Short history and illustration of St. Patrick's cathedral

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St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin**

st.gif (24785 bytes)The Cathedral of St. Patrick, Dublin, is situated in the south-west of the city, and is a venerable cruciform hiding, 300 feet in length. The transept is 157 feet. It was built by Archbishop Comyn, successor of the sainted Laurence O’Toole, in the see of Dublin, on the site of an ancient parochial church, said to have been founded by St. Patrick in 448.

Archbishop Henry de Londres, successor of Archbishop Comyn, raised the church to the dignity of a cathedral. The nave, the entrance to which is by a beautifully-arched and deeply-receding doorway, is 30 feet in width, with two aisles, separated from it by octagonal pillars, supporting plain Gothic arches.

It is lofty, and is lighted by a magnificent window at the western end over the main entrance.

The history of the Chapter of St. Patrick has been the subject of some very interesting lectures by the Very Rev. Canon Pope, of the Church of the Conception, Marlborough street, Dublin, which is the Catholic Cathedral.

We believe these lectures will be published complete soon, when we shall present some extracts.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral possesses several interesting monuments, one of them being a slab to the memory of .Dean Swift. The student who wishes for a full arid minute history of the cathedral (which once was the scene of the courts of justice), will do well to consult the large work of Mr. Monck Mason, in which he will find details respecting this very interesting church.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral is not very remarkable in an architectural point of view; but the building links the mind with the “Catholic days,” and the site carries us back to the very earliest dawn of Christianity in Ireland.

In a few weeks we shall present the other Dublin cathedral, Christchurch, which is a little older, and we shall then enter into the ecclesiastical history** **of old Dublin. j. b. *

The Lamp, March 12, 1859, Vol. V. No. 11.*

General Contents. .