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E-mailSt. Mel's Cathedral in Longford burned to the ground
One of Ireland's finest churches destroyed after fire
Published Friday, December 25, 2009, 7:38 AM
Updated Thursday, January 7, 2010, 12:15 PM
St. Mel's Cathedral in Longford
St. Mel's Cathedral, one of Ireland's finest churches, was burnt to the ground in Longford town early on Christmas morning. Irish police are investigating. The blaze began shortly after 5.a.m.
Midnight mass had been celebrated in the cathedral by the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Colm O'Reilly, who later said the Cathedral was completely destroyed.
He stated that the building was burned out from end to end.
Construction began on the St Mel's in 1840 and it was seen as one of the the finest churches in Ireland. The firs started just hours after crowds packed the cathedral.
An Irish police crime scene investigation unit are at the scene but there are no indications as what caused the blaze.
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Posted by mmtwrite on Feb 10, 2010, 12:10 PM ESTHow sad!
I visited St. Mel's in 2006 because both my great-grandfather and my great-great grandfather — both named James Mannion — were born in Longfordtown. My cousin and I had a grand visit with Father Joe McGrath, and we toured the little museum where the crozier of St. Mel was on display.
The only good news about this story is that the fire took place when the church was empty.
Posted by cathrynreilly on Jan 25, 2010, 03:15 PM EST
My cousin who lives in Longford says the "news" about Bishop O'Reilly contacting Mel Gibson is an over the top rumor!!
Posted by kickstar on Jan 10, 2010, 07:17 AM EST
When people were lying on the Roadside and eating grass and soil homeless starving and cold the Roman catholic church in Ireland were building monstrosities like this at incredible expense.....Why ? Because they did not give a rats black a** about the people unless they could shake some geld out of them they were totally unimportant thus they could be treated like dirt and were,The priests and Bishops of this fine church were supping at these landlords tables while they were evicting the starving impoverished Irish to the roadside. And now instead of taking note of what has happened to this accursed building and perhaps seeing the hand of God in its demise there are people on here attempting to raise funds for this perverse church which has a vast fortune so fantastic that it is inestimable.
Posted by avrilxxxx6 on Jan 09, 2010, 03:09 PM EST
Portia777 u prink...i dnt care if it offends u cause wat u said bout the church...im from longford and i tink ur comment was so rude....u hav no idea want tat church ment to longford....
Posted by crittel on Jan 06, 2010, 11:31 AM EST
It's not about the religion, it's about the history. It is sad to see a piece of history be destroyed like this. I really hope we can all pull together to help rebuild it. I am passing the word around the states to send help, if you sent in just 1$, 12 million people later there would be enough to rebuild!
Posted by TonydeNewYork on Dec 26, 2009, 10:32 AM EST
Portia777 u r a bitter anti -catholic!!
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