Araglen’s Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
- AN ENDURING SYMBOL OF THE FAITH OF A PROUD AND RESOLUTE PEOPLE -
The excitement in Araglen was intense, and no less so in the village of Kilworth and surrounds. The Cork Examiner said that ‘along the different routes leading from Fermoy, Kilworth and other places around, various descriptions of vehicles, from the farmer’s cart to the elegant jaunting and covered car’ could be seen. And, walking along the roads were ‘groups of pedestrians in their holiday attire, wending their way to the scene of the solemn ceremony’.
It was Sunday, 12th September, 1858, and Right Rev Dr William Keane, Bishop of Cloyne, was coming to Araglen. A bishop of the Catholic Church in those days was almost seen as God himself and it was customary to kneel before him as he passed. And he was not to feel alone; the Examiner included the names of ten other priests in its report on the following Wednesday.
And why was Dr Keane undertaking a rather arduous journey over rough and uneven roads that challenged the springs of his elegant carriage with the covered roof?
The Cork Examiner reported that he was making his way to an elegant structure ‘situated in the midst of a hilly, but beautifully-wooded and romantic country’. Soon, he would have sight of a building ‘in size and architectural style much superior to the chapels hitherto to be found in the country districts’. And when he arrived, he would be in the townland of Billeragh, Araglen, and here he would preside over the consecration of Araglen’s Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.
THE BISHOP, DR CROKE AND ST COLMAN’S COLLEGE
Dr William Keane would have been recognised as the most prominent churchman in the diocese, but following on in another carriage was another cleric who some years later on, would be destined to become one of the most renowned priests of nineteenth century Ireland. On his death in 1902, a newspaper proclaimed him to be ‘a man of magnificent physique and steely bearing - tall, erect and muscular… magnetic and delightfully charming.. one of the greatest and most singularly gifted Irishmen of modern times’.
He was none other than the illustrious Thomas William Croke, DD, of Kilbrin, future Archbishop of Cashel, future champion of the Land League and first patron of the GAA. And at this very time, he was first president of the new diocesan junior seminary, St Colman’s College in Fermoy. Appointed just a few months before as first president of the fledgling college, he had encountered major financial problems in bringing the building project to fruition, but at last it seemed that all was well: his advertising campaign had proven successful and on Monday, September 20th, 1858 the college would open with seventy students, mostly boarders. In the meantime, the trip to Araglen must have been a welcome diversion from all his recent travails.
LARGE NUMBERS OF PEASANT MEN AND WOMEN
What was the scene around the church as the distinguished clerical and lay visitors arrived? The Cork Examiner reported that the church was ‘densely crowded, and large numbers of peasant men and women who could not obtain an entrance, pressed round the doors outside’. Fourteen years earlier, in June 1844, the Examiner spoke of Araglen people who congregated at Kilworth church to show their support of Daniel O’Connell as ‘brave, athletic mountaineers’, and the congregation today could be seen as coming from the same rich stock.
Fortunately this, the day for the consecration, was very fine and the paper could report that the awaiting people experienced ‘little inconvenience, beyond the difficulty of hearing what was going on inside’.
COOKE COLLIS REFUSES A SITE
In the years preceding the building of the new church, Mass was celebrated in a little thatched cabin to the west in Coolmoohan, the adjoining townland in which Araglen National School is situated today. Ft Daniel Dilworth, the Administrator of Fermoy, had been appointed parish priest of Kilworth in 1852. He saw that here was a fine church some twenty years old and with it, a national school standing in its yard dating from the early 1830s.
And so it appeared to him that now was the time to give attention to improving conditions in Araglen. But where to build it, and how to acquire a suitable site? For some reason the Coolmoohan site was not considered, perhaps because the opinionated and vehemently anti-Catholic landlord Stephen Moore, 3rd Earl Mount Cashell, would not countenance a solid, well-proportioned and attractive building of the church of Rome on his property. (He owned the whole townland of Coolmoohan, some 406 acres)
Next, attention came to be directed to the adjoining townland of Castlecooke, comprising 597 acres, the property of the Cooke-Collis’ for nearly two-hundred years. Seriously rich by the standards of the time, they also owned some 900 acres of Ballynamuddagh, some 450 acres in Cronohill, 500 acres in Knockatrasnane, and 584 acres of Propoge. Surely Rev. Maurice Atkin Collis, an Anglican clergyman and the landlord, could spare, say, one acre?
It was resolved to approach Collis to seek a site. Accordingly, in the spring of 1857, it was put to him that he might agree to facilitate his tenants somewhere perhaps in Propoge, and hopefully for free. Bounding Castlecooke and Coolmoohan, and running east along the Araglen river from Baker’s Bridge, Propoge would have been eminently convenient. But their pleadings were to no avail, for Collis was in no mood to accommodate his Araglen tenants. However, he cleverly couched his refusal in a manner contrived to make him appear just and reasonable.
On 12th May he issued a statement in the form of a widely distributed handbill addressed to ‘The Parishioners of North Leitrim and Macrony’, under the title in large capitals ‘HOW TO GET THE GROUND AND MONEY’. Asserting that he would not wish to appear unkind, selfish or unneighbourly either towards them or their priests, he would now set out why he ‘could not take any part, or give any assistance in this matter’. And he went on to explain why.
Highlighting the Christian consensus that the Bible is the word of God, he wondered where in the good book could he find any basis for the Catholic veneration of Mary as one who intercedes for us with God; nor indeed could he find a basis for the sacrifice of the Mass or the existence of Purgatory. Given that Catholic teaching proclaims that these are necessary for salvation, he needed to have a Catholic clergyman explain to him - ‘by letter or otherwise’ - what is the basis for this, their belief.
He then concluded, saying that if all this was clarified for him ‘I will then see my way open for helping as far as I can in building the Chapel anywhere you may require it’. (the italics were his)
A month passed and there was no response from any representative of the Catholic Church. This led to the issue of a further handball on 12th June (1857), under the heading, in large capitals again, ‘HAVE THE PRIESTS GOT THE GROUND AND MONEY?’
Remarking that his tenants would probably find Coolmoohan to be more convenient than another townland and that ‘no doubt you would have anybody else to pay for it’, he went on to speak of the ‘heavy tax’ the new chapel would place upon them. The solution would be that he himself should pay, and he was prepared to do so if any priest from Fermoy, Glanworth, Kilworth or Ballyhooly would contact him to explain the Catholic position on the matters he had raised.
But it appears that no contact was made and consequently, there was no development for the next twelve months or so.
It is likely that Kilworth’s parish priest, Very Rev Daniel Dilworth, saw no value in trying to enlighten the questioner, an ordained priest of the Church of Ireland, and hence there the matter would rest. In fact, if anyone in the diocese were to have been chosen to defend the Catholic position, it would have been the scholarly Fr Dilworth, a man who as theological adviser to his bishop, accompanied Dr Keane to the first Vatican Council in Rome in 1870 - where, incidentally, he was conferred with a doctorate in Sacred Theology. But, it probably was seen to be a pointless task to attempt responding to Rev. Collis’ challenge and there the matter rested until the following year.
BUILDING BEGINS
Sometime in May or June of 1858 a landlord named Morland from County Clare offered Fr Dilworth a lease on some land he owned in the townland of Billeragh East for a nominal rent. Sadly, we know nothing about this generous benefactor, but he enabled building of the new church commence straightaway. Fr Dilworth lost no time in setting to work and called for contributions. The Cork Examiner reported that ‘the call was liberally responded in Araglen and the surrounding parishes, the sum of £250 being subscribed in one day in the town of Fermoy’. This was an enormous sum, given the times: the Famine had ended only ten years before and the daily wage of agricultural labourers (who found work only on an intermittent basis) was no more than a shilling a day.
But Araglen people and their friends were determined to have a new church, one they could be proud of and one which would hold them in good stead for many years. What a testament to the strength of their faith at the time!
CONTEMPORARY DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCH
Reporting on the day of consecration, a newspaper of the time admired the church for its simple design that took the form and style of an English transition edifice. While being taken by the red sandstone exterior and the moulded doorway of neatly chiselled limestone, he reserved particular praise for features of the yet unfinished interior, such as the high pitch roof of open timber work supported by circular ribs resting on the corbels set like shelves on the walls. Further, he was very enthusiastic about the solemn and religious effect produced by the lofty gothic arch that separated nave from altar area. And he did not forget to mention the beautiful open pattern window of five lights glazed with stained glass.
He ended his description with an expression of confidence that when the fitting up and decoration of the interior would be complete, ‘it will be a very pretty building, creditable alike to the priest and his parishioners, as well as those who contributed towards it’. And time tells us how right he was!
THE CONSECRATION AND OPENING MASS
At 12.00 midday a number of priests - at least eleven - assembled at the altar and then proceeded to move down the church with their prelate Right Rev. Dr Keane. Exiting at the main entrance, they walked round the building with Dr Keane sprinkling the walls. Re-entering the church, the interior was then sprinkled, and all the while the Litany of the Saints was chanted. Mass then commenced, celebrated by Kilworth curate Fr Duggan.
When Mass ended, an erudite Dr Cahill entered on the altar to deliver the consecration sermon to what was reported was a crowded and attentive church. Basing his presentation on the Bible, he laid particular focus on the Eucharist and highlighted the inconsistency of the Church of Ireland for contesting the Catholic interpretation of the sacrament. The record states that the discourse was ‘ a simple and beautiful one, and couched in language suited to the capacities and education of the great majority of his hearers’. And The Cork Examiner said that for nearly an hour, the congregation were kept ‘in pleased and rapt attention’. The ceremony then came to a close, and we have no further record of proceedings.