Holycross Abbey, Co. Tipperary

Readers of this blog, and indeed anyone enjoying an interest in Ireland's ecclesiastical heritage, may have already noticed a very clear difference the buildings of the the two main churches: the Catholic Church and the Protestant, Church of Ireland. Put at its simplest Catholic churches tend to be less venerable than those of their Reformed colleagues. Thanks to the spread of the Protestant Reformation and the expansion of royal power throughout Ireland the Catholic Church gradually lost the majority of its churches, with many being given to the new state church or indeed simply abandoned. Thus the vast majority of Catholic churches in Ireland are nineteenth or twentieth century, with a tiny handful of eighteenth century and earlier survivors. One of these survivors happens to be the glorious Holycross Abbey in Co. Tipperary, a rare example of a medieval working Catholic church. Founded originally in the twelfth century, the abbey that we see in the pictures here dates largely from a rebuilding in the 1400s. Home to a community of Cistercian monks, Holycross took its name from a relic of the True Cross that was held in the church. Indeed it was the relic that attracted the hoards of pilgrims whose alms helped pay for the splendid fifteenth century renovation. Falling gradually into a state of dereliction since the mid-seventeenth century, the abbey was finally restored in the 1970s. Having been designated a national monument in 1880, an Act of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) was required to be passed in 1969 so that the abbey could be designated a Catholic place of worship. The subsequent restoration was completed in 1975, and the abbey was designated the new parish church.

Holycross was endowed by Donal Mór O'Brien, a Gaelic-Irish king of Thomand in 1180. Generally regarded as the last king of Munster, O'Brien had in his possession a relic of the True Cross, which he bestowed upon the newly founded abbey. Holycross was an abbey of the Cistercian order. Founded in the late eleventh century, the Cistercians were known for their strict observation of the Rule of St Benedict. In the sixteenth century the abbey was suppressed and given to the Earl of Ormond, Thomas Butler, thus commencing the ultimate period of decline.

This arcaded monument is most probably where the relics of the True Cross were displayed for public veneration.

This picture was taken looking west, from the chancel (where the altar is situated) down the nave towards the great west window. The church by this stage had been derelict for sometime, with burials taking place within the nave. The ornate monument on the left is called a sedilia. Literally meaning 'seats', sedilia was where the priest and his assistants sat during the Mass. A common sight in medieval churches, it was customary that they be recessed into the wall.

The view towards the altar and chancel on the left, with the entirely unroofed transept in the background.