Saint Michan’s Church Arson Update
Dubliners were saddened to hear last June of an arson attack at Saint Michan’s Church in Church Street in Dublin 7 in which five of the churches famous ‘mummies’ were badly damaged. The mummies had been on public view during guided tours of the Church’s crypts for decades. The incident happened around 4pm on the 11th of June last. The fire, which is believed to have occurred when a mummy known as ‘the Crusader’ was set on fire, was first noticed by a guide when smoke was seen coming out of the crypt and Dublin Fire Brigade was called. There were no injuries.
Most of the damage to the mummies was reportedly caused by water lying in the crypt and its vaults after Dublin Fire Brigade had finished extinguishing the fire. Saint Michan’s Church is awaiting advice from the National Museum of Ireland with regards to the extent of this damage.
A 38 years old man has been charged under the Criminal Damage Act 1991 by the Gardai and the matter is now before the courts.
The Mummies
The targeted mummies lay below ground in an open vault in partially disintegrating coffins. One of the mummies was of a male with both of his feet cut off and missing a hand. He is known as ‘the Thief’ because it had been assumed that his hand had been cut off as punishment for stealing, although it may have been amputated due to injury or disease. Another one was a female known as ‘the Nun’, which is believed to be about 400 years old.
Perhaps, the most interesting of these mummies was the mummy known as ‘the Crusader’. It is said to be the 800 year old remains of a soldier and was over 2 metres tall. At such a height, this man would have been considered a giant for his day. He was traditionally known as ‘the Crusader’ because of the way his legs had been bent back and crossed behind him in his coffin, which was customary of the burial customs of those who had taken part in the religious wars and crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries. It is also possible that his legs were broken and bent behind him in order to fit into the coffin.
This was not the first time that the mummies had been vandalised. In February, 2019, the crypts were forced to close temporarily after the mummies were desecrated. On that occasion a guide discovered the head of ‘the Crusader’ mummy had been severed from its mummified body and taken. The head was later recovered following a tip off to Gardai. The head of the mummified nun had also been turned 180 degrees to face the wrong direction and a third mummy had been turned on its side.
Saint Michan’s Reopens and Tours Resume
Although the church and crypts closed for tours in the aftermath of the fire, guided tours of the church and another crypt underneath it, resumed at the beginning of September. Tours of the church and one crypt run approximately every hour from Monday to Thursday from 10am to 12.30 am in the morning and after lunch from 2pm to 4.30. Tickets can be bought in the church shop and cost seven euros for an adult and five euros for a senior citizen, student or child.
Saint Michan’s History
Saint Michan’s church was originally constructed of wood in 1095 to serve Dublin’s Viking population, which had been expelled from the walled city of Dublin after the battle of Clontarf in 1014. It was consecrated in 1096.
The present day church building was built during 1685 and consecrated in 1686 and it still has weekly Church of Ireland services. The church tower is older and was built in the 15th century.
The Crypts
There are five crypts underneath Saint Michan’s and after the arson attack one is still open for public tours. The crypts, like the church tower may be older than the church. If this is true, then it would account for the presence of an 800 years old crusader mummy in one of them.
The crypts consist of a passageway and individual gated vaults which were reserved for the families which had bought them.
A number of factors are believed to have caused the mummification of the bodies interred in the crypts. The limestone walls have made the atmosphere in them extremely dry and caused the desiccation of the bodies in their coffins. In addition to this, the year round uniform temperature of the crypt and the methane gas which seeps up in small amounts from the ground underneath the crypts also contributed to the mummification process. These factors account for the taut, leathery skin of the mummies.
The Sheares Brothers
Two of the most notable bodies interred in the reopened crypt belong to two Trinity College educated barristers, John and Henry Sheares. They were brothers and both were inspired by the French Revolution and even travelled to Paris in 1792, met revolutionary leaders and been present at the execution of Louis XVI in 1793.
John Sheares was a key organizer of the United Irishmen’s Rebellion against British rule that shook Ireland in 1798. After their locations were betrayed by a spy, they were arrested on May 21st 1798 just two days before the rebellion began. They were both tried for treason on the 12th of July 1798 for their part in the United Irishmen revolution, which was then at its height.
After a brief trial, both men were sentenced to death by being hung, drawn and quartered. Despite a plea by the younger and more zealous of the brothers, John Sheares, to spare his older brother’s Henry’s life, both brothers were hung, drawn and quartered in front of Newgate Prison on the morning of the 14th of July 1798. Their remains were laid in the nearby Saint Michan’s crypt. John Sheares was aged 32 and Henry 45. Their remains are in closed coffins.
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