Mass & Service Times
Sunday
- 11:00
Saturday
- 18:00 Vigil
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- 09:00
- 19:30
- 21:00
About St Eunan’s, Raphoe
St Eunan’s, Raphoe was built between 1877 and 1878 in the Hiberno-Romanesque style. It has a five-bay nave, built of squared limestone under a pitched slate roof. Notable features include a four-stage tower, stained-glass windows, an internal gallery and a marble altar. It was designed by Timothy Hevey.
Architectural details from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, © Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Summarised by Christianity.ie.
History
The foundation stone was laid in October 1877 and the church was blessed and opened on 3 November 1878, the dedication performed by the Lord Primate McGettigan before High Mass. The parish priest at the time was Father Bernard Kelly. Mr Heavey and Mr Mac Adorey, both of Belfast, were the architect and the contractor respectively. The parish history records that the collection taken on the opening day totalled £700.
The building
The church is Romanesque in character and was built to accommodate between 800 and 1,000 worshippers. The tower, modelled on the old Celtic round towers, rises to a height of 100 feet and contains a side entrance to the church and a staircase to the organ gallery. Over the main entrance in the western gable is a rose or wheel window, lighting that end of the building above the organ gallery, and the side walls are pierced with lancets.
The outer walls are of light blue stone with dressings of Dungannon stone, and the roof is covered with American green slates. The entrance doors are of oak and the remaining woodwork is of pitch pine. The church was built with cavity walls, the outer of stone and the inner of brick, set two inches apart and connected by slate ties at one to every superficial yard.
Notable features
The central panel in front of the altar shows Christ, on Resurrection Day, revealing himself by the breaking of bread to two of his disciples at Emmaus. Behind the altar is the tabernacle, where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved.
Notable people
The church is dedicated to St Eunan, who was born in 624, probably in Ballintra in south-west Donegal, and who died in 704 as ninth abbot of Iona, where his kinsman Columba had founded a monastery in 563. His mother came from the Raphoe and Ballindrait district, where he spent the last seven years of his life. He is regarded as the founder of the diocese, and either built or renovated the cathedral at Raphoe before his death. The parish history holds it probable that his remains were later transferred to Raphoe.
Clergy
- Parish Priest Very Rev Eamonn Kelly
