Limerick’s St Munchin in Missouri
Here’s something I read about an Irish patron saint in the Kansas City region, well, north a bit.
It’s in the Catholic Key.
“My new role in the diocese is ‘Bishop You’ll Do,’” Irish-born Bishop Emeritus Raymond J. Boland joked with the people of St. Munchin Parish as he prepared to anoint and consecrate a new parish altar and bless the completion of a $750,000 renovation project.
“I am happy to do it in a church that bears the name of another Irishman,” he said.
Bishop Boland told the parishoners of the legacy of their ancestors who had left Ireland because of the famine. I’m not sure I quite believe every word myself, but the Bishop tells a great story:
“They came from Limerick, and were most likely joined by some of the hundreds of Irish railroad pioneers who became unemployed when the regional railroads had their westward progress halted by the Missouri River,” he said.
A spur line of the Hannibal-St. Joseph line was built to Kansas City, and Cameron grew. As it grew, the Limerick Irish needed a church.
“The Limerick people had a great affection for their patron St. Munchin which was fortified by the resentment generated by the fact that their ancient St. Munchin Cathedral had been appropriated by the Church of Ireland, the official branch of the Anglican Church,” he said.
“As the Catholics of the city by the Shannon (River) rallied to reclaim their saint by building a new St. Munchin’s Church, those who came here decided to do the same,” he said.
Bishop Boland noted that St. Munchin, a seventh-century saint, and his two sisters, Rose of Kilrush and Lelia of Killely, all built churches. “It was in their blood,” he said.
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