St Francis Xavier preaching in Japan.  Over the high altar,  by Bernardo Celantano.  It is strange that the figrue of St Francis is over the high altar, as the crucifix is always the altar centre piece. however the Jesuits in the community overcame the dilemma by having Xavier pointing to the crucifix, thus appeasing the liturgists and allowing Fr Esmonde, the architect of the church and Superior, to have his way!

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The Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier, Upper Gardiner Street, was the first Catholic Church erected in Dublin following the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. Its predecessor at 30 Hardwicke Street was opened in 1816 by Fr. Charles Aylmer SJ, the first public chapel of the restored Society of Jesus. The four founders of the Church of SFX – Peter Kenny, Bartholomew Esmonde, Charles Aylmer and Archbishop Daniel Murray – received their early education in the school for the classics founded in 1750 by the Jesuits in Saul’s Court, off Fishamble St.With a design based on that of the church of the Gesu in Rome, the mother church of the Jesuits, Gardiner St church opened to the faithful on 3 May 1832, when Archbishop Murray celebrated the first Mass on a temporary altar. The foundation stone had been laid on 2 July 1829 by Fr. Charles Aylmer. On 12 February 1835, the church was solemnly blessed by the Archbishop in presence of 14 bishops and large congregation. The church when opened was 135’ long. It was extended in 1838 (at which time new High Altar was under construction in Rome), and in 1850 the sanctuary was extended by 25’, and a semicircular apse built which moved High Altar further back. The High Altar, 25’ high, is of an enriched classical Corinthian Order with 4 green scagliola columns. It was designed and assembled in Rome by Fr. B. Esmonde, while he was based at the Gesu, and who with Mr John B Keane was the architect of the church. It consists of many precious stones and marbles which include lapis lazuli in the drum over tabernacle with malachite inlay.

The painting over the high altar (1860), St. Francis Xavier Preaching in Japan, oil on canvas, is by the Neapolitan artist, Bernardo Celantano.

Furnishings:

· Italinate portico is of Portland stone.

· Pediment sculptures placed over portico in Fr. Nicholas Walsh’s time (1877-84) – Sacred Heart, St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier – attributed to Terence Farrell RHA

· Pulpit of cast-iron with monogram of the Society of Jesus ‘HIS’ and gilded portrait heads of ‘Christ Crowned with Thorns’ and ‘Sorrowful Mother of Christ’

· The organ has been rebuilt several times, always in original organ case. Theoriginal instrument was made by Flight & Robson (London) 1836. Jesuits purchased it for 800 guineas.

· Sculptures in Transepts: ‘Jesus in Garden of Olives’, made by French sculptor Jacques Augustin Dieudonne in 1848

· ‘Madonna and Child’ by Roman sculptor Ignazio Jacometti in 1881.

· Four oil paintings in nave attributed to Pietro Gagliardi (Rome) and were hung in church in Fr. Nicholas Walsh’s time as Rector (1877-84)

Restorations 1877 (new roof); 1896 electricity installed (lit by gaslight before); 1932 redecorated. 1970 – extensive redecoration under Brendan Ellis, to comply with the liturgical norms and spirit of Vatican II, and a new altar table was erected in Cuban mahogany by William Hicks.

Other minor restorations and structural works done in 1974, 1983,1989 and 1990s.

supplied by Maureen Beary-Ryan

cf Roman Opulence in a Dublin Church: The High Altar of St Francis Xavier's, by Maureen Ryan, in Irish Arts Review Yearbook, 1998 (vol. 14).

for some excellent photographs of the church:  see http://www.flickr.com/photos/58086761@N00/sets/72157594567519557/show/

Francis Xavier and Ignatius in conversation, Sorbonne University, Paris - Gagliardo.

Sanctuary of the Church

An unconvinced Listener - Detail of Francis Xavier preaching in Japan - over high altar - By Celantano.

A striking view of the ceiling

Dome over the shrine of our Lady

The pulpit

Statue of St Claude de la Colombiére SJ, apostle of devotion to the Sacred Heart

The Agony in the Garden

EVIE HONE WINDOWS

Detail from the Loaves and Fishes Window

Evie Hone, HRHA (1894-1955) was born in Donnybrook, Dublin. When she was eleven she was a victim of polio, and was lame as a result. A hand was also affected. Nevertheless she went on to become an outstanding artist, particularly in stained glass. In her early years she visited many of the great art centres of Europe, and studied in London under Bernard Meninsky, and for a time under Walter Sickert. There she met Mainie Jellett who became a lifelong friend and for ten years they pursued their studies together in France. They became students of Andre Lhote, painting landscapes, portraits and other work with a Cubist tendency. For a brief period Evie joined a community of Anglican nuns, though she was later received into the Catholic Church. In the 1930s, apparently tiring of abstract art, she began to study the problems of stained glass. Her first work was the Annunciation for St.Nathi’s Church, Dundrum, Co. Dublin. One of her most important early commissions was My Four Green Fields. It is now installed in Government Buildings, Merrion Street, Dublin. The Jesuits were her main patrons and some of her finest windows are to be seen in the Jesuit Retreat House in Dollymount, to where they were moved from the Retreat House in Rahan, Co. Offaly, when it closed in 1991. The Ascension in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, is another outstanding work. The five symbolical windows for University Hall, Dublin, now moved to St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Gardiner Street, Dublin were installed in 1948. The windows were paid for from the Estate of Joseph Dolan, a Classics graduate from U.C.D. They were first suggested by Fr. J Fullerton, Cong. Orat. who was an executor of the Mr Dolan’s Estate. The windows at Kingscourt and at the Jesuit Church in Rahan influenced the Trustees of Eton College to commission her to replace one of the great windows in Eton College chapel. Altogether, Evie Hone received more than fifty commissions for stained glass in Ireland and abroad.

Evie Hone died on 13 March 1955 and is buried in the graveyard of St. Maelruain’s Church, Tallaght, Co. Dublin.

Baptismal Font by Chris Ryan, 2004.

St Francis Xavier - stained glass 1906, Earley of Dublin.

Daniel Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, who blessed the church and celebrated the first Mass on May 3, 1832.  Painting on Church Corridor.

Confessional under the painting of Xavier and Loyola

The Stations of the Cross are carved with interesting detail. This, the ninth station, Jesus is nailed to the cross --- notice the man in the right corner holding the box of nails and another holding Jesus' leg down.

More details later.........