St Mary's Pro-Cathedral

The Pro-Cathedral was never intended to be other than a temporary acting cathedral, pending the availability of funds to build a full cathedral. Various locations for the new cathedral were discussed. W. T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (prime minister) from 1922 to 1932 and a deeply religious Catholic, suggested that the burnt-out shell of the General Post Office, the location of the 1916 Rising, be turned into a cathedral, but the idea was not acted on, and the GPO was restored for use as a post office.

John Charles McQuaid, who served as archbishop from the 1940s to the early 1970s, bought the gardens in the centre of Merrion Square and announced plans to erect a cathedral there, but to the relief of Dubliners, who preferred a garden in the centre of the city, his plans never came to pass and the gardens were eventually handed over by his successor to Dublin Corporation and opened to the public. While it is suggested periodically that the Church of Ireland, which has a relatively small membership, might hand over one of its cathedrals to the Catholic Church, no serious proposals have been made for such an arrangement. The Church of Ireland did offer one of the cathedrals to the Catholic church in the late 20th century but the offer was declined by the Catholic hierarchy apparently due to the projected cost of maintaining the building. (The Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral (which serves as the "national cathedral" of the Church of Ireland - Christchurch is treated as the diocesan cathedral of Dublin) did suggest allowing Catholic Masses to be celebrated in St. Patrick's but the idea was dropped after opposition within the Church of Ireland.) Though theoretically, the possibility of erecting a new Catholic cathedral remains on the agenda, in reality, most of the funds collected for the building of a new cathedral have been spent erecting new churches in what was for a lengthy period a rapidly growing archdiocese.

The funeral of Michael Collins in 1922 – a contemporary newspaper drawing. This image shows the original pre-Vatican II Turnerelli high altar, the pulpit (right) and Archbishop's cathedra (left, with canopy)

The Pro-Cathedral remains a focal point of religious and state ceremonial activity. Up until 1983, incoming presidents of Ireland traditionally attended, prior to their civil inauguration, a religious ceremony in either St Patrick's Cathedral (if they were members of the Church of Ireland) or the Pro-Cathedral (if they were Roman Catholic). Whereas up to 1973, those ceremonies were exclusively denominational, the ceremonies for the inaugurations of President Childers in 1973, President Ó Dálaigh in 1974 and President Hillery in 1976, were multidenominational, with representatives of the Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist and the Jewish faith taking part in the ceremony. (In 1973 it took place in St Patrick's, in 1974 and 1976 in the Pro-Cathedral.) In 1983 a multidenominational service was included as part of the civil inauguration in Dublin Castle.

The major faiths held religious ceremonies in their main cathedral or pro-cathedral to mark the beginning of the law term or a session of parliament, which would be attended by the President of Ireland, the Taoiseach, ministers, the opposition, parliamentarians and members of the Diplomatic Corps. State funerals of major figures including Michael Collins and former presidents Seán T. O'Kelly, Éamon de Valera, Patrick Hillery and Lord Mayor of Dublin Kathleen Clarke took place there. A painting of the funeral of Michael Collins hangs in Áras an Uachtaráin, the president's residence.

Pope Francis visited the Pro-Cathedral on 25 August 2018 during an apostolic visit to Ireland.[6]

Organ on the gallery at the east-end of the nave.

The original organ in the Pro-Cathedral was built by the Dublin organ builder, John White, in the late 19th century,[7] and the present instrument contains some of White's original pipework. The present facade of the organ dates from William Hill's rebuild of the organ around 1900. Subsequent work was carried out by Henry Willis & Co. in the 1930s, before J.W. Walker's major rebuild of 1971 under the administrator Monsignor John Moloney and the most recent refurbishment of the instrument, by the same firm which was completed in the autumn of 1995. The newly refurbished instrument was inaugurated in a gala concert given by Olivier Latry on 20 March 1996.

The swell of the organ is built into the back wall of the Church. The shutters of the swell are in line with the rest of the wall. The organ console itself was moved in a general redevelopment of the church in 1995. This was to facilitate the direction of the choir.

This organ has become regarded as one of the finest examples in Ireland of the late nineteenth-century grand Romantic organ, and has since its original installation featured prominently in the many great liturgical occasions which have graced the pro-cathedral church. More recently many of the great organ recitalists of our time have performed on it: Daniel Chorzempa, Xavier Darasse, Sir David Lumsden, Daniel Roth, Dame Gillian Weir, Arthur Wills,[8] Olivier Latry, and others. The Titular Organist of Saint Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Gerard Gillen, was appointed to the position in 1976. David Grealy was appointed Associate Organist in September 2017.[9]

A chancel organ built by the Dublin organ builder, John White, is located on the epistle (right) side of the High Altar. It fell into disuse on the reordering of the sanctuary c.1980. Its mechanism and pipework are stored in the bowels of the Pro-Cathedral. In the early 2000s, a three-stop portable continuo organ was acquired, which provides accompaniment for sanctuary services such as Vespers/Evening Prayer, and is also used for continuo purposes in appropriate choral and orchestral repertoire.

The church is known for its Palestrina Choir,[4] the resident choir of Saint Mary's Pro-Cathedral. It had its origins in a boys' choir formed in the 1890s by Vincent O'Brien, then a music teacher at St Mary's Place Christian Brothers School in Dublin. It was at a performance of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli at St Teresa's Carmelite Church in Clarendon Street in 1898 that this choir came to the attention of Edward Martyn, their founding sponsor.[10] Martyn wished to promote the music of Palestrina which was espoused by Pope Pius X as a standard to which liturgical music should aspire. The Palestrina Choir was constituted and installed in the Pro-Cathedral on 1 January 1903 with O'Brien as director.

In the century since its foundation, the choir has had seven directors. Vincent O'Brien, director until 1946, was succeeded by his son, Oliver. In 1978, Fr Seán O hEarcaigh took over the baton from Oliver O'Brien. He was succeeded in 1982, by Ite O'Donovan and in 1996 by Comdt Joseph Ryan. Órla Barry was the director from the end of 1996 to 2001. As of 2013, the director was Blánaid Murphy. Over the years, the Palestrina Choir has attracted notable singers, including John McCormack who was a member of the choir from 1904 to 1905.[10] The choir has travelled widely, singing at several cathedrals and venues throughout Ireland, Europe, and North America.

During the school term, the Palestrina Choir sing at Sunday morning Solemn Latin Mass (Novus Ordo),[4] Friday evening Vespers & Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament (5.15pm) and Mass (5.45pm). A girls' choir was formed in 2009.