Clare Past Forum

Ignatius Murphy, in his article “Building a Church in 19th Century Ireland,” (The Other Clare, Vol. 2 (1978)), gives, firstly, an account of the building of a chapel in Kilkee, and, secondly, the building of a small chapel in Kilrush, plus a larger replacement.
In 1799, the chapel in Kilrush was a small thatched cabin. On Christmas Day that year, the people were so densely packed against the walls that the roof began to creak. Fr. Laurence Considine immediately set about building a new church in High Street. As with the Kilkee church, it was just four walls and a roof. Improvements were made, but, by 1838, the population had increased so much that a new chapel was needed. It was announced that Crofton M. Vandeleur had donated a site. He laid the foundation stone “in the presence of 10,000 people”. The dedication ceremony was just one year later; the sermon was by Fr. Mathew, the famous temperance priest; and the collection yielded £300. Successive priests made various improvements, installing pews and galleries, railings and gate, stained glass windows, new sacristy, new porch, stone crosses on the gables, side altars.

The next item was an organ. The chapel had a harmonium since 1856, but this changed on 15 September 1878, when an organ was installed by an English firm, at a cost of £500. Again, as with the Kilkee chapel, the Limerick people had a large input. The organist of St. John’s Cathedral, Limerick, came to Kilrush for the inauguration, and brought a special choir “selected from the principal vocalists of Limerick.” The steamer, President, was hired to bring them across the Shannon river, but it was no pleasure trip; the wind moaned, the boat rolled and waves washed over the deck; there were angry words between captain and pilot; the passengers wept and prayed.. After 5 hours, they arrived in Kilrush, drenched wet. Everything was delayed while the town was ransacked for dry clothing. Nevertheless, the ceremony proceeded and the choir sang the Kyrie No 1 Haydn (which sounds very thunderous and magnificent); also Gloria and Sanctus from Gounod’s “messe solemnelle”; also the Credo, from Mercadante; and the Agnus Dei from Haydn’s No 4 Mass.

What a choir!

Sheila

I was wondering who the organist from St. John’s Cathedral, Limerick, might be, and found a thesis by Mary Regina Deacy: "Continental Organists and Catholic Church Music in Ireland, 1860-1960": https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/5088/, which gives an account of the many continental organists (mainly German and Belgian) employed in Catholic dioceses in Ireland during the 100 years between the mid 19th century and the mid 20th century (There’s nothing about Church of Ireland organists). She includes the De Prins brothers, from Belgium, who worked in Limerick and in Cork, but neither of these was attached to St. John’s Cathedral; Francis de Prins was organist at St Alphonsus Redemptorist Church, Limerick, and his brother, Leopold, was organist at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Cork. So I still don’t know the name of the organist in Ignatius Murphy’s article.

Bishop Michael Fogarty, of Killaloe diocese, is mentioned very often in the thesis by Mary Regina Deacy (see pages 117-130). She says that “he was one of the main figures actively involved in implementing the plainchant revival in Ireland and particularly in his diocese of Killaloe”, over his very long episcopate of 51 years (there were 5 foreign organists working in the diocese in the 1920s and 1930s. Ernest de Regge is probably the best known of these). Bishop Fogarty made great efforts to implement the restoration of sacred music throughout his entire diocese and not just in the cathedral parish of Ennis. Mary Regina Deacy says that Belgian organist,Van de Velde, was appointed to Kilrush in 1935, at a time when the plainchant revival was at its peak in the diocese; “Van de Velde made a remarkable contribution to the development of sacred music in a relatively small rural parish. During the 1940s, Molua reported that a four-part adult choir of sixty voices was practising twice a week under his direction. He also trained a school girls’ choir of thirty voices, who sang at benediction, Requiem masses and who joined with the adult choir during the Holy Week ceremonies. All the children of the parish sang at a Missa Cantata on the third Sunday of each month."

After Van de Velde came George Minne. He was appointed to Kilrush in 1956, where one of his first tasks was to give a recital on the new organ (not the 1878 one) at St. Senan’s church. It was said then that the people of Kilrush were transfixed upon hearing for the first time Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor (see Irish Times obituary: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-sty ... -1.4732604)

Sheila