The New Retreat of Holy cross

Having thus interred the noble dust of Edenderry Lodge, it is only fair to tell the story of the present Retreat – known to the Belfast people of the ‘nineties’ (that’s 1890s) as the New Retreat of Holy Cross.

Years of talk and hesitation about the building of the proper Passionist Retreat, where the Fathers could live and pray unaccompanied by slugs, came to an end in 1875 when Fr. Pius (Devine) became Rector. He came seemingly with that purpose uppermost in his mind, for all his other works are forgotten save that he launched the new Retreat. He had no money and he had not much chance of getting any quickly, for trade was bad in the Belfast of those years. The services of a building contractor were out of question, so he commenced to build by direct labour, which he placed under on of the great brothers of those days – Br. Osmund. He appointed Fr. Emidius and Br. Edward as collectors, and very soon there was enough in the bank to begin building.

Slowly, Stone by Stone

Most Rev. Dr. Dorrian blessed and laid the foundation stone on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July 1877. It was a brave beginning made in great trust of Our lady’s protection, but it was a continual struggle for four years to make ends meet. The success of the collectors varied and with it varied the speed of the building; as the Diarist notes: ‘the number of men employed and the amount of work done’ depended upon what they brought in. Fr. Pacificus became Rector in 1878, and by that time things had got so bad that he had to suspend building altogether. The mills were closed down; families were in great want; and poverty was some grim that the Diary says, with a kind of sad humour, that ‘the collectors often came back poorer than they had gone out.’ It was no time for building. Then Fr. Pacificus died tragically in the following year, which seemed to knock the heart out of the parish and the community. Meanwhile the moss was growing on the half-built walls, and Holy Cross looked like a ruin before it was ever a building.

Rescue and Completion

There was one, however, who never lost hope and who must in time have come to look upon Ardoyne as part of himself. That was Fr. Alphonsus, who along with Fr. Raphael had been the first Passionists to come to Ardoyne. He it was who had borrowed the necessary £1,000 as mentioned above. He was now Provincial, and when he appointed Fr. Norbert as successor to Fr. Pacificus, he sent him to Ardoyne with instructions to finish the Retreat at all costs. He himself took a hand in the drive for funds, and when in Rome on Provincial business succeeded in interesting Pope Leo XIII in the building of Holy Cross Retreat.

When he got home he wrote and scattered far and wide a vigorous appeal for funds, of which the following is an extract:

‘The erection of a suitable Retreat in accordance with the prescriptions of our Constitutions was commenced three years ago; but the works had to be suspended for the want of funds, and the partly erected buildings have been exposed for two years to the injurious effects of the climate. Notwithstanding our own poverty and the deep distress prevailing in the country, the exigency and urgency of the case compel us to proceed without further delay, to complete the portion of the work already commenced.

'To encourage the faithful to assist us, His Holiness, understanding the difficulties with which we have to contend, has been graciously pleased to grant and impart the Apostolic Benediction to all who in any way help us to complete the work.’

The appeal succeeded so well that in April 1880 the work was resumed, this time in the hands of a building contractor, Mr Corry of Belfast. The New retreat of Holy Cross was ready for opening on 12 June 1881.

That’s Very Interesting

·        Most Rev. Dr. Dorrian performed the ceremony of blessing the new Monastery. Most Rev. Dr. McGettigan, Primate of all Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, presided at the Solemn High Mass. Cardinal Logue, then Bishop of Raphoe, preached the sermon.

·        In the evening Father Harbinson, Redemptorist, preached from the text: ‘This is a day that the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice thereof . . .’ He said this was a memorable event, ‘this opening and blessing of the FIRST MONASTERY in Ulster since the Reformation.’

·        The newspapers vied with each other in their descriptions of the new Retreat: ‘It is in the Romanesque style of architecture, constructed of white freestone, relieved by bands and dressings of red stone from the Dundonald quarries . . . The principal entrance is covered by an open portico supported by columns of Newry granite . . . The main staircase is constructed of white marble from County Donegal.’ Dundonald! Newry! Donegal!

·        At the beginning of August, the community moved from the Old House into the New.
 

The End of the Story

In 1881 there was still a debt of £4,000 upon the New Retreat, which was soon cleared off, but the last memory of those hard years was not to be obliterated until 1931 – fifty years later.  The truth was, that the top storey was only erected as a temporary shell, with dormer windows lifting into the roof, in order to keep down expense. That it was only a shell was sensationally proved during the pogrom of 1921 when a bullet, fired from a passing military car, penetrated the outer wall and lodged in the inside opposite wall of one of the rooms. The occupant had a narrow escape. In 1931, however, during the Rectorship of Fr. Thomas, the top storey was completed.