It may not be as old as Ireland’s most famous religious artefacts but a chalice that two priests died trying to protect more than 200 years ago is certainly one of its most mysterious.
This is because nobody is quite sure about how the Mount Keefe Chalice ended up in the estate of a controversial Cork City antiquarian and photographer who collaborated with one of Ireland’s most notorious forgers.
Like the other centuries-old artefacts Robert Day accumulated over the years, it was one of many sold after his death at auction around 1915.
It was bought by a wealthy landowner family who wanted it to be used for the wedding of one of their daughters in their private chapel, on their estate in Buttevant, Co Cork.
Nobody, however, knows quite where Mr Day, whose controversial involvement in the discovery of gold ornaments in Cork in 1896 led to him being investigated by the Royal Irish Constabulary, got the chalice in the first place.
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He may have acquired the chalice around the 1860s, when documents of his extensive collections are known to have featured what he described as “ecclesiastical antiquities”.
No stranger to controversy, Mr Day had also earned a living in collaboration with the late 19th-century forger Franz Tieze in producing imitation vintage glassware.
A review in the 1990s of their work even led to a number of museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, re-evaluating attributions initially given to some “period” glassware in their collections.
But whatever about its provenance, a small group of people in North Cork have got together to try and bring the chalice back to Ireland, if even just on loan from the London museum.
The Friends of the Mount Keefe Chalice – Morti O’Keeffe, Sheila O’Sullivan and Katherine Walshe – have secured an agreement in principle from the Cork Public Museum in Cork City that they will approach the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).
For its part, the V&A has said it is very open to the idea of returning it to Ireland on loan. In a statement to the Irish Examiner, it repeated an assurance it gave to the paper in 2023 about giving it on loan.
The Mount Keefe Chalice Chalice. ‘As well as the mystery around how it ended up going from the hands of the soldiers who killed the priests to the auction of the antiquarian Robert Day’s collections, it is a precious reminder of our past.’ Photo: V&A
It also reiterated its desire to find out more information about the chalice. A spokesperson said: “We would welcome the opportunity to explore any new information that comes to light about items in our collection.
“The chalice is available for loan to museums in Ireland, which could support further study.”
Cork City Council is looking forward to helping get the chalice over to the city.
A spokesperson said: “Cork Public Museum is delighted to be involved in facilitating the possible future display of this historic chalice in Cork and look forward to working with the V&A in exploring the logistics of making this a reality.”
It is understood to have been made in 1590 for a member of the O’Keeffe family of the village of Cullen, near the Cork and Kerry border.
A wealthy landowning family, they would have loaned the chalice out to the local parish priests.
According to local folklore, two Catholic priests – a Fr Gallivan and an unnamed priest from Kerry – were celebrating mass on a farm near the North Cork town of Newmarket during penal times – when celebrating mass was banned.
They were attacked in the late 1700s by a contingent of “redcoats” – the name given to British soldiers occupying Ireland who, at the time, wore red tunics.
Friends of the Mount Keefe Chalice, Katherine Walshe and Morti O’Keeffe, at the Chalice Tree in north Cork. Picture: Neil Michael
The priests are understood to have hurriedly buried the chalice in a hole before they were murdered, and what is now a 10m sycamore tree, known as The Chalice Tree, grew up out of that hole.
However, this is probably unlikely as the tree has since been dated as being no older than between 150 and 200 years old. But that hasn’t stopped the tree from being known locally as the Chalice Tree.
A short walk from the tree itself, which is near the ruins of a small village in a remote hamlet on private farm land, is a memorial to the two priests. It is positioned at the spot where they are said to have been buried after they were murdered by the English soldiers.
The history of the chalice then goes blank for a period, until it resurfaced after the Cork city antiquarian Robert Day died and his collections were sold at auction.
The chalice is believed to have been bought by Anne Marie Daly, who was the widow of Matthew John Purcell, who – before he died in 1904 – had owned and run Burton Park, in Churchtown, Buttevant, County Cork.
The couple had had nine children after their marriage in 1882, and one of their daughters was due to get married in 1916 – in the estate’s private chapel. The chalice was reconsecrated specially for the event.
However, while the couple had had two sons, both served in the British army and later died. Major Raymond John Purcell, of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps inherited the sprawling estate in 1904.
But both he and his younger brother, Lieutenant Charles Francis Purcell, of the Irish Guards, fought in the First World War. When the younger brother was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, Raymond became the last male of the Purcells of Burton Park.
Although he had managed to survive the war, he never got over the trauma he endured or the injuries he sustained and he died in 1928.
It appears that his London-based aunt Louisa Purcell, Matthew John Purcell’s sister, then inherited the estate. Before she came over to Ireland, she contacted the V&A and offered it to them for sale.
In her dealings with the museum, Ms Purcell – according to notes made at the time – told officials there she didn’t want to sell the chalice but was forced to due to “the troubles”.
She was at the time living at an address in London’s Hyde Park, but was due to go and live in her family’s ancestral home of Burton Park in Cork.
Given the year was a relatively non-violent one in Irish political history, and the biggest event to happen was the Wall Street crash, the real decision may well have been more of a financial one.
She may have had to sell various items to pay not just for the upkeep of the estate but also death duties and related taxes.
Ms Purcell duly sold it in 1929 for £400, or around €25,000 in today’s money, although a similar chalice sold around the same time for substantially more, €75,000 in today’s money.
At the time, the museum was very excited to have been offered such an “outstanding” item at such a “reasonable” price despite the “beauty and rarity of the object”, curator’s notes on the chalice reveal.
Today, the chalice is on display in the museum, but a photograph of it also appears alongside detailed notes about it.
While it lacks in the prestige – or even the fame – of more famous artefacts like the famous Ardagh Chalice, which was found in Limerick in the 1990s, or the Tara Brooch, it is considered very rare and valuable.
In its own notes taken at the time the museum bought it, an expert described it as “an unusually fine example of an Irish chalice”.
Morti O’Keeffe has known about it all his life, as he and his family have links to the land where the Chalice Tree is today.
“In my time, there have been many attempts to try and bring the chalice back to Ireland,” he said.
“It is probably Ireland’s least-known important religious relic.
“As well as the mystery around how it ended up going from the hands of the soldiers who killed the priests to the auction of the antiquarian Robert Day’s collections, it is a precious reminder of our past.”