Our Lady of Lourdes

History

The parish of Our Lady of Lourdes was created in 1963, when the area was separated from the parish of St Michael's. The church on Childers Road is older than the parish: it was built in 1958 and 1959 by Lanigan Bros to a design by the architect Patrick Sheehan. The foundation stone was laid on 11 February 1958 and blessed by Bishop Murphy.

The building

A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes stands at the front of the church, with the foundation stone to its left. Mary is depicted in the stained glass of the door into the church, and a picture of Pope John Paul II hangs over the door. A statue of St Colmcille stands on the right hand side.

At the top of the church on the left is a statue of St Anthony brought from the Mercy convent in Abbeyfeale, together with a picture of St Bernadette. Further left of the altar is a statue of Our Lady, carrying a plaque asking prayers for PG Collins. To the right of the altar are a statue of St Joseph and a picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, and beyond them the baptismal font and a statue of the Sacred Heart.

There are four stained glass windows on each side of the church. They were originally in the Sisters of Mercy convent in Bishop Street in the city, were made by Mayer of Munich and were restored by Abbey Stained Glass Studios in Dublin when they were transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Notable features

Most of the windows carry memorial dedications from the convent. The window of St Elizabeth was erected in 1880 to the memory of Mother Mary Elizabeth Moore, the first Superioress of the Bishop Street convent, and the window of St John the Baptist in the same panel to the memory of Bishop John Ryan, a benefactor of the convent. Also of 1880 are the Good Shepherd window, erected by John Neville in memory of his daughter Sr Mary Liguori, a sister in the convent; the Sacred Heart window, given by John and Brigid Moylan in memory of their sons Michael and William; and the window of St Patrick, erected in memory of Patrick D Burke by his wife Margaret. The window of St Brigid, in the same panel as St Patrick, was erected in memory of Helena Heffernan, a benefactor of the convent.

The window of the Visitation, donated by Harriet O'Brien in memory of Bishop George Butler, was erected in the convent on 5 February 1886, and the window of Our Lady of Lourdes, which commemorates the Apparition and was donated by Margaret and Marianne Kelly, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 1886. The same donors gave the window of Jesus curing the sick in memory of their father Michael, and Christina Hogan gave the window of St Joseph in memory of her husband Hugh.