Mary Concepta Lynch facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mary Concepta Lynch
Born	Bridget Mary Lynch 4 November 1874 (baptism date) Booterstown, Dublin, Ireland
Died	30 April 1939 Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Nun, teacher, artist

Mary Concepta Lynch (1874 – 1939) was an Irish nun and a very talented artist. She was known for her amazing skills in illumination (decorating texts with beautiful designs) and calligraphy (fancy handwriting). She spent 16 years decorating a special chapel called the Oratory of the Sacred Heart. This chapel is located at St. Mary's Dominican Convent in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.

Early Life and Family

Mary Concepta Lynch was born Bridget Mary Lynch in Booterstown, Dublin. Her family and friends called her "Lily." Her father, Thomas Joseph Lynch, was a famous artist in Dublin. He was even known as the King of Celtic Art in the 1880s. He had art studios in the city center.

Lily was the oldest of five children, but she was the only one who survived past infancy. Her father's business created beautiful, decorated documents called illuminated addresses. He taught Lily his artistic skills. When he passed away in 1887, Lily was only 12 years old. She became the only person to inherit his business.

Even though she was very young, Lily worked hard to keep her father's art studio running. Her aunts helped her. She continued to take on art projects. Her mother, Anne Marie, died two years later, leaving Lily an orphan.

Becoming a Nun and Teacher

Lily kept her father's art studio going for some time. However, she always felt a strong connection to her old convent school. She decided to become a nun there. On July 5, 1896, she joined the Dominican Order at St Mary's Convent in Dún Laoghaire. At that time, the town was called Kingstown.

When she became a nun, she took the name Sister Mary Concepta. All the nuns at the convent had "Mary" as part of their name. So, she was usually called Concepta, or "Connie" by other nuns, and "Con" by some students.

The Dominican Order was a teaching order, which meant nuns taught in schools. Sister Concepta became a teacher. She taught art and drew pictures for the school magazine. She also illustrated the convent's official records. She wrote plays and created living pictures (called tableaux) with her students. These often showed Irish culture or religious stories. Every Christmas, she made amazing Nativity scenes.

Sister Concepta also had musical talent. She taught music, even how to play the kazoo! She wrote many hymns, especially to honor St Thérèse of Lisieux, a saint she greatly admired. She also respected Saint Columba and the ancient Irish monks. These monks created incredible artworks like The Book of Kells.

The Oratory of the Sacred Heart

After World War I ended, a small chapel called an oratory was built at the convent. It was made to hold a statue sent to honor the soldiers from the area who died in Belgium.

The oratory was dedicated to the Sacred Heart in 1919. In 1920, Sister Concepta began decorating it. She first worked on the wall behind the statue, above the altar. She gave it a special look, inspired by ancient Eastern Christian art. She also decorated the Gaelic writing above the entrance door. After this, she asked for and received permission to decorate the entire inside of the oratory.

Her cousin, Shaun Glenville, and his wife, Dorothy Ward, supported her project. They were famous music hall entertainers. They helped raise money for the oratory by holding benefit concerts. The studio of Joshua Clarke & Sons, owned by the father of famous artist Harry Clarke, created the seven beautiful stained-glass windows for the oratory. One window honors Sister Concepta's father, Thomas J. Lynch. Another is dedicated to Shaun Glenville and his family.

Sister Concepta worked mostly by herself on the oratory. She saw it as an act of religious devotion. She decorated the walls with detailed designs inspired by the Celtic Revival art movement. She used her father's special "Lynch Method" for her work. She continued until 1936, when she had to stop due to poor health.

She used regular household paint, mixed to her specific color choices by a local shop. She worked long hours in her free time, often in dim light and without heating. The entire artistic plan for the oratory came from a vision she had one night. In her vision, the oratory appeared "alight with colors in serpentine bands." She stuck to this vision strictly from the very beginning.

She used stencils from 1921 to 1923 for different parts of the design, including the ceiling. This means the complete design was first drawn onto the surfaces. Then, Sister Concepta slowly added more and more detail. The main outline of the design was probably ready by her Silver Jubilee on November 11, 1923. Her family and friends visited her then and were invited to see her work.

She first decorated the altar wall, then the side walls. After that, she worked on the designs for the doors and the outside tympanum (a decorated space above a doorway). Work on the ceiling was less complete, probably because it was harder to reach. For the ceiling, she lay on her back on a board placed between two ladders. The ceiling and the upper part of the back wall were still unfinished when she had to stop working.

The "Lynch Method" meant that no single part of the artwork was ever completely finished. Instead, the pattern was always being added to. So, even though the ceiling isn't fully finished, it doesn't look patchy. It has a uniform level of detail, giving a satisfying impression of artistic completeness.

What People Thought of Her Art

The art historian Etienne Rynne wrote about her work:

‘her work is ever mouvementé, vibrant with life; her birds squawk, bite and even dance, her serpents wriggle and knot themselves, as do her quadrupeds’

Two books were published about Sister Concepta's art by the Dominican Sisters of Ireland. These were A shrine of Celtic art (1977) and The Lynch method of Celtic illumination (1986). In 1996, money was provided to fix up the oratory and build a protective shell around it. A book called Divine Illumination was published in 2019 to celebrate the oratory's 100th anniversary.