Clane Friary, also called Clane Abbey, is a former friary of the

Order of Friars Minor Conventual The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

located in

Clane Clane (; ) is a town in County Kildare, Ireland, from Dublin. Its population of 7,280 makes it the eighth largest town in Kildare and the 66th largest in Ireland. It is on the River Liffey. Clane gives its name to the associated townland, ...

, Ireland.

Location

Clane Friary is located immediately southeast of Clane village, to the north of King Mesgegra's Mound and the

River Liffey The River Liffey ( Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the Ri ...

History

Clane (believed to derive from ''Claon-áth'', "crooked ford") is an early Gaelic monastery. It was traditionally founded by Saint Ailbe of Emly c. AD 520 (or later in AD 548), and had

Secundinus Secundinus (fl. 5th century), or Sechnall (Modern Irish: ''Seachnall'') as he was known in Irish, was founder and patron saint of Domhnach Sechnaill, Co. Meath, who went down in medieval tradition as a disciple of St Patrick and one of the first ...

(Sechnall, Seachnall) as its second abbot. It took part in the missionary work of the 6th and 7th centuries. Clane was sacked and plundered by

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

in 1035. It continued until after the 1111

Synod of Rathbreasail A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mean ...

. It hosted the Synod of Clane in 1162, convened by Gelasius of Armagh (Gilla Meic Liac mac Diarmata) and attended by

Lorcán Ua Tuathail Lorcán Ua Tuathail, known in English as Laurence O'Toole and in French as Laurent d'Eu (1128 – 14 November 1180), was Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland. Lorcán played a prominent role in the Irish Church ...

and 25 other bishops. It established that no-one could become a

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as french: lecteur, en, lector, pl, lektor and russian: лектор. It has various specialized uses. ...

unless he had been educated at

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , " Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

. In 1258/60 Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald, son of

Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Lord of Offaly Maurice Fitzmaurice FitzGerald I, 2nd Lord of Offaly (c.1184 – 20 May 1257) was a Norman in Ireland peer, soldier, and Justiciar of Ireland from 1232 to 1245. He mustered many armies against the Irish, and due to his harsh methods as Justicia ...

, established a house of the

at Clane. He was buried at the monastery in 1259; a fragment of his effigy remains. It hosted a chapter of the Franciscans in 1345. Clane fell into disrepair around the time of the Black Death (1348–50). Some new parts were added towards the end of the 14th century. The Hogans and Wesleys were often associated with the abbey as priors and monks. It was dissolved in 1540. It seems to have been quite small: of land, a church, cemetery,

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university ...

(probably to the north of the church), store, kitchen, two chambers, stable and orchard. It was granted to Robert Eustace, Roger Roche, and Edward Browne in 1541–42 for the use of Sir Thomas Luttrell. Some of the buildings were destroyed and the stone used to repair

Maynooth Castle Maynooth Castle is a ruined 12th century castle in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland which stands at the entrance to the South Campus of Maynooth University. Constructed in the early 13th century, it became the primary residence of the Kildare F ...

. Some friars remained until the buildings were destroyed c. 1606. A few friars remained clandestinely and Clane Friary was restored again in 1647 before final abandonment in 1650. Bonaventure Mellaghlin was transferred to Clane as guardian Franciscans still return each year to celebrate

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

on the feast of the Portiuncula.

Building

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-typ ...

and

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

church, east-west and north-south, with a south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

added in the 15th century. There is some moulding and

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the d ...

, as well as an

effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

of founder Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald. Clane Friary arch

References

External links

*{{Youtube, 0OgWK_yZGmI, Clane Friary, Co. Kildare, Ireland Religion in County Kildare Franciscan monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Archaeological sites in County Kildare Christian monasteries established in the 6th century