Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from The Irish Times
Archbishop Loftus Commemoration
Tomorrow (Sunday) at Evensong in St Patrick?s Cathedral, Dublin, the 400th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Adam Loftus will be commemorated. The address will be given by Dr Helga Robinson-Hammerstein, Senior Lecturer in the School of History in Trinity College, Dublin, and among the guests at the service will be the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Michael Conaghan, and the Provost of Trinity College, Dr John Hegarty.
Loftus, a Yorkshire man who had been educated at Cambridge, came to Ireland in 1560 as chaplain to the lord-lieutenant, the earl of Sussex, and played a key role in implementing the enforcement of the Reformation in Ireland. However, his appointment, in 1563, as archbishop of Armagh, with which also he subsequently held the Deanery of St Patrick?s, Dublin, was not effective in promoting the Reformation in the northern province and in 1567 he was translated to the archbishopric of Dublin.
In Dublin, an important part of the government?s strategy to promote the Reformation was the foundation of a university to counter the influence of Catholic priests who had been trained in continental seminaries. Loftus was instrumental in preventing the suppression of St Patrick?s Cathedral and the use of its revenues to endow a university but was a key figure in persuading Dublin Corporation to grant the priory of All Hallows as a site for what became Trinity College. The charter of the College, dated 3 March 1592, made him the first provost.
Loftus died in the episcopal palace of St Sepulchure in Kevin Street on 5 April 1605 and was buried in the choir of St Patrick?s Cathedral. He is immortalized in a fine portrait which hangs in the Dining Hall of Trinity College.
The St Patrick?s commemoration is the first in a series of events which will culminate in a Trinity celebration in the College Chapel on Thursday 14 April when the preacher will be the Revd Dr Stephen Hampton, Fellow of St John?s College, Durham.
Tomorrow (Sunday), Low Sunday, the Dublin cathedral choirs are on holiday. In Christ Church the services will be sung by the Lydian Singers while in St Patrick?s the visiting choir will be from Chingford parish. On Tuesday Evensong in St Patrick?s will be sung by the Chapel Choir of St Hilda and St Bede, Durham University.
On Monday the Eisenhower High School Choir and Orchestra from Philadelphia will give a lunchtime concert in Christ Church Cathedral and on Wednesday, in St Patrick?s, there will be an organ recital by Peter Sweeney from the DIT Conservatory of Music, at 6.30 pm.
At lunchtime on Tuesday, and on each subsequent Tuesday, there will be an ecumenical ?Prayer of Stillness? in the church of St George and St Thomas, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin. This will last from 12.30 until 1 pm and everyone is welcome to enjoy a brief period of led silence in the presence of God and in the company of others.
There has been much interest in the recent book Memories of West Wicklow, 1813-1939, a memoir of the Hanbidge family which has been edited by Dr W.J. McCormack, former Professor of Literary History at Goldsmiths College in the University of London. On Friday evening at 8 pm there will be a launch of the book in Donoughmore parish hall in the Glen of Imaal at which the speakers will be Hanbidge family historian, Nora Hanbidge, and Dr McCormack. Copies of the book, which has been published by University College Dublin Press, will be available at a special price of Euro12.
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