Honan Chapel

Catholic church at University College Cork, Ireland

Its construction was initiated and supervised by the Dublin solicitor John O'Connell, a leading member of the Celtic Revival and Arts and Crafts movements. He was funded by Isabella Honan (18611913), the last member of a wealthy Cork family, who made a significant donation towards the construction of the chapel. O'Connell oversaw both the design and the commissioning of its building and furnishings, guiding the architect James F. McMullen, the builders John Sisk and Sons, and the craftsmen and artists involved in its artwork. The Honan Chapel is known for its interior which is designed and fitted in a traditional Irish style, but with an appreciation of contemporary trends in international art. Its furnishings include a mosaic flooring, altar plate, metalwork and enamels, liturgical textiles and sanctuary furnishings, and especially its nineteen stained glass windows. Of these, fifteen depict Irish saints, the remainder show Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph and St. John. Eleven were designed and installed by Harry Clarke, while the other eight are by A. E. Child, Catherine O'Brien and Ethel Rhind of An Túr Gloine cooperative studio. In 1986, the sculptor Imogen Stuart was commissioned to oversee the installation of a new altar and other carvings, furnishings and fittings.

Population growth and urbanisation in early 20th century Ireland led to the development of a number of suburbs around Cork, which necessitated the building of churches to serve these new areas; the Honan Chapel was the first church to be built in Cork in the new century. Its genesis was rooted in a longstanding educational disagreement between the Protestant and Catholic hierarchies. Queen's College Cork (today known as University College Cork, or UCC) was incorporated in 1845 as part of a nationwide series of new universities known as the Queen's Colleges. Although the Colleges were intended to be non denominational, the lack of provision for any religious instruction made them unacceptable to the Irish Catholic bishops, who strongly discouraged Catholics from attending, and in 1851 founded the Catholic University of Ireland. In 1911, the Queen's Colleges ceased as legal entities. The Irish Universities Act 1908 forbade government funding for any "church, chapel, or other place of religious worship or observance"; thus any centre for Catholic students would have to be built with private funding. Isabella (Belle) Honan was the heir to the fortune of a wealthy Catholic family of butter merchants. When Honan died in 1913, she left £40,000 (equivalent to £ in 2019) to the city of Cork, including £10,000 which her executor, a Dublin solicitor John O'Connell, was instructed to use to establish a centre of worship for Catholic students in UCC, along with other charitable and educational purposes. These monies became known as the Honan Fund. O'Connell used part of the funds to provide scholarships for Catholic students at UCC and acquired the site of St. Anthony's Hall (also known as Berkeley Hall) from the Franciscan order to develop an accommodation block for male Catholic students known as the Honan Hostel. The chapel remains standing, but the nearby Honan Hostel (opened 1914) was demolished and replaced by the O'Rahilly Humanities Building in 1998. See UCC Conservation plan

The Honan Chapel was one of the first modern Irish churches conceived with a thematic design not directed by the clergy. O'Connell entered the priesthood in 1929, after the death of his wife. He was an active member of the Celtic Revival movement, a member of both the Irish Arts and Crafts Committees and the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and chairman of the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland in 1917. He was deeply interested in ecclesiastical archaeology and sought to construct a chapel that was "something more than merely sufficient a church designed and fashioned on the same lines and on the same plan as those which their forefathers had built for their priests and missioners all over Ireland nearly a thousand years ago." He disliked the contemporary, international approach to church buildingwhich he described as "machine made"preferring a localised and uniquely Irish approach to style and form, which he sought from the most skilled local craftsmen available. He wanted work on the chapel to be "carried out in Cork, by Cork labour and with materials obtained from the City or County of Cork". O'Connell was assisted in the project by the university president, Sir Bertram Windle. The art historian Virginia Teehan describes O'Connell and Windle as not only devout Catholics, but especially single minded, creative and energetic. O'Connell employed the firm of Cork architects James Finbarre McMullen and Associates. The building's plans were drawn up in 1914. The contractor John Sisk, also from Cork, was the principal builder and undertook the work at a cost of £8,000. In 1996, [[Sisk Group The foundation stone, laid on 18 May 1915 by Thomas A. O'Callaghan D. D., Bishop of Cork, records that the chapel was built "by the charity of Isabella Honan for the scholars and students of Munster". It was consecrated on 5 November 1916 and dedicated to Saint Finbarr (also spelled as Finbar, Finnbarr, Finnbar, or Fin Barre), patron saint of Cork and of the Diocese of Cork, on grounds believed to be close to an early Christian monastic site founded by the saint.

O'Connell was mainly inspired by medieval architecture, and the Honan Chapel's architectural style is Hiberno Romanesque revival. Compared to the decorative and sculpted elements of the interior, its architecture, austere and modest, was described by architectural historian and conservationist Frank Keohane in 2020 as "a little too commonplace and formulaic". The chapel is located on a hillside overlooking the valley of the River Lee, near a site thought to contain one of Finbarr's original churches. The western entrance is approached through double hinged wrought iron gates. Its façade was influenced by the 12th century St. Cronan's Church, Roscrea and features an arcade and gabled wall. The side walls project slightly beyond the gables to form antae, described by Keohane as "surmounted by improbable pinnacles and probably better regarded as clasping buttresses". The chapel's interior has a simple layout consisting of a main entrance, a six bay nave, and a two bay square chancel. It does not contain either lateral aisles or transepts. The oblong nave measures 72 by 28 feet (22 by 8.5 m). Above, a timber barrel vaulted ceiling ends at the chancel; this is 26 by 18 feet (7.9 by 5.5 m). The nave lacks shrines where worshippers normally light candles or place flowers near devotional images; in this sense, it is similar to a Protestant church. The plain, round bell tower is based on the 12th century Irish round tower on Teampull Finghin (Fineen's church) in Clonmacnoise, County Offaly. The mouldings around the tops of the five arches on the west façade are carved with lozenge and pellet decoration. The doorway at one point had an iron grille which has since been removed. It is capped by three limestone ribbed vaults, supported by capitals carrying reliefs of the heads of six Munster saints: Finbarr of Cork, Coleman of Cloyne; Gobnait of Ballyvourney; Brendan of Kerry, Declán of Ardmore and Íte of Killeedy. The reliefs were sculpted by Henry Emery, assisted by students at the nearby Cork School of Art. The tympanum over the door was designed by the sculptor Oliver Sheppard and is dominated by the figure of St. Finbarr, dressed in bishop's vestments. The timber doors hang on wrought iron strapwork hinges designed by the architect William Scott in (according to the writer Paul Larmour) a "Celticized art nouveau" style. The sacristy is on the north side (left, looking towards the altar) under the bell tower. The building is listed as a protected structure under Section 51 of the Irish Planning and Development Act.

The original altar table was built from a slab of local limestone, chosen as a reaction against the ornately carved Italian marble then in fashion with church builders. It contained silver ornaments fitted by the Dublin gold and silversmith Edmond Johnson and William Egan and Sons of St Patrick's Street, Cork. The altar was positioned on a five legged table, each leg of which was embedded with an Irish crucifix formed from simple geometric designs, including zig zag patterns in lozenge and saltire, continuous dots and chevrons. The altar was replaced in 1986 when the chapel was considered to contravene the requirements of the Second Vatican Council in several ways: it was based on medieval churches and the old rites; it was built with a large spatial divide between the nave and chancel; and the altar was positioned at the very back of the chancel with the priest facing away from the congregation. That year, the chapel authorities commissioned the architect Richard Hurley to redesign elements of its fixtures. He in turn employed the German Irish sculptor Imogen Stuart, aided by John and Teresa Murphy, to undertake a redevelopment, including replacement of the altar, pulpit, ceremonial chairs and baptismal font. Stuart works with other materials but favours wooden carvings, as exemplified by those at the front of the Honan altar. Her replacement altar, constructed in oak, depicts two of the Evangelists. Being movable, it allowed clergy and attendants to be closer to the congregation. Although the altar was first intended for the centre of the chancel at the focal point of the mosaic floor, this arrangement proved to be too far back and was impractical during ceremonies.

The tabernacle is positioned at the far end of the chancel and is the chapel's focal point. It is formed from carved stone and shaped in a manner reminiscent of the arched roofs and entrances of medieval Irish churches. Its upper, triangular panel is set in the gable of the "entrance" and shows the Trinity of God the Father, Jesus crucified, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove; around them, two angels carry the sun, moon and other symbols of creation. The lower, rectangular panel represents the doorway and is set against a background of branches and leaves attached in silver gilt; it shows the Lamb of God standing on a brightly coloured altar decorated with three ringed crosses and two angels acting as servers kneeling before it. The dove is surrounded by what Teehan describes as "the deep blue void of Heaven". Here, he is accompanied by flights of angels, carrying instruments of the Passion. The enamel embellishments are by the Irish craftsman and stained glass specialist Oswald Reeves and described by Teehan as the best of his work.

The mosaic flooring was designed and installed by the UK based artist Ludwig Oppenheimer. It contains symbols of the zodiac, images based on the mythological "River of Life", and depictions of flora, fauna and river scenes. In the lower panel a grotesque, claw limbed Judas Iscariot appears, described by the writer Lucy Costigan as a "devilish figure surrounded by red and yellow flames", It is located on the north side of the chapel, and depicts scenes from the life of Gobnait, a healer who established a convent in Ballyvourney and became the patron saint of bees. In the main panel, Gobnait is shown in half profile with a pale, thin and ascetic face and individualistic, unmistakably Irish features. She wears royal blue and purple robes adorned with lozenged jewels, a veil and a silver cloak. The little known ascetic Íte of Killeedy (sometimes "The Brigid of Munster") was born as either Deirdre or Dorothy in the 6th century to a local chieftain, probably in Decies within Drum in County Waterford, and thought to have been a descendant of Fedlimid Rechtmar and Conn of the Hundred Battles. She is in places referred to as Ita the Wise, and having changed her name to Ita due to her "extraordinary thirst for divine love", later becoming the patron saint of Killeedy in County Limerick. Her window is dominated by shades of blue, a colour usually associated with Brigid. Íte wears royal blue clothes and her facial features are based on representations of the Eastern Roman Empress Theodora, who died in 548. The white glass surrounding her head is intended to represent a halo. The upper register shows Mary enthroned as Queen of Heaven. She is dressed in red, gold and blue robes, and shards of white glass interwoven with painted oak colours radiating from her head, representing a halo. which according to O'Connell, "symbolizes the spiritual fire which Ita spent her life in enkindling and keeping burning". Clarke wrote of the window that "in the border and wherever possible emblems are introduced symbolising Ita's great devotion to the Holy Trinity". Three jewels representing the holy trinity are sewn into her gown. The lower panel shows her, alongside her maids, in prayer to the Trinity, with, according to O'Connell, their "prayers ascending through the firmament to the Throne of God". Clarke's preparatory notes describe the lower register as depicting "St. Ita with her holy maids [who pray] with St Coleman and St. Brendan", while the borders show "the heads of four Irish saints over whom St. Ita exercised spiritual influence".

The window of the little known 8th century missionary saint Albert of Cashel was designed immediately after the Finbarr and Ita windows. It was installed in 1916 in the chapel's north wall. Albert is shown preaching in the upper panel, with red hair and a purple chasuble, crimson stole and a mitre. He sits on an elaborately decorated green, blue and golden throne, which is positioned underneath a large cross. His shoes are decorated with blue and grey diamonds, while the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven are shown at his feet. The window is adorned with Celtic motifs, including the bronze spirals around his beard. The lower register shows him in the act of blessing as he walks in a procession with his followers, who include St. Erhard and St. Hildulph, both of whom he is said to have met while in Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany.

The last two of Clarke's windows depict Mary and Joseph, and were installed in Cork in April 1917, a year after the chapel's opening. Both were favourably reviewed when previewed in his Dublin studio. Mary's window is located to the right of the altar. Due to its mournful tone, it is said to depict Our Lady of Sorrows. She is shown as "Mary of the Irish", with red hair and an emerald halo. She wears a deep royal blue and turquoise robe, and is shown holding a pink rose. The uppermost panel contains a star representing of the Holy Family, below which is the Holy Spirit indicated by tongues of fire. In the lower panel, St. Cronan of Roscrea holds a scroll inscribed with notation and lyrics from "Cronan na Magdine", an Irish lullaby. He is surrounded by four early Christian martyrs, each bearing emblems. Around these figures are four Japanese seals, influenced by work from Henry Payne's students at the Birmingham School of Art. The upper panel of Joseph's window shows the saint wearing a crown of fire, and standing beside the Holy Family and four angels. In the main panel, he wears a gold and red cloak, and is given a blue and green halo. Clarke's depiction of Joseph is based on a 14th century representation of the prophet Zephaniah now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In contrast to contemporary Catholic representations of Joseph which depict him as a healthy and strong middle aged man, Clarke shows him in the medieval tradition, as an old and frail man. The lower panel illustrates Joseph's death, with Mary, Jesus, Finbarr, Columcille and a number of other saints kneeling in prayer at his deathbed.

Sarah Purser and Edward Martyn formed An Túr Gloine ("The Glass Tower") in 1902 as a workshop to advance the artistic quality of stained glass production in Ireland. The workshop was managed by Sarah Purser's pupil A. E. Child, who was then teaching at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. The studio's eight windows are attributed to Child, O'Brien and Ethel Rhind. The cartoons, like those from Clarke's studio, were designed and realised in Dublin before installation in Cork. Although their subject matter is similar to Clarke's, An Túr Gloine window's are very different in style and not of the same quality, being somewhat conventional by comparison. They are minimalist in line and colour, consisting of a dominating but simply rendered and naturalistic central figure in pale hues, surrounded by uncomplicated, largely empty opaque sub panels. The most prominently placed window is Child's "Our Lord" on the east gable above the altar. Child depicts the risen Christ in simple forms, subdued colours and with a strong but dignified facial expression. O'Kelly's describes the portrait of Christ's eyes "as look[ing] out on humanity with a welcoming and understanding sympathy".

The central single light window was designed by Alfred Child and is located directly above the altar. It is set in pale and subdued tones, and shows the risen Christ holding the banner of the Resurrection. He is marked apart from the other saints by the window's stone frames, the splendour of his crown, his crimson robe and his royal jewels. O'Connell described the window as a "touching and appealing figure marked apart in its frame of stone [which] forms the centre of such rich but restrained decoration as the chapel contains". O'Kelly wrote that his "bearded countenance is calm and dignified and the eyes look out on humanity with a welcoming and understanding sympathy".

Catherine O'Brien, who came from an Anglo Irish and devout Church of Ireland family, joined An Túr Gloine in 1904 and is credited with three of the chapel's windows. The "St John" window is the only window in the chapel to portray a biblical narrative and is usually considered the strongest of An Túr Gloine's windows. It is divided into three registers, each containing pairs of medallions. Its imagery mostly comes from the life of Christ as told in the Gospel of John and draws more from close readings of scripture than traditional Catholic iconography. The upper panel is based on Revelations 1:1, and shows a vision of the glorified Christ in Majesty, with the Alpha and Omega symbols and the seven candles. The crucifixion scene in the central panel is more richly coloured than the other panels and follows tradition in showing Mary and John at the foot of the cross. More characteristic of Protestant than Catholic iconography is the depiction of a serpent with its mouth open, coiled around the cross below Jesus' feet; the serpent probably refers to Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The medallions below the crucifixion reflect two accounts of John's brother James. The lowest register is again in bright colours and shows the calling of James and John. The images stay with scriptural tradition; James and John are accompanied by their father, and are the second pair to be called, after St. Peter and St Andrew, who are already at Jesus' side. The eagle at the foot of the window is John's usual symbol.

O'Connell was keen that the chapel's artwork would draw from Ireland's ancient culture and was heavily influenced by 19th century antiquarian research into early Christian and early medieval art, in particular early medieval metal and stone works and illuminated manuscripts. He wanted the chapel to reflect the earlier period's influence on Irish culture, while maintaining a relatively simple physical outlay, comprising what Teehan describes as a "peaceful, dignified space". The chapel's furniture includes circular iron ventilation ceiling panels and the oak chair and kneeler reserved for the president. The majority of the fittings were designed by McMullen or Sisk & Sons. The original furnishings and oak pews were designed to blend into the chapel's Celtic Revival style and (according to Teehan) create "a way that represented the spirit and skill of earlier times [that] could nonetheless be fully appreciated by contemporary society. The overall effect is one of simplicity and restfulness." Changes in liturgy following Vatican II meant that a number of furnishings had to be replaced, a project overseen by the chapel's then dean, Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin. Their additions include vestments, chasubles, burses, veils, stoles, maniples, altar cloths, wall hangings and altar fronts. The tapestry dossal on the east wall, designed and woven by Gleeson, contains Celtic symbols borrowed from the Book of Durrow. Materials vary from silk embroidery, gold braid, gold thread, linen, poplin and cotton. In general the textiles follow the usual liturgical colours for the seasons of the liturgical year. Most of the designs are centred around the Life of Mary, or the Passion, or Crucifixion, with black and white being the predominant colours. The pipe organ is on the west wall in a timber frame. It was built by Wicklow native Kenneth Jones and installed in 1996. Michael Barry Egan's firm designed and sewed many of the vestments. A highlight is the Y shaped, silver threaded chasuble in black poplin cloth, made for use at funerals. Covering the altar is a violet altar cloth with an altar frontal that is decorated with Celtic interlacing, realised in shades of purple silk with orange and yellow highlights, and a border of lemon and violet cotton satin. The "Black set" of Honan textiles includes an altar frontal with a Celtic cross based on a gravestone from Tullylease Church in Cork, and a black hooded cope with a crown of thorns design, and a black chasuble designed for funeral masses containing Celtic interlace patterns.

The chapel's day to day operations are run in conjunction with UCC's chaplaincy department, while management and funding is provided by the Honan Trust, established in 1915. The Honan is a separate legal entity from the university and holds the title for its demise, bounded by its back wall and chapel gates. Its dean is secretary to the Board of Governors of the trust, manages the staff and finances, and is responsible for the chapel's conservation and maintenance. The chapel holds daily and Sunday masses as well as memorial services for deceased students and staff. Morning prayers are held each Monday and daily during Advent and Lent. It hosts an average of 150 wedding services per year for graduates, which are a funding source for the chapel. It also holds a number of musical and other cultural events.