HOLY
407
HOLY
able features of the monastic church are the east
window, the groined roofing of the chancel and side-
chapels, and the ribbed vaulting beneath the tower.
All the windows are of different design, and are re-
markable for the beautiful flamboyant treatment they
illustrate. In the chancel at the Epistle side of the
high altar is a structure not less interesting than the
shrine in the north transept. While it apparently
might have served the purpose of sedilia — having three
divisions, composed of slender-pillared arches, sur-
mounted with a canopy of elaborate tabernacle work
— it is always styled the "tomb of the good woman's
son". The frieze is further adorned with foliaged
tracery through which are displayed the cross of St.
George, the royal arms of England quartered with
those of France, and other heraldic emblems of his-
toric interest.
The relic of the Holy Rood, so long the object of the pilgrim's veneration, is said to have been be- stowed on this monastery by one of the Plantagenet queens of England in gratitude for the kind services of the abbot of the time in having the remains of her son (who met his death in the neighbourhood of the abbey, while on a visit to Ireland) interred in the church. The erection of the tomb is ascribed to her, as also is the rebuilding of the abbey church, which surpassed anything of the kind in Ireland in its archi- tectural splendour. Circumstances point to the fact that the young prince — "the good woman's son" — was no other than " Pierce the Fair", son of Isabella of Angoulome (widow of King Jolm) by her second husband, Le Brun, Count of La Marche. He would therefore have been half-brother of Henry III of England. His death is recorded by the " Four Mas- ters " as having occurred in Ireland, 1233. The Abbey of Holy Cross, as one of the greater monasteries, was suppressed under the fiat of Henry VIII in 1536. The abbot of the time, William O'Dwyer, surrendered on condition that he would enjoy the revenues for his lifetime. Eventually, Holy Cross with its appurte- nances was conferred by Elizabeth on Thomas, Earl of Ormonde. However, we find as late as 1633 the Divine ministrations were still exercised in the church. The year 1632 was apparently the last during which the relic of the True Cross was exposed for public veneration. Subsequently, the community with- drew to Kilkenny city, where a private house was rented by the abbot, Right Rev. Luke .\rcher. Here they decided to await the coming of better times, but the hoped-for day of return to their monastery never came. The preservation of the abbey ruins is now the charge of the Board of Works (Ireland).
Triumphalia Sanctm Crucis (Register of Father Malacht Hartry, Monk of Holy Cross. 1640-49), tr. and ed. Murphy (Dublin, 1891); Proceeding of the Kilkenny Archeological Soci- ety, I. 51, 58, 79, 81 ; II, 570 sq.; Annals of the Four Masters; Lewis. Topographical Diet, of Ireland, II, 8 sq. ; Frazer, Handbook for Ireland, 273 sqq.
J. B. CULLEN.
Holy Cross and Passion, Congreg.\tions of the Most. See Passion, Congregations of the Most Holy Cross and.
Holy Days. See Feasts, Ecclesiastical.
Holy Faith, Sisters of the, founded at Dublin, in 1S57, by Margaret Aylward, under the direction of Rev. John Gowan, CM., for the care of Catholic orphans. The foundress was called a confessor of the Faith by Pius IX, because of the imprisonment of six months she endured on account of her efforts to save some Catholic orphans from the hands of prosely- tizers. The congregation is especially active in the Archdiocese of Dublin, the residence of the superior general being at Glasnevin, where the sisters conduct a boarding-school for young ladies. In the original foundation, St. Brigid's Orphanage, Dublin, nearly three thousand orphans have been trained and placed in trades and situations. The members of the con-
gregation also conduct primary schools, private day
schools, infants' schools, and junior boys' schools.
In their Coorabe and Strand Street (Dublin) houses,
which have an attendance of 1200 and 800 respec-
tively, the poor receive their breakfast daily, and are
also provided with clothing. Altogether the sisters
in the fourteen convents of the archdiocese have
charge of about seven thousand children. In the
Diocese of Ossory a community of eight sisters con-
ducts two primary schools and a private day school,
with an attendance of 160.
Irish Directory (1909).
F. M. RUDGB.
Holy Family, Aechconfrateenity of the. — ^This archconfraternity owes its origin to Henri Belletable, an officer in the Engineers' Corps, Liege, Belgium. His intercourse with workmen inspired him to labour for their amelioration, which he saw could only be effected through religion. Therefore, he resolvetl to establish a society, which he would divide into companies of twelve m military fasliion. The first reunion was held on the evening of Whit-Monday, 1844, in the room of a carpenter. W'hen their numbers outgrew the room, the Redemptorists placed an oratory at their disposal, and Father Victor Dechamps (q. v.), Belletable's director, took up the work and became its soul. He brought it to the notice of Bishop von Bommel, who gave it his formal approval on 13 February, 1845, erected it into a confraternity with the title of Holy Family, 7 April following, and re- mained its lifelong promoter. The statutes then drawn up were later presented to Pius IX, who ap- proved them by Briefs dated 20 and 23 April, 1847, raised the society to the rank of an archconfraternity, enriched it with indulgences, and made the rector of the Redemptorists' Church of Our Lady of the Immac- ulate Conception, Liege, its director.
The confraternity spread rapidly and at its golden jubilee, in 1894, it had been established in over 1300 churches, and numbered more than 400,000 members. The development spread from Belgium to Holland, and finally throughout the Church. It has been more than sixty years in existence and has lost none of its fervour. Besides divisions for men and boys, there are also branches for women. Pius IX considered this confraternity a providential work for our times, as did also Leo XIII, who, when he established his own association of the Holy Family and suppressed all other associations of the same title, wished this archconfraternity to continue its good work.
Henri-Hubert Belletable, its founder, was b. at Venlo in Holland, 8 April, 1813; d. 18.54. After 1830 he be- came a soldier in Belgium, where he quickly rose from the ranks. In his last illness he insisted on receiving the Viaticum on his knees, but was so weak that two fellow-officers had to support him. After his Holy Commimion he prayed fervently for his wife and children, and then died. He did not live long enough to see the development of his work, but his memory is sacred to all members of the archconfraternity. In Holland the members erected a splendid monument to him at Venlo, and those of Holland and Belgium placed a bust in Carrara marble over his tomb at Huy.
Lejeune. L' Archiconfrerie de la Sainte Famille, son histoire et ses fruits (Toumai. 1894) : Vie du Capitaine Belletable (Touniai, 1898); Manual of the Areheonfratemily of the Holy Family (5th ed.. Limerick); History of the Limerick Holy Family (Limerick, 1893).
J. Magnier.
Holy Family, Congregations of the. — I. Asso- ciation OF the Holy Family, founded in 1820 by the Abb6 Pierre Bienvenue Noailles (d. 1S61), to fill in some measure the immense gap left by the ravages wrought in religious life by the French Revolution. The institute began with three young ladies, who formed a community under the direction of the Abb6
