page_title: Order of St Patrick
section_title: Chapel and Chancery
hierarchical_section_title: Order of St Patrick / Chapel and Chancery
context_page_description: The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, The 3rd Earl Temple. The regular creation of knights of Saint Patrick lasted until 1922, when most of Ireland gained independence as the Irish Free State, a dominion within what was then known as the British Commonwealth of Nations. While the Order technically still exists, no knight of St Patrick has been created since 1936, and the last surviving knight, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, died in 1974. The Queen, however, remains the Sovereign of the Order, and one officer, the Ulster King of Arms, also survives. St Patrick is patron of the order; its motto is Quis separabit?, Latin for "Who will separate [us]?": an allusion to the Vulgate translation of Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
  Most British orders of chivalry cover the entire kingdom, but the three most exalted ones each pertain to one constituent country only. The Order of St Patrick, which pertains to Ireland, is the most junior of these three in precedence and age.
context_section_description: The Chapel of the Order was originally in St Patrick's Cathedral in central Dublin. Each member of the Order, including the Sovereign, was allotted a stall in the choir of the Chapel, above which his (or her, in the case of Queen Victoria) heraldic devices were displayed. Perched on the pinnacle of a knight's stall was a helm, decorated with mantling and topped by his crest. Above the crest, the knight's heraldic banner was hung, emblazoned with his coat of arms. At a considerably smaller scale, to the back of the stall was affixed a piece of brass (a "stall plate") displaying its occupant's name, arms and date of admission into the Order. Upon the death of a Knight, the banner and crest were taken down and replaced with those of his successor. After the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871, the Chapel ceased to be used; the heraldic devices of the knights at the time were left in place at the request of Queen Victoria.
  The Order was without a ceremonial home until 1881 when arrangements were made to display banners, helms and hatchment plates (the equivalent of stall plates, in the absence of stalls) in the Great Hall, officially called St. Patrick's Hall, in Dublin Castle. On the establishment of the Irish Free State the banners of the living knights were removed. When the Hall was redecorated in 1962 it was decided that it should be hung with the banners of the members of the Order in 1922. The existing banners were repaired or new ones made; it is these banners which can be seen today. The Hall, which was renamed St Patrick's Hall from its association with the Order, also served as the Chancery of the Order. Installation ceremonies, and later investitures, were held here, often on St Patrick's Day, until they were discontinued. A banquet for the Knights was often held in the Hall on the occasion of an installation. St Patrick's Hall now serves as the location for the inauguration of the President of Ireland. If an incumbent Irish president dies in office (such as Erskine Hamilton Childers in 1974), he lies in state in the hall.
  Unlike many of the other British Orders, the stall plates (or hatchment plates) do not form a continuous record of the Knights of the Order. There are only 34 stall plates for the 80 or so knights appointed before 1871, (although others were destroyed in a fire in 1940), and 40 hatchments plates for the 60 knights appointed subsequently. In the case of the stall plates this was perhaps due to their size, 30x36 cm (12x14 in).
caption: St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin was the Chapel of the Order.
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