Newman University Church is under the patronage of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. It opened in 1856 for students joined to the attached Catholic University that was for many years located next-door. Later the church was under the care of the nearby St. Kevin's parish on Harrington Street. Then in 1974 it was established as a parish.
Since 2016, the result of dwindling numbers, it has been under the care of the American University of Notre Dame, staffing the chapel and keeping it open for the Notre Dame-Newman Center for Faith and Reason. I pray the church will have a revival. It has a storied history and much to offer.
The genesis of the community here was John Henry Cardinal Newman who was invited by the Irish bishops to set up the Catholic University of Ireland which he did in 1854 when he was named rector. In 1855 groundbreaking took place. The final cost of building the university church was £5,600, almost double its original estimate. A substantial donation from Newman himself helped defray much of the cost.
In planning the church, Newman, with great expertise and tact, purchased the best property money could buy - overlooking the central park of the city. The address was 87 St. Stephen's Green, a red-brick Georgian structure built in 1730, to the right of the church, which included a large garden - where the church was later constructed. Unfortunately, this lovely brick property, for many years the rectory, was sold in 1988. To the left of the church was the university, built in Palladian style, intended to inspire learning and greatness.
Newman then set out to build his dream church, attached to the university in the former garden of the structure that was purchased. He did this with the assistance of an architect by the name of John Hungerford Pollen, also a former Anglican. Together they designed a totally unique structure, with the capacity to sit 600 and a large choir loft that could hold 100.
It was to be place of beauty and imagination that would speak of ties with Rome and reflect life as a persistent seeking of truth, a place where faith and reason met and interacted. It was to be a theological statement as to Newman's vision of a university in stone, marble, and other building materials sourced locally. Newman’s search into faith and reason is incarnated here, seeking in this world divine truth, thus the vocation of a student.
Newman enjoyed his time here and persisted amid the gloom of evening even through tough times, when the night was dark and when he was far from merry England, his true home and hearth. Nevertheless, he was ever trusting in that kindly light that would lead him on and which led him to the land of saints and scholars. He directed both the construction and decoration.
All those who enter the nave see a bust of Cardinal Newman on the side wall. Although the university is no more, this beautiful landmark remains, with a sort of whimsical interior, bringing to mind in some ways a secret place, with an unassuming street entrance, that leads the visitor down an unusual entrance corridor into a vestibule area under many pillars, below a large choir loft above -- revealing a cozy treasure.
The interior is richly decorated with a symphony of color that speaks of both Eastern and Western traditions. It especially speaks of Rome, with hints at San Clemente and San Lorenzo Fuori le Mure. There are the typical delightful green hues of green serpentine stones taken from different parts of Ireland.
The decoration gives a creative nod to the Byzantine-Romanesque Revival with Irish touches, such as carved capitals of shamrocks and greenish Connemara marbles and stones on the altar in the apse.
The church is rectangular in shape with a flat ceiling, thanks to its Roman basilica style layout.
The apse ceiling and semi-dome was clearly inspired by the mosaics of the Dominican's San Clemente in Rome. The ceiling of the main body is supported by red painted beams and joists. Just below the roof at irregular intervals are windows, with glass sourced from a Dublin bottle factory.
The floor was paved in unglazed Staffordshire black and red tiles.The upper walls carry a series of twenty-two large paintings that are not original and do not match the artistic theme of the chapel. John Henry Newman envisioned for these images to portray great beauty and also important stories. The originals that were completed in the nineteenth century by French copy artists, darkened over the years, were unfortunately replaced in 2006 with substandard paintings.
In the mid-1960s the ceiling atrium just inside the entrance was painted blue with a beautiful heraldic charge in gold -- the fleur-de-lis. This was requested by a local patron and Knight of Malta, John Galvin, in honor of the July 1964 wedding of his Olympian daughter to a French nobleman, Prince Georges-Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne-Lauragais.
Dublin is a city of churches. Each day there are countless Masses celebrated in church buildings across the city. A good church is distinctive in its architectural style and exceptional in its decoration. This church has a special place in the heart and heritage of Dublin city, artistically and architecturally.
For over 150 years it has been a favorite place for many (including myself) to pray in quiet while visiting the Emerald Isle. The clerestory windows illumine the interior and the heart sings as it feels at home. It is a church interior that looks like a church.
Today the interior could use a major redecorating. It would be lovely to see the original interior color scheme and stencil work restored, similar to what is being done in such a remarkable way at nearby St. Kevin's on Harrington Street (today the most robust parish community in the city, due in no small part to its truly artistic and thriving liturgical and musical program).
Thankfully the chapel has been preserved intact and was never revamped with a postconciliar "wreckovation" plan. When I last visited while on a "castle" tour of Ireland, it was pure joy to exit our hotel (the historic Shelbourne), to cut across the park in the morning mist and to enter this hidden gem, a hidden gem where the presence of God can be felt in a special way. Discovering this church is like being let in on an enchanting secret.
It makes sense this church was named after Our Lady with the title Seat of Wisdom (in Latin, Sedes Sapientaie). This comes from the Litany of Loreto, and it is an invocation long associated with education and higher learning. Mary is the throne of the Infant Jesus. He is Wisdom incarnate. May all be led here by the "kindly light" oft spoken of by Newman. Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!
Source: here.
