St Augustine’s is a beautiful quiet space on the city walls, and from Easter to the end of September parishioners open the church during the day to welcome visitors. Modern research suggest that St Augustine’s is at or near the site of the earliest monastery church, the dúreigléas or ‘black church’.
According to the 12th and 16th centuries Lives of Colum Cille, the king of his homeland, Aodh Mac Ainmhire, granted Colmcille land at Daire Calgach (Derry) where he could found a monastery.
To cleanse the land of ‘the works of worldly men’ in preparation for his monastery, Colmcille lit a fire. The fire spread and almost destroyed a grove of oak trees so, to protect them, Colmcille prayed and the trees were saved.
The 12th Century Life of Colmcille written in the abbey includes this poem:
Is aire charaim Doire
Ar a réide, ar a gloine
Ar is lomlán aingel finn
Ón chinn co n-ice ar-oile
This is why I love Derry
It is so calm and bright
For it is full of white angels
From one end to the other.
The name of St Augustine’s goes back to when the monks of the Columban abbey became part of the Augustinian order in Ireland in the 12th or 13th centuries. The present church dates back to the early 17th century but has been rebuilt in the eighteenth and 19th centuries.
