St. Peter's Church, Phibsborough
- A History
Extract printed with kind permission from
'A History of Cabra and Phibsborough',
by Bernard Neary, published in 1978.
In
1822 Phibsborough was the home for many thousands of people who lived in misery
and squalor. Their homes were of mud-huts and the incidence of disease and
crime was rampant. The district was a happy hunting ground for
proselytisers and as the area had no Catholic school, concern in the
neighbourhood grew regarding the educational needs of the children. As a
result of this concern and action by a group of Catholic laymen, who formed a
committee for the purpose in October, 1822, schools were built on a site at the
junction of the North Circular Road (opened in 1800) and New Cabra Avenue - this
is the present site of the Church - and were opened in September 1826, for
Sunday Catechism classes. In February 1827, a schoolmaster was engaged and
a day school began for boys and girls and within a few months 230 boys and 160
girls were on the rolls.
Efforts were then made by the Committee, following the establishment of the
schools, to get a priest to take charge of the work but this proved a matter of
some difficulty. The Rev. W. Young and the Rev. W. Carroll were induced to
take up the work and were the first two priests at St. Peter's. They
converted the upper storey of the school building into a chapel, 25 feet high,
with two galleries, one over the other. The whole building was 80 feet by
32 feet, of which 20 feet gave accommodation to the two priests, with a
sacristy, a lending library, a room for the schoolmaster and a kitchen. In
the chapel, for the first time, on Trinity Sunday 1827, the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass was celebrated.
The following extract from 'Ireland Illustrated' gives an early account of the
church:
'St. Peter's chapel stands at the divergence of the New Cabra Avenue, and the
beautiful and fashionable ride to Phoenix Park, called 'the North Circular
Road'. The chapel consists of a Porch and Chancel eighty feet in length,
by forty in breath, very neatly and unostentatiously finished. The
exterior is in Milner's second order of Gothic Architecture, very correctly
executed, and built of the impure lime-stone found in the County of
Dublin. The floor of the Chapel is much elevated above the exterior
surface, which gives an opportunity of introducing a beautiful flight of steps,
with broad landings in front, and admits of a spacious apartment beneath, used
as a free-school, where the poor children of the district are educated'.
Vincentian Involvement
In 1838 the Archbishop of Dublin and the Parish Priest of St. Paul's, Arran
Quay, both expressed a wish that the Vincentian Community should take over Phibsborough - Dr. Yore of Arran Quay surrendering all proprietary rights but
reserving those that were parochial (at this time St. Peter's was within the
parish of St. Paul's). Thus St. Peter's church was handed over, in 1838,
to a Religious Community which has served Ireland well through her troubled
years to our Independence in 1922 and since then as a free nation of the
World. The first priests appointed by the Vincentian Community to look
after the new work were Fathers McNamara (who was one of the co-founders of St.
Joseph's School for Deaf Boys, Cabra and founder of St. Gabriel's School for
Deaf Girls, Cabra), Hand and Scully. Fr. Hand left after a short while to
devote his energies in other directions and in November, 1842, he founded All
Hallows College in Drumcondra, the first purely missionary college in Ireland.
The Vincentians established themselves quite rapidly and improved the services
of the Church but soon the little edifice proved inadequate for the
accommodation of the ever increasing congregation and in 1841 a beginning was
made to secure more space. A public meeting was held which was a very
remarkable one at that time - it was the first public meeting of Dublin
Catholics for a charitable purpose, viz. the enlargement of St. Peter's Church
and was presided over by Dublin's first Catholic Lord Mayor in over 200 years,
the great Daniel O'Connell. The meeting proved to be a great success
financially and as a result 43 feet were added to the Church's length. In
1843 new schools were built on a site adjacent to the Church and the upper floor
removed, leaving the Church 35 feet high instead of 25 feet.
First Irish Mission
In 1842, the first Irish Mission set forth from Phibsborough, to Athy, Co.
Kildare. These Missions have continued since and have contributed greatly
to the quality and value of Irish life. They have helped our people in
times of greatest need, like the Dingle Mission during the Great Famine, when,
in 1846, the Phibsborough Fathers spent seven weeks in the area preaching and
administering the sacraments in addition to setting up programmes to alleviate
the worst ravages of the Famine; in the end, the Phibsborough Fathers had to be
taken by boat to Caherciven because of the crowds which had gathered from far
and wide to hear them. In 1845, Fr. McNamara introduced the Society of St.
Vincent de Paul in Phibsborough. It was the second Branch in Ireland, the
first one was introduced in St. Michan's in 1844 - eleven years after its
foundation in Paris.
But the neighbourhood of Phibsborough improved vastly during the 1850's and
1860's and the congregations continued to grow and in 1862 Fr. McNamara planned
a really grandiose gothic edifice that 'bid fair to outdo all previous efforts
in Church building'. The chancel and transepts were erected, together with
a great central tower. But the construction of the tower proved to be a
controversial affair and resulted in a long and costly law-suit which began as a
dispute between the architect and builder and ended with the involvement of
their client, Fr. McNamara. On foot of a Court Order the tower had to be
dismantled and the stone was later used in the construction of the present
Allied Irish Bank building and Murphy's licensed premises - giving these two
buildings their unique 'ecclesiastical' character.
Fr. McNamara went to the Irish College in Paris in 1867 as Superior, not having
achieved his dream of completing the magnificent edifice. He returned to Ireland
in 1890, residing in St. Joseph's Blackrock, where he died in 1892; four hundred
deaf children assisted at his obsequies in St. Peter's and offered their prayers
for the man who had been their devoted benefactor and who had given many hard
working years to Phibsborough. The year before Fr. McNamara's death, new
schools were opened on St. Peter's Road (1891) and further improvements were
made to the Church. His successor, Fr. Joseph Geoghegan, set about the
work of completing the Church in 1902. On April 19th, 1902, a great public
meeting was organised which turned out to be one of the most representative
meetings held for charitable purposes in Dublin for many years. His Grace,
the Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, presided. The meeting was
attended by Mr. Joe Mooney, J. P., and notable dignitaries of the
time. In the course of his speech to the meeting, the Archbishop
said: 'It is creditable to us that, in the midst of the general
advancement and improvement that is to be seen all around us here, there should
be upon a site, which is, in many respects, the most prominent site in all this
District, a building such as this, a building containing as it does, in painful
incongruity, comparatively old work and comparatively new work, some of it
representing no style at all.' The response was most generous and enabled
work to commence without delay.
The following is an account of the work due to be carried out on the Church at
that time as described in the 'Irish Builder' of February 12 1903:
'The
work, which has been in progress for some time, consists of new nave, aisles and
tower. The site being about the highest in the city, the new tower will
form a commanding feature, and will rise to a height of over two hundred feet to
the top of the spire, the dimensions at the base being about 34 feet
square. The principal entrance is in the front, which consists of double
doors, deeply and richly recessed with Newry granite columns and moulded jambs,
while the tympanum is elaborately carved, and has a statue of St. Peter in the
centre, the whole surmounted with a crocketted gable and panelling.
Immediately over the door is a very handsome window, divided into six lights by
moulded shafts, and the head is filled with tracery. This window will look
into the nave of the church, and will form, when filled with stained glass, an
interesting finish to the end of the nave, as 'the tower being opened to the
organ gallery, with a moulded arch, carried the full height of the nave, affords
an uninterrupted view from the chancel. The upper portion of the tower is
exceeding happy in the grouping of the pinnacles at the base of the spire.
There are two at each angle, the lower ones being connected with an elaborated
tracery parapet, having a clock on each side in the centre, finished with a
crocketted gable, while the ornate panelling immediately over the belfry windows
unites the spire with the tower in a very pleasing manner. The Belfry
windows are handsomely treated, and have gables with crockets, and with standing
angels between. The octagonal turrets on either side of the tower will
give access to the organ gallery and upper stages of the tower, and will be in keeping
with its architectural lines as regards groining internally, and the external
parapets, etc. The new aisles will be about four feet wider than the old and
will be groined throughout, the confessionals being in arched recesses, and each
bay being lighted with two single-light windows. It will be of interest to
know that Irish materials and workmanship are employed throughout. The
amount of the contract will probably run into £25,000, and close on this amount
will be spent in Ireland, with the exception of the internal stone for nave
piers, which has been got to match as near as possible to the old stone in the
chancel. The work externally will be built throughout in limestone, with
punched calp stone for the facing, to match the existing work, the buttress,
windows, and all external dressings being in white chiselled limestone.
The design for the work was entrusted to the eminent architect, Mr. G. C. Ashlin,
F.R. I.B.A., and the contract to Mr. James Kiernan, Talbot Street'.
Work commenced almost immediately; however it was not until 1911 that the
steeple was completed and in April 1911 the new Church of St. Peter's was
inaugurated and thus presented the north of the city with the finest and best
finished Church that we now have to show and left, as the preacher of the day -
the Bishop of Elphin, himself a Vincentian - was able to announce, absolutely
free of debt.
It is said that, during a visit to Ireland in 1905 by Cardinal Moran of
Australia, who was staying with Archbishop Walsh in Drumcondra, the Cardinal
remarked that, as he looked out his bedroom window, he could see no steeple of a
Catholic Church in sight and the next time he was here he would like to see
one. As a result Archbishop Walsh gave £400 more (he had given £100 at
the public meeting) and work on the spire commenced in 1907.
In recent years some further developments have taken place with a new sacristy
and parish office being added. The present Superior of St. Peter's, which
is a lasting memorial of the faith and devotion of the Catholic people of
Ireland, is Fr. Fagan.
(Published 1978 from A History of Cabra and Phibsborough by Bernard
Neary. Published by Lenhar Publications in Association with Raven
Community Press)
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