FROM PRE-NORMAN DAYS...
On Monday, December 12th, 1864, "the neat and
picturesque" newly-built church of Rathmichael was consecrated by his Grace
the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Reverend Richard Chenevix Trench.
The Archbishop was accompanied by his chaplain, the Reverend Arthur Dawson,
vicar of the new St. Bartholomew's Church, Clyde Road, Dublin, and among those
present were the Reverend J.G. Scott of Bray, the Reverend L.H. Strean of
Delgany, the Reverend J .W. Gregg of Greystones and the Reverend T. W. Hackett.
of St. James's, Bray (Crinken). The Reverend John Hunt, incumbent of Rathmichael
since 1825, unable to be present through illness, was represented by his two
sons. The laity included Sir Charles Comp- ton William Domvile, on whose estate
the church was built and we may be sure (although they are not mentioned in the
Ecclesiastical Gazette from which we draw the above account) that the Right Hon.
James Anthony Lawson," Attorney-General, of Clontra, Mr Wentworth Erck of
Sherrington and Baron Fitzgerald of Killiney, brother-in-law of the rector, were
also there.
The Archbishop chose as the text for his sermon I Peter 2 vv 4 & 5, "To
whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God, and precious; Ye also, as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ" - a text particularly appropriate to Rathmichael whence, in the
words of the Venerable Bede, "so many of the living stones have been borne
away to the Temple in Heaven", yet where so many of her ancient stones re-
main, silent witnesses to the centuries. The final hymn, "Christ is our
Comer Stone" was sung; and thus the ancient parish of Rathmichael after 200
years once again had its own church to carry on the tradition begun so long
before.
Despite the winter day and the bareness of the site without the trees which have
since grown up to shade and shelter God's acre, we can picture a charming little
ceremony, for church-going in those days and for any years after, was a formal
affair. Horse drawn carriages brought gentlemen in top-hats and morning dress
with their ladies in the long full-skirted gowns of the period. Four years prior
to this ceremony, on June 27th, 1860, the piece of ground comprising one statute
acre on which our church stands, was given in trust to the incumbent, the
Reverend John Hunt and the churchwardens of the parish, James Crofton Dodwell of
Shankill House and Benjamin Tilly of Chantilly and their sucessors for ever, by
Sir Charles Domvile of Santry Court and Loughlinstown House, for, to quote the
words in the Deed of Conveyance, "the goodwill which he bears to the
inhabitants of said Parish and that a Church in which Divine Service according
to the Liturgy and Rites of the Established Church of England and Ireland might
be erected thereon". Sir Charles Compton William Domvile, descendant of a
very ancient Norman family settled in England since the Conquest, had inherited
his considerable property in the parish (held under the Archbishop of Dublin)
from a 17th Century ancestor whose grandfather had come to Ireland.
THE PARISH
While the present day church is, therefore, only quite young, the
parish of Rathmichael is as old as any in the country. It can trace its history
back over seven hundred hears to the early 13th century when, under Anglo-Norman
rule, the Celtic monastic church became parochial and about the same time
Rathmichael began its long connection with the Cathedral of St. Patrick. The present-day Rathmichael Parish Church
RATHMICHAEL - THE NAME
Seven hundred years is a long time, but we can claim even more.
There is evidence that a church of that name occupied the old Rathmichael site
for perhaps as many centuries again before the coming of the Normans in 1170,
which brings us back to very early Christian days - to not long after St.
Patrick himself was living and preaching. The name is unusual and interesting
and may even hold the key to the date of the foundation. Fortunately, it was not
changed at the consecration of the modern church.
Scholars in the nineteenth century believed that the second part of the name did
not refer to the Archangel, a dedication quite out of keeping with what we know
of the Celtic Church where custom almost invariably gave a church the name of
its founder, but that it was a anglicization of the Irish MacTáil (genitive of
Tál, an adze or carpenter's tool), both names sounding similar in Irish. They
believed that the founder of Rathmichael was Bishop MacTáil of Kilcullen, Co.
Kildare, whose death is recorded in the Annals at 550 A.D. There seem to have
been strong links connecting him with St. Patrick, some even claiming that he
belonged to the Saint's household, although on grounds of age it would appear
more likely that it was his father, a carpenter (hence the name by which the
Bishop is known).
Some believe there are grounds for thinking that MacTáil must at one time have
been patron saint of Dublin - his name having been invoked to chase the
foreigners out of Dublin as recorded in the Annals. This is the entry in the
Annals of the Four Masters, the age of Christ 937, the twentieth year of
Donncadh - "Gall do dergu atha Cliath i Amhlaoibh mac Gotfrith, tre
furtacht De agus MacTáil" ("The foreigner was banished from Dublin by
the help of God and MacTáil). The feast day of MacTáil is June 11th. Rathmichael Rectory
