Church of St Mary, Kilmore

Church of St Mary, Kilmore

:: Main Menu

Home

Location

Priests of the Parish

Parish Organisations

Schools

History

News

Links

A short distance from the village of Kilmore, the church tower, with its unique shape, dominates the view. The church itself is at the centre of the village. It is a cruciform church, or rather, a T-shaped building, with the tower at the southern end opposite the main altar.

Two modern porches face the road, one on the transept and the other at the tower end.

Entering at the tower end, the main aisle leads up to the altar, bounded by graceful round pillars. To the left and right of the altar are small aisles - the left leads into the sacristy and the other to the porch

In the picture the sun on the left pillar gets its colour from the unusual stained glass window in the original back porch underneath the bell tower.

A long established custom in Kilmore is the placing of crosses under a small tree at Skeough on the road to the cemetery. The stained glass window at the rear of the church depicts this.

Inside this porch is a small reliquary associated with St Bernadette of Lourdes. This was donated by the Rowe family of Tullibards in 2002. It is the authentic Hair of St Bernadette (original Document from the Roman Curia). It was given to the Rowe family by an uncle Bernie Rowe (Fr Matty McManus of the diocese of Ossory).

Over the altar is a large window depicting the Sacred Heart. To the left is the organ and ambo and a small transept - St Anne's - leading to the sacristy.

To the right of the altar is a larger transept - St Joseph's. Like the smaller one it has a number of windows and is very bright. At the end is a large triptych type stained glass window depicting the Holy Family over the door leading to the porch. On each side of this are the confessionals

The windows throughout the church have a variety of richly coloured images. They are dedicated to the theme of the Litany of the BVM. The windows in St Joseph's are dedicated to St Nicholas, and to Michael, the Archangel, and the striking three-panel one is dedicated to the Holy Family.

On one of the walls in St Joseph's is a mural representing the tree of the crosses.

Most of the windows in the main aisle of the church are like that on the right. Each has an elaborate centre piece. Some of these are pictured below. They represent the Tower of David, Gate of Heaven, Seat of Wisdom, Mystical Rose, Arc of the Covenant, Tower of Ivory, House of Gold, Mirror of Justice.

TOP

:: Districts

Kilmore
>> History of Church
>> Historical Sites

Kilmore Quay

Mulrankin

Tomhaggard

Contact

Click on a picture to open a large image.
Close the window before moving on.