The 800th anniversary of St Mary’s Collegiate Church in Youghal is being marked this year with services, concerts, art works and talks. The celebrations started with a performance of G.F. Handel’s Messiah in St Mary’s, by the East Cork Choral Society and Orchestra.
St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Youghal at the night of the concert.
Canon Andrew Orr, Rector of Youghal Union of Parishes, writes:
The centre aisles of the church were full, with 280 people in attendance, in addition to the choir of 55 and orchestra of 11. Proceeds of the concert went to local charities and the Red Cross Ukraine appeal, and in the audience were a number of guests who had recently arrived from Ukraine and who are now living in the Imperial Hotel.
Unfortunately, the society’s long standing conductor, Colin Nicholls, was unable to be present due to illness, and everyone wished him a speedy recovery on the night. Thankfully, Dr. Ian Sexton was able to conduct from the chamber organ and the choir and orchestra were magnificent.
This was a wonderful way to start our 800th anniversary celebrations. We were delighted with the full house on the night and the combination of music and the atmosphere of this extraordinary church made it a concert to remember. Huge thanks to Youghal Credit Union for their sponsorship and to all the team at St Mary’s who made it such a great night.
The front cover is illustrated with a pillar box with the monogram of King George V, on Dublin’s Westmoreland Street, and stamps over-printed with lettering for the Provisional Government and Irish Free State, thus representing continuity and change in that time.
The Church of Ireland Press Office writes:
An updated edition of Divided States: Irish Independence and its Aftermath 1918-1923, a reading list produced by the Church of Ireland’s Historical Centenaries Working Group, has been published online. It sets out to guide all those who wish to study further an era in Irish history where, in both parts of the island, there are very different narratives and interpretations.
Divided States firstly covers the wider context of Irish history. It goes on to explore a number of more specialised topics: nationalism and unionism, events in Ireland in the crucial decade of 1913-1923, local studies, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Civil War, Partition and the development of Northern Ireland, the Southern Protestant community, and the role of women in the revolutionary era, alongside a number of personal perspectives.
It opens with a foreword by the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd John McDowell, and an introductory essay by his predecessor as Primate, the Rt Revd Dr Richard Clarke. The working group, which is chaired by the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Rt Revd Dr Paul Colton, is grateful to Mr George Woodman for his work in compiling and updating a representative selection of the historical literature of this period.
Divided States was first published in April 2019, and both the first edition and this new edition are available to read and download at www.ireland.anglican.org/divided-states
On Sunday 24th April, the Rector of Cobh & Glanmire Union of Parishes, the Rev. Canon Paul Arbuthnot, represented the Church of Ireland at a Service of Remembrance for those who died in the HMS Mars tragedy.
On 14th April, 1902, HMS Mars visited Queenstown / Cobh, and was conducting gunnery practice off the coast when a turret explosion killed 12 men on board. The Service of Remembrance took place in the Old Cemetery, Cobh, where the victims of this tragedy are buried. The liturgy was led by The Rev. Canon Paul Arbuthnot and Fr Liam Kelleher of Cobh Cathedral.
The event was organised by the Cork and County Branch of the Royal Naval Association and included the laying of wreaths at the grave of those who died in the tragedy. The wreaths were laid by the Royal Navy, British Embassy, Royal Naval Association, and Cobh ONE.
The Revd Canon Paul Arbuthnot commented:
This poignant anniversary reminds us once again of the huge risks which our naval forces take in protecting our shores. We commend the souls of those who died serving the common good to the loving protection of Almighty God. We also ask God’s protection over all those who guard our shores and whose livelihoods depend on the maritime economy.
Next week (26th to 29th April 2022) will mark the centenaries of the Bandon Valley killings and the funerals which followed on those dates in 1922. The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, has announced that he intends to mark the centenaries by making pastoral visits throughout next week to the parishes that were most closely affected by those events one hundred years ago.
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Colm Kelleher, and the Mayor of County Cork, Councillor Gillian Coughlan, light the central candle during the Act of Remembrance in 2021.
Writing in the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocesan Magazine this month, Bishop Colton said that the historiography of that period and those events in the Bandon Valley ‘has been written about extensively and debated with different narratives, emotions and responses elicited. Why it happened and what the motives of people were are elusive questions. What can we know with certainty at this remove? ‘
The Bishop emphasised, however, that at another level the facts were straightforward. He wrote:
At one straightforward level what happened is clear. In that week, 14 people were killed: Michael O’Neill, Thomas Hornibrook, Samuel Hornibrook, Herbert Woods, James Buttimer, David Gray, Francis Fitzmaurice, Robert Howe, John Chinnery, Robert Nagle, Alexander Gerald McKinley, John Buttimer, James Greenfield and John Bradfield. Two of those were 16 years of age and the oldest was 82. Twelve were members of the Church of Ireland in this Diocese. Attempts were made on others’ lives and they had to escape, many never to return. We know that in the years that followed many people from Cork, Cloyne and Ross felt insecure in this part of the world and left.’
Announcing his approach to the centenaries Bishop Colton said:
I am not in a position to adjudicate on the historiography of that period. As lead pastor in this Diocese today, however, my primary duty, having consulted with the local clergy, who have listened to descendants, is to ensure that in prayer and liturgy, these people and events are appropriately remembered in the context of this Decade of Centenaries. With that in mind, as Bishop, I will be spending the octave of 24th April to 1st May 2022 on pastoral visits to the parishes which were caught up in those events one hundred years ago.
Since 2014 Cork, Cloyne and Ross has been commemorating the centenaries of the period 1914 to 2024 in a programme called the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Centenaries Commemoration and Reconciliation Project co-funded by the Church of Ireland Priorities’ Fund One element of this was the creation of a memorial space for prayer and reflection was created in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork which from 2014 to 2018 commemorated Cork people who were killed or wounded in the First World War. Since 2019, that space has been one of prayer and commemoration of those who died in the War of Independence and the Civil War. In 2021, led by the Lord Mayor of Cork, and the Mayor of Cork, County a Service was held to remember all those who died in Ireland during the War of Independence.
On 10th April, the Rector of Cobh & Glanmire Union of Parishes, the Rev. Canon Paul Arbuthnot, attended the annual commemoration for those who perished on the RMS Titanic. The Titanic’s last port of call was Queenstown / Cobh 110 years ago.
The commemoration took place in Cobh town centre and began with an act of worship and remembrance at the Titanic memorial in Pearse Square. The Rector led the prayers alongside the Roman Catholic clergy from Cobh Cathedral. After this, there was a wreath laying ceremony at the town’s Promenade for those who died in the tragedy.
The Revd Canon Paul Arbuthnot commented:
This tragedy is woven into the consciousness of Cobh and the commemoration of it is an important event in the town’s civic calendar. It is a day when we remember before God not only those who died on that terrible day, but all who risk their lives in their work on the sea.
The Rev. Canon Paul Arbuthnot, and Fr Paul Bennett (Cobh Cathedral) who led the act of worship at the annual Titanic commemoration.
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