4 Corners Festival Belfast: Catholic priest Fr Martin Magill invites Protestants to ‘Friendship Day’ visiting families graves in Victorian cemetery

A Catholic priest from west Belfast has invited Protestant families from across the city to a 'Friendship Day' where they will be welcomed to visit their family graves in what has become a predominantly nationalist area.
By Philip Bradfield
Published 9th Feb 2024, 13:11 GMT
Updated 9th Feb 2024, 13:17 GMT
Janice Stockman and her husband, Steve, are joined by Father Martin Magill (centre) at the grave of Janice’s grandmother in Belfast City Cemetery. Photo: Stephen Davison.Janice Stockman and her husband, Steve, are joined by Father Martin Magill (centre) at the grave of Janice’s grandmother in Belfast City Cemetery. Photo: Stephen Davison.
Janice Stockman and her husband, Steve, are joined by Father Martin Magill (centre) at the grave of Janice’s grandmother in Belfast City Cemetery. Photo: Stephen Davison.

Fr Martin Magill from St John's Chapel on the Falls Road has organised the event on Saturday 10 February as part of the annual ‘4 Corners Festival’ in the city.

Led by himself and Presbyterian Minister Steve Stockman, the annual faith-based programme aims to bring together people from across the city to build relationships and understanding.

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Belfast City Cemetery lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between the Falls Road and Springfield Road and is owned by Belfast City Council.

A cross denominational cemetery, it was opened in 1869 and holds a massive 230,000 graves.

Rich in social history, the graveyard is the burial place for many historical figures, including Florence Lewis, mother of author CS Lewis; Daniel Joseph Jaffe, a prominent linen merchant who built the first synagogue in Belfast; Sir Edward Harland MP who was co-founder of Harland and Wolff, and Sir Robert Baird, owner of the Belfast Telegraph newspaper for 48 years.

Fr Magill says that for much of the cemetery's history, the surrounding area would have include many Protestant families, meaning that a substantial proportion of the graves are Protestant.

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However in more recent decades, demographic changes mean it is now located in a mainly Catholic area of the city.

He was inspired to organise the 'Friendship Day' this weekend after feedback on social media about Belfast City Cemetery.

"I would regularly have been tweeting about the city cemetery and extending an Invitation to people to visit," he told the News Letter. "And I would have had comments back from people from other parts of the city and beyond, saying that they didn't feel comfortable visiting it because of the changing demographics.

"So the whole idea of this Friendship Day is to have an event where they will feel more comfortable visiting. So this Saturday we are having about 60 young people and their youth leaders from both sides of the community coming down to hear about the history of the cemetery and to clean up some of the graves.

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"Historian Tom Hartley is going to take them on a tour and give them a bit of an overview of the cemetery and some of the people who are buried there, with the view of helping them understand this shared space.

"This isn't this isn't just simply for Catholics Nationalists or Republicans, even though the area around it might be from that sort of CNR community. This is for everybody in the city, whatever your background, shared space."

His intention going forward is to hold an annual 'Friendship Sunday' for visitors from outside the area during better weather in May or June, accompanied by hospitality in the parish hall.

Fr Magill will be attending the cemetery to welcome visitors from 10am to 1pm on Saturday.

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He has also invited representatives from all political parties at Belfast City Hall to visit the event at noon.

For more information see www.belfastcity.gov.uk/citycemetery and www.4cornersfestival.com

Related topics:BelfastVictorian