Christ in Glory, flanked by his mother and Saint John the Evangelist and surrounded by angels, is by Wyndham Hope Hughes. The pulpit was designed by Bodley and the panels painted by Hughes show Saint Peter, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John Chrysostom.

The church has an oak chancel screen and the rood beam was fitted as a girder to counteract a structural weakness in the base of the tower. The choir stalls are also designed by Bodley, while at the west end, the octagonal 15th century font survives from the old church.

The East Window is one of the great treasures of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The East Window (1866) is one of the great treasures of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, with 20 figures designed by Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown and William Morris. The nave windows include one designed by Kempe as a memorial to three former vicars and showing three saintly Cambridge Anglicans: the priest poet George Herbert, the theologian Bishop Brooke Foss Westcott and the missionary Henry Martyn.

The last addition to the church is a window celebrating women in the Church (1944). The four women depicted are Elizabeth Fry, the Quaker prison reformer; Josephine Butler, the social reformer who worked with prostitutes; Mother Cecile Isherwood, who founded a community of Anglican nuns in South Africa; and Nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed in World War I.

With a decline in the number of resident parishioners, All Saints’ Church closed when the last vicar, the Revd Hereward Hard, retired in 1973.

A Monaghan family

Saint Patrick’s Church, Monaghan, where generations of the Robinson family were baptised, married and buried (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

One of the early vicars of All Saints was Joseph Armitage Robinson (1858-1933), a Cambridge theologian who is part of the long theological tradition that includes Charles Gore, Joseph Lightfoot, Fenton Hort and Brooke Westcott and that reaches back to John Cosin, Lancelot Andrewes and Richard Hooker. He was one of the great Patristic scholars at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Armitage Robinson was part of the generation of Cambridge theologians that followed the great Dublin-born Patristic scholar, Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892), who, with Brooke Westcott, was the editor of The New Testament in the Original Greek. But I was surprised to learn during recent visits to Cambridge that Robinson also had strong Irish family connections, for both his father and his mother were Irish-born.

His father, the Revd George Robinson (1819-1881), was the vicar of a poor Somerset parish near Bristol and Bath. George was born in Monaghan where his father, Joseph Robinson (1782-1866), a printer and bookseller, lived at No 1 The Diamond, beside the parish church. Joseph was descended from a family that lived in Seagoe area of Co Armagh since the 17th century, and later in Monaghan and Clones. He is buried in the vault of Saint Patrick’s Church, Monaghan.

George Robinson was educated at Trinity College Dublin and was ordained deacon (1844) for Donaghcloney in the Diocese of Dromore by Henry Pepys, Bishop of Worcester, and priest (1845) for Barr in the Diocese of Clogher by John Leslie, Bishop of Kilmore. In 1847, he moved to England, where he was curate in Saint James’s, Clapham, Vicar of Keynsham, Somerset and Vicar of Saint Augustine’s, Everton, Liverpool.

George Robinson was back in Ireland in 1854, when he married Henrietta Cecilia Forbes in Collon, Co Louth. She was a daughter of Arthur Forbes and Caroline (Armitage), of Craigavad, Co Down. George and Henrietta had 13 children, including six sons who were priests and two daughters who were deaconesses. He died in 1881 in Marseilles, where he was buried.

Patristic scholarship

First Court in Christ’s College, Cambridge … Armitage Robinson was a Fellow and Dean, and Forbes Robinson was a Fellow, chaplain and Junior Dean (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Inside Great Saint Mary’s, the university church in Cambridge, where Armitage Robinson was assistant curate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Armitage Robinson studied classics and theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and graduated in 1881. After graduation he was a Fellow of Christ’s College (1881-1889), and became a chaplain to Lightfoot, who had become the Bishop of Durham in 1882. He then became Dean of Christ’s College (1884-1890), and was also Assistant Curate of Great Saint Mary’s, the university church in Cambridge (1885-1886), before becoming Vicar of All Saints in 1888.

The Chapel of Emmanuel College … Forbes Robinson was Chaplain (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

During Robinson’s three years at All Saints’ Church (1888-1892), artists from the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts Movement continued to decorate and enrich the church. For a brief time (1891-1892), his curate at All Saints was one of his many clerical brothers, Canon Forbes Robinson (1867-1904), a Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. Forbes Robinson later became Chaplain of Emmanuel College (1891-1896) and Chaplain and Junior Dean of Christ’s College (1896-1904), and was an expert in the Coptic Gospels.

When Armitage Robinson resigned from All Saints, he became Norrisian Professor of Divinity (1893-1899) in Cambridge, and a canon of Wells Cathedral (1894-1899). As a theologian, he succeeded to the mantle of the Cambridge ‘triumvirate’ of Westcott, Lightfoot and Hort. He wrote a commentary of the Epistle to the Ephesians, he visited the libraries of Venice with Archbishop Gregg of Dublin, visited Patmos and Athens, and was known for his work on Patristic texts, including the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas and the works of Saint Irenaeus, Saint Perpetua and Origen.

Armitage Robinson was Rector of Saint Margaret’s, Westminster (1899-1900) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

He left Cambridge to become Rector of Saint Margaret’s, Westminster (1899-1900), and a Canon of Westminster Abbey (1899-1902). Then, at the age of 44, he became the Dean of Westminster Abbey (1902-1911), where he revised and modernised the coronation ceremonies.

Armitage Robinson became the Dean of Westminster Abbey at the age of 44 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

He moved to become Dean of Wells Cathedral (1911-1933), where he had close links with Dom Cuthbert Butler and the Benedictine monks of Downside Abbey, took part in the bilateral Anglican-Roman Catholic conversations at Malines convened by Cardinal Mercier and Lord Halifax, and became known for his publications in history.

Robinson received an honorary doctorate (DD) from Trinity College Dublin in 1908, and in 1920 he returned to his father’s alma mater as the Donnellan Lecturer, with a series of lectures on Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache. When he died on 7 May 1933, he was buried in Wells Cathedral.

Family of theologians

Bishop John Robinson, author of Honest to God (1963), was a nephew of Armitage Robinson (Photograph: Trinity College Cambridge)

Five of the Robinson brothers were Church of England priests, a unique tally in any family. Apart from Armitage and Forbes, the others were: Canon Arthur William Robinson (1856-1928), a canon of Canterbury Cathedral and the author of several books, who inherited a house called The Wood just outside Monaghan; the Revd John Robinson, who died while he was a CMS missionary in Nigeria; and Canon Charles Henry Robinson (1861-1925), who died while he was Editorial Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG, later USPG and now Us).

Another brother, Edward Forbes Robinson (1864-1921), was a missionary teacher in South Africa, where he died, and Dr Frederick Augustine Robinson (1870-1906) was a medical missionary with the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), and died in Natal. Two sisters, Elizabeth and Cecilia, were deaconesses, and a third sister, Henrietta, married a priest, the Revd Charles Edward Bishop.

Canon Arthur Robinson’s son was the famous theologian, New Testament scholar and bishop, John AT Robinson (1919-1983), author of In the End, God (1951) and Honest to God (1963) and Bishop of Woolwich (1959-1969). He studied theology at Westcott House and before becoming a bishop was the Dean of Clare College, Cambridge. After retiring as Bishop of Woolwich in 1969, he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in theology and Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge. He preached his last sermon, ‘Learning from cancer,’ to a packed college chapel six weeks before he died.

John Robinson was Dean of Clare College, Cambridge, before becoming Bishop of Woolwich (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Robinsons are an outstanding clerical, theological and missionary family, but until my visits to All Saints’ Church I was not aware of their family roots in Ireland and the Church of Ireland.

John Robinson was Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge, before he died (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Canon Patrick Comerford lectures in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This essay was first published in January 2016 in the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough) and the ‘Diocesan Magazine’ (Cashel, Ferns and Ossory’).

Mark 1: 21-28: Preaching with love and with authority in word and deed

‘Hang all the law and the prophets’ … the statue of Bishop Charles Gore at the west entrance of Birmingham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

In the Bible studies in this tutorial group, we are looking at the readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for the Sunday after next.

The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for Sunday week [Sunday 1 February 2013], the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, are: Deuteronomy 18: 15-20; Psalm 111; I Corinthians 8: 1-13; and Mark 1: 21-28.

Mark 1: 21-28:

21 Καὶ εἰσπορεύονται εἰς Καφαρναούμ. καὶ εὐθὺς τοῖς σάββασιν εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν συναγωγὴν ἐδίδασκεν. 22 καὶ ἐξεπλήσσοντο ἐπὶ τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ, ἦν γὰρ διδάσκων αὐτοὺς ὡς ἐξουσίαν ἔχων καὶ οὐχ ὡς οἱ γραμματεῖς. 23 καὶ εὐθὺς ἦν ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ αὐτῶν ἄνθρωπος ἐν πνεύματι ἀκαθάρτῳ, καὶ ἀνέκραξεν 24 λέγων, Τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί, Ἰησοῦ Ναζαρηνέ; ἦλθες ἀπολέσαι ἡμᾶς; οἶδά σε τίς εἶ, ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ. 25 καὶ ἐπετίμησεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγων, Φιμώθητι καὶ ἔξελθε ἐξ αὐτοῦ. 26 καὶ σπαράξαν αὐτὸν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἀκάθαρτον καὶ φωνῆσαν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ἐξῆλθεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ. 27 καὶ ἐθαμβήθησαν ἅπαντες, ὥστε συζητεῖν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς λέγοντας, Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; διδαχὴ καινὴ κατ' ἐξουσίαν: καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασι τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ἐπιτάσσει, καὶ ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ. 28 καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς πανταχοῦ εἰς ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον τῆς Γαλιλαίας.

Translation (NRSV):

21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching — with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Making connections:

‘I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people’ (Deuteronomy 18: 18) … Patrick Pye’s Triptych in Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Deuteronomy 18: 15-20

When I was at the mid-day Eucharist in Lichfield Cathedral last Saturday [17 January], we were reminded that the calendar of the Church of England that day commemorated both Saint Anthony of Egypt and Bishop Charles Gore. The story is told that when Charles Gore – founder of the Community of the Resurrection, the first Bishop of Birmingham, and the Editor of Lux Mundi – loved to play a particular prank on friends and acquaintances.

As a canon of Westminster Abbey, he enjoyed showing visitors the tomb of one of his ancestors, the Earl of Kerry, with an inscription that ends with the words (in double quotation marks): “Hang all the law and the prophets.”

On closer inspection, he would point out, the words are preceded by “... ever studious to fulfil those two great commandments on which he had been taught by his divine Master ...” (see Matthew 22: 40).

Sometimes, we may want to hang some of the prophets if they preach the Word of God as if these are not the two commandments on which depend all the law and the prophets.

In the verses immediately preceding this (Deuteronomy 18: 9-14), the people are warned against false religion in the form of worshipping false idols, false gods, divination, magic, sooth-saying, sorcery and child sacrifice.

At the time, this must have been seen as weird, every other religion and culture in the region engaged in these practices, and hardly saw them as superstitious.

Then, having dismissed all that, Moses talks about how to tell if a prophet is a true prophet of the Lord. A true prophet is like Moses, conveying ideas and principals consistent with God’s commandments. False prophets are those who intentionally, through deceit, or unintentionally, because of self-delusion, preach false teachings or offer inaccurate predictions.

The people have the laws and instructions from God that are the measure of truth for them. They stand for something so they are not to fall for just anything – in theory, anyway.

If we see the Old Testament reading in these readings for Sunday week as being concerned with the law in terms of the Old Testament code repeated in Deuteronomy, we may get bogged down. But we know what the summary of the Law is: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength … You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12: 30-31; see Matthew 22: 34-40; Luke 25-28).

If we approach this reading in the context of the difference between knowledge and love, then we may find a more useful, reflective and pastoral way of approaching this passage.

Here we find a good antidote to those who preach, and who know their Bible, but who impose their own rules and regulations on people, without taking any account of the scope of God’s love, which is seen in the life, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming again of Christ.

Sometimes, listening to them, or hearing about them, can be a deadening experience. If they put their preaching into practice, it might be a very love-less world indeed, and may indeed want to hang all the law and the prophets.

Some years ago, as I was preparing to preach in three churches on a Sunday morning, I was asked how many sermons did I normally preach.

I replied: “Three.”

And she asked: “Every Sunday?”

No, I said. I only have three sermons to preach, and humorously summarised them as:

1, Love God.

2, Love one another.

3, Love God, and Love one another.

And if that is at the heart of your preaching, you will find you are preaching with knowledge and with love, perhaps even with authority.

Psalm 111:

The Psalm (Psalm 111) tells us how great the works of the Lord are, and ends with that wonderful verse (10):

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
Those who act accordingly have a good understanding;
His praise endures for ever.

Saint Francis of Assisi says (in Admonition 27): “Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.”

I Corinthians 8: 1-13:

In the New Testament reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us of the difference between knowledge and love. There is a difference between knowing who God is, and loving God, just as there is a difference between knowing who someone is, and loving that person. Discipleship, and ministry, are less about knowing, and all about loving.

Mark 1: 21-28:

The Gospel readings is the story of Christ’s visit to Capernaum, where he teaches in the synagogue and preaches. All are astounded at his teaching, but when he actually puts it into practice, they are all amazed: He not only teaches, but he puts it into practice, he teaches not just with knowledge, but with authority; not only can he say, but he can do.

Christ has called his first disciples, Simon Peter, Andrew and the sons of Zebedee. Now this passage tells how his authority, both in word and deed, are first recognised. Christ and his disciples go to Capernaum, a prosperous town on the Sea of Galilee. In the synagogue it was the practice on Saturdays for the scribes, who specialised in the interpretation and application of Mosaic law to daily life, to quote scripture and tradition.

On this Saturday, however, Christ does not follow this practice. Instead, he speaks directly, confident of his authority and of his very essence. The Greek word here, ἐξουσία (exousía), has the same roots as the word in the Nicene Creed that is translated as “being” or “substance”: ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί (“of one substance with the Father”).

The “man with an unclean spirit” (verse 23) was, we might say, possessed, or under the influence of evil forces. In Jewish terms, he was under Satan’s direction, separated from God. The devil, speaking through this man (verse 24), asks what Christ is doing meddling in the domain of evil. He recognises who Christ is and that his coming spells the end of the power of the devil. He understands the significance of the coming Kingdom. Wonder-workers of the day healed using ritual or magic, but Christ exorcises simply through verbal command (verse 25), so clearly he is divine.

Verse 27, on the lips of the crowd, acknowledges Christ’s “authority” in word and deed.

The parallel reading of this pericope in Saint Luke’s Gospel is Luke 4: 31-37, but it is preceded by the story of Christ preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4: 16-30), when he proclaims the foundational text for his ministry, almost like a manifesto:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

These are high ideals and, if put into practice, threaten social stability and the ordering of society. This threat is realised by those who hear him, and they drive him out of the synagogue.

Driven out of the synagogue, Christ has three options: to allow himself to be silenced; to keep on preaching in other synagogues, but to never put what he says into practice so those who are worried have their fears allayed and realise he is no threat; or to preach and to put his teachings into practice, to show that he means what he says, that his faith is reflected in his priorities, to point to what the kingdom of God is truly like.

Christ takes the third option. He brings good news to the poor, he releases this poor captive, he can now see things as they are and as they ought to be, the oppressed man goes free and all are amazed.

There is a saying attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

Christ preaches with authority in the synagogue. But in this Gospel reading we are not told what he said. We are only told what he did.

In his actions he demonstrates the love of God and the love of others that are at the heart of the Gospel, that should be at the heart of every sermon that we preach. For the love of God and the love of others are the two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets.

Collect:

Creator God,
who in the beginning
commanded the light to shine out of darkness:
We pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief,
shine into the hearts of all your people,
and reveal the knowledge of your glory
in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion Prayer:

Generous Lord,
in word and Eucharist we have proclaimed
the mystery of your love.
Help us so to live out our days
that we may be signs of your wonders in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism, Liturgy and Church History, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. These notes were prepared for a Bible study with a tutorial group of MTh students on Wednesday 21 January 2015.

Stopping in Monaghan and recalling some long roads we have travelled

Inside the Westenra Arms Hotel in Monghan this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

I spent much of the day travelling to and from a funeral in a small country parish church in the picturesque lakelands of Co Fermanagh, between Roslea and Lisnaskea, close to the border between Co Fermanagh and Co Monaghan.

On the way back to south Dublin, five of us stopped briefly for a late lunch in Monaghan at the Westenra Arms Hotel on the Diamond.

This is an hotel with an interesting history that has served the people of Monaghan for almost 200 years. It has been a silent witness to many social and political events events, and some of the foundations of the older buildings on this site are said to date back to the 17th century.

Thomas Kelly was an innkeeper at the “Westenra Arms” in 1824, when it was probably a coaching inn. In the 1830s, Mr James Curran and his wife Elizabeth were running the hotel. A daughter continued running the hotel, and in the 1860s Miss Emma Curran and sister are listed as leasing the premises from a Mr Mitchell.

The hotel was later bought by Lord Rossmore and rebuilt in the late 19th century. By 1939, Miss Mary F. Bain was the proprietor and manageress of the hotel.

By the end of the 20th century, the hotel’s proprietors were Peter and Anne Driver. Today, the McEnaney family are the proprietors. They undertook major refurbishment work at the hotel in 2003, including the careful restoration of many of the hotel’s original and elegant features.

The Westenra Arms overlooks the Rossmore Memorial in the Diamond in Monaghan’s town centre. The hotel takes its name from a local family, the Westenra family, who are of Dutch descent, and came to Ireland in the 17th century. They lived nearby at Rossmore Park and held the title of Baron Rossmore,

The title was given to General Robert Cuninghame, Commander-in-Chief of Ireland, in 1796, with remainder to the nephews of his wife Elizabeth, Henry Alexander Jones, Warner William Westenra and Henry Westenra.

When the general died the title passed to his nephew Warner William Westenra, was an MP for Monaghan. His eldest son, the third baron, also sat as a Whig MP for Monaghan before succeeding to the family title.

The Rossmore Memorial in the Diamond was erected in 1876 as a memorial to the 4th Lord Rossmore, who died after a hunting accident at Windsor Castle on 28 March 1874. This Victorian monument was described by architectural historian CEB Brett as “formidable and striking.” It is octagonal in shape, with central marble columns supporting a fountain. Around it, the eight grey columns support the pinnacled superstructure that rises to a dome. The dome is surmounted by a spire supported by yet more columns. The letters of Rossmore (also 8 in number) are spaced out around the monument.

Rossmore Park was abandoned in the 1940s, fell into ruins, and was demolished in 1975.

Nearby, in front of the courthouse, stands a monument in memory of the victims of the 1974 Monagahan bombings. It was unveiled by President Mary McAleese on 17 May 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the bombing. The sandstone and metal column contains seven light wells bearing the names of each of the seven victims of the bombing.

I wonder did anyone at today’s reception in Windsor Castle recall that Lord Rossmore had died there 140 years ago.

On the other hand, some of the graves in that small country churchyard in Co Fermanagh and the monument outside Monaghan Courthouse are reminders of the difficult road we have all travelled in the past 40 years that made possible today’s reception for President Michael D Higgins in Windsor Castle, and the attendance of Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness.

The road from Monaghan back to Dublin seemed a little shorter this evening.

With the Saints in Lent (40): Saint Macartan of Clogher, 24 March

The Domhnach Airgid, associated with Saint Macartan of Clogher, is now in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin

Patrick Comerford

Saint Macartan, belongs to a very early generation of saints in Ireland and is claimed as both the first Bishop of Clogher and an uncle of Saint Bridget. He is known as Saint Patrick’s “Strong Man” for his dedication and faithfulness, and he is commemorated in the calendar of the Church of Ireland today [24 March].

Today is Palm Sunday, and the commemorations of saints are traditionally postponed during Holy Week and transferred to appropriate days after Lent and Easter. However, I hope that with a new Latin American Pope that the the martyrdom of Oscar Romero shall be remembered in many churches throughout the world today.

Meanwhile, I think it is worth retelling the story of Saint Macartan on his day.

Saint Macartan grew up in the northern part of Ireland. Before his conversion to Christianity, the future saint was known by the name Aidus. He was the son of Caerthen, and so continued to be known after his conversion as Macartan.

When he heard of Saint Patrick’s mission, Aidus travelled south from his father’s home to hear him preach. He first met Saint Patrick at Drumlease, near Dromahair, Co Leitrim. There Macartan was baptised and he soon became one of Saint Patrick’s missionaries.

He was spoken of as Saint Patrick’s “champion” or “strong man.” It is said that when Saint Patrick worn out by his work, Saint Macartan supported his faltering steps over rough roads, marshes and rivers.

He was the “Staff of Patrick” in Saint Patrick’s declining years. One story tells of an occasion when he had carried Saint Patrick across a river. Saint Macartan was exhausted and wished for a nearby church where he could settle down in peace.

Saint Patrick was full of sympathy for his faithful companion and agreed that he should establish a monastery in Clogher and end his days there.

A monastery was established near the ancient royal fort of Rathmore on the outskirts of the town and so, it is said, the Diocese of Clogher had its beginnings in the year 454. The original Diocese of Clogher was, practically speaking, coextensive with the territory of the Prince of Oriel in present-day Co Tyrone and Co Fermanagh. It is said that Saint Brigid, Saint Macartan’s niece, was present at the founding of the see.

To commemorate the occasion, the story continues, Saint Patrick gave Saint Macartan his staff or crozier and a number of precious relics in a shrine known traditionally as the Domhnach Airgid, or the Silver Church of Silver Shrine.

The Cloch Oir or Golden Stone, from which this diocese takes its name, is said to have been a sacred ceremonial stone for the Druids. It was given to Macartan by an old pagan noble, who had harassed Macartan in every possible way until the saint’s patient love won the local ruler to the Christian faith.

Saint Macartan died in the year 506 and his feast day is celebrated on 24 March. In 2006, 1500th anniversary of his death was commemorated throughout the diocese.

The Domhnach Airgid, now in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, contains fragments of 39 sheets of the Gospels, written in the distinctively Irish lettering of the eighth or ninth century. On the cover of the Domhnach Airgid is one of the earliest surviving metalwork images of Saint Patrick.

Around 1350, the Abbot of Clones, John O Carbry, paid for a substantial remodelling of the Domhnach Airgid. The figure of St. Patrick is thought to be at the lower right of the cover. In the lower left, Saint Patrick may be handing the Domhnach Airgid to Saint Macartan.

The two cathedrals in the Church of Ireland Diocese of Clogher are named after him, albeit with different spellings: Saint Macartan’s, Clogher, and Saint Macartin’s, Enniskillen.

When Saint Macartan died, tradition says, he was succeeded as bishop by Tighernach of Clones, a son of the nobleman who gave him the Golden Stone of Clogher.
In 1135, Gilla Crist O Morgair (Christianus) moved the Diocese of Clogher to Louth, and this union lasted until 1218. Indeed, the Annals of Ulster continued to refer to the Bishop of Clogher as the Bishop of Airghialla (Oriel) into the second half of the 14th century.

In 1241, King Henry III ordered the union of the dioceses of Clogher and Armagh because of the poverty of the two dioceses. However, this union did not take place, although, under Bishop David O Bracain (1245-1268), large portions of present-day Co Tyrone were transferred from Clogher to the Diocese of Ardstraw (now part of the Diocese of Derry), and the greater part of present Co Louth, including Dundalk, Drogheda, and Ardee, was transferred to Armagh.

The Church of Ireland Diocese of Clogher did not exist as a separate entity from 1850 to 1886. When Robert Ponsonby Tottenham Loftus, Bishop of Clogher, died in 1850, the former Diocese of Clogher was joined to Armagh.

Archbishop Marcus Gervais Beresford of Armagh, who had resisted the restoration of the Diocese of Clogher, died in 1885, and the Diocese of Clogher was formed once again with Maurice Stack as its bishop – the first post-disestablishment Bishop of Clogher.

Saint Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

In 1923, Saint Anne’s Church, Enniskillen was designated Saint Macartin’s Cathedral. The intention was to replace the cathedral at Clogher, but Clogher cathedral was never reduced to parish church status, and so the Diocese of Clogher has the unique distinction of having two diocesan cathedrals, yet with a single dean and chapter.

Saint Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan serves the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clogher. The cathedral stands high on a hill on an eight-acre site that and can be seen from on all main roads into the town. Monaghan became a cathedral town in the mid 1800s, and Bishop Charles MacNally proposed building the cathedral in 1858. The cathedral architect, James Joseph McCarthy (1817-1882), designed a 14th century Gothic style cathedral. After McCarthy’s death, his work was continued by William Hague.

Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan, designed by JJ McCarthy, in I861 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

The Collect of Saint Macartan’s Day

Heavenly Father,
we thank you for Macartan, faithful companion of Saint Patrick,
and builder of your church in Clogher:
Build up your church through those whom you call to leadership
in this generation,
and strengthen your church to proclaim the gospel
of reconciliation and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Tomorrow (25 March): Saint Dismas, the Penitent Thief

Visiting McCarthy’s cathedral in Monaghan

Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan, designed by JJ McCarthy, in I861 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Patrick Comerford

During my few days in Castle Leslie, from Sunday to Tuesday, I could not resist heading off on the Pugin trail once again, and I spent much of yesterday afternoon [Monday 29 August] in Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, the magnificent cathedral in Monaghan designed by the “Irish Pugin”, JJ McCarthy, in I861.

The cathedral stands high on the town-land of Latlurcan, looking out over the town of Monaghan and across miles and miles of rolling countryside.

Monaghan became the cathedral town of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clogher in the mid-1800s when Bishop Charles MacNally moved there and proposed building a new cathedral in 1858. The eight-acre site for the cathedral and bishop’s house was bought from Humphrey Jones of Clontibret and the cathedral foundation stone was laid on 21 June 1861.

James Joseph McCarthy (1817-1882), who had been Pugin’s pupil, designed the cathedral in the 14th-century French Gothic style and building began in 1862. Saint Macartan’s Cathedral is regarded by many as the most impressive of McCarthy’s cathedrals and as “one of McCarthy’s best works: an excellent example of the High Victorian ecclesiastical style at its best, rich without ever being over-ornate.”

When McCarthy died ten years later in 1882, he was succeeded as architect by William Hague from Cavan, who continued with building the spire and the gate lodge. In addition to the soaring spire, the cathedral has three large rose windows with elaborate tracery.

Bishop James Donnelly (1864-1893) oversaw most of the building work and he dedicated the new cathedral on 21 August 1892.

The interior of Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Saint Peter and Saint Paul stand in niches on each side of the main west door, the Apostle Peter clutching the keys of authority and the Apostle Paul holding the sword of martyrdom. In the high-relief carving in the tympanum above the west door, Christ hands the keys of authority to Saint Peter.

On the southern face of the cathedral there are statues of Saint Tiarnach, Saint Ultan of Ardbraccan, patron of children, Saint Columcille of Derry and Iona, Saint Dympna of Gheel in Belgium and Tydavnet, Heber Mc Mahon, the warrior Bishop of Clogher, Bishop Charles Mc Nally, who came from Monaghan, holding a partially-built cathedral, and Bishop Donnelly holding the completed cathedral in his left arm.

The statues on the northern face of the cathedral represent five Old Testament figures: Abraham with his staff, Moses with a scroll and tablet, David with a lyre, Isaiah holding the tablet foretelling the birth of Christ, and Jeremiah appealing for help with arms outstretched; the other two figures are Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, the parents of the Virgin Mary. It is said the statue of Saint Joachim bears a resemblance to Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), who was pope at the time the cathedral was being built.

The cathedral is cruciform, 53.9 metres long, 21.9 metres wide in the nave, and 33.5 metres wide at the transepts. The tower and spire on the south side are 74.6 metres high. The nave, with aisles and a clerestory, is only five bays long – originally McCarthy planned seven, but the cathedral was cut short due to a shortage of funds. The chancel has a polygonal apse and double aisles on the north and south sides.

In 1983, Saint Macartan’s cathedral was re-ordered in line with the liturgical changes introduced by the second Vatican Council. But the “modernisations” destroyed the original sanctuary and few of the original fittings are left, apart from some lighting standards and pews.

Most of the original fittings were destroyed during the renovation, when unsuitable modern alternatives installed. One of the remaining pieces is the west end organ loft with its magnificent Telford Organ in front of the rose window.

Perhaps the crowning glory of the interior is the magnificent wooden hammer-beam roof which, like the main part of the nave, remains intact. This elaborate roof is supported on carved corbels depicting saints placed between the clerestory windows.

All of the massive columns in the nave and aisles have carved capitals and the wooden railings between them have original brass light fittings and mounts.

With the exception of the rose windows in the transepts, all the windows contain stained glass by Meyer.

The sanctuary is a now series of chapels, dedicated to the sacramental life of the Church. From left to right they are:

The Chapel of the Holy Oils: The holy oils used in the sacraments – the Oil of Catechumens, the Oil of the Sick and Sacred Chrism – are stored in an aumbry.

The Baptistery Chapel: The granite font is the work of the sculptor Michael Biggs. The tapestry depicts the Holy Spirit descending on the water, nourishing the roots of the Tree of Life.

The sanctuary of the Eucharist (the main altar): this includes the altar, the ambo and the bishop’s chair, all in granite, are the work of sculptor Michael Biggs. The cross on the left is the work of Richard Enda King. The carpet directly behind the altar shows a fish (Icthus, ΙΧΘΥΣ), a mnemonic for Iesous (Jesus) Christos (Christ) Theou (God) Uiou (Son) Soter (Saviour). A gold plate on the bishop’s cathedra or chair, cathedra reads: Haec est sedes Episcopalis Clogherensis – “This is the seat of the Bishop of Clogher.”

The sanctuary tapestries behind the bishop’s chair, designed by Frances Biggs and woven by Terry Dunne, depict from left to right: Saint Macartan (left), the Trinity (centre), and the Annunciation to Saint Joseph (right)

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel: the tabernacle, designed by Richard Enda King, is surrounded by the name Solas Dé (“Light of God”) and it sits on a granite plinth sculpted by Michael Biggs. The tabernacle is shaped like a tent which in the Exodus housed the Ark of the Covenant. The tapestry behind shows the broken bread of the Eucharist inside an unbroken circle. The broken bread represents a broken humanity and the unbroken circle the divinity of Christ.

The Chapel of Reconciliation on the south transept is located to the right of the tabernacle. On the left are the Irish words: Dúirt Íosa leo, ‘mise atá ann. Ná bíodh eagla oraibh’ (Jesus said to them: I am with you. Be not afraid). On the right are the words: Tháinig sé isteach sa bhád chucu agus thit an ghaoth (He got into the boat with them and the wind dropped). The anchor above the door is a traditional Christian symbol of hope.

On the north side of the sanctuary, a cloister linking to the sacristy is lined with the Stations of the Cross painted in acrylic by Frances Biggs in 1990.

Along the corridor to the north exit, the names of former Bishops of Clogher are listed, from Bishop Cináeth Ua Baígill (died 1135) to Bishop Patrick Mulligan (1970-1979), predecessor of Bishop Joseph Duffy. In all, fifty one bishops are named on the panels.

The former Baptistery opens off the north-west aisle and is now the the Lady Chapel. Here is a pieta designed by Nell Murphy and cast by Leo Higgins and Colm Brennan. The words of the Magnificat are woven into a blue background.

Despite the severe alterations of the mid-1980s, the cathedral has two other splendid pieces of modern art: a triptych by the Patrick Pye in the Chapel of Reconciliation; and an icon of Saint Macartan by Luis Alvarez at the top of the south-east aisle.

Patrick Pye’s Triptych in Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

After visiting Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, I strolled around Monaghan, viewing a number of architectural and historical sites including:

● Saint Patrick's, the Church of Ireland parish church in Church Square.
● Joseph Welland’s stately courthouse (1830) on Church Square with its sandstone facade of Doric columns and a pediment with the royal arms of the House of Hanover.
● The monument outside Saint Patrick’s and the courthouse to the victims of the 1974 Monaghan bombing, unveiled by President Mary McAleese.
● The octagonal Rossmore Memorial in The Diamond was built in 1876 as a memorial to the 4th Lord Rossmore, who died in 1874 after a hunting accident at Windsor Castle.
● The Dawson Obelisk, commemorating a Colonel Dawson who was killed during the Crimean War.
● The Bank of Ireland in Church Square, an architectural essay in the Ruskinian-Gothic style.
● The Market House (17992) on Market Square.
● The Westenra Hotel on The Diamond.

I enjoyed a double espresso sitting outside the Squealing Pig on the corner of the Diamond before returning to Caste Leslie in Glaslough.