Posted on 06/30/2026 8:41:53 PM PDT by Red Badger
A historic former Catholic convent near the burial place of Saint Patrick in Northern Ireland was devastated by a deliberate fire Sunday night, forcing more than 70 firefighters into an overnight battle to save the adjacent parish church.
The blaze, according to a report from Life Site News, broke out at the former Convent of Mercy in Downpatrick, County Down, at around 7 p.m. on June 28. By the time emergency crews arrived, the building was already engulfed in a well-developed fire.
The Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service said the cause is believed to have been deliberate. No injuries were reported, but the damage to one of Downpatrick’s most recognizable Catholic landmarks was severe.
Former convent destroyed as over 60 firefighters battle huge blaze in Downpatrick
📽️@Kscott_94 https://t.co/67qD9hekjp pic.twitter.com/yMoymA86OD
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) June 28, 2026
At the height of the emergency, roughly 70 firefighters were on the scene. Ten appliances responded, backed by aerial ladder units, a command support unit and a water tanker.
Crews used breathing apparatus, firefighting jets and aerial ladder jets to bring the inferno under control. Their most urgent task was not only to contain the fire, but to prevent it from reaching St Patrick’s Church.
The former convent was attached to the church, immediately raising fears that the flames could spread to one of the town’s most important Catholic sites. Firefighters worked through the night to stop that from happening.
The Downpatrick Family of Parishes expressed relief that St Patrick’s Church had been saved. The parish said the fire had been prevented from reaching the church by the “heroism and skill” of the Fire Service.
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islam
Given the powder ked in Northern Ireland, if a Mosque went up in flames in the next few days it would not be a surprise.
Jews just love spreading their islam.
They already have
Still waiting for these mythical men that are supposed to be the leaders....what’s it going to take...
Do you think the cops would dare point toward's Islam?
Nothing they say should be accepted at face value.
Islam is known for setting fires to churches. It is happening all over Europe right now, and if this one isn't Islam, it's the odd man out.
“Islam >> More likely liberals”
Political bedfellows.
Recently islamists are burning temples & shrines in Japan, too.
WTAF?
That's right. They prefer to murder innocents outright by car or gun or scimitar. Maybe there's some rule that if you don't directly confront your victim, your 72 virgins dispersement gets downgraded.
RWM “Islamists don’t target churchs”
Maybe not in Canada, but in Nigeria, in Sri Lanka etc. they do. For this particular case, the jury is out, though I tend to agree with you that mohammedans don’t targets churches in the west, but go for other targets.
As a note - the term “Islamist” is a case of leftists newspeak that unfortunately we got used to using.
What is an “Islamist”? It is someone who “distorts the peaceful message.. “ - no, there is NO peaceful message in Mohammedanism - not in the Quran+hadiths+Sirah. The only “peace” in those books is the “peace of submission/slavery”.
Islamic state, Al Q, Laskhar-e-Toiba, Hamas, hizb’allah, al shabab, Abu sayyaf, boko haram, the Taliban, the Saudi Wahhabbis etc. are all good Mohammedans following the CORE of the Islamic books. the ones who reject them (who TRULY reject these) are the BAD mohammedans according to the Q, Hadiths and Sirah.
i use the term “Mohammedan” - they will unalive you if you ‘insult their profit’ but not if you insult Al.
Cherchez la moslem.
Torch each and every mosque there is in Ireland.
Yep. In Northern Ireland, native Europeans have finally started fighting back. That's not surprising. Professor David Betz - an expert in civil wars at Kings College, London - long predicted that Ireland and specifically Northern Ireland would likely be the place where the coming civil war started.
"Hey Google, are there fewer church fires in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe?"
"Yes, available European hate crime and religious property damage data indicates that there are significantly fewer church arsons and vandalism incidents recorded in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe.
Western Europe: Watchdog groups and government agencies note a higher concentration of incidents in Western countries. For example, France and Germany alone account for a large portion of the church arsons recorded across the continent. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) reported that almost a third of recorded arson attacks on churches took place in Germany, with France and the UK also consistently registering high numbers of property-related hate crimes.
Eastern Europe: Incidents of church arson and severe vandalism are far less frequent in Eastern Europe. While occasional incidents are recorded in countries like Poland, they occur at a notably lower rate than in Western European nations.
Note: The vast majority of both accidental and criminal church fires occur across the continent. When specifically tracking targeted attacks on religious property, Western European countries frequently report a higher frequency of hate-crime incidents than their Eastern counterparts.
Gosh that's strange. I wonder why there's such a big disparity between the number of church fires in Western Europe vs Eastern Europe. Whatever could it be?
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