The celebrations marking the bicentenary of the building of the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, and the 25th anniversary of its opening as an ecumenical place of worship reach their finale with the publication of a history of the chapel on Wednesday.
The Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, has been written by Lesley Whiteside who as a Trinity graduate, an experienced archivist, and the author of a fine institutional history of the King's Hospital and an important biography of the late George Simms, is well qualified for the task.
Mrs Whiteside's account opens with a valuable introduction outlining the foundation of the college and the development of the two earlier chapels. She discusses the present building and its creators, including the architects William Chambers and Christopher Myers, and craftsmen such as John Semple, Richard Cranfield and Michael Stapleton who decorated it, while sections on the organ, the stained glass and the church plate give a rounded picture of the furnishings.
The core of the study is a valuable examination of the liturgy and music which identifies the influence of the Puritans, the Carolines, the Dublin cathedral musical establishments, and, eventually, the appointments of full-time chaplains and the development of an internal college choir. A final section on the ecumenical dimension concludes this timely and well illustrated study of the Trinity College Chapel, which is a vital aspect of college life and an important part of the mission of the Church of Ireland.
Today the Diocesan and Glendalough Festival Service of the Girls' Friendly Society will be held in Athy Parish Church, where the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, will preach.
RTE tomorrow will broadcast Morning Service from Tullow Parish Church, Co Carlow, where the rector is the Rev David Oxley. In Dublin, the Archbishop of Dublin will visit Rathfarnham where he will rededicate the organ; the Dean of Cork, Dr Michael Jackson, will be the Rogationtide preacher in St Catherine and St James's Church; and in St Michan's Church the Bar Council will have an ecumenical service to commemorate the 1798 Rebellion. At Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral the extended anthem will be Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, while in St Patrick's Cathedral at 7.30 p.m. there will be an AIDS Candlelight Memorial Service. The Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, the Rt Rev Edward Darling, will preside at the reopening of Conger Church in Bunratty Folk Park, while choral festival services will be held in Down Cathedral, St Flannan's Cathedral, Killaloe, and in Gorey Parish Church.
On Monday the clergy of Dublin and Glendalough will have a retreat in Glendalough, while in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, the Dean of Cork will conduct a devotional evening for clergy and laity.
The third in the present lunchtime lecture series in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will be held in the crypt on Tuesday at 1.15 p.m., when Dr Amy Harris will give an illustrated lecture on the monuments.
On Friday afternoon in St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, there will be a service of thanksgiving for the life of Charles, 7th Marquess of Ormonde, who died in Chicago last October. The preacher will be the former Bishop of Ossory, Dr Henry McAdoo, and after the service the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Rev John Neill, will conduct the burial of the ashes in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle.
In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, the lunchtime organ recital on Friday will be given by Deirdre Comerford, the winner of this year's Feis Ceoil, and at 8 p.m. in St Patrick's Church, Greystones, there will be a concert by the Bothniachoir from Sweden.