This year we celebrate the centenary of the building of the Church of the Holy Rosary. The original church stood on the site between the present church and the D.L.S. Monastery. It was a low sized thatched building. In 1872 the Archbishop of Tuam Dr. Mc Hale instructed the parish priest Canon Mc Gee to build a new church. Canon Mc Gee went to the U.S to raise funds and proceeded to build a church where the parish priests house now stands. The church was built to roof level. Around this time Bishop Mc Evilly succeeded Dr. Mc Hale and Canon Mc Gee died. The construction of the church lapsed for some nine years.
Dr. Mc Evilly instructed Fr. Lyons to proceed to erect the present church as he deemed the existing partially built church unsuitable. There was unrest in the parish for some time in 1891 over the knocking of the Mc Hale edifice. The disturbances eventually settled down and the present church was completed in 1901.
The altar of the church is made of marble, which was imported, from Italy. Pearse & Co from Dublin, father and brother of executed 1916 leader P.H. Pearse constructed it. The altar was donated to the parish by Bishop Ludden of Syracuse, New York who had been born in Castlebar.
Famous bandleader, musician and composer Stephen Garvey was organist in the church for 25 years. In the 1940s he fundraised in aid of restoration works, as the timbers in the church had to be treated with Cuprinol due to infestation by the Deadwatch Beetle.
Fr. Lyons, who later became a Canon was also responsible for the building of the parish priests house, the boys primary and post primary schools and the Monastery for the newly arrived De La Salle Order of teaching Brothers. The De La Salle Order came to Castlebar in 1888 and remained until 2000. A statue of St. John the Baptist De La Salle, sculpted by Galway Sculptor John Grant, was erected in this street in May 2001 to commemorate the work carried out by the Order in the town.
Dr. Mc Evilly instructed Fr. Lyons to proceed to erect the present church as he deemed the existing partially built church unsuitable. There was unrest in the parish for some time in 1891 over the knocking of the Mc Hale edifice. The disturbances eventually settled down and the present church was completed in 1901.
The altar of the church is made of marble, which was imported, from Italy. Pearse & Co from Dublin, father and brother of executed 1916 leader P.H. Pearse constructed it. The altar was donated to the parish by Bishop Ludden of Syracuse, New York who had been born in Castlebar.
Famous bandleader, musician and composer Stephen Garvey was organist in the church for 25 years. In the 1940s he fundraised in aid of restoration works, as the timbers in the church had to be treated with Cuprinol due to infestation by the Deadwatch Beetle.
Fr. Lyons, who later became a Canon was also responsible for the building of the parish priests house, the boys primary and post primary schools and the Monastery for the newly arrived De La Salle Order of teaching Brothers. The De La Salle Order came to Castlebar in 1888 and remained until 2000. A statue of St. John the Baptist De La Salle, sculpted by Galway Sculptor John Grant, was erected in this street in May 2001 to commemorate the work carried out by the Order in the town.