This monument cost about £300, and is of fine statuary marble, with several admirably sculptured figures. "Father Pat Hogan", as this noble hearted priest was familiarly called, and by which designation he is to this day remembered, was a zealous and indefatigable pastor indeed; he left a sum of £2,000 to Park College, if it should be revived. On his generosity to the Presentation Convent we have already dwelt; he caused Mr. John Gubbins to execute the very fine painting of the Crucifixion which is placed over the Virgin altar in this church, saying that "a painting of the kind is the prayer book of the poor".

The other and older monument is

To the memory of
Patrick Arthur, Esq.,

Who died on the 16th of December, 1799,
in the eighty-second year of his age.
In him the poor have lost a liberal benefactor,
society an example of every Christian virtue,
and his affectionate family a kind and tender parent.
In memoria æterna erit justus.
Requiescat in pace.

Arthur Arms.

Deus Justos Defendat.

ST. JOHN'S Chapel, near John's Gate, was built in the form of a cross, and finished in 1753. The altar, which was very handsome, had a picture of the Crucifixion, by Collopy, the native artist. St. John's chapel was demolished when the new cathedral was completed. Its site is now occupied by an enclosed garden, adorned with a variety of shrubs and flowers.

ST. JOHN'S CATHEDRAL.-In the year 1854, the late Right Rev. Dr. Ryan determined to take down the old Parish Chapel of St. John's, not only on account of its being far too small for the wants of the large congregation and the extensive parish, but also because it was so unfit for a place of divine worship, being little better in appearance than a barn. The late Rev. William Bourke was administrator of the parish at the time, and gave the project every assistance. When the project of erecting a new church was first mooted, the intention was, that it should be only a plain substantial edifice, sufficiently spacious to contain the congregation, but of the simplest character and without ornament-one of the conditions most imperatively insisted upon being, that it should cost the smallest possible sum; and those who know that the parish is principally inhabited by the poorest class will appreciate the prudence of the projector in not embarking upon a building of extravagant character, when his own

parishioners were so little able, however willing, to assist him with large funds.

The plans for the new church were made and the work commenced, and the building was about half finished when it began to attract much attention beyond the parish and those immediately interested in it, and it was determined to extend the scheme, and make the new church the Cathedral of the Diocese of Limerick. This decision rendered some alteration necessary in the arrangements of the building, not so much in the plan, which had been devised to meet the requirements of a very large congregation, but in the height and decoration of the building; as the plain structure designed merely for a parish church was scarcely suitable in character for a cathedral. It was unfortunate that this decision had not been sooner arrived at, as the work was too far advanced to alter the extreme simplicity of character already given to the exterior, and which could not well be altered without too extensive changes in what was already executed, and cost was still a very important consideration. The result, however, is a certain poverty of appearance in the exterior, unaccountable perhaps to those who have not heard the early history of the building we have here given. The style of the building is the architecture of the thirteenth century, for which the hard material furnished by the limestone quarries of the neighbourhood is perhaps better adapted than any other.

The church consists of a nave 97 feet long by 30 feet wide, separated by piers and five arches from aisles, which are 19 feet wide. Transepts extend beyond the nave, and these are the same width as the nave, and their extreme length from north to south is 116 feet. The chancel is 30 feet wide, and 43 feet deep from the end of the transepts. Opening eastwards from the transepts are four chapels, two on the north and two on the south side; these are 19 feet wide. The total length of the building internally is 168 feet. The height of the nave and transepts to the apex of the roof is 80 feet; the height of the aisles is 52 feet.

From the necessity of strictly economizing the funds placed at his command, the architect had to trust to large simple forms for the effect of the exterior of the building, rather than to any decoration or richness of detail, which were impossible; and for the interior, to general proportions and the play of light and shadow obtained by the arrangement of the transepts and chapels.

It is needless to say that the roofs were obliged to be, like the rest of the fabric, perfectly plain, and are left for coloured decoration at some future time. Ornamentation of this character has, however, been commenced in the chancel, and across the chancel arch is placed a rood beam, according to ancient custom, bearing the figure of our Lord on the cross, with figures of the Blessed Virgin and St. John on each side. These figures are carved in wood larger than life size, and are the work of Phyffers, a Belgian sculptor. The most conspicuous and important object in the interior is very properly the high altar, which is in the ancient form of a canopy standing on four columns, which are of the red Limerick marble. Stone alabaster, and the same red and other marbles, are used for the materials of this work, which is much decorated by figures and bas-reliefs, also executed by M. Phyffers. This altar was the munificent gift of one lady, according to the record of an inscription placed against the chancel pier:

The High Altar
of this Cathedral Church
was given by

Mrs. Frances McNamara,
in memory of her husband,
Mr. Charles McNamara,
and to obtain for him and herself
the prayers of the faithful

who come here to worship God.

One of the most striking of the ornaments of the cathedral is Benzoni's beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin, presented by the Right Hon. William Monsell, M.P. It is of pure white marble, and is supported by a pedestal of Portland stone, consisting of a slab resting on a cluster of pilasters with floriated capitals. The statue, which is of life size, and most exquisitely chiselled, represents the Madonna as standing on the crescent and crushing the serpent's head, in reference to the third chapter of Genesis and twelfth of the Apocalypse. The gracefulness of the figure, the holy beauty of the countenance, the delicacy of the lineaments, the elegance of the drapery, and, above all, the heavenly air of resignation and loving charity that characterise this most beautiful piece of statuary, reflect the highest credit on the artist, and realize the highest conception of the human presentments of the mother of the Lord. Near the statue of the Blessed Virgin is suspended a glassed frame containing the Italian and Latin originals of the great indulgence made by the present Pope Pius IX., whose sign manual is attached to them, to those who shall recite certain prayers before the statue, and who contribute to the decorations of our Lady's Chapel. The following is a translation:—

"Mr. William Monsell, a Catholic member of the British Parliament, having presented a beautiful marble statue, the work of the sculptor Benzoni, to the new Cathedral of Limerick, is anxious that indulgences shall be granted to such as shall before the statue as well as to those who shall contribute towards pray the decoration of our Lady's Chapel in the same Cathedral. To render these indulgences more precious, he requests that they may be subscribed by His Holiness's own hand.

"Rome, at S. P. 1859, 14th day of January. "MONSGR. CULLEN.

"We grant three hundred days' indulgence to all the faithful who shall devoutly recite the Litany of Loretto, and one hundred days' indulgence to those who shall recite three times the Angelical Salutation, before the holy image mentioned above.

"PIUS IX.

"We certify and bear witness that the grant of indulgences written on the other side of this leaf, has been signed by our Most Holy Father, by Divine Providence Pope Pius IX.

"ALEXANDER G. BARNABO, Prefect, January 14, 1859, at the House of the Sacred Congregation de Propa. ganda Fide".

The following inscription is appended to this grant:

"The first stone of St. John's New Cathedral was laid by the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan, on the 1st of May, A.D. 1856”,

A remonstrance is preserved in the cathedral, the gift of Thady Quin, Esq., of Adare, the ancestor of the Earl of Dunraven, to the Parish of St. John's. It bears the following inscription:

"Ex dono Thadaei Quin Armigeri de Adare, ad usum Parochiae Sti. Johannis Limericencis in honorem Venerabilis Sacramenti, A.D. 1725. Orate pro eo".

It only remains to speak of the tower, which is placed on the north side of the church, and is still unfinished. The height to which it is now carried is 70 feet, and it is intended before long to complete it, when its height will be 253 feet to the apex of the spire. Altogether, this is a cathedral worthy of the ages of the faith, and a proof that the traditional love for religion is as active as it ever had been among the Catholics of Limerick.

Near St. Patrick's Church, but on the opposite side of Clare Street, and occupying the position which was originally the site of Walker's Lace Factory, is the noble institution known as the Convent of the Good Shepherd, originally established as a Magdalen Asylum (which it still is), about the year 1812, the funds of which were raised from public subscrip. tion, charity sermons, the interest of £1,000 given by Miss White (who, at the same time, subscribed £1,000 towards the Lying-in Hospital then situate in Nelson Street, now in Henry Street), and by washing. Miss Reddan had long presided over the Asylum, until it was placed under the care of the nuns of the Good Shepherd. The convent, which has been greatly augmented in latter years, is a spacious, airy building, but without any special character, and containing, besides an extremely neat chapel and ample dwelling apartments, a large dormitory, very neatly kept; a reformatory, a wash-house or laundry of great extent, having clothes airing and drying rooms. The chapel has recently been fitted up with beautiful stalls and altars carved in wood from designs of G. Goldie, Esq., architect. The nuns of the Good Shepherd arrived in Limerick from Angers, in France, in 1849. Mrs. Smith was the first Superioress, Madame de Balligand, a native of France, was the second, and Madame Lockhart is the third and present superioress. Very fine Brussels and Valenciennes lace and vestments are made here by the nuns, who are twenty-five in number; as also by the penitents, who are seventy-five in number, and who are constantly employed in industrial occupations. In connection with the convent, but separated from that part of the building appointed for the penitents, is the reformatory, in which there are forty-five girls, who are thus preserved from the contamination of prisons, and fitted for honest occupations. In chapter lii. we have given an account of the Presentation Convent, the convent of the Sisters of Mercy, and Orphanage of Mount St. Vincent (attached to this orphanage has been built an asylum for widows); and we have given also elsewhere, in the course of this work, an account of the grand educational convent of Laurel Hill, etc., and of the other noble Catholic educational and charitable foundations of the city. Indeed few cities of its rank can boast of so many Catholic religious and charitable institutions as Limerick.

CHAPTER LXI.

PROTESTANT ANGLICAN AND DISSENTING CHURCHES.'

ST. MUNCHIN'S CHURCH, which has been already partly described, was rebuilt in 1827 at the cost of £1,460, and is a handsome structure, with a lofty square tower, embattled and pinnacled. The living is a rectory, united from time immemorial to the rectory and vicarage of Killonehan and the rectory of Drehidtarsna, the three parishes constituting the corps of the prebend of St. Munchin in the Cathedral of St. Mary, Limerick, and in the patronage of the Bishop. Of the churches mentioned as existing in Limerick in the will of Martin Thomas Arthur, four have entirely disappeared, namely those of St. Laurence, St. Nicholas, St. Patrick, and St. Michael, notices of which frequently occur in the history. ST. MARY'S Cathedral has been already fully described.

ST. LAURENCE's Church stood on the Cork road, near the site of the present county jail. The parish is an entire rectory, and had been in the gift of the Corporation, who sold the advowson to the trustees of the Blind Asylum.

ST. NICHOLAS'S Church, near the Castle barrack, on the ground afterwards occupied by the old post office, was destroyed during the last siege of 1691. Described as a busy scene of action in 1642.

ST. MICHAEL'S Church, outside the walls, in the churchyard near Mardyke. Destroyed in the siege of 1691. The cathedral is now the parish church of St. Nicholas, as well as of St. Mary's. The parish of St. Michael, which is a rectory, united from time immemorial to part of the rectory of Kildimo and the rectory of Ardagh, the three parishes constituting the union of St. Michael and the corps of the archdeaconry of Limerick, in the patronage of the Bishop, comprehends the whole of the new town, as St. John's forms the Irish town, and St. Mary's, St. Munchin's, and St. Nicholas's, the English town. All these parishes are within the bounds of the county of the city.

ST. GEORGE'S Church, a neat structure which was used as a chapel of ease for the parish of St. Michael, has also disappeared. It occupied the site of the present Provincial Bank of Ireland in George's Street. It was built and endowed in 1789 by the Pery family, and was a plain but neat and commodious edifice. St. Michael's Church, Pery Square, is built of cut stone, and possesses little interest, except the east window, which is well worthy of inspection, being very lofty, and elaborately decorated in the style of the fifteenth century, to which date it belongs, having formerly belonged to the ancient abbey of St. Francis.

An episcopal chapel of cut stone, in connection with the Blind Asylum, which is attached to it, was erected in Upper Catherine Street, in the parish of St. Michael, in 1834, by subscriptions raised in England and Ireland, by the personal exertions of the Venerable Ed. N. Hoare, Archdeacon of Ardfert, subsequently chaplain, and one of the trustees. Its portico is

The Protestant Bishop's palace stands at the north side of Henry Street, in close juxtaposition with Mr. Russell's linen store, which had been the residence of the Earl of Limerick. The two mansions present one great but plain façade of brick masonry, and send off a conjoint demesne from their rere to the quays. The joint value of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe, which were consolidated with Limerick in 1663, on an average of three years ending December 31, 1831, amounts to £4,535 3s. 1 d. gross, and £3,987 17s. ląd. nett.