Pope Leo is to be asked to settle one of the outstanding issues of the Reformation that has affected Dublin for 500 years. The Catholic population of Dublin has not had a dedicated cathedral in that time following the start of Protestantism and subsequent Penal Laws. St Mary's, the Pro Cathedral was built in 1825 as a temporary arrangement but now as it celebrates its bicentennial, the Pope is being asked to designate it as the official Catholic Cathedral of Dublin.
Visitors to Dublin can be surprised to discover that the city’s Catholic cathedral does not occupy a very prominent location, situated as it is on Marlborough Street in the north inner city.
Although it represents the biggest religion in the capital, the site of St Mary’s, the Pro Cathedral of Dublin, was deliberately chosen in the early eighteenth century to be less conspicuous.
Fr Kieran McDemott the cathedral’s administrator, said it was originally planned to have it where the GPO now stands on O’Connell Street.
But, he said, that was in the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion and some of the Penal Laws against Catholics were still in force. So, the Catholic community decided not to "push their luck" and settled on a quieter site on nearby Marlborough Street instead.
Fr McDermott explains that the 'Pro’ in Cathedral stands for Pro Tempore - or temporary - and that St Mary’s was meant to be replaced by a dedicated Cathedral at a later date.
That temporary arrangement is still in place two hundred years later.
The loss of a Catholic cathedral goes back to the Reformation. Before then the Catholic cathedral was Christchurch.
The Catholic Dublin Archdiocese still traces its history back to Christchurch Cathedral and to Gregory, the first Archbishop of Dublin appointed by the Pope in 1152.
But when Protestants broke away from the papacy, both Christchurch and St Patrick’s cathedral became the property of the Church of Ireland.
"So, the rupture, and I think that's the word we have to use, was the Reformation in the mid 1530s. So that was the break, as it were, with Rome, and we're still living out of that rupture. Five hundred years later Christchurch remains the seat of the Church of Ireland Archbishop and St Patrick's is The Collegiate Church for the Church of Ireland on the island of Ireland," said Fr McDermott.
It was three hundred years before Catholics got their temporary Cathedral with the building of St Mary’s on Marlborough Street being completed in 1825.
Fr McDermott says it is not known who the architect was as it is signed only as ‘P’.
He says one theory is that the ‘P’ stands for Paris and that the architect was Louis-Hippolyte Lebas who was Napoleon’s architect. And that because Britain and France were at war, the Catholic community did not want to highlight this fact.
The Pro Cathedral does bear a similarity with Notre-Dame-de-Lorette church in Paris which was designed by Lebas.
Over the years there were several attempts to build a permanent Catholic cathedral in Dublin.
Colm Redmond of FKP Architects says there was an architectural competition in 1930s to build the cathedral in Merrion Square which the Catholic church had purchased.
"A winning entry was creating a very large type of cathedral, very modern, maybe a little bit towards the brutalist in its design, and it would have been quite a large structure in the middle of the very important square."
"Somehow it didn't get built. Perhaps the view was that it was either going to be too elaborate or just too overpowering. But the design was quietly put aside," he said.
The Pro Cathedral’s crypt now contains the final resting place of nearly one thousand people including former Archbishops, prominent Catholics such as members of the Corballis and Sweetman families, as well as local people.
And the pro cathedral has fulfilled its role as a building of national importance over the past two centuries.
The biggest occasion was the funeral of Michael Collins in 1922. It also hosted the funeral of the Fenian Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, as well as state funerals for former Presidents.
Pope Francis also made a special request to visit the cathedral during his time in Ireland.
But there are well-documented problems of drug abuse and anti-social activity in the north inner city which are causing increased difficulties for the cathedral.
Ex-army ranger Robbie Byrne now works as facilities manager in the cathedral and he says that permanent security will probably be needed one day.
The question of Dublin’s Catholic cathedral was given fresh impetus when Dermot Farrell was appointed Archbishop in 2021.
Fr McDermott said the new Archbishop asked the question one day "is it correct to say that the Catholics of Dublin haven't had a dedicated Cathedral in five hundred years?"
"Nobody actually asked that question in that way before," he said.
Fr McDermott said the Archbishop took views from interested parties and had a period of reflection.
One idea was to designate St Andrews, Westland Row on the southside as the cathedral or else to have a ‘twin pillar approach’ with St Mary’s on the northside.
But eventually the Archbishop decided that St Mary’s, the Pro Cathedral, should be proposed as the official cathedral with St Andrews as a minor basilica or church of special importance.
Fr McDermott says it is his understanding that this proposal is on the desk of Pope Leo.
"It would be lovely if it could happen this year, particularly as we celebrate the Bicentenary, the 200 years since it opened."
The story of the Pro Cathedral is featured on Nationwide this evening on RTÉ 1 at 7pm.
