St Stephen's Green Church
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The St Stephen's Green Church (also: Dublin Unitarian Church ) is a Unitarian church building in the Irish capital Dublin . The church is across from the west end of St. Stephen's Green in central Dublin.
history
The Unitarian churches in Ireland go back to English (and in Northern Ireland partly Scottish) Puritans ( Reformed ) who settled in Ireland from the end of the 16th century. From the 17th century onwards, non-conformist communities developed within Irish puritanism , rejecting certain ecclesiastical doctrines such as the Westminster Confession of 1640 (→ Dissenter ). Pronounced dissenting communities also sprang up in Dublin, including in Wood Street. At the beginning of the 18th century, Unitarian approaches were finally found here. The preacher of the Dissenters Congregation on Wood Street Thomas Emlyn was imprisoned for two years on charges of blasphemy in 1702 after the publication of an anti-Trinitarian book . Emlyn was a succinct preacher and was one of the first to spread the term Unitarian in the British Isles. In 1764 the Dissident Congregation moved from Wood Street to Strand Street, where a new meeting house could be inaugurated. Another similar ward was on Eustace Street. From 1843, the Strand Street community finally saw itself openly as Unitarian.
In the middle of the 19th century, the shipowner Thomas Wilson gave the community 2,330 pounds for the construction of a new church. His father was George Washington's adjutant in the American Revolutionary War and later the first American consul in Dublin. In 1857, property on the west side of St Stephen's Green that had previously been owned by French Huguenots was acquired. William Henry Lynn, who designed the new church building as a neo-Gothic church, was won over as architect. The interior is framed by decorative elements. The capitals of the main pillars, which support the four inner arches, represent different types of leaves with birds. Angels are attached below the roof, symbolizing the armor of God , as described in Paul's letter . The central element is the sense of a typical Protestant preaching church the pulpit . The many stained glass by Irish, but also Flemish and French artists are striking . On the east wall is a figure of the Irish artist and Unitarian Paddy McElroy, who juxtaposes symbols of different religions.
The church was finally opened on June 14, 1863. Four years later, the Unitarian Congregation on St Stephen's Green merged with the then still existing second Unitarian Congregation on Eustace Street. The church building on Eustace Street is now used by a children's center ( The Ark Children's Center ). In 2003, the restoration of St. Stephen's Green Church began at a total cost of 1.5 million euros. Most recently, access to the church was made barrier-free.
Several parishioners were involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland. It has become a tradition at the annual Good Friday service to read the names of all those who died in the Northern Ireland conflict. Today it is known that the preacher Savell Hicks, who worked until 1962, initiated several talks between the British government and the then IRA.
literature
- Peter Costello: Dublin churches , Gill and Macmillan, 1989, pp. 54 f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ He used the term even before Theophilus Lindsey .
Coordinates: 53 ° 20 ′ 16.8 ″ N , 6 ° 15 ′ 45.5 ″ W.