Clontuskert Monastery

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West view of the monastery

The Clontuskert Monastery ( Irish Cluain Tuaiscirt , English Clontuskert Priory ) was founded after 1140 by the O'Kelly family as a priory of the Arrouaise Order dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the Diocese of Clonfert . During the Reformation the house fell to the Earl of Clanricarde in 1562. To what extent the canons were initially able to stay is unknown. Around 1637 the monastery was restored and used by the Augustinian hermits . According to local tradition, the monastery was partially destroyed during the Reconquest of Ireland and the brothers were expelled. Since 1970 the facility has been under the care of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland .

The monastery is located on the site of an early Christian monastery founded by St. Boedan in the 8th century, about 100 meters from a stream that flows into the River Suck . The remains of the monastery can be reached via the R355 between Portumna and Ballinasloe .

history

Máel Máedóc Ua Morgair , first from 1132 Archbishop of Armagh , later from 1137 Bishop of Down , traveled 1139–1140 to Rome, where he was appointed apostolic legate for Ireland. During his trip he visited the Abbey of Arrouaise , which, at the suggestion of the Cistercian Bernhard von Clairvaux , had expanded the Augustinian rule and subsequently became the center of an Augustinian reform movement. Máel Máedóc Ua Morgair had all the books regulating religious life copied and took them to Ireland. When he returned to Ireland, the rule of the order spread rapidly and was particularly adopted in the north of Ireland.

Many of the Irish start-ups of the Arrouaise Order took place in suitable locations that were already used by early Christian monasteries. In the case of Clontuskert, the location of an early Christian monastery founded by St. Boedan in the 8th century was chosen, the community of which had already dissolved. The reason was favorable for the construction of a monastery, as it is close to a sufficiently water-bearing river and is not threatened by floods. The gray limestone available locally at Ballinasloe was used for the construction .

West portal from the 15th century

Hardly any information has survived from the early days. A fatal fire in 1404 was decisive, in which not only the church was destroyed, but also books and the entire church treasury was lost. An indulgence was granted in 1413 to finance the reconstruction . Most of the parts of the monastery that have survived to this day date back to the reconstruction of the 15th century. This includes the nave, the rood screen , the west portal, which is unique in Ireland, and the cloister garden with the surrounding arcades.

After the monastery was illegally taxed by the bishop and others, it came under the protection of the Pope in 1443, who also confirmed the possessions on this occasion. In the 15th century, the office of prior was occupied almost exclusively by members of the founding O'Kelly family. Prior Breagal O'Kelly fell in battle in 1444 while fighting with Cormac MacCoghland and his son James against another branch of the MacCoghland family. Other priors from the family include Odo (1445), John (1457), Thady (1470) and Donatus (1475). There were grievances, as some charges show. In 1470 Donatus accused his prior Thady of killing a layman. In 1475 Donald O'Kelly accused Prior Donatus of allowing the canons to live and have possessions outside the monastery.

In 1562 the monastery and its properties fell to the Earl of Clanricarde. Some restorations took place around 1637. This year was engraved over the passage of a wall that was freshly built behind the rood screen at the time. At that time the monastery no longer belonged to the Arrouaise order, but to the Augustinian hermits. A little later, according to local traditions, the brothers were expelled and their living quarters were destroyed. In 1918 the east window in the choir fell into place, but it was restored in 1971 as part of extensive conservation work.

literature

  • Harold G. Leask: Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings . Volume three. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk 1960.
  • Aubrey Gwynn, R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X , pp. 32.165 .
  • Geraldine Carville: The Occupation of Celtic Sites in Ireland by the Canons Regular of St Augustine and the Cistercians . Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan 1982, ISBN 0-87907-856-1 .
  • Seán Spellissy: The History of Galway: City & County . The Celtic Bookshop, Limerick 1999, ISBN 0-9534683-4-8 , pp. 277-279 .
  • Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra, Paul Gosling: Archaeological Inventory of County Galway, Volume II: North Galway . Stationery Office, Dublin 1999, ISBN 0-7076-6179-X , pp. 289 .
  • Peter Harbison : A Thousand Years of Church Heritage in East Galway . Ashfield Press, Dublin 2005, ISBN 1-901658-58-9 , pp. 47-52 .

Web links

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

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Gwynn.
  2. ↑ See Spellissy.
  3. ↑ See Harbison.
  4. ↑ See Carville and Spellissy.
  5. ↑ See Carville, p. 11.
  6. ↑ See Carville, p. 120.
  7. ↑ See Carville, p. 96.
  8. ↑ See TB Barry: The Archeology of Medieval Ireland . Routledge, 1987, ISBN 0-415-01104-3 , pp. 114 .
  9. ↑ See Harbison, p. 49.
  10. ↑ See Gwynn.
  11. ↑ See Harbison, p. 49.
  12. ↑ See Spellissy.
  13. ↑ See Gwynn.
  14. ↑ See Gwynn.
  15. ↑ See Spellissy.
  16. ↑ See Harbison, p. 51.

Coordinates: 53 ° 16 ′ 57.7 "  N , 8 ° 12 ′ 56.3"  W.