85,000 encaustic tiles form the great mosaic that is the cathedral floor. Like tiles of any kind they lose some of their lustre as thousands of people walk over them during the course of the year. During October a job of daunting nature was undertaken by Leslie Rue and Angela McGroggan - the stripping, washing, sealing and polishing of those 85,000 tiles. It took four evenings after the cathedral closed for the day. The result is stunning and the comments of congregations and visitors is sheer amazement. Our thanks to both.
Those who have purchased copies of the revised colour guide book will have seen spectacular photographs by Jacqueline O'Brien. Many will also know her photographs in Dublin: The Grand Tour and in Ancient Ireland, both recent publications. On hearing of the work done on the nave floors - and especially that the nave itself had been cleared of chairs - she came specially up to Dublin to take yet further photographs. Despite the mixed weather of the day they are superb. We really are grateful to her for this kindness.
The Royal Hospital Donnybrook was the venue and the weather was kind. The total raised by the two-hour event was £1500 which will be used to help the Friends beautify the cathedral over the coming year. Many people put a large amount of work into the event, organised by Lesley Rue, and to them we express our thanks. Support was less than might have been expected.
Visitors to the cathedral have always been warmly welcomed by the clergy but there was no way by which they could meet each other. All that has changed. Organised by Kenneth Milne and Stuart Kinsella on behalf of the Friends, and assisted by many others, visitors who wish can now meet with regulars who wish and both can chat over a cup of coffee in the crypt. On average numbers have varied between 40 and 100 after service. This is a splendid way of welcoming the stranger among us.
In November 1796 the courts of justice moved from Christ Church to Gandon's splendid new setting on the banks of the Liffey. This will be marked by a ceremony, to be attended by the President, on Friday 8 November at 12 noon. The cathedral choir, which in those days was expected to sing before the Lord Chief Justice once a year, will sing on this occasion.
A group of Swedish bishops, clergy and laity will visit the cathedral on Monday 25 November at 11 a.m. This visit will mark the recent Poorvoo unity agreement between the Anglican and Lutheran Churches.
A schools Irish language carol service will be held in the cathedral on Advent Sunday, 1 December at 3 pm.
Monday 23 December is the date. The service is to be broadcast by RTÉ FM3 at 8 p.m. and the congregation is asked to be seated not later than 7.40 p.m. Nave seats will be by ticket only. Tickets are free (please send a stamped addressed envelope) on application to the secretary or ask at the Welcome Desk. Until Monday 16 December they will be issued only to members of the congregation, then to others as available.
The next meeting of the Church of Ireland Historical Society will be held in Christ Church on Saturday 9 November from 10.30 a.m. until 3.30 p.m. At 4 p.m. at a reception in the crypt the second volume of the preparatory series prior to the publication of the cathedral history in the year 2000 will be launched: The Account Roll of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, 1337-1346, price £25.
Exciting developments are happening in the musical life of the cathedral. The Cathedral Girls' Choir is now singing a regular weekly service - Evensong at 18.00 every Wednesday - in addition to its monthly appearance at one of the weekend services. Already the choristers are developing the strengths of discipline and concentration necessary for the maintenance of the highest standard possible at all times. It is also good to see the girls feeling a more important part of the building and its liturgy.
Dr Eric Finch, choir member and off-duty bellringer, recently made a very generous donation to the music library in the form of the sixteenth century Spaniard Victoria's masterpiece Missa pro defunctis. Eric has given this splendid setting in memory of his mother, and the choir will be singing it for the first time on Remembrance Sunday at 11 a.m.
The following weekend will see the choir members virtually camping overnight in the cathedral as they record a CD of music by Charles Villiers Stanford for Priory Records - Great Britain's premier church music label. Priory is in the middle of a Stanford series, and the firm's director has been very keen to have the choir of Christ Church Cathedral involved ever since he heard a tape of BBC Radio 3 Evensong - and also because of the obvious Irish connection! Stanford, of course, had his first organ lessons in Christ Church under Sir Robert Prescott Stewart, on the old Byfield/Telford organ in the Long Choir. The recordings will take place in the small hours of the morning in order to avoid as much extraneous noise as possible.
On Sunday 1st December, the Advent Procession will take place at 8 pm. This atmospheric service, using the symbols of darkness and light together with seasonal hymns and carols in a great candlelit procession through the cathedral, has become a feature of the cathedral calendar and a potent beginning to the preparation for Christ's coming.
