Freshford celebrates it's patron saint at Féile Lachtain 2022

The community of the parish of Freshford will commemorate the 1400th anniversary of their patron saint, Lachtain, with a year long festival of events beginning on Saturday, March 19.

The festival will celebrate the Millennium Quarter Centenary (MQC) and more than 1400 years of worship on the site of St. Lachtain’s Church of Ireland. 
The parishioners will gather at 3pm on Saturday in St. Lachtain’s Church of Ireland for a religious service titled “Celebrating our Shared Christian Heritage.” After the opening of the service, which has been devised by Monsignor Kieron Kennedy, P.P. and Canon Richard Marsh of the Church of Ireland, there will be a procession to St. Lachtain’s Roman Catholic Church where it will conclude. Both Bishops of Ossory will attend. Bishop Nulty, acting Bishop of Ossory, will preach at the Church of Ireland and Bishop Burrows will preach at the Roman Catholic Church. There will be a reception afterwards at Freshford Community Hall. 
Events in April include a War of Independence Commemoration on Easter Sunday and the Kilkenny Fleadh Cheoil which will take place in Freshford on April 23 and 24. 

One of the highlights of the festival will be the Edmund Fitzpatrick tribute on the first weekend of May. The bi-centenary of the birth of the Freshford-born artist and illustrator will be celebrated with the launch of Ned Kennedy’s booklet on his life and work. An exhibition will consist of available paintings and illustrations from the Illustrated London News where he worked from 1848 to 1863. 

Also included in the weekend programme is a lecture on Saturday, May 7, by author and art historian Derville Murphy on the life and work of artist Margaret Allen, the first female member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. She spent her retirement in Brookville House in Lisdowney.   

A series of lectures will be held throughout the year on a variety of subjects including the architecture of St Lachtain’s Church and Doorway, the Shrine of St. Lachtain’s Arm and the excavations on the site. 

For the children of Scoil Lachtaín there will be an open-air Art on the Green event in June and a community painting event on the same weekend run by local artist Rachel Burke in conjunction with KCETB. 

A pilgrimage walk to the church ruins at Clashacrow and Ballylarkin will be held on July 10 followed by an exhibition, curated by Marie Cleere, by local artists during Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Heritage Week will also be a busy week with the launch of Mike Cormack’s book of parish photographs which includes a study of 20th century home ownership in Freshford village. 

The MQC Concerts will take place in October with The Rafter Family in St. Lachtain’s R.C. Church on October 8. This will be Patrick’s homecoming concert which has generated great interest. A week later St. Canice’s Cathedral Choir and Organist will perform at the Church of Ireland. 

The celebrations will conclude on the second weekend of November with Mass in St. Nicholas’s Church, Tulla and St. Lachtain’s Church at which the spiritual songs of Elvis Presley will be sung by Alexander Rafter.  

Information about the events can be found at www.ionadlachtain.com and on Facebook and Instagram accounts at Ionad Lachtain.