Wednesday 15 November 2017

Clane Abbey (Walsh)

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xlviii, at p. 479 and following:


The Ruins of Clane Abbey

Clane gives its name to the barony. Saint Ailbe of Emly is said to have presented St. Sinell senior with a cell in which he had lived himself for some time at Clane. Sinell was the son of Kinfinnain and grandson of Imchad of the royal blood of Leinster. It is not known how long Sinell remained at Clane nor is the year of the donation by Ailbe of Emly ascertained. It may have been about the year 500. As Clane was not then a permanent establishment, Sinell moved to Killeigh where he established a monastery which in course of time became very celebrated. St. Sinell, the friend of the great Ailbe, is styled senior to distinguish him from Sinell who was a relative of his and a priest and who lived with him at his monastery of Killeigh. Having lived to a good old ago he died on the 26th of March AD 549.

Franciscan Friary was erected in Clane some time before the year 1266 by, it is said, Gerald Fitzmaurice, lord Offaley.

AD 1546 a provincial chapter was held here.

In the 24th of Henry VIII this abbey was given with its possessions forever to Robert Eustace and John Trevors at the annual rent of 2s 4d.

O'Sullivan relates that Eustace saw, as if in a vision, some one threatening him and foreboding destruction to himself and to his family should he consent to accept of church property. Be this as it may, James Eustace, the son and heir of the viscount Roland, was driven by the English from his patrimony and died in exile. Some Irish peers accepted of grants of property belonging to the church but generally they did not convert it to their own use. The annals of the four Masters in praise of Pierce Butler observe that he did not possess one penny of the property of the church of God by right of Pope or Prince.

In the parliament held AD 1556 the grants of church property made to laics during and after the reign of Henry VIII are confirmed and with the approbation of Pope Paul IV. Fourteen abbots sat in that parliament. Six or seven heads of religious orders are stated to have assented to the act.

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Pilgrimage to Rome 2017 (8) - Day 2 Continued

Once we had paid our respects at the Chiesa Nuova, we crossed the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, the wide street driven through the heart of Medieval Rome from the Church of the Gesù to the Tiber. We walked up the Vicolo Cellini and onto the old Via dei Banchi Vecchi. Before turning towards the Piazza Farnese, we stopped at the Oratory of the Gonfalone Confraternity, one of the many Confraternity Chapels in the city.

Looking back to the Chiesa Nuova


Oratory of the Gonfalone


The old Medieval road splits between the Via del Pellegrino and the Via di Monserrato. Pilgrims, though we may have been, we took the latter. We passed the Piazza Ricci, where the Palazzo Ricci was under restoration. Then we visited the Spanish National Church of Santa Maria di Monserrato, where Popes Callixtus III Borgia (1378 – 1458) and his nephew Alexander VI Borgia (1431-1503) are buried.

Piazza Ricci


Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli


The small Piazza di Santa Catharina della Rota contains two beautiful little Churches, the eponymous Santa Catharina, home of the Confraternity of Sant'Anna dei Palafrenieri exiled from their Church at the Borgo gate to the Vatican and famed for its wooden coffered ceiling, and the Church of San Girolamo della Carità, said to be on the site where St. Jerome lived while he was secretary to Pope Damasus I, and which is now part of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, of which more on Friday. Also on the Piazza is the side of the Church of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, the Church attached to the Venerable English College.

Piazza di Santa Catharina della Rota


San Girolamo della Carità


The Church of Brigitte of Sweden, where the Saint lived while in Rome and where the Congregation of Brigittines founded by her still reside, is on the Piazza Farnese, which is just a few steps away.

Santa Brigida and the view towards Sant'Ivo

Tuesday 7 November 2017

Pilgrimage to Rome 2017 (7) - Day 2

After Mass in the Church of Sant'Eustachio for the feast of All Saints, our pilgrims made their way up the Via della Dogana Vecchia to the Church of San Luigi dei Franchesi. This is another of the National Churches of Rome that we visited on the feast of All Saints. Having passed across the Piazza Navona we visited Santa Maria dell'Anima of the Germans and San Nicola dei Lorenesi and then passed down the Vicolo della Pace to enter the Teatro of Santa Maria della Pace, built under our friend Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere and completed under our dear friend Pope Alexander VII Chigi. Santa Maria dell'Anima
Santa Maria della Pace
We made our way down the way of Peace to the Via del Governo Vecchio, part of the old Via Papale, the main thoroughfare of Papal Rome, and down to the Chiesa Nuova, the new Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, the home of the Oratorians and the tomb of St. Philip Neri.