Illustrated here are the twelve Christian emblems in the Northern nave windows. They are (from the top): •• St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, the ship of the Church; •• a Papal tiara, the Keys of the Kingdom; •• a pelican feeding her young, the Eucharistic wafer and cup; •• grain and grapes (bread and wine), the phoenix rising from the ashes; •• the Cross, clerical robe; •• heart of Mary, the Christ Child. INDEX
The Chapel is sparsely furnished with an altar and a chair. It has the unusual matching windows on both sides. Two tall candlesticks stand on either side of the altar. Of special interest is the crucifix at the back of the altar, and on the wall, a bust of Cardinal Cahil B. Daly who served as Roman Catholic Primate of all Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from late 1990 to 1996. He was the oldest man to take up this role for nearly 200 years.
I can find no description of the main Chapel window. A guess might be Jesus talking to the woman taken in adultery. On the floor of the Chapel is a memorial to William Joseph Philbin (1907 – 1991). From July 1962 until his retirement, he held the title Bishop of Down and Connor.
On the walls of the nave we find a set of stations of the cross, picturing the stages of Jesus’s journey to the Cross, and used as an aid for meditation especially at Easter. You can check out all the stations of the cross here.
Looking across the nave from here, we see we are directly opposite the South Chapel. We also notice the decorative art work at the top of the columns.
There is an attractive criss-cross frieze along the top of the arches, with the stencilled figure of a bishop or saint at the top of each column. These portrait figures are all named, but cannot be identified at this distance.
We cross to the South side of the nave and investigate the windows, checking out the pairs of emblems. From the top left we have: •• the glorified Christ, Francis of Assisi; •• crucifixion tools, a spear and a sponge (appearing in the crucifixion story); •• the face of Christ on Veronica’s cloth, the crown of thorns; •• scourges, jug and bowl; •• lamp, dove; •• Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), the Hand of God.
Against the North wall, and West of the side chapel, is a cabinet containing the Holy Oils. The Church makes use of three holy oils: the oil of the sick, the oil of the catechumens and the holy chrism oil. The first two are blessed, and the bishop consecrates the third, ordinarily during the annual Chrism Mass.
At the top of the shrine there is a flat panel with a cross separating the symbols of The Four Evangelists: a winged man (angel) for St Matthew, a winged lion for St Mark, a winged ox for St Luke, and a (winged) eagle for St John. Under glass on the sloping reading stand below is an Orthodox sculptured metal gospel book cover – used by priests in the Orthodox Church for the liturgy. •• There are two side doors to this Chapel. Each door has a fanlight with a figure in stained glass. To the West is St Vincent de Paul (left above), and to the East, St Columba.
We return to the central nave, and face towards the sanctuary. High above us is the rood cross. Traditionally this is a crucifix which hangs above the entrance to the chancel. We often find Mary the Mother of Jesus standing at the left of the cross, and St John the Evangelist at the right.
The inclusion of a Cathedral apse gives a wonderful opportunity for a decorative ceiling! The panels here depict stars, crosses, angels, and the ‘ihs’ symbol for Christ. [Photo Credit: Belfast Entries]
While we are looking upwards, we check out the two clerestory windows just behind the rood cross. These are exceptional: most of the clerestory windows in this Cathedral have plain lattice glass. This window is very distant: it may depict The Three Wise Men, or perhaps a different three wise men! [Photo Credit: Belfast Entries]
A similar window on the North side is also indistinct in its detail. It shows Mary surrounded by worshipping angels.
Let us now stand back a little and look at the chancel. It is a magnificent array of textures and colours. There is a chapel on either side, a central nave altar, the curved wall of the apse with decorative panels and stained glass windows, and colourful columns on either side – to name just a few of the features! We explore the chapel on the North side first
Here we are in the North aisle facing the chapel. St Joseph stands in front, identifiable by the set-square he is carrying. Above him is a silver sanctuary lamp relating to the nature of this chapel. This intricate piece of late Celtic Revival work is by Wagen’s of Cork, and was presented in the 1920s by the McGowan family, who were members of the parish. Behind on the screen, a variant of a Celtic cross. There is no direct entry to the chapel from here, so we climb the steps at right and walk around the column.
The entry to the chapel is a double archway, with the open gate at left. Above the arches are the symbols of the first two of the Four Evangelists, showing an angel for St Matthew, and a winged lion for St Mark. The four symbols (angel, lion, ox and eagle) appear in the Book of Revelation 4:5–8, and over time they came to be interpreted as symbols for the Four Evangelists. On the right stands a special chair.
The chair is the Bishop’s throne, or cathedra. A bishop is the overseer of the churches in a grouping called a diocese. One of these churches is chosen as special to the bishop, and this is signified by a special seat – called a cathedra in Latin. So this is where the cathedral gets its name. The back of the cathedra carries the coat of arms of the bishop, or as here, the Lamb and Crossed Keys of the Diocese of Down and Connor.
We enter in to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. A crucifix stands to our left, and the opposite North wall is alive with a mosaic of various tessellating patterns.