Kilconnell Monastery

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South view of the monastery

The Kilconnell Monastery ( Irish Cill Chonaill , English Kilconnell Friary ) was founded in 1414 by William O'Kelly, ruler of Hy-Many, as the house of the Franciscans in the Diocese of Clonfert . His successor, Malachy O'Kelly († 1464), had the house reformed . Even after the Reformation , the house remained intact for over a hundred years. The presence of brothers is documented until 1709, but they no longer lived in the monastery at that time. Despite the dilapidation, the building structure is still quite well preserved. The ornate tracery at the graves from the 15th century should be emphasized .

history

The monastery was built near an early Christian monastery founded by St. Conall. However, this monastery remained largely insignificant and no visible traces of it have been preserved. In 1414 the antipope commissioned John XXIII. the Bishop of Clonfert, Thomas O'Kelly, with the establishment of three houses for the Franciscans. That included Meelick and probably Kilconnell as well. Together with the Kinalehin monastery , which was also taken over by the Franciscans in 1371 , there were three Franciscan monasteries in the Clonfert diocese. The dominance of the Franciscans went so far that, with one exception, all the bishops of the diocese belonged to the order from 1405 until the Reformation. In the dispute between conventuals and observants of the Irish Franciscans in the 15th century, a tactic that had already been tried and tested on the continent was occasionally used, in which a descendant of the founder was won over to push through the reform. At Kilconnell this was achieved with the help of the founder's son and successor, Malachy O'Kelly, who implemented the reform in 1460 with the help of observants introduced to the monastery.

Kilconnell avoided the forcible dissolution of monasteries during the Reformation. However, the monastery was occupied several times by English soldiers who, among other things, broke open graves to find usable treasures. During these times, the brothers sought refuge in the area. The provincial Donagh Mooney visited the convent several times around 1616 and reported of six brothers. Some liturgical objects were saved on the continent in the course of the 17th century, for example the vestments were in the community of the Irish Franciscans in Leuven in 1654 . In 1697 the Irish Parliament passed the Bishop's Banishment Act , which compelled all bishops and clergy to leave Ireland by May 1, 1698. The Irish leadership of the Observants advised to obey the law and organized admission to newly founded monasteries on the continent. The remaining brothers in Kilconnell took this as an opportunity to split up the grain supplies and dissolve the community. When Sir Thomas Molyneux came to Kilconnell in 1709, he learned that there were only two very frail brothers left living in a hut near the old monastery.

architecture

View from the south transept into the main nave

Together with Claregalway , Multyfarnham and Nenagh , Kilconnell belongs to a group of Franciscan monasteries with a comparatively long nave of 41 m long and about 7.40 m wide. As in the majority of the monasteries, which were also built in the 15th century, the monastery garden and the surrounding quarters are on the north side of the nave. Otherwise it follows the usual plan of the Franciscans with a tower built in the late 15th century in the middle of the nave, which divides the choir. Further extensions in the late 15th century include the side aisle on the south side, which did not reach the full length, and a transept with a later added side chapel protruding to the east. The dormitory was on the east side of the cloister garden and immediately north of the choir there was a separate two-story quarters for the Guardian .

A total of six, in some cases extremely artistically designed, Gothic tombs are located in the monastery, including four in the choir. Among the most important is the tomb from the early 15th century of the O'Dalys family on the north side of the choir and the unassignable tomb near the west end of the nave, which followed French influences and is richly decorated with six reliefs with figures of saints.

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. 251 .
  • Seán Spellissy: The History of Galway: City & County . The Celtic Bookshop, Limerick 1999, ISBN 0-9534683-4-8 , pp. 317-318 .
  • 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. 288 .
  • Colmán N. Ó Clabaigh: The Franciscans in Ireland, 1400–1534 . Four Courts Press, Dublin 2002, ISBN 1-85182-548-7 .
  • Edel Bhreathnach, Joseph MacMahon, John McCafferty (Eds.): The Irish Franciscans 1534–1990 . Four Courts Press, Dublin 2009, ISBN 978-1-84682-210-0 .

Web links

Commons : Kilconnell Friary  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Gwynn.
  2. ↑ a b See article by Joseph Mac Mahon: The silent century, 1698–1829 , p. 79, from Bhreathnach et al.
  3. ↑ See Leask, p. 167.
  4. ↑ See Spellissy, p. 317, and Gwynn, p. 389.
  5. ↑ Cf. Ó Clabaigh, p. 43.
  6. ↑ Cf. Ó Clabaigh, p. 44.
  7. ↑ See Ó Clabaigh, p. 65, and Gwynn.
  8. ↑ See Gwynn.
  9. ↑ See article by Raymond Gillespie: The Irish Franciscans, 1600–1700 , p. 51, from Bhreathnach et al.
  10. ↑ See article by Raymond Gillespie: The Irish Franciscans, 1600–1700 , p. 74, from Bhreathnach et al.
  11. ↑ See article by Michael O'Neill: Irish Franciscan friary architecture , p. 311, from Bhreathnach et al.
  12. ↑ See Alcock et al.
  13. ↑ See Leask, pp. 167-168.

Coordinates: 53 ° 19 ′ 57.5 ″  N , 8 ° 24 ′ 2.9 ″  W.