Harold's Cross - Religion

Religion

The area holds Saint Clare's Convent and Primary School, as well as Mount Argus Monastery and its church. Mount Argus was the official home of Saint Charles of Mount Argus who was a well known Passionist priest in 19th-century Ireland, he was mentioned as a miracle worker in the book Ulysses, Circe chapter. It also has long-established links with the Garda Síochána and it was officially the church of the Dublin Metropolitan Police.

The first Rector of Mount Argus was Fr. Paul Mary Pakenham who was the son of the Earl of Longford and nephew of Kitty Pakenham (Duchess of Wellington). His first mass took place in a house at the time on 15 August 1856. Irish architect J. J. McCarthy was commissioned to design the new monastery.

The former Church of Ireland parish church in Harold's Cross has been leased to the Moscow Patriarchate as Ss Peter and Paul Church, for the Russian Orthodox Church. A substantial congregation made up of Orthodox immigrants to Ireland (mostly from the former Soviet Union, Eastern Slovakia and Poland)) along with native (mostly convert) Irish Orthodox attend services here. Services are conducted both in Church Slavonic and English with a smattering of Irish.

The Roman Catholic Parish Church in Harold's Cross is the Church of the Holy Rosary. The parish is an active one with many contributing to its attendant organisations. The church was built on top of the remains of an old stately house called Mount Harold house at the end of the 19th century. Original floor tiles of the house can still be seen on the chapel floor to this day.