The Jesuit Church in Gardiner Street has a special place in world literature. James Joyce, who went to school nearby at Belvedere, described a retreat held in the church in Grace, one of the short stories in his first major book Dubliners, published in 1914. In the history of Christianity in Ireland, the church has the distinction of the laying of its foundation stone in 1829, the year of Catholic Emancipation. It was dedicated to St Francis Xavier.
Gardiner Street is a splendid wide, straight thoroughfare which descends the slope of the valley of the River Liffey and ends in the Custom House. The latter was, and still is, one of the most beautiful of Dublin’s public buildings and Gardiner Street, created at the same time towards the end of the 19th century, was one of the most affluent streets, lined on each side by gracious townhouses. But that changed with the Act of Union in 1802, when fashionable people either left Dublin or moved south of the Liffey, and Gardiner Street began to come down in the world.
So the new church was to be the centre of a Jesuit mission to the poor rather than the hub of a parish for the rich. There had been a community of the Order nearby in Hardwicke Street, but something very much bigger and better was required to celebrate the final achievement in freeing Ireland from the Penal Laws. The concept was that of Father Bartholomew Esmonde SJ who, with four Irish companions, had travelled to Palermo in Sicily in 1808 to study at the Jesuit college there. Details of the design and the building were the work of the Dublin architect John B Keane.
Keane’s design for the splendid portico of the Gardiner Street Church was probably greatly influenced by Father Esmonde’s love for the classical temples of Sicily. The pediment is supported by four Greek Ionic pillars. The statues on it represent the Sacred Heart, St Ignatius and St Francis Xavier. Behind the pillars, the west wall of the church is plain and devoid of windows, the only interruption being the single pedimented doorway. The building stone is Wicklow granite. This austere, but graceful, design would be copied in a number of later churches in Dublin.
The foundation stone had been laid on 2nd July 1829 by Father Charles Aylmer and the unfinished church was opened on 3rd May 1832 by Archbishop Daniel Murray. Together with a fourth priest involved in the establishment of the church, Father Peter Kenny, these three had been schoolmates in a Jesuit school in Fishamble Street.
The interior of the church is severe, but its big windows on the upper storey fill it with light. The ceiling is flat, but richly decorated with stucco bosses and rosettes. The nave has three bays, entered by tall round-headed arches and flanked by Ionic pilasters which reach from floor to ceiling.
In the original design, the east end of the church was rectangular, but it was extended three years after the building was finished, to form a semi-circular apse. This provided accomodation for the high altar, which is the most striking part of the church and the most flamboyant, contrasting strongly with the simplicity of the nave and the dark pictures on its walls. There are several other exciting details, such as the beautiful domed ceiling of the shrine of Our Lady.
The high altar was the inspiration of Father Esmonde who, after a period as Rector of Clongowes Wood College went to serve in Rome for seven years, ending in 1844. The altar was made in Rome and then shipped to Dublin. Father Esmonde’s love for the curious and even for the pagan past is shown by his claim that a large piece of porphyry in the central panel of the altar came from the Emperor Nero’s palace in Rome. The altar stands below a pediment supported by four Corinthian pillars which are made from scagliola, a plaster material in which pigments are embedded. The huge candlesticks, also made in Rome and sent by Father Esmonde, were intended by him to give inspiration to the candlestick-makers of Dublin.
The picture above the altar, by Bernardo Celantano is a remarkable one, showing a 17th century priest apparently present at the Crucifixion. The explanation is that the Jesuits wanted a portrait of St Francis Xavier to occupy this important position, but tradition had always reserved the place above the high altar for a Crucifixion. The dilemma was solved by the scene in which the saint is shown preaching to a Japanese congregation and pointing to the figure of Christ on the cross.
Besides the major undertaking of building the apse and adding to the length of the church, improvements and alterations to the structure have taken place from time to time over the centuries. Contemporary paintings, sculpture and stained glass were also added. The 20th century saw the installation of Evie Hone’s colourful windows in 1948. One of the most recent additions is the Baptismal Font, with its descending dove, the work of Chris Ryan in 2004.
Music has always been a great feature of St Francis Xavier’s and the huge organ case is itself one of the most striking works of art in the church. Sunday Mass at 11 in the morning is accompanied by the church choir and a highlight of the week, particularly for young worshippers, is the Gospel Choir Mass which takes place from September to June at 7.30 on Sunday evenings.