St Fin Barre's marks death of patron saint
A series of events marking the 1,400th anniversary of the death in 623 A.D. of Saint Fin Barre of Cork will take place on Leeside in the coming days.
Celebrations get underway tomorrow, Friday, and will run until next Monday, Saint Fin Barre’s annual feast day.
Speaking in the lead up to the anniversary celebrations, Bishop Paul Colton recalled the moment he realised the significance of the date.
“I was reading some historical material late last year and noticed the date and did the sums. I said to myself, ‘hang on a minute; next year will be the 1,400th anniversary, according to the usually observed year of the death of St Fin Barre’.”
The first event at 11am tomorrow morning will see the children of three local primary schools, St Fin Barre’s, St Maries of the Isle, and Greenmount, presented with wildlife kits, followed by choral evensong at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral at 6.15pm. Later on, the cathedral will open up for Culture Night with tour guide presentations at 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm, and short musical programmes at 7.30pm and 8.30 pm.
At 11am on Saturday, there is an open invitation to the people of Cork to visit the cathedral. There is also a special invitation going out to anyone named after Saint Fin Barre in whatever form, language or spelling it may be. Those who can confirm their name to the cathedral staff will receive a small limited edition gift to mark the anniversary. At 7.30pm, there will be an organ recital by internationally renowned Franco-Lebanese organist Naji Hakim which will also coincide with the 10th anniversary of the restoration of the cathedral organ.
On Sunday morning at 11.15am, there will be choral eucharist at the cathedral, followed at 3.30pm by choral evensong at which Bishop Paul Colton will consecrate a new icon of St Fin Barre written by international iconographer Aidan Hart of London.
On Monday, which is the Feast of Saint Fin Barre of Cork, there will be special assemblies in schools in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. St Fin Barre’s Cathedral will be closed to visitors throughout the day until 7.30pm when the Reverend Martin Steele, currently a deacon at the cathedral, will be ordained into priesthood.
“On Saint Patrick’s Day last at the civic service in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, I announced that we would be commemorating the anniversary and, since then, the Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne and I have been working on a modest programme,” continued Bishop Colton.
He added: “I am especially delighted that the Dean and the Cathedral Select Vestry have responded positively to my suggestion that we should commission a sacred icon of St Fin Barre to mark this anniversary.”
The Dean of Cork, the Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, said: “It is important that we mark significant anniversaries such as that of the death of our patron saint. It is important that we give thanks for Saint Fin Barre’s legacy on the site where our city was founded and where Christian worship has continued unbroken for so many centuries.”