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Cistercian Abbeys: DUBLIN, ST. MARY’S Name:
DUBLIN, ST. MARY’S Location: Dublin County:
Dublin St. Mary’s was founded in 1139 for the Benedictine monks of Savigny. In 1147 the Savigniac order was united with the house of Citeaux and the community at St. Mary’s became Cistercian. St. Mary’s appears to have become subject to Combermere (Cheshire) at this time and in 1156-7 affiliation was transferred to Buildwas (Shropshire). In 1301 an unsuccessful attempt was made to break away from affiliation with Buildwas. St. Mary’s was founded three years before Mellifont and this led to conflict between the two houses over seniority in Ireland. The General Chapter recognized the claims of St. Mary’s in 1313. St. Mary’s sent out two colonies to establish daughter-houses, at Dunbrody (1182) and Abbeylara (1214). The monks were compelled to undertake extensive reconstruction of the abbey project following a fire in 1304, which was said to have destroyed abbey, church and steeple. St. Mary’s was one of the largest and most important monasteries in Ireland. The abbey, situated opposite the old city of Dublin, was frequently involved in the affairs of city and state. In 1399 the abbot of Dublin, Stephen Ross, was absolved by Pope Boniface IX from every penance he had earned for impurity, unfair treatment of clerics, leaving his monastery without permission, entering convents of nuns, carrying forbidden arms, showing a lack of respect for hid superiors, conspiring against them and other people, and frequenting taverns. In the later Middle Ages Abbot Walter Champfleur of St. Mary’s laboured in vain to reform the Order, and when he died in 1497, as ‘an aged, prudent and learned man’, he was much lamented. At the time of the Dissolution the total income of the abbey was
valued at £537, which made St. Mary’s by far the richest
monastery of the Cistercian Order in Ireland. Only two English
Cistercian
houses, Furness and Fountains,
exceeded this income. The abbey was dissolved in 1539 when the
last abbot, William Laundie, surrendered
his title. Following the dissolution of the house, the goods and
chattels were sold off by the royal commissioners: the sale yielded
the huge sum of £192. By 1541 the abbey had been taken over
by John Travers, master of the king’s ordinance, and the
church was transformed into an arsenal for the royal army. The
abbot’s lodging
and garden was occupied by Leonard Grey, the lord deputy, as a
convenient dwelling close to the city of Dublin. However, he
was not in possession
for long, for Grey was executed for treason in 1541. In 1543 a
substantial part of the abbey was leased to James, earl of Desmond;
the grant
included the abbot’s lodgings, the abbot’s chambers
and the infirmary. Most of the monastic buildings had disappeared
by the 1680s when this part of the city was redeveloped by Sir
Humphrey Jervis and Sir Richard Reynell, only the chapter-house
escaped demolition.
A life-size oak Madonna is the only relic known to have survived
from the abbey, and is now preserved in the Carmelite church in
Whitefriar Street. The chapter-house has been restored and now
houses an exhibition, which is open to the public throughout the
year.
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