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- Herausgeber: The Lilliput Press
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Franciscan Ireland tells the story of the arrival and spread of the Order of Friars Minor in Ireland from 1226 to present day. It encompasses the work of foreign missions, other Orders within the Franciscan family, and the rich legacy of Franciscan art and architecture inscribed in sculptures and buildings across the countryside. Gazetteers give descriptions of sites both in Ireland and on the Continent, complete with individual bibliographies, glossary and index. The result is a comprehensive and illuminating reference-guide. This book is illustrated by over thirty specially commissioned line-drawings. These include isometric views of friary sites and map-chronologies.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015
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AdareFriary,Co.Limerick:areconstruction
FRANCISCAN IRELAND
PATRICK CONLAN OFM
THE LILLIPUT PRESS
TomyparentsEssieandBill
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Adare Friary, Co. Limerick: a reconstruction
Map I: Franciscan Friaries in Ireland 1250-13506
Kilconnell Friary, Co. Galway: an isometric view10
St Francis, Askeaton Friary, Co. Limerick14
Snipe, Waterford Friary18
Map II: Observant Friaries in Ireland c. 155020
Moyne Friary, Co. Mayo: an isometric view24
St Francis, Dromahair Friary, Co. Leitrim28
Decorative carving, Dromahair Friary, Co. Leitrim32
Map III: Franciscan Friaries in Ireland c. 165034
Title-page of AnTeagasgCríosdaidhe (Antwerp 1611)41
Ross Friary, Co. Galway: an isometric view48
St Francis, Kilconnell Friary, Co. Galway54
Decorative carving, Inchiquin tomb, Ennis Friary, Co. Clare60
Map IV: Franciscan Friaries in Ireland 198862
St Francis, Ennis Friary, Co. Clare68
Original seal of the Franciscan Order in Ireland c. 153074
Monster, Waterford Friary88
Decorative carving, Askeaton Friary, Co. Limerick96
Window styles: thirteenth to sixteenth centuries98
Corbel figures, Kilkenny Friary100-1
South elevation, Ardfert Friary, Co. Kerry106
East window, Buttevant Friary, Co. Cork110
Aisle windows, Castledermot Friary, Co. Kildare112
North elevation, Claregalway Friary, Co. Galway114
East elevation, Kilcrea Friary, Co. Cork126
Cloister arcade, Muckross Friary, Co. Kerry135
Franciscan College, Multyfarnham, Co. Westmeath136-7
Quin Friary, Co. Clare: an isometric view138
West elevation, Sherkin Island Friary, Co. Cork141
Owl, Kilconnell Friary, Co. Galway146
Preface
Paul-Marie Duval of the Institut de France wrote that Celtic literature reveals a taste for the supernatural, a poetry of dreams and of fairy-like enchantment, and a quality of unreality which is in complete contrast to Mediterranean classicism. The art of the Celts breaks with the symmetry of classical models in its display of a freedom of invention which reflects the Celt’s independence of mind and his constant revolt against conformity. The Celtic gods were gods of nature – cosmic forces, rivers, mountains, animals … (c.f. The UNESCO Courier, Dec. 1975). This Celtic insight shares quite a lot with the basic Franciscan vision – a stress on the poetic and the artistic rather than on the scientific and the rigorous, on the individual rather than the group, and on the goodness of creation rather than the inventions of men.
The early Franciscans first met the Celtic mentality in Ireland and the two recognized in each other kindred souls. After a few years of hesitation, the Irish saw in Franciscanism a reflection of their own deep sentiments. This identification was further cemented during the Gaelic resurgence of the fifteenth century and was completed with the unification of the themes of faith and fatherland towards the close of the following century. Franciscanism is still a religious tradition closely identified with the Irish spirit.
This book seeks to fulfil a long-felt need for a general history of and a reference work on Irish Franciscanism. It is mainly the story of the Irish province of the Order of Friars Minor, with short sections on the other branches of the Franciscan family in Ireland. Much of the earlier material can be found in print elsewhere, but has been integrated here into a continuous story. Little of the history from 1750 on has been published previously. When individual items have been inserted into their historical context, we can discover an orderly flow of events. We gain a greater appreciation of our past. In judging other generations we realize the historicity of our own actions.
I am aware of the danger of generalization, but I feel that this risk has to be taken in presenting a first look at 750 years of continuous Irish Franciscan history. I wish to thank the many friars who have encouraged me in this project. This book is a product, not only of my own work, but also of the co-operation of many people, to whom I am very grateful.
P.C.Athlone,May1978
Preface to Revised Edition
When this book was first published it seemed likely that a more comprehensive work on the history of the Franciscans in Ireland would appear. In the event the first edition of FranciscanIreland became, and is likely to remain, the standard reference work on the Irish followers of St Francis of Assisi. I have been both amazed and gratified at the manner in which my publication has been received. The first edition has been out of print since 1984. Continuing demand has prompted this second edition.
The opportunity has been taken in this new edition to reorganize the chapters into four cycles. Each begins with a major innovation (arrival, Observant reform, major restructuring, imposed renewal) leading to growth, then stasis, followed by a period of decline. It is significant that the friars are again beginning to revitalize the Order in Ireland. While little fresh material has appeared on the mediaeval period, a lot of research has been done on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This has been incorporated into the text. The section dealing with mediaeval architecture has been changed and expanded to include all periods. The gazetteer of friaries has been updated and individual references to the sites have been included. The main bibliography has been expanded. Finally, a list of Irish Franciscan provincials, based on that published by Fr Canice Mooney ofm, has been added.
The aim of this book remains that of being a handy reference work rather than a detailed history. I hope that it continues to serve this purpose.
P.C. Athlone,September1988
The publisher would like to thank Mr Vincent Hurley for his assiduous editing in the preparation of this work, and Mr Kevin O’Brien for his illustrations.
Prologue
THE FRANCISCAN MOVEMENT
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone was born in 1181-2, while his father, Pietro, was on a business trip buying cloth. He was renamed Francesco, or Francis, when his father returned to Assisi. The son of wealthy parents, Francis grew up with too much money to spend, and known as a great singer and companion for a night on the town, not particularly worried about life despite his good education. As he approached his late teens, Assisi was suddenly thrown into turmoil. The citizens revolted and seized the castle which dominated the town. A civil war began and some of the nobles fled to Perugia. War then broke out between Perugia and Assisi. Francis was captured when his city was defeated at the battle of Collestrada. A year in prison, followed by a period of ill-health, gave the young man plenty of time to think. Still seeking worldly honour, he set out in 1205 to fight for the Pope against the German Emperor. But he only got as far as Spoleto, where the Lord appeared to him in a vision.
Back in Assisi Francis wandered about like a lost soul, very often praying in the partially ruined chapel of San Damiano. Towards the end of the year the figure of Christ on the Cross came to life and said to Francis: ‘Go and rebuild my house, for it is falling down.’ Francis continued to live as a hermit and was disowned by his father. In the summer of 1206 he took the words he had heard from the Cross literally. Francis began to physically rebuild three small chapels: San Damiano, San Pietro and the Portiuncula. Then on the feast of St Matthias, 24 February 1208, Francis heard the gospel of the Mass and thought that it had a special meaning for him: Christ ordering his disciples not to possess gold or silver, but to go and preach the kingdom of God. Francis now realized the true meaning of the vision on the Cross. He stopped building and began to go around the neighbouring villages preaching.
Almost against his wishes, the preacher began to attract companions, initially Bernard of Quintavalle, a merchant, Peter Catanii, a canon of the cathedral and a lawyer, and Giles, a young man. The first two came on 16 April 1208, regarded as the foundation day of the Franciscan Order. Francis and his companions went on various preaching trips but returned to the Portiuncula chapel below Assisi for the winter of 1208-9. By the spring of 1209 there were twelve companions and Francis brought them to Rome to receive verbal approval for their rule of life from Pope Innocent III. During 1209-10 lay people asked him to suggest an ideal way of life which they could practise while still in the world – the origin of the Third Order. Finally, on Palm Sunday 1212, Francis received Clare into the religious life thus giving rise to the Second Order, or the Poor Clares.
The First Order began to grow in Italy. In 1213 Francis accepted the gift of the mountain of La Verna near Florence as a place for prayer and retreat. At the general chapter of the Order held in 1217 a division into provinces was decided upon and missionaries were sent to the Orient, Germany, Hungary, France and Spain. Two years later Francis himself went to the Holy Land while sending missionaries to Morocco where they were martyred in January 1220. When Francis returned to Italy he found his Order in a state of confusion. He spent the winter of 1220-1 trying to expand the rule that had been verbally approved by Innocent III in 1209. This was presented to approximately three thousand friars who gathered for the chapter at Pentecost 1221. It was insufficient and the administrative problems were growing. St Francis withdrew to the Rieti Valley and composed his second rule which received papal approval on 29 November 1223. This is still the basic document governing the Franciscan Order. In December 1223 Francis was at Greccio, where he built the first Christmas crib. In the late summer of 1224 he was at La Verna, where he received the stigmata on 17 September. Now ill, he went on a few last preaching tours before returning to Assisi, where he died on 4 October 1226. He was canonized in Assisi on 16 July 1228 and arrangements were made to bury his body in the basilica then being built in his honour.
It is impossible to compress the message of St Francis into a few words. There seem to be three fundamental elements: a spontaneity by which he reacted instinctively to anything that seemed good and that God wanted; a conviction that an almost physical imitation of Christ was the best way to go to the Father; an ability to see the hand of God everywhere in creation, be it in a human being, an animal, or even in the very earth itself. One thing is certain: his message is as popular today as ever.
Map I: Franciscan Friaries in Ireland 1250-1350
Chapter 1
ARRIVAL AND EXPANSION (c. 1226-1450)
Over seven hundred and sixty years ago, probably in summer of 1226, a ship arrived at the mouth of the Blackwater, just off the port of Youghal in Co. Cork. Among the tired passengers was a group of men dressed in worn grey habits, but whose richness of spirit overshadowed their poverty. The harbingers of the Franciscan ideal had arrived in Ireland.
Thus began the first cycle in the history of the followers of St Francis of Assisi in an island which at that time was at the western periphery of the known world. A period of rapid expansion – thirty houses in sixty years – followed. Then the founding enthusiasm ran out. The friars entered the mid-phase of the cycle, contented with their achievements. There were only a handful of new foundations. The first serious divisions between Irish and Normans within the Order emerged. The manpower shortages after the Black Death ushered in a period of decline. The will to move into new areas, whether geographical, pastoral or spiritual, was missing. Only with the Gaelic resurgence in the early fifteenth century did real sap again begin to flow through the dry wood of Franciscanism in Ireland.
Unfortunately we know very little about these early arrivals except from oral tradition written down long after. The friary at Youghal has always been recognized as the first foundation of the Franciscans in Ireland. This event must be dated between the arrival of the friars in England in 1224 and the general chapter of the Order at Assisi in 1230. According to one tradition these friars were Romantics from the sunny Mediterranean, coming to Ireland via northern Spain. It seems much more likely that they were Norman-French who came across St George’s Channel from southern England. In any case, they would have found Ireland a strange country. While the townspeople could converse with them in the sort of bastard French spoken over much of ‘civilized’ Europe, the natives spoke an unknown language and lived according to their own distinctive laws and customs.
The well-documented history of the early Franciscans in England gives us an idea of how the friars spread through Ireland. A group of friars would come to a town and find a place, even a shed, to sleep, eat and pray. Then the main group would move on, leaving behind the nucleus of a new community. Thus, the first English friars landed at Dover and formed their first community at Canterbury on 11 September 1224. The main body then moved to London, from where the friars rapidly spread to Oxford and Northampton. By 1230 sufficient friars had penetrated into Scotland for it to be erected as a full province. In 1239 Scotland was reduced to a dependent vicariate of the English province, but it remained a fairly independent unit until it vanished with the collapse of Franciscanism in England during the Reformation.
After their arrival at Youghal, it seems that the friars split into three groups. Two small groups set off to make foundations at Cork and Waterford. A larger group went to Kilkenny and thence to Dublin. From there, some went to Athlone, while others travelled up the coast to Drogheda, Downpatrick and Carrickfergus. During the next few years gaps between the early foundations were filled with houses at New Ross, Castledermot and Dundalk. Local rulers invited the friars to come to Ardfert and Claregalway. Armagh, the religious centre of Ireland, was next on the Franciscan list. Then it was the turn of the towns of Munster: Nenagh, Limerick, Cashel and Ennis. Before the end of the century there were foundations at Buttevant and Clonmel in the south; Wexford and Wicklow in the east; Trim, Kildare, Clane, Multyfarnham and Killeigh in the midlands; and Galway in the west. While the exact chronological order is subject to dispute, the friars had made a total of thirty foundations by the end of the thirteenth century.
A general chapter of the Franciscan Order was held at Assisi during Pentecost 1230. The chapter was to be the occasion for the solemn translation of the body of St Francis to the new basilica built by Br Elias. But relics were valuable in those days and the body of St Francis was hidden lest it be stolen. It remained undiscovered until 1818, when it was found in a pillar in the lower crypt of the basilica. At the chapter Fr John Parenti was elected minister general to replace Br Elias. He appointed Richard of Ingworth as the first minister provincial of the Irish Franciscan province. The concept of a province as a legal entity was not as strict then as now, and it seems certain that the friars were already in Ireland and that Richard was appointed to head an existing entity. During the lifetime of St Francis a minister provincial could be any friar in charge of a group going to a new country or district, such as Agnellus of Pisa in England. But under Br Elias the official structures were being tightened up.
Ingworth is a village about ten miles north of Norwich. Richard, an experienced administrator, was said to have been one of the first friars to preach north of the Alps. A member of the first group of friars in England, he founded the friary at Northampton. He later became custos of northern England, based at Cambridge. He acted as locum for Agnellus of Pisa when the latter went to the general chapter in 1230 and the influence of Agnellus may be detected in the appointment of Richard to Ireland. Little is known of Richard’s activities as provincial in Ireland. He was involved in a rather difficult visitation of the Scottish province in 1238, and when his period of office ended at the general chapter of 1239 he went as a missionary to Syria, where he died.
The next Irish provincial was a former provincial of Scotland, John Keating, a native of Ketton in Rutland. He was appointed to Ireland in 1239 by the new minister general, Albert of Pisa, himself ex-provincial of England. Fr John had such a reputation for kindness that friars from many provinces came to Ireland seeking his protection. The first known provincial chapter was held under him at Cork in 1244. In 1251 he purchased a bible for the Irish province at Paris. He was replaced at the general chapter at Metz in 1254.
The Life and Work of the Early Friars
In those days one became a friar by going to the nearest friary, where one could be admitted to the novitiate in a matter of days. Sometimes there were problems, as when the earl of Ulster, Walter de Burgo, sent an armed band to remove his young brother, Daniel, from the novitiate in Dublin friary in 1258. There were no formal houses of study for clerics. In the early years of the province only a small number of the friars would have been priests. The young Franciscan learned the way of life through example and practice. Later, lecturers were assigned to those houses where there were students for the priesthood.
Initially, a friary would have consisted of a room or building lent by some local benefactor. The community worshipped and prayed in a nearby chapel or parish church. All was informal with little consideration given to canonical foundation documents. Then the friars would build a dwelling suited to their requirements on a site donated by some willing citizen. As time went on the original structure was extended until a substantial building was constructed. Sometimes a local ruler invited the friars to come and built a house for them himself. In many cases the friary grounds became the burial place of the local ruling family, for example the O’Briens in Ennis and Limerick, the FitzMaurice family in Kildare and the O’Driscolls on Sherkin Island. The Crown in England was also a major benefactor to many friaries. It is often impossible to give a precise date for the arrival of the friars in a particular area. Some sources give the date of arrival, others the date of the initial foundation, and yet others the date of the major benefaction. The result can sometimes be confusing.
KilconnellFriary,Co.Galway:anisometricview
The Ireland in which the first Franciscans arrived was in a state of transition as Norman influence began to predominate in ecclesiastical affairs. The old Irish monastic system was in decline. Its function as the centre of worship for the local community was being taken over by parish churches. This was especially true in areas under the control of the invaders, where manor and chapel went hand in hand, and in the large towns and cities where bishops with an English or continental background were in charge. Given the friars’ use of parish churches elsewhere, for example in London in 1224-5, for both Mass and office, it is not surprising that in Ireland they initially worked as a leaven within existing structures rather than having their own churches. Another function of the early Irish monks had been spiritual direction. The new Orders arriving in Ireland, especially the Franciscans, took on the role of ‘soul-companions’ to the needy. But the initial task of the friars was to be accepted as good people. The way they lived, worked and prayed, would be the key to their success.
The main work of the friars, in addition to bearing witness to a particular style of Christian living, was preaching, using plain language with plenty of stories and images to convey their message. As early as 1240 they were preaching a Crusade and forwarding the money to Rome. It is significant that the earliest known Franciscan writing in Ireland, the LiberExemplorum, is a collection of notes and stories for preachers. It was written c. 1270 by an English friar who was stationed in Ireland. He knew Drogheda, Cork and Dublin, and was obviously a much travelled man. One of his stories concerns fertility rites in northern Germany as related to the Dublin community by a Danish friar. Another example of a sermon is Friar Tom Quinn, preaching during a pestilence at Clonfert, who challenges the devils to come and get him, if they dare!
Some of the mediaeval clergy were widely travelled. Two friars, Simon Fitz Simeon and Hugo the Illuminator, journeyed from Ireland to the Holy Land. They went via Anglesea, London, Dover, Wissant, Paris, the Rhone, Marseilles, Bobbio, Venice and Alexandria to Jerusalem. Hugo died at Alexandria on 22 October 1324. There is also a tradition that a Friar James of Ireland accompanied Blessed Odoric of Pordenone to China in 1316-20.
There are a number of other Irish Franciscan writings of the same period in addition to the LiberExemplorum. A Norman friar made a collection of French, English and Latin songs and poems in Munster c. 1325; the AnnalsofNenagh and the AnnalsofFriarJohnClyn of Kilkenny were written during the mid-fourteenth century. Finally there is a mysterious theological treatise on the seven deadly sins, DeVeneno, usually attributed to a Friar Malachy of Limerick and dated c. 1285.
The Problem of the Two Nations
In the early stages the Franciscans in Ireland worked mainly among the Norman townspeople. The provincials were generally of English birth, although a Gilbert of Slane (or Clane) held office c. 1226. The Franciscan charisma is all-embracing, and the friars soon began to mix with the Irish. The evidence suggests that both races lived together in the same friaries. By the end of the thirteenth century the friars were inevitably caught up in the political conflict between the two nations. Thus a Franciscan bishop of Kildare, Nicholas Cusack, reported to King Edward I:
The peace of the land is frequently disturbed by secret counsels … which certain insolent religious of Irish tongue … hold with the Irish. Thus in dangerous districts Irish sympathisers should be removed from their convents and replaced by good and carefully selected English.
The report of a royal commission in 1284-5 is more explicit: ‘The Dominicans and Franciscans make too much use of that [Irish] language.’ It is worth noting that the Irish Franciscans formed an independent province from 1230, albeit with the English Crown having a certain right of veto over the person elected or appointed minister provincial. He was elected by the province between 1239 and 1291 and again after 1469. Otherwise he was appointed by the minister general. The Irish Dominicans, in contrast, remained a vice-province of England until as late as 1536. The Irish Carmelites became independent c. 1305, while Irish Augustinians had obtained some freedom by the end of the fourteenth century.
The tension between the Irish and the Normans towards the end of the thirteenth century gave rise to a problem of two nations in one country which lasted for nearly two hundred years. The English authorities ran a European-style church. They used their contacts with Rome to advantage, so that Irish bishops had to obtain the royal consent before they were consecrated. But the old Celtic Church remained in the Irish areas, admittedly with a Roman flavour since the reforms of the twelfth century. In practice the two nations solved their problems by keeping apart. There is little evidence of dissension at local level among the Franciscans, but there was a struggle for control of the province itself.
A provincial chapter opened in Cork on 10 June 1291 to which some of the friars came armed with Papal Bulls. A chronicler of the subsequent events remarks: ‘Papal Bulls always excite men.’ The issue was control of the province. Initially the Irish won by force of numbers. Then fighting broke out. The Norman townspeople came to the rescue of their fellow friars. Sixteen friars were killed. By coincidence the minister general, a Frenchman named Raymond Godefrey, happened to arrive soon after on one of his long voyages through Europe. The result of his visit was far reaching. A decision was taken that the Irish could not be trusted to rule themselves. Within a couple of years direct rule from Rome was imposed. For the next 160 years the Irish provincial was appointed by the minister general and was always of English or Norman stock.
The problem of the two nations in Ireland underlies most of the history of the fourteenth century. One solution tried within the Irish Franciscans was the division of the province into four or five administrative units called custodies. The composition of each one was fluid. While one custody was always Irish, the others were always Norman.
Given the political conditions, it is not surprising that the civil authorities tried to restrict the entry of the Irish into religious orders under certain circumstances. A parliament at Kilkenny in 1310 ordered a complete prohibition on the reception of Irish into religious orders in the ‘terre Engleis’ (the area governed by the English). But soon this particular statute was revoked.
When Edward Bruce landed in Ireland in May 1315, Franciscan reaction was mixed. Within a month of his arrival, his forces had sacked Dundalk friary. Yet support for him grew among the Irish friars. On the other side, the English king, Edward II, appealed to Rome for a condemnation of his opponent. The Irish Franciscan provincial, Thomas Godman, was sent to the Pope. He was accompanied by Geoffrey of Aylsham, a politically reliable Franciscan of English blood and the royal nominee for the vacant see of Cashel. Action in Rome was slowed by the delay in the election of Pope John XXII. During the delay, Castledermot friary was burned in 1317. In reply to the king, a group of Irish chieftains sent a remonstrance, sometimes taken as the first expression of Irish nationalism, to the pope in 1318. Among other things, this document accuses a Norman friar of claiming that ‘it is no sin to kill a man of Irish birth, and if he did such a thing, he would not hesitate from celebrating mass’. In the end the pope took the diplomatic way out. While condemning Bruce, John XXII rejected the nomination of Geoffrey for Cashel.
The problem of the political reliability of the Irish is seen among the Franciscans at the provincial chapter which met in Dublin in 1324. Special judges appointed by the pope found that the conduct of the friars in Cork, Limerick, Buttevant, Ardfert, Nenagh, Claregalway, Galway and Athlone was politically suspect. The chapter decreed that no Irishman could be guardian of one of these houses and all Irish friars, except for some of the most trustworthy, were to be removed from them. In practice it would seem that the rules were not applied too strictly, yet the authorities remained watchful. The royal alms for Athlone was transferred to Cashel in 1327, since the Athlone friars could no longer be trusted. Thus three years after the supposed exclusion of disloyal friars from Athlone in 1324, there were no longer sufficient loyal friars in the community! This problem of the two nations remained until the next century, and reached a high point with the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366. It slowly faded as the two nations began to fuse more and more until it was submerged by the Gaelic resurgence after the mid-fifteenth century.
St Francis, Askeaton Friary, Co. Limerick
