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Labbamolaga Church facts for kids

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Labbamolaga Church
Leaba Molaga
Labbamolloga Church 5th Century.JPG
Labbamolaga Church is located in Ireland
Labbamolaga Church
Labbamolaga Church
Location in Ireland
52°18′39″N 8°20′52″W / 52.310764°N 8.347678°W / 52.310764; -8.347678
Location Labbamolaga Middle, Mitchelstown, County Cork
Country Ireland
Denomination Pre-Reformation Catholic
History
Dedication St. Molaga
Relics held St. Molaga
Architecture
Functional status ruined
Style Celtic Christian
Closed by 16th century
Specifications
Length 11.8 m (39 ft)
Width 7.2 m (24 ft)
Number of floors 1
Floor area 85 m2 (910 sq ft)
Materials stone, mortar
Administration
Diocese Cloyne

Labbamolaga Church is a medieval church and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland.

Location

Labbamolaga Church is located 7.3 km (4.5 mi) northwest of Mitchelstown, on the east bank of the Monaheancree Stream.

History

Adjacent are four megalithic standing stones, erected during the Bronze Age and perhaps part of a stone circle. (Local lore claims that they were four thieves who stole the chalice and relics and were turned to stone as punishment!) In the 7th century AD Saint Molaga founded a church and monastery here; he also gives his name to Timoleague and is traditionally held to have introduced beekeeping to Ireland. In 1897, William Copeland Borlase was the first to claim that Molaga is most likely a Christianisation of the Celtic god Lugh, the same being true of saints Molua and Lachtene.

The oratory, built c. AD 900, was built as a tomb shrine to the founder. A limestone slab with carved volute marks Leaba Molaige – Molaga's Bed. It is called in the Book of Lismore Eidhnen Molaige – "Molaige's ivy-covered church." Local people used to touch St. Molaga's tombstone to cure rheumatism.

The church was ruined by the 16th century.

Description

Church

LabbamolagaMonastery
Oblique view
Leabamologga
Doorway

The church is a large rectangular Romanesque building.

Oratory

The oratory is rectangular (6.33 × 4.45 m) with antae. The west door is formed by three large stones which may have been taken from the nearby megaliths, signifying Christian replacement of the old gods.

Cross Slab

A cross slab in the graveyard bears a Celtic cross in low relief on the west face and a Latin cross on the east face.

Cursing-stones

Several bullauns are located under a slab and were known as clocha mealachta (stones of rebuke).

See also

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