Mary Immaculate Refuge of Sinners

History

Archbishop Daniel Murray constituted the parish of Rathmines on 12 December 1823 and appointed Fr William Stafford its first parish priest. Rathmines and Rathgar had until then formed part of the parish of St Nicholas Without, Francis Street. The appointment predated any church, and Stafford's early Masses as parish priest were celebrated in his own home.

A site of 2 acres, 2 roods and 38 perches was purchased from the Earl of Meath in 1824, and the foundation stone was laid by Lord Brabazon, heir to the earldom. The Gothic church that followed measured 90 feet by 37 feet, stood 37 feet high and cost approximately £5,000; it took five years to build because of settlement problems with one of the walls. It was consecrated under the protection of St Mary and St Peter by Archbishop Murray on 15 August 1830.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the growth of the Catholic population of Rathmines had made a larger church necessary. Fr Stafford donated £1,000 towards the cost before his death on 2 November 1848 aged 81. His successor, Fr William Meagher, proposed Richmond Hill as a site but was outvoted, and the existing location facing Rathmines Road was retained. Archbishop Murray laid the foundation stone on 18 August 1850, and the church, apart from its portico, was completed in 1856 and dedicated by Archbishop Paul Cullen on 19 June.

The building

The present church was designed by Patrick Byrne and built to the Byzantine model in the form of a Greek cross, constructed around the original building. The parish records it as the first such church in the Archdiocese of Dublin since Catholic Emancipation. John Lynch carried out the masonry, with stone from quarries at Kimmage and Donnybrook and granite from Ballyknocken; William Hughes was responsible for the roof and the copper dome; Hogan and Connolly executed the plasterwork.

The portico was begun in 1878 and completed, apart from its wings, in 1881. It is of Portland stone, with four columns carrying carved Corinthian capitals beneath a pediment, and was contracted to the local builders Meade and Son under the direction of the architects O'Neill and Byrne. The floor of the church was set 3 feet below street level, with an exterior promenade outside.

Notable features

The letters D O M in gold on the façade stand for the Latin Deo Optimo Maximo, and beneath them an inscription dedicates the church under the invocation of Mary Immaculate, Refuge of Sinners. The title followed a direction from Archbishop Cullen, who, after attending the declaration of the Immaculate Conception as a dogma of Catholic faith in Rome on 8 December 1854, instructed Fr Meagher to insert the word 'Immaculate' and asked that the church be proclaimed a memorial to the definition.

The statue 'Our Lady of Refuge' at the apex of the pediment is the work of James Farrell. It was shown at an exhibition in Dublin in 1853 and bought by Fr Collier, then a curate in the parish, and it was raised from the central niche of the façade when the portico was completed. Statues of St Patrick and St Laurence O'Toole were placed at the extremities of the portico.