know your parish: clonard church and monastery
TRANSCRIPT
Know Your Parish: Clonard Church and MonasteryAuthor(s): Owen KellySource: North Irish Roots, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2005), p. 17Published by: North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27697596 .
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KNOW YOUR PARISH Clonard Church and Monastery
Church and monastry of the Most Holy Redeemer, Clonard.
The Redemptorists, founded by Fr. Alphonsus, came into existence formally in 1749.
The original group had been working in the Neapolitan village of Scala. At the time of
their foundation, Belfast didn't possess a single chapel.
Dr Henry, Bishop of Down and Connor, invited the Redemptorists to Belfast in 1896, The first Mass said at Clonard was in a private house and the congregation totalled
five. That was on the first Sunday of October 1896. The first church was a temporary
building on ground originally owned by the Milford Flax Spinning Company but by 1908
it was apparent that the premises were no longer adequate.
Several new locations were considered before the present one was chosen. It was
then part of Clonard Park, home of the Kennedy family. The grounds and the walks
below the monastery were originally a mill-dam belonging to the Clonard Print Works.
The dam was filled in and levelled off to provide the present facilities.
The foundation stone of the present church was laid on October 4, 1908 and the
building was completed in exactly three years.
Owen Kelly Based on a series published in the Irish Weekly over 60 years ago.
17
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