Pilgrimage to St. Ailbe's Church, Emly

There is no doubt that St. Patrick's place as Apostle of the Irish is unassailable and it was a joy to share in the National Latin Mass Pilgrimage to his shrine at Armagh last month. However, it is equally incontrovertible that the faithful of Munster - and really of all Ireland owe a debt of gratitude to Saint Ailbe, a debt that we made some effort to repay today by means of a pilgrimage to his Church, built upon the site of his Church and monastery, at Emly, Co. Tipperary.

Our Pilgrimage culminated in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form the Roman Rite.

Samuel Lewis' Topographic Dictionary of Ireland tells us that the ancient geoographer Ptolomy referred to Emly in his second century writings as "Imlagh" one of the three principal towns of Ireland. St. Prosper of Aquitainerecords that Pope Celestine sent Palladius in 431 "to the Scots believing in Christ, to be their first bishop"

We know of four pre-Patrician Saints of Ireland, St. Ailbe of Emly, St. Declan of Ard More, St. Ciaran or Abban and St. Ibar. In the life of St. Declan he is "secundus Patricius et patronus Mumenie" a second Patrick and Patron of Munster.

The Rule of St. Ailbe, a rule of life for his monks, is still extant in 58 verses:

Let him be steady, let him not be restless, let him be wise, learned, pious; let him be vigilant; let him be a slave; let him be humble kindly.

Let him be gentle, close and zealous, let him be modest, generous and gracious; against the torrent of the world, let him be watchful, let him not be reproachful; against the brood of the world, let him be warlike.

The jewel of baptism and communion, let him receive it.

Let him be constant at prayer, his canonical hours let him not forget; his mind let him bow it down without insolence or contention.

A hundred genuflections for him at the Beata at the beginning of the day… thrice fifty psalms with a hundred genuflections every hour of vespers.

A genuflection thrice, earnestly, after going in past the altar rail, without frivolity and without excitement, going into the presence of the king of the angels.

A clean house for the guests and a big fire, washing and bathing for them, and a couch without sorrow.

The monastery at Emly became the seat of the Diocese of Emly in 1118 at the Synod of Ráth Breasail. The diocese was placed into the administration of the Archdiocese of Cashel after its last Bishop, Blessed Terence O'Brien, was martyred in 1651.

This place, noticed under the name of "Imlagh" by Ptolemy, as one of the three principal towns of Ireland, is of very remote antiquity, and was formerly an important city and the seat of the diocese. A monastery of canons regular was found here by St. Ailbe, or Alibeus, who became its first abbot, and dying in 527, was interred in the abbey. His successors obtained many privileges for the inhabitants. The abbey and town were frequently pillaged and burnt. King John, in the 17th of his reign, granted the privilege of holding markets and fairs in the town, which, since the union of the see of Emly with that of Cashel in 1568, has gradually declined, and is now comparatively an insignificant village, containing only 115 houses. It has a constabulary police station, and fairs are held on May 21st and Sept. 22nd.

The present Church was built about 1880 and houses a stunning collection of stained glass windows, well worth visiting.

National Latin Mass Pilgrimage to Armagh 2017

To mark the 10th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum the Catholic Heritage Association of Ireland made our second pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.  A report of the first pilgrimage can be read here.  It was a truly National Pilgrimage with members coming from Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Wexford and Wicklow - the Four Provinces of Ireland all represented - to assist at Holy Mass and attend our Annual General Meeting held afterwards in the Synod Hall attached to the Cathedral.

However, one element of the pilgrimage above all made it a most blessed occasion, the presence of His Eminence Seán, Cardinal Brady, Archbishop Emeritus of Armagh, to celebrate the Mass.  In his homily, Cardinal Brady reminded the congregation that the Traditional Latin Mass had been the Mass of his Altar service, of his First Communion and Confirmation, and of his Ordination and his First Mass.  He also reminded us that this day, the feast of St. John the Baptist, was his own feast day.  Cardinal Brady is to attend the Consistory on 28th June with Our Holy Father, Pope Francis.  His Eminence was assisted by Fr. Aidan McCann, C.C., who was ordained in the Cathedral only two years ago.  It was a great privilege and joy for the members and friends of the Catholic Heritage Association to share so many grace-filled associations with Cardinal Brady and Fr. McCann and the Armagh Cathedral community.

The Bishops of Kildare and Leighlin in the Early Modern Period

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xvii, at p. 149 and following:

Roche Mac Geoghegan was bishop in 1640.

Roche Mac Geoghegan it seems presided over Kildare and Leighlin in 1640.

Edmond O'Dempsey bishop of Leighlin in 1646 signed the manifesto issued at Waterford against those who had assisted in restoring peace to the country. Edmond was a Dominican friar. He was forced to go into exile and died in Finisterra in the kingdom of Gallicia. His brother James O'Dempsey was vicar general of Leighlin in 1646.

Edward Wesley was bishop of Kildare and Leighlin in 1685.

Mark Forestal was bishop in 1701.

Edward Murphy, bishop in 1724.

James Gallagher, bishop in 1747.

John O Keeffe, bishop in 1770. James Keeffe, bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, died 1786.

Richard O'Reilly, bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, or rather coadjutor, was translated to Armagh in 1782.

Daniel Delany, died AD 1814.

Michael Corcoran, bishop in 1819.

James Doyle, bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, was born in New Ross, county Wexford, in 1786. He was sent by his parents to the best schools and having as he grew up manifested a desire to embrace the priesthood he repaired to Portugal where he was trained for the ecclesiastical state. While yet a student in Coimbra, Portugal was invaded by Napoleon and Doctor Doyle and his fellow students enlisted under the banner of the country which they temporarily adopted and were of considerable assistance to the Duke of Wellington in his wars of the Peninsula.

Surrounded by the influences of his college life, the disciples or admirers of Rousseau, D'Alembert and Voltaire, he was well nigh making a wreck of that faith in which he was born and of that morality which is its concomitant but, as he himself admits, when everything conspired to induce him to shake off the sweet yoke of the gospel, the dignity of religion her majesty and grandeur arrested him in his career towards unbelief and filled him with awe and veneration towards her precepts. Everywhere she presided her ardent votaries while a terror to the enemies of revelation glorified and adorned religion when she alone swayed their hearts he read with attention the history of the ancient philosophers as well as lawgivers and discovered that all of them paid homage to religion as the purest emanation of the one supreme and invisible and omnipotent God. He examined the systems of religion prevailing in the east, the koran with attention, the Jewish history and that of Christ his disciples and of his Church with interest, nor did he hesitate to continue attached to the religion of the Redeemer as alone worthy of God and, being a Christian, he could not fail to be a Catholic.

Shortly after the retreat of the French from Portugal and Spain in 1812, Doctor Doyle returned to Ireland and became professor in the Ecclesiastical College in Carlow. In this capacity his acquirements won him the admiration of his fellow professors and his mild manner gained him the esteem of the students. As a preacher he was learned fluent argumentative and persuasive, every one who listened to his discourses should admire religion, its ceremonies and its mysteries. Having spent five years in the college he was at the unanimous request of the clergy of the diocese promoted at the age of thirty two years, by his holiness the Pope, to the bishopric of Kildare and Leighlin. During his episcopacy, his life is delineated by his own pen in the following words: "I am a churchman but I am unacquainted with avarice and I feel no worldly ambition. I am attached to my profession but I love Christianity more than its earthly appendages. I am a Catholic from the fullest conviction but few will accuse me of bigotry. I am an Irishman hating injustice and abhorring with my whole soul the oppression of my country but I desire to heal her sores not to aggravate her evils."

Doctor Doyle appeared on the stage of Irish politics when the people were yet slaves and aliens in their own land unrecognised by the laws of the empire to which they paid all the obligations of subjects. Everything that emanated from his pen carried with it due weight and tended in a great degree to soften the prejudices that were fostered for centuries in Ireland. Towards the dissenters from Catholicity he showed a most tolerant spirit and at one time suggested a junction of Catholics and Protestants, a suggestion which was unwarrantable as it was made on his private authority and which the holy see could not sanction. A canon of St. Peter's church of Rome, having arrived at Carlow with instructions to Doctor Doyle, the prelate at once perceiving his mistake as another Fenelon, archbishop of Cambray, made a noble sacrifice of his own sentiments by the calmest submission to the voice of St. Peter's successor.

Doctor Doyle, in a letter to the Marquis Wellesley, has vindicated the faith of Catholics, which was so long placed under the ban of proscription by England and her rulers: "It was, my lord, the creed of a Charlemagne and of a St. Louis, of an Alfred and an Edward, of the monarchs of the feudal times as well as the emperors of Greece and Rome, it was believed at Venice and at Genoa in Lucca and the Helvetic nations in the days of their freedom and happiness. All the barons of the middle ages, all the free cities of later times, professed the religion we now profess. You well know, my lord, that the charter of British freedom and the common law of England have their origin and source in Catholic times. Who framed the free constitutions of the Spanish Goths? Who preserved science and literature during the long night of the middle ages? Who imported literature from Constantinople and opened for her an asylum at Rome, Florence, Padua, Paris and Oxford? Who polished Europe by art and refined her by legislation? Who discovered a new world and opened a passage to another? Who were the masters of architecture of painting and of music? Were they not almost exclusively the professors of our creed? Were they who created and possessed freedom under every shape and form unfit for her enjoyment? Were men deemed even now the lights of the world and the benefactors of the human race the deluded victims of slavish superstition? But what is there in our creed which renders us unfit for freedom? Is it the doctrine of passive obedience? No, for the obedience we yield to authority is not blind but reasonable. Our religion does not create despotism, it supports every established constitution which is not opposed to the laws of nature. In Poland, it supported an elective monarch, in France an hereditary sovereign, in Spain an absolute or constitutional king, in England, when the houses of York and Lancaster contended, it declared that he who was king de facto was entitled to the obedience of the people. During the reign of the Tudors there was a faithful adherence of the Catholics to their prince under trials the most severe and galling because the constitution required it. The same was exhibited by them to the ungrateful race of Stuart. But, since the expulsion foolishly called an abdication, have they not adopted with the nation at large the doctrine of the revolution that the crown is held in trust for the benefit of the people and that should the monarch violate his compact the subject is freed from the bond of his allegiance? Has there been any form of government ever devised by man to which the religion of Catholics has not been accommodated? Is there any obligation either to a prince or to a constitution which it does not enforce?"

The health of Doctor Doyle visibly declining he was recommended to resign the diocese and travel on the continent with a view of restoring it but he did not choose to adopt the advice. His end approaching and solicitous for the welfare of his flock, he entreated the holy father to provide a coadjutor bishop and the Rev Edward Nolan was elected. Doctor Doyle died the 15th of June, 1834, of consumption. He resigned his spirit with fortitude and calmness and with that hope and confidence which faith alone inspires.

Edward Nolan completed his ecclesiastical studies at Maynooth, was ordained priest by Doctor Doyle in December, 1819, and was consecrated his successor by Daniel Murray, archbishop of Dublin, on the 28th of October, 1834, in the cathedral of Carlow. The intervening years of Doctor Nolan's life were spent in the college of Carlow, where he successively taught moral and natural philosophy, theology, and sacred scriptures. Doctor Nolan died about the close of the year 1837.

Francis Healy who succeeded, was parish priest of Kilcock at the time of his election, was consecrated on the 25th of March, 1838. Still happily presides.

VIIIth Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum

POPE BENEDICT XVI

APOSTOLIC LETTER
GIVEN MOTU PROPRIO

SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM

ON THE USE OF THE ROMAN LITURGY
PRIOR TO THE REFORM OF 1970

The Supreme Pontiffs have to this day shown constant concern that the Church of Christ should offer worthy worship to the Divine Majesty, “for the praise and glory of his name” and “the good of all his holy Church.”

As from time immemorial, so too in the future, it is necessary to maintain the principle that “each particular Church must be in accord with the universal Church not only regarding the doctrine of the faith and sacramental signs, but also as to the usages universally received from apostolic and unbroken tradition.  These are to be observed not only so that errors may be avoided, but also that the faith may be handed on in its integrity, since the Church’s rule of prayer (lex orandi) corresponds to her rule of faith (lex credendi).”

Eminent among the Popes who showed such proper concern was Saint Gregory the Great, who sought to hand on to the new peoples of Europe both the Catholic faith and the treasures of worship and culture amassed by the Romans in preceding centuries.  He ordered that the form of the sacred liturgy, both of the sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office, as celebrated in Rome, should be defined and preserved.  He greatly encouraged those monks and nuns who, following the Rule of Saint Benedict, everywhere proclaimed the Gospel and illustrated by their lives the salutary provision of the Rule that “nothing is to be preferred to the work of God.”  In this way the sacred liturgy, celebrated according to the Roman usage, enriched the faith and piety, as well as the culture, of numerous peoples.  It is well known that in every century of the Christian era the Church’s Latin liturgy in its various forms has inspired countless saints in their spiritual life, confirmed many peoples in the virtue of religion and enriched their devotion.

In the course of the centuries, many other Roman Pontiffs took particular care that the sacred liturgy should accomplish this task more effectively.  Outstanding among them was Saint Pius V, who in response to the desire expressed by the Council of Trent, renewed with great pastoral zeal the Church’s entire worship, saw to the publication of liturgical books corrected and “restored in accordance with the norm of the Fathers,” and provided them for the use of the Latin Church.

“It was towards this same goal that succeeding Roman Pontiffs directed their energies during the subsequent centuries in order to ensure that the rites and liturgical books were brought up to date and, when necessary, clarified.  From the beginning of this century they undertook a more general reform..."

...We order that all that we have decreed in this Apostolic Letter given Motu Proprio take effect and be observed from the fourteenth day of September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the present year, all things to the contrary notwithstanding.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on the seventh day of July in the year of the Lord 2007, the third of our Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Monasterevin Annual Pilgrimage

Reports of previous Masses in Monasterevin are available here (2014), here (2013), here (2012), and here (2011).

Prayer for the Church in Ireland

God of our fathers,
renew us in the faith which is our life and salvation,
the hope which promises forgiveness and interior renewal,
the charity which purifies and opens our hearts
to love you, and in you, each of our brothers and sisters.

Lord Jesus Christ,
may the Church in Ireland renew her age-old commitment
to the education of our young people in the way of truth and goodness, holiness and generous service to society.
Holy Spirit, comforter, advocate and guide,
inspire a new springtime of holiness and apostolic zeal
for the Church in Ireland.
May our sorrow and our tears,
our sincere effort to redress past wrongs,
and our firm purpose of amendment
bear an abundant harvest of grace
for the deepening of the faith
in our families, parishes, schools and communities,
for the spiritual progress of Irish society,
and the growth of charity, justice, joy and peace
within the whole human family.
To you, Triune God,
confident in the loving protection of Mary,
Queen of Ireland, our Mother,
and of Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and all the saints,
do we entrust ourselves, our children,
and the needs of the Church in Ireland.
Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI
19th March, 2010
Solemnity of St. Joseph

CHRISTVS REGNAT, Vol. VII, No. 2, December, 2014

In the December, 2014, issue of CHRISTVS REGNAT:

• 1914 By Mr. Thomas Murphy

A retrospective of the Catholic heritage of the centenary.

• St. Pius X and Little Nellie of Holy God By Mr. Thomas Murphy

One of Ireland's little saints, the four-year-old who inspired the admission of children to Holy Communion.

• The Holy Thing By Mr. Seamus O’Connor

How Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw the Effectuation of the Immaculate Conception

• Sacrosanctum Concilium 50 Years On – Part II,  Reform of the Rite of Mass By Mr. David McEllin

Some personal considerations on the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

• On the Blessed Virgin’s Love of God By Msgr. Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

From the collected sermons of the greatest preacher of France's golden age of sacred eloquence.

• Out of the Common – Introduction & Part I

Extracts from the commonplace book of a member.

• The Kildare Jacobites – Part II – Sir Charles Wogan By Mrs. Ellen Wilson

An account of a Kildareman who upheld the cause of his King and eloped with his Queen.

• The Architects of Kildare and Leighlin – Part IV By Mr. Paul Hannon

The final part of a survey of the individuals behind the architectural heritage of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin

 

You can obtain copies of CHRISTVS REGNAT by becoming a member of the Catholic Heritage Association.  Further details are available from membershipcommitteecha[AT]gmail[DOT]com.  Further details on how you can contribute an article to CHRISTVS REGNAT are available from christusregnatjournal[at]gmail[dot]com.

 

FIUV XXIst General Assembly - Mass 9 November 2013

On 9th November, 2013, in the morning before the Closed Session of the FIUV General Assembly, Msgr. Richard Soseman, of the S. Cong. for Divine Worship, celebrated High Mass in the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter's Basilica.

The music for Mass was: Kyrie ‘Le Roy’ (Taverner), Mass ‘The Western Wind’ (Taverner), Bone Pastor (Tallis, arr. Terry), O nata lux (Tallis), Credo III, and Organ: Toccata in C, BWV 564 (Bach).

The following pictures courtesy of Dr. Joseph Shaw:

FIUV XXIst General Assembly - Vespers 8 November 2013

The XXIst General Assembly of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce opened on 8th November, 2013, with Solemn Pontifical Vespers and Benediction with His Eminence, Walter, Cardinal Brandmuller, celebrated in the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter's Basilica.

A magnificent professional choir under the direction of Matthew Schellhorne, Moderator of FIUV's Sacred Music Committee, provided a breath-taking range of Sacred Music throughout the General Assembly.  For these Vespers, the Music was: Caelestis urbs Jerusalem (Gregorian chant), Magnificat primi toni (Palestrina), Ave verum (Elgar), Organ: Fuga sopra il Magnificat, BWV 733 (Bach).

The following pictures courtesy of Dr. Joseph Shaw: