The Most Benevolent Disposition

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Against one of the walls surrounding St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny is this memorial to wealthy local banker Connell Loughnan (1733-1812) who is described as being ’eminent for the display of the most benevolent disposition and the practice of every Christian Virtue,’ while his wife Anastasia who died a decade earlier was notable for ’emulating the virtues of her husband, an affectionate wife, a kind parent and a good friend.’

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At Rest

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A detail of the monument to John Butler, second Marquess of Ormonde in St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny. In September 1854, Lord Ormonde had been bathing with his children off the coast of Wexford when he was, according to a contemporary newspaper report, ‘seized with a fit of apoplexy, and no medical assistance being at hand, he expired in a few hours.’ He was aged 46. The marble monument to his memory was carved the following year by English sculptor Edward Richardson and shows the deceased lying recumbent in his robes as a Knight of the Order of St Patrick.