A personal envoy of Pope Benedict will arrive in the North West next week to celebrate the centenary of one of Ireland’s most historic churches. The Papal envoy will attend the centenary celebrations at St Columba's Church in the Bogside area of Londonderry on Tuesday.
The church, also known locally as the Long Tower Church, is the location of St Columba's original monastery, built on the spot in 546AD.
Administrator at Long Tower, Reverend Father Roland Colhoun said: “Such is the significance of the location that the Holy See has decided to send a Papal Legate to the Long Tower for the occasion.”
Outlining the history of the site and its importance to Derry, Fr Colhoun said: “On this hill is the site of the Dubh Regles [546 AD] or Black Church of Columba and also the first great cathedral of Derry, the Teampall Mor which was built in 1164.
“That same cathedral gave its name to the present city parish of Templemore. The building was used by the early English settlers for their worship before St Columb's Cathedral was built.
“When it fell into disrepair it was used by the visiting army to store gunpowder. A munitions explosion in 1568 reduced it to rubble and the stones were later built into the City Walls.
“The round tower that gave the Long Tower its name survived to the late 1600s but no trace remains. Apparently its monastic stones were used to repair the City Walls in 1690 a year after the Great Siege.”
Fr Colhoun added: “The present church building began life in 1784 and was sited beside the hawthorn tree where Mass was said in the absence of a place of worship in Penal times.
“The church was enlarged in 1812 and served the city |well until it was deemed too small and increasingly unsafe for use.
“The present church was opened in 1909 and was decorated with many fine artworks including a series of magnificent stained glass windows on the ground floor depicting scenes from the life of St Columba.”
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