The present
parish of Ardee & Collon is a patchwork of several smaller parishes which have been united over time. Collon was an independent parish for almost two centuries, until it was united with Ardee as
recently as 1998. The parish of Ardee is occasionally referred in older documents as the ‘united parishes of Ardee’.
Ardee appears to have had a connection with St Patrick. Kilpatrick, (Cill Phadraig) or Saint Patrick’s church, Belpatrick (Bealach Phadraig), St Patrick’s Route, and Annaglog (Ait na gClog) the place of the bell, all suggest associations with the saint.
In a registration of clergy by the government in 1704, for example, the parish priest, Peter Dowdall
lived (diplomatically perhaps) outside the town in Cluide, or Cluidekeick as it was then recorded. He described himself as parish priest of the parishes of Ardee, Kildemock, Smarmore, Mapastown,
Shanlis, Kilpatrick and Charlestown. Stickillen parish was registered as part of the now neighbouring parish of Dunleer. In 1801 the parish is described as, ‘Ardee and Stickillen’ and as late as
the 1860’s Ardee parish is still being described as the, ‘united parish of Ardee’. Charlestown is now part of Tallanstown parish.
The earliest church buildings, like their secular counterparts, would have been
constructed of materials such as wood, clay and wattle, and other perishable materials which have not survived. As early as the tenth century we know from the annals that Ardee had a shrine of Saint
Patrick, which was abducted by a Meath prince in 985. A shrine perhaps presupposes the existence of a church.
The townland of Kilpatrick had a church until the early 1800’s and still has a holy well dedicated to Saint Patrick with a cap-stone carrying the markings of foot, knee and staff which are still visible. This also suggests a long-standing devotion to Saint Patrick, and perhaps a link with an early foundation and with the apostle himself.
Though little material evidence of early church structures survive, their existence and administrative structures formed the foundation for later more materially permanent structures.
With the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the twelfth century came the building of towns and castles, and the founding of monasteries. The early Irish church was largely monastic in organisation and the Normans founded and were patrons of many additions to the monastic infrastructure of the country.
A monastery dedicated to Saint John the Baptist was built in the area of Moore Hall near to the present priests’ house. The parish church of Saint Mary’s, now the Church of Ireland parish church, was probably built at this time too, along with its chantry, part of which still stands. It may have been built on or alongside an existing celtic Christian site. With the Carmelite foundation in 1274 near or at Boat Trench, these formed a trinity of religious foundations within the town of Ardee in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The Carmelite monastery was founded by Ralph Pippard in 1274. These monasteries and parish churches were given privileges and lands on which to live, and altars and burses were set up to allow priest-chaplains to chant the Mass for various intentions in their chantries or monasteries.
The ravages of war took their toll on these buildings and institutions. In 1315, for example, the church of the Blessed Virgin of Ardee was burnt by the Scots and Irish, under the command of King Bruce. It was full of men, women and children who had taken sanctuary there.
The suppression of religious houses was begun by King Henry VIII in 1539 and Ardee’s Carmelite monastery was duly dissolved. In 1637 a newer, reformed group of Carmelites, the discalced, returned. The original calced friars returned in 1639 to claim their property and rights. In 1643 Ardee was razed to the ground by the Confederate army, destroying all of the town. One or two of the friars may have remained in the vicinity for some years afterwards but this was the effective end of the community. Occasionally, during the penal period, friars from the Carmelite or Dominican orders acted as assistants to the parish clergy of the time in Ardee.
Outside the town the medieval church has left much evidence of its existence in the many small graveyards and church ruins which dot the countryside. Often built on the most scenic and commanding sites, these churches and parishes, now incorporated into Ardee, such as Smarmore, Kildemock, Mapastown, and Stickillen can give us an idea of the scale of life before travel and technology made contemporary structures possible. These churches were small yet each supported its pastor, and the dead were laid to rest in communion with the church and with the living around these simple structures. The names of early saints such as Diomoc and Cillian are preserved in the names of the ‘cill’ or church which bears their names like Stickillen and Kildemoc.
The churches and the monasteries provided a range of services to the local communities, such as education and healthcare. They owned land and property from which they made a living and with which they paid their taxes. There is evidence, for example, of a school or of teaching activity in the inscribed slates found at Smarmore church dating from the fifteenth century. The landowners, in their ‘Big Houses’, would have had the privilege of private chapels and chaplains and as late as the 1830’s the Taaffe family were provided with a priest chaplain by the diocese.
The reformation and the accompanying changes took place fitfully and slowly but inexorably. Catholics found themselves excluded from Saint Mary’s except perhaps in death and burial. The monasteries were dissolved and their property confiscated. The Catholic population needed to build a new centre of worship and they did this on a site within sight of Saint Mary’s at what is now known as Old Chapel Lane. It was a very small structure on the East side of the lane, ‘within a stable or byre of McCreanor’s’.
This structure was replaced by a small penal chapel in John Street on the site of the present old church. The initial structure on this site was built by Fr Philip Levins pastor of Ardee from 1758-1787. This family, from Dysart, were to provide clergy of the parish for many decades afterwards. In 1829, the present old church in John Street was completed. Records of the meetings and the monies collected still survive. It was one of the earliest churches to be completed in the post- Emancipation period and it was extended and beautified several times afterwards.
The present church of the Nativity of our Lady, built in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, was officially opened in 1974. It signaled a dramatic break with the architecture of past structures and incorporated in glass, wood and stone the thinking and the ideals of the Second Vatican Council. The church represents new ideas in liturgy and in design. Its scale, its materials and the energy-conscious architecture are indicative of the concerns and preoccupations of a generation.
Kilpatrick church, long since vanished without trace, and its successor, Saint Catherine’s, Ballapousta (1831) cater for the parishioners of Smarmore area.
The development of the parish gained much momentum with the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in 1858. They have served since then, in the workhouse, schools and hospitals of the area, building up an educational and health care infrastructure which is now one of the most developed in Europe.
The De la Salle Brothers (1899-1974) served in a similar capacity in the field of education.
The parish is now served by a fine community school, and four primary schools mostly staffed by lay-teachers.
One of our most famous
parishioners was Olivia Mary Taaffe 1832-1918, founder of Saint Joseph’s Young Priests’ Society. She was a member of the Taaffe family, a local landed family of Smarmore Castle.