27 June 2024 Explore
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
This morning we decided not to go with the rest of the group
to Christ Church as we had already been there.
Instead we walked across the street from the hotel to St. Patrick’s
Cathedral, named for the saint that drove the snakes out of Ireland and who was
the reason we now celebrate St. Patrick’s Day – although I like to think that
it is because you are celebrating my birthday.
St. Patrick is also the patron saint of Ireland. As an aside, the reason the shamrock
is associated with St. Patrick’s Day is that St. Patrick used this three-leaf
clover to explain the Trinity to his converts.
An interesting fact about St Patrick’s Day. While this day has long been celebrated in
the United States as a reason to crowd bars and pubs and seriously over drink
and wear orange wigs and green items of clothing, it wasn’t until the 1970s
that this day was celebrated in Ireland.
Before this, pubs were closed on St Patrick’s Day as it was a solemn day
of prayer in honor of the day their beloved patron saint died in 461 AD. Then in the 1970’s, officials in the Irish
government realized that celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the land where Saint
Patrick lived would be a prime factor in increasing tourism to Ireland. Since then, Dublin sponsors a multi-day St.
Patrick’s Festival, complete with a parade and other performances and
activities. Similar events are also
planned throughout the country on 17 March.
And the shamrock became a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day.
But I digress from the historical facts about the
Cathedral. While a small wooden chapel
once sat on the site of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Cathedral itself was
founded in 1192. According to legend,
the original 5th century wooden chapel was built beside a sacred
well that Saint Patrick used to baptize newly converted Christians around 450
AD. St. Patrick had originally been
brought to Ireland from his home in Roman Britain at the age of 16 as a
slave. While a slave, he found religion
and when he escaped back to Britain he studied to become a priest. He then returned back to Ireland to spread
Christianity among the pagan Irish. Early
in the 20th century, a stone slab with an etched Celtic Cross that
covered the well was found and has now been display in the west end of the
cathedral’s nave.
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral |
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| Stone Slab with Celtic Cross |
Much of the church that you see today was built between
1254-1270. Today it is Ireland’s largest
church and one of its oldest. While St.
Patrick’s Cathedral started out as a catholic church, today it is a protestant
church in the Anglican traditions. It is
not, however, the seat of the Archbishop, as that honor belongs to Christ
Church Cathedral, built in 1870.
However, St. Patrick’s is the national cathedral for the whole of
Ireland.
Once inside the church we had an audio guide that we could
follow at our own pace. It was full of
facts and stories about the church.
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| Door of Reconciliation |
One item of interest in the church is the “Door of
Reconciliation.”
According to legend, in
1492, Thomas Butler, the 7
th Earl of Osmond, and Gerald Fitzgerald,
the 8
th Earl of Kildare, were involved in an unfriendly war.
Thomas Butler was hiding in the cathedral’s
Chapter House, when Gerald Fitzgerald offered a proposal of truce.
Fearing a trap, Butler refused.
Fitzgerald then had his men cut a hole in the
door so he could put his hand through as a gesture of peace.
He gave Thomas 2 options – cut off my arm or
shake my hand as a gesture of peace.
Thomas Butler accepted the hand shake and peace between the two families
was restored.
Today the church contains heraldic banners, busts,
monuments, and memorial plaques from the time (1783-1871) when the church was
used by the Knights of Saint Patrick.
The North Transit of the Cathedral is dedicated to those Irishmen who
served with the British Army as Irish Regiments. The area has military flags from those
battles and they are being allowed to slowly decay in memory of the soldiers who
fought in those battles. This echos the
expression “old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”
With the outbreak of WWI in 1914, a barren tree sculpture
was added to this area and visitors are encouraged to write notes to remember
those who have been affected was wars and to place them on the branches as
leaves.
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| North Transit with Flags and Tree of Remembrance |
The present organ dates back to 1902 and has over 4,000
pipes. There is a keyboard from an
earlier organ on display near the steps leading up to the organ loft.
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| Steps Leading to Organ Loft |
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| Keyboard of Older Organ |
Toward the back of the church is the Lady Chapel. It is also known as the French Chapel as this
is where the Huguenots (French Protestant refugees who fled to Dublin to avoid
persecution) gathered in the church to worship.
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| Lady Chapel |
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| Bell Dedicated to the Huguenots |
Located in front of the high altar is the choir loft. Everyday during the school year (November
-May) boys and girls from the Cathedral’s Choir School (founded in 1432) across
the street, walk slowly up the main aisle of the church in their blue robs to
the choir loft. There they sing songs
and responses in a 20 minute service held daily at 9 AM and 5:30 PM.
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| Choir Loft |
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| High Altar |
The church is filled with beautiful stained glass
windows. In the North Transit is the Iveagh
Window (or Charity Window), dedicated to Edwin Guinness, who was noted for his
works of charity and also who founded the last major renovation of Cathedral
(to the tune of about $22 million in today’s US dollars). The window shows a woman holding a child and
surrounded by people of all ethnics groups being provided fruit from the tree
in the background. In the South Transit are
3 windows that tell the stories of the Bible.
You read the windows from the bottom left to the top left, then the top
right down to the bottom right, and finally from the middle bottom to the
middle top. As an example, the bottom
left pane is Adam in the Garden of Eden.
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| Window with Bible Verses |
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| Iveagh (Charity) Window |
If you cannot see the pane with Adam in the Garden of Eden, see the picture below:
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| Adam in the Garden of Eden |
One interesting fact (or story) centers around Jonathan
Swift who wrote, among others, Gulliver’s Travels. He was also an Anglican priest and served as
Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral from 1713 until his death in 1745. He preached every 5th Sunday and
his sermons usually ran about 4 hours.
When he saw a member of the congregation sleeping, he would have an aid
slide is pulpit over to the offending congregate to wake him up. It is said he had wheels on his pulpit to
make it easier to push. A quote from him
reads “A preacher cannot look around from the pulpit without observing, that ….
Of all misbehavior, none is comparable to that of those who come here to sleep;
opium is not so stultifying to many people as an afternoon sermon.”
Swift is buried next to his closest fried Esther Johnson,
also known as Stella. No one knows whaat
their relationship was – some say they were secretly married while others think
they were blood relatives. Whatever
their relationship, they were very close and he was so overcome with grief when
she died, that he would not attend her funeral and he also moved his bedroom so
he would not see the lights from her funeral.
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| Jonathan Swift's Death Mask |
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| Jonathan Swift's Grave |
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| Jonathan Swift and Stella |
This is a beautiful cathedral, although not as opulent as many
we have seen in Europe. Some might even
say it is dull and nondescript. There is
no gold gilding or beautiful mosaics, but the architecture with its arched
ceiling pointing the way to God is stunning.
And the banners, flags, memorabilia and artifacts were very
interesting. The audio guide was well
done and very informative.
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| Cemetery Behind the Cathedral |
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| Statue of Edward Guinness |
Located next to the church is
Marsh’s Library, built in 1701 and the oldest public library in Ireland. Some of the books in its collection date back
to 1472. This is where Bram Stoker (of
Dracula fame) once studied and where Jonathan Swift would research and read
before writing his Gulliver’s Travels.
We walked past it, but did not go in as it is only a room with many
books.
This is the end of
our adventures in Dublin. Early tomorrow
morning we will begin our drive to Northern Ireland and its capital Belfast.
