Shock at arson attack on crib at St Peter’s
AUTHORITIES VOW THAT CHURCH WILL NOT BE CLOSING TO THE PUBLIC DURING THE DAY
ST. PETER’S CHURCH in Drogheda will not be closed to the public between services, nor will the casketed head of St. Oliver Plunkett be taken out for safekeeping — in spite of a weekend arson attack.
This was made clear by parish clergy in the wake of the burning and destruction of the church crib and its plaster of paris nativity figures by vandals last Friday.
The world famous shrine of St. Oliver was only feet away from the blaze but fortunately escaped damage.
Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world visit the shrine annually and every day there is a continuous stream to view the preserved head of the martyred Archbishop of Armagh, executed at Tyburn in 1681.
With the widespread devotion to the Saint, clergy are anxious not to close off access to pilgrims. However, they are concerned over the weekend fire and say that if there are any further such incidents they may have to post a continuous guard of honour at the church, like what the Dominicians have had to do in their church because of vandalism.
Gardai are investigating the fire which horrified parishioners and clergy alike and was condemned as a “serious act of sacrilege” by Bishop James Lennon, parish priest of St. Peter’s and auxiliary bishop of Armagh.
Prayers of atonement will be offered in St Peter’s Church next Sunday at 5 p.m. in a spiritual expression of sorrow over the outrage.
Said Bishop Lennon: “I am shocked at this act of mindless vandalism. It is a very disturbing thing to happen. Why anyone would want to set fire to a crib I don’t know. We have no idea who did it, what age they were as nobody appears to have seen them do it.”
The arsonists hurled lighted candles into the large timber crib.
A St. Vincent de Paul poor box was also broken open and its cash contents stolen.
The alarm was raised by sacristan Mr. Paddy Gerrard who saw the crib on fire when he arrived to lock up the church on Friday.
Two units of the local fire brigade, under the command of fire chief Liam Malone and station officer John Busby attended the blaze.
Portion of a wall in the 100 year old church was badly scorched by the fire and it along with the area around the altar will have to be redecorated.
On Christmas Eve a year ago vandals broke into the boiler room of the church and set it on fire causing considerable damage to it and the adjoining sacristy. The entire inside of the church was smoke damaged on that occasion and had to be completely redecorated.
The crib was first erected in St. Peter’s 51 years ago and was one of the first innovations carried out by the late Rt. Rev. Mgr. Patrick Lyons who had succeeded Rt. Rev. Mgr. P. Segrave as Parish Priest and Archdeacon following the latters death.
The crib was paid for by lp and 2p weekly subscriptions by the school-children of the Parish, many of whom must have sacrificed their weekly visit to the two cinemas of the day “The Whitworth Hall”, Laurence St. and “The Boyne”, Fair Street where matinees were held each Saturday, with admission fee 2p (or lp for those admitted after the shorts).
The crib was erected for the first time for Christmas 1934 and was placed in front of the Sacred Heart altar on the right side aisle. Each year it was erected there for the Christmas season until recent years when it was transferred to the altar of the Immaculate Conception — inside the altar rails for “safety reasons”.