Having been only vaguely aware of Thaddeus McCarthy or Tadhg Mac Cárthaigh, it was not until a friend of mine found some images of him in west Cork that l started to investigate his story. Who was this man? Why are there so many images of him in Ireland and Italy? One find of an image led to another as people were very generous with their knowledge.
It turned out to be an intriguing story. Thaddeus was a bishop who was never a bishop. He was ordained twice, by two different popes, but was not able to take up either position. He travelled many times to Rome to claim his right to be a bishop and died on his way home, in Ivrea in northwest Italy, in the late 1400s, where he is still revered today.
Travelling to and from Rome in the 1400s was not just a long journey but also quite an onerous one, as the roads were bad and the risk of being preyed upon by bandits was ever present. As he no longer wished to have his family go to war on his behalf, Thaddeus was travelling alone as a penniless pilgrim, on the Via Francigene, back home to Ireland. This famous pilgrim route stretches from Canterbury in England right down to Rome and travelling as a pilgrim gave a certain amount of protection to the traveller.
After spending the night in a hostel in Ivrea, he was discovered dead in his bed the next morning, with a strange light emanating around him. When the local bishop was called to investigate, he recognised him as the man he had dreamed about the previous night, a young bishop being assumed into heaven. Among his meagre possessions they discovered that he was from a royal Munster family, his papers from the pope, along with his bishop’s ring and pectoral cross. The bishop of Ivrea immediately ordered his body to be brought to the cathedral in Ivrea where Thaddeus was buried with all due ceremony as a bishop.
Thaddeus was long forgotten about in Ireland until Italians contacted the Irish bishops to say they were petitioning Rome to have him beatified. He was made blessed in the late 1800s and this sparked interest in him here at home. The beatification took place not too long after Catholic Emancipation which had resulted in a surge of church building in Ireland and many commissioners used images of Thaddeus, the newly beatified Irishman, to adorn their new churches.
While nobody could know what he looked like, many of the images in Ireland are similar in that they depict Thaddeus as a pilgrim, complete with the famous scallop shell, the sign of a pilgrim. This image is probably based on a painting, by Giovanni Stornone, which is in the Sant Antonio Abata Church in Ivrea. Coincidentally, there are similar paintings in St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh and St Mary & St Anne’s Cathedral in Cork. It would not have been unusual for an artist to copy a painting that was popular. These paintings were brought back, by the two Cork bishops, following Thaddeus’ beatification. The bishops also brought back relics which are contained in some very elaborate reliquaries in several churches.
This research also gave me an opportunity to look at the buildings which house images of Thaddeus. Who would have thought that a North American chief, the Black Eagle of the North, founded St Peter & Paul’s Church in Cork? It also gave an opportunity to contrast life in both countries over the centuries and to look at contacts between the two countries.
While l found Thaddeus’ story fascinating, my main interest was in the arts-and-crafts movement. The images of Thaddeus were commissioned during this time, yet this seems to have been mostly ignored by the church commissioners. During this period, the likes of Harry Clarke, Evie Hone and Michael Healy were producing magnificent stained-glass windows. In addition, Mia Cranwell and James Arthur were producing magnificent metal work. However, the Irish church commissioners, whether due to costs or the influence of their architects, were more likely to import stained-glass from Britain and Germany and metal artefacts from France rather than use indigenous artists to enhance their buildings. This was clearly a missed opportunity which could have put an indigenous Irish art movement on a firm footing.
Milan, Turin and Genoa form the industrial hub of Italy. At one time Ivrea, where Thaddeus died, was also part of this hub as it was the home of the famous Olivetti company. Olivetti believed that the wellbeing of the community was as important as making money and used the best architects to design his buildings and provide other amenities locally.
As it was a wealthier country, life in Italy took a different trajectory to that in Ireland. Most of the artefacts commissioned at the same time in Italy were for secular rather than religious use. The Italians were interested in curating their splendid homes with stained-glass windows and other artefacts to reflect their wealth and prosperity. Architects as well as other crafts persons were commissioned to decorate these homes and this is reflected in what became known as the Stile Floreale, or Italian art-nouveau movement. An interesting aspect of their approach is that many designed whole rooms rather than just an additional stained-glass window or ceramic chimney surrounds for their commissioners.
There is one place in Ireland where Thaddeus was never forgotten. This is in Caheragh, near to where he was born in west Cork. Here the local club is still called the Tadhg McCarthy GAA Club.
Searching for Thaddeus: Images of a Forgotten Irishman in Ireland & Italy by Patricia Curtin-Kelly is published by Liberties Press
