Cathedral of Saints Eunan and Columba, Letterkenny

History

A parish church was built on the site of the present cathedral in the 1830s under Dr Patrick McGettigan. Before that a church had stood on the Glencar Road. A hundred yards north of the cathedral is Sentry Hill, from which, according to tradition, a sentry kept watch while priests celebrated Mass during the years of persecution, and Rodger's Burn, less than a mile away, was the site of an old Mass rock.

Bishop Daniel McGettigan, who held the see from 1861 to 1870, had plans drawn up for a cathedral, intending to build the tower first so that it would stimulate the rest of the work. The project was constantly before the mind of Dr McDevitt, bishop from 1871 to 1879, and his successor Dr Logue, bishop from 1879 to 1888, secured sizeable bequests towards it. The Cathedral Building Committee was formed in 1890 by Bishop O'Donnell, the foundation stone was laid on 6 September 1891, and the cathedral was dedicated and opened in 1901. It was built at a cost of over £300,000, much of it raised from the people of the diocese, whose contributions the parish records were entered shilling by shilling in the diocesan archives, and from Irish-American donors. Restoration work was carried out in 1985 at a cost of half a million pounds.

The building

The cathedral was designed by William Hague of Dublin and built of white Mountcharles stone. The building contractor for the first five years was James McClay of Strabane and the carving contractors were Purdy and Millard of Belfast. Because of the geology of the site it was not possible to orient the church in the traditional manner with the altar at the east end.

The internal length is 171 feet, the width at the transepts 100 feet and the roof height 72 feet. The spire rises to 240 feet.

Notable features

The Penal Cross preserved in the cathedral is of a type made for easy concealment at a time when the practice of Catholicism was outlawed. A statue of Cardinal O'Donnell stands just left of the main porch. The sanctuary lamp was the gift of Mrs Catherine McDevitt of Stonepark, Glenties, and the figure of St Columba to the south of the porch was given by Mrs Cornelia Adair of Glenveagh.