Holy Cross Abbey
| Mainistir na Croise Naofa | |
Holy Cross Abbey on the River Suir
|
|
 Location within Ireland
|
|
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1168 |
| Disestablished | 1536 |
| Diocese | Cashel and Emly |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Domnall Mór Ua Briain |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | National Monument |
| Style | Cistercian |
| Site | |
| Location | Holycross, County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Coordinates | 52°38′23″N 07°52′00″W / 52.63972°N 7.86667°WCoordinates: 52°38′23″N 07°52′00″W / 52.63972°N 7.86667°W |
| Public access | yes |
The Holy Cross Abbey (Mainistir na Croise Naofa) in Tipperary is a restored Cistercian monastery in Holycross near Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland, situated on the River Suir. It takes its name from a relic of the True Cross or Holy rood. The fragment of that Holy rood was brought to Ireland by the Plantagenet Queen, Isabella of Angoulême, around 1233. She was the widow of King John and bestowed the relic on the original Cistercian Monastery in Thurles, which she then rebuilt, and which was thenceforth thereby named Holy Cross Abbey.
With time, Holy Cross Abbey and the sacred relic of the True Cross became a place of great medieval pilgrimage, and with the Reformation, also a rallying-point for the dispossessed and victims of religious persecution. As a symbol and inspiration for the defence of the Catholic faith, resistance and the struggle for freedom, it also drew a complaint by Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to Queen Elizabeth I in 1567.
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland recount that in 1601, Prince Hugh Roe O'Donnell, on his way to the Battle of Kinsale, true to his family arms and Constantinian motto (In Hoc Signo Vinces) and in anticipation of the battle to come at Kinsale, visited and venerated a relic of the True Cross (Holy rood) on the Feast of St. Andrew, on November 30, 1601 at Holy Cross Abbey. At that period it was a rallying point for the defence of religious freedom and for Irish sovereignty. From there he sent an expedition to Ardfert, to win a quick victory and successfully recover the territory of his ally, Fitzmaurice, Lord of Kerry, who had lost it and his 9-year-old son, to Sir Charles Wilmot. It was the last victory before the defeat at Kinsale
...
Wikipedia