Kilcrea Abbey

photo of Kilcrea Abbey

Cormac Láidir Mac Cárthaigh, Tiarna Mhúscraí, a bhunaigh an mhainistir seo do Bheachtchoimeádaithe Riail Naomh Phroinsiais i 1465.

Kilcrea Friary was founded for the Franciscan Observants in 1465 by Cormac Láidir Mac Carthaigh, Lord of Muskerry.

The name Kilcrea means the Church of Cré, a woman who founded a hermitage here before the time of the Franciscians. The friary is a fine example of an Irish Franciscian monastery and most of it survives in good condition. The church features a fine, slender tower which was used as a belfry. Within the building are the burial places of Art Ó Laoire and Cormac Láidir McCarthy.

Scriptorium

  • Scriptorium – An artist’s impression
  • As it is today
On the north side of the church is the cloister area and the domestic buildings. These include the remains of the chapter room – where the business of the monastery was done – the refectory or dining room and dormitories. Adjoining the chancel of the church is the sacristy, above which is the monastery scriptorium. This was the best lit room in the monastery and here the friars worked on their manuscripts. A fifteenth century manuscript written within Kilcrea is preserved in Rennes, France.
  • Abbey Entrance
    Kilcrea Abbey Entrance
  • Kilcrea Abbey Interior
    Foot of Belfry Tower
  • Kilcrea Abbey window at sunset
    Window at sunset
Kilcrea was attacked several times, following the suppression of the monasteries during the sixteenth century. In 1650 It was occupied by Cromwellian soldiers. The connection of the Franciscans with the monastery continued, however until the 19th century.

Art O’Leary

Arthur O’Leary was born at Raleigh near Macroom in 1747. He was a member of a prosperous Catholic family, which, despite the Penal Laws, managed to retain extensive land holdings between Macroom and Gougane Barra. Denied educational and career opportunities at home because of the Penal Laws, Arthur, like many Catholic young men of good family, went abroad where he served as a captain in the Hungarian Huzzars.

Arthur married Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, aunt of the Liberator Daniel O’Connell, in 1767 on his return from service abroad. He was killed in 1773 at Carriganima near Macroom by soldiers accompanying a local magistrate, Abraham Morris (also known as Morrison) of Hanover Hall, allegedly for refusing to sell his horse to Morris for £5, a legal technicality designed to prevent Catholics owning horses fit for Military Service.

In fact, his death was the culmination of a bitter and personal feud between the two men, caused by Art’s assertive behaviour and Morris’s determination to keep the Penal Laws alive. Morris had to stand trial for murder but was acquitted.

A celebrated lament in Irish, attributed to Eibhlín Dubh, Caoineadh Art Uí Laoghaire, is an emotionally powerful description of her reaction to his death. The tragic appeal of the poem has earned it a lasting place in Irish Literature and ensured that Arthur O’Leary will not be forgotten.

The following passage of the lament appears to have been sung by Eibhlín at Art’s burial:

My love and my beloved
Your corn-stacks are standing
your yellow cows milking.
Your grief upon my heart
all of Munster couldn’t cure,
nor the smiths of Oileáin na bhFionn,
Till Art Ó Laoghaire comes
my grief will not disperse
but cram my heart’s core,
shut firmly in like a trunk locked up when the key is lost.		Mo ghrá thú agus mo rún!
Tá do stácaí ar a mbonn,
Tá do bha buí á gcrú;
Is ar mo chroí atá do chumha
Ná leigheasfadh Cúige Mumhan
Ná Gaibhne Oileán na bhFionn.
Go dtiocfaidh Art Ó Laoghaire chugham
Ní scaipfidh ar mo chumha
Atá i lár mo chroí á bhrú;
Dúnta suas go dlúth
Mar a bheadh glas a bheadh ar thrúnc
‘S go raghadh an eochair amú.
Art O’Leary’s tomb in Kilcrea Friary bears the following inscription: Lo Arthur Leary, Generous, Handsome, Brave, slain in his Bloom Lies in this Humble Grave. Died May 4th 1773 Aged 26 years.