The cathedrals of Ireland is the theme of this year's Roscrea autumn conference, which opens at the Mount St Joseph Cistercian Abbey near the town at 6 p.m. this evening. The opening address at the 25th consecutive conference on early and medieval Ireland, "The House of God", will be given by Father Nivard Kinsella, prior at Mount St Joseph.
Also speaking tonight will be Prof Roger Stalley of TCD, on "Bishops and Buildings", Dr Raymond Gillespie of NUI Maynooth on "The Late Medieval Irish Cathedral `System' ", and Dr Alan Fletcher of NUI Dublin (UCD) on "The Music of the 14th-century Visitatio Sepulcri from Dublin - An Illustrated Presentation".
Speakers tomorrow will include Mr John Bradley of NUI Maynooth on "Cathedrals in pre-Norman Ireland", Dr Stalley on "The Gothic cathedral in Ireland", Prof Gillespie on "Before dissolution: Christ Church, Dublin 14001540", and Dr Fletcher on "Liturgy for the learned and the lewd at Christ Church Cathedral, in the late Middle Ages".
Mr George Cunningham will speak tomorrow night on "Celebrating 25 conferences at Mount Saint Joseph". The conference concludes when there will be talks on "Ardeaglais: Ti Shui De - Lex Orandi lex edificandi", by Father Ciaran O Sabhaois. Prof Stalley will speak on "Roscrea 19871999" and Dr Valerie Hall, Queen's University, on "What `Roscrea' means to so many".