Saint Patrick's Cathedral - Dublin, Ireland

Saint Patrick's Cathedral - Dublin, Ireland, originally uploaded by infomatique.

Built in honour of Saint Patrick the Cathedral stands adjacent to the famous well where tradition has it Saint Patrick baptized converts on his visit to Dublin.

A church was built on this site in 1191 and in 1991 they celebrated 800 years of worship. The present building dates from 1220. The Cathedral is today the National Cathedral for the Church of Ireland (Anglican).

Today the Cathedral is open to all people as both an architectural and historical site, but principally as a place of worship. Charges are made for those visiting for sightseeing and all the money so raised directly supports the future of this historic building.

There is almost no precedent for a two-cathedral city, and some believe it was intended that St Patrick's, a secular cathedral, would replace Christ Church, a cathedral managed by an order.

A confrontational situation persisted, with considerable tension, over the decades after the establishment of St. Patrick's, and was eventually settled, to some extent, by the signing of a six-point agreement of 1300, Pacis Compositio. Still extant, and in force until 1870, it provided that:

* The consecration and enthronement of the Archbishop of Dublin was to take place at Christ Church - records show that this provision was not always followed, with many Archbishops enthroned in both, and at least two in Saint Patrick's only
* Christ Church had formal precedence, as the mother and senior cathedral of the diocese
* Christ Church was to retain the cross, mitre and ring of each deceased Archbishop of Dublin
* Deceased Archbishops of Dublin were to be buried alternately in each of the two cathedrals, unless they personally willed otherwise
* The annual consecration of chrism oil for the diocese was to take place at Christ Church
* The two cathedrals were to act as one, and shared equally in their freedoms

Over the following centuries, the two cathedrals functioned together in the diocese, until in the period of disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, the current designation of one as the cathedral of Dublin and Glendalough, and one as the National Cathedral, was developed.