{"id":546275,"date":"2026-07-12T18:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/546275\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T18:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:57:10","slug":"more-than-2000-people-pack-into-st-augustines-church-for-closing-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/546275\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 2,000 people pack into St Augustine’s Church for closing Mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n St Augustine\u2019s Church<\/a> seats 1,200, but with Sunday\u2019s faithful literally out the doors onto Washington St and the Grand Parade for the Augustinian Order\u2019s final Mass in Cork, one priest estimated the congregation was close to 2,000.<\/p>\n

In his homily, Fr Paddy O\u2019Reilly, Vicar Provincial of the Augustinian Order in Ireland, offered hope, but scant details.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not know clearly what the future will bring, but a future there will be, even for this church building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNegotiations are ongoing, and will take time, and if all goes according to plan, there will no bulldozers moving in here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once the applause had died down, Fr O\u2019Reilly suggested that the famous Christy Ring Chalice<\/a> \u2014 fashioned from Ring\u2019s eighth All-Ireland senior medal \u2014 could soon be reunited with its seven companion trophies, perhaps in the GAA Museum at Croke Park.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe famous Christy Ring Chalice rests in the sacristy after being used during the final Mass at St Augustine\u2019s Church. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n

Sunday’s 11.30am Mass closed a chapter of the city\u2019s history that dates back more than 750 years, when the Augustinians founded the Red Abbey in the South Parish, where the ruin of the old medieval belfry tower still stands.<\/p>\n

Owned and run by the Augustinian friars, with the consent of the diocese of Cork and Ross, the present church was built in 1942 on the site of an earlier chapel dating back to 1872, and its adjoining priory was built in 1982.<\/p>\n

The Mass was presided over by Bishop Fintan Gavin, and celebrated by Fr Paddy O\u2019Reilly, with Bishop Emeritus John Buckley, Fr Teddy McCarthy, Fr Declan Brennan, and Fr Richie Goode.<\/p>\n

There was barely even standing room in St Augustine\u2019s, and bar the odd, blessed breeze, the heat was stifling, with many in the congregation fanning themselves with their missalettes.<\/p>\n

Those in attendance were predominantly, though far from exclusively, older, and people sat and kneeled all around the edge of the altar, and up its steps.<\/p>\n

\"ParishionersParishioners find every available space to sit as soaring temperatures and huge crowds fill St Augustine\u2019s Church for its final Mass. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n

Afterwards, one dry voice in the sacristy was heard to say: \u201cI never knew there were so many Catholics in Cork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many in the congregation admitted they had not regularly attended Mass there, but wanted to be there one last time out of love for St Augustine\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Some recounted childhood memories of going there with relatives now long gone to their reward, while others said they had moved to other churches but still loved the old place.<\/p>\n

One woman said she was not religious at all, but still believed in God, and felt sad to see the Augustinian fathers leave.<\/p>\n

It was a poignant occasion for many, with several people fighting back tears and others surrendering to emotion.<\/p>\n

But it was a moment of joy and good humour too, a celebration of faith and community, and a grateful remembrance of all of the Augustinians who have served Cork over the years and centuries.<\/p>\n

No fewer than four choirs sang: The Carrigaline Gospel Choir, the City of Cork Male Voice Choir, the One Voice Choir, and the retired Augustinian Church Choir.<\/p>\n

Strange though it might seem to say it, by the time Communion was being served, the place was rocking. Amazing Grace was followed by You Raise Me Up, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.<\/p>\n

And before you could say \u201cfollow that\u201d, the church\u2019s barrel roof was metaphorically raised with a full-throated rendition of De Banks, which ended in rebel yells and cheers.<\/p>\n

The final blessing was delivered by Bishop Buckley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Augustine\u2019s Church seats 1,200, but with Sunday\u2019s faithful literally out the doors onto Washington St and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12780,79,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-546275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-catholic-church","tag-cork-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}