Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church

Church in Aungier Street, Republic of Ireland

53°20′23″N 6°16′01″W / 53.339860°N 6.266999°W / 53.339860; -6.266999Location56 Aungier StreetCountryRepublic of IrelandDenominationCatholicTraditionRoman RiteReligious instituteCarmelitesWebsitewhitefriarstreetchurch.comHistoryDedicationOur Lady of Mount CarmelConsecrated11 November 1827Relics heldSaint Valentine
Albert of SicilyArchitectureArchitect(s)George PapworthGroundbreaking1826Construction cost£4,000SpecificationsCapacity2,000Length83 metres (272 ft)Width24 metres (79 ft)Materialslimestone, marbleAdministrationArchdioceseDublin DeaneryCullenswoodParishWhitefriar Street

Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church is a Roman Catholic church in Dublin, Ireland maintained by the Carmelite order. The church is noted for having the relics of Saint Valentine, which were donated to the church in the 19th century by Pope Gregory XVI from their previous location in the cemetery of St. Hippolytus in Rome.^[1]

The church is on the site of a pre-Reformation Carmelite priory built in 1539. The current structure dates from 1825 and was designed by George Papworth, who also designed St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. It was extended and enlarged in 1856 and 1868.^{[citation needed]}

The church also contains relics of St. Albert, a Sicilian who died in 1306. On his feast day (7 August), a relic of the saint is dipped into the water of St. Albert's Well, and the Carmelites say that those who piously use the water receive healing of both body and mind through the intercession of St. Albert.^[2]

The church also contains a life-size oak figure of Our Lady of Dublin.^[3]

The 1825 building features in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833 as The Church of the Carmelite Friary., an engraving of a painting by George Petrie of the interior being accompanied by a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.^[4]

Shrine of St. Valentine
The Church of the Carmelite Friary

References

^ "The Shrine of St Valentine in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Whitefriar Street". www.carmelites.ie.
^ "Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Whitefriar Street, Dublin 2". www.carmelites.ie.
^ "The Shrine of Our Lady of Dublin at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Whitefriar Street". www.carmelites.ie.
^ Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1832). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833. Fisher, Son & Co.Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1832). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833. Fisher, Son & Co.