Ceremony to celebrate Irish Huguenots

IRELAND’S Huguenots will be commemorated in Cork on Sunday - in the first service of its kind in over 200 years.

The Friends of the Huguenot Cemetery in Cork will sponsor a bilingual service of commemoration and thanksgiving - in English and French - in the Unitarian Church on Princes St at 11am.

Members of the Garde family from Cork, Midleton and Dublin, who are descendants of Huguenots, will attend.

The sermon will be delivered by Professor Ruth Whelan, the distinguished historian and author of Huguenot history.

The service will commemorate the Huguenots who settled in Cork from the mid-16th century.

The French Protestants were followers of Jean Calvin who fled their country to escape religious persecution.

The first Huguenots were living in a small colony in Cork by 1569.

They had a temple, a pastor’s house, school-house, an alms house and a burial ground between Carey’s Lane and French Church street.

Over the years, they produced 12 Lords Mayor of Cork.

It is hoped Sunday’s service will highlight the need to preserve Huguenot heritage in Cork and introduce the subject to new generations of Cork inhabitants.

Founding member of the Friends of the Huguenot Cemetery Petra Coffey said: “The 17th century service was very much focused on psalms and singing.

“But Sunday’s will be a modern service. We are delighted to be able to have it in the Unitarian building.

“We are there by invitation of the congregation there. They have been so generous to us.”

Lord Mayor Deirdre Clune will attend.

Cork-based historian Dr Alicia St Leger will present the Lord Mayor with a copy of her book Silver, Sails, and Silk: Huguenots in Cork, 1685-1850. Also attending will be supporters of Huguenot heritage Valerie Fleury and Fritz Spengeman, Dr Raymond Refaussé of the Irish Huguenot Archive, RCIB Library, Dublin; and Catriona Chambers, the station manager of Cork Campus Radio who produced a recent three-part series Gone but not Forgotten: the Legacy of the Huguenots in Cork, which was supported by the Heritage Council of Ireland.

Sunday’s service will last about 50 minutes and will be followed by a short walking tour of the Huguenot Quarter led by Dr St Leger.

Ms Coffey said anyone with an interest in the Huguenots is welcome to attend the ceremony and the walking tour.