06.12.2024
New books celebrate Church of Ireland history in Dublin
Two unique historical contributions by faith communities in the city of Dublin and the Vale of Glendalough, before and after the Reformation, were marked in a double launch of two new books at an event hosted by the RCB Library in conjunction with Four Courts Press last week.
The Churchwardens’ Accounts of the Parishes of St Bride, St Michael Le Pole and St Stephen, Dublin, 1663–1702, by WJR (Ronnie) Wallace, and The Latin Lives of St Laurence of Dublin, edited by the late Maurice F Roche, were both officially launched in the former Chapel of the Church of Ireland College of Education, in Rathmines, which now houses the library collection of the late Canon John Bartlett.
Dr Susan Hood, as Librarian and Archivist at the Representative Church Body Library, opened the proceedings and officially welcomed everyone to the joint event.
The Churchwardens’ Accounts (which is the ninth in the Library’s Texts and Calendars series – the aim of which is to publish important records in the Library’s holdings) was launched by Professor Alan Ford, Emeritus Professor of Theology at the University of Nottingham. Professor Ford thanked Ronnie Wallace for his previous work in publishing the clergy succession lists for Dublin and Glendalough and Meath and Kildare, which he regularly consults for research, and an earlier volume in the Library’s series being the Vestry Minutes for the same parishes.
Commenting on Mr Wallace’s output, of writing 2,500 pages across his five books, Professor Ford noted his excellent editing skills which followed half–a–lifetime of correcting and deciphering handwritten student essays.
St Bride’s Church, as Mr Wallace explained, was located on what is now the site of the Iveagh Buildings in the liberties of Dublin: “It wasn’t a particularly distinguished building but it had quite a large population of mainly small businessmen, a lot of poor people of course, and in those days quite a number of fashionable lawyers and people involved in government.”
The parish closed in the 1880s but record–keeping had been good through the generations, and the last serving rector had the foresight to collect the records which found their way to the Library’s custody where they were studied and transcribed – the material for the book. He thanked Dr Susan Hood from the RCB Library for organising the launch and the editors of the Texts and Calendars series (Dr Ray Refaussé and the late Professor Raymond Gillespie) for their encouragement and support.
“It’s really a great sadness that Raymond Gillespie is not here tonight,” he commented. “He was a man of wonderful knowledge of early modern Ireland and also incredibly generous in the way in which he shared that knowledge.”
Proceedings then moved to the second launch, when Mary Kelly, who worked many years as an Office of Public Works guide in Glendalough, outlined the extraordinary gestation of the Latin Lives project by the late Dr Maurice Roche. Dr Roche had submitted the work as his thesis in 1981, and it was referenced in subsequent books on Glendalough but the original manuscript was only found again after Dr Roche’s untimely death in 2003. Effectively his thesis went ‘missing’ for over 20 years until relocated by Mary who with Charles Doherty were able to reproduce the text for this book.
As well as his achievements in historical research, Dr Roche was policy advisor to former Tánaiste Mary Harney, who then did the honours of formally launching his book, remarking that “scholarship, technology “and sheer determination” had brought the book together.
On its discovery, she noted: “It was immediately apparent that Maurice’s thesis was pure gold – clear, concise, interesting, entertaining and readable.”
Poignantly she added how “there is nobody who I think would more like to be here than Maurice himself … he would be quietly chuffed even though he was a very shy person.”
Ms Harney remarked: “I think that it’s fair to say that this is a masterpiece, an academic masterpiece – there is no doubt about that. Maurice’s elegant writing, his attention to detail, is so evident when you look at this book.”
On behalf of Maurice’s sister Rita and his widow Eileen, Mrs Nellie Henchion thanked all involved in the production of the book and its launch, bringing the evening to a fitting close.
The Churchwardens’ Accounts
A churchwarden is a role within a Church of Ireland parish with the twin roles of ensuring that the property under their care is not used for any common or profane purpose, and to ensure that peace and order are maintained during services of worship.
The parish of St Bride, united with the parishes of St Michael Le Pole and St Stephen, served an area just outside the Dublin city walls, around Bride Street, Ship Street, Golden Lane, Stephen Street and Chequer Street. The accounts of its churchwardens complement the records of its vestry, and reveal how the parish recovered following the Restoration and developed in the early 18th Century.
The Churchwardens’ Accounts shares information on the parish church, the clergy and patterns of worship, the role of the parish officers, and their interactions with the city in areas such as poor relief, fire–fighting and policing.
This is the ninth volume in the texts and calendars series published by Four Courts Press in association with the RCB Library. WJR Wallace is editor of Clergy of Dublin and Glendalough (Belfast, 2001), Clergy of Meath and Kildare (Dublin, 2004), and The vestry records of the parishes of St Bride, St Michael Le Pole and St Stephen, Dublin, 1662–1742 (Dublin, 2011).
The Latin Lives of St Laurence of Dublin
St Laurence O’Toole (1128–1180) was Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland and was canonised by Pope Honorius III in 1225.
His four Latin ‘lives’ (along with ancillary material) were critically edited for a doctoral thesis in 1981 by Maurice Roche who went on to serve as a senior aide to Ms Harney. Dr Roche was her policy advisor for 10 years. Following his untimely death, in a riding accident in 2003, the thesis went ‘missing’ but photographs of it were made available to Mary Kelly – and from these Charles Doherty and Mary produced this book with permission from the Roche family.
The original was a two–volume thesis (now reduced to one) which covered the life and career of Laurence and invaluable analyses of each of the ‘lives’ revealing the relationships among them and highlighting the diverse approaches of the hagiographers to their material which are now gathered together in a complete dossier for the first time. The thesis is of importance for scholars working on Irish, English and European history in the 12th and 13th centuries and gives a unique insight into the settlement of Glendalough.
The Churchwardens’ Accounts can be purchased for €50.00 (£42.00) through the Church of Ireland’s online bookstore: https://store.ireland.anglican.org
The Latin Lives can be purchased for €45.00 (or sterling equivalent at the point of purchase) from Four Courts Press at https://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books