Another Irish High Cross is headed to Greater Portland

Jan 18

By this time next year, NW Oregon will be home to another Celtic High Cross by the same stonemason responsible for the Hibernian High Cross at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Portland.

There are no more than 100 High Crosses still standing in Ireland. Truly iconic, these Crosses attest to endurance and creativity and are recognized internationally. In America, the only authentic replica of these Crosses is the one in Portland. It was created in Ireland based on the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnoise in Co. Offaly anddedicatd in December 2008.

Creation od a second High Cross replica is underway in Kinlough, Co. Leitrim. It too will stand in Oregon.

Paul Baker, President of George Fox University in Newberg, wrote to the campus community in September, “When I began to imagine a cross for the garden outside the chapel at George Fox, my model was the cross that guards the cemetery at the top of Burnside Road in Portland. It was a direct copy of the Cross of Scriptures at Clonmacnoise in Ireland – one of the most famous crosses in all of Europe. Its creator was Irish stonemason Brendan McGloin.”

*The Cross of the Scriptures at the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial. (Photo by Dan Holden Oct. 2025)*

Brendan McGloin passed away last year, but his sister Geraldine Fall, tells the PDX HI that her brother’s vision and version of Muiredach's HIgh Cross at Monasterboice in Co Louth will someday rise not 25 miles south of his master work, the Cross of the Scriptures at Mt. Calvary.

*The George Fox Cross will be a replica of Muiredach’s Cross at Monasterboice in County Louth.*

Fall is working with two master stonemasons in Co. Leitrim – one of them was her brother's mentor - to complete the work started by Brendan. “I have been working on the designs for the unfinished panels. We are doing our best to carry out his wishes, completing the cross and hope to see it when it reaches its final destination. It has been and is an emotional ride and hopefully when the time comes I will have the opportunity to see your cross too,” she wrote on January 16.

As for when the second Cross will be erected and dedicated, President Baker is facing the same uncertainty about when the Cross will arrive from Ireland that Hibernians faced in 2008. “The completion and shipping of such. massive stone monument will take far longer than we ever expected," he admitted.

One Hibernian advised Baker, “Delays and difficulties getting the Cross here from Ireland are inevitable. Don’t be discouraged. Once it’s erected, Brendan’s work - your Cross - will be standing for centuries.”

It’s a very big deal for Greater Portland to be the home of one High Cross by Brendan McGloin. With another of his works coming soon to Newberg, any pilgrims seriously considering the spiritual/historicl significance of the Celtic High Cross will have to pass through Portland and Newberg, Oregon.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the passing of Brendan McGloin, check out this coverage at the PHS website.

FOR UPDATED INFORMATION about the George Fox Cross check the PDX Hibernian Independent every Thursday.