St Patrick's Catholic Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in Jenkin's Lane in the city of

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, Ireland. It is one of the oldest surviving Irish Catholic churches to have been built after the

Reformation in Ireland The Reformation in Ireland was a movement for the reform of religious life and institutions that was introduced into Ireland by the English Crown at the behest of King Henry VIII of England. His desire for an annulment of his marriage was known ...

History

Between the Reformation and Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Irish Catholics continued to worship in makeshift chapels or "mass houses", which were usually only tolerated by the Protestant authorities if they were built outside of city walls or boundaries. In Waterford, a slightly more tolerant attitude prevailed, perhaps reflecting the comparative wealth of the local Catholic community. The earliest record of the site being used for Catholic worship is of the

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

being offered there in 1704. The present building was built in 1764.

Edmund Ignatius Rice Edmund Ignatius Rice, Presentation Brothers, F.P.M., Congregation of Christian Brothers, C.F.C. (; 1 June 1762 – 29 August 1844) was a Catholic missionary and educationalist who founded two religious institute, institutes of Religious brothe ...

, the missionary and educationalist, worshipped at St Patrick's in about 1790, and joined other young men there in the "Waterford group", meeting for prayer and spiritual reading when it was known as the "Little Chapel", the "Big Chapel" later becoming the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity. The chapel was extended by the addition of a

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 ...

in about 1840 and a sacristry in 1890. The building was re-roofed in 1990, and was closed for further renovation including a new access path in 2019, being reopened by Alphonsus Cullinan, the

Bishop of Waterford and Lismore The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Waterford and town of Lismore in Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1838, and is still used by the Roman Catholic Church. Hi ...

in September of that year. The

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) maintains a central database of the architectural heritage of the Republic of Ireland covering the period since 1700 in complement to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, which focuses on arc ...

rates St Patrick's as being of "national" importance and describes it as "one of the earliest-surviving post-Reformation churches in Ireland", while the local diocesan website says it is the "oldest Catholic Church in Ireland".

Description

The exterior is unremarkable with cement-rendered walls and artificial slates dating from the 1990 restoration.The exception is the round-headed main door, which is in a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with fluted pillasters, a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

and moulded

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

, dated to 1840. The interior has a

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

d gallery along three sides, supported on an

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

of five bays with fluted

Doric column The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

s. The chancel has a neo-classical

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

with fluted pilasters and a broken pediment. The

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed ceiling rests on a moulded

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

References

{{reflist Roman Catholic churches in Waterford (city) 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Ireland