St. Erk of Slane

St. Erk of Slane, Bishop
Friend of St. Brigid of Kildare, co-consecrator of St. Conleth, first Bishop of Kildare.

“St. Erk, ‘the sweet spoken judge’, was, in all probability, a native of Munster; and is said to have been page to King Laoghaire at the time he showed this respect to St. Patrick. [Lanigan, vol. 1, p. 346] He was consecrated some time before the year 465, and was the first bishop of the ancient diocese of Slane, and abbot of the monastery which was erected there by St. Patrick. He is said to have been the preceptor of St. Brendan, and was an intimate friend of St. Brigid. At the synod of Magh-Femyn, in Tipperary, it is related that Erk spoke highly of the great abbess of Kildare, and of the miraculous favours with which she was endowed by the Almighty. He assisted at the consecration of Conlaeth, first bishop of Kildare, and took an active part in all the ecclesiastical movements of the age… Colgan says that, in the old calendars, Ercus is treated of on 2nd of October and 2nd of November Probus, writing of him in the tenth century, says: “Hercus, filius Dego, cujus reliquae nunc venerantur in civitate, quae vocatur Slane.”

From: The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. A. Cogan, C.C., Published in Dublin, 1862.

St. Erk of Slane, pray for us!

Pilgrimage to Kilcock, Co. Kildare

Members and friends of the Catholic Heritage Association joined together last Saturday for a Traditional Latin Mass for the repose of the soul of one of our founder members.

Reports of previous Traditional Latin Masses organised by the Association in Kilcock can be found here: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017.

The Patroness of the Parish is St. Coca. You can find out more about her here.

St. Ninian of Scotland began his career in Cloncurry, also in the Parish. You can find out about his connection with Kilcock here.

Buildings of Ireland gives a detailed description of the Church of St. Coca here.

First Pilgrimage to Tullamore

It was a joyful privilege for members and friends of the Catholic Heritage Association to be joined by so many people from Tullamore and the surrounding Parishes for our first pilgrimage to the Church of the Assumption, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, last Saturday.

The Parish website gives an excellent history of the Catholic Heritage of Tullamore, on the occasion of the recent centenary of the Church, here, with a survey of the Church building here.  Buildings of Ireland, as ever, has a thorough appraisal of the Church itself here.  Archiseek has another excellent piece here.

Our good friends at Tullamore Parish have posted some photos of the Mass on their excellent Parish website here. Mary with her loving Son, bless us each and every one!

Latin Mass Pilgrimage to Kilcock, Co. Kildare

We are returning to St. Coca's Church, Kilcock, Co. Kildare, on Saturday, 30th June, for a Traditional Latin Mass at 12 noon.

Come and Pray!

Latin Mass Pilgrimage to Tullamore

For the first time, the Catholic Heritage Association will be making a pilgrimage to historic Tullamore, Co. Offaly, on Saturday, 23rd June, with a Traditional Latin Mass celebrated in the Parish Church of the Assumption at 2.30 p.m.

Come and pray!

Traditional Easter Ceremonies

The Easter Ceremonies in the Gregorian Rite:

Holy Thursday

4 p.m. - Holy Mass: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
6 p.m. - Holy Mass: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
6 p.m. - Holy Mass: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
7 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
7.30 p.m. - Tenebrae: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath

Good Friday

12 noon - Stations of the Cross: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
3 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
3 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
5 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
6 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
7 p.m. - Stations of the Cross: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
7.30 p.m. - Tenebrae: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath

Holy Saturday

12.30 p.m. - Tenebrae: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
8 p.m. - Easter Vigil: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
8.30 p.m. - Easter Vigil: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
9 p.m. - Easter Vigil: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
9 p.m. - Easter Vigil: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.

Easter Sunday

9 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Mary's Church, Ballyhea, Co. Cork
9 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Mary's Church, Chapel Street, Newry, Co. Down
10 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Patrick's Church, Drumkeen, Co. Donegal
10 a.m. - Holy Mass: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
10.30 a.m. - Holy Mass: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
10.30 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
12 noon - Holy Mass: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
1.30 p.m. - Holy Mass: Holy Cross Church (O.P.), Tralee, Co. Kerry
2 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Columba's Church, Longtower, Derry City
4 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Therese's Church, Somerton Road, Belfast City
5 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Patrick's Church, College Road, Kilkenny City
5.30 p.m. - Holy Mass: Blessed Sacrament Chapel, Our Lady's Shrine, Knock, Co. Mayo

Beannachtaí na Cásca oraibh go léir!
A happy and holy Easter to one and all!

Bective Abbey

From Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy:

Bective in the barony of Navan and on the river Boyne. Murchard O'Melaghlin, king of Meath, founded the Cistercian abbey of Bective in the year 1146, under the invocation of the Virgin Mary.

The reader cannot but observe that a large number, if not the greater part, of the Irish monasteries was dedicated to the Mother of God. Always devotion to the Virgin Mary has been practised in Ireland. The poor reaper of Ireland on his autumnal pilgrimage to England to earn a few pounds wherewith to pay the Irish landlord a portion of his rack rent implored Mary, the star of the sea, to protect her dear Irish boy wherever he roamed, confident of her protection the Irish emigrant betakes himself to the waters of the mighty Atlantic and when the winds of heaven agitate the vast deep threatening with destruction the bark, to whose temporary keeping English rule and landlord oppression, worse than Egyptian bondage, have consigned him, the Irish Catholic, no other hope being left, entreats Mary to supplicate her Son, whom the seas and winds obey, in his behalf.

The abbey of Bective was called de Beatitudine

AD 1340 John was abbot.
AD 1488 the abbot, James of Castlemartin, received the king's pardon for the part he had taken in the affair of Lambert Simnell.

July the 31st and thirty fourth of Henry VII, the abbot surrendered, according to the acceptation of the word (in the English use it means forced to surrender), the possessions of this abbey, amounting to twenty messuages and one thousand two hundred acres of arable and pasture land in the county of Meath, became involved in the general confiscation and yet, as the royal plunderer progressed in his sacrilegious career, new wants arose, seemingly as cruel and as tyrannic as his thirst for the blood of his faithless wives.

The abbot of Bective sat as a baron in parliament, Large ruins of Bective abbey still remain. The cloisters and tower are almost entire.