Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 34, 12 June 2024

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Templeglantine, Co Limerick, was built almost 200 years ago in 1829 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This week began with the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 9 June 2024). In the two weeks after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of cathedrals, churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece and England dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I am continuing this theme this week, with images and memories of churches I know in Ireland that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Inside Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 5: 17-19 (NRSVUE):

[Jesus said:] 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

The gallery and west end of Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Templeglantine, Co Limerick:

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Templeglantine, Co Limerick, is across the street from the community centre and the local school.

The name Templeglantine (Teampall an Ghleanntáin) means ‘the church of the little glen,’ although it is also known locally as Inchebaun or An Inse Bhán, meaning the ‘White River meadow.’ The village is on the N21 from Limerick to Tralee, five miles south-west of Newcastlewest.

Templeglantine is a chapel village that grew up around the church built almost 200 years ago in 1829 by Father James Cleary, who was Parish Priest of Monagea. Templeglantine parish was created in 1864 following the transfer of Father James O’Shea to Rathkeale. He had been parish priest of Monagea, and Templeglantine was a part of Monagea parish until this change.

The O’Macasa family ruled the area until the 12th century, when they were replaced by the FitzGerald family, Earls of Desmond. After the defeat of the Desmond FitzGeralds in 1583, this part of West Limerick passed to Sir William Courtenay and the Earls of Devon.

Westropp describes an old church ruin in Templeglantine. The site of this church is now surrounded by Templeglantine graveyard. The east end of the church was levelled before 1840. The remainder of the church was defaced and overgrown with ash and thorn.

The walls of the church were about 6 or 7 feet in height, according to Westropp. While the ruins of the church no longer exist, a small wall has been built to show the site of the west gable of the church. The church was originally about 70 ft by 30 ft.

According to Tadhg O’Maolcatha, there was a thatched Mass House at Roche’s Cross in Meenoline before 1829. Earlier still there was an Abbey in Templeglantine West.

Holy Trinity Church in Templeglantine is one of the oldest churches still in use today in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick. An inscription on the wall says the church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity in 1829. The baptismal font and the holy water fonts in the porch are presumed to date from 1829, the year that also marked the passing of legislation on Catholic Emancipation.

This is double-height, gable-fronted church, with a three-bay nave and a later porch, built in the 1930s, a single-bay chancel, a two-bay single-storey sacristy, and a single-bay lean-to and flat-roofed extensions.

The church retains many attractive architectural features, including the dressed rubble stone walls with limestone quoins, and the numerous window styles, including unusual bipartite windows. The use of tooled limestone to the window surrounds and hood mouldings enhance the appearance of the church.

Inside the church, the well-maintained interior has a finely carved marble reredos. Behind the High Altar, the stained-glass window depicts the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ.

There are stained-glass windows of Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid at the back of the church, and a stained-glass window in the gallery of Christ gathering or minding his flock.

The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity on the north side of the nave was commissioned in 1999 to mark the millennium in 2000. The medallion is the work of the liturgical artist Fergus Costello at his studios in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary.

At the centre of the medallion, a motif from the Book of Kells shows unending circles, without beginning or end, as a symbol of Divinity. The Father is represented by the all-seeing eye; the Son is represented by the Cross of Redemption; the Holy Spirit is represented by the Dove.

The Dove is carved in pine; the all-seeing eye and the cross are carved in bog oak and bog yew wood that is probably thousands of years old.

The Stations of the Cross date from around 1946, when they replaced the original Stations of the Cross. The church also has a silver chalice from 1796, predating the church.

The porch was built in the 1930s through a donation from parishioners who had emigrated to America.

Bridget (Sexton) Kiely of Glenshesk donated a bell to the church in the early 20th century, and it was mounted on the west gable. By the mid-1950s, the bell was taken down for safety reasons, a new free-standing belfry was built in the church grounds, and the old bell was sent to the missions in Africa.

A large stone statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in front of the church in 1995. It was sculpted from limestone and is the work of the sculptor Annette McCormack from Newbridge, Co Kildare.

A new graveyard behind the church opened in September 1983. Before that, the only graveyard in the parish had been in the grounds of the old church in Templeglantine West. That graveyard is said to have been in use for around 800 years, but the oldest headstone is from 1866, in memory of Michael Gallwey RM.

The community centre across the road was officially opened by Bishop Jeremiah Newman in 1977.

Today, Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, forms a pastoral unit with Tournafulla and Mountcollins.

The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity by Fergus Costello (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 12 June 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 ‘Estate Community Development Mission, Diocese of Colombo, Church of Ceylon.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update. The Church of Ceylon is one of USPG’s Partners in Mission (PIM).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (12 June 2024, World Day Against Child Labour) invites us to pray:

Lord Jesus, open our eyes to the reality of forced child labour. Help us to realise how precious each child is to you. May the awareness of modern-day slavery motivate us to act.

The Collect:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

The stained-glass window of Saint Patrick in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The free-standing belfry in the church grounds (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, is one of the oldest churches in use in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (42) 9 July 2023

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Templeglantine, Co Limerick, was built almost 200 years ago in 1829 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and today is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (9 July 2023). Later this morning, I hope to be present at the Parish Eucharist in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton.

But, before this day begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reading and reflection.

Over these weeks after Trinity Sunday, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at relevant images or stained glass window in a church, chapel or cathedral I know;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Templeglantine, Co Limerick:

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Templeglantine, Co Limerick, is across the street from the community centre and the local school.

The name Templeglantine (Teampall an Ghleanntáin) means ‘the church of the little glen,’ although it is also known locally as Inchebaun or An Inse Bhán, meaning the ‘White River meadow.’ The village is on the N21 from Limerick to Tralee, five miles south-west of Newcastlewest.

Templeglantine is a chapel village that grew up around the church built almost 200 years ago in 1829 by Father James Cleary, who was Parish Priest of Monagea. Templeglantine parish was created in 1864 following the transfer of Father James O’Shea to Rathkeale. He had been parish priest of Monagea, and Templeglantine was a part of Monagea parish until this change.

The O’Macasa family ruled the area until the 12th century, when they were replaced by the FitzGerald family, Earls of Desmond. After the defeat of the Desmond FitzGeralds in 1583, this part of West Limerick passed to Sir William Courtenay and the Earls of Devon.

Westropp describes an old church ruin in Templeglantine. The site of this church is now surrounded by Templeglantine graveyard. The east end of the church was levelled before 1840. The remainder of the church was defaced and overgrown with ash and thorn.

The walls of the church were about 6 or 7 feet in height, according to Westropp. While the ruins of the church no longer exist, a small wall has been built to show the site of the west gable of the church. The church was originally about 70 ft by 30 ft.

According to Tadhg O’Maolcatha, there was a thatched Mass House at Roche’s Cross in Meenoline before 1829. Earlier still there was an Abbey in Templeglantine West.

Holy Trinity Church in Templeglantine is one of the oldest churches still in use today in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick. An inscription on the wall says the church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity in 1829. The baptismal font and the holy water fonts in the porch are presumed to date from 1829, the year that also marked the passing of legislation on Catholic Emancipation.

This is double-height, gable-fronted church, with a three-bay nave and a later porch, built in the 1930s, a single-bay chancel, a two-bay single-storey sacristy, and a single-bay lean-to and flat-roofed extensions.

The church retains many attractive architectural features, including the dressed rubble stone walls with limestone quoins, and the numerous window styles, including unusual bipartite windows. The use of tooled limestone to the window surrounds and hood mouldings enhance the appearance of the church.

Inside the church, the well-maintained interior has a finely carved marble reredos. Behind the High Altar, the stained-glass window depicts the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ.

There are stained-glass windows of Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid at the back of the church, and a stained-glass window in the gallery of Christ gathering or minding his flock.

The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity on the north side of the nave was commissioned in 1999 to mark the millennium in 2000. The medallion is the work of the liturgical artist Fergus Costello at his studios in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary.

At the centre of the medallion, a motif from the Book of Kells shows unending circles, without beginning or end, as a symbol of Divinity. The Father is represented by the all-seeing eye; the Son is represented by the Cross of Redemption; the Holy Spirit is represented by the Dove.

The Dove is carved in pine; the all-seeing eye and the cross are carved in bog oak and bog yew wood that is probably thousands of years old.

The Stations of the Cross date from around 1946, when they replaced the original Stations of the Cross. The church also has a silver chalice from 1796, predating the church.

The porch was built in the 1930s through a donation from parishioners who had emigrated to America.

Bridget (Sexton) Kiely of Glenshesk donated a bell to the church in the early 20th century, and it was mounted on the west gable. By the mid-1950s, the bell was taken down for safety reasons, a new free-standing belfry was built in the church grounds, and the old bell was sent to the missions in Africa.

A large stone statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in front of the church in 1995. It was sculpted from limestone and is the work of the sculptor Annette McCormack from Newbridge, Co Kildare.

A new graveyard behind the church opened in September 1983. Before that, the only graveyard in the parish had been in the grounds of the old church in Templeglantine West. That graveyard is said to have been in use for around 800 years, but the oldest headstone is from 1866, in memory of Michael Gallwey RM.

The community centre across the road was officially opened by Bishop Jeremiah Newman in 1977.

Today, Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, forms a pastoral unit with Tournafulla and Mountcollins.

The gallery and west end of Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 16 ‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,

17 “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’
25 At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28 ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity by Fergus Costello (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

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 ‘Fighting Climate Change Appeal – Hermani’s story’. This theme is introduced today:

Climate change looms across the globe. In India, where 268 million people live in poverty, the crisis is hitting their communities the hardest. Communities like Hermani’s. Walking to school each morning, she passes her neighbour’s vegetable plots wilting in the harsh sun. She spots animals who have died because there is no water for them to drink.

For Hermani, the future feels frightening and uncertain. It’s a heavy burden for her to carry. But you can share this burden, so she knows she is not alone. The Church of South India runs an eco-learning programme teaching school classes about what they can do to tackle climate change.

USPG is launching the Fighting Climate Change Appeal so that with your support, Hermani will learn how to save water and create fertilisers out of waste. She’ll understand more about preserving water and planting trees, offering shade for years to come. Your compassion can support India’s young climate warriors today.

Find out more HERE.

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (9 July 2023) invites us to pray:

‘The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it’.
O God,
We have profoundly damaged Creation.
Give us the strength to recover what we have tainted,
Amplify the voices calling for renewal.

Collect:

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

Post Communion:

Grant, O Lord, we beseech you,
that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered
by your governance,
that your Church may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The stained-glass window of Saint Patrick in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The free-standing belfry in the church grounds (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

Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, is one of the oldest churches in use in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Interfaith consultation with the Muslim community

Bishop Kenneth Kearon and Canon Patrick Comerford with Dr Ali Selim and members of the Church of Ireland interfaith consultation on the steps of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland

Bishop Kenneth Kearon and Canon Patrick Comerford of the Rathkeale Group of Parishes took part in the Church of Ireland interfaith consultation last month [12 September] that focused on engagement with the Muslim community in Dublin.

The day was organised by the Interfaith Working Group of the Church of Ireland, chaired by Bishop Kearon.

The principal speaker was Dr Ali Selim, the resident theologian at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI), who has studied at the Irish School of Ecumenics and lectured in Trinity College Dublin, where Bishop Kearon is a former director.

Six dioceses in the Church of Ireland were represented at the consultation, which took place in both the Church of Ireland Theological Institute and the Islamic Centre, and included a visit to the mosque and school in Clonskeagh and lunch at the restaurant at the centre.

The previous interfaith consultation earlier this year [5 March 2019] included a seminar with Rabbi Zalman Lent and a visit to the Dublin Jewish Museum in Portobello, an area also known as Dublin’s ‘Little Jerusalem.’

Earlier in September, Bishop Kearon and Canon Comerford were guests at the unveiling of a plaque in the community centre in Templeglantine to recognise the work of Michael (Max) Arthur Macauliffe (1841-1913), who is still for his translation of Sikh scripture and history into English.

The attendance include representatives of the Sikh community in the Mid-West, church leaders, people involved in interfaith dialogue, local politicians and council officials, as well as members of the local community, including teachers and pupils from the school Max Macauliffe once attended in Templeglantine, near Newcastle West, Co Limerick.

Limerick City and County Council was approached by the Dublin Interfaith Forum last year about ways to honour the man from West Limerick. The commemorations were organised by representatives from the Sikh community, Limerick City and County Council and local historians. The speakers included the Indian ambassador, Sandep Kumar, and Dr Jasbir Puri of the Sikh Community.

‘These interfaith encounters are positive experiences of face-to-face dialogue and an opportunity for the Church of Ireland to engage with the cultural and religious diversity that is contributing positively to shaping Irish identity today,’ Canon Comerford said.

Inside the mosque in Clonskeagh during the interfaith consultation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

This full-page news report is published in the October 2019 edition of ‘Newslink,’ the Limerick and Killaloe diocesan magazine (p 20)

Templeglantine remembers local teacher who edited ground-breaking dictionary

The plaque in Templeglantine commemorating Timothy O’Neill Lane and his contribution to Irish language and literature (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During the commemorations in Templeglantine last week celebrating the life of Max Macauliffe and his unique contributions to Sikh literature and studies, I noticed that this small West Limerick parish was also the birthplace of Timothy O’Neill Lane (1822-1915), who produced the first English-Irish dictionary of the 20th century.

Timothy O’Neill Lane (1822-1915), a teacher, clerk, lexicographer and journalist with the Times of London, was born in Co Limerick, and spent many years – and all of his money – travelling Ireland to compile a landmark dictionary. His English-Irish Dictionary, was first published in 1904, mainly at his own expense but with donations from Irish bishops and a small grant from the Government.

The plaque to mark the centenary of his death was unveiled in his native Templeglantine in 2015, and a headstone was erected at his grave in Brosna, Co Kerry. But his enormous contribution and dedication to Irish language and literature have remained relatively unknown.

A census in 1851 showed that 60 per cent of the adult population spoke Irish. O’Neill Lane was born in Gurteen, Templeglantine, in 1852, into a prosperous farming family and was raised bilingually, with a good grasp of the Irish language in his formative years.

He attended the local primary later taught at the school in Templeglantine for seven years before applying for the civil service. He passed the written examinations but failed the medical test. O’Neill Lane had been born with a deformed foot, which gave him a life-long limp. He wore specially made shoes and always travelled with a walking stick.

He persevered in seeking a change in career, however, and was appointed as a clerk to the Incorporated Law Society in London. Soon after he was appointed the Paris correspondent of the Times of London.

While he was working in Paris in the 1880s, O’Neill Lane began working on his dictionary. Following the example of Samuel Johnson’s first dictionary of English in 1755, Irish dictionaries were produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. But O’Neill Lane found them to be lacking.

His aim was to produce something that would better inform students of Irish. By the time he finally finished, in 1904, he had spent more than £2,500 – the equivalent of more than €325,000 today – to complete his project.

O’Neill Lane spent five years travelling around Ireland. During his travels, he also wrote a series of travel books while visiting Gaeltacht areas, where he collected words and phrases from local people. He found that words then thought to be obsolete were still in use in Munster and in other parts of Ireland, and he documented regional variations of Irish words and phrases.

The support for the dictionary was substantial. O’Neill Lane received a grant of £250 – the equivalent of €32,500 today – from the government to produce the book and had more than 650 advance subscriptions.

The majority of subscribers were clergy, but people from throughout Ireland, the US, Canada and Australia also gave their support.

As soon as his 581-page work was published, however, O’Neill Lane expressed dissatisfaction with it. By then, he given up his career in journalism and he partly blamed the shortcomings he identified in the first edition on his commitments in Paris.

Immediately, he began working on a second edition, and included in his first edition an appeal for corrections and omissions, with a prize of £25 for the person who provided him with the best information.

O’Neill Lane asked that corrections be sent to Tournafulla, near Templeglantine, where he later lived with his cousins. O’Neill Lane had married an Englishwoman, and they had a son and a daughter, but neither his wife nor his daughter ever visited Ireland. His son spent time at the school in Tournafulla and later edited an English-language newspaper in Shanghai.

The revised edition was 50 per cent larger than the first edition. Both editions made a vast amount of material available at a time when the Gaelic League was enjoying increasing popularity.

Although he received many subscriptions for the second edition, producing it left O’Neill Lane virtually penniless. The day before he died a copy of the dictionary arrived by train at his local station in Limerick. He laid his hands on it on his deathbed.

Timothy O’Neill Lane died at Tournafulla, near Templeglantine, on 8 May 1915, while he was staying with his Kelly cousins. He was buried in the ancestral grave of Leane family in Brosna, Co Limerick. His books and papers were donated to Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

His dictionary was republished in enlarged editions in 1921 and 1922, and it has been reprinted many times since.

How Templeglantine grew up around the church built in 1829

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Templeglantine, was built 190 years ago in 1829 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During the commemorations of Max Macauliffe and his contribution to Sikh life in Templeglantine earlier this week [11 September 2019], I also visited the Church of the Holy Trinity, across the street from the community centre and the school once attended by Max Macauliffe.

The name Templeglantine (Teampall an Ghleanntáin) means ‘the church of the little glen,’ although it is also known locally as Inchebaun or An Inse Bhán, meaning the ‘White River meadow.’ The village is on the N21 from Limerick to Tralee, five miles south-west of Newcastlewest.

Templeglantine is a chapel village that grew up around the church built 190 years ago in 1829 by Father James Cleary, who was Parish Priest of Monagea. Templeglantine parish was created in 1864 following the transfer of Father James O’Shea to Rathkeale. He had been parish priest of Monagea, and Templeglantine was a part of Monagea parish until this change.

The O’Macasa family ruled the area until the 12th century when they were replaced by the FitzGerald family, Earls of Desmond. After the defeat of the Desmond FitzGeralds in 1583, this part of West Limerick passed to Sir William Courtenay and the Earls of Devon.

Inside Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Westropp describes an old church ruin in Templeglantine. The site of this church is now surrounded by Templeglantine graveyard. The east end of the church was levelled before 1840. The remainder of the church was defaced and overgrown with ash and thorn.

The walls of the church were about 6 or 7 feet in height, according to Westropp. While the ruins of the church no longer exist, a small wall has been built to show the site of the west gable of the church. The church was originally about 70 ft by 30 ft.

According to Tadhg O’Maolcatha, there was a thatched Mass House at Roche’s Cross in Meenoline before 1829. Earlier still there was an Abbey in Templeglantine West.

The gallery and west end of Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Holy Trinity Church in Templeglantine is one of the oldest churches still in use today in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick. An inscription on the wall says the church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity in 1829. The baptismal font and the holy water fonts in the porch are presumed to date from 1829. The year 1829 also marked the passing of legislation on Catholic Emancipation.

This is double-height, gable-fronted church, with a three-bay nave and a later porch, built in the 1930s, a single-bay chancel, a two-bay single-storey sacristy, and a single-bay lean-to and flat-roofed extensions.

The church retains many attractive architectural features, including the dressed rubble stone walls with limestone quoins, and the numerous window styles, including unusual bipartite windows. The use of tooled limestone to the window surrounds and hood mouldings enhance the appearance of the church.

The stained-glass window of Saint Patrick in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Inside, the well-maintained interior has a finely carved marble reredos. Behind the High Altar, the stained-glass window depicts the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ.

There are stained-glass windows of Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid at the back of the church, and a stained-glass window in the gallery of Christ gathering or minding his flock.

The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity by Fergus Costello (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The wooden medallion of the Holy Trinity on the north side of the nave was commissioned in 1999 to mark the millennium in 2000. The medallion is the work of the liturgical artist Fergus Costello at his studios in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary.

At the centre of the medallion, a motif from the Book of Kells shows unending circles, without beginning or end, as a symbol of Divinity. The Father is represented by the all-seeing eye; the Son is represented by the Cross of Redemption; the Holy Spirit is represented by the Dove.

The Dove is carved in pine; the all-seeing eye and the cross are carved in bog oak and bog yew wood that is probably thousands of years old.

The Stations of the Cross date from around 1946 when they replaced the original Stations of the Cross. The church also has a silver chalice from 1796, predating the church.

The porch was built in the 1930s through a donation from parishioners who had emigrated to America.

The free-standing belfry in the grounds of the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Bridget (Sexton) Kiely of Glenshesk donated a bell to the church in the early 20th century, and it was mounted on the west gable. By the mid-1950s, the bell was taken down for safety reasons, a new free-standing belfry was built in the church grounds, and the old bell was sent to the missions in Africa.

A large stone statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in front of the church in 1995. It was sculpted from limestone and is the work of the sculptor Annette McCormack from Newbridge, Co Kildare.

The stained-glass window of Saint Brigid in Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A new graveyard behind the church opened in September 1983. Before that, the only graveyard in the parish had been in the grounds of the old church in Templeglantine West. That graveyard is said to have been in use for around 800 years, but the oldest headstone is from 1866, in memory of Michael Gallwey RM.

The community centre across the road was officially opened in 1977 by Bishop Jeremiah Newman, and was the venue for this weeks commemorations of Max Macauliffe.

Today, Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, forms a pastoral unit with Tournafulla and Mountcollins.

Holy Trinity Church, Templeglantine, is one of the oldest churches in use in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

West Limerick remembers the Irish civil servant who translated Sikh scriptures

The Sikh community gathers at the unveiling of the plaque to Max Macauliffe in Templeglantine today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Templeglantine, near Newcastle West, this morning at the unveiling of a plaque in the community centre to recognise the work of Michael (Max) Arthur Macauliffe (1841-1913), who is still celebrated for his translation of Sikh scripture and history into English.

The attendance include representatives of the Sikh community in the Mid-West, church leaders, people involved in inter-faith dialogue, local politicians and council officials, as well as members of the local community, including teachers and pupils from the school Max Macauliffe once attended in Templeglantine.

Max Macauliffe was born in Glenmore, Monagea near Newcastle West, Co Limerick, on 10 September 1841, the eldest of 12 children of John McAulliffe and his wife Julia (Browne). He was baptised in Monagea and began school there.

The family moved to Templeglantine when he was eight. He then went to school in Newcastle West and Springfield College, Ennis, now Saint Flannan’s College, before going on to Queen’s College Galway, now NUI Galway, from 1857 to 1863. There he received a BA in Modern Languages (1860), and he obtained a senior scholarship in Ancient Classics (1860-1861), and a senior scholarship in Modern Languages and History (1861-1862).

Macauliffe joined the Indian Civil Service in 1862, and arrived in the Punjab in February 1864. The Punjab, now divided between India and Pakistan, was the birthplace of Sikhism in the 16th century. The religion was founded by Guru Nanek Dev Ji and is based on his teachings, and those of the nine Sikh gurus who followed him.

Macauliffe lived for a time in Amritsar, the centre of Sikh worship with its Golden Temple. When he reportedly converted to Sikhism in the 1860s, he was derided within the Civil Service for having ‘turned a Sikh.’ However, Professor Tadhg Foley of NUI Galway, who is completing a biography of Macauliffe, said this morning that his conversion is still an open question.

The three pillars or tenets of Sikhism are: to keep God in mind at all times; to earn an honest living; and to give to charity and care for others. Sikhism now has some 27 million followers world-wide. About 2,000 Sikhs live in Ireland, and a large proportion of them – 500 Sikhs – live in the Limerick and mid-West region.

Macauliffe was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Punjab in 1882, and he was awarded an MA by his alma mater in Galway that year. He became a Divisional Judge in 1884. He retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1893.

Macauliffe is held in high esteem amongst Sikhs for his translation into English of the Sikh Scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib. At a lecture in Lahore, he said the Guru Granth was matchless as a book of holy teachings. He also wrote The Sikh Religion: its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors (six volumes, Oxford University Press, 1909). He was assisted in his works by Pratap Singh Giani, a Sikh scholar.

According to Professor Foley, Macauliffe established the place of Sikh scriptures in world literature and laid the foundations for Sikh scholarship in the west.

Max lived in comparative wealth in London after his retirement from the Indian Civil Service. He never married, although he had fathered a son in India.

Macauliffe lived in retirement in London, although he returned to India regularly. He died in London on 15 March 1913. His personal assistant remarked in his memoirs that on his death bed Macauliffe could be heard reciting the Sikh morning prayer, Japji Sahib, 10 minutes before he died.

Dr Jasbir Puri of the Sikh Community speaking at today’s commemorations in Templeglantine, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Over 100 years after his death, the ground-breaking work of this West Limerick linguist, scholar and civil servant was honoured and his unusual life story was recalled today when a plaque was unveiled at Templeglantine National School, where he was once a pupil and where his father was headmaster.

Limerick City and County Council was approached by the Dublin Interfaith Forum last year about ways to honour this man from West Limerick, and a working group was set up.

Today’s commemorations were organised by representatives from the Sikh community, Limerick City and County Council and local historians. In addition, a new biography of Macauliffe is being completed by Professor Tadhg Foley.

The other speakers at this morning’s ceremony included the Indian ambassador, Sandep Kumar, and Dr Jasbir Puri of the Sikh Community.

The plaque commemorating Max Macauliffe unveiled in Templeglantine this morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)