Opened
in 1931 the present building is the fourth church to be
built by the Franciscans in Athlone. The first has completely
disappeared, the second still stands in the Abbey graveyard
and the third, built in the nineteenth century was demploshed
to make way for the church we are now looking at.
The facade is built of Ardbraccan limestone from Co Meath.
As Athlone is situated so close to Clonmacnoise it is
perhaps fitting that we have a church built in the Hiberno-Romanesque
style, the facade has a gabled doorway, large wheel window
and a round tower.
The spacious interior is Romanesque with round-headed
arches on each side, the chancel arch is richly ornamented.
The plasterwork of the arches in the nave and the ceilings
of the side aisles have celtic interlacing ornamentation.
The stained glass windows in the apse are from the Harry
Clarke studios in Dublin and depict St. Francis of Assisi,
St. Louis, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Elizabeth of Hungary
and St. Clare of Assisi. The columns supporting the nave
arcading are of unpolished granite standing on plinths
of black fossil limestone from Shannonbridge.
The cross hanging in the apse is a copy of the San Damiano
crucifix (which spoke to St. Francis), by Muriel Brandt
RHA, and was installed in 1975. The foot of the cross
has been adopted to include some of the friars who ministered
here.
The stone arcade behind the statue of St. Francis in the
forecourt contains aspects of the history of the Franciscans
in Athlone and their story is a compelling one. The limestone
arcade came from the burnt out ruins of Tipperary military
barracks. The Franciscans have been here for almost eight
hundred years and have been called Athlone's oldest family.
Athlone
Architectural Heritage Group would like to thank Donal
O'Brien, author of 'Athlone, a visitor's guide' ©
for his kind permission to use above content. |
|
