St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church

St. Nicholas ' Collegiate Church ( Irish Eaglais Choláisteach San Nioclás ) is the largest continuously occupied medieval parish church in Ireland.

History

The church is located in Galway in the present Republic of Ireland and 1320 in honor of the saint of sailors and merchants, of St.. Nicholas, consecrated. Today it serves the Anglican Church of Ireland. In 1484 it was raised by the Archbishop of Tuam the collegiate church of Collegiate, which was confirmed in 1485 by the Bull Super Dominicum Gregem of Pope Innocent VIII. Through this survey, the Galway city and its surrounding area has been legally separated from the Archdiocese of Tuam and placed under the pen College, which received a diocesan similar position.

The enforced by the English royal house Reformation, the monastery was Anglican, but persisted in his legal status. A parallel Catholic institution existed in the underground. In the 19th century, the Church of Ireland changed the pin into a normal church. The Holy See erected on the territory of the Diocese of Galway and pin Kilmacduagh.

St. Nicholas was for centuries the place where according to a royal privilege ( Royal Charter ) of 1484, every three years, the mayor and the aldermen from among the 14 voting families were selected.

In 2002, the first wedding of a lesbian couple in the Church of Ireland attracted by the pastor of St. Nicholas quite a stir. The superior Bishop of Tuam forbade this then similar acts. During the renovation of the St. Augustin Church in Galway in 2005, the Roman Catholic church held its services in St. Nicholas. The church is also used regularly by the faithful of the Romanian and the Russian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church based in India Mar Toma.