Religious Edifices of Galway

Western News and Weekly Western Examiner, 30th August, 1884

There were but few places in Ireland more richly endowed with churches and monasteries, built for the honor and glory of God, than the ancient "City of the Tribes".

Among the most celebrated of these were the Franciscan Monastery, the collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, and the Dominican Friary. A concise history of these religious edifices may be interesting to our readers.

The Franciscan Monastery of Galway was founded by William de Burgh, surnamed Liagh (the gray) in, the year 1296, outside this city wall, and in the little island, called, after the proto—martyr, "Insula St. Stephani". The illustrious founder spared the expense to render this monastery one of the finest in Ireland. He lived to see it solemnly consecrated, and his remains were deposited in its gorgeous monument, which he caused to be built for himself and his descendants, beneath the grand altar. The endowments which De Burgh made to this monastery were very numerous, and consisted of water—mills upon the river, and the tithes of some acres of arable land near the city, and that the good friars should never lack fish, he ordained that, on every Wednesday, they should be supplied with one salmon out of the great weir; on every Saturday, with three out of the high weir ; and on the same day, with one out of the haul—net; and with all the eels that may be taken, one day in each week, out of the many eel—weirs on the river.

The Galway Monastery had a great many benefactors who followed the example of its magnificent founder, for the inhabitants of that fine old city never tired of ministering to the maintenance of the brethren. The largesses of the rich and noble helped to keep the building in good repair, and the poor were ever ready with their mite for the same praiseworthy object. Most of the distinguished families of Galway selected the church for their last resting place, and the O'Flaherties, De Burghs, Fitzstephens, and Lynches, moulder there beneath costly marble monuments rich in heraldry and pompous epitaphs, recording their high achievements in senat??? Mart and battle—field. Apart from these gorgeous monuments there lay an humble cenotaph, beneath which reposed the mortal remains of three Archbishops of Tuam — namely, Maurice O'Fihily, a celebrated scholar, and author of many learned works, who died in the convent in the year 1313 ; Thomas O'Mullaghty and Christopher Bodkin, the respective dates of whose death were 1536 and 1572.

In the reign of Henry VIII, this celebrated monastery was doomed to share the fate of most other religious houses in Ireland. The greater part of its possessions was wrested from the friars, and granted to the Corporation of Galway and their successors. The convent and church were both assigned to an individual, who, in order to accommodate himself to the times, pretended to have adopted the doctrines of the Anglican religion. The conscientious (?) gentleman, having possessed himself of the old conventional register, in which all legacies, bequeathed to the friars, were entered, vigorously enforced the payment of the amounts, which he scrupulously handed over to the community, then residing in a house, which they rented in a city. He likewise built three corn—mills, on the island, for their benefit, and conferred many other obligations upon them, for all which good actions, it is to be hoped that this anonymous benefactor was spared to recant his errors and repent of his well—intentioned hypocrisy.

In the year 1603, James I. of England granted both the monastery and church to Sir George Carew and his heirs forever.

In 1657, all the buildings of the monastery were demolished, and the church converted into a courthouse.

In 1678, the members of this and other religious houses in Galway were banished, but afterwards they gradually returned, and, for many years, endured the full force of the atrocious penal laws, suffering imprisonment, banishment, and sometimes death for their faith.

The Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas was founded in the year 1326, and was dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra, the titular saint of Mariners. It is a Gothic structure, built in the form of a cross, with a spire rising from the centre, situated on a gentle eminence in the centre of the city, and to this day, in its extent and architectural beauty, it attests the piety, wealth, and munificence of its founders.

Shortly after its foundation a council was held, at which, besides the ecclesiastics, many of the nobility and gentry were present ; and there it was thought proper to annex the Sea of Enahduen (to which Galway, at the time belonged) to the metropolitan church of Tuam. The union with Tuam being accomplished, the Church of St Nicholas was governed by vicars, who were commonly of Irish extraction, different in their manners and habits of life as well as in principle, from many of their parishioners, who were of English descent. Under this state of things, discontent grew up, and in the year 1685 Donatus O'Murray, Archibishop of Tuam, erected the Church of St. Nicholas into a collegiate one, and exempted it from his jurisdiction by letters under his seal, which were confirmed by the bull of Pope Innocent VIII, and Donatus also attached to it the parish church of Baleuclair. William Joyce, Archbishop of Tuam, a native of Galway, confirmed, by his deed, all the former grants and privileges of the collegiate church, wardens and vicars, and soon after united to it the churches of Furnamore, Moycull, and Skyrne.

In the resign of Edward VI, St. Nicholas was constituted the Royal College of Galway, and was granted by Elizabeth the revenues of the plundered monasteries of Armatown and Ballintubber.

The Dominican Friary was built on an elevated spot near the seashore, in the west part of the town, on the site of an ancient convent of "St. Mary of the Hill", founded by the O'Hallorans. It was granted to the Dominicans of Athenry in 1408, by Pope Innocent VIII.

In 1493, James Lynch Fitzstephen, the celebrated Mayor of Galway, who executed his own son, erected the choir of this church.

In 1642, Lord Forbes landed at Galway, and took possession of the church, with the design of converting it into a battery, wherewith reduce the town. Failing in this, he defaced the church, and, in his brutal rage, dug the graves and burned the coffins and bones of the dead.

In 1652, the friars surrendered the church and monastery to the corporation. They were soon after razed to the ground, lest they should be converted into a fortification by the troops of Cromwell and used against the town.