SCARIFF’s community will celebrate the bicentenary of the Church of the Sacred Heart in the parish this weekend.
On Sunday, (October 19th), Bishop Fintan Monahan will lead the celebrations with mass at 1pm. The church in Scariff is a source of great history within East Clare.
During the period of enforcement of the penal laws in Ireland Mass was celebrated secretly, infrequently and in secluded venues in Scariff. The mass rock in Cappabane bears witness to this period in history. The chapel was preceded by a mass house generally believed to be on the Feakle Rd. The medium sized chapel built on the hill at Fossabeg was nevertheless a strong statement of a people emerging from a time of oppression and determined to profess their faith and exercise their freedom. It was one of dozens built in the diocese in the first decades of the 19th century and cost £900.
Chapels could not be used for public meetings at the time by order of the Irish bishops but there is a record of a repeal meeting being held in Scariff chapel in May 1843.
Fr. Matthew Kenny was appointed as parish priest of Scariff in 1872 and one of the tasks he took on was a major upgrade to the parish church. He erected a new church on the same site as the 1825 thatched building. The new church was a much larger structure than the earlier chapel. It was noted that some of the older building was incorporated into the new but it is not clear which part this is. The new church was designed by an M Hennessey of Limerick and built by a T Williams from Borrisoleigh. The cost of the new church was £1200.
Half of the cost was supplied by Fr. Kenny, the other half by the parishioners. Building the new church was a remarkable achievement by both Fr. Kenny and the parishioners. Some decades ago, stories were still heard by older residents of the parish about the two large pillars of Aberdeen granite being hauled up the steep hill of Scariff by multiple horses on their way to the Church.
Fr. Kenny was still in Scariff in 1890 when he added the limestone tower at the entrance to the building. A plaque commemorating this can be seen on the tower.
In the early twentieth century the Church of the Sacred Heart witnessed one of most harrowing experiences of the Scariff community, the funeral of the Scariff martyrs in November 1920. During the funeral of the four men, the church was raided by the auxiliaries which caused much distress and resentment. The four martyrs were subsequently buried in the church grounds, the first internments there.
The sacristy was, and still is at the back of the church. Upstairs, above the sacristy was the curate’s residence. Scariff church was the last church in the diocese to have a curate’s residence, it operated until 1932 when the current parochial house was built.
Among the fine features in the church are the four stained glass windows from the Harry Clarke studios in Dublin which are internationally renowned. The mission cross from 1862 marks the holding of the first parish mission and the stone carving of St. Peter on the church boundary wall is thought to date from the 16th century.
