Ballinasmale Monastery
Founded in the 13th century and the Virgin Mary consecrated monastery Ballinasmale (also Ballinasmall , latin Monasterium Smalense , Irish Baile an Smálaigh ) is one of the earliest houses of the Carmelites in Ireland . It is located about three miles from Knock in County Mayo and belongs to the Diocese of Tuam .
founding
According to Thomas Burke in his work Hibernia Dominicana , the monastery was founded in the 13th century by the Prendergast family, who had founded the Augustinian monastery in Enniscorthy around 1240 . Some land and a mill belonged to the monastery . In the extensive handwritten records of the Carmelite Fintan O'Brien, who died in 1962, the date of foundation is narrowed down to the years 1288 or 1289. No evidence is known of this, but O'Brien's work has been considered reliable by Aubrey Gwynn and Peter O'Dwyer.
reformation
Despite the Reformation that began in 1536 and the associated dissolution of the monasteries, Ballinasmale was initially preserved. 1541 with Eugene MacBrehon one of the Carmelites from Ballinasmale of Pope Paul III. appointed Bishop of Mayo and recognized by the English crown during the reign of Mary I.
In a letter to the General Chapter of the Order in 1570 it is reported that, despite the abolition of the monastery, four or five Carmelite monasteries still exist. In response, the General Chapter instructed all Carmelites in Ireland to go to the remaining monasteries and continue to wear their habit if they had not given up the faith. According to O'Dwyer, one of these monasteries was Ballinasmale.
To secularization , there are several documents. The value of the monastery was estimated at 13 shillings and 4 pence . In 1585 the monastery is said to have been handed over to Francis Barkly together with Brize Castle. In another document there is a reference that in 1605 the prior had to give up part of the land together with the mill worth 3 shillings. In his compilation of 1745, Walter Harris names Sir John King as the recipient of the monastery. Gwynn and Hadcock believe this was done in 1605 or 1606.
Start-up
Beginning in 1625, followers of the Reformed Order of the Carmelites, founded in 1593, the so-called "Discalced Carmelites" came to Ireland. Attempting to take over some of the orphaned monasteries of the Shod Carmelites led to conflict between the orders until an agreement was reached in 1633. In 1636, Theodore Stratius , the General General of the Carmelite Order at the time , left Ballinasmale to Henry Murphy, who was evidently a Discalced Carmelite. Nevertheless, Ballinasmale was abandoned by the Discalced Carmelites, and the Loughrea Monastery remained the only old monastery of the Shoed Carmelites that fell to the Discalced Carmelites for a long time.
At the same time, efforts began in France and Belgium to revive the Irish Province of the Shod Carmelites. The Irish Carmelite William Tobin played a leading role here, and besides two Flemish Carmelites in Waterford, he was the only remaining shod Carmelite in Ireland. In a letter dated 1643, William informed a prospect that Ballinasmale was available.
The Carmelite William Shee, born in Ireland in 1634 and trained in Seville , wrote from Dublin in 1683 that he was the only Carmelite in Ireland. In 1685 he was appointed acting general for Ireland and in this capacity sent several newly accepted Carmelites to the continent for training, including Peter Hughes, who studied in Touraine . Peter Hughes returned after the death of Wilhelm III. back to Ireland, where he succeeded in repossessing Ballinasmal for the Carmelites. In turn, he accepted offspring in the order, which he sent to France or Spain to study.
From 1715 Ballinasmale was again a monastery. In 1741, John Burk was elected Prior of Ballinasmale in the Order's first provincial chapter in Ireland since the Reformation. At the time of the restoration of the Irish Province of the Order in 1744, Ballinasmal was one of 15 Carmelite monasteries in Ireland.
Decline
Still in 1795, William Seward reported in his work Topographia Hibernica that the Ballinasmale monastery was an extensive building, some parts of which can still be seen. In January 1840, however, Richard Colgan, the first definitor of the Irish province, wrote that the Ballinasmale house was in miserable condition and that the church was like a barn. The prior is an excellent man, but too old and weak to change that. Recently, however, a young Carmelite had been sent to him, which gave cause for hope.
The young Carmelite was John Carr, who was elected prior of Ballinasmale in the provincial chapter in 1843. However, in the following chapter in 1846 he was appointed prior of Thergar Monastery , leaving the elder Carmelite John Lavin alone again. In 1849 Cornelius Crotty was appointed prior of Ballinasmale. However, Crotty stayed in Dublin and asked the general general in a letter for a transfer to one of the Reformed monasteries in Ireland or for permission to switch to the Trappists , since the Carmelites in Ireland would live like secular priests. Correspondingly, in a report to Rome in 1850, only Lavin is mentioned as a Carmelite who is now eighty for Ballinasmale. In the same year it was reported that Ballinasmale was so poor that no taxes had to be paid.
Lavin died in October 1852, and Ballinasmale was dissolved as a Carmelite monastery the following year.
literature
- Sir James Ware: De Hibernia & antiquitatibus ejus disquisitiones . London, 1654. (On page 221 of this work there is a brief entry on Ballinasmale Monastery, cited as the founders of the Prendergast family. This is the oldest known source for this.)
- Walter Harris: The works of Sir James Ware concerning Ireland revised and improved . Second volume, Dublin 1745. (On page 284, in a table written by Harris, there is a note that the monastery fell to Sir John King after the Reformation.)
- Thomas Burke: Hibernia dominicana . Kilkenny, 1762. (On page 751 there is an entry on Ballinasmale Monastery, which places the foundation of the monastery in the 13th century and with a reference to the fact that the Augustinian monastery Enniscorthy had already been founded by the Prendergast family around 1240 is.)
- William Wenman Seward: Topographia Hibernica; or the topography of Ireland, antient and modern . Dublin 1795, printed by Alex. Stewart. (Under the keyword Ballynasmall, in addition to the information on the foundation, it contains a brief note: it was an extensive building, part of which may still be seen .)
- Aubrey Gwynn and R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0582-11229-X .
- Peter O'Dwyer: The Irish Carmelites (of the Ancient Observance) . Carmelite Publications, Dublin 1988, ISBN 0-904080-02-1 .
- Royal Historical Society: Handbook of British Chronology . Third edition, University Press, Cambridge 1986, ISBN 0-521-56350-X . (From this work the reference was taken that Eugene MacBrehon was also recognized by the English crown.)
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 44 ′ 16.1 ″ N , 8 ° 58 ′ 7.2 ″ W.