St. Mary's Church, Belfast ( ga, Naoimh Eaglais Mhuire) is a Grade B-1 listed

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church located in Chapel Lane/Smithfield area of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. A church was opened on this site in May 1784 and thus it is the mother church for the city of Belfast. At the time, it was the only Roman Catholic church in the then town of Belfast after the relaxation of some of the Penal Laws. The church grounds contain an undistinguished grotto dedicated to

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (french: Notre-Dame de Lourdes) is a title of the Virgin Mary. She is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, ...

. Until 2022 St. Mary's was a mensal parish of the

Diocese of Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, ( ga, Deoise an Dúin agus Chonaire) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the me ...

History

In the census of 1782, there were only 365 Catholics recorded living in Belfast. Following a collection from the local

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

congregations, funds were donated to the building of St. Mary's Church. The first Mass was celebrated on 30 May 1784 - a Sunday - by Father Hugh O’Donnell, the first Parish Priest of Belfast. In the opening ceremony, a company of the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

, led by

Waddell Cunningham Waddell Cunningham (1729 - 1797) was wealthy merchant and civic leader in late eighteenth-century Belfast, Ireland, who, both in his business ventures and political interventions, was opposed by the nascent democratic spirit of his time. He cut ...

, lined the chapel yard and escorted Father O'Donnell into the building. In 1813, the church's

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

was donated by the Anglican Vicar of Belfast, Canon Turner, continuing the positive relationship between the Roman Catholic church and the local Protestant congregations. Later, in 1815, St. Patrick's Church was built to accommodate the growing Catholic population of the city. As Belfast's Catholic population grew after the

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompan ...

, the church was deemed too small and thus architect John O'Neill was contracted to design a church big enough for the burgeoning congregation. Although none of the original church can be seen, in 1868 the church was enlarged and renovated into a new Romanesque style building. The principal changes in this enlargement were the addition of five bays, a porch, a ninety feet high tower the very distinct apsidal sanctuary: the building was brought forward to within a few feet of street, entailing demolition of sacristan's cottage.

Twentieth Century

Renovation work with a new staircase, confessionals and sacristy with all the work undertaken by the Belfast-based architect Padraig Gregory commenced in the late 1930s and it was planned to open the renovated church in May 1941 but the Belfast Blitz several days beforehand forced the cancellation of the re-opening by

Bishop Daniel Mageean Bishop Daniel Mageean D.D. 6 May 1882 – 17 January 1962 was an Irish Roman Catholic Prelate and until 1962 he held the title Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. Early life and priestly ministry Daniel Mageean was born in the townland of Darragh ...

. This renovation was the occasion of a very fine history of the church and parish by Rev Patrick Rogers (priest). A new date stone was placed over the doorway in the form of a Potent cross stating; ‘FIDEM / SERVAVI / 1783 / 1868 / 1941’ In the

Marian Year A Marian year is a designation given by the Catholic Church to calendar years in which Mary the mother of Jesus is to be particularly reverenced and celebrated. Marian years do not follow a set pattern; they may be declared by a bishop for his d ...

of 1954 a Grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes was established under the auspices of the then Administrator, Fr Bernard MacLaverty - an uncle of the Belfast novelist of the same name. The grotto was created in the gardens surrounding the church by Padraig Gregory. To mark the bicentenary the sanctuary was renovated in 1983 with work by artist Roy Carroll, a favourite of

Cahal Daly Charles (Cahal) Brendan Cardinal Daly KGCHS (1 October 1917 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish philosopher, theologian, writer and international speaker and, in later years, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Daly served as the Roman Cath ...

, much of this timber furniture was later removed after Daly's departure from the

. In May–August 2017, the church underwent a substantial renovation work to repair the roof and walls, and to repave the

grotto A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high t ...

area.

Present Day

For almost forty years the church was served by clergy from the Mill Hill Fathers, the last of whom left in 2019. The current

Parish Priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

is Fr. Timothy Bartlett assisted by a range of retired clergy. The church holds two masses a day from Sunday - Monday, and three a day on Friday and Saturday. The 6pm Mass on both Friday and Saturday is celebrated in the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Belfast Churches in Belfast Roman Catholic churches in Belfast Shrines to the Virgin Mary Grade B+ listed buildings Roman Catholic churches completed in 1784 Grade B1 listed buildings 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Religious organizations established in 1784