“Most Holy Mother Mary.” These are the opening words of the prayer to Our Lady of Dublin.
Our Lady of Dublin is more than just a statue. It is a symbol of faith, resilience, and the enduring spirit of Dublin. We are standing before a wooden sculpture of Our Lady and Child. This statue has watched over Dublin for centuries.
The story of Our Lady of Dublin is interwoven with the history of Dublin itself. Legend suggests the statue originated in St Mary’s Abbey on Mary Street. This abbey was dissolved during the Henrician reforms in 1539.
The first concrete mention of the statue dates back to 1749. A survey of Catholic Chapels of Dublin refers to a statue in St. Mary’s Lane Parochial Chapel. The chapel was torn down in 1816 for a new school. The statue disappeared from record until Father John Spratt found it in 1824. Father Spratt was a member of the Carmelite order.
Stylistically, Our Lady of Dublin resembles early 16th-century wooden statuary. It is believed to date from that period. The statue is a life-size figure carved in oak. Originally brightly painted, it was later whitewashed. The removal of the whitewash in 1914 unfortunately took off the ancient polychrome surface. The extended arm of the Child is a modern restoration.
Some say that this statue originally belonged to St Mary’s Cistercian abbey on the north bank of the Liffey in Dublin. This abbey was frequently visited by the English nobility and by royal officials from England. Thus, it would not be surprising to find the Dublin Cistercians in possession of a statue belonging to the same school of art as some of the sculptures in Westminster Abbey.
St Mary’s was surrendered in 1539, at the Reformation. It is said that the statue was used as a trough in an adjacent inn yard. It was common practice to hollow the backs of such wooden figures to reduce weight and prevent the wood warping and splitting. Thus, laid face down, the figure could form a shallow trough for pigs.
In 1816, the old chapel was converted for use as a school. The whitewashed figure appears to have been discarded. It found its way into a second-hand shop in Capel Street. Here, Fr Spratt of Whitefriars saw it in 1824 and immediately purchased it for a nominal sum.
Although Dr Spratt saved the figure, the ancient silver crown that went with it was sold for the value of the metal and melted down.
Petrie’s dating of the crown corresponds with the dating of the statue on stylistic grounds by comparison with the work in Westminster Abbey. But if the crown really belonged to the statue, it raises a grave doubt of the truth of the story of the use of the statue as a trough. It suggests rather that crown and figure were concealed together in some hiding place at the Reformation and subsequently restored for Catholic veneration to some Catholic chapel as soon as it was safe to do so. It may well have been venerated elsewhere before it appears in the Mary’s Lane chapel.
Dr Spratt placed the statue on the Epistle side of the high altar in the new Whitefriars church. In 1915, after the figure had been cleaned, the shrine of Our Lady of Dublin was formally erected in the Carmelite church. The restored statue has been on display near the high altar of the church in a purpose built shrine since 1915.
The feast day of Our Lady of Dublin is celebrated on September 8th. This is a day of special significance for the Carmelite community and the people of Dublin.
As we stand here, let us take a moment to reflect on the history. Think about the countless prayers offered before this statue. Our Lady of Dublin remains a beacon of hope.