Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 24 November 2007
Finglas Vestry Records Published
The third volume in the Representative Church Body Library’s ‘Texts and calendars’ series has been published by Four Courts Press. This is an edition of the vestry book of the united parishes of Finglas, St Margaret’s, Artane and the Ward for the years 1657 to 1758 which has been edited by Dr Maighréad Ní Mhurchadha, an acknowledged expert on the history of Fingal.
As the editor points out in her invaluable introduction, the vestry book tells the story of those who cared for the religious, educational and material needs of their church as well as the social needs of the wider community. The vestry was not simply the committee which looked after the affairs of the church, as is the case today, but was also the administrative unit which attended to what we think of as local government. And so this volume has much to say about such subjects as road maintenance, poor relief, tree planting and the care of orphans.
Essentially, however, the vestry book records how the protestant people of Finglas ordered their religious lives. The minutes of the vestry and the accounts of the churchwardens record, often in considerable detail, how the parish was administered and the records of the parish cess, the local parish tax, show how this activity was financed. There is much about the maintenance of the church building, the allocation of pews, the provision of an organ, the care and custody of church plate, the supply of bread and wine for the eucharist, and even the provision of holly and ivy to decorate the church at Christmas.
This is an invaluable source for those who are interested in church history, in local history and in rural life in the early modern period.
This evening (Saturday) at 8pm the Mornington Singers will give a concert in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in support of Trocaire while at the same time in St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, the Cantata Singers & Orchestra will perform works by Bach and Purcell to celebrate the life of John Beckett (1927-2007) with the proceeds going to St Ann’s charities.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the Bishop of Tuam will visit Achill Island. At Evensong in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, there will be a commemoration of those who lost their lives in Irish ships, 1939-45 while in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, the annual service of the Church of Ireland Men’s Society will be held in the context of Evensong. The preacher will be the Bishop of Connor who will be commissioned by the Archbishop of Armagh as Chairman of the Society.
Next Tuesday the final lecture in the current lunchtime series in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will be held. The Church of Ireland Historiographer, Dr Kenneth Milne, will speak about Archbishop Richard Chenevix Trench who was a leading figure in the debates over disestablishment
The 150th anniversary of Killeevan parish church, Co. Monaghan, will be marked at a special service on Thursday evening when the preacher will be the Archbishop of Armagh who, on Friday, will join the leaders of the other three main churches in Armagh for the launch of the Irish Genealogical Research Service which is an initiative of the Irish Family History Foundation.
On Friday evening in Killough parish church the Bishop of Down & Dromore will institute the Revd John Ewart to Bright group of parishes while in Co. Cork there will be a recital by Ian Sexton (harpsichord) and Nicholas McMurry (countertenor) in St Anne’s Church, Castlemartyr.