Dublin has an official cathedral for the first time since the Reformation!
I wrote this about the (formerly) Pro-Cathedral in a fairly recent post, "The Atmosphere of Dublin":
Another strange one-- the Pro-Cathedral seems quintessentially Dublin to me. I hated it as a child. My father used to take my brother and me into it to light a candle every now and again (probably not more than five times in all). It seemed dark, musty, reminiscent of death and mortality, haphazardly laid-out, and ramshackle. Now, of course, all these things appeal to me.
Presumably people will still call it "the Pro-Cathedral". I'll be disappointed if they don't!
Disappointed. I liked that we were unhappy that Christ Church or St Patrick's weren't ours and we had a claim to (one of) them. And I liked the idea that we planned back in time to build a cathedral on one of the squares on the south side which we should have done. Imagine a cathedral a stone's throw from the Dáil. Ha! That would have kept the gentle face of Christ amidst their denials. Apart from the mystery of St Laurence O'Toole's relics, the intimate joy of the hidden St Kevin's chapel, the sweetness of the confession queue, I don't think the pro-cathedral has that much going for it. I say that as someone whose Dublin family and ancestry lived around the pro-cathedral. The mystical, spiritual heart of Dublin is of course Clarendon St anyway.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I like Clarendon Street, but the mystical, spiritual heart of Dublin? That's a big claim! I see Carmelites of Aungier Street queueing up to disagree!
DeleteThere is a rumour that the Church of Ireland offered to return the two ancient cathedrals but that the Catholic Church decline because it didn't want the expense of running them!
You obviously know more about the Pro than I do! I didn't know of any mystery. I've never been to confession there, either. And I have been around the side-chapels but I'm not aware of them individually. I do like that it's so full of shadowy nooks and corners.
The mystical beating heart of Dublin I can't explain. Maybe it's its once, hopefully still, many and regular masses through the day, tucked into an alleyway off a main shopping street (and not just any but Grafton St that leads to the mystical holiday of St Stephen's Green) as if to tell you God is near though seeming far away. And then there's the mysticism of the shrines, the still maintained long altar rails that seem to go on forever, the whole people around them. And that Edel Quinn used to love the place.
ReplyDeleteWe ought to have taken them up on the offer.
St Kevin's chapel is through the sacristy and can't be accessed in the main church. My grandparents were married there and as family history has it during the liturgy a dog ran in and barked. I just meant the sense of mystery of his reliquary/altar. It's intriguing. I always knelt there hoping for something big.
I do actually know what you mean about St. Clarendon's. I've often felt it myself. There's something magical about passing from the solemnity of Mass out to the bustle of Grafton Street.
DeleteSt. Theresa's in Claredon Street, I mean.
DeleteI find it weird that we have two Carmelite churches named after streets that either no longer exist or barely exist.
I'm just drinking in a pub so apologies for going on...
ReplyDeleteBut what about Merchants' Quay? One of the mysterious churches in Dublin which has loads, like Mount Argos. I could count on one hand the times I've been to Merchant's Quay and why I ended up there I don't know. It's unique, long porch entrance and situated on its own down the river. And is known as Adam and Eve's as well. I just checked and this came up:
The Franciscans secretly said Mass in the Adam and Eve Tavern, where the popular name of the present church comes from.[2] In 1759 a newer church was built, which was later replaced by the current church.[1]
This is quite extraordinary that that oral tradition of the name has lasted up until now. How many other churches in my life have I been in called Adam and Eve's? None. And it has some steps near round the back of it which are also very mysterious. Merchant's Quay is like a Catholic St Patrick's to Clarendon St's Catholic Christchurch for me for some reason....just in the imagination. It's mysterious that Dublin had two Catholic cathedrals in a not to far vicinity. One spiritually for the Gall, one spiritually for the Gael. Is this normal for a city to have two cathedrals in s not too far close vicinity?
I keep on mentioning mysterious. Dublin is a relic with all the faithful who've lived in her. Dublin is for me like the city of God. She occupies my dreams now and then. Howth too (which is a Dubliner's one day holiday). I think it's the religious orders' churches that are deeper than the diocesan, for example who cares much for O'Connell's Westland Row? But Church St, Dominic St, Bachelor's Walk all filled with what is it...a memory of the laity who loved/love these consecrated homes of communities.
I've only been in Merchant's Quay a couple of times myself. It's huge. It's almost too huge. I've always strangely felt I was an interloper there. And it's quite a walk, but too short to take a bus...still, I like it, especially the mosaics.
DeleteI think I was in Dominic Street earlier this year...I remember it was a bit awe-inspiring, and yet somehow cosy.
I suppose Dublin is a city of God in that there are so many churches and that they are connected to so many holy people. I've lived in Dublin all my life, so it's hard for me to look at it from the outside. The Dublin accent somehow doesn't lend itself to religious devotion! But mysterious, certainly, especially with those two cathedrals so close together as you say...