Ireland: Day Two

8^th of June 2016

              

               I had chocolate flavored cereal and bread with chocolate spread on it for breakfast, the most important meal of the day.  After that we got on the bus at 8:30 with an overcast sky and tons of fog. We were heading to Armagh and Northern Ireland where the Irish think they are ‘English’. However, we wouldn’t know because we were dead asleep. We visited the first cathedral in Armagh were felt like home because of the church’s beauty and surrounding history. Beautiful stained glass windows and detailed decorations and gargoyles left us all in awe! This church was built by St. Patrick in 445 which makes it 1571 years old. This church is the burial site Braun Branu, once a High King of Ireland.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Church of Ireland 

Group photo outside of the church

                Next was the adjacent Roman Catholic cathedral also named after named St. Patrick. This church is said to be founded when St. Patrick carried a doe followed by its mother to a hill directly across from St. Patrick’s first church. Walking into this church was like walking into an art gallery. If you weren’t looking at a mosaic, you were looking at stain glass; if you weren’t looking at stained glass, you were looking at a hand painted ceiling. The first stone of this cathedral was laid in 890. Then finally after many delays such as the great famine and the restrictions on Catholicism, the church was fully opened in 1840. However, after the widely favored Archbishop Crawley died, the church was closed then reopened again in 1873.

One of the many beautiful stained glass windows

Group Photo of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Roman Catholic

              From there, we had a nice American lunch at Subway in the town of Downpatrick. At this time, our driver Owen let us know that our trip down to the town was very scenic. He had to let us know because we were all asleep…again. After lunch we visited the museum of St. Patrick were we met our guide and watched an introductory video of the saint and his impression on Ireland. We then hopped back on the van for our guided tour of Saul Church and Down Cathedral. At Saul church we learned about how St. Patrick gave the church to one of his first converts in order to further the Christian faith. This Episcopal Church may be small, but is considered to be ‘heavy’ with the Lord’s spirit and ‘thin’ which means there is very little space between heaven and earth. This is also the first church in Ireland. Once we finished walking the grounds we headed to Down Cathedral where we were greeted with a warm welcome. This cathedral is home to the ‘alleged’ burial grounds of St. Patrick, St. Columba and St. Brigit. The grave was covered by a protected stone which we all felt obligated to touch because it was the closet we’d ever get to these saints. Plus, we all wanted to give St. Patrick a high-five!

Saul Church 

The grave of Sts. Patrick, Birgit and Columba

                As we drove away, we actually managed not to fall asleep. Instead we stayed up the entire hour and a half talking about what each of us likes. It turns out that J.C. loves to chant and Isabella loves Ireland because it’s “so nature”.

Fun fact for y’all: The national color of Ireland is blue, not green!

Until next time!

Heidi Cole