SS Eunan’s and Columba's Catholic Cathedral

Memorial statue commemorating to Cardinal Patrick O'Donnell, erected c. 1930, comprising bronze figurative sculpture set on tapering stone pedestal (on square-plan) on stepped cut stone base (on square-plan) with low stone piers to the four corners. Bronze plates to faces of pedestal having inscriptions in Irish. Located within grounds of St. Eunan’s Cathedral, to the east of building, and to the west of the centre of Letterkenny.

This fine monument commemorates Cardinal Patrick Joseph O'Donnell (1856-1927) who was responsible for the erection of the magnificent St. Eunan’s Cathedral (see 40501168) adjacent to the north 1890-1901. The very fine bronze figurative sculpture of the cardinal was created by the sculptor Francis William Doyle Jones (1873-1938), an Irish-born monumental sculptor who was based in England for much of his career. Jones produced several memorial statues in Ireland, of which this is one of the best known examples. The simple dignified stone plinth that it is set on has a contemporary modern feel that offsets the complexity of the sculpture itself. Patrick Joseph O'Donnell, was born in Glenties, and was the youngest Catholic bishop in the world following ordination in 1888 at the age of 32. He later served as Archbishop of Armagh from 1924 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1925. This monument forms part of a group of structures associated with the cathedral, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area in its own right.