The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin was founded in 1520 as a stricter version of the Franciscans. When the first Capuchin friars arrived in Cork in 1637, they lived in poverty and suffered persecution through the early part of the 19th century. The Holy Trinity Church opened in 1850. The Catholic church faces the River Lee on Fr. Mathew Quay, named after Father Theobald Mathew. He was the inspiration for its construction and called the “Apostle of Temperance” for his crusade against alcohol. On the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1890, this magnificent steeple was added.
