Priory of the Holy Trinity, Dublin (Christ Church)(Walsh)

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy: With the Monasteries of Each County, Biographical Notices of the Irish Saints, Prelates, and Religious, 1854, c. xliv, pps. 421ff:

Priory of the Holy Trinity commonly called Christ church. Sitric the Danish prince of Dublin is said to have given Donatus the bishop of that see a site on which to erect a church in honor of the blessed Trinity. The year of the grant is marked in the black book of Christ church as taking place AD 1038.

On the advancement of St. Lawrence O'Toole to the see of Dublin AD 1163 he instituted the canons regular of the order of Arras instead of the secular canons.

AD 1176 died Richard earl of Pembroke called Strongbow of a cancerous sore in his leg and was interred in the church of the Holy Trinity within sight of the holy cross.

AD 1546 the tomb of a bishop who had been many centuries interred was this year opened the body was found whole and uncorrupted with a gold chalice rings and episcopal vestments.

Relics religiously preserved in this church: A crucifix said to have spoken the staff of Jesus; St. Patrick's altar; a thorn of our Saviour's crown; part of the Virgin Mary's girdle; some of the bones of SS Peter and Andrew; a few of those of the holy martyrs St. Clement, St. Oswald, St. Faith, the abbot Brendan, St. Thomas a Becket; St. Woolstan bishop of Worcester and St Lawrence O'Toole, all of which have been destroyed by the English reformers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in detestation of popery and idolatry.

The cloisters and other buildings attached to this magnificent church have been removed, the church alone remains, reminding the spectator of the splendor of ancient days and of the piety and faith of the Catholic church as exemplified in works of art and architectural taste. The court yard and the aisles of Christ church are at present nothing more than the promenade of the idle and the curious.

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The Archiepiscopal See of Dublin (1180 - 1294)(Walsh)

Medieval Walls of Dublin with St. Audoen's Tower

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, 1854, c. xvi, p. 110 ff:

John Comyn succeeded and the English monarch who persecuted the holy prelate St Lawrence for his ardent attachment to the land of his birth no longer able to appropriate the revenues of the see resolved that an office of so much importance should not be entrusted to an Irishman who perhaps might be actuated by the same patriotic motives as St Lawrence and might more openly assume an hostility to the rule of the British monarch Accordingly on the monarch's earnest recommendation his chaplain John Comyn a native of England and a Benedictine monk of Evesham a man of eloquence and learning was elected on the 6th of September 1181 to the archbishopric of Dublin by some of the clergy who had assembled at Evesham for the purpose John was not then a priest but was in the following year ordained one at Velletri and on the 21st of March 1181 was consecrated by Pope Lucius III who took under his especial protection the see of Dublin and by bull dated the 13th of April 1182 and by virtue and authority of the holy canons ordered and decreed that no archbishop or bishop should without the assent of the prelate of Dublin presume to hold within the diocese of Dublin any conference or entertain any ecclesiastical causes or matters of the same diocese unless enjoined by the Roman Pontiff and his legate From this privilege which was introduced as appears against the claims of Canterbury arose the controversy regarding the primatial right of visitation which distracted both provinces for centuries afterwards The Primate of Armagh contended that he had notwithstanding this exemption the right of having his cross borne before him of holding appeals and visitations in the whole province of Leinster Though a bishop is bound to residence by the canons John was absent from his church three years and at length arrived in September 1184 having been despatched by the King to prepare for the reception of Prince John earl of Morton whom his royal parent had resolved to send into Ireland John as an English baron received the Prince at Waterford and obtained from him a grant of the bishopric of Glenda loch with all its appurtenances in lands manors churches tithes fisheries liberties to hold to him and his successors for ever but this union was not to take place during the life of William Piro then bishop of Glendaloch In the year 1186 archbishop Comyn held a provincial synod in Dublin in the church of the Holy Trinity The canons then enacted were confirmed under the leaden seal of Pope Urban III and are extant In 1189 this prelate rebuilt the cathedral of St Patrick erected it into a collegiate church and endowed it with suitable possessions plac in it thirteen prebendaries he also repaired and enlarged the choir of Christ church cathedral founded and endowed the nunnery of Grace Dieu in the county of Dublin for regular canonesses of St Augustine whom he removed from the more ancient convent of Lusk In 1197 Hamo de Valois justiciary of Ireland under Prince John finding the government embarrassed through the want of a treasury harassed John Comyn by seizing on several lands belonging to his see De Valois having enriched himself by plundering this see and also the laity was recalled from the government in consequence of a papal remonstrance in September 1198 Hamo de Valois struck with remorse for his spoliation made a grant of twenty ploughlands to the archbishop and his successors for ever The appeal to Rome having excited the anger of Prince John the prelate was not for some time received into favor John Comyn died on the 25th of October 1214 having survived the reconciliation about six years and was buried in Christ church where a noble monument was erected to his memory.

Henry de Loundres succeeded in the year 1213 He was archdeacon of Stafford and was consecrated in the beginning of 1214 in the following year he was cited to Rome to assist at a general council On his arrival there Pope Innocent HI ratified the union of Glendaloch with Dublin and in 1216 confirmed the possessions of this see in 1217 constituted legate of Ireland by the Pope he convened a synod at Dublin in which according to the annals of St Mary's abbey he established many things profitable to the Irish church In 1219 Henry de Loundres assumed the second time the administration of Ireland Jeoffrey de Marescis the governor having been recalled In 1228 by writ directed to the lords justices he received the custody of all vacant archbishoprics and bishoprics in Ireland the profits to be received by John de St John bishop of Ferns and treasurer of Ireland and by de Theurville archdeacon of Dublin and to be by them paid to the archbishop until the debts and obligations due by the crown to him should be satisfied This prelate erected the collegiate church of St Patrick into a cathedral united as Allen says with the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in one spouse saving to the other Church the prerogative of honor Having filled the see fifteen years he died about the beginning of July 1228 and was buried in Christ Church Of his tomb there is no trace This English prelate obtained the disgraceful epithet of Scorch villain Having summoned his tenants to give an account of the titles by which they held their lands they appeared and produced their deeds The bishop instantly possessed himself of them and consigned them to the fire to the injury of the unsuspecting farmers Whereupon they are said to have given him the opprobrious epithet alluded to.

Luke Dean of St Martin le Grand London treasurer of the king's wardrobe was through the influence of Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent whose chaplain he had been elected in 1228 but his election had been declared null at Rome whereupon he was reelected though not confirmed by the Pope until the year 1230 when his patron the Earl of Kent incurred the king's displeasure and was cruelly persecuted and deserted by all his friends The Archbishop Luke mindful of the obligations of gratitude adhered to his interest and obtained by his perseverance in his cause milder terms from the sovereign than were originally intended In 1150 the archbishops bishops and clergy of Ireland who were of Irish birth had in a synod enacted a decree that no Englishman born should be admitted a canon in any of their churches A remonstrance being forwarded to the pope a bull was directed to them in which they were commanded to rescind the said decree within a month In 1258 a contest arose between the chapters of the two cathedrals concerning the election of the archbishops. Luke strove to adjust the matter by prescribing that the place of election should be only in the church of the Holy Trinity the dean and chapter of St Patrick's by joint votes assisting in the election but the latter not content with this adjustment the affair was brought before Innocent IV as a special injustice to the chapter of St Patrick's The pope empowered by bull dated the 20th of May the bishop of Emly the bishop and the dean of Limerick to settle the controversy About this time arose also the contest with Reyner archbishop of Armagh concerning the right of visitation In the latter part of his life Archbishop Luke suffered severely by a malady in his eyes which brought on a total loss of sight and eventually hastened his death in December 1225 He was buried in Christ church with his predecessor John Comyn.

Fulk de Sandford succeeded in 1256. Both chapters elected Ralph of Norwich canon of St Patrick's and treasurer of Ireland but he was betrayed at Rome by his agents as Matthew Paris states He was a witty pleasant companion and one who loved good cheer He was it seems too secular and worldly to be consecrated His election was therefore set aside and Fulk de Sandford archdeacon of Middlesex and treasurer of St Paul's London was by the pope's bull declared archbishop of Dublin In 1261. Fulk de Sandford took a journey to Rome on business connected with his see the management of it during his absence having been committed by the pope to the bishops of Lismore and Waterford On the 6th of May 1271 Archbishop Fulk died in his manor of Finglass his body was conveyed to St Patrick's church and deposited in the chapel of the Virgin Mary.

John de Derlington was declared the archbishop of Dublin by the pope who annulled the elections of William de la Corner by the prior and convent of the Holy Trinity and of Fromund le Brun by the dean and chapter of St Patrick's John was a doctor of divinity a Dominican friar and confessor to the late King Henry EH and had been his ambassador to Pope Nicholas in 1278 He was consecrated in Waltham Abbey on the 8th of September 1279 by John archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Paris describes him as a prelate of great authority because of his learning and wisdom Bale calls him a mercenary hireling and no shepherd and says that he died blasted by divine vengeance He was collector of the Peter pence both in England and Ireland to the pontiffs John XXI Nicholas HI and Martin IV His death took place suddenly in London on the 29th of March 1284 in the fifth year after his consecration in a Dominican convent and there buried John de Sandford was a native of England brother to Archbishop Fulk dean of St Patrick's a Franciscan friar and for some time es cheator of Ireland He was canonically elected by the chapter of St Patrick's and being confirmed by the king he was consecrated in the church of the Holy Trinity on palm Sunday 1286 In his early life he came to Ireland as vicar general to his brother and was presented by the baroness of Naas to the rectory of Maynooth John was a prelate in great reputation for learning wisdom and discretion He died in October 1294 having been seized with a grievous distemper His body was conveyed from England at the desire of the Canons of St Patrick's and buried there in his brother's monument.

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