It was on the Hill of Slane, according to ancient manuscripts, that Saint Patrick lit the Pascal Fire on Easter Eve 433. There are many and varied accounts of this well known event. Whether by accident or design, Patrick chose a convenient site to throw down a challenge to King Laoghaire at Tara as Slane Hill holds a commanding elevated view and is easily seen from afar. The exciting train of events that ensued are reverberated around the world on March 17th each year.
Tradition ascribes the foundation of the original monastery on the Hill of Slane to Saint Erc, the disciple of Saint Patrick. Erc, Son of Dago, was the only member of King Laoghaire's retinue to break ranks and pay homage to Patrick. Patrick baptised Erc and later consecrated him bishop. Saint Erc’s foundation thrived in Slane and had an honourable history for at least six hundred years. Before Saint Patrick died in 461, he sent Bishop Erc southwards to Munster to proclaim the good news there. Many years later Erc returned to Slane and lived out his declining years in prayer and solitude in a quiet hermitage beside the Boyne. He died in 514 aged 93 years. What is now referred to as Saint Erc’s Hermitage dates from the 15th Century although the two sites may be in the same vicinity.
Various annals refer to the early monastery on Slane Hill.
843 The Abbot Colman died as abbot of Slane and other churches in France and Ireland.
854 Sodhomma, Bishop of Slane received martyrdom from the Norsemen.
948 The belfry of Slane was burned by the Danes, with all its relics including the crosier of the Patron Saint. The first reference to round towers in the annals refers to the round tower at Slane in 950. About this time also, the Book of Slane disappeared.
1002 Slane was plundered by the Danes.
1172 Slane was plundered and burned by Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster.
1175 Finally, the monastery was completely destroyed by the Normans.
Rev. Mervyn Archdall, Rector of Slane tells an interesting legend which may illustrate the importance of Slane Monastery as a place of sanctity and scholarship during the quieter centuries before the arrival of Vikings and Normans. About the year 653 the King of Austrasia (a kingdom in eastern Gaul) died aged 21 years leaving his two year old son Dagobert as his heir. His chief ministers assumed control over the affairs of state and young Dagobert was sent to Slane Monastery to be cared for and educated. After twenty years Prince Dagobert returned home and claimed his office as king.
All traces of the earlier buildings on Slane hill have completely disappeared. What we now see dates to c.1512. Richard de Fleming who was made Baron of Slane by Hugh de Lacy attempted to rebuild the monastery but with little success owing to Middle Ages wars. In 1512 it was reopened by Christopher Fleming, Knight and Lord of Slane when Friars of the Third Order of Saint Francis were installed there. The Reformation put an untimely end to their stay as the Prior of Slane surrendered to King Henry the Eight’s commissioners a “church, belfry, dormitory, garden and two closes on one acre.” The property was granted to John de Fleming at an annual rent of one penny, Irish money. In 1631 the Flemings made another attempt at restoring the monks when Capuchins were settled on the hill. They survived various persecutions until 1695 when, after the Jacobite defeat at the Boyne, they were forced to disperse. The church on the Hill of Slane was finally abandoned as a place of worship about the year 1723.
Various and haphazard premises were in use as places of worship for many years to follow owing to the restrictions of The Penal Laws. In an article in the Tablet (18 October 1856), Fr. Anthony Cogan, a native of Slane, writes; “About the middle of the last century, the place of worship was no other than a wretched pig-stye, which, purified on Saturday evenings had the Holy Sacrifice offered there on Sunday mornings. After a time a little bell was fitted up by the side of a wall, at a considerable distance to evade the law.” In his history, Fr. Cogan tells how the Mass House “fell suddenly in the beginning of 1798 and the inhabitants were for a considerable time without any place of worship. Mass was in the interim celebrated in a barn or outhouse attached to the hotel at Slane….the people knelt around and in the yard without any shelter.”
The foundation stone of the present Catholic Church in Chapel Street was laid in 1798 and it was opened four years later. A stone tablet over the west door is inscribed MOUNT CHARLES CHAPEL 1802. The Parish priest at the time was Dr. Michael O Hanlan. The site was donated by Earl Conyngham. According to tradition, Conyngham gave the site as a mark of gratitude to Fr. O Hanlon, who, while living at the Irish College in Paris, had obtained his release from a Parisian military tribunal in 1796. The freestanding rubble round tower, with its unusual “ogee” top is reputedly the first belfry to be erected at a Catholic church in the diocese of Meath after the Reformation. It is also the earliest, if rather unorthodox example of a Celtic Revival round tower in Ireland. Within the church is a link with the Friary on Slane Hill by way of a plain medieval font. The other famous Christian site at Fennor, just south of the Boyne, is represented within the church also in the form of fragment of a Celtic High Cross dating from the ninth century found by Fr. Dooley in 1991. Fr. O Hanlon was also responsible for erecting the beautiful Parochial House at College Hill on a 14 acre site received as a gift from Lord Fingal. Up to the year 1857 the parish of Rathkenny consisted of the Civil parishes of Rathkenny, Slane, Fennor, Stackallen and Gernonstown. During the same period the civil parishes of Grangegeeth, Monknewtown and Dowth formed a separate and distinct parish with its own pastors. After a reorganisation of parish boundaries in 1857, Monknewtown, Dowth, Fennor and part of Gernonstown formed the new parish of Slane. Grangegeeth became part of Rathkenny Parish. In the reshuffle, Slane Parish lost its parochial house. For three years the priests of Slane resided in Chapel Street. In 1860 the Parochial House on the square was leased until1923 when it was bought outright.
Fr. Christopher Magrane C.C. is credited with collecting £1000 towards the construction of the present church. In 1860 our church was renovated. The ceiling and floor was replaced and the windows were replaced with Holland glass. The interior and the exterior were repainted at a total cost of £6500. In 1988 further work was undertaken. New lights were installed and much work was done on the galleries. The tower was recapped and the sanctuary was enlarged. The total cost of this work was £60,271. The dept was cleared by 1st. November 1988.
During the past 1500 years, since the times of our Beloved Saints Patrick and Erc, many courageous men and women have laboured in the fields of Christian Promulgation throughout the Slane area. The extensions to and the renovation of our Catholic Church is a timely testament to their undoubted success. We hope and pray that the good work continues.
