For my first ever visit to Dublin the sun was shining and the windows looked amazing in the dozen or so churches visited on my stained glass itinerary. They were all open, busy and filled with a wealth of mostly Irish stained glass from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here are two of the largest Catholic churches, both of them with side chapels containing shrines to saints with an invitation to light a candle and recite an appropriate prayer.
St Augustine & St John The Baptist Catholic Church, known as John’s Lane Church, looking north towards the altar, where the stained glass is by Mayers of Munich.
John’s Lane Church, served by the Augustinian Order, was designed by Edward Pugin with his brother in law George Ashlin. It was built in the Gothic style from 1862-74 with a second phase completed in 1895 that includes a spire designed by William Hague that is the tallest in Dublin. Inside are elaborate spaces, lit by high windows and richly decorated with mosaics, carvings, metalwork and gilded panels, with just a couple of incongruous banners (above and below). The dramatic statue (below right) on one of many tasteful radiators that appeared in my photos is of St Monica the mother of St Augustine, the suggested prayer at her feet begs for her to watch over the family.
John’s Lane Church, Left: In front of the Shrine of The Sacred Heart, Right: statue of St Monica.
John’s Lane Church, Left: east facing aisle windows with windows by Michael Healy and Harry Clarke Studios. Right; west facing aisle windows by Harry Clarke Studios above The Shrine of St Rita.
The most celebrated window in this church is by Michael Healy from 1933-4 (above left). It shows St Monica with St Augustine and the major events in his life in the lovely bottom panels. It’s an incredibly dark window, especially on the afternoon of a sunny day when not much light is coming through the glass, and when even the decorative, almost borderless, sections are in such an intense colour palette. The stained glass in the windows adjacent and opposite (above right) is from the Harry Clarke Studios, and although their style is familiar and some of the details very fine, they are not mentioned in any of the listings of the actual work of Harry Clarke - an artist whose style lived on after his death in 1931 in the work of the studio that continued to use his name. The symmetry of these aisle walls, with rows of confessionals below the windows, appeals to my sense of order as does the placing of the shrine to St Rita with its blue lights (below left) under the bluest of the Clarke windows.
John’s Lane Church, Left: Shrine of St Rita. Right: Harry Clarke Studios stained glass in the window above.
John’s Lane Church, Left: Shrine of The Sacred Heart. Right: Shrine to Our Mother of Good Counsel.
To the left of the altar The Shrine of The Sacred Heart (above left) ‘offers an opportunity for good photographs’ (this from the church website). All the fittings, carvings and mosaics, by the Oppenheimer firm, are so detailed but make such a complete whole that is a wonderful setting for stained glass by the Dublin firm Earley & Company. To the right of the altar (above right) is the oldest and most popular shrine in the church, dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel and served since 1900 by a Confraternity of Knights of the Shrine who act as ushers and recite the Little Office of Our Lady daily. Blue lights in the cabinets on either side of the shrine - another incongruous touch that is at least symmetrical - lead up to a window by Early & Son with a turquoise sea and sky.
The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, known as Whitefriar Street Church, looking west towards the altar and window behind.
Whitefriars Street Church, served by the Carmelite Order, has been on the same site since the 1820s. It looks like a block of apartments with an ornate entrance, this was added along with many of the shrines inside when the church was completely remodelled in 1951. The neo classical/utilitarian style of the interior houses a row of beautiful 1930s stained glass windows by Early & Company (below), with others by Mayers and Abbey Studios. The Lady of Mount Carmel window behind the altar (above) is attributed to Hubert McGoldrick by the church website but to Leo Earley in the definitive study of Irish stained glass that is the Gazetteer of Irish stained glass. This window, a simple arched opening like all the others in the church, glows from within the organ pipes behind the domed altar, small in size but huge in impact.
Whitefriar Street Church, South aisle with windows by Mayer and Co, Earley and Co and Abbey Studios.
Thrillingly, for my new found interest in shrines which is teaching me so much about saints, there are 17 shrines listed on the Whitefriar Street Church website.
Whitefriar Street Church, Left: Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. Right, Shrine of St Valentine.
First, on the south aisle, is the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima (above left) with her statue between a gorgeous vibrant window and a restrained mosaic band, all very 1930s. In the new extension off the north aisle is the Shrine of St Valentine, above his statue is a window made of the most golden coloured glass and below is a casket containing the remains of the saint brought from Rome.
The shrine of St Therese of Lisieux was also built in the 1950s (below left). Here a marble statue, a replica of the one in the Basilica in Lisieux, stands on a plinth beneath a mosaic that depicts Our Lady of the Smile. In the most lavish shrine to the north of the entrance doors is an unpainted life size oak figure known as Our Lady of Dublin, she has a history that stretches back, anecdotally, to medieval times. In all of these shrines there is hardly an item out of place or carelessly displayed, with discreet information panels and rows of candles or battery operated lights in vintage style trolleys.
Whitefriar Street Church, Left: Shrine of St Therese of Lisieux. Right: Shrine of Our Lady of Dublin.
Whitefriar Street Church, Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.
The best two shrines, have different qualities - more homespun than lavish. Next to the entrance is a huge fibreglass cave that suggests the rocks at Lourdes where St Bernadette had her vision of the Immaculate Conception hovering there in a niche - a naturalistic scene so she is off centre. Beside this fabrication is a real piece of the rock, about the size of the eraser on the top of a pencil (above right).
The Shrine of Blessed Titus Brandsma (a saint since 2022) also at the back of the church, tells the story of this committed Carmelite philosophy teacher and anti Nazi who was murdered in the concentration camp at Dachau. This shrine is a much more modest affair, a life size statue with wonky glasses and plain colours that is barely raised off the ground and whose history stayed with me throughout the tour of Dublin churches.
Whitefriar Street Church, Shrine of Blessed Titus Brandsma.