Special ceremony to mark Dunboyne church jubilee

The parish of Dunboyne will celebrate the golden jubilee of Ss Peter and Paul's Church on Sunday. The Bishop of Meath, Dr Michael Smith, will be the chief concelebrant at a celebratory Mass in the church at 11.30am at which the 50 year-old building will be blessed and re-consecrated. A photographic exhibition on the history of the parish will be on display in the old national school in the village on Saturday evening and Sunday morning until 1.30pm. On Sunday, the exhibition will also include the old church bell from Dunboyne, which is now housed in the National Museum. It will be in Dunboyne for one day only. The bell was found in the 1970s and dates back to the 8th century. Renovations were undertaken on Ss Peter and Paul Church as part of the 2009 golden jubilee celebrations. Richard Hurley was the architect on this occasion and the new altar and ambo were sculpted by Tom Glendon and the celebrant's chair was designed by Ken Thompson. A booklet featuring the history of Dunboyne Parish has been published to mark the occasion and it details the history of the church and parish. A local committee got together earlier this year to produce the book, which has been designed by Colette Dower, with front and back cover paintings by local resident, Vincent O'Neill. Rev Dr Thomas O'Connor of the history department, NUI Maynooth, kindly provided the historical text. In a foreword in the booklet, Monsignor Dermot Farrell, PP, Dunboyne, acknowledges the support of all those who contributed in any way to the recent renewal of the the parish church, making it a place of great beauty. While Dunboyne is believed to have been Christianised shortly after St Patrick's arrival in Ireland, little is known of the faith history until the coming of the Normans in the 12th century. At that time, Dunboyne became the territory of the Petit family and, in the early 13th century, one member of the family, Ralph Petit, became Bishop of Meath and founded a priory in Mullingar and endowed it with the townland of Kilbraynan (or Kilbrena) in Dunboyne, along with the rectory of Dunboyne. In the following century, Thomas Butler, brother of the first Earl of Ormond, married Sinolda, heiress of Sir William Petit, and the Dunboyne properties and titles passed to the Butlers. Medieval Dunboyne possessed a surprisingly large number of church establishments and properties and the tower of the medieval parish church survives in the Church of Ireland Church in the town. Records show that Robert Ford was parish priest of Dunboyne in the early 17th century. He died in 1609 and was buried in Kilbride. Thereafter every coffin entering the graveyard was placed temporarily on his tomb on the day of burial as a mark of respect to the old priest. This practice continued into modern times. During the Cromwellian wars, the Catholic parish priest (called the 'Mass priest of Dunboyne') was Nicholas Holliwood, who may have lived in or at least celebrated Mass at the old church tower in the village. In the summer of 1798, at the height of the United Irishmen rebellion, the churches in Kilbride and Dunboyne (at Kilbraynan) as well as the parochial house, were burned by government forces who were active in the area at the time. A site for a new church was procured from the Butler family but the site became the subject of a legal wrangle, which caused the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell, to intervene. The case was settled with a payment of £200 to the Butlers. The new church was completed by 1801 and was dedicated to SS Peter and Paul. This building was to remain in service until the present church was built in 1959. Fr John Murphy was parish priest in Dunboyne when plans were mooted for a new church in the parish. These plans came to fruition in 1959, when Bishop John Kyne blessed the new church.