DIVINE ILLUMINATION 2

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This can be viewed as the third in a series of posts on the Dún Laoghaire Oratory.

The first post was following my visit to the the oratory itself which had been brought to my attention by my friend Brendan Cardiff. Despite having at one stage lived some twenty years of my life in Ballybrack and spent a fair amount of it in Dún Laoghaire I had not the faintest idea of the Oratory's existence. At that time it would have been in the grounds of the Dominican convent when the school was still in operation.

The second post followed on the the launch of the recent book which filled a gap in the extant literature on the Oratory.

In this post, having now read the book, I just wanted to make a few direct comments on it.

It might be worth your while to read the posts in the order set out above.

It is a wonderful book, packed with artistic and archival material. It contains illustrations of the Oratory illuminations with loads of background on Sr Concepta's earlier life before she entered the convent. It gives the wider background of the Dominican presence in Dún Laoghaire and beyond. It fills in the story of the efforts to save the Oratory when the site was sold and the convent/school buildings were subsequently demolished. This is an aspect I was very curious about.

Sr Concepta c.1900 (dlr local studies)

Th book reproduces this photo of Sr Concepta so that we know what she looked like. There was a version in the original Dominican publication way back but that has been long out of print.

Illuminated address by Sr. Concepta Lynch featuring bird motifs later used in the oratory presented to Mother Margaret Mary Keeffe on the occasion of her Silver Jubilee 1911 (Courtesy National Gallery of Ireland NGI/19394)

The illuminated address was a big thing back at the end of the nineteenth century and Sr Concepta's father was renowned as the best celtic motif illustrator in the country. Sr Concepta carried on his tradition both before and after her entry into the convent.

Details from borders of illuminated address by Sr. Concepta Lynch showing views of Kingstown and Dalkey taken from contemporary postcards (Courtesy National Gallery of Ireland NGI/2011/0040)

Designs consisted not only of patterns but also of portraits and landscapes.

St Michael's Church Dún Laoghaire c. 1960 (dlr local studies0

The book contains before (above) and after (below) pictures relating to the fire which destroyed St. Michaels church in 1965. The nuns allowed the parish the use of the convent chapel for various occasions following the fire.

St Michael's Church Dún Laoghaire in flames 29 July 1965

St Michael's Church Dún Laoghaire some days later with me

I couldn't resist inserting my own picture from days after the fire. Needless to say this one is not in the book.

Veronica Heywood holding up the poster for Dún Laoghaire Arts Week '87. It highlighted "Exhibitions, Street Entertainment, Dance, Music, Workshops, Theatre and more". It also highlighted the Arts Week Ball on Friday 25 September at the Top Hat. The Arts Week leaflet announced that Chris Meehan and his Redneck Friends and guest Davy Spillane would play the Festival Ball. Admission was £5. (dlr local studies)

I mentioned Veronica along with Sr Frances and their successful efforts to save the Oratory in the previous post. I didn't get a decent photo of Veronica at the launch so I'm nicking the one above from the book. There is a full chapter in the book on the Dún Laoghaire Arts Festival and its connections with the campaign to save the Oratory.

There are three people connected with Dún Laoghaire library (Lexicon) listed on the back cover.

David Gunning is the Archivist in Residence for dlr libraries. He has contributed the following chapters:
Chapter 2: The Dominican Order
Chapter 3: St. Mary's Dominican Convent, Dún Laoghaire
Chapter 8: What is an Oratory

Nigel Curtin is a professional librarian and he manages the Local Studies Collection in dlr libraries. He has contributed the following chapters:
Chapter 4: Lily Lynch (with Liz Clarke Pilkington)
Chapter 5: Sr Concepta Lynch
Chapter 7: In Memory of the War

Marian Thérèse Keyes is Senior Executive Librarian at dlr libraries and an art historian. She contributed the following chapters:
Chapter 9: The Dún Laoghaire Arts Centre (DLAC)
Chapter 10: Changed Uterly (with David Gunning)

There are two other Chapter authors, as follows.

Professor Deirdre Raftery, FRHS, UCD:
Chapter 1: Historical Pespective on Religious Life for Irish Women in Ireland, 1830-1930

Síghle Bhreathnach-Lynch:
Chapter 6: A Road to God : Sr Concepta's Oratory

And Sr Ben (Margaret Mac Curtain) has written the Introduction.

You'll get some idea of the breadth of coverage from the above chapter headings. And then there are five pages of bibliography which, as well as referencing background works, reveal that quite a lot has been written about the Oratory itself, though it has been spread over a wide range of publications and there is nothing approaching the combined comprehensiveness and quality of this book itself.

I was pleased to see the inclusion in the bibliography of the informative article written by my friend Brendan Cardiff. This was published in Doctrine and Life in 2018.

It is commonly held that the oratory is dedicated to the soldiers from Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire} who never returned from WWI. Their names are recorded in this book. The Sacred Heart Statue is closely connected with one of these in particular, Thomas Kelly. He is buried in the War Cemetery in Poperinge where the statue came from.

I'm glad to see Tim Carey get a favourable mention. Tim was appointed Heritage Officer for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in 2003 and he made the development and opening up of the Oratory one of his priorities. He has been very pro-active in promoting the heritage of the county.

The book is a real Aladdin's Cave and production values are high. My only criticism is that the footnotes are difficult to read. They are coloured and in a very light typeface, unsuitable for the high quality paper. No reason not to have them in black even with the same typeface.

I started this post ages ago. It's been hanging around in draft and I forgot all about it. All is not lost, however, as just yesterday I learned that Mags Harnett from the National Gallery of Ireland’s guide panel has organised her very first online lecture especially for Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland. And the subject, Sister Concepta Lynch. It's well worth a watch.