The Oratory Dun Laoghaire

[BrendanLee]

If you are in Dun Laoghaire over the next week spend an hour at the Oratory on Library Road and see one of the most spectacular memorials created to mark the end of WW1.

The Oratory was built at the Dominican Convent Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) in 1919 to celebrate the end of World War 1 and as a place to display a statue of the Sacred Heart which was given by a town in Northern France to Kingstown as a token of gratitude for the sacrifice many young men Kingstown had made in giving their lives in the defence of freedom.

In 1919 Sister Concepta Lynch started to decorate the Oratory in the Celtic Style, she continued her work until her death in 1939. The work is completely hand painted and the intricate and complex design rivals that of the Book of Kells.

The statue was first offered to the Christian Brothers as many of the dead had attended the Christina Brothers School in Kingstown and was also offered to the Parish Church of Kingstown, because of the political situation at the time the statue was refused. The statue was accepted by the sister of the Dominican Convent because not even the hardest soldier of the IRA would dare incur the wrath of the Nuns.

[squirrel]

Thanks for posting this - love the last para!

[Michael Pegum]

Photographs of all of the walls and ceiling can be seen at the Oratory.

Michael