The Church of the Sacred Heart preserves more than its architecture alone. Photographs, devotional artworks and objects associated with the church provide a record of generations of worship and parish life in Ballyoughter. This collection brings together views of the church and its interior, the Stations of the Cross and an 1891 hymn book with a long local association.
Gallery
Stations of the Cross in Church of the Sacred Heart
The ‘Stations of the Cross’ in Ballyoughter Church were donated, according to the People Newspaper of Saturday 11 March 1882, by Mrs. Malone, Market Square, Enniscorthy. A donation of ‘a life size figure of St. Joseph and the Holy Infant, richly decorated’ by J. Malone Esq. was also reported on the same date. The Very Rev. Canon Sinnott was the grateful recipient on behalf of the parish.
This newspaper article brings an interesting conundrum into focus. The current set of the ‘Stations of the Cross’ on display in the church is accompanied by a plaque indicating the set was donated by Margaret Leary, Medophall, who died in 1933. Are these Stations a new set and, if so, where are the originals?
Do you have information that may help solve this puzzle?
One of the Stations contains an inscription error. Can you spot it?
1891 Hymn Book
Printed in Liverpool in 1891 by Rockliff Brothers Ltd., Convent Hymns and Music used by the Pupils of the Sisters of Notre Dame is an uncommon survival from the Catholic school and convent music tradition of the late nineteenth century. Produced for use by pupils of the Sisters of Notre Dame, it reflects a time when hymns, litanies and devotional music formed an important part of Catholic education, religious instruction and parish worship. The book is also significant in its own right, as hymn scholars identify it as the first hymnal of the Sisters of Notre Dame.
This particular copy is especially valuable because of its local history. Rather than surviving as an untouched collector’s item, it was clearly used, handled and marked over many years in connection with Ballyoughter Church. Its worn pages, handwritten notes and musical markings make it a direct link to the voices, services and devotions of earlier generations. Copies of this hymnal survive in specialist collections, but examples with a clear local provenance are much rarer. Its greatest value, therefore, is not simply financial, but historical, devotional and personal.
