Colour Our Collections is an annual international colouring festival on social media where libraries, museums, archives and other cultural institutions share free colouring content featuring images from their collections. It was launched by The New York Academy of Medicine Library in 2016 and the number of participating institutions has grown since then.
#ColourOurCollections 2022 banner.
UCC Library & #ColourOurCollections
In February 2022 UCC Library participates for the first time in #ColourOurCollections sharing images from Special Collections & Archives to spread awareness and better engagement with our collections by inspiring creativity and sparking curiosity. As the lead in this project I asked John Rooney, Emma Horgan & Emer Twomey for the widest range of items to showcase the variety of collections, subject matter and formats present in Special Collections & Archives. In addition, the images needed to adhere to copyright restrictions and avoid content that might be considered offensive or controversial. This resulted in:
Different formats: map (van Keulen’s ‘Baltimore Bay’ inset), manuscript (Ls 150), printed book (plate 80 – Festuca littoralis’ in John Sibthorp’s Flora Graeca). All Special Collections, UCC Library.
Collage title page to volume 3 of Holinshed’s Chronicles, Special Collections, UCC Library.
To present the images in the best possible manner I asked Stephanie Chen, UCC Library’s Digital Specialist, and the Digital Learning student assistants, Cara Long and David Leen, to format the images using the #ColourOurCollections template. Over the course of this week to maximise the reach of UCC Library’s colouring book the Library’s Communications team will share the images from UCC Library’s social media: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook.
Over the course of this week my colleagues John, Emma and Emer will discuss how the process worked from selecting images, to creating the black & white images, to discarding possible images for a variety of reasons.
#ColourOurCollections: 2022
UCC Library’s colouring book (2022) will remain accessible year-round for free download. Access the colouring book:
Share your filled-in images on social media using the hashtags #ColourOurCollections #ColorOurCollections (as the campaign launched in the US many institutions use the American spelling of colour!). Tag us in @UCCLibrary @theriversideUCC – we can’t wait to see what you share! A gallery of the images is also available on Play!
The Riverside welcomes this guest post from Úna Faller who in summer 2021 undertook an online work placement in Special Collections using digital surrogates of The Donations Book 1931-1955 and Library Book of Barne House (1774). Únacompleted her undergraduate studies in English and French in University College Cork in 2021. In final year, she focused on representations of gender and women, as well as the environment in Anglo- and francophone literature. She is currently studying for a Master in Rare Books and Digital Humanities in the Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France. Her research interests include the future-based environmental demands of material conservation and preservation, as well as the future form of libraries and access to materials.
Handwriting over the Centuries
Modernity has changed the way we read and absorb information. We spend so much time engaging with the neat and uniform characters of typed print that the handwriting of previous epochs requires much focus and patience to decipher, at least to the lay transcriber. The disorientating loss of immediate comprehension that accompanies the hand-written texts of alien scribes of former centuries, does however reward the reader with intriguing insights into the past. Two items from UCC Library‘s Special Collections, namely the Donations Book1931-1955 and the Library Book of Barne House (1774), offer these tangible glimpses into their respective timeframes.
Left: The rear recto endpaper with letter insert, Donations Book 1931-1955, Special Collections, UCC Library. Right: The front cover to the Library Book of Barne House, U.388, Special Collections, UCC Library.
Receiving and Recording Donations
The Donations Book 1931-1955 is a hand-written catalogue of all items UCC’s Library received via donation in this time period. The donors vary, from private individuals from the Greater Cork area and lecturers attached to the university, to public institutions and international societies. The section pertaining to the years 1953-55 contains over 600 items with widely differing subject matter, such as science, local geography, committee reports, and examination papers.
Two Scribes
The handwriting for the majority of entries becomes comfortingly familiar after the initial labour of character recognition. The section from 1953-55 contains 2 different hands and a short interlude completed with the use of a typewriter. ‘Scribe A’, who opens this section, uses a tidy letter formation and a consistent font size. This scribe makes up the majority of the entries, making the 1953-55 section largely straightforward to transcribe to a version that is readable online.
‘Scribe B’ appears halfway through page 291, an alluring opportunity to project a modern imagination onto the occurrences of the past. The items on this page and continuing to page 293 were donated over the June-August period in 1954, which allows the modern reader to wonder whether ‘Scribe A’ was on summer leave. Indeed, ‘Scribe B’ disappears after an entry on the 6th of September 1954, leaving behind an indecipherable donor listing and facilitating the return of the familiarity of ‘Scribe A’.
The appearance and disappearance of Scribe B, pp.291-294, Donations Book 1931-1955. Special Collections, UCC Library.
Ballylickey House Library
Transcribing from the pink pages of the typewriter, which starts halfway on page 275 and continues for most of page 277, provides a brief relief from the task of hand-writing decryption. What is most interesting about this section is the common donor. In 1953, a Mrs. P. Graves from Ballylickey House, Bantry, is recorded as donating 47 items, with texts in French appearing beside RIA material and Persian grammar manuals.
Excerpt from Mrs P. Graves’ donation, p.277, Donations Book 1931-1955, Special Collections, UCC Library.
Internet research, unavailable to the scribes of this item, allows the modern user to uncover the donor’s history. According to this website, the Graves family assumed ownership of Ballylickey House sometime after 1800 and occupied it for at least four generations. Its modern status as a hotel residence intersects with this historic and dramatic dispersal of its library, allowing the modern observer to suspect that perhaps 1953 was the start of the end of the private occupation of Ballylickey House.
Getting Lost and Finding Direction(s)
Using the tools of the internet to successfully decipher many entries was a rewarding aspect of this project. One such tool was Google Maps. Page 309 of the item contains a reference to two towns in the United Kingdom, with the donated item exploring the geology between them. Having figured out the name of one town, I was able to use Google Maps to see nearby townlands. By recognising just some of the letters of the second town, combined with a process of elimination, I could use the digital version of the word to uncover the hand-written mystery and successfully record the entry.
Top: entries as show by arrow p.309, Donations Book 1931-1955, Special Collections, UCC Library. Bottom: Google Maps – Distance between Rugeley and Burton upon Trent
Other resources included academic and scholarly databases, where the donated item was cited by a more modern article. For example, the bibliography of this article (listings 85 and 87) helped me to identify the two items donated by an A. Pontvik on page 307.
Entries as shown by arrow, p.307, Donations Book 1931-1955, Special Collections, UCC Library.
Library Book of Barne House, Tipperary
Moving backwards through the centuries to arrive at 1774 deposits the modern reader in an even more bewildering graphological setting than that of the Donations Book 1931-1955.
Recording the contents of Barne House, Tipperary, the Barne Library Book offers a comprehensive insight into the preoccupations of the Moore family and their literary interests. It contains an alphabetised list of texts in English, French, Italian and Latin, with items touching on the sciences, poetry, local history and geography, as well as ancient classics and maps.
The item reveals the presence of at least 2 distinct scribes, and possibly a third. One scribe was Thomas Moore, the son of Richard Moore who compiled the library’s collection. His signature can be found on the opening pages of the item, a definitive claim of ownership over the work.
Thomas Moore’s signature on flyleaves to Barne Library Book. U.388, Special Collections, UCC Library.
17th Century Challenges for a Modern Transcriber
He opens the A listing and continues with his presence for the majority of entries. There is also the noticeable and sporadic inclusion of a second hand, who is responsible for many modern interpreting difficulties. For example, letter identification becomes increasingly difficult between the M recto, the M verso and the M(2) recto pages. This difficulty is largely attributable to the presence of this second scribe.
L-R: M recto, M verso and M recto(2), Barne Library Book, U.388 Special Collections, UCC Library.
Technology was also crucial in digitally recording this item’s contents. Many of the items from the Barne House library were auctioned over the years, with their lot numbers available online. Cross-referencing these online entries from auctioneers such as Fonsie Mealy’s and via online booksellers such as biblio.com was helpful in distinguishing unfamiliar letter patterns and ultimately deciding on the spelling for entries that were unclear.
Special Collection Items and Their Inherent Liminality
The liminality of this kind of item is striking to consider in tandem to these handwriting intrigues. Its existence points to a different society, one that is unlikely to arise again, where a gentleman of a Big House collects such a wide variety of texts and records them in a hand-written document. The inherence grandiosity of this gesture belongs to its time period, and the preservation of this item by Special Collections is indicative of its liminality. While the items may be dispersed and no longer in their original setting, the existence of this catalogue binds them to 1774, eternally serving as a historical reminder of this epoch.
Public vs Private Access to Information
A separate issue to hand-writing discourse that arises from consideringthe Donations Book 1931-1955 and the Barne Library Book is the divide between private and public access to knowledge. Contained in their own spatial and temporal setting, treating the items in conjunction with one other creates a discourse on the dissemination of knowledge.
The numerous donations recorded by the UCC Boole Library in the Donations Book 1931-1955 represents the movement of knowledge and information from private hands to an institution that provides access to learners and students. The items received via donation have a far greater reach than those recorded in the Barne Library Book, whose existence is testimonial to the inequalities inherent in the ability of the wealthy to amass huge collections of knowledge that remain privatised. While this particular collection was facilitated by the societal realities of the late 18th century, inequalities in knowledge access systems still remain.
It is also finally fascinating to reflect on the inverse nature of both items. The Donations Book 1931-1955 represents items that were decidedly unconnected to one another, and which are now contained in a singular collection, while the items of the Barne Library Book were attentively curated by one family but exist now as mere dispersed parts.
Rear end-leaves with letter insert. Donations Book 1931-1955. Special Collections, UCC Library.
Images as Narratives: Mosaics in St Francis Church, Cork
The figural mosaics in St Francis Church depict different scenes, yet they are all tied together by the unifying theme of life. This is most clearly illustrated in the apse mosaic, where the main image is divided into three zones: the first showing Christ in Majesty attended by angels and representing life in heaven, the second including eight saints, who connect their life on earth with the heavenly court, and the third zone with the images of the four elements of fire, earth, water and air depicted in the lower section of the apse. All the mosaics that appear in the church were designed by an Italian artist, Professor Umberto Noni from Rome and executed by Commendatore Tullio Monticelli.
Christ in Majesty with eight saints, view of the apse, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
Accompanying the main apse mosaic are the mosaics displayed as backdrops to the side altars, which are dedicated to the Sacred Heart, St Francis, Our Lady and St Joseph. In the altar of the Sacred Heart, Christ stands upright with a hand placed on his heart which emits golden rays. Two angels are holding his cloak aloft. The altars of Our Lady and St Joseph are found side by side, reminding the viewer of their spiritual attachment to one another. Mary is depicted with outstretched hands and flanked by two angels. St Joseph is pictured against the backdrop of a starry night sky, he is shown standing and protecting the young Jesus.
Left: Altar of the Sacred Heart, St Francis Church, Cork. Photograph from St Francis Church: An Illustrated Guide (1961). UCC Library, Special Collections. Right: Altar of the Sacred Heart, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.Left: Altar of Our Lady, St Francis Church, Cork. Photograph from St Francis Church: An Illustrated Guide (1961). Special Collections, UCC Library. Right: Altar of Our Lady, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
Left: Altar of St Joseph, photograph from St Francis Church: An Illustrated Guide (1961). Special Collections, UCC Library. Right: Altar of St Joseph, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
St Francis, who is the patron saint of the church, is represented twice in mosaics: in the main apse and in one of the side chapels. Unlike in the apse mosaic, where Francis kneels before Christ, bearing the stigmata in a position of reverence, here he is represented in a more relaxed attitude with open arms. He kneels and seems to converse with a wolf and a lamb shown next to him. A small copy of the San Damiano Cross is tucked into the cord tied around his habit as a reminder of the story of St Francis being spoken to by the cross. This account is described in more detail in the blog post titled ‘From Assisi to Cork’. The scene is set in a simple, rural setting, a stream flows across the bottom of the image with flowers growing along its banks. Behind St Francis is a tree with different types of birds nesting in it and the words of the Franciscan motto ‘pax et bonum’ (‘peace and goodwill’) are intertwined through the branches.
Left: St Francis with a wolf and a lamb. Altar of St Francis, St Francis Church, Cork (detail). Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton. Right: Altar of St Francis, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Martha Ewence.
The mosaic of St Francis with animals is an artistic interpretation of the Legend of the Wolf of Gubbio. The story is told in the so-called Little Flowers of St Francis, a text composed after 1337, over a century after the death of the saint. The event took place when Francis was leading an ascetic life, living simply with his companions, wandering from town to town, preaching and begging for alms. In Franciscan Cork, Jerome O’ Callaghan retells the story and describes how the townspeople of Gubbio had been terrorized by a wolf and sought help from Francis. When the saint found the wolf, he blessed him and assured the animal that he would have plenty of food if he refrained from attacking the town. Miraculously, the wolf placed his paw in the hand of St Francis and nodded in agreement. From then on, the wolf went from door to door asking for his food and became a friend of everyone in the town, so much so that the townspeople grieved on his death two years later. There is even a suggestion that the wolf was given a burial as there is evidence that the remains of a wolf were found in 1872, when Gubbio’s church was undergoing building work.
Since it was first recorded in the fourteenth century, the story about the wolf of Gubbio has captured the imagination of artists and writers alike. A series of paintings created for the San Sepolcro Altarpiece in 1444 represents scenes from the life of St Francis and includes an image of the saint holding the paw of the wolf to the great astonishment of the townspeople gathered behind him. Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo also known as Sassetta (d. c. 1450) is the artist and seven of the scenes from the altarpiece are on display in the National Gallery in London.
Sassetta, The Wolf of Gubbio, 1437-44. Egg tempera on poplar, 87 x 52.4 cm Bought with contributions from the Art Fund, Benjamin Guinness and Lord Bearsted, 1934 NG4762, The National Gallery, London.
Architecture and iconography of the modern St Francis Church in Cork merge various medieval stylistic traditions, ranging from eastern Byzantine elements to western Gothic influences, which together are suggestive of the geographical spread of the Franciscan Order.
Left: Cover page of Franciscan Cork. Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953), with an article by Father Jerome O’Callaghan. The cover displays the apse mosaic with a detail of Christ in Majesty in St Francis Church, Cork. Special Collections, UCC Library. Right: Christ in Majesty. Apse mosaic, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
The church’s main apse mosaic presents a magnificent image of Christ in Majesty. The overall composition of Christ enthroned, surrounded by angels and accompanied by saints, draws heavily from artistic traditions of the early Christian apsidal mosaics. The dominant use of gold in the image is evocative of early Christian and Byzantine art. Father Jerome O’Callaghan, OFM, noted that the church has many Byzantine features in its mosaics, floor design and sculptural details. For example, Greek letters are incorporated within the apse mosaic, column capitals and the terrazzo flooring by the front doors. The letters IC XC that flank the head of Christ in the apse, represent a Christogram or a sacred monogram of Christ and stand for the abbreviated Greek words: Jesus Christ. The letters Alpha (Α) and Omega (ω) carved on capitals are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet; in the Christian tradition they came to signify Christ as the beginning and the end of things, evoked in the Book of the Revelation 1:8.
Top left: The IC XC monogram, the apse mosaic, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton. Lower left: Examples of Christograms recorded by Father Jerome O’Callaghan in Franciscan Cork: Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953). Special Collections, UCC Library. Right: The Alpha and Omega letters, column capital, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
Western medieval inspirations are seen in stained-glass windows that comprise a series of figurative windows placed in a transept as well as a large window in the façade, which consists of seven round-headed lights under the tracery. Four figurative windows are situated at either side of the central apse in the transept arms. Each window is round-headed with double lights. These transept windows depict eight figures: in the left transept we see the pairings of St Elizabeth of Hungary and St Bernardine of Siena, and St Francis of Assisi and Christ (Sacred Heart of Christ), in the right transept there are the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, and St Paschal and St Louis IX.
Stained-glass windows with saints: St Elizabeth of Hungary and St Bernadine of Siena, St Francis and the Sacred Heart, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
Stained-glass windows with saints: the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, and St Paschal and St Louis IX, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
Colour design for three stained-glass windows in the church of St Francis in Cork, featuring St Louis of France, the Virgin Mary and St Elizabeth of Hungary. IE TCD MS 11182/565, The Board of Trinity College Dublin.
The stained-glass windows in Cork’s St Francis Church were designed by the Harry Clarke Studios situated on North Frederick Street in Dublin. Harry Clarke (1889-1931) was a renowned stained-glass artist, who started by working for his father Joshua Clarke (d. 1921), a builder and glassworker, before studying his craft at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. During his career, Harry designed many windows to great acclaim, including multiple windows in the churches of Cork, such as the Honan Chapel and the Holy Trinity Church. Plagued with ill health, Harry Clarke died in 1931, but his studios continued to produce commissions until 1973.
The preparatory sketches from the Harry Clarke Studios show how St Francis Church stained-glass windows took shape and the importance of both the content of images and the precision required in moving the plans from paper to glass.
Notes and pencil sketch for a stained-glass window with an unidentified standing figure, done by the Harry Clarke Studios for St Francis Church, Cork. The image contains measurements of the window. IE TCD MS6088-2-1_1, The Board of Trinity College Dublin.
A letter addressed to Reverend Father Gerald, that dates from 23 October 1956, gives an insight into the collaboration between the friars and the Studio in choosing the imagery for the new church.
Letter from William Dowling to Rev. Father Gerald submitting designs for stained-glass windows for St Francis Church, Cork. IE TCD MS6088-13-1_1, The Board of Trinity College Dublin.
Further letters from the building contractors M.L. Cowman and Sons to the Harry Clarke Studios illustrate the necessity for correct measurements, not only for the windows but also other glass panelling in St Francis Church.
Letters from M.L. Cowman of M.L. Cowman & Sons Building Contractors to the Harry Clarke Studios regarding measurements for glass panels at St Francis Church, Cork. IE TCD MS6088-13-3_1 (left) and IE TCD MS6088-13-4_1 (right), The Board of Trinity College Dublin.
Image of the Father Thomas Dowling, OSFC, Memorial Window, the Holy Trinity Church, Cork. Photograph: Elaine Harrington
The planning stage of church glazing is not always a straightforward process as seen in the case of the Capuchin friary of the Holy Trinity in Cork. A memorial window was commissioned for Father Thomas Dowling by the Cork District Trades and Labour Council in recognition of his work in setting up the first Conciliation Board in Cork in 1919, to mediate disputes between trade unions and employers. Harry Clarke was the chief designer on the project, but problems arose in the planning stage concerning the Council’s insistence on having a large inscription in the window. Clarke felt that the inscription would detract from the window’s artistic integrity and could not be read easily from the ground. The situation worsened, when it emerged that there had been a mistake in window measurements, and he demanded to be paid for the extra work he incurred as a result of delays. The issue was eventually resolved when Joshua Clarke offered to finish the commission, while using Harry’s original design.
The saints included in the windows and the apse mosaic of St Francis Church act as visual expressions of Franciscan identity, so that viewers can be inspired by their exemplary lives and learn about the history of the Franciscan Order.
St Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226), the founder of the Franciscan Order, is pictured in the stained-glass window holding up his hands to display the stigmata on his hands and feet. Two doves are included in the image reminding the viewer of the Saint’s affinity with animals. In the same window, Christ displays the wounds on his hands and feet, and his heart shines brightly from inside his scarlet robes. The design of the window strikingly highlights the connection between Francis and Christ, and the two images express a theme of Francis as the Other Christ.
St Bernadine of Siena (1380-1444) was an Italian Franciscan most well-known for his expressive preaching. He is pictured in the window holding the Holy Name monogram, which he used in preaching missions to promote this devotion. To his left stands a striking figure of St Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) wearing a Byzantine style headdress and colourful garments. Elizabeth was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and married Louis IV of Thuringia at the age of fourteen. Elizabeth devoted her life to looking after the poor and the sick, building a hospital at the foot of Wartburg Castle, where she personally nursed the infirm. After her husband’s death on route to the Sixth Crusade, she joined the Third Order of the Franciscans and built another hospital in Marburg in Hesse dedicated to St Francis. She is often represented giving food to the poor as on the print from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Left: Colour design for the stained-glass image of St Elizabeth of Hungary by the Harry Clarke Studios, Dublin (detail), IE TCD MS 11182/565, The Board of Trinity College Dublin. Centre: St Elizabeth of Hungary by Hieronymus (Jerome) Wierix. The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Right: Drawing of a mosaic depicting St Elizabeth of Hungary in the main apse, St Francis Church, Cork, reproduced in Franciscan Cork: Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953), 69, Special Collections, UCC Library.
The right transept windows represent St Paschal Baylon and St Louis IX, King of France. St Paschal Baylon (1540-1592) was a Spanish Franciscan lay brother, who was admired for his strict observance of the Rule of Francis and devotion to the Eucharist. He was sent by his superior to France to defend the Eucharistic doctrine in a debate with a Calvinist preacher. As a result, he was chased and almost killed by an angry mob.
St Louis IX (1214-1270) was the King of France from 1226 to 1270, and was involved in two crusades, dying in Tunisia. He was a patron of the mendicant orders and displayed a strong devotion to the Passion of Christ. He is depicted in the window holding a crucifix, a sceptre and a sword, signs of his royal authority and devotions.
Left: Colour design for the stained-glass image of St Louis IX by the Harry Clarke Studios, Dublin (detail), IE TCD MS 11182/565, The Board of Trinity College Dublin. Right: Drawing of the mosaic depiction of St Louis, King of France in the main apse, St Francis Church, Cork. St Louis IX is shown holding a cross and a crown of thorns, the relics of which he purchased in Constantinople. These relics were housed in Sainte Chapelle. Image from Franciscan Cork: Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953), 69, Special Collections, UCC Library.
The remaining figures in the windows represent Mary and Joseph. The Virgin Mary is shown with outstretched hands, wearing her signature blue garments. St Joseph occupies the space to her right wearing green robes and holding a lily, which is considered as his emblem.
Colour design for the stained-glass image of the Virgin Mary by the Harry Clarke Studios, Dublin (detail), IE TCD MS 11182/565, The Board of Trinity College Dublin.
The tradition of using stained-glass windows in Franciscan churches goes back to the medieval times, when splendid visual schemes were executed in glass in the great churches of the Order such as the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi and Santa Croce in Florence. Franciscan writers, including Bonaventure (1217-1274) believed that stained-glass windows with their transparency and coloured luminosity, could help with contemplation and devotion, because as he stated through the corporal light ‘we are thoroughly led to understand even the spiritual.’
Ó Clabaigh, Colmán, ‘The Other Christ: The Cult of St Francis of Assisi in Late Medieval Ireland,’ in Rachel Moss, Colmán Ó Clabaigh, and Salvador Ryan, eds, Art and Devotion in Late Medieval Ireland (Dublin, 2006), 142-162.
Beggars and Artisans: Architecture of the Modern Church of St Francis
Nearly four hundred years after the dissolution of the monasteries, the Franciscans in Cork saw the opening of their new church in the city centre. Father Jerome O’Callaghan wrote in Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork: ‘Long expected was the great day; it came – the day of the blessing and opening of the new St. Francis.’ This ‘great day’ took place on 14 July 1953. O’Callaghan continues: ‘We may well call the event an epoch-making event. It is the third ‘permanent’ church of the Order to be built in Cork.’ The first Franciscan house in Cork was the medieval friary discussed in the previous post, the second house was the so-called Old St Francis on Broad Lane, and the third the present-day church.
By 1950, the so-called Old St Francis on Broad Lane (pictured above) was in a state of disrepair, with one third of the roof and side walls being replaced with a temporary roof of timber and felt. Photograph reproduced in Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953). Special Collections, UCC Library.
Map of Cork, 1801. Broad Lane is seen in the centre of the map. Special Collections, UCC Library.
O’Callaghan’s description of the completed 1953 church encapsulates a sense of awe and wonderment, not dissimilar to the views of medieval western writers towards ecclesiastical architecture. O’Callaghan states that anybody seeing the church was ‘struck by this immense lofty building of rustic red brick which dominates the surrounding areas. (…) The large dominating tracery window, the artistic portico and graceful flanking towers, invest the whole scene in dignified grandeur.’ His selection of words recalls an account of churches in England, France and Italy that were visited by an early fourteenth-century Franciscan pilgrim from Ireland, Friar Simon. Simon, for example, mentions a ‘wonderfully beautiful’ church in Amiens, the ‘glittering’ shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury and the Church of Notre Dame in Paris ‘furnished with lofty towers’.
The façade of St Francis Church is flanked by two towers and adorned with a large stained-glass window, above which is the life-size replica of the famous San Damiano Cross. The cross seems to crown the entrance to the church and is a reminder of a seminal story in the life of St Francis. Bonaventure’s (c. 1217-1274)Life of St Francis also known as the Legenda Maior, recounts a time when Francis, still a merchant, visited the San Damiano church outside Assisi. There, he heard a voice speaking to him from the painted cross. According to Bonaventure, the voice told Francis ‘go and repair my house which, as you see, is all being destroyed.’ The use of this particular image on the façade of Cork’s friary alludes to the Franciscan ideals of spiritual renewal and restoration, as well as the actual act of building a church.
View of the façade with the image of the San Damiano Cross, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
‘On reaching the church proper the impression we receive, is one of beauty, dignity and even grandeur.’ It is clear from O’Callaghan’s words that the interior of the church building was planned to reflect the grandeur and wonder of the building’s exterior. Mosaics and stained-glass windows adorn the walls of the church and will be examined in the following sections of this exhibition.
Apse mosaic, St Francis Church, Cork. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
To finish this post, we may quote again from Father O’Callaghan’s Franciscan Cork, in order to convey the impression, which the church left on its visitors in 1953: ‘Almost invariably one hears a first-time visitor uttering the spontaneous whisper: “Oh how beautiful!” and beautiful it is indeed in every line and feature.’
Morgan Hole
Further reading
Bonaventure, The Major Legend of Saint Francis, in Regis J. Armstrong, J.A. Wayne Hellmann and William J. Short, eds, Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol.2 (New York, 2000), 525-683.
Historical maps of Cork city give a clear indication about the location of the medieval Franciscan friary. UCC’s Special Collections houses a copy of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum or Cities of the World, a six-volume work, first published in Cologne and Antwerp between 1572 and 1618. The publication presents bird’s-eye views, maps and plans of all major cities of the world and its sixth volume contains a page with maps of the four Irish cities, namely Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork, the latter is pictured below and was the subject of the online exhibition created by the MA in Medieval History students in 2020.
Map of Cork, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, Cologne, 1618, edited by Georg Braun, engravings by Abraham Hogenberg. Special Collections, UCC Library.
The Civitates map of Cork marks the Franciscan friary with number 3 and shows it as being positioned on the north bank of the river Lee, in the vicinity of the bridge. The map is oriented east-west, so the Franciscan church features on the left, which is north, with two other mendicant churches of the Dominicans (number 4) and Augustinians (number 9) being located on the right side of the map, which corresponds to the south side of the city.
The size of the medieval Franciscan friary was restricted by topographical features of the river to the south and the red sandstone cliff to the north of the friary complex. Evidence concerning the medieval structure of the friary is limited, but its size and appearance can be discerned from documentary sources, archaeological excavations and early modern maps.
Map of Cork, published in Pacata Hibernia, London, 1633 (detail). The text of Pacata Hibernia deals with the Elizabethan wars in Ireland. The map of Cork is oriented west-east with the city’s north side shown on the right side of the map. The Franciscan friary (‘Sanden Abby’) is on the right side of the map. Map from the 1810 reprint, Special Collections, UCC Library.
On the Pacata Hibernia map, the church of St Francis is visible on the north side of the city (right side of the map), where it is labelled as ‘Sanden Abby’ meaning Shandon Abbey. As on the Civitates map, here the church also appears as a simple structure, possibly having one nave. The Civitates map displays a side transept and the Pacata Hibernia map indicates the existence of a tower. Early modern sources, such as Annales Minorum compiled by a Franciscan historianLuke Wadding (1588-1657) state that the church was a notable one, divided in two parts by high columns, which may imply that columns separated the nave from the transept. In 1541, following the dissolution of the monasteries, the church and its tower were to be demolished: this confirms that the friary indeed had a bell tower, which was a typical architectural feature of mendicant Irish churches. The seventeenth-century Pacata Hibernia map retains the tower, in spite of chronological discrepancies regarding the tower’s demolition.
Archaeological surveys of Cork’s medieval Franciscan friary are limited, however the findings on the site of the Dominican friary of St Mary’s of the Isle provide important comparative information on the architectural structure and decorative elements of mendicant houses in medieval Cork. In both cases, a friary complex consisted of a church, most likely with one nave and a tower, and conventual buildings that were grouped around a central cloister. Cork Public Museum houses a collection of architectural fragments from St Mary’s Dominican site, such as parts of ornate window arches and funerary stone slabs.
A fragment of a double ogee-headed window, now inserted into the wall of the Distillery House on Wise’s Hill, was found in the nineteenth century near the site of the medieval friary and probably came the Franciscan house.
Drawing of a double ogee-headed window, now inserted into the wall on Wise’s Hill. From Michael Holland, ‘The Monastery of St. Francis at Cork’, The Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 23 (1917), 122.
In 1804, during the construction of houses on the North Mall, which was the site of the medieval Franciscan friary, some stone coffins were found and subsequently recorded in 1852. The description of burials was cited in the 1917 volume of The Journal of Cork Historical and Archaeological Society: ‘The red stone rock which rises perpendicularly at the back of the buildings had on ledges at various heights coffins cut out of the solid stone, and the lid fitting so closely that to the casual observer it would appear to be part of the original rock’. The now-lost medieval Franciscan friary is still remembered in the street names, such as North Abbey Street and North Abbey Square.
By the time Father Donatus Mooney, OFM, Ireland’s minister provincial, visited all Franciscan houses in Ireland possibly between 1615 and 1616, the friary had been mostly dismantled following the dissolution of the monasteries. All that remained by that time were the ruined walls of the church and as Mooney recorded the place was ‘inhabited by an English Protestant, who has erected a dwelling house within the precincts’. As a result of the friary’s destruction, the friars of St Francis were forced to inhabit a rented house in the city.
Later maps of Cork allow us to trace the subsequent history of the friary building. The 1801 map does not show the Franciscan friary, as it was no longer extent at that time, yet it displays the area where it had been originally positioned by retaining the name of North Abbey.
Map of Cork, 1801. The site of the medieval Franciscan friary is noted only by the name of North Abbey, seen on the enlarged detail of the map (below). Special Collections, UCC Library.
Map of Cork, 1801 (detail). Special Collections, UCC Library.
A sketch pictured below and dated to 1831 shows the remains of the Franciscan friary, which were demolished in 1836 during the construction of buildings on present-day Abbey Square. The arches pictured in the centre of the sketch were identified as remnants of the medieval friary building and may have been part of a cloister arcade.
Sketch by T.C. Croker dated 1831, showing arches that were identified as part of the medieval friary. From Michael Holland, ‘The Monastery of St. Francis at Cork’, The Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 23 (1917), 121.
A map below (created on OpenMap ) shows archaeological sites located in the area of the medieval Franciscan friary. The two red dots mark the sites of archaeological importance: the dot placed closer to the river references the friary, the red dot north of that shows the location of the holy well.
The photograph below, reproduced in the 1953 Franciscan Cork, shows the houses on the North Mall and suggests the location of medieval sections of the friary: number 1 indicates the place of arches noted in the 1831 sketch and number 2 shows the site regarded as the entrance to a Franciscan well.
Photo taken from North Gate Bridge, c.1953. Number 1 indicates arches seen in T.C. Croker’s sketch (above), and number 2 indicates the entrance to a well. Image from Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork (1953), 10. Special Collections, UCC Library.
Although there is no longer a physical structure on the site of Cork’s medieval Franciscan friary, place names on the North Mall recall this once prominent building that Luke Wadding described as ‘a mirror of the whole Ireland’.
Beggars and Artisans:Franciscan Friars in Cork: From Their Arrival to the Dissolution
The early thirteenth century saw dramatic social, economic, religious and cultural changes in western Europe. The rise of cities and the increased wealth of merchant classes paradoxically led to the establishment of new religious orders known as the mendicants (or begging orders), who devoted themselves to absolute poverty. One of the main mendicant orders was the Order of St Francis, also called the Order of Friars Minor or the Franciscan Order.
The Franciscan Province of Ireland was established in 1230 during the general chapter of the Order held in Assisi, when the body of the Order’s founder, St Francis (1181/82-1226), was transitioned to the basilica dedicated to the Saint. It was at this chapter that Friar Richard of Ingworth, a pioneer member of the English Province, was elected as Ireland’s first minister provincial. After about nine years in Ireland, Richard went as a missionary to Syria, where he ‘died happily’, according to the Franciscan chronicler, Thomas of Eccleston (fl. 1232-59).
Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
The earliest Franciscan friaries in Ireland were established in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the island; these areas had been dominated by the presence of the Anglo-Normans since the later twelfth century. Linguistic affiliation and reliance on alms for their day-to-day subsistence meant that the friars originally settled in the towns and boroughs of the Anglo-Norman colony, and their first houses were staffed mainly by English and Anglo-Irish friars. However, the Franciscans also benefitted from the support of Irish patrons and recruited across the two ethnic groups.
The origins of the Cork friary, its date and the names of the founders remain unclear. Canice Mooney, a great twentieth-century historian of the Franciscan Order, suggested in his contribution to Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church, Cork, that the founder was Dermot MacCarthy, King of Desmond (d. 1229), married to the Anglo-Norman Petronilla Bloet. More than likely, the creation of the friary was a long process that required multiple benefactors, and in fact, the various foundation dates (1229, 1230, 1231, 1240) and the various names of the founders (MacCarthy, de Barry, de Burgo, Prendergast) reflect the complexity of the process: from the initial arrival of the friars, their establishment in the area, the start of the friary’s building to the actual dedication of the friary.
Kilcrea Franciscan friary, Co. Cork. View from the MacCarthy’s castle. Ancestors of Cormac MacCarthy, who founded Kilcrea friary in the late fifteenth century, were most likely involved in the establishment of Cork friary. Photo: Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
The MacCarthys continued to support the Franciscan Order in Munster throughout the Middle Ages. They patronised Timoleague friary, established in the thirteenth century, and in 1465 Cormac MacCarthy founded a Franciscan friary at Kilcrea, located opposite his castle. The location of Cork’s Franciscan friary in the area of Shandon just outside the city walls on the north side (see the next blog post) was a material manifestation of the friars’ preaching and pastoral care for the ethnically mixed communities of the townsfolk and the predominantly Irish inhabitants of the hinterland. As elsewhere, the friary acted as a stabiliser between the native Irish and the Anglo-Irish communities, however it was also a witness to racial tensions. The 1291 Franciscan provincial chapter held in Cork allegedly resulted in a physical confrontation between the native Irish and Anglo-Irish friars, and the killing of at least sixteen friars.
Map of Cork, published in Pacata Hibernia, London, 1633. The map shows three mendicant churches: the Dominican friary on the south side (top left side of the map, labelled as ‘Abby in y Iland’, now known as St Mary’s of the Isle), the Augustinian friary (lower left side of the map, labelled ‘Saint Austine’, where John de Wynchedon was buried) and the Franciscan friars on the north side (right side of the map, labelled ‘Sanden Abby’ in reference to the area’s name of Shandon). Map from the 1810 reprint, Special Collections, UCC Library.
The liminal location of Cork’s Franciscan friary was balanced by the comparable position of the Dominican and Augustinian friaries, located outside the city walls on the south side. The friary benefited from the support of the royal exchequer, the nobility and the merchants. The will of a Cork’s merchant, John de Wynchedon, dated 1306, indicates his wealth and generosity for religious establishments, his own family and the city’s marginalized groups of the poor and the infirm, as well as the presence of intertwined social and religious networks in medieval Cork. John wished to be buried in the Augustinian friary, and his two sons were friars in the Dominican and Franciscan Orders respectively.
The medieval Cork friary held a prominent role in the Irish Franciscan Province as evidenced by a number of provincial chapters that met there and regular royal grants given for the purchase of friars’ habits. Cork friary also served as a studium or the place of studies. A late thirteenth-century Cork lector of English origin, whose name is unfortunately unknown, had trained in Paris and while in Ireland compiled a book of colourful stories (around 1275) that were used during sermons. One of the stories concerned a murdered widow from Carrigtwohill near Cork, who worked as a brewer and who, following her death, was eternally punished for leaving Mass too early.
Map of Cork, published in Pacata Hibernia, London, 1633 (detail). The map indicates the riverine location of the Franciscan friary. Map from the 1810 reprint, Special Collections, UCC Library.
From the fifteenth century, the Irish Franciscan friaries had been undergoing Observant reforms, which meant a return to a more austere lifestyle and the original ideals as envisaged by St Francis. Cork friars accepted the reform before 1518. A few decades later, in 1540, the friary was suppressed and a Cork merchant, called David Sheghan, received a lease of the friary’s weir, fishery and land; six tenants were allowed to rent the garden that had formerly belonged to the friary.
In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the friars were scattered, some left the country and ended up in the Low Countries, Italy and Spain, some were imprisoned in Cork jail, while some continued their ministry from a place of refuge located in the city centre. Still, the memory of their original foundation in the Shandon area remained a powerful part of their identity as seen on liturgical objects commissioned by and for the Cork friars.
In spite of the friars’ dispersal and the destruction of their medieval friary, a number of chalices created in the early seventeenth century bear inscriptions that state how these precious objects were made for the Friars Minor of Shandon.
Krasnodębska-D’Aughton, Małgorzata, ‘Me Fieri Fecit: Franciscan Chalices 1600-1650’ and ‘Catalogue’, in R. Ó Floinn, ed., Franciscan Faith: Sacred Art in Ireland, AD 1600-1750 (Dublin, 2011), 71-183.
Introduction:MA in Medieval History, HI6091 Module and Special Collections at University College Cork
Special Collections is delighted to welcome the School of History students engaging with our collections through a series of online exhibitions. UCC Library’s Special Collections holds Munster Printing, a collection of books, journals, pamphlets and ephemera printed in or about Munster from 1641 to the present. The subject matter of the collection varies and includes:
items with particular provenance interest including Canon Patrick Power (1862-1951), Professor of Archaeology at UCC (1915-1934) and Robert Day (1836-1914), antiquarian, photographer and president of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society (1894-1914).
This online exhibition, which uses Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church Cork as a starting point, is presented as a series of blog posts and celebrates the ongoing collaboration between UCC’s Special Collections and the School of History’s MA in Medieval History. History students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, who visit Special Collections receive specialised support and access to stimulating rare publications and materials of historical value. These students develop key skills including communication, teamwork and archival intelligence: the practical skills to locate and use special collections material, and artefactual skills: the ability to identify and analyse primary sources. Acquisition of this skill set leads them to a deeper understanding of the artefact far beyond that acquired from modern text reprints.
“Primary source literacy intersects with other ‘literacies,’ including information literacy, visual literacy, and digital literacy, and concepts like collective memory, cultural heritage, and individual/cultural perspectives. To create order in this complex landscape, these Primary Source Literacy Guidelines identify core ideas for successful work with primary sources. These core ideas include analytical, ethical, theoretical and practical concepts.”
In the absence of classes using the Special Collections & Archives’ reading rooms students continued to have the opportunity to work with publications and materials of historical value via Canvas. The Special Collections & Archives team selected a range of primary sources: legal documents, letters, manuscripts, maps, newspapers and prints, and suggested the students use a semi-structured worksheet to explore these sources. We used a flipped classroom approach to answer any questions following students’ exploration of these primary sources.
The initial encounter, be it in person or online, of undergraduates with Special Collections continues through their postgraduate studies. In the last four years the MA in Medieval History students as part of the HI6091 Skills for Medieval Historians module have created online exhibitions inspired by maps, rare books and facsimiles housed by Special Collections. These exhibitions include: Mapping Cork, The Luttrell Psalter, The Book of Kells and Viking Cork.
This online exhibition explores themes of cultural continuity with a particular focus on a single church of St Francis in Cork. Curated by the current MA in Medieval History students this exhibition looks at the medieval and modern friary of Cork’s Franciscan friars as the students explore the role of ecclesiastical architecture and its impact on medieval and modern audiences as well as the significance of stained glass and mosaics in expressing institutional identities and ideals. The church of St Francis is a significant architectural and artistic landmark in Cork’s city centre with its mosaic designs echoing early Christian apse mosaics and its stained-glass windows created by the Harry Clarke Studios.
Using Franciscan Cork: A Souvenir of St. Francis Church Cork Munster Printing item, this project is yet another outcome of collaboration between the librarians, academics and students. It represents a collaboration that continues to stimulate all involved and through the online output reaches beyond the walls of UCC. More importantly, the project has been completed during the COVID-19 crisis and its completion is a great testimony to the value of teamwork and collegiality, and the commitment of the MA students to produce high quality research during challenging times.
UCC Crest. Image: Clare Keogh.
Students
Morgan Hole completed his undergraduate studies in English and History at University College Dublin, in 2020. He focused his undergraduate work on the medieval period in both subjects, especially in the final year of his degree. His MA in Medieval History dissertation focuses on the external influences on the Battle of Clontarf, and the changing Irish polity through the eleventh century.
Martha Ewence completed her undergraduate studies in History and English in 2016 at University College Cork. She was awarded the Jennifer O’ Reilly Prize in Medieval History for her dissertation exploring the expression of the vow of poverty by the Friars Minor in Ireland. Her research interests include Irish and European medieval monasticism, medieval art and iconography and the study of religious women and female saints. She will undertake her MA thesis in September and will focus on religious and lay women in late medieval Ireland.
The project has been overseen by Elaine Harrington and Dr Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton.
Elaine Harrington is UCC Library’s Special Collections Assistant Librarian. Elaine raises the profile of UCC Library’s Special Collections with local, national and international engagement through classes, social media, exhibitions, events, outreach and broadcasting. She collaborates with 30 academics in UCC and CIT to develop innovative research-led undergraduate and postgraduate modules based on primary sources held in UCC Library’s Special Collections. In 2020 Elaine created with Emer Twomey and Emma Horgan, UCC Library Archivists, an ‘Introduction to Special Collections & Archives,’ accessible via UCC Library Learning Resources page on Canvas.
Dr Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton is Senior Lecturer at UCC’s School of History. She has published on Irish illuminated manuscripts, manuscripts in Polish libraries, and most recently, on the Irish mendicant orders. She is interested in the intersections between History and other disciplines, History and the arts, and History and students’ skills and employability. Her professional experience includes work on the Franciscan Faith: Sacred Art in Ireland 1600-1750 exhibition as well as the Medieval Ireland exhibition, both on permanent display at the National Museum of Ireland. She collaborates on the Monastic Ireland Project that provides a platform for academic studies on monasticism, combined with heritage and education outputs. She has contributed to programmes on RTÉ’s Lyric FM titled ‘Friars Walk’ (December 2016), ‘Jerusalem Passion’ (April 2017, finalist at the New York Festivals: World’s Best Radio Programs, June 2018) and ‘Christmas Postcards’ (December 2017). She is a co-editor of Monastic Europe: Community, Landscape and Settlement (Brepols, 2019).
Dr Joseph MacMahon, Brother Stephen O’Kane and Father Pat Younge, members of the Franciscan Province of Ireland,
for addressing our queries in relation to different parts of the blog. The students of the MA in Medieval History programme wish to convey their gratitude to Dr Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton, coordinator of the HI6091 Skills for Medieval Historians module, and Elaine Harrington, Special Collections Librarian, for their support throughout the editing process of this blog.
In 2015 University College Cork and UCC Library celebrated the life and scientific achievements of George Boole, first Professor of Mathematics, Queens College Cork (QCC), with George Boole 200*.
You may wonder why George Boole is the subject of a blog in 2021. UCC Library Archives has recently listed material dating from the 19th and 20th centuries that is now open to researchers as the George Boole Ancillary Collection. It contains Boole-related material that was housed in Special Collections, UCC Library, on permanent loan from the Royal Irish Academy, and original letters by George Boole and related material donated by Emeritus Professor Des MacHale (School of Mathematics, UCC) to UCC library after the main Boole Collection was listed.
The original letters and related material of George Boole (BP/1/A/2) show his dedication to scholarly pursuit and his joy of family. We learn a little more about his lodgings in Cork close to College when he first arrived in 1849.
“I have got lodgings close by the Colege {sic} in a delightful situation quite indeed like the country”
BP/1/A/2/1
Ever dedicated to his classes he closes this letter with his having to attend to the copying out of papers in preparation of an examination.
There are lecture notes to members of the Lincoln Mutual Improvement Society “On a district in the south of Ireland” published in the Lincoln Chronicle in 1851 (BP/1/A/2/2).
“I have selected this subject partly because it is an interesting, and in some respects a misunderstood subject, but still more, because it is one of the very few subjects…of which I possess any personal knowledge.”
“The lofty Galtee range of mountains protecting the region overlooked by their Southern slopes from the extreme & violence of the north & east winds…the southern & western shores are washed by the warm waters of the Atlantic, which [can] retain some portion of the temperature imparted to them by the Gulf Stream.”
There is an example of student / lecturer difference of opinion on examination results in 1858, the student [Thomas Henry Marmion] and George Boole write to Sir Robert Kane, President of Queens College Cork arguing their case on the matter.
[Marmion] writes “a letter from the Registrar to me intimating that I had received a qualifying mark in Mathematics, Dr. Boole…appears to be under some misconception as he declined to sign my certificate until I should have passed a supplemental examination.”
Extract from a letter from Thomas H. Marmion to President Kane, QCC, questioning the actions of “Dr. Boole” (BP/1/A/2/4)
Boole’s response is fairly matter-of-fact “the value of Mr. [Marmion’s] answering as calculated from the marks which he obtained was 2…as his answering did not appear to me to be sufficiently good to qualify him for passing I added a recommendation for a supplemental examination which I should be ready to give him if [decided] to do so.”
Extract from a letter from George Boole to President Kane, QCC, on the results of one of his students [Thomas H. Marmion] – (BP/1/A/2/5)
Within a heavily used original copy of Purcell’s Commercial Cork Almanac (1865) is a newspaper cutting in which its author praises Boole’s lecture on Newton to the Lincoln Mechanics’ Institute when Boole was only nineteen years old (BP/1/A/2/6).
Purcell’s Commercial Cork Almanac (1865)
Reporting on Boole’s lecture on Newton
I mentioned a little earlier that from this material we also get a deeper insight into George Boole ‘the person’ from a letter addressed to a “dear friend“, who I suspect is Dr. Bury after checking The Papers of George Boole. Boole writes as a proud father and husband, relaying the birth of his eldest daughter, Mary Ellen, in 1856.
“…I am now a father. My little first born – a daughter – came with the [world] two days ago. It is a fine healthy child and its dear mother is wonderfully well”.
BP/1/A/2/3
He describes his wife’s health during the pregnancy “…she was able to take an amount of exercise very unusual for person in her situation up to the very day of her confinement. Her step remained as light as ever…” He goes on to describe her labour, how she was afterwards and breastfeeding “the only sypton {sic} she noticed…was a little giddiness at the moment when the child first began to suck.” He is of the mind that;
“a great deal of suffering, certainly to mother & probably to child, is due to the neglect of natures [plainest] dictates…my wife took no medicine whatever – nor has she taken any since…”
BP/1/A/2/
If you are interested in learning more about these documents, or any other items in the Boole Collections, please contact specialcollectionsarchives@ucc.ie
The Honourable Elizabeth Aldworth (née St Leger) The Lady Freemason: A Late Seventeenth Century Strike for the Feminist Cause
The tranquil setting of 17th century Doneraile, Co. Cork is an unlikely setting to strike a blow for the feminist cause. Moreover, the even more unlikely female scion of Irish nobility would [by default] strike the blow. Sometime between the years 1693-1695 a daughter was born at Doneraile Court Co. Cork to Arthur St.Leger, Baron Kilmayden and 1st Viscount Doneraile, and his wife Elizabeth (nee Hayes). The little girl would make Masonic history: as the only woman ever initiated into the Ancient Order of Free and Accepted Masons. In a time of patriarchal absolutism, a girl would become a member of what became the oldest and largest fraternal organisation in the world.
“Doneraile Court.” From Herself-Ireland by Elizabeth O’Connor.
Arthur St. Leger was a member of the Irish House of Lords, raised to the peerage in 1703. St. Leger: his sons Arthur, John and Hayes were ardent Freemasons and occasionally a private Lodge was opened at Doneraile Court. This was in a time before Freemasonry came under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodges; England 1717, Ireland 1725 and Scotland 1736. It was at one of these occasions that Elizabeth St.Leger would become witness to the conferring of a Masonic Degree of the Fellowcraft and by accident, be initiated into the Masonic Order.
Events surrounding Elizabeth’s early life are unknown. However, nearly a century before Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her work A Vindication of the Rights of Women, (1792) Elizabeth would enter a world exclusively the domain of men. Seventeenth century Ireland was an era of turmoil. The Williamite Wars had started in 1689 and in 1690 the Wild Geese with the Jacobite Army fled the country. By 1695 the introduction of the Anti-Catholic Penal Laws would sink Ireland deeper into poverty for years to come. Male authority descended from the father, to the brothers and then through marriage to a husband. Women were expected to know and keep their place.
On the 17th April 1713, Elizabeth married Richard Aldworth Esquire of Newmarket Court, Co. Cork. The pair would spend sixty years together and produce two sons. Sources do not exist of the domestic life of Mrs Aldworth but the Memoir of 1811 has a testament to her masonic membership:
“she lived up to the highest principles of the [Masonic] Order to which she belonged. The lady was possessed of considerable wealth, her purse and influence were always at the command of any Brother in distress and to all appeals she responded with ready sympathy and large-hearted generosity. She was a most exemplary mason and headed her Lodge frequently in procession. The lady had such a veneration for Masonry that she would never suffer it to be lightly spoken of in her presence. Thus lived this pattern of female excellence, dispensing, like a principle of good, comfort and happiness to all about her.”
The line of the Viscounts Doneraile would continue through Mrs Aldworth’s second son St. Leger, until the male line became extinct in 1956 upon the death of the 7th Viscount. The House of Lords decided against offering the title and inheritance to Mr Dick St. Leger, an American cousin. Lady Doneraile continued to live at Doneraile Court until 1969 when she sold the estate to the Land Commission. In 1994 the Irish Georgian Society handed the house over to the Office of Public Works, who now run it and the park.
Elizabeth & Freemasonry Initiation
Of course, much conjecture surrounds the events leading to Elizabeth’s initiation, however Brother John Day in his memoir, stated that the legend of Elizabeth hidden in a clock should be dismissed.It is almost certain that Elizabeth was initiated into Freemasonry, some time in the years 1710 to 1712, when she was between 17 and 19 years old. Her story of initiation is an interesting one and is worth retelling. The incident proves that Freemasonry was being practiced in Ireland many years before the first recorded meeting of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
The Grand Lodge of Dublin, Molesworth Street. It was built 1866-1869. WikiMedia Commons.
In the days before Grand, Provincial and District lodges were instituted, Brethren would meet in Inns or private homes. On one such occasion at Doneraile Court, Viscount Doneraile opened Lodge next to a room known as the library. Unknown to the assembled Lodge, Elizabeth was in the library, a room next door to the Lodge Room. Structural work was in progress at the time and part of the separating wall was being removed. Elizabeth was fully aware that her father’s Lodge was held at the house; she had no knowledge of the meeting taking place on that occasion. Looking through an opening in the structural work, she saw and heard the proceedings of the Lodge. The young girl knew her only route out was through the Lodge Room. Attempting to exit she was confronted by The Tyler [her father’s butler] guarding the Lodge with a drawn sword. Elizabeth’s scream of alarm alerted the Lodge and Brethren. The Tyler posed no danger to the young girl, as his function was a ceremonial one. However, this posed a problem for the assembly. What course of action would they pursue? Elizabeth had witnessed and heard everything. This was a fraternal society with secrets, and female membership would have been held preposterous. Moreover, she had witnessed the conferring of a Fellowcraft Degree on a male member. According to Brother Edward Conder’s account The Hon. Miss St.Leger and Freemasonry (1895), the Tyler summoned the Brethren [including her father] and after a long discussion; Elizabeth was acquainted with the grave responsibilities she had unwittingly taken upon herself. Only one course was open to them. The young woman displaying a high sense of honour, at once consented to pass through the ceremonial that she already in part, witnessed.
Since this was in the days before properly constituted Grand or Provincial Lodges, it cannot be ascertained with any certainty which Lodge could be her “Mother Lodge.” Unlike the Blue or Craft Lodges of today which encompass three degrees, Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason; the Craft of Miss St. Leger’s time worked only two; Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft. In Masonic instruction each degree has its own tracing board. This one is the Fellowcraft Board showing the entrance to King Solomon’s Temple, the pillars, Boaz and Jachin, the all-seeing eye and the masonic tools of the square, compass and level.
According to the Limerick Chronicle dated 18th May 1772, Mrs Aldworth’s death is recorded as occurring on 11th May 1772, in her eightieth year. She was laid to rest in the Davies family vault, in the crypt of St. Fin Barres Cathedral Cork. However, this would not be the last we would hear of the Lady Freemason.
The memorial tablet to Mrs Aldworth erected by the Aldworth Familiy lies beside the pulpit in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork. WikiMedia Commons.
Almost a century after her death in 1870, the new Cathedral of St. Fin Barre was consecrated. The eminent antiquarian Dr Richard Caulfield during the demolition of the old church had an opportunity to examine the vault. Elizabeth’s coffin had been disturbed and Dr Caulfield described what he found in his Annals of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork:
“She was in a leaden shell and in a wonderful state of preservation. She was attired in a dark silk dress, white satin shoes and silk stockings of similar colour. Her person was comely: her face of a dusky or ash colour: her features quite perfect and calm. She had long silk gloves, which extended above the embroidered lace wrist bands: her bosom was full and large for her age: she wore a white head-dress with a full frill round her neck the plaits of which were not even ruffled.”
Annals of St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, p.83.
Remembering the Lady Freemason
Regular Freemasonry as it is known today was unified with the United Grand Lodge of England in 1717, by 1736 Ireland and Scotland had followed. This was in a time when; not only could women not vote, but could not own property, in fact a woman stood for very little. Like in an absolute monarchy the woman was tied to her father or husband, the law came firmly down on the male side. Elizabeth Aldworth in the years before masonic constitutions, exploded the myth that only men can be made Masons. Worldwide Freemasonry for women is today a fact of life, and female masonic rites and constitutions flourish on every continent. Regular Freemasonry remains exclusive to men as it is believed that to admit female members would violate the ancient Landmarks. The time has come to remember the principles that Mrs Aldworth stood for in veneration of the highest human qualities.
