The total length of the transepts is 116 feet; the width 54 feet. The northern one is some four feet longer than the southern. They seem to have had aisles, an unusual arrangement in churches of the Order. In the northern transept were six chapels, the piscinas of which are still to be seen in the piers adjoining. The number of these piscinas cannot fail to strike one as something very singular. Their presence is accounted for in this way. At the date of the foundation of Mellifont and for centuries later, it was the custom for priests of the Order to wash their hands at the foot of the altar before commencing Mass, the server pouring water on his hands, which he dried with a towel that had been previously laid on the altar. The water used was then cast into the piscina. It was also the custom with them, at that time, to descend from the altar when they had consumed the Sacred Species out of the chalice and to wash their fingers over the piscina.
This northern transept seems to have been a favourite spot for interments; for during the excavations numerous skulls were found there. At Clairvaux, the corresponding site was strewn with the graves of bishops, who selected it as the place wherein to rest after life’s weary struggle. No record or memorial of these survives, or of any of the dead interred at Mellifont, to point out the occupant of a single grave. In the northern wall of this transept is a beautiful door-way with jambs of clustered columns. Hard by, the wall was pierced to make a loop-hole when Mellifont was transformed into a fortress. On one side of the door-way are the remains of what must once have been a superb chapel; on the opposite side are a few steps of a spiral stair-case, formed in the thickness of the wall, which led up to the tower, as is to be seen at Graignamanagh, Co. Kilkenny, and other houses of the order in Ireland. The level of the floor here is some five or six feet lower than the adjacent road-way which was raised by the accumulated rubbish of former buildings that extended along the hill-side where the cottages now stand.
The southern transept may have had its six altars also. The aisle seems to have been built up, and when the alterations which took place in the whole fabric in the fifteenth century were made, a large portion of this transept would appear to have been allocated to the uses of a sacristy. No trace of a sacristy remains elsewhere, and this would be a very convenient place to utilise as one. The remains of some walls lead us to suppose such an arrangement probable. In Cistercian monasteries, a stair-case in this transept near the cloister led thence to the dormitory, but no remains of such a stairs have been discovered at Mellifont. When Sir Thomas Deane had the earth and rubbish, or, as he calls it, the “grassy mound,” removed, he discovered the foundations of two semi-circular chapels in each transept, in a line with the site occupied by the High, or principal Altar. (See the dotted lines in the Ground Plan). Describing them, Sir Thomas writes: “Within the circuit of the external walls are the foundations of an earlier church which indicate four semicircular chapels, and two square ones between. Of this church we have no distinct record, but the bases of semi-detached pillars would indicate the date given for the erection of Mellifont.” These four semi-circular chapels in line with the High Altar, formed an exact counterpart of the church of Clairvaux which was erected in 1135, and which by St. Bernard’s express wish, served St. Malachy as the model for Mellifont.
The chancel terminated in a square end, and was 42 feet deep by 26 feet wide. It was raised about six inches over the floor of the nave, and a slab of limestone extended the entire width with which the tiled pavement was flush. Almost in the centre of the chancel, that is to say, nearly midway between the two piers, are two sockets sunk in sandstone blocks. What uses they served cannot be affirmed with certainty. However, it may be conjectured that they served to receive the supports on which a violet curtain was suspended during Lent, screening the “Sanctuary.” This curtain spanned the space from pier to pier. The custom is still preserved in the Order. Here on this central spot, a lectern was placed, at which the sub-deacon at Solemn Masses sang the Epistle. Here, too, the celebrant of the Community Mass on Sundays blessed the water with which he sprinkled the brethren, who presented themselves two by two before him. It was here, also, that the Abbot blessed the candles, ashes, and palms, on Candlemas-day, Ash Wednesday, and Palm Sunday respectively. This was called the “Presbytery Step,” and the whole space within the chancel, the “Sanctuary.”
The basis on which the High Altar was built still remains. It is distant some few feet from the eastern wall, in order to allow a passage for the monks, who on Sundays and Festivals received Holy Communion at this altar, after which they walked around it in single file, and passing on by the Gospel, or northern corner, returned to their stalls in the nave. The basis is ten feet long by three and one half feet wide. On the Epistle, or southern side, are the piscina surrounded with a dog-tooth moulding, and the remains of the sedilia or stalls, which were occupied by the celebrant, deacon, and sub-deacon at High Mass. Under these sedilia a tomb was discovered during the excavations. A skull and some bones, together with a gold ring, were raised from their resting-place; the bones were replaced and covered with the slab of concrete now seen at this spot, but the ring was sold by a workman and could never be recovered. No inscription or tradition identifies the occupant of the hallowed grave. Could it have been that of the famous Dervorgilla? She was certainly buried at Mellifont, but unfortunately, we do not know the spot where her remains were laid when “life’s fitful fever” was over; or it may have been the resting-place of Thomas O’Connor, or of Luke Netterville, both, successively, Archbishops of Armagh; for they, also, were buried at Mellifont.
On the opposite, or Gospel side, is an arched recess having an ornamental moulding around it. This would seem to have been the Founder’s tomb, or rather, the remains of it. In the Cistercian Constitutions no special place was allotted for the tombs of Founders, and only the indefinite permission was given, that they, kings and queens, bishops and such like exalted dignitaries, might be buried within the churches of the Order. A general custom, however, prevailed in Ireland of appropriating to the Founder’s tomb a space in the northern wall of the chancel, and directly at right angles with the High Altar. Others, besides Founders, were buried on the north side in the chancel. Thus, in the Annals of St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, we are told that Felix O’Ruadan, who had been a great benefactor to that house, was buried in the chancel of the abbey church, on the north side. And Felix O’Dullany, the first Abbot of Jerpoint, and afterwards Bishop of Ossory, was interred on the north side of the High Altar, at Jerpoint.
The door on this side of the chancel is a puzzle, as in no other church of the Order is one found in this position. There is no evidence of a building having adjoined with which this door communicated, so that its use is unknown. Quite close to this door there is a shallow recess in the wall,