The situation of this abbey, like most places of its kind in Ireland, is
very beautiful--on the banks of the gentle-flowing Suir, and surrounded by
a fine fertile country. Holycross is thought to have been, with the
exception of Mellifont, the largest of the ancient churches of Ireland.
There is some doubt as to the exact time of its foundation--some
authorities say the year 1182, and others 1208. The probability is that
both dates may, in a certain sense, be correct. It may have been begun to
be built in 1182, and may not have been finished before 1208. Although
founded after the Anglo-French invasion, it was a purely Irish
institution, for all authorities say that it was founded by Donagh
Cairbreach O'Brian, King of Munster, and that it was founded on account of
his having obtained what was believed to be a piece of the cross on which
Christ suffered. It is called in Irish annals _Mainister na croiche
naoimhe_, or Monastery of the Holy Cross. This relic is said, on good
authority, to be at present in the keeping of the nuns of the Presentation
Order at Black Rock, near Cork. O'Brian, the founder of the Church,
endowed it with a great tract of land, so that it was for many centuries
one of the most important places of its kind, not only in the province of
Munster, but in Ireland.
[Illustration: HOLYCROSS ABBEY.]
Holycross is two miles from the neat and thriving town of Thurles, in the
County Tipperary. Unlike so many ruined shrines of former days, and
especially unlike Mellifont in the County Louth, most of the walls of
Holycross still remain. The existing ruins show it to have been a large
church. Its length is 130 feet; the nave is 58 by 49 feet. The entire
ruins are very beautiful and impressive, and their situation on the banks
of the Suir, amid as fine pastoral scenery as can be found in the fine
county of Tipperary, make them well worth a visit. Holycross was founded
for the Cistercian order, and remained in undamaged condition until the
suppression of monasteries in the latter part of the seventeenth century.
It appeals that it lost its distinctively Irish character soon after
English domination became established in Ireland, for in 1267 it was
subjected by the abbot of Clairveaux to the abbey of Furness in England.
It is the opinion of many antiquarians and judges of ecclesiastical
structures that many additions and alterations were made to and in the
abbey, and some of them in comparatively recent times. Some judges of
church architecture have been loud in their praise of the beauties of the
ruins of Holycross, while others have expressed their disappointment.
Here is the testimony of O'Donovan, one of the greatest of Irish
antiquarians, on the subject: "The ruins of this abbey entirely
disappointed my expectations. The architecture of the choir and side
chapel is indeed truly beautiful, but they are not lofty, but the nave and
side aisles are contemptible. I am certain, however, that this newer part
of the abbey is not more than four centuries old."
The sepulchral monument that was erected to the memory of Elizabeth,
daughter of Gerald, Earl of Kildare, who died about the year 1400, is
considered one of the most chaste, remarkable, and beautiful things of its
kind in Ireland. If nothing remained of Holycross but this remarkable
monument, it would be well worth a visit.
There is not so much historical interest connected with Holycross as there
is with smaller establishments of its kind throughout Ireland. It was
founded too late to be plundered by the Danes, and in all the troublesome
times between its foundation and the time when it was abandoned, it does
not seem to have been plundered or burned, neither do the vandals seem to
have damaged or defaced it much. It is a beautiful and impressive ruin
that will for a long time to come attract the notice of lovers of the
abandoned fanes that are to be found in almost every parish of
Ireland--the land that is richer in ruins than perhaps any other country
in the world, Egypt alone excepted.