THE FRANCISCANS IN GALWAY

by Tom Kenny

In the graveyard at the back of the Abbey Church in Francis Street stands an interesting memorial carrying the De Burgo coat of Arms and a long broadsword. The inscription tells us that it was erected in memory of William De Burgo who founded the Franciscan friary on St. Stephen’s Island in 1296. The site was roughly where the Courthouse is today and the island was formed by the Galway River on one side and a branch of that river which ran through what today would be Woodquay and Mary Street and re-joined the main river. A second and smaller island lay between St. Stephen’s and the town wall, so that in order to maintain communications with the town, two bridges were necessary, one at the junction of Mary Street and Abbeygate Street and the other at the Little Gate. The Abbey buildings lay immediately north of the present graveyard and between them and the river was ‘Sruthán na mBráthair’, a small stream that enabled the friars to bring boats in from the main river.  The monastery was known as the Abbey of St. Francis.

 William, who was known as “The Grey” or “Liath”, died in 1324 and the stone was erected in 1645. For whatever reason, the stone was buried about four feet under the ground until it was rediscovered in 1779. Most of the Abbey personnel came from the vicinity but initially in its character, it was Anglo-Irish and many of the Galway Tribe families – the Frenches, the Brownes, the Blakes etc – had their family tombs in the old graveyard. The Franciscan Order, in common with other religious orders, went through many trials and tribulations in their history here, their property confiscated and sometimes destroyed, banishment etc., but the friars remained through the penal days and held on to their thatched chapel. It was repaired in 1724 and then, in 1781, they began to construct the current Church. This was possibly when they uncovered the stone.

The building of the Church took until 1836. It was designed by James Cusack and has a handsome Greek doric portico set against rusticated limestone walls. The Holy Water fonts outside the church have scallop shells and carved heads.

The interior of the Church has Greek doric colonnades separating the nave from the aisles and pilasters on the aisle walls. The area in front of the sanctuary, corresponding to the crossing, is covered by a coffered dome. The original altars are still there, sometimes referred to as ‘pleasantly rustic’. There are also some nice fragments of a Holy Trinity in a small enclosure at the south side of the Church. As you can see, there used to be railings in front which added a bit of character to the façade, but these were removed when they no longer held fairs in the centre of town. Notice the elegant lamp post and also the two young saplings planted at the footpath. These grew into trees which enhanced the landscape but eventually had to be removed.

The rapid expansion of the Franciscan Province in the 1920s caused them to make better arrangements for their novices. They laid the foundation stone of St. Anthony’s College in Newcastle in 1933. They expanded it in 1941 to cater for the ‘student explosion’ caused by the closure of their college in Louvain and the impossibility of sending students to Rome during the war. This monastery in Newcastle was sold to UCG over thirty years ago.

Their sodality group, the Franciscan lay members are known as the Third Order are a major feature of the day to day workings of the Church. In 1971, the then bishop, Michael Browne made the Abbey a Parish Church. It has a special place in the hearts of local residents and those passers-by who regularly drop in for a moment’s calm and meditation.

So, we have three images for you this week – the first shows the De Burgo memorial stone mentioned above. The second is a photograph (c.1900) courtesy of the National Library of the interior and the third, of the façade, was taken around the same time.

Finally, our sincere thanks to the old Galwegian who corrected us on something we reported in last week column. We stated that the Corporation closed down the city dump in the swamp and moved it to the Headford Road. In fact, they moved it to the Tuam Road, and after a number of years, to the Headford Road.