left|thumb|View from the nave to the chancel
St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, Northern Ireland is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland. It was built in various phases between 1840 and 1904 to serve as the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Armagh, the original medieval Cathedral of St. Patrick having been appropriated by the state church called the Church of Ireland at the time of the Irish Reformation.
The Cathedral stands on a hill, as does its Anglican counterpart.
Background
The building of a Catholic cathedral at Armagh was a task imbued with great historic and political symbolism. Armagh was the Primatial seat of Ireland and its ancient ecclesiastical capital. Yet, since the Irish Reformation under Henry VIII, no Catholic Archbishop had resided there. Since the seventeenth century, the majority Catholic population of Ireland had lived under the rigours of the Penal Laws, a series of enactments which were designed, in the words of the Anglo-Irish historian Lecky, "to deprive Catholics of all civil life; to reduce them to a condition of extreme, brutal ignorance; and, to disassociate them from the soil". As a result, whilst to some extent tolerated, the public practice of Catholicism was almost completely extinguished and all Churches existent at the time of the enactment of the laws were ceded to the Established Church.
Thus, by the end of the eighteenth century, there were few Catholic churches and no cathedrals in existence in Ireland for a large Catholic population. Following Catholic emancipation in 1829, the need to construct churches and cathedrals to serve this population became apparent. The lack of a Catholic presence in the Primatial City of Armagh in particular became a popular cause of discontent among the emerging Catholic episcopacy, clergy and congregation.
The cathedral of Primate Crolly
Archbishop William Crolly was appointed to the Catholic See of Armagh in 1835 and almost immediately sought permission to reside in Armagh; the first Catholic Primate to do so since the Reformation. Having settled in the town, he then set about seeking a site for a new Catholic cathedral. The main difficulty in constructing a Catholic cathedral at Armagh was that the land of Armagh City and suburbs consisted almost entirely of "see-land", the mensal estate or demesne of the Protestant Primate and thus would not be available for the Catholic episcopacy to purchase. A site at the apex of Sandy Hill on the outskirts of the town had however been sold to the Earl of Dartrey.
thumb|left|200px|Armagh St. Patrick's Cathedral as originally designed by Thomas J. Duff
A building committee was established and a weekly penny collection taken in for the construction project. The architect was to be Thomas Duff of Newry who had designed the Cathedral there and also the Pro-Cathedral at Dundalk. He designed a cruciform building, with nave, aisles, transepts, chancel, and choir; a large square central tower, and two smaller ones on the west front flanking the great doorway, and flush with the aisle walls, resembling York Minster. As at Dundalk, the style was a highly romanticised version of the Perpendicular Gothic of the sixteenth century. The foundation stone was laid on St Patrick's Day 1838 but as a result of the Irish Famine, work ground to a halt in 1847 with the foundations and aisles only partially complete.
Daily Mass is held Monday to Saturday at 10:00am. On Sunday, Mass is celebrated at 11:00am, 12:30pm & 5:30pm, with a 6:30pm Vigil Mass on Saturday evening. Holy Day Masses are celebrated at 11:00am. Confessions are usually heard before the Saturday evening Vigil Mass.
Burials
- William Crolly
- William Cardinal Conway
- John Cardinal D'Alton
- Cahal Cardinal Daly
- Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich
- Michael Cardinal Logue
Organ
The cathedral organ was built by William Telford in 1875. In 1987, the organ was rebuilt, enlarged and tonally altered by the Irish Organ Company Ltd. who also provided a new terraced drawknob console. The rebuild was designed by the late John Holmes with the cathedral organist Baron George Minne as a consultant. Not all of the old pipework and casework was restored and retained. The organ now has elements of the English, French Cavaille-Coll and European style, the dominant sound being French. The organ currently has four manuals and 58 stops.
Specification
Positif:
Gelind Gedeckt 8,
Bell Gamba 8,
Singend Principal 4,
Koppelflute 4,
Nasard 2 2/3,
Octavin 2,
Tierce 1 3/5,
Petit Cymbale III,
Cromorne 8,
Zymbalstern,
Tremulant (adjustable),
Octave,
Great to Positif,
Swell to Positif,
Bombarde to Positif,
Great:
Double Diapason 16,
Open Diapason 8,
Gamba 8,
Bourdon 8,
Principal 4,
Flute Ouverte 4,
Twelfth 2 2/3,
Fifteenth 2,
Fourniture V,
Cymbale II (an overall crazy screaming affair,)
Bombarde 16,
Trompette 8,
Clairon 4,
Swell to Great,
Positif to Great,
Positif Sub-Octave to Great,
Swell:
Open Diapason 8,
Stopped Diapason 8,
Salicional 8,
Unda Maris 8,
Principal 4,
Doublette 2,
Plein Jeu III,
Basson 16,
Cornopean 8,
Clarion 4,
Tremulant (adjustable),
Octave,
Sub-Octave,
Bombarde:
Flute Harmonique 8,
Voce Umana 8+8,
Carillon III,
Orlos 8,
Trompeta Magna 16 (TC from Trompeta Réal 8),
Trompeta Réal 8,
Clarin 4 (From Trompeta Réal 8),
Campanabella (one octave of bells),
Pedal
Gravissima 32,
Principal 16,
Violonbasse 16,
Bourdon 16,
Double Diapason (Great)
Violone 8 (From Violonbasse 16),
Gedecktbass 8,
Principal 4,
Doublette 2,
Grosse Fourniture III,
Carillon II,
Bombarde 16,
Basson 16 (Swell)
Trumpet 8 (from Bombarde 16),
Clarion 4 (From Bombarde 16),
Orlos 4 (From Orlos 8, Bombarde)
Positif to Pedal,
Great to Pedal,
Swell to Pedal,
Bombarde to Pedal,
Great and Pedal Pistons Coupled.
Organist
The Organist of St. Patricks Cathedral from 1959 to 2005 was Baron George Minne, born in Belgium in 1924. He had a vast repertoire of Bach, Handel, Mozart and various French composers and was a most accomplished pianist and composer.
See also
- List of carillons of the British Isles
- List of tourist attractions in Ireland