Muckross and Inisfallen, Franciscan Abbeys

Among the venerable and, at the least, poetic traditions that cluster round the older ecclesiastical foundations of Christendom, and of which Ireland has a full share, is one which explains the origin of the Abbey, best known as Muckross, or Mucruss, and the cause of the name of the group of limestone rock amidst which it stands.It relates that Mac Carthy More, the bearer, in the fifteenth century, of that distinguished Irish title, being minded to found a religious house, was warned in a vision that the site of his foundation was to be at ' Carraig-an Chiul,' or the ' Rock of Music,' a place to him unknown.Those whom he, in consequence, sent forth to search his western territory, returning homeward by f Oirbhealach ' or ' the Eastern passage,' between the lower lake of Killarney and its rocky boundary, were arrested by the sounds of music proceeding from a rock, which Mac Carthy accepted as the indicated spot, and where he erected his Abbey.The choice, by whomsoever directed, was an exceedingly happy one.The celestial concords indeed 110 longer vibrate in the air, but if the eye, like the ear, be admitted to be a recipient of harmony, it must be allowed that the site is one to commend itself to all beholders, for around the sacred spot, wood and water, mountain and glen, verdant meadows and over-arching trees are seen in their happiest combination, and if art has contributed to the beauty of the scene, its efforts are well concealed behind the ample vesture of Nature.It appears from a record cited by Petrie that a church at Irrelagli was burned in 1192, but of this early edifice

Art · Historical Studies of British Isles · Irish and British Studies · Medieval Literature and History