St Fíonan’s Church, Falcarragh (Raymunterdoney)

History

A foundation stone for a church at Falcarragh was laid in 1878 on land donated by Daniel McSwiney of Carrowcannon House. It cost roughly £3,000 and was built to match an adjoining school erected a few years earlier, to a design by O'Neill and Byrne, architects of Belfast and Dublin, with Colhoun Brothers of Derry as contractors. By the 1900s the church needed repairs on account of damp and deterioration, which were carried out in 1911.

In the 1970s it was considered that a new church was needed. The older building was demolished and the present St Fionan's was erected on the same site, opening on 28 November 1982. The parish had been a curacy within the parish of Cloughaneely; it was established as a separate parish in March 1983, with Fr Patrick McShane, then curate, becoming its first parish priest.

The parish traces its origins much further back. Folklore holds that around 540 AD a convention of four saints, Colmcille, Fionan, Beigbhile and Dubhthach, was held at Cnoc na Naomh near Magheraroarty, each throwing his staff to determine where he should build. Fionan's staff landed at Errarooey, splitting a rock from which water flowed, and he founded his church and monastery at Ray. The monastery flourished into the early 1600s, after which the population worshipped at Mass rocks in the parish, the nearest at Ballyboes.

The building

The church of 1982 was designed by Wilfred Cantwell of Dublin. The contractor was Kevin McMonagle of Cashel, Gortahork. The altar, ambo, tabernacle pillar and presider's seat were carved from Wicklow granite by Michael Biggs, and the tabernacle, an image of Mary and other metalwork were designed by Patrick McElroy.

Notable features

One window from the demolished church was retained and set in the present building, and the bell from the old church tower was also kept. At the old Ray Church, the site associated with St Fionan's monastery, stands a Celtic cross measuring over 21 feet by 7 feet, which the parish describes as the highest in Ireland.