St. Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

church of the Diocese of Kerry situated to the west of

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...

in County Kerry,

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 ...

Architecture

St. Mary's Cathedral was designed by the renowned English architect

Augustus Welby Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

, who is said to have gained inspiration from the ruins of

Ardfert Cathedral The Ardfert Cathedral ( ga, Ardeaglais Ard Fhearta) is a ruined cathedral in Ardfert, County Kerry, Ireland. Dedicated to Saint Brendan, it was the seat of the Diocese of Ardfert from 1117. It is now a heritage tourism site. History Ardfert ...

"which is particularly evident in the slender triple lancets in the east and west walls". Construction began in 1842 but was not continuous. The great famine and the lack of available funds meant the work was stopped several times; when work recommenced in 1853, the interior decorations were designed by

James Joseph McCarthy James Joseph McCarthy was an Irish architect famous for his design of ecclesiastical buildings. McCarthy was born in Dublin, Ireland on 6 January 1817. His parents were from County Kerry. He was educated by the Christian Brothers in Richmond St. ...

. In 1855 the building was ready for regular worship. Separately the spire and nave were completed in 1907 by the Irish architects Ashlin and Coleman of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, who had designed

Cobh Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Colman ( ga, Ardeaglais Naomh Colmán), usually known as Cobh Cathedral, or previously Queenstown Cathedral, is a single-spire cathedral in Cobh, Ireland. It is a Roman Catholic cathedral and was completed in 1919. Bu ...

. The width of the nave was based on the medieval models to be found throughout Ireland and England. The west end is very Irish in character, with three tall lancet windows and a very low entrance door beneath. The stonework used is an attractive mixture of brown and grey stone. The siting of the church is more like the siting of a priory than the siting of a cathedral, as the cathedral stands in a huge field instead of in the middle of the original settlement of Killarney. In 1973 the cathedral was "reordered" under the direction of Bishop

Eamonn Casey Eamonn Casey (24 April 1927 – 13 March 2017) was an Irish Catholic prelate who served as bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh in Ireland from 1976 to 1992. His resignation in 1992, after it was revealed he had had an affair with an American woman, ...

. Many of the original interior features were removed or damaged and this renovation is regarded by some as controversial. A flavour of the scale of the change envisioned by the architect Ray Carroll is given in this assessment: "the greatest single change was the removal of all the internal Victorian plasterwork. The original reredos, altar and screens were removed, the floor of the crossing was raised to the level of the former sanctuary, and a new sanctuary was created at the crossing. A new altar, pulpit, throne and chairs, all made of

Tasmanian oak Tasmanian oak is the hardwood produced by any of three trees, ''Eucalyptus regnans'', ''Eucalyptus obliqua'' or ''Eucalyptus delegatensis'', when it is sourced from the Australian state of Tasmania. Despite the common name "oak", none of the specie ...

, were installed." File:Cathedral organ of killarney by paride.jpg, Organ File:Window of Killarney Cathedral by Paride.jpg, Window File:Left chapel of the cathedral of killerney by paride.jpg, Left chapel

References

Bibliography

*Peter Galloway, The Cathedrals of Ireland, The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast, 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Cathedral, Killarney Roman Catholic churches in County Kerry Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Republic of Ireland Roman Catholic Diocese of Kerry Augustus Pugin buildings 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Ireland Roman Catholic churches completed in 1855