St. Audoen's Church, Dublin (Church of Ireland) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Audoen's Church
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Location	Cornmarket/High Street, Dublin
Country	Ireland
Denomination	Church of Ireland
Website	http://cja.dublin.anglican.org/
History
Founded	1190
Founder(s)	John Comyn
Dedication	Audoen (bishop)
Administration
Parish	St Catherine and St James with St Audoen
Diocese	Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough
Province	Province of Dublin (Church of Ireland)

St Audoen's Church is a very old church in Dublin, Ireland. It is located south of the River Liffey in an area called Cornmarket. This spot was once very close to the heart of the old medieval city. St Audoen's is part of the Church of Ireland and is the oldest parish church still in use in Dublin. There is also a Roman Catholic church right next to it, which has the same name.

Discover St Audoen's Church

This historic church is named after St Ouen (also known as Audoen), who was a saint from Rouen in France. He lived in the seventh century. The church was dedicated to him by the Anglo-Normans who came to Dublin after 1172.

Building the Church

The church was built in 1190. It might have been built on the site of an even older church from the seventh century, which was dedicated to St. Columcille. Soon after it was built, the main part of the church, called the nave, was made longer and narrower. About a hundred years later, a chancel (the part of the church near the altar) was added.

In 1430, Henry VI, who was the Lord of Ireland, allowed a special chapel to be built here. This chapel was dedicated to St Anne. The people who started and ran this chapel were called the Guild or Fraternity of St Anne. This group was often just called Saint Anne's Guild. Six different altars were set up in this chapel and were used all the time. Rich church members helped pay for them.

In 1485, a man named Sir Roland Fitz-Eustace built a new chapel next to the nave. He did this to show thanks for surviving a shipwreck nearby.

Challenges and Repairs

The church faced many problems in the 1500s, which made it hard to keep it in good condition. By 1630, the church was in a very bad state. The Archbishop, Lancelot Bulkeley, complained that a group called St Anne's Guild had taken all the church's money. Even though religious groups like guilds were usually closed down during the Reformation in England, they managed to survive in Ireland for a long time.

Seal of St. Anne's Guild, 1569

People worked hard over the next few years to fix the roof, steeple, and pillars of the church. The guild was told to help pay for the repairs. However, there wasn't much money because only a few Protestant families lived in the parish. In 1673, an order was given to move tombs and gravestones out of the church. This was done "to preserve the living from being injured by the dead." St Anne's Guild had hidden its valuable properties after the Reformation and stayed under Roman Catholic control. They never gave up their holdings, even after many investigations and court orders that lasted until 1702.

Even though many repairs were done over the centuries, finding money to keep the church in good shape was always difficult. This was especially true in the 1700s and 1800s. By 1825, the church building was falling apart. Very few Protestants lived in the parish by then. Because there wasn't enough money for big repairs, some parts of the church were closed off or had no roof. This meant that many old tombs slowly broke down, and memorials were removed or became impossible to read because of the weather.

The Parish of St Audoen

St. Audoen's church and arch (1400)

The parish of St Audoen was once the richest in Dublin. For hundreds of years, the Lord Mayor and city officials often visited the church for important events. In its best days, the church was closely linked with the Guilds of the city. It was considered the best church in Dublin because many important city leaders lived in the parish. For example, the Tanners' Guild was located in the church tower. The Bakers' Guild (which was Saint Anne's Guild) had a "college" next to the church.

In 1467, St Audoen's became a special part of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Changes After the Reformation

In 1536, George Browne became the Archbishop of Dublin. A few years later, he strongly supported King Henry VIII's wish to be seen as the head of the Irish church. Around 1544, the King began choosing the vicar (priest) for St Audoen's. In 1547, the church's money and property were taken over by the state church. This happened after the English Reformation and the Tudor conquest of Ireland.

Drawing by George Petrie, showing the Portlester chapel in 1829, after having lost its roof

When Queen Mary I became queen in 1553, she brought back St. Patrick's Cathedral. Robert Daly was named the Prebendary (a type of church official) of St Audoen in 1555. However, when Queen Elizabeth I became queen, she made him the Bishop of Kildare. After this, all Roman Catholic ceremonies stopped in the church.

After the Reformation, most people in the parish remained loyal to the Roman Catholic church. In 1615, a new Roman Catholic parish of St Audoen's was started. However, Catholics had to hold their services in secret, often in nearby Cook Street. Later in the century, celebrating Mass was forbidden. Bishops and priests were sent away, put in prison, or even killed. This difficult time for Catholics lasted until the early 1800s. Meanwhile, the now Protestant church and parish of St Audoen struggled.

Towards the end of the 1700s, many wealthy people in the parish moved to the suburbs. This happened faster after the Act of Union. Poor Catholic families then moved into the empty houses, which became tenements (apartments). In 1813, the parish had 1,993 males and 2,674 females. Most of these people were Roman Catholics.

Restoring St Audoen's

Plan of St. Audoen's drawn up by Thomas Drew in 1866

Revised plan of St. Audoen's Church following architectural studies in the 1990s

The architect Thomas Drew was the first to really highlight how important the church was, both for its architecture and its history. This was in 1866. He made detailed plans of the church and won an award for them. He also did excavations and wrote a paper about the church's history. In 1873, the rector, Alexander Leeper, wrote a booklet asking for the church to be re-roofed and fixed up.

In the 1980s, a big project was done to restore the tower and its bells. A few years later, St Anne's chapel, which had lost its roof and many monuments, was given a new roof. It was turned into a visitor center, which included an exhibit about the church's history.

Starting in 1996, during more conservation work, a small part of the church was dug up. This excavation revealed new information about the church's very early days. It helped people understand a lot more about how the church was built over time. The detailed results of this study were published in a book in 2006.

Interesting Memorials

In the main entrance area, there is an old Celtic gravestone called the "Lucky Stone." It has been kept here since before 1309. People believed it had special powers, and merchants would rub it for good luck. It was first mentioned in 1309 when John Le Decer, the Mayor of Dublin, put it next to a marble water fountain in Cornmarket. He hoped it would bring luck to everyone who drank the water. The stone was stolen many times but always found its way back to this area. In 1826, it disappeared for twenty years. It was later found in front of the new Catholic Church on High Street.

In the entrance of the western door, you can see monuments from the 1400s. These are for Sir Roland Fitz-Eustace, who died in 1496, and his third wife, Margaret. Fitz-Eustace was a very important person in Ireland. He was the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, then Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and finally Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. He refused to give up his last job, which almost led to a civil war with the king.

Many notable people are buried in the church or its graveyard. These include:

• William Molyneux
• Sir Thomas Molyneux
• Capel Molyneux
• Edward Parry, a bishop
• His sons John Parry and Benjamin Parry, who were also bishops
• Lady Frances Brudenell

In the North Nave (the main part of the church), there is a memorial with fancy columns and a triangular top. It is for Sir William Sparke (who died in 1623), a judge. His wife, Mary Bryce, put it there. During excavations in the 1800s, an old Anglo-Norman font (a basin for baptisms) from the 1100s was found. It is now on display in the church.

The Church Tower and Bells

The church tower was built in the 1600s. Keeping it in good repair was always expensive for the church. It was fixed in 1637 by the Guild of St Anne. But in 1669, part of it fell onto the church roof, and it had to be rebuilt. The Guild gave £250 to help pay for this. In 1826, the tower was redesigned. But by the end of the 1800s, it was again in danger of falling apart. Some repairs were done in 1916. However, the tower was not made completely safe until a major restoration in 1982.

The tower holds six bells. Three of these bells are the oldest in Ireland, dating back to 1423. The bells used to ring for the Angelus (a Christian prayer). After the Reformation, they continued to ring every morning and evening to call people to and from their work. Two bells in the tower were made in Dublin in 1864 and 1880. The smallest bell was from Glasgow and dated 1790. Because the tower was so weak, the bells were not rung between 1898 and 1983. After the tower was made stronger with concrete, the bells were fixed up. Three of the bells were remade. The largest bell was remade in memory of Alexander E. Donovan, who was very involved with the church. The bells are now rung every week.

The clock on the church tower today came from St Peter's Church in Aungier Street. That church was taken down in the 1980s. The clock face itself is from the 1820s.

Historical Events

• On March 11, 1597, a huge accidental gunpowder explosion happened at a nearby dock. It damaged the tower of St. Audoen's.
• In the 1640s, during the Catholic Confederate Rebellion, people in the city could see the fires of their enemies burning from the church tower.
• In 1733, a popular city official named Humphrey Frend won an election by a lot of votes. To celebrate, two barrels of tar were burned at the top of St. Audoen's tower.
• Oliver Bond, a member of the United Irishmen (a political group), was chosen as the churchwarden in 1787. Even though he was Presbyterian, the church could appoint local residents for church duties.
• Another United Irishman, James Napper Tandy, was born near the church in 1739 and was baptized there. He was a churchwarden in 1765 and played a big role in Dublin before the Act of Union in 1801.

Church Organ

St Audoen's Church has a beautiful organ built in 1885 by a company called Forster and Andrews. The organ was restored in 2004. It still has its original manual bellows, which means it can be played without electricity!

Images for kids

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  St Audoen's Church

See also

• Guilds of the City of Dublin