Our Lady of the Assumption, Abbeyfeale

History

The town takes its name from a Cistercian abbey founded on the banks of the river Feale in 1188 by Brien O'Brien; the abbey became a cell of Monasternanagh in the barony of Pubblebrien in 1209.

The Church of the Assumption was built between 1966 and 1968 under Philip Canon Enright, who is buried in the grounds. It replaced St Mary's Church in New Street, on the site later occupied by St Mary's Boys National School. The land was donated by the Broderick family and the Sisters of Mercy Abbeyfeale.

Notable features

Behind the altar in the main church, a window of the Good Samaritan stands to the left and one of Jesus raising Lazarus to the right. There is a window of Mary at the back of the church, one of Jesus healing the sick in the left transept and one of the healing of the lepers in the right transept. A small chapel attached to the left transept, opened in June 1991, has windows depicting the resurrection, the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles, the Crucifixion and the bread and wine of the Mass, each donated in memory of local families, with a statue of the Sacred Heart to the left of its altar and one of Mary to the right.

In the grounds a statue commemorates James Joseph Sheehy, a native of the area who died in Chicago in 1948; it was erected in 1985. The parish records that the holy water font in the grounds is believed to have come from the original Cistercian abbey. A grotto stands to the right of the church, and to the left is a small plot where priests who served in or came from the area are buried, among them three members of the McEnery family who were priests in the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota.

Notable people

William Casey was parish priest from 1883 to 1907, before the present church was built. The parish history records that he supported tenant farmers in their fight against their landlords, became a friend of Michael Davitt and formed the first Land League group outside Co. Mayo. A statue of him stands in the square in Abbeyfeale.