St Mary’s Church (1784)
Chapel Lane, BT1 1HH
The small winding streets of shops and ‘kitchen-houses’ are almost all gone in Belfast now, replaced by more suitable housing, redeveloped street layouts and in the building of shopping malls. These streets, however, were the original surroundings of St Mary’s, the Mother Church of the city of Belfast, its original parish church, and the oldest Catholic church in city. Nestled behind ‘Castlecourt’ and near the famous Kelly’s Cellars, St Mary’s provides a quite space in the midst of a busy shopping area with its cool interior paneled with dark wood and its long rose garden and grotto (built in the 1954 Marian Year it is modeled in the grotto in Lourdes).
The church has changed in appearance many times since the eighteenth century. Up to the 1780s Mass was celebrated in the home of John Kennedy in nearby Castle Street (the tall mahogany cabinet which was used as an altar is now situated behind the tabernacle in the current sanctuary). The original building was assisted with money from wealthy Belfast Presbyterians and members of the Church of Ireland, and although subsequently rebuilt in 1868 and again in 1941, the original walls remain. The interior was remodeled by the Belfast architect Padraig Gregory during the 1940-41 refurbishment. This included the removal of the East wall, and the construction of an apse decorated with mosaic and new sacristies. Gregory also installed new liturgical furnishings, including a round romanesque style baldachino and a romanesque style red brick facade.
The sanctuary was further remodeled in the 1980s by the Irish artisan Ray Carroll. The success of this remodeling (opened in 1984 for the bicentenary) is debatable. Although Carroll retained the Gregory baldachino and the pulpit (1813), the new furnishings and carpeted, raised predella do not make the best use of the sanctuary space and are not in keeping with the style, heritage or tradition of the building.
It is, however, a beautiful place, a real city oasis.
No comments:
Post a Comment