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nbtx90
The Archdiocese of Dublin now has a cathedral. St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral has been raised to this status. Dublin lost its cathedral, Christ Church, when it was taken by the Protestant authorities during the Reformation to serve as the cathedral of the state established Church of… https://t.co/kUsHhS8vBE
— Fr John S. Hogan, ocds (@jshocds) November 14, 2025
Black to move and mate in 3. How fast were you (… how fast and RIGHT were you)?
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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Black to move and mate in 3
1) … Rg3+
White has 2 possible moves Kf1 or Kh2
If
2) Kf1 Rg1+
3) Kxg1 (forced) Qg2 mate
If
2) Kh2 Qg2 mate
Time: about 5 minutes. My initial move was Rg3+ but didn’t put that together with the Rg1+ sacrifice immediately so tried some other variations before catching on.
This of course reminds me of the old Irish story about the tourist in Dublin who asked a little old lady: “is that Christ’s Church?”
“Sure’n it is, sir; but the Prots have got hold of it!”
I suppose that it’s wonderful that Dublin finally has an official Catholic cathedral (again), but it’s pretty absurd that some irrelevant protestant sect with little more than 100K nominal members is allowed to retain ownership of Ireland’s historic pre-reformation Catholic churches. Sure, I get it that the Irish branch of Catholicism is pretty much the “church of nice” and has no interest in ruffling the feathers of what remains of that country’s old Anglo-Irish protestant establishment. It’s too bad that the Irish can’t be more like how the French used to be under the Bourbons. Back when France was a Catholic country, when they regained protestant territory, they took back the keys to the major churches. Strasbourg cathedral, for example, was a Lutheran church from 1524 until 1681… a good 157 years. So what? When Louis XIV’s forces rolled into town, the first thing they did was kick the protestants out of the cathedral.
Summorum: actually, during the reign of James II, that did happen, and Christ Church cathedral has preserved a Tabernacle that was installed when Mass was again held there. Sadly, that didn’t last long. The Tabernacle itself is pretty basic, of wood as far as I recall – years since I’ve seen it – but perhaps it was gilded at the time.
Amazing that it actually survived, given the extreme bitterness of those times.
“Also on display are the conserved tabernacle and the candlesticks used in 1689 under James II when the Latin rites were restored for a three-month period”.
https://dodublin.ie/city-attractions/christ-church-cathedral
No pictures of the Tabernacle or candlesticks, unfortunately. But they’re there as a silent reminder.
Hmmmm… only 3 months. Well, James didn’t stay long after his defeat by William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne. Leaving us Irish, with the French, to go on fighting until the inevitable end, and the destruction of what remained of Catholic Ireland. William allowed the remnants of the Irish Army to escape to France, where Louis XIV promptly took them on for the Irish Brigade. Who still insisted on wearing their red coats, being soldiers of the “rightful” King. Apparently that caused confusion in battles with the British. The Irish regiment that fought with the French in your War of Independence must have been wearing red coats. It seems to have worked anyway ; – )
The Pro… oooops… the Cathedral also has a very good choir, men and boys, for well over a century now. They do a Sung Mass (N.O.) on Sundays, and Vesperae during the week, which is very well supported. All is not yet dead over here, although it’s quite a struggle.
https://www.palestrinachoirdublin.com/
Fascinating history, JayKay. Thank you. I was previously unaware of that 3-month restoration at Christ Church in 1689.