St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Roman Catholic)

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St. Patrick's Cathedral in

Archbishop William Crolly was appointed to the Catholic See of Armagh in 1835 and almost immediately sought permission to reside in Armagh; the first Catholic Primate to do so since the Reformation. Having settled in the town, he then set about seeking a site for a new Catholic cathedral. The main difficulty in constructing a Catholic cathedral at Armagh was that the land of Armagh City and suburbs consisted almost entirely of "see-land", the mensal estate or demesne of the Protestant Primate and thus would not be available for the Catholic episcopacy to purchase. A site at the apex of Sandy Hill on the outskirts of the town had however been sold to the Earl of Dartrey.^[1]

A building committee was established and a weekly penny collection taken in for the construction project. The architect was to be

Following the dedication, Primate McGettigan continued to make improvements as funds and his declining health would allow. In 1875, he commissioned the Stations of the Cross from Herbert & Co. of Liverpool and installed the Great 33-stop pipe organ by William Telford. In 1879, the seven-light east window was filled with stained glass by Earley & Powell of Dublin and work began on the seven terrace flight of steps to the plaza in front of the west end. Finally in 1884, a sacristan's lodge was constructed at the bottom of the steps. When Archbishop McGettigan died in December 1887 after some years of failing health, the cathedral had seen the passing of five successive Archbishops and the expenditure of the unprecedented sum of over £70,000.

The cathedral of Cardinal Logue

McGettigan's successor as Archbishop was Michael Logue, longest serving Archbishop of Armagh. A famously learned cleric, Logue was appointed to the College of Cardinals by Pope Leo XIII in 1893, becoming the first Archbishop of Armagh appointed to the college in its history. When he arrived at the completed cathedral at Armagh, Logue was far from impressed. He complained of the "weak and beggerly elements" of interior decoration and stated that "visitors who had approached the Cathedral filled with admiration for the beauty of its exterior, were…disagreeably surprised, not to say disedified, at the comparative shabbiness and poverty of the interior". On 20 August 1899, Cardinal Logue issued a Pastoral Letter entitled "The National Cathedral" exhorting the people of Ireland and its diaspora to supply sufficient funds to beautify the interior of the cathedral. A fundraising bazaar was organised in 1900 and the firm of the architect William Hague of Dublin (who had inherited much of McCarthy's practice on the latter's death) was appointed to make plans.

The bazaar raised over £30,000 and Logue travelled to Italy with his architect to visit marble quarries and artisan workshops, choosing materials and craftspeople to carry out Hague's plans. Hague died soon after designing the first of his additions: a marble rood screen, 9.1 metres (30 ft) wide and 11 metres (36 ft) tall.

Bath Stone

was constructed. This, combined with repairs on the foundations of the towers which had not been designed to take the weight of McCarthy's spires, used much of the funds raised by the Bazaar. Nevertheless, Cardinal Logue pressed ahead with lavish plans. Ashlin designed a High Altar carved from Carrara marble, Lapis Lazuli and Jasper to sit before Hague's rood screen and the Italian sculptor,

armorial bearings.

An elaborate pulpit was constructed at the south west pier of the crossing. Composed of statuary marble inlaid with rare coloured marbles, its plan was octagonal, with angle niches containing statues of the Evangelists, St. Patrick and St. Brigid, the canopies above the statues being groined and carved. The panels between the statues were filled with inlaid traceries. The canopy of the pulpit, rising to a height of nearly 36 ft. was carved in Austrian oak painted white and inlaid with coloured enamels and gold leaf.

Behind the

St Brigid (South), closing the aisles at the East.

In the South transept, a sumptuous altar was erected to the Sacred Heart. Finally, to the West end, McCarthy's wooden gallery was replaced with a three-bay marble screen of white marble supported on quatrefoil

William, Cardinal Conway was appointed to the See of Armagh in 1963 although he had been serving as leading Irish participant in the Second Vatican Council since its inauguration. He returned to Armagh as Archbishop keen to institute the reforms suggested by the council. The reforms on liturgy required greater congregational participation in Catholic services and for some time it had been felt that the 1904 marble works at the crossing had impeded large-scale ritual in the cathedral. Conway thus inaugurated an architectural competition to adapt the sanctuary of Armagh Cathedral to the new requirements and to allow greater freedom of movement and visibility around the sanctuary area. Several candidates submitted designs and controversially all of them suggested the removal of substantially all Ashlin's marble works at the crossing. Conway chose the winning design by Liam McCormick (1916–1996), though work did not commence on the reorganisation of the crossing until after Cardinal Conway's death in 1977.

It thus fell to Tomas,

high altar, cathedra, altar rails and inlaid marble floor. The pulpit was dismantled and broken up and the side altars to Saints Brigid and St Joseph were removed and relocated in other churches. Only McCarthy's Caen Stone reredos survived removal, though its lower portions, enriched in 1904 with Carrara marble, were dismantled and floral tapestries attached to the lower portion of the reredos in their stead. New fittings carved from roughly hewn Wicklow Granite were fitted at the crossing and the sanctuary area was extended beyond the line of the former rood screen and raised by several feet and clad in polished Wicklow granite. Criticism had been made of the 1904 scheme's foreign design and materials as a result of which the reorganisation stressed its native roots. The new altar, ambo and tabernacle were carved by a Dundalk sculptor, Peter McTigue and the tabernacle door was manufactured in Kilkenny. Carpets replacing the former marble floor were woven in Killybegs. To replace the rood cross, a huge sculpture entitled "The Tree of Life" was commissioned from Imogen Stuart, the German-born Irish sculptor. The cathedral was again rededicated on 13 June 1982 when relics of St. Malachy were placed in the new altar.

The works were met with almost unopposed shock and outcry. "Neither the quality of the replacements nor the skill of the craftsmanship can disguise the total alienation of the new work from the spirit and meaning that was McCarthy's ecclesiological and architectural inspiration. In this setting, these modern intrusions appear dispassionate and irrelevant" lamented the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society (UAHS, 1992). Architectural historian Jeanne Sheehy wrote of the re-ordering as "the replacement ... of a fine late Gothic revival chancel with chunks of granite and a tabernacle that looks like a microwave".

Restoration and renewal: The cathedral of Cardinal Brady

Although the decorative style of the cathedral was thus significantly changed in 1982, the building itself had not undergone any major structural works since the replacement of the aisle roofs in 1904. By 2002, the necessity for major structural repairs to the building had become obvious. As a result of the construction methods of the walls and wear to the roof, damp had damaged much of the mosaic and the painted decorations had been dulled with smoke and dust. A great deal of the external stonework had perished and the twin spired towers had become unstable. A Diocesan committee charged with overseeing these major structural works to secure the building decided that the time was also ripe for reviewing the much criticised sanctuary. The firm of Rooney & McConville was commissioned to redesign the sanctuary area. McCormick's vilified fittings were removed in their entirety and the sanctuary area was re-floored with Italian porcelain tiles from Armatile mimicking the inlaid marble floor of 1904 which had survived, largely intact, under McCormick's granite podium. A new altar and ambo of Tunisian limestone were installed.

baptistry was restored at the base of the North tower. The base of McCarthy's reredos was restored and the 1904 inlaid marbles uncovered. By the time of the rededication of the cathedral on 25 May 2003, more than £6,000,000 had been spent.

The Cathedral parish includes the churches of: St. Patrick' Cathedral, the Church Of St Malachy, the Church of St Colmcille at Knockaconey, and the Church of The Immaculate Conception in the Tullysaran District of Armagh.[2]

Daily Mass is held Monday to Saturday at 10:00am. On Sunday, Mass is celebrated at 11:00am & 5:30pm, with a 7:00 pm Vigil Mass on Saturday evening. Holy Day Masses are celebrated at 11:00am. Confessions are usually heard before the Saturday evening vigil mass.

Burials

• William Cardinal Crolly
• William Cardinal Conway
• John Cardinal D'Alton
• Cahal Cardinal Daly
• Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich
• Michael Cardinal Logue

Organ

The cathedral organ was built by William Telford in 1875. In 1987, the organ was rebuilt, enlarged and tonally altered by the Irish Organ Company Ltd. who also provided a new terraced drawknob console. The rebuild was designed by the late John Holmes with the cathedral organist Baron George Minne as a consultant. Not all of the old pipework and casework was restored and retained. The organ now has elements of the English, French Cavaille-Coll and European style, the dominant sound being French. The organ currently has four manuals and 58 stops.

Specification

Positif: Gelind Gedeckt 8, Bell Gamba 8, Singend Principal 4, Koppelflute 4, Nasard 2 2/3, Octavin 2, Tierce 1 3/5, Petit Cymbale III, Cromorne 8, Zymbalstern, Tremulant (adjustable), Octave, Great to Positif, Swell to Positif, Bombarde to Positif,

Great: Double Diapason 16, Open Diapason 8, Gamba 8, Bourdon 8, Principal 4, Flute Ouverte 4, Twelfth 2 2/3, Fifteenth 2, Fourniture V, Cymbale II (an overall crazy screaming affair,) Bombarde 16, Trompette 8, Clairon 4, Swell to Great, Positif to Great, Positif Sub-Octave to Great,

Swell: Open Diapason 8, Stopped Diapason 8, Salicional 8, Unda Maris 8, Principal 4, Doublette 2, Plein Jeu III, Basson 16, Cornopean 8, Clarion 4, Tremulant (adjustable), Octave, Sub-Octave,

Bombarde: Flute Harmonique 8, Voce Umana 8+8, Carillon III, Orlos 8, Trompeta Magna 16 (TC from Trompeta Réal 8), Trompeta Réal 8, Clarin 4 (From Trompeta Réal 8), Campanabella (one octave of bells),

Pedal Gravissima 32, Principal 16, Violonbasse 16, Bourdon 16, Double Diapason (Great) Violone 8 (From Violonbasse 16), Gedecktbass 8, Principal 4, Doublette 2, Grosse Fourniture III, Carillon II, Bombarde 16, Basson 16 (Swell) Trumpet 8 (from Bombarde 16), Clarion 4 (From Bombarde 16), Orlos 4 (From Orlos 8, Bombarde) Positif to Pedal, Great to Pedal, Swell to Pedal, Bombarde to Pedal, Great and Pedal Pistons Coupled.

Organist

The Organist of St. Patricks Cathedral from 1959 to 2005 was Baron George Minne, born in Belgium in 1924. He had a vast repertoire of Bach, Handel, Mozart and various French composers and was a most accomplished pianist and composer.^[3][4]

See also

• List of carillons of the British Isles
• List of tourist attractions in Ireland

References

Bibliography

• Buildings of Co. Armagh by C. E. B. Brett, published by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1999
• St. Patricks Cathedral, Armagh. Tomas Ó Fiaich. The Irish Heritage Series: 58, Eason & Sons Ltd, Dublin, 1987.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.

• Xpressions of Armagh – an interactive galleria which comprises assorted images of Armagh architecture such as St. Patrick's Cathedral.
• St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral, Armagh Encarta article
• Photographs of the cathedral
• List of Canadian subscribers to the construction
• Church homepage
• Interior of the cathedral