Chalice  silver, ornate knob. Crucifixion scene on base.
	Inscription: “This chalice belongs to the Chaple of Clar”. 

MISSING CHALICE RETURNS HOME AFTER 150 YEARS.

A 300-year old chalice has just been returned to its home in the Franciscan Abbey, Galway, after spending half its lifetime travelling about the world.
	The silver chalice was given to the Franciscans in 1687 by Gregory Nolan and it remained in the possession of the friars until 1847 (Black '47). In that terrible year of the Famine, one of the friars, Fr James Hughes, O.F.M., was ministering to the sick poor in the parish of Oranmore when he caught the fever. Leaving the chalice behind him, he returned to the Abbey where he died after a few days.
	What happened to the chalice after that is not certain but it may have been used in the chapel of ease at Renmore for a time until eventually it was entrusted to Ann Laracey whose husband, Patrick Finnerty, was an NCO in the Connaught Rangers at Salthill. Ann passed the chalice to her son Joseph Michael Finnerty who, after completing his education at the Jesuit College, Galway, joined the 1st Connaught Rangers, fought in the Boer War and then transferred to the Irish Guards and was stationed at the Tower in London.
	In 1926 the chalice was on the move again when Joseph Michael took his family to New York. It then passed to Joseph's daughter, Mary Dorothea (Mollie) about 1937 and it travelled with Mollie and her husband, Mr Clarence Appleby, as they moved from New York to Illinois, California, Oregan and back again to California. Mollie made several unsuccessful attempts over the years to return it to the Abbey.   
	Finally, however, Mollie, now a widow in her 92nd year, entrusted it to her son, Mr John J. Appleby of Palo Alto, California. He immediately contacted his cousin, Canon Hilary Wakeman of the Church of Ireland parishes of the Kilmoe Union in West Cork, and sent her the chalice. Earlier this month, June 1998, the chalice finally returned to its home in the Abbey when Canon Wakeman delivered it to the friars who are delighted to have it back in such good condition and greatly appreciate the respect and care the Finnerty/Appleby family gave it over the many years as it travelled to England, South Africa, USA and back to the Abbey.  Now that it is back, the chalice is again being used in the celebration of the Mass.

Gregory Nolan gave the chalice to the Franciscan Friary or Abbey of Clare (Clar) Galway, founded around 1260 but now a ruin, six miles from Galway city. The Franciscans abandoned it finally (through shortage of numbers) in 1860. Previously they lived in a small house erected on the grounds, and used as a church a part of the old building which had been re-roofed. The Abbey or friary had been sacked and pillaged many times by the English, even as late as 1798. In the latter years, before 1860, the Franciscans commuted quite a lot between the Abbey here in the city and Claregalway. ‘This chalice belongs to the Chaple of Clar’ that is the little church or penal chapel amid the ruins of the abbey. ‘Chaple’ was the only word that Catholics were allowed to use under the Penal Laws. Only Protestants could use the word ‘church’.

.