Our Lady of Dublin is a

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

of the

Madonna and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church is a Roman Catholic church in Dublin, Ireland maintained by the Carmelite order. The church is noted for having the relics of Saint Valentine, which were donated to the church in the 19th century by Pope Gre ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, that represents the

Black Madonna The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Black Madonna can be found both ...

of Ireland.

History

Local legend with tenuous documentary support suggests that the statue originated in St. Mary's Abbey on Mary Street in Dublin which was dissolved as part of the Henrician reforms in 1539 (see: Dissolution of the Monasteries). The first concrete historical mention dates from 1749 in a survey of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Chapels of Dublin, which refers to a statue in St. Mary's Lane Parochial Chapel. The chapel was torn down in 1816 to make way for a new school and no further mention of the statue is recorded until it was found by Father John Spratt, a member of the

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

order, in 1824. The restored statue has been on display near the high altar of the church in a purpose built shrine since 1915. The feast-day of Our Lady of Dublin is celebrated on 8 September.

Description

Stylistically, the statue resembles early 16th-century wooden statuary and probably dates from that period. It is a life-size figure carved in oak.

References

External links

Shrine website
{{coord, 53, 20, 23.08, N, 6, 15, 59.37, W, display=title 16th-century sculptures Statues of the Madonna and Child Statues in Ireland Arts in Dublin (city)