St Patrick

Today is the feast of St Patrick, the Apostle and patron of Ireland.

It is worth noting the initiative he represents on behalf of the Church in late- and post- Roman Britain to evangelise the adjacent island, and its success - this was a mission that produced no martyrs from any who resisted conversion. This is in contrast to the reaction of the British Church and its leaders to the Germanic invaders, who having alienated the Britons were not evangelised by them at all, but were rather, presumably, literally left to go to Hell. Converting the Angles and Saxons was to be left to the Roman mission and that from Irish roots at Iona after 597.

Anyone looking for a good introduction to the life of St Patrick and to his world view will not go wrong if they look at Thomas O'Loughlin's  CTS pamphlet in the Great Saints Series. Simply entitled Patrick it provides in a relatively few pages an insightful understanding of St Patrick, drawing upon his two surviving texts, the Confession and the Letter to Corocticus.

There are introductory online accounts of the two cathedrals dedicated to St Patrick at Armagh at St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland) and at  St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Roman Catholic).There is a more detailed history, with pictures and a series of links, of the Church of Ireland cathedral here. 

There is a good illustrated online account of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, the largest medieval church in Ireland at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

 

The Order of St Patrick

Today being St Patrick's Day, were it not also Passion Sunday, which takes liturgical preference, it seems appropriate to draw attention to the foundation 230 years ago in 1783 by King George III of the  Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick. This followed on from the summoning in 1782 of what became known as Grattan's Parliament, which gave effective self-government for the Kingdom of Ireland. One function of the Order was to be as a patronage resource for the governance of Ireland.

There is an illustrated online account of the Order here. The Queen's website still includes the Order, although there have been no conferments since 1922 other than to her uncles and, lastly, to her father as heir to the throne in 1936 - the relevant piece is here.

My previous posts on this subject from previous years can be read at  The Order of St Patrick and Banners of the Knights of St Patrick. 

The Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick was the Irish equivalent of the English Order of the Garter and the Scottish Order of the Thistle. Knights were required to be "descended of three descents of nobleness" on both paternal and maternal sides. Its purpose was to give social advancement to senior peers and so further secure their loyalty. Admission to the Order was seen as evidence of the high social standing of the recipient and there was considerable competition for the limited places - originally there were fifteen Knights, but the number was later increased to twenty two. 

The installation banquet of the first Knights of the Order of St Patrick in St Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle in 1783

A painting by John Keyse Sherwin of 1785

Image: Wikipedia

The Star of the Order of St Patrick

Image:Kotomicreations on Flickr

 

The then rebuilt Great Hall, or Ballroom, of Dublin Castle became known as St. Patrick's Hall when King George III instituted the Order of St. Patrick in 1783.

The impressive investiture ceremony of Knighthood took place in St. Patrick's Hall. As soldiers lined the route, the new knights in their mantles and habits, walked in ceremonial procession to an installation ceremony in St. Patrick's Cathedral. A celebratory banquet took place later in the Castle.

St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle

Image:dublincastle.ie

The central panel, of Valdre's ceiling paintings in St. Patrick's Hall, depicts the foundation of the Order with King George III seated on a dais, between the symbolic figures of Great Britain with the then British flag and Ireland with her harp, while Justice and Liberty are in attendance. The stall plates along the walls chronologically record the names and the banners bear the family arms of the Knights of St. Patrick invested after the end of the religious ceremonies in St Patrick's Cathedral consequent upon disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1869-71.  The star of the Order is reproduced above the eastern doorway of the Hall.

From 1783 until 1871 the Cathedral of St Patrick in Dublin served as the Chapel of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick. With the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871 the installation ceremony moved to St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle. The heraldic banners of those knights at the time of the move still hang over the choir stalls to this day.The stall plates of the Knights can also be seen as well as their helmets and swords.

Image: Hazboy on Flickr

The banners on the north side of the choir

Image:timsackton on Flickr

Banners of the Knights of St Patrick

As today is St Patrick's Day it seems appropriate to the context of this blog to post this picture of the choir of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, complete with the banners of the Knights of the Order of St Patrick.

The banners of the Knights of St Patrick.
Facing the Sovereign's banner on the south side is, on the north, that of the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn who was appointed to the Order in 1869. That of the Prince of Wales appears to be behind that of the Sovereign.

Image: Panoramio

The cathedral dates from the early thirteenth century, and there is a history of it here. I have seen the suggestion that the then Archbishop of Dublin having attended the consecration of Salisbury cathedral modelled his new, second, cathedral on what he had seen in England. It is the largest, and in many ways the most impressive of Irish medieval cathedrals

I posted about the Order a year ago in The Order of St Patrick. From its foundation in 1783 until the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871 the choir of the cathedral served as the chapel of the Order; after that date installations took place in St Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle. One of last such installations was that of the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, on the eve of Disestablishment. Modelled on the practice of the Order of the Garter at St George's Chapel in Windsor, the Knights' banners and helmet, crest and mantling were placed over the stall, and those which were there in 1871 remained at the request of Queen Victoria. There are also some stall plates for Knights, but not a complete series comparable to those at Windsor.

Prior to 1871 the Arcnbishop of Armagh was Prelate of the Order, an office which has been vacant since the death of the last holder of both posts in 1885, and the Archbishop of Dublin was Chancellor of the Order, that post falling to the Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1886.

There is more about the history, insignia and administration of the Order of St Patrick here.