Saint Audoen’s Church Culture Night Opening
Saint Audoen’s Church on High Street in Dublin 8 will open its doors on September 20 from 18.00 to 21.30 as part of Dublin’s annual Culture Night.. Please remember that Saint Audoen’s is free to enter from Monday through Saturday 9.30 until 16.45 until November 3rd 2024 when it closes until next spring.
Saint Audoen’s church is recognized as the oldest in use church in Dublin and has been open for worshippers since the year 1190. It was named after Saint Ouen, the patron saint of Normandy by Dublin’s archbishop, John Comyn, who was also of Norman descent.
An older wooden church, Saint Colmcille’s, had existed here since the 9th century and a grave slab believed to be from that time is on exhibition in the church where it is known as ‘the Lucky Stone’.
It is a place brimming with history and is an absolute must-see particularly if you’re interested in medieval times. Some of the things you can see here include.
The Lucky Stone Grave Slab
A grave slab on which a Celtic cross type design has been sculpted is today housed inside the church and is known as the ‘Lucky Stone’. It is believed to date from the 9th century when the wooden church of Saint Colmcille was here.
When in the early 14th century Dublin received its first public water supply in the shape of a marble cistern which was erected at the nearby Cornmarket, the grave slab was placed beside the water supply in order to bestow good luck on all those who drank from it. Local merchants are also reported to have made visits to the slab in order to obtain good luck in their business affairs.
The slab was reputed to have supernatural guardians because despite having been removed from its rightful owners and location on several occasions, it has always returned to its rightful place. Legend has it that in 1826, the slab was stolen by visitors from outside Dublin but the stone grew progressively heavier until its weight could no longer be borne by the horse carrying it and its thieves were forced to abandon it. Later, when an attempt was made to smash it up, the stone is reputed to have groaned and rolled over. People still visit ‘the Lucky Stone’ to this day to touch it for good luck.
Baptismal Font
The baptismal font, which is beside the stone doorway to the current Church of Ireland chapel, has scallop shells carved into its four sides and is believed to date from the 12th or 13th century. The scallop shell had become internationally associated with the Camino de Santiago route by the early 12th century and this church was where Irish pilgrims travelling on pilgrimage from Ireland to Santiago de Compostela would have visited before leaving Dublin to embark by sea for the continent.
The Chapel and Guild of Saint Anne
In 1431, King Henry VI gave permission for the building of a chapel called the Guild Chapel of Saint Anne in Saint Audoen’s. Saint Anne’s chapel once had six alters dedicated to various saints including Saint Anne. The Guild of Saint Anne was established at the same time and this chapel in St. Audoen’s Church was their guild chapel.
Benefactors of the guild would donate for a priest to celebrate mass for the repose of their souls after death. These masses were known as ‘chantries’ and priests who celebrated these masses were known as ‘chantry priests’. It was believed that such chantry masses would lessen the time spent in time by a decease person’s soul.
The guild raised funds for the church in this way and since ancestors of the guild’s members were buried inside the church, they were enthusiastic about raising funds for its upkeep.
There is a fascinating exhibition on the role of medieval trade and merchant guilds including the Guild of Saint Anne on the upper floor of the church.
The Portlester Chapel
In the late 15th century, one wealthy man who held a series of important political positions in Ireland, Lord Portlester, Roland FitzEustace, funded the building of a private chapel in Saint Audoen’s dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He reputedly did this after having escaped a shipwreck. During his ordeal he had prayed to the Virgin Mary to save him and when he returned safely to land, he kept his promise.
Lord Portlester and his wife, Margaret are portrayed on a cenotaph first erected as the focal point in his private chapel in 1482 but which is now in the porch of the western door of the Guild of Saint Anne Chapel.
This chapel has had no roof since 1773 when a decision was made to unroof it because Saint Audoen’s congregation numbers had declined so badly and the chapel was no longer needed.
The Tower
The tower was added to the church in the early 15th century and there are six bells in the bell loft. Three of these bells date from 1423 and the others date from the 18th and 19th centuries.. In 1597, an accidental gunpowder explosion at the nearby Wood Quay killed 126 people and damaged the tower along with many other buildings in the area.
The tower was restored in the 17th and early the early 19th centuries. The bells of Saint Audoen’s rang out in 1997 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Wood Quay gunpowder explosion and also peal every Sunday morning at 9.30 to summon worshippers to the Church of Ireland service which is held at 10am.
Visitors to Saint Audoen’s Church can view the part of the church still in use by the Church of Ireland today and see the monument to Lord and Lady Portlester, ‘the Lucky Stone’, the baptismal font and the Chapel of the Guild of Saint Anne which are all part of the exhibition in Saint Audoen’s Church. Entrance is by the visitor centre doorway on High Street.
Hashtags: #StAudeonChurch 
