On the night of 14 November 1920, during the War of Independence, 28-year-old Fr. Michael Griffin, was taken from his home – by men suspected to be Black and Tans – and was never seen again. On 20 November, his body was found in an unmarked grave in a bog at Cloghscoltia near Barna; he […]
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin in 1778. In 1824 she used her inheritance from an Irish couple she had served for twenty years to build a large House of Mercy where she and other lay women would shelter homeless women, reach out to the sick and dying and educate poor girls. The House on […]
Pádraig Mac Piarais (Padraig Pearse) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary; he who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Following his execution along with fifteen others, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion. Pádraig, his brother Willie, […]
ON THIS DAY: 3 NOVEMBER 1845: Irish Delegation visited LORD Heytesbury to act immediately and stop the export of food from Ireland because millions were starving. He declined. On that date, a delegation of concerned and alarmed Irishmen including Daniel O’Connell, Mayor O’Sullivan of Dublin and twenty others visited Britain’s Viceroy in Ireland, Lord Heytesbury. […]
Kevin Gerard Barry was the first Irish republican to be executed by the British since the leaders of the Easter Rising. He was a 18-year-old medical student who had won a merit-based scholarship given annually by Dublin Corporation, which allowed him to become a student of medicine at UCD. Born on Fleet Street, Dublin, the […]
Due to the massive imbalance in their demographics, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party announced the decision to relax the one-child policy. Under the new policy, families could have two children if one parent, rather than both parents, was an only child. Apart from the violence endured by many Chinese women who were […]
“If I die I know the fruit will exceed the cost a thousand fold. The thought of it makes me happy. I thank God for it. Ah, Cathal, the pain of Easter week is properly dead at last.” Terence MacSwiney wrote these words in a letter to Cathal Brugha on September 30, 1920, the 39th […]
ON THIS DAY: 18TH OCTOBER 1899: Death of Eoghan Ó Gramhnaigh (Fr. Eugene O’Growney) He was an Irish priest and scholar, and a key figure in the Gaelic revival of the late 19th century. As a young boy he was very interested in the Irish language and after being ordained a priest, became an editor […]
It was founded by the ‘Callan Curates’ Father Matt O’Keefe and Father Tom O’Shea from Cappahayden, near Callan.’ Fr Tom O’Shea’s importance is emphasised in Callan County Kilkenny: A Short Guide to its History, Monuments and People (Callan Heritage Society). In this volume, Joseph Kennedy writes: “The Callan Tenant Protection Society which was founded […]
ON THIS DAY: 12 OCTOBER 1645: Archbishop Rinuccini arrives in Ireland to offer assistance to O’Neill and the Irish Confederate Catholics in their war against English Protestant rule He wrote this letter to his brother, describing the Irish he met: “The men are fine-looking and of incredible strength, swift runners, and ready to bear every […]
Following a Catholic uprising in 1641, Cromwell and the New Model Army set sail to Ireland to defeat this coalition and reclaim Ireland for parliament. This proved to be a bloody and brutal affair, forever remembered for a series of controversial massacres. The Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland had begun, which included the destruction of Drogheda […]
Pádraic Ó Conaire was an Irish writer who wrote extensively in the Irish Language and wrote 26 books, 473 stories, 237 essays and 6 plays. His acclaimed novel Deoraíocht has been described by Angela Bourke as ‘the earliest example of modernist fiction in Irish’. Orphaned by the age of eleven, he spent a period living […]