Banada Monastery

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The Banada Monastery in a drawing by Francis Grose published in 1793

The Banada Monastery ( Irish Beannada ) was founded in 1423 as the priory of the Augustinian Brothers in the Diocese of Achonry , consecrated to the Corpus Christi , and gained special importance as the starting point for the observance movement in Ireland . The community existed until the beginning of the 19th century at a time when the church was already in decline. The property fell in 1858 to the Irish Sisters of Charity, founded in 1815 .

Geographical location

The monastery is located directly on a bridge over the River Moy that has existed since at least the 17th century . The east side of the choir rises significantly above the nearby bank of the river on the basis of a one and a half meter high fortification. There is evidence that suggests that a castle named "Seven Towers of Banada", built by Maurice FitzGerald in the middle of the 13th century, could have been located at the site, but this has not yet been confirmed from the remains. The area is lonely, not very productive and was described in a report in 1460 as "desolate and empty". Further downstream, about 22 kilometers northwest in a direct line, was another Augustinian house, Ardnaree , which, along with Ballinrobe and Burriscarra, was one of the houses of the Augustinian hermits in Connacht before the foundation of Banada. Today Banada is on a side road to Aclare south of Tobercurry on the N17.

history

Views of the River Moy from the place where formerly the choir was

The introduction of the Augustinian hermits to Ireland came from England, and by 1341 all the foundations in the English settlement areas in Ireland were done by the English. Because of this, Ireland was only a region under the Provincial of England within the Order . After Richard II's unsuccessful campaign in Ireland , which ended prematurely in July 1399 , the ruling Irish families gained more influence and a phase of Irish renewal began, which also included religion. In order to shake off the English influence, it made sense to orientate oneself directly to Rome, so that the observant movement founded by Prior General Bartholomaeus de Venezia in Lecceto in 1385 and supported by his successors became very attractive to the Irish.

The initiative to found it came from an Augustinian brother Charles, of whom only the first name is known, but who probably belonged to the O'Hara family. On September 19, 1423, he succeeded in obtaining approval from the Prior General Agostino Favaroni for the establishment of the first observant monastery in Ireland. Favaroni decreed that other Augustinians were allowed to join the new monastery if they were accepted. And he limited the authority of the Vicar Provincial in charge of Ireland so that he could not withdraw anyone from Banada. On November 14, 1423, the papal approval by Martin V followed , which Charles explicitly mentions. The land necessary for the foundation was donated by Donough O'Hara. In 1439 the founder gave the rule to his brother Cormac and entered the monastery himself.

Banada then became the driving force of the observant movement in Ireland, which initially found its expression in the expansion of the Augustinians in Connacht. There is evidence that the first brothers of the Dunmore Monastery, founded shortly afterwards by Walter More de Bermingham, came from Banada. In March 1457 Hugh O'Malley, a brother from Banada, traveled to Naples to meet Prior General Giuliano Falciglia. The four decrees issued by Falciglia gave Banada and the other houses in Connacht extensive autonomy. Thus the houses in Connacht were placed under the newly created supervision of a rector who had the same powers as the Vicar Provincial in charge of Ireland. The inheritance of the deceased brothers who moved to Banada was also reorganized. While the goods previously fell to the house from which the brother originally came, they now had to be shared between Banada and the original house. As an appraisal from February 1445 showed, a lot was still missing in Banada. At that time there was no cloister , no refectory , no sacristy , no chapter house and no bell tower, and the stock of books was still insufficient. An appraisal from 1460 also found no significant improvement and found that even food was scarce. Eventually O'Malley himself was appointed vicar provincial, who could advance the reform movement in this position. The founding of Callan probably goes back to his initiative , from where two brothers traveled to Rome in 1472 to obtain permission to join the observant movement.

In 1460, one of the brothers lodged a complaint with the Pope complaining that the prior and some brothers, all of whom were members of the O'Hara family, gave away property belonging to the monastery without the consent of the other brothers. In 1492 the Prior General Anselmo Massari gave the order that the prior, under threat of excommunication, had to restore all the goods that had been given away, expel the laypeople living in the monastery and resign from the office of prior by the end of the year. Regardless of this, Massari simultaneously confirmed the previously granted privileges that granted Banada and the other houses in Connacht extensive autonomy from England.

A report by the Prior General from 1542 shows that initially seven Augustinian houses continued to exist despite the Reformation . This included the remote Banada. An English government report from 1574 states that Banada belongs to either the rebels or the brothers and that the crown has no access.

architecture

Preserved sediles from the 15th century on the south side of the choir

Until 1897, a large part of the monastery with an intact tower still stood, which then collapsed, so that only remains of the choir overgrown with ivy have been preserved. Apart from a sculpture of a head, the north wall has no special features. On the south side, two sediles from the 15th century have been preserved, each of which is closed at the top by keel arches and separated by a small pillar shaped in the form of a helix .

literature

  • Harold G. Leask: Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings . Volume three. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk 1960.
  • Francis X. Martin: Irish Augustinian Reform Movement in the Fifteenth Century . In: JA Watt, JB Morrall, FX Martin (Eds.): Medieval Studies: Presented to Aubrey Gwynn, SJ Colm O Lochlainn, Dublin 1961, pp. 230-264 .
  • Aubrey Gwynn , R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses in Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X .
  • Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman, Sheila Ronan, Connie Murphy: Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo . Volume I: South Sligo. Stationery Office, Dublin 2005, ISBN 0-7557-1942-5 .

Web links

Commons : Banada Priory  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Gwynn, p. 296.
  2. ↑ See this plaque
  3. ↑ See drawing by Francis Grose published in 1793
  4. ^ Gwynn, p. 296.
  5. ↑ On the bridge: Egan et al., P. 499, entry 2926.
  6. ↑ Egan et al., P. 485, entry 2892; Gwynn, p. 296
  7. ↑ Martin, p. 254.
  8. ↑ Martin, pp. 235, 242.
  9. ↑ Grid square G 46 10 in: Ordnance Survey (Ed.): Discovery Series 24 . Dublin 1995, ISBN 0-904996-53-0 .
  10. ↑ Martin, pp. 233-236.
  11. ↑ Martin, pp. 238-239.
  12. ^ Gwynn, p. 296.
  13. ↑ Martin, p. 239.
  14. ↑ Martin, pp. 242-245.
  15. ^ Gwynn, p. 296.
  16. ↑ Martin, p. 256.
  17. ^ Martin, p. 263.

Coordinates: 54 ° 2 ′ 14.4 ″  N , 8 ° 49 ′ 0.8 ″  W.