St Eunan's Cathedral ( , also known as Raphoe Cathedral, is one of two

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

churches of the United Dioceses of Derry and Raphoe (united in 1834) in the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

. It is located in

Raphoe Raphoe ( ; ) is a small town in County Donegal in the north-west of Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. It is the main town in the fertile district of East Donegal known as the Laggan. It gave its name to the Barony of Raphoe, which was l ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

and is dedicated to Saint

Eunan Eunan ( ) is a common name: * Adomnán ( 679–704), abbot of Iona * Eunan O'Halpin, Irish academic * Eunan O'Kane (born 1990), Irish professional footballer * Eunan O'Neill Eunan O'Neill (born Newry, County Down, 12 August 1982) is a No ...

(Adomnán of Iona) (627/8 – 704) who was abbot of Iona (679–704). The other diocesan cathedral is

St Columb's Cathedral St Columb's Cathedral in the walled city of Derry, Northern Ireland, is the cathedral church and episcopal see of the Church of Ireland's Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. It is also the parish church of Templemore. It is dedicated to Saint Columba ...

in Derry.

History

The oldest substantive part of the present building is the south-east corner, which dates back to the 12th century, although two pieces of a sculptured door lintel dating from around the 9th century are believed to be from the original monastery and church of Raphoe, as founded by St Eunan. The rest of the cathedral is a mixture of successive rebuilding and alterations dating from the 17th to late 19th centuries. The original building was cruciform in shape. A virtual re-building of the medieval cathedral was directed by The Rt. Rev. Dr. George Montgomery from around 1605. Montgomery had been chaplain to

King James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

, and was nominated not only

Bishop of Raphoe The Bishop of Raphoe ( ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the town of Raphoe in County Donegal, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bi ...

, but of

Clogher Clogher (; , ) is a village and civil parish in the border area of south County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Blackwater, 5.8 miles from the border crossing to County Monaghan. It stands on the townlands of Clogher Demesne ...

and

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

at the same time. After centuries of modifications and restorations, much of the current building dates from the 1730s. The entrance is by the porch under the tower built in 1738 by Bishop Forster (1716-1744). By the 1870s, the building had again become shabby and neglected. It attracted the unfavourable criticism of many church people and ecclesiologists and one

high church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

architect, Sir Thomas Drew, described the cathedral as "the most neglected church in the diocese though situated in the richest part of Donegal." In 1892, Drew was commissioned to begin a plan of restoration which, commenced in 1893, uncovered much of the medieval fabric while "medievalizing" the greater part of the rest of the building. This restoration, funded by the Knox family, involved partial rebuilding which also saw the transepts largely absorbed into the main line of the church, so that it has a long narrow form, and added much stained glass, and a decorative western doorway. The cathedral shares the characteristic of many medieval church buildings, where larger bodies of clergy offered more elaborate liturgies, in that the quire or

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

is longer than the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. Medieval features still extant include a bishop's seat (sedilla),

shamrock A shamrock is a type of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of the Irish word and simply means "young clover". At most times'', Shamrock'' refers to either the species ...

-topped columns, a

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

and an early

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

window. There is a tall square tower at the western end.

Related remains

Near the cathedral building are the remnants of a consistorial court building and a large

bishop's palace A bishop's palace is a form of ecclesiastical architecture constituting the official residence of a bishop.The term was not used in the British Isles until the Church of England was restructured following the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD. However, th ...

Burials

* Alexander Cairncross, Bishop of Raphoe *

Alexander Montgomery (1720–1800) Colonel Alexander John Montgomery (1720 – 29 September 1800) was an Ireland, Irish politician. He was born in 1720, the eldest son of Thomas Montgomery (Irish politician), Thomas Montgomery, M.P. for Lifford, and his wife Mary Franklin. His y ...

("Old Sandy"), MP for

for 32 years

Gallery

RaphoeCathedral.JPG, St Eunan's Cathedral, Raphoe Entrance doors, Raphoe Church of Ireland Cathedral - geograph.org.uk - 998452.jpg, Entrance doors of the Cathedral Raphoe Saint Eunan Cathedral — Geograph-1159064-by-james-denham.jpg, St Eunan's Cathedral, Raphoe

References

{{Coord, 54, 52, 26, N, 07, 35, 54, W, region:IE-C_type:landmark, display=title

Churches in County Donegal Raphoe

History

Related remains

Burials

Gallery

See also

References