Whitefriars Street Carmelite Church


Inside this nondescript church (more properly known as the Church of Our Lady of Mt Carmel) are some fascinating relics, not least the relics of St Valentine, donated to the Carmelites by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836. A spiral-bound notebook below the shrine is there so anyone struck (or missed) by Cupid's arrow can express their gratitude or hope.

The Carmelites have been here since 1827, when they re-established their former church that had been seized by Henry VIII in the 16th century. In the northeastern corner is a 16th-century Flemish oak statue of the Virgin and Child, believed to be the only wooden statue in Ireland to have escaped the Reformation unscathed.


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