Those with an historical or genealogical bent who are anxiously scanning the shelves for a slightly different Christmas stocking filler need look no further: the Representative Church Body Library has answered their prayers with the publication of another volume in its parish register series.
The Register of the Parish of Holy Trinity, Cork, 1643-1669 is a record of those who were baptised, married and buried in, historically, the most important parish church of the city of Cork.
Holy Trinity, better known as Christ Church, was a medieval foundation, although the present building is an 18th century edifice, and, as the attractive cover illustration admirably illustrates, was strategically placed in the centre of the walled city. It was the church of Cork Corporation, where a succession of municipal officers, such as John Baily, sheriff, and Esay Thomas, recorder, repaired for the Christian rites of passage, and was the parish church for leading Cork families such as the Hydes and St Legers. It also attracted members of some of the great families of Munster such as the Boyles and the Inchiquins.
It is, therefore, an important source not only for genealogists but also for historians of Cork and its locality and for that discreet but influential body of historians who concern themselves with 17th century Ireland. The register has been edited by Dr Susan Hood, assistant librarian and archivist in the RCB Library.
This is the fourth volume in the RCB Library's parish register series.
The Register of the Parish of Holy Trinity, Cork is available from the RCB Library, Braemor Park, Churchtown, Dublin 14 (telephone 01-4923979; fax 014924770; e-mail library@ireland.anglican.org.) at IR/Stg£9.95 + £1 (postage and packing) or through bookshops.
Tomorrow RTE will broadcast Morning Service from Bangor Abbey, Co Down. There will be a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, for which tickets are not required, and in St Nicholas's Collegiate Church, Galway, where the blessing will be given by the Bishop of Tuam and the Bishop of Galway.
The annual ecumenical Dublin Civic Carol Service will be held in St Ann's Church, Dawson Street, while in St John's Church, Sandymount, there will be carols by candlelight. Further afield, the choristers of St Bartholomew's church, Dublin, will perform in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, while a concert of Christmas music, including motets by Sweelinck and Poulenc, by the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will be broadcast by the European Broadcasting Union.
On Monday evening RTE FM3 will broadcast the St Patrick's Cathedral carol service which has become an integral part of the Dublin social scene. The choir of St Ann's Church, Dublin, will sing carols in Dawson Street on Christmas Eve between 11 a.m. and 12.30 p.m.
On Christmas Day, when by tradition the bishops celebrate the Eucharist and preach in their diocesan cathedrals, RTE will broadcast Morning Service from Blessington, Co Wicklow.