Celtic Marble Cross

 A few weeks before the St. Mark Presbyterian Heritage Tour to Scotland in July, 1999, a member said to me that she'd like for me to get something for the church that would be special.  I had long thought it would be special to have a Celtic cross inside the church.  We have one on the peak of our sanctuary roof.  A Celtic cross has a circle intersecting the four arms of the cross, often with carvings over the face and the reverse of the cross.  The Celtic cross is associated with Scottish roots of the Presbyterian Church.

After a few days in Scotland, we were not seeing any cross like I had in mind.  I spoke to our tour guide about this, and he knew just the place to get a beautiful marble Celtic cross--in Ireland.

St. Mark Presbyterian Church is now blessed with a beautiful Celtic cross made of green Connemara marble from Connemara Marble Industries Ltd.  They make only four to six of these a year.   This dark and light green marble is found only two places in the world  in County Galway in Western Ireland and the Island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland, according to Ambrose Joyce, owner and managing director of Connemara Marble.  Our cross is from their Steamstown Marble Quarry, Clifton, County Galway. This is west of City Galway.



The marble deposits were discovered almost 300 years ago in the mountains known as the Twelve Bens or the Twelve Pins.  Geologists estimate the marble is about 500 million years old.

Large quantities of the Connemara Marble have been used to decorate cathedrals, churches, and public buildings.  One of the best examples is the State Capital Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the Senate Chamber and the Senate Post office are lined with marble.  With the supply of the marble diminishing, Ambrose Joyce instituted a conservation policy of making only smaller objects from the marble, such as jewelry and gift items.

On behalf of all who may see the beauty of our Connemara Celtic cross, I extend our sincere gratitude to the anonymous donor member. . .We are blessed with richness from God's Creation.

Pastor Howard Gleason [Emeritus]
January 16, 2000