Welcome

to

Holy Trinity Friary and Church, Cork

Holy Trinity Capuchin Friary

Fr.  Mathew Quay

Cork

Tel. 021-4270827 / 021-4275419

Fax 021-4270829

Holy Trinity is situated on Fr. Mathew Quay in the heart of Cork City where it has overlooked the River Lee since the early part of the eighteenth century.

Although the Capuchins arrived in Cork as early as 1637 it was many years before they settled in the foundation which we now know as Holy Trinity Church and Friary. Their earliest recorded appearance is in the southern side of the city, just outside ‘the South Gate’. The first half of the 17th century saw many years of religious persecution. Capuchins, like other religious and priests, lived a hunted existence drifting around in disguise amongst their flock. As the century wore on they seem to have established a permanent apostolate in the south parish and by 1741 had some sort of a friary in Blackamore Lane, just behind ‘Sullivan’s Quay’. They had a chapel, which became known as ‘The South Friary’ built there by 1771. It was a thickly populated area, a congested district - so that congregations grew under the constant prompting of the friars. Eventually the building could no longer hold them so Father Theobald Matthew, just before the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, decided to build a larger church. At the timethe city of Cork, under the power of rapidly developing commerce, had begun to expand in all directions. George’s Quay had been built during the second half of the previous century so as to make the river navigable for shipping and in 1806 Parliament Bridge had replaced an earlier structure connecting both sides of the river. Below this bridge, near the busy shipping centre of the southern channel Father Theobald Matthew selected a site for his church. The foundation stone was laid on the 10 October 1832 but the church was not opened for public service until eighteen years later (10 October 1850). Many reasons caused the delay, shortage of money, faulty foundations, the Total Abstinence Campaign and the Famine. Although the church had been roofed and the exterior finished somewhat in accordance with the original design it was without steeple until later. That was added in 1891 as a result of the centenary celebration of the birth of Father Matthew (1890).After the opening of Holy Trinity Church, 1850, the Capuchins who had been living in various places in the South Parish got a lease of a house (1855) at No.8 George’s Quay. Here they were able to come together and live a regular life. Later they moved across the river to a house built by Fr. Cherubine - an Italian at the corner of Queens Street and Charlotte Quay, just where the Cork Gas Company at present stands. Finally in the summer of 1884 they came to the present friary, which gave them direct communication with the church. The building of the friary was started by Fr. Simeon and completed by Fr. Seraphin who became the first Provincial of the re-constituted Province.

THE SACRAMENT OF Faithful devotion to the confessional, which had been one of the main features of pastoral work in the ‘little Friary’ in Blackamore Lane has continued in the Church of the Most Holy Trinity. Right from the beginning the hearing of confessions, in church or friary, was promoted as one of the most important duties of the friars. Measures were taken so that the Sacrament of Reconciliation would be available at all times so the Church grew in popularity as the ‘refuge of sinners’. Up to the middle of the present century confessions were particularly heavy, even outside the principal liturgical seasons. Every Saturday morning after the 10 o’clock Mass; then again in the evening from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and at night from 7 p.m. until the last person had been heard. During this night session, when every ‘box’ would be occupied, at times the Church would be closed at 9.30 p.m. then no one else would be admitted but all already inside would be heard. Since Vatican II the popularity of regular confession has dramatically declined, still the work of reconciliation continues at Holy Trinity.

Historical associations closely connected Holy Trinity with the work of Fr. Theobald Mathew. In 1890 the Nation celebrated his birth and the friars at Holy Trinity, in co-operation with many Temperance supporters in Cork, organised the various functions. Their work did not end here. Some of them took part in the National Crusade which started in 1906 and many individuals, like the namesake Fr. Matthew Flynn, wrote and worked for the cause of temperance. There was a Sacred Thirst Sodality attached to the Church and the Father Mathew Hall with its splendid recreational facilities, provided a meeting place for the members of the Sodality.

If you would like information on the Capuchin way of life, please contact:

Fr. Dermot Lynch, OFM Cap.,

Holy Trinity Capuchin Friary,

Fr. Mathew Quay,

Cork.

Tel.      021-4270827  :   Fax  021-4270829