Irish Times Notes23 Jul 16

Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’

Grave Matters

For clergy, parish officers, the staff of the Property Department in Church of Ireland House and all those who work in the RCB Library, death is one of the constant themes in their work. It may be arranging funerals, locating family graves, dealing with concerns about closed churchyards and graveyard walls or servicing the seemingly incessant demand for genealogical information from burial registers. These are, of course, nationwide issues but as Dublin had the largest Church of Ireland population and greatest concentration of churches and graveyards, there tend to be more queries about the city and its environs.

A new book, Grave Matters. Death and Dying in Dublin, 1500 to the Present, edited by Lisa MarieGriffith & Ciaran Wallace and published by Four Courts Press, is a fascinating collection of essays on different aspects of this topic – the effects of disease like fever and influenza, the memorialization of death, the role of the state, and burial practices.

For the Church of Ireland reader some essays will have a particular appeal. Raymond Refaussé reviews sources in the RCB Library, Paul Huddie discusses Crimean War memorials in Church of Ireland churches, Eamon Darcy writes about the important Agard–Harrington memorial in Christ Church cathedral and Patrick Walsh considers the funeral of Speaker Connolly and his memorial in Celbridge parish church. Perhaps most topical is Sean Murphy’s carefully researched analysis of St James graveyard, the largest of its kind in the city, in which he concludes there may have been 51,600 burials between 1842 and 1989. The graveyard is being refurbished by Dublin City Council and the church is to be part of a new distillery and heritage complex.

Today (Saturday) Evensong in St Patrick’s cathedral, Dublin, will be sung by Academia Musica who will also sing at the Choral Eucharist tomorrow (Sunday) when the preacher will be the Archbishop of Dublin. The choir of Grace Church, Toronto, will sing Evensong next Monday and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Tomorrow (Sunday) morning in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, the choir from the Christ Church Group of Parishes will sing at the Eucharist. Last Sunday the cathedral’s voluntary choir, which is celebrating its third year in existence, sang a new setting of the Eucharist, the Little Organ Mass, which had been specially composed by the cathedral’s assistant organist, Dr David Bremner. Tomorrow (Sunday) evening at 6.30pm the Hydra Quartet will give a chamber concert in Farahy church, Co. Cork, which is best remembered for its associations with the writer, Elizabeth Bowen.

On Tuesday at 4pm Nicole Robinson will give a recital of ‘Songs from the Musicals’ in St Mary’s cathedral, Limerick, in aid of the cathedral and the cathedral’s vibrant music programme. In St Ann’s church, Killult, Falcarragh, Co. Donegal, where the rector is the Revd David MacDonnell, a service of Choral Evensong will be held to celebrate Feast of St Ann. During the service eleven children will be admitted into the choir and presented with their choir robes. The children have been following the RSCM Voice for Life programme.

At lunchtime on Thursday a Healing Service will be held in St Macartin’s cathedral, Enniskillen, while in the evening in Calary parsh church, Co. Wicklow, the Wicklow Proms will present ‘Pigale’ – Edith Piaff and Le Chat Noir and the world of love and loss as reflected in the songs of the streets of Paris.

‘Summer Music at Sandford’ continues on Friday at lunchtime with a guitar duet recital by Luke Tobin and Gerard Boyle.