St Moluag Cathedral

Understanding the cathedral church of Lismore, and how it was built, is like tracing the plot in a detective novel. The surviving structure, cut down from the medieval chancel, has undergone at least two major refits over the last 250 years, resulting in the present parish church. Most of the clues to the original cathedral come from knowledge of what the builders found and did to the structure in the 1740s and around 1900, and the results of the archaeological excavation carried out between 1950 and 1953. Because of its relative simplicity, it has proved possible to develop a reasonable reconstruction of the building from these clues. Uncovering who built the cathedral, when and how, is much more difficult in the almost complete absence of documentary evidence from the time of the MacDougall ownership of Lismore.

Two hundred years ago, in 1806, our Communion Tokens were cast. In the 19th century, of course, to receive a token meant being examined by the Kirk Session as to ones worthiness to receive the sacrament. As these people of old revered the token and the Communion it gave them access to so do we in Lismore today, though without the interview. One is given to each person as they enter church and all the tokens are collected in just before Communion is served, the hush in church while this is being done providing a quiet time for thought and prayer. Made of lead, octagonal and about 0.8 of an inch wide, the token has the date, 1806, the initials JS for the minister of the Parish, Revd John Stewart, and L & A for Lismore and Appin. Just think of all the unknown hands which have held these tokens and their place in the two hundred years of history which have affected our church and island.