BOOK OF THE DAY: SIOBHÁN FITZPATRICKreviews St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin: a historyEds John Crawford & Raymond Gillespie, Four Courts Press. 424 pp €50
THE SMALL medieval city of Dublin was unusual in that it was served by two cathedrals, Christ Church and St Patrick’s, the former founded c 1030 and run by the monastic order of Augustinians. The early history of St Patrick’s is less clear than that of Christ Church, due partly to the paucity of surviving muniments as well as the fact that it began life in the more humble capacity of a parish church.
Howard Clarke, chronicler of medieval Dublin, exhaustively documents the development of the cult of St Patrick and argues cogently for the location of the early church (12th century) on an island in the Poddle valley, outside the main Viking settlement.
John Cumin, successor to Laurence O’Toole as archbishop of Dublin in 1180, “the king’s man in Ireland”, saw the need for a training college for priests who would serve the diocese along structured lines, as in the English model. Accordingly, the collegiate church of St Patrick was consecrated in 1192.
Rebuilt as a cathedral and consecrated in 1254, St Patrick’s was modelled on Old Sarum cathedral, whose rite had been adopted by the Dublin foundation in 1216.
Alan Fletcher’s chapter on liturgy and music in the medieval period refers to St Patrick’s preoccupation with the customs, liturgy and privileges of the Salisbury canons. He also discusses the 14th-century manuscript known as the Dublin Troper, now held by Cambridge University Library. This is a repertory of musical material which sheds light on forms of worship and served the cathedral for over two centuries.
The critical role of music is alluded to in Raymond Refaussé’s introduction to the volume, notably the Christmas Eve carol service, introduced in 1902, so integral to many Dubliners’ Christmas celebrations.
The comprehensive introduction examines the archives, in particular the Dignitas decani, a 16th-century cartulary, one of the few extant medieval records on which, together with the Troper, we rely for much of our knowledge of the history and procedures of the early foundation.
The chequered fortunes of St Patrick’s, the tensions and rapprochements with Christ Church, the search for a distinctive role in the city (Christ Church had early on forged close ties with the citizenry), the dissolutions under Queen Mary and during the Cromwellian occupation and the long reign of Dean Swift are described by Raymond Gillespie and Toby Barnard.
St Patrick’s was associated in the public mind with English authority in Ireland; the roll-call of deans resonates with Anglo- Norman and English names. “To maintain St Patrick’s was to maintain civility. St Patrick’s was no less than the Pale at prayer.” (Gillespie). It also offered a place of worship for the refugee Huguenot congregation from 1666e.
Sermons preached at St Patrick’s in the aftermath of the Battle of the Boyne were printed, inevitably expanding the cathedral’s reach. Archbishop William King’s highly political sermon on November 16, 1690, includes the memorable comment: “Now the French king’s allies are the bandits of Italy, the pirates of Algiers, the Turks and Tartars of Asia and the Tories of Ireland.” Beat that!
Siobhán Fitzpatrick is librarian to the Royal Irish Academy. She recently co-edited, with Dr Bernadette Cunningham, Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy Library.