Two Big Dublin Churches

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We'd been to the grounds of St. Patrick's many times but for some reason had never gone inside until this trip. We knew that Oliver Cromwell had arrogantly stabled his horses here, and that was pretty much all we knew.


It was gorgeous inside, and echoey, with beautiful tile floors, chilly stone walls, and soaring arched ceilings. A little gift shop had been set up right inside the front door, kind of among these chairs, which was a little odd, but I guess there was nowhere else to put it and of course every church needs a gift shop.

I lit a candle for my father, and a candle for my sister. I never know if this is all right to do, since I'm not Catholic (of course, neither is St. Patrick's--it's actually Church of Ireland) but it is something they would both have liked.


Outside, the site of St. Patrick's Well is now covered over with grass and the stone that marked it has been moved inside. It is the site where St. Patrick baptized his converts.

It's the biggest and longest church in Dublin, which is why Cromwell thought it would be useful for his horses.  After he left (this was in the 17th century, when he stormed through Ireland causing so much terror and devastation) the church was pretty much wrecked.  Beer to the rescue!  It was the Guinness family that paid for the restoration.

Oh, and an aside note; something I learned when we were in Wicklow: Do not make Oliver Cromwell jokes. The feelings about him are still raw.

Old churches like this one are always as much museum as place of worship. They have monuments and plaques and statues and all kinds of memorabilia for all kinds of people--saints and politicians and war dead and wealthy donors, all in sort of a hodge-podge, no particular order, just crammed into the walls wherever they can, in a variety of type styles and languages, spanning hundreds and hundreds of years. It makes the church feel vibrant, as it continues to hold significance in people's lives (and deaths) over the centuries.

Jonathan Swift--he of "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal"--was dean here for thirty years. He is buried here, with an epitaph that was translated by William Butler Yeats. It says, "Swift has sailed into his rest; savage indignation there cannot lacerate his breast."

The cathedral holds evensong nearly every day and we meant to go back, but we never did. So--another reason to return to  Dublin some day.

Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church is not far from St. Patrick's. Why two cathedrals? Because Christ Church was built inside the city walls, and St. Patrick's was outside.


St. Patrick's dates to the 1100s, but Christ Church is a hundred years older.

Henry II came here for Christmas services in 1171. King Edward VI--the boy king who was meant to depose Henry VII--was coronated here.  And this is Strongbow, who helped rebuild the church.

Ah. And this--this--is the heart of Lawrence O'Toole, hanging on a wall.

He was archbishop of Dublin in the 1100s and worked with Strongbow to restore the cathedral. He was a lot of fun, wearing a hair shirt on a regular basis and going to stay in St. Kevin's Cave at Glendalough for a month at a time. (And did they both stay there at the same time? How did they fit?) 

He never drank wine, but colored his water to look like wine because he didn't want to be, you know, showy about his teetotalism.

He died in France and his heart was cut out and sent back to his church and locked up as a holy relic. And oh those who think history is boring just aren't paying attention.

It's locked up inside this wooden heart, inside this cage, and it's been there since 1200 or so, and you can't help but wonder what it might look like now.