Honan Chapel
The Honan Chapel, is a small Catholic collegiate church built in the Celtic-Romanesque revival style on the grounds of University College Cork, Ireland. Designed in 1914, the building was completed in 1916 and fully furnished by 1917. Its architecture and fittings are representative of the Celtic revival movement which evoked the aesthetic style found in Ireland and Britain between the 7th and 12th centuries.
Its construction was initiated and supervised by the Dublin solicitor John O'Connell, a leading member of the Celtic revival and Arts and Crafts movements He was funded by Isabella Honan, the last member of a wealthy Cork family, who provided large donations towards the build of the chapel. O'Connell oversaw both the architecture design and the commissioning of its exterior carvings and interior statuettes, floor, furniture and liturgical collection. He closely guided the architect James F. McMullen and the builders John Sisk and Sons, and hired the craftsmen and artists involved in its artwork, many of whom incorporated elements of the Art Nouveau style.
The Honan Chapel is internationally known for its interior which is designed and fitted in a traditionally Irish style, but with an appreciation of current trends in international art. Its furnishings include the mosaic flooring, altar plates, metal work and enamels, liturgical textiles and sanctuary furnishings, and especially its nineteen stained glass windows; fifteen show Irish saints, the remainder show Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph and St. John. Eleven were designed and installed by Harry Clarke, a major Irish artist who completed the works aged twenty seven. His windows were described by the art historian Nicola Gordon Bowe as "arguably his greatest work in stained glass". A further eight were designed by A. E. Child, Catherine O'Brien and Ethel Rhind of An Túr Gloine cooperative studio, founded by Sarah Purser in 1903.
Background and construction
Population growth and migration in the early 20th century led to the development of a number of suburbs around Cork, including the building of churches to serve these new areas; the Honan Chapel was the first church to be built in Cork in the new century. Its development was rooted in a longstanding educational disagreement between the Protestant and Catholic hierarchies. Queens College Cork was incorporated in 1845 as part of a nationwide series of new universities known as the Queen's Colleges, under a charter that excluded Catholic students.In 1911 the Queen's Colleges ceased as legal entities, and Catholics were thereafter eligible to attend. A few years previously, the Irish Universities Act of 1908 forbade government funding for any "church, chapel, or other place of religious worship or observance"; thus any centre for Catholic students would have to be built with private funding.
Isabella Honan was the sister-in-law of Robert Honan, the last male heir of a wealthy Catholic family of butter merchants. Robert and his brother Matthew had both died by 1909, and Robert had left his estate to Isabella. When she died in 1913 she left £40,000 to the city of Cork, including £10,000 which her executor, the Dublin solicitor John O'Connell, was instructed to use towards a centre of worship for Catholic students in UCC, among other charitable and educational purposes. These monies became known as the Honan Fund.
O'Connell used some of the money to fund scholarships for Catholic students at UCC, and acquired the site of St Anthony's Hall from the Franciscan order to develop an accommodation block for male Catholic students known as the Honan Hostel.
O'Connell was assisted in the chapel project by the University president, Sir Bertram Windle. The UCC art historian Virginia Teehan describes O'Connell and Windle as not only devout Catholics, but especially single-minded, creative, and energetic.
The Honan Chapel was one of the first modern Irish churches conceived with a thematic design not directed by clergy. O'Connell, who became a priest in 1929 after the death of his wife, was an active member of the Celtic revival movement, and was a member of the Irish Arts and Crafts Committee, a fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and was elected chairman of the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland in 1917. He was deeply interested in ecclesiastical archaeology, and was acquainted with several members of the Irish Arts and Crafts and Celtic revival movements. O'Connell thus sought to construct a chapel that was "something more than merely sufficient... a church designed and fashioned on the same lines and on the same plan as those which their forefathers had built for their priests and missioners all over Ireland nearly a thousand years ago." He disliked the contemporary, international approach to church buildingwhich he described as "machine made"preferring a localised and uniquely Irish approach to style and form, which he sought from the most skilled available local craftsmen. He wanted work on the chapel to be "carried out in Cork, by Cork labour and with materials obtained from the City or County of Cork".
O'Connell employed the Cork architects James Finbarre McMullen and Associates which had overseen the construction of the Eye, Ear & Throat hospital. The building's plans were drawn up in 1914. The contractor John Sisk, also from Cork, was the principal builder and completed the work at a cost of £8,000. The foundation stone, laid on 18 May 1915 by Thomas A. O'Callaghan D.D., Bishop of Cork, memorialises that the chapel was built "by the charity of Isabella Honan for the scholars and students of Munster". It was consecrated on 5 November 1916, dedicated to Saint Finbarr, patron saint of Cork city and of the Diocese of Cork; the grounds are close to a reputed early Christian monastic site founded by Finbarr.
Architecture
Honan Chapel's architectural style is Celtic-Romanesque. While O'Connell was mainly inspired by early medieval architecture, he took influence from recently built churches in County Cork, in particular Timoleague's parish church and the small chapel in Gougane Barra. Compared to the decorative and sculpted elements of the chapel, its architecture is austere and modest. Its interior has a very simple layout: the main entrance, a six-bay nave, a two-bay chancel, and a nunnery.The six-bay rectangular nave is relatively plain, and lacks shrines where persons could light candles or place flowers near devotional images; in this way, it is similar to a Protestant church. Its round campanile and plan are inspired by 9th-century round towers.
The western entrance is approached by double-hinged wrought iron gates, and the doorway is capped by three limestone ribbed vaults, supported by capitals carrying reliefs of the heads of six Munster saints: Finnbarr of Cork, Coleman of Cloyne; St. Gobnait of Ballyvourney; Brendan of Kerry, Declán of Ardmore and Íte of Killeedy. Each figure was later represented in the stained glass windows as well. The capitals were sculpted by Henry Emery, assisted by students at the nearby Cork School of Art. The tympanum over the door was designed by the sculptor Oliver Sheppard, and is dominated by the figure of St. Finbarr, dressed in bishop's vestments.
The doorway once contained an iron grille which has since been removed. The timber doors hang on wrought-iron strap-work hinges designed by the architect William Scott in a "Celticized art nouveau" style. The doorway leads into a small oblong nave 72 by 28 feet, within a timber barrel vaulted ceiling, that ends at a square ended area around the chancel 26 by 18 feet. The sacristy is on the north side under the bell tower.
Mosaic floor
The mosaic flooring was designed and installed by the UK-based mosaic artist Ludwig Oppenheimer. It is decorated with symbols of the zodiac, images based on the mythological "River of Life", and depictions of flora, fauna and river scenes. These designs celebrate the Genesis creation narrative, and illustrate passages from the Old Testament including the "Benedicite" from the Book of Daniel, which was sung during the office of lauds on Sundays and feast days. The pattern at the entrance contains a verse from Psalm 148.The floor mosaic comprises four sections. It begins at the main entrance on the west side with a sunburst and stars surrounded by signs of the zodiac. The center of the aisle shows a beast's head acting as the mouth of a river in which fish swim toward the chancel. The east side of the nave shows a large coiled sea creature which is part serpent, part dragon, and part whale. There are stags, deer, sheep and other animals drinking from a river and surrounded by exotic birds flying in a forest. The section inside the chancel show a globe and symbols of creation, including animals, plants and planets. The four sections are unified by interlaced Celtic and zoomorphs border designs.
The image of the sun and surrounding night stars inside the chapel's entrance signifies both the new day and resurrection, as Jesus is traditionally believed to have risen at dawn. Reflecting 12th-century Christian art, the presence of signs of the zodiac symbolise God's dominion over time. The beast's head in the aisle contains a series of tripartite motifs representing the Trinity: spirals, trefoil knots and interlace containing three saltire crosses. The sea creature at the east end of the nave is mentioned in the verse on the floor by the entrance dracones et omnes abyssi ; alongside are the words cete et omnia quae moventur in aquis, which in medieval exegesis conjured images of death and reference the Biblical story of Jonah.
The colouring of the floor by and inside the chancel is more subdued and the imagery more restrained. The images show a paradise which can be interpreted both as the garden of Eden and the eternal paradise promised at the end of time. The imagery is of the seasons, the classical elements, and symbols of the resurrection.
A similar depiction on a 5th-century sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum shows Jonah swimming towards the open jaws of a whale with horned ears, and a long, coiled tail. In both examples, the reference serves to emphasise how Jesus overcame death. This connection is further made by the inclusion of the trees which in mythology grow in paradise and represent Christ, and the surrounding animals at rest, presented as symbols of his Christian followers.
Altar
The chapel has had two altars; the original was a plain slab of Irish limestone selected to contrast with the ornately carved Italian marble then in fashion and disliked by O'Connell. It was positioned on a five legged table, each leg lined with an Irish crucifix formed from simple geometric designs including zig-zag patterns in lozenge and saltire, continuous dots, and chevrons.It was replaced in the mid 1980s. The chapel's design contravened the requirements of the Second Vatican Council enacted in 1987, in several ways: it was based on medieval churches and the old rites, it was built with a large spatial divide between the nave and chancel, and the altar was positioned at the very back of the chancel with the priest facing away from the congregation. In 1986, the German-Irish sculptor Imogen Stuart was tasked with the overall redevelopment of the chapel, including replacement of the altar, pulpit, priest's chair and baptismal font.
Stuart's large oak altar depicts two of the Evangelists, and being movable, allowed clergy and attendants to be closer to the congregation. Although first intended for the center of the chancel, on the focal point of the mosaic, this proved to be too far back and impractical during ceremonies. Although Stuart works with other materials, she favours wooden carvings, as exemplified by those at the front of the Honan altar.
Tabernacle
The tabernacle is positioned at the far end of the chancel and is the chapel's focal point. It is formed from carved stone and shaped in a manner reminiscent of the arched roofs and entrances of medieval Irish churches. Its upper, triangular, panel is set in the gable of the "entrance", and shows the Trinity of God the father, a dove, and Jesus crucified; around them, two angels carry the sun, moon, and other symbols of creation.The lower, rectangular, panel represents the doorway and is set against a background of branches and leaves attached in silver-gilt; it shows the Adoration of the Lamb, with the lamb standing on a brightly coloured altar decorated with three ringed crosses, and two angels acting as servers kneeling before him. This panel also shows the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, surrounded by what Teehan describes as "the deep blue void of Heaven". Here he is accompanied by flights of angels, carrying instruments of the Passion. These enamel embellishments were by the Irish craftsman and stained glass specialist Oswald Reeves, and have been described as the best of his work.
Stained glass windows
The chapel has six stained glass windows on each side of the nave, three in the west gable, and three in the chancel. Of these, eleven were designed by Harry Clarke, four by A. E. Child, and three by Catherine O'Brien. O'Connell deliberately placed Clarke and Sarah Purser's An Túr Gloine studio in competition for the windows' commission. After seeing Clarke's designs for the St. Gobnait window, O'Connell commissioned eleven windows from him. The collector Thomas Bodkin wrote that "nothing like Mr Clarke's windows had been seen before in Ireland" and praised their "sustained magnificence of colour... intricate drawing lavish and mysterious symbolism."Although the windows from each studio contain similar imagery, their styles differ greatly. Clarke's are highly detailed while An Túr Gloine's are deliberately simple. Both studios were asked to depict Gaelic saints from the "golden age" of Christianity in Ireland. Each displayed their cartoons in Dublin before they were physically realised in Cork; both shows were highly praised, and critics debated which group was superior.
The windows in the chancel are: Our Lord , Our Lady of Sorrows, St. John and St. Joseph. To the right of the chancel looking down are: St. Finnbarr, St. Albert, St. Declan, St. Ailbe, St. Fauchtna and St. Munchin. To the left are: St. Ita, St. Coleman, St. Brendan, St. Gobnait, St. Flannan and St. Carthage.
Harry Clarke
Clarke offered five designs for the Honan project, including a cartoon for the Gobnait window. He was then in his early 20s and his Honan windowshis first in a public spaceestablished his reputation as a significant international artist. A contemporary reviewer described them as "remarkable" and a "distinct advance on anything which has been heretofore done in Ireland in stained glass", and compared them to French medieval glass, including those in the Gothic royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle. In particular, his blending of bold and often dark colours have been praised, especially in the effects they achieve in morning light. The designer Percy Oswald Reeves highlighted the windows for their "beauty of... colour, quality and treatment of each piece of glass." His merging of Catholic and early medieval imagery in a modern and individualised style was at odds with prevailing trends in Irish church art. According to scholar Luke Gibbons, Clarke's break "from episcopal interference... enabled to exploit vernacular traditions of local saints... that belonged more to legend and folklore... and whose popular appeal lay outside the highly centralised power of post-famine ultramontane Catholicism."Clark's windows are all single light, each consisting of nine separate panels, with rich colouring and a deep, thick royal blue throughout. They contain simplified, often whimsical forms which are nevertheless highly stylised, and evoke in the words of the writer M. J. O'Kelly, "the spirit of the ancient Celt"; His designs blend Catholic iconography with motifs from Celtic mythology in a style that draws heavily from Art Nouveau, in particular the darker, fin de siècle works of Gustav Klimt, Aubrey Beardsley and Egon Schiele. A multitude of Celtic designs and motifs appear, with figures and incidents from the life of each saint. The most obvious Celtic embellishments are Mary's red hair and green halo, and Brendan's pampooties. Some of the windows were endangered by nearby fighting during the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. The patterns and illustrations for several other works were destroyed. A number of Clarke's early Honan windows were executed by others from his designs, but the Gobnait window, on the north side of the chapel, was fully executed by him and is widely considered the high point of his career.
Gobnait was a healer who established a convent in Ballyvourney and became the patron saint of bees. She is shown in profile with a pale, thin and ascetic face and is given individualistic, unmistakably Irish features. She wears royal blue and purple robes adorned with lozenged jewels, a veil and silver cloak. The window's borders are lined with beaded decorations in ruby and blue. Her clothing draws from Léon Bakst's costume for Ida Rubinstein's 1911 performance of "Le Martyre de saint Sébastien". Her right arm is outstretched in a pose that draws from both Beardsley and Alesso Baldovinetti's c.1465 Portrait of a Lady in Yellow. The similarity to Baldovinetti's portrait is especially apparent in her tightly pulled-back hair, high forehead and the profile of her nose.
Klimt's influence is evident in the central panel's flatness and Clarke's evocation of "three-dimensional human expression" using only Gobnait's face and hands, while all other details, including her robes and the floral background, existing on a separate "two dimensional flat plain". Detailed and complex floral patterns run along the outer borders of each of the window's registers. Clarke and his assistant Kathleen Quigly completed a study under considerable time pressure over five weeks in 1914, during the offer period for the commission. In pencil, pen, inks, and watercolour on board, it is now at the Corning Museum of Glass. The window has been described by Teehan as "kaleidoscopically sumptuous", and "filled with a wealth of art historical allusions, often unexpected". According to the Irish novelist E. Œ. Somerville, the window conjures late 19th century decadence in its resemblance to an Aubrey Beardsleytype female face, which "though horrible so modern and conventionally unconventional... windows have a kind of hellish splendour."
The St. Brendan window, along with those of St. Gobnait and St. Declan, was completed in the late summer and autumn of 1916. Following the 1916 Easter Rising, Clarke and his wife left Dublin to move into a cottage in Mount Merrion, Blackrock. Clarke was under considerable pressure to complete and install the three windows in time for the chapel's November 5 consecration. The window references a number of incidences from the "Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot", first recorded c.900AD. Brendan wears a robe of blue, purple, greens and gold hues, and he holds a paddle in his left hand. In the lower panel a grotesque, claw-limbed Judas Iscariot, appears as a "devilish figure surrounded by red and yellow flames"; Brendan is said to have found Judas abandoned on a rock in the ocean, to be tormented for eternity by demons. In another chapter, he arrives at an island, the "Paradise of Birds", where birds sing psalms "as if with one voice" in praise of God; Clarke depicts this in the sketches of birds on the window's borders.
Clarke shows Albert of Cashel wearing a purple chasuble, crimson stole and a bishop's mitre. The window contains several Celtic motifs, including bronze spirals around his hair and beard. Depictions of Albert sometimes detail magical feats associated with him, which Gibbon describes in Clarke's work as "daring" for a church window, given such deeds owe more to pagan legend rather than "respectable traits of virtue and holiness."
The three-light window on the west wall, above the main entrance door, shows a triptych of St. Brigid, St. Patrick and St. Columcille, with a base of five lilies under Patrick's light. Brigid is depicted alongside a calf, Patrick with a shamrock in his right hand, and Columcille alongside two flying doves. The Brigid light is especially detailed and contains an angel at the top of the window and another four hovering at its foot. The writer Lucy Costigan suggests that the lilies may represent Brigid's miracles, prophesies, prayers and charities.
An Túr Gloine
Sarah Purser and Edward Martyn formed the Túr Gloine workshop in 1903, which often competed against Clarke for commissions. She recruited A. E. Child, a teacher at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, who managed the workshop often employing pupils of his. The cartoons were, like those from Clarke's studio, designed and built in Dublin before installation in Cork. The eight windows are attributed to Child, and his former pupils Catherine O'Brien and Ethel Rhind.Although their subject matter is similar to Clarke's, they are very different in style and not of the same quality, being somewhat conventional by comparison. They are minimalist in line and colour, consisting of a dominating but simply rendered and naturalistic central figure in pale hues, surrounded by uncomplicated, largely empty opaque sub-panels. The most prominently placed window is Child's "Our Lord" on the east gable above the altar. Child depicts the risen Christ in simple forms and subdued colours, and with a strong but dignified facial expression. O'Kelly's describes the portrait of Christ's eyes "as look out on humanity with a welcoming and understanding sympathy."
O'Brien's "St. John"the only window in the chapel portraying a biblical narrative is usually considered the strongest of An Túr Gloine's windows for its craftsmanship and strength of imagery. Sometimes mistakenly attributed to Child, it is very different to Child's "Our Lord" window, which is reminiscent of a more traditional style of stained glass design. Although O'Brien has not received the same level of study as other members of the An Túr Gloine studio, both Virginia Teehan and Nicola Gordon Bowe have commented on her "beguiling narrative details" and "successful harmonisation of colour with The Clarke windows in the chapel". The window is divided into three registers, each containing pairs of medallions. The imagery mostly concerns the life of Christ as told ni the Gospel of John, and draws more from close readings of scripture than traditions of iconography. The upper register is based on Revelations 1:1, and shows a vision of the glorified Christ in Majesty, with the Alpha and Omega symbols and the seven candles. John, who throughout the panels is depicted as beardless young man, is shown at the side with his head bowed. The two medallions below this are based on the Gospel of John, and show St. Peter and John running towards Jesus' tomb, and Jesus walking with Peter while St John follows behind.
The crucifixion scene in the central register is more richly coloured that the other panels, and per tradition shows Mary and St. John at the foot of the cross. More characteristic of Protestant than Catholic iconography is the depiction of a serpent with its mouth open, coiled around the cross below Jesus' feet; the serpent probably refers to Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The medallions below the crucifixion reflect two accounts of John's brother James, "the disciple whom Jesus loved". The lowest register is again in bright colours and shows the calling of James and John. The images stays with scriptural tradition; James and John are accompanied by their father, and are the second pair to be called, after St. Peter and St. Andrew, who are already at Jesus' side. The eagle at the foot of the window is John's usual symbol.
Furnishings, textiles and other objects
O'Connell commissioned the Cork firm of Egan & Sons for the altar plate and vestments. He had a strong view on how the chapel should be presented and was keen that its artwork would draw from Ireland's ancient culture. In this, he was heavily influenced by 19th century antiquarian's research into early Christian and early medieval traditions and art, in particular the early medieval metal and stone works, and illuminated manuscripts at the time being rediscovered. He wanted the Honan Chapel to further reflect and promote the earlier period's emergent influence on Irish literature and visual culture.The furnishings and pews were designed to blend into the chapel's Celtic Revival style and create "a way that represented the spirit and skill of earlier times could be nonetheless be fully appreciated by contemporary society. The overall effect is one of simplicity and restfulness." Such pieces include the circular iron ventilation ceiling panels and the chair and kneeler reserved for the president. Most of these fittings were designed by McMullen, most of the remainder, including the pews, by Sisk & Son. Changes in liturgy following Vatican II meant that a number of furnishings had to be replaced.
The chapel has an extensive collection of metalwork and enamel pieces built by Edmond Johnson's of Dublin and William Egan & Sons of Cork. All are in the Celtic Revival style. A highlight is the large processional cross, a replication of the 12th-century Cross of Cong, which contains a number of inscriptions, including a remembrance for the chapel's benefactors Mathew, Robert and Isabella Honan; and for John and Mary O'Connell. Other items include a processional crosses, chalices, candlesticks, dishes, bells, hinges, and the iron gates at the entrance.
Most of the textile collection was designed by the Durn Emer guild, Dublin, and includes vestments, chasubles, burses, veils, stol]s, maniples, altar cloths, wall hangings and altar fronts. Materials vary from silk embroidery, gold braid, gold thread, linen, poplin and cotton. The names of seamstresses from the Egan workshop are embroidered in the lining of some of the textile commissions. In general the textiles are coloured in line with changes in the seasonal of the liturgical year. Most of the designs are centred around the Life of Mary, or the Passion, or Crucifixion, with black and white being the predominant colours. A highlight is the Y-shaped, silver threaded chasuble in black poplin cloth, used as a vestment for funerals. A violet altar cloth with a frontlet, decorated with Celtic interlacing in shades of purple silk, orange and yellow highlights, and a border of lemon and violet cotton satin, is used to decorate the altar and candlesticks. The "Black set" of Honan textiles includes an altar frontal with a Celtic cross based on a grave stone from Tullylease Church in Cork, a black cope and hood containing a crown of thorns design and a black chasuble designed for funeral masses containing Celtic interlace patterns.
The pipe organ is on the west wall in a timber frame. It was built by Wicklow native Kenneth Jones and installed in 1996.