From the archives: 1963 report on ‘The Abbey that refused to die’ eight centuries on
By Tom Gillespie
ON Saturday, February 9, 1963, The Connaught Telegraph carried a book review on an ‘Interesting Production on Ballintubber Abbey’.
The newspaper reported: We welcome for review this week the magnificently produced brochure on Ballintubber Abbey by Rev. Fr. Thomas Egan, on sale at all booksellers priced 2/6.
The newspaper reported: For the past 12 months we have watched with admiration the amazing publicity accorded by all papers, both national and provincial, to this hitherto forgotten shrine of Ireland’s greatness.
And far beyond the confines of our shores the fame of Ballintubber Abbey has spread as a picture-story of the ‘Abbey that refused to die’ - a prominent feature of the September issue of ‘The Word’, which has an international circulation of over 125,000.
In 1962 the abbey was filmed by Telefis Éireann, on which it has been featured twice, while 20th Century Fox also filmed this historic church for Pan America Airways.
During the summer months CIE ran three weekly tours, where travellers were brought on a conducted tour of the Abbey while they listened spellbound to the story of its fantastic endurance over seven centuries.
The visitors book in the Abbey reads like an atlas of the world as we come across the names of visitors from China and Peru, jostling those from Jamaica, Algeria, Trinidad and Lebanon. Visitors will henceforth have this magnificent souvenir of their visit to one of Ireland’s unique monuments which tells of the time when kings still reigned in Connaught.
Ballintubber Abbey was founded in 1216 by Cathal Crovdearg O’Conor - Cathal Mor of the wine-red hand - for Canons Regular of St. Augustine, and was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The date of its foundation is clearly recorded in the Annals of Loch Ce: ‘Annou 1125 Maelbhrighde O’Maicin, abbot of Tobar Patraic, went to rest in the Lord … it was by him the church of Tobar Patraic was begun and its sanctuary and crosses diligently finished in honour of Patrick and Mary and the Apostle St. John’.
Ballintubber is contemporary with the word-famous French cathedrals of Notre Dame and Chartres, and 29 years older than the Abbey of Westminster, where the kings and queens of England have been crowned for centuries.
The first foundation at Westminster was made by Edward the Confessor in 1065, but of this ancient foundation the official Westminster guide tells us ‘not a stone of the Confessor’s church remains above ground’.
Less that 200 years after its completion it was completely demolished to make way for the present Westminster Abbey, built by Henry III in 1245.
Ballintubber Abbey, as it stands today (1963), was built in 1216, but even this ancient church is built on a site of a previous foundation by St. Patrick in 441 and Patrick’s association with this place is still commented in the placename Ballintubber, which means the townland of the well of St. Patrick. Hence, we may say that not merely for 750 years but for 1,500 years a Christian church has occupied the site of the present Abbey.
Ballintubber Abbey is the only Irish church still in daily use founded by an Irish king; the only Irish church in which the Mass has been offered without break for 750 years.
According to tradition the abbey was reserved for those of noble birth, a fact which may explain the vast estates of which the abbey was possessed in later years. It had a cell or dependency - the Priory of Holy Cross in Kilmore, Erris in north Mayo - which paid an annual rent for help given in its buildings, while the abbot of Ballintubber had the right of appointing the prior there. There is still a manuscript dated 1416 preserved in the British Museum which tells of its lands and privileges.
As yet the art of printing hadn’t been invented and all documents had to be laboriously copies by hand. This parchment tells how the Abbot of Ballintubber came before public notary with a request that a copy be made of the original rescript, which stated all the privileges of the monastery.
This new manuscript, which recites all the bequests, lands and privileges of Tobar Patraic, may still be read in the British Museum.
Documentation of the history of the abbey over the centuries is remarkable and the chronicle of the march of time in an Irish royal abbey is a monument to the research on which Fr. Egan has been engaged for two years in the National Library and Trinity College. He published letters to the Abbey from the Popes of the 15th century, including letters from Boniface IX, Martin V and Pius II.
The abbey was suppressed by Henry VII in 1542, but his suppression seems to have been merely nominal as Carew MS mentions it as still in use in 1578.
The Friars of St. Augustine occupy the Abbey in the early part of the 17th century until in 1653 the Cromwellians try to destroy and demolish it. Their assault was only partially successful and though the timber roof was consumed in the flames, the stone-vaulted side-chapels remained intact and the people still continued to worship in the unroofed Abbey, though now they knelt on the grass-covered ground exposed to the cold and the wind and the rain.
A first effort to restore the Abbey in 1846 was frustrated by the Famine of 1847, until 1889 another generation resumed the work which enabled the people of Ballintubber to worship where for seven centuries so many generations of their ancestors had knelt to pray.
We must confess that the history of the abbey during the Penal Days was what most excited our interest and this result of original research is a most valuable contribution to the local history of these days of the Irish resistance to a ruthless and merciless oppressor who tried to stamp out both education and religion among our forefathers.
It is fascinating to read today (1963) of the priests of Ballintubber during the Penal times and to hear again of the renegade Sean na Sagart, who pursed them to their death to earn his bloodstained 30 pieces of silver.
Other major discoveries made during the course of Fr. Egan’s research were the extraordinary photographs showing the people at Mass on the grass-covered ground in the unroofed Abbey in 1865 - a discovery he made in Mr. Desmond Wynne’s studios, to whom he makes acknowledgement.
The third major discovery was the authentication by Dr. H.G. Leask, Ireland’s foremost expert, that the present high altar still in use in Ballintubber is a 13th century altar whose date he puts at 1230.
The layout is superb and we notice that all design and layout have been done by one of Ireland’s top artists, Jan de Fouw, who also designs that beauty magazine ‘Ireland of the Welcomes’. From every point of view, the brochure is excellent and the gallery of photographs and illustrations - 23 in all - are something to treasure for all-time. We are not surprised to hear of all the letters of commendation and praise that have been received by the author, including letters from the President of Ireland and the late Cardinal D’Alton, both of whom visited the Abbey in 1961. We have also seen similar letters of praise from the Chairman of the Arts Council (Rev. Donal O’Sullivan, S.J.) and from the Director General of Bord Failte, Mr. T.J. O’Driscoll, and many others too numerous to mention.
We are glad to note that files of The Connaught Telegraph were of use to Fr. Egan as he quotes a letter from a Church of England clergyman, Rev. E.D. Cleaver, who sent a subscription in 1889 for the work of restoration. The letter is quoted in the paragraph headed ‘Famine and Restoration’.