Lecture on local saint, St Willibrord, in Old Leighlin cathedral tomorrow, Thursday
Standing in front of St Willibrord's shrine in the Basilica of St Willibrord, Echternach in Luxembourg in May were Jean McDonald, Ireland's ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, mayor of Ville d'Echternach Carole Hartmann, Patrick Dondelinger, Luxembourg Ministry of Culture, cllr Andrea Dalton, cllr John Murphy and Dermot Mulligan, curator of Carlow Museum
A LECTURE about a saint that lived in an ancient monastery in Clonmelch, Co Carlow in the seventh century will take place this Thursday to mark his feast day. The fourth St Willibrord biennial lecture will focus on connecting the patron saint of the Netherlands back to his medieval roots in Co Carlow.
The lecture marks the feast day of St Willibrord, who is the patron saint of Luxembourg and is known as the first apostle of the Netherlands.
However, his roots are local to Co Carlow after he spent 12 years at a monastery, Rath Melsigi in Clonmelsh, before he was ordained at the famous monastery of Old Leighlin, on the site of today’s present cathedral.
Rath Melsigi was the most important Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical settlement in Ireland in the seventh and eighth centuries.
Willibrord left Co Carlow to embark on a European mission in 690AD when he travelled extensively, converting people to Christianity. He was made bishop and archbishop of Utrecht in the Netherlands before establishing his major monastery and scriptorium in Echternach, Luxembourg.
He is remembered each year in Echternach with a UNESCO World Heritage Status hopping procession.
In 2017, the town of Echternach presented a relic of St Willibrord to the county and it is permanently displayed in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Carlow town. There is still ongoing contact and events between Co Carlow and Echternach in Luxembourg.
The lecture will take place in St Laserian’s Cathedral, Old Leighlin on Thursday at 7pm. It is hosted by St Laserian’s Cathedral and was co-ordinated by Carlow County Museum in partnership with the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, the diocese of Leighlin and Carlow Co Council.
The speaker will be Dr Immo Warntjes from the department of history at Trinity College, speaking on Rath Melsigi (Clonmelsh), Co Carlow and politics in the late seventh century. Dr Warntjes is a medieval historian and he has studied the impact of Irish people abroad during the seventh and eighth centuries.
All are welcome to attend and admission is free.
