Kilfenora Cathedral | |
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Saint Fachtnan's Cathedral | |
Kilfenora Cathedral. The northern transept is on the left, with the glass roof installed in 2005 to conserve the high crosses | |
52°59′24″N9°12′36″W / 52.99000°N 9.21000°W | |
Location | Kilfenora, County Clare |
Country | Ireland |
Denomination | Church of Ireland |
Previous denomination | Roman Catholic |
Churchmanship | Anglican central/liberal |
Clergy | |
Bishop(s) | Rt Rev Kenneth A. Kearon |
Rector | Rev'd Kevin O'Brien |
Dean | Very Rev'd Roderick L. Smyth |
Designations | |
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Official name | Kilfenora Abbey, cathedral and crosses; Kilfenora church at Kilcarragh |
Reference no. | 7, 8, 9 |
Kilfenora Cathedral is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Part of the structure is occasionally used as a place of worship by the Church of Ireland and it includes a bishop's throne among its furniture. The church is located in the village of Kilfenora, in the region known as the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. In medieval times, it was the episcopal see of the Bishop of Kilfenora.
According to tradition, the ecclesial presence at Kilfenora began with Saint Fachanan, who founded a church here in the 6th century. The first building was probably made of wood and followed by a stone construction. That church was burned down in 1055 by Murchad O'Brien. [1] It was rebuilt between 1056 and 1058, only to be plundered in 1079 and then destroyed by an accidental fire in 1100. [2]
In 1152, the Synod of Kells changed the status of the ecclesial settlement from monastic to diocesan. [1] The diocese corresponded with the ancient territory of Corcomroe. [3]
Kilfenora Cathedral is dedicated to St. Fachtna (also known as St. Fachanan or St. Fachtnan). The present structure dates to between 1189 and 1200. It was built in the so-called transitional style with a nave and a chancel. These were later separated and by 1839, "thirty-six feet of the east end" were roofless. [2]
Part of the ecclesiastical province of Cashel, the diocese only extended over 200 square miles of very thinly populated land. It was reckoned the poorest diocese, with only 13 parishes. Demand for the position of bishop thus was not great, but for 1189 a bishop is recorded.
Following the Reformation in Ireland, the Catholic Church continued to appoint diocesan bishops in parallel with those of the established church. This practice ceased with the succession of James Augustine O'Daly (d. 1749). In 1750, the diocese was united with Kilmacduagh. In 1883 "Kilfenora and Kilmacduagh" was again merged with the diocese of Galway. Today, the bishops of Galway and Kilmacduagh are styled "Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora"; while the bishop administers the diocese, in Canon Law, he does so as representative of the Pope.
In the Church of Ireland, Kilfenora was merged in turn with the dioceses of Limerick (1606–07), Tuam (1617-1742), Clonfert (1742-1752), Killaloe (1752-1976) and again Limerick (since 1976). [1] [4] In 1661 Samuel Pullen was made Archbishop of Tuam and Kilfenora became part of his province. [5] : 2, 4
Today the church shows "a curious mix of styles" [6] : 148 from a number of periods. The oldest part likely is the north wall of the nave showing (now plaster-covered) cyclopean masonry, this turn-of-the-first-millennium building may have been aisled. [6] : 148–150
One 19th-century visitor was unimpressed by the cathedral's appearance: "The attempt at a tower is conspicuously mean and hideous. A pile of emigrants' luggage with a rabbit-hutch or bird-cage overhead would look equally imposing". [6] : 149
The nave is now used for worship by the Church of Ireland, for which it was reconstructed around 1850. [2] [7] It features a bishop's throne, donated in 1981. There is also a large square stone baptismal font (possibly from around 1200). [8] In addition, the church contains various tombs, but the interior is mostly devoid of ornamentation. [2]
According to local tradition, the late 12th- to early 13-century chancel was roofed with an oak ceiling (blue with gold start) until the end of the 18th century. It is roofless today and features a 15th-century doorway, a 15th-century Gothic sedilia as well as a Romanesque three-light east window with its triangular pillars topped by carved capitals. On both sides of the window is a carved effigy: a bishop with his right hand raised in blessing (possibly early 14th century), to the north; and a tonsured, bareheaded cleric holding a book (possibly 13th century) to the south. The chancel also contains several tombs and the remains of high crosses. It shares some design features such as the three-lighted decorated east window with other structures from the early 13th century, e.g.Corcomroe Abbey, belonging to the style known as the "school of the west". [2] [6] : 148 One of the tombs is the burial site of Neptune Blood, the uncle of Thomas Blood, who tried to steal the English crown jewels in 1671. [9] : 6
The Lady Chapel was in a rectangular wing leading to the north of the chancel. It likely shares the building date of the main building and may have served as a sort of transept in the past. Two lancet-type windows and a broken two-light one are left in the eastern wall. There are also fragments of a high cross. [2]
Today, the cathedral remains in partially ruined state, although restoration work was done by the National Monument Service in the early 2000s. [10] The transept was fitted with a glass roof in 2005 to protect the remains of the three high crosses moved there.[ citation needed ]
In 1837, the nave portion of the cathedral was adopted for use as the parish church for Kilfenora. [11] It is still used for occasional worship.
The Burren is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland. It measures around 530 square kilometres (200 sq mi), within the circle made by the villages of Lisdoonvarna, Corofin, Gort and Kinvara. The area includes such natural features as Mullaghmore hill and Ailladie cliffs, and historic monuments such as Poulnabrone dolmen and Caherconnell Stone Fort. The Burren National Park covers a small part of the Burren and is the smallest of the six National Parks in Ireland, while the adjacent territory, including the Cliffs of Moher, is included in the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark.
Kilfenora is a village and a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It is situated south of the karst limestone region known as the Burren. Since medieval times when it was the episcopal see of the Bishop of Kilfenora, it has been known as the "City of the Crosses" for its seven high crosses. The village had around 220 inhabitants in 2011. Much of the TV show Father Ted (1995–98) was filmed there.
Kilmacduagh Monastery is a ruined abbey near the town of Gort in County Galway, Ireland. It was the birthplace of the Diocese of Kilmacduagh. It was reportedly founded by Saint Colman, son of Duagh in the 7th century, on land given him by his cousin King Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin of Connacht.
Clonfert Cathedral is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Clonfert, County Galway in Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Previously the cathedral of the Diocese of Clonfert and then one of three cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Limerick and Killaloe, it is now one of five cathedrals in the Diocese of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe.
Kilshanny is a village and a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland.
Corcomroe Abbey is an early 13th-century Cistercian monastery located in the north of the Burren region of County Clare, Ireland, a few miles east of the village of Ballyvaughan in the Barony of Burren. It was once known as "St. Mary of the Fertile Rock", a reference to the Burren's fertile soil.
The Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the west of Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Tuam and is subject to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tuam. The deanery of Kilfenora, previously a diocese in its own right, lies in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel. The ordinary is Bishop Michael Duignan who was appointed on 11 February 2022.
The Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe was a former diocese of the Church of Ireland that was located in mid-western Ireland. The diocese was formed by a merger of neighbouring dioceses in 1976, before itself merging with the neighbouring Diocese of Tuam in 2022 to form the Diocese of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe.
Brendan Kelly is an Irish former Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora between 2018 and 2022.
The Bishop of Kilfenora was a separate episcopal title which took its name after the village of Kilfenora in County Clare in the Republic of Ireland. In both the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church, the title is now united with other bishoprics.
St Mary's Cathedral is a cathedral church of the Diocese of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe in the Church of Ireland. It is located in Tuam, County Galway, in Ireland. From the 12th century until 1839, both before and after the Reformation, it was the seat of the former Archdiocese of Tuam. Most of the present structure dates from the 1870s, but parts of earlier 12th- and 14th-century structures survive within.
The Cathedral Church of St Flannan, Killaloe is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Killaloe, County Clare in Ireland.
The Bishop and Apostolic Administrator of Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora was an episcopal title which took its name after the small villages of Kilmacduagh in County Galway and Kilfenora in County Clare, Ireland. Accurately, the title was an alternative sequence of the Bishop of Kilmacduagh and Administrator Apostolic of Kilfenora followed by the next holder as the Bishop of Kilfenora and Administrator Apostolic of Kilmacduagh.
Kilmacrehy, sometimes also Kilmacreehy, is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. The ruins of the old parish church lie near the coastal village of Liscannor, which is also a part of the parish.
Killilagh or Killeilagh is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It contains the village of Doolin.
Kiltoraght is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It is just south of Kilfenora and is part of Catholic parish of Kilfenora.
Kilmanaheen is a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It contains the market town of Ennistymon.
The Diocese of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe is a diocese of the Church of Ireland that is located in the west of Ireland. The diocese was formed by a merger of the former Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry and the former Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe in 2022, after the retirement of the separate dioceses' bishops and the appointment of Michael Burrows as bishop of the united diocese. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. It is one of the eleven Church of Ireland dioceses that cover the whole of Ireland. The largest diocese by area in the Church of Ireland, it covers all of counties Clare, Galway, Kerry, Limerick and Mayo, plus parts of counties Cork, Sligo, Roscommon, Offaly, Laois and Tipperary.