Forgotten Treasure's

Have you ever wondered where the roots of Irish Catholicism come from? Have you ever wondered ho this faith runs so deep it it's people. in this episode Fr. Gabriel Burke discusses the origin of Celtic spirituality.

This episode of Forgotten Treasures continues in the theme of social commentary. In this episode Fr Gabriel Burke share his thoughts on the Catholic Church’s fall from absolute prominence in the eye’s of the Irish people. Three factors that entered into the culture to make the church weaker and in some cases even shut down. Fortunately Ireland still leads all of Europe in those that profess belief in God. Please join Father as he points out the cause of Ireland choice to be more secular.  

This episode is a departure from the normal episode of Forgotten Treasures in that is a social commentary on current events. This episode, are some of the thoughts that Fr. Gabriel Burke has regarding the war in Ukraine. The advice and opinion given in this episode is based on historical observation and Catholic social teaching. It is a reminder to pray for peace.

In this episode of Forgotten Treasures, Fr. Gabriel Burke discusses reception of the Host on the tongue verses in the hand. Where did this practice of Communion on the hand come from and is it a practice born out of rebellion? Why is it that Latin Christian continues this way of reception after the 5 year experiment has long since ended. Join Fr. Burke as he gives the history of this practice and gives advice on the proper reception of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our blessed Lord.

In this episode Fr. Gabriel Burke discusses the role of Cannons in the church and the election of Bishops. Comparing the modern day church to that of a corporation  with a CEO and branch manager instead of  each Bishop being the Vicar of Christ for His Diocese. Forgotten Treasure’s continues with a historical understanding of church hierarchy.

In this episode Fr. Gabriel Burke discuss the minor orders that have been turned to ministries.  This episode will give you  a much better understanding  of how the process has changed from the pre Vatican II times till today.

This episode of Forgotten Treasure’s is truly a departure from past episodes. In past episodes Father Gabriel Burke has reminded listeners of the forgotten blesseds Irish history. Father has discussed The Irish contribution worldwide. He has told us of the wonderful places of pilgrimage in Ireland and of Ireland’s devotions that have bit different in that it deals with the aftermath of Vatican II. Please join Fr. Gabriel Burke as he discusses the power of the Pope. I you have a question you would like Fr. Burke to answer about Vatican II please forward Questions to [email protected]

The Bobbio Missal (Paris, BNF lat. 13246)[1] is a seventh-century Christian liturgical codex that probably originated in France. The Missal contains a lectionary, a sacramentary and some canonical material (such as a penitential). It was found in Bobbio Abbey in Italy by the Benedictine monk Jean Mabillon between June 4 and June 9 of 1686. The Missal is the earliest liturgical manuscript surviving from the medieval period. Its specific authorship and provenance is much disputed, though general agreement points to the valley of the Rhône, with Besançon (Mabillon's suggestion) and Vienne given as two popular options. "The manuscript is small in format, 180 x 90 mm (130 x 70 mm) with an average of 22 long lines to the page. That is, it is slightly narrower and taller than a modern paperback book. It has the appearance of a chunky (at 300 folios/600 pages) and easily transportable working copy of the crucial mass texts it contains". According to E.A. Lowe: "The Missal proper is written by one hand, designated as M... the few pages in uncial - the Mass pro principe, written by another hand - are referred to as M2... the pages containing added matter, in two different styles of crude writing, one showing distinct majuscule and the other as distinct minuscule traits, are referred to as A and a".

The Stowe Missal (sometimes known as the Lorrha Missal), which is, strictly speaking, a sacramentary rather than a missal, is a small Irish illuminated manuscript written mainly in Latin with some Old Irish in the late eighth or early ninth century, probably after 792. In the mid-11th century, it was annotated and some pages rewritten at Lorrha Monastery in County Tipperary, Ireland. Between 1026 and 1033 the manuscript was encased within a protective cumdach (a reliquary book-shrine), which was refurbished and embellished a number of times in the late medieval period, in particular before 1381, the year of death of Pilib O'Ceinneidigh (Philip O'Kennedy), Lord of Ormond, who then had possession of the shrine. It is known as the "Stowe" Missal as it reappeared in the 18th century as part of the Stowe manuscripts collection formed by George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham at Stowe House.[2] When the collection was bought by the nation in 1883, it and the other Irish manuscripts were handed over to the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, where it remains, catalogued as MS D II 3. The cumdach, which up to this point had survived together with the book, was later transferred, with the rest of the academy's collection of antiquities, to the National Museum of Ireland (museum number 1883, 614a). The old story was that the manuscript and shrine left Ireland after about 1375, as they were collected on the Continent in the 18th century,[5] but this appears to be incorrect, and they were found inside a stone wall at Lackeen Castle near Lorrha in the 18th century, where they had been hidden for centuries from Norman and later Protestant attackers, as well as Irish looters.[

THE CONFESSION OF ST. PATRICK 1. I, Patrick, a sinner, most rustic, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many. My father was Calpornius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a priest, of the village Bannavem Taburnia; he had a country seat nearby, and there I was taken captive. I was then about sixteen years of age. I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people—and deservedly so, because we turned away from God, and did not keep His commandments, and did not obey our priests, who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought over us the wrath of his anger and scattered us among many nations, even unto the utmost part of the earth, where now my littleness is placed among strangers. 2. And there the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my abjection, and mercy on my youth and ignorance, and watched over me before I knew Him, and before I was able to distinguish between good and evil, and guarded me, and comforted me as would a father his son. 3. Hence I cannot be silent—nor, indeed, is it expedient—about the great benefits and the great grace which the lord has deigned to bestow upon me in the land of my captivity; for this we can give to God in return after having been chastened by Him, to exalt and praise His wonders before every nation that is anywhere under the heaven. The Irish Creed of the Trinity 4. "Because there is no other God, nor ever was, nor will be, than God the Father unbegotten, without beginning, from whom is all beginning, the Lord of the universe, as we have been taught; and His son Jesus Christ, whom we declare to have always been with the Father, spiritually and ineffably begotten by the Father before the beginning of the world, before all beginning; and by Him are made all things visible and invisible. He was made man, and, having defeated death, was received into heaven by the Father; and He has given Him all power over all names in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess to Him that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe, an whose advent we expect soon to be, judge of the living and of the dead, who will render to every man according to his deeds; and He has poured forth upon us abundantly the Holy Spirit, the gift and pledge of immortality, who makes those who believe and obey sons of God and joint heirs with Christ; and Him do we confess and adore, one God in the Trinity of the Holy Name." 5. For He Himself has said through the Prophet: Call upon me in the day or they trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. And again He says: It is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God. 6. Although I am imperfect in many things, I nevertheless wish that my brethren and kinsmen should know what sort of person I am, so that they may understand my heart's desire. 7. I know well the testimony of my Lord, who in the Psalm declares: Thou wilt destroy them that speak a lie. And again He says: The mouth that betrays kills the soul. And the same Lord ways in the Gospel: Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it on the day of judgment. 8. And so I should dread exceedingly, with fear and trembling, this sentence on that day when no one will be able to escape or hide, but we all, without exception, shall have to give an account even of our smallest sins before the judgment of the Lord Christ. 9. For this reason I had in mind to write, but hesitated until now; I was afraid of exposing myself to the talk of men, because I have not studied like the others, who thoroughly imbibed law and Sacred Scripture, and never had to change from the language of their childhood days, but were able to make it still more perfect. In our case, what I had to say had to be translated into a tongue foreign to me, as can be easily proved from the savor of my writing, which betrays how little instruction and training I have had in the art of words; for, so says Scripture, by the tongue will be discovered the wise man, and understanding, and knowledge, and the teaching of truth. 10. But of what help is an excuse, however true, especially if combined with presumption, since now, in my old age, I strive for something that I did not acquire in youth? It was my sins that prevented me from fixing in my mind what before I had barely read through. But who believes me, though I should repeat what I started out with? As a youth, nay, almost as a boy not able to speak, I was taken captive, before I knew what to pursue and what to avoid. Hence today I blush and fear exceedingly to reveal my lack of education; for I am unable to tell my story to those versed in the art of concise writing—in such a way, I mean, as my spirit and mind long to do, and so that the sense of my words expresses what I feel. 11. But if indeed it had been given to me as it was given to others, then I would not be silent because of my desire of thanksgiving; and if perhaps some people think me arrogant for doing so in spite of my lack of knowledge and my slow tongue, it is, after all, written: The stammering tongues shall quickly learn to speak peace. How much more should we earnestly strive to do this, we, who are, so Scripture says, a letter of Christ for salvation unto the utmost part of the earth, and, though not an eloquent one, yet... written in your hearts, not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God! And again the Spirit witnesses that even rusticity was created by the Highest. 12. Whence I, once rustic, exiled, unlearned, who does not know how to provide for the future, this at least I know most certainly that before I was humiliated I was like a stone Lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came and in His mercy lifted me up, and raised me aloft, and placed me on the top of the wall. And therefore I ought to cry out aloud and so also render something to the Lord for His great benefits here and in eternity—benefits which the mind of men is unable to appraise. 13. Wherefore, then, be astonished, you great and little that fear God, and you men of letters on your estates, listen and pore over this. Who was it that roused up me, the fool that I am, from the midst of those who in the eyes of men are wise, and expert in law, and powerful in word and in everything? And He inspired me—me, the outcast of this world—before others, to be the man (if only I could!) who, with fear and reverence and without blame, should faithfully serve the people to whom the love of Christ conveyed and gave me for the duration of my life, if I should be worthy; yes indeed, to serve them humbly and sincerely. 14. In the light, therefore, of our faith in the Trinity I must make this choice, regardless of danger I must make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, without fear and frankly I must spread everywhere the name of God so that after my decease I may leave a bequest to my brethren and sons whom I have baptized in the Lord—so many thousands of people. 15. And I was not worthy, nor was I such that the Lord should grant this to His servant; that after my misfortunes and so great difficulties, after my captivity, after the lapse of so many years, He should give me so great a grace in behalf of that nation—a thing which once, in my youth, I never expected nor thought of. 16. But after I came to Ireland—every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed—the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me—as I now see, because the spirit within me was then fervent. 17. And there one night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me: 'It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country.' And again, after a short while, I heard a voice saying to me: 'See, your ship is ready.' And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps two hundred miles, and I had never been there, nor did I know a living soul there; and then I took to flight, and I left the man with whom I had stayed for six years. And I went in the strength of God who directed my way to my good, and I feared nothing until I came to that ship. 18. And the day that I arrived the ship was set afloat, and I said that I was able to pay for my passage with them. But the captain was not pleased, and with indignation he answered harshly: 'It is of no use for you to ask us to go along with us.' And when I heard this, I left them in order to return to the hut where I was staying. And as I went, I began to pray; and before I had ended my prayer, I heard one of them shouting behind me, 'Come, hurry, we shall take you on in good faith; make friends with us in whatever way you like.' And so on that day I refused to suck their breasts for fear of God, but rather hoped they would come to the faith of Jesus Christ, because they were pagans. And thus I had my way with them, and we set sail at once. 19. And after three days we reached land, and for twenty-eight days we traveled through deserted country. And they lacked food, and hunger overcame them; and the next day the captain said to me: 'Tell me, Christian: you say that your God is great and all-powerful; why, then, do you not pray for us? As you can see, we are suffering from hunger; it is unlikely indeed that we shall ever see a human being again.' I said to them full of confidence: 'Be truly converted with all your heart to the Lord my God, because nothing is impossible for Him, that this day He may send you food on your way until you be satisfied; for He has abundance everywhere.' And, with the help of God, so it came to pass: suddenly a herd of pigs appeared on the road before our eyes, and they killed many of them; and there they stopped for two nights and fully recovered their strength, and their hounds received their fill for many of them had grown weak and were half-dead along the way. And from that day they had plenty of food. They also found wild honey, and offered some of it to me, and one of them said: 'This we offer in sacrifice.' Thanks be to God, I tasted none of it. 20. That same night, when I was asleep, Satan assailed me violently, a thing I shall remember as long as I shall be in this body. And he fell upon me like a huge rock, and I could not stir a limb. But whence came it into my mind, ignorant as I am, to call upon Helias? And meanwhile I saw the sun rise in the sky, and while I was shouting 'Helias! Helias' with all my might, suddenly the splendor of that sun fell on me and immediately freed me of all misery. And I believe that I was sustained by Christ my Lord, and that His Spirit was even then crying out in my behalf, and I hope it will be so on the day of my tribulation, as is written in the Gospel: On that day, the Lord declares, it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you. 21. And once again, after many years, I fell into captivity. On that first night I stayed with them, I heard a divine message saying to me: 'Two months will you be with them.' And so it came to pass: on the sixtieth night thereafter the Lord delivered me out of their hands. 22. Also on our way God gave us food and fire and dry weather every day, until, on the tenth day, we met people. As I said above, we traveled twenty-eight days through deserted country, and the night that we met people we had no food left. 23. And again after a few years I was in Britain with my people. who received me as their son, and sincerely besought me that now at last, having suffered so many hardships, I should not leave them and go elsewhere. And there I saw in the night the vision of a man, whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the letter, which were, 'The voice of the Irish'; and as I read the beginning of the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice—they were those beside the Wood of Foclut, which is near the Western Sea—and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: 'We ask you, boy, come and walk among us once more.' And I was quite broken in heart, and could read no further, and so I woke up. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord gave to them according to their cry. 24.And another night—whether within me, or beside me, I know not, God knoweth—they called me most unmistakably with words which I heard but could not understand, except that at the end of the prayer He spoke thus: 'He that has laid down His life for you, it is He that speaks in you'; and so I awoke full of joy. 25. And again I saw Him praying in me, and I was as it were within my body, and I heard Him above me, that is, over the inward man, and there He prayed mightily with groanings. And all the time I was astonished, and wondered, and thought with myself who it could be that prayed in me. But at the end of the prayer He spoke, saying that He was the Spirit; and so I woke up, and remembered the Apostle saying: The Spirit helps the infirmities of our prayer. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself asks for us with unspeakable groanings, which cannot be expressed in words; and again: The Lord our advocate asks for us. 26. And when I was attacked by a number of my seniors who came forth and brought up my sins against my laborious episcopate, on that day indeed was I struck so that I might have fallen now and for eternity; but the Lord graciously spared the stranger and sojourner for His name and came mightily to my help in this affliction Verily, not slight was the shame and blame that fell upon me! I ask God that it may not be reckoned to them as sin. 27. As cause for proceeding against me they found—after thirty years!—a confession I had made before I was a deacon. In the anxiety of my troubled mind I confided to my dearest friend what I had done in my boyhood one day, nay, in one hour, because I was not yet strong. I know not, God knoweth—whether I was then fifteen years old: and I did not believe in the living God, nor did I so from my childhood, but lived in death and unbelief until I was severely chastised and really humiliated, by hunger and nakedness, and that daily. 28. On the other hand, I did not go to

The Catholic Church worldwide has been passing it’s beauty and wisdom for generations. In this episode of Forgotten Treasures Fr. Gabriel Burke introduces us to the oldest Latin hymn. This song of worship is a rich reminder of Eucharistic theology that sets Catholic doctrine above the rest because of its direct connection to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.      Please listen to this beautiful hymn at; https://youtu.be/BS386lslDSw?si=JtCtqfqze491qPax

On a wet dark August evening in 1879,  the villagers of this place had spent the day doing the usual work of the harvest time of the year – gathering winter fuel and fodder. As evening approached, the heavy mist that had been persistent throughout the day,  turned to a steady downpour.  The villagers gathered around the turf fires in their homes, taking comfort and shelter on a terrible night. Suddenly word spread throughout the village that something extraordinary was happening at the Church and so they hurried to the windswept gable where they witnessed a heavenly vision surrounded in a brilliant white light. Men, women and children gathered in prayer at the gable wall of  the parish church.

In 1997, a Pilgrim Paths Project was started by the Irish Heritage Council focused on seven medieval routes of pilgrimage. In 2013, Pilgrim Paths Ireland (PPI) was founded at a meeting in Nenagh "as an umbrella body for the volunteer groups promoting Ireland’s penitential trails". Irish hillwalking guidebook author and journalist John G O'Dwyer, was elected Chairman and highlighted the "spiritual tourism" potential for Ireland.

Sacred mountains have featured in many religions so we should not be surprised to find them in Ireland. The best known example is Croagh Patrick in Co Mayo and also Mount Brandon  in Co Kerry. While there is much legendary material connected with these mountains, claiming a role for them in the Christian order was a very obvious thing to do. There were several other mountains which attracted hermits to do the same, especially Slieve Donard (Co Down) , Slieve League (Co Donegal) . Holy mountains also have a strong place in the Christian East, not least Mount Sinai and Mount Tabor. There were many monasteries on high mountains in the Byzantine Empire in Asia, Syria, Persia, Armenia, and in Greece not least Mount Athos and Mons Meteora – and in several of these monasteries are still functioning today.

Ireland’s holy wells are sacred places steeped in long held traditions and customs. Holy wells hold an important place in Ireland’s cultural heritage and religious tradition, offering visitors a peaceful place for personal devotion, prayer and healing. Some holy wells may have their origins in prehistory, however they are largely associated with Christian devotions from the medieval period (5th-16th centuries AD) onwards, being well established by the 17th century and declining in use by the mid-19th century.

Ireland is known for its many roadside grottos and Marian shrines, which are often well-maintained and can be found in most towns and villages. Many of the statues are of Mary, and many were erected in 1938 during the Marian Year. The grottos and shrines are a product of Ireland's Catholic past, but people of any faith can visit and pray there.

Our Lady of Banada Prayer Association seeks to bring families together to spiritually raise a cloud of prayerful incense to Our Lady of Banada for her to present before the throne of God for the conversion of family members. We have a particular focus on those family members who have fallen away from the practice of the Catholic Faith. Many parents are concerned about their adult children who no longer practice the Catholic Faith into which they were baptised. Many grandparents are concerned for their grandchildren who are not being brought up in the Catholic Faith.

The Oratory Chapel is dedicated to the memory of boys from the local Christian Brothers School.  In 1914 and 1915, they joined the army and fought in the First World War, in the trenches and mud of the western front.  The regiment they joined fought mostly in Belgium, where many of these young Irishmen died. After the war, Belgium people from the local town were touched by the sacrifice.  As a memorial to the young Irishmen, the townspeople donated and dedicated this sacred heart figure of Christ that you can see just above. The chapel was then built especially to accommodate the sacred heart figure of Christ.  But it was just a bare building, with plain white walls.    But then, over a 19-year period following the War, the walls were all painted by a remarkable woman.  She was a nun, called Sister Concepta Lynch, and she took this job on using all her spare time from duties at the convent. It’s not hard to see why the chapel has been described as walking into a three-dimensional Book of Kells.

Local legend with tenuous documentary support suggests that the statue originated in St. Mary's Abbey on Mary Street in Dublin which was dissolved as part of the Henrician reforms in 1539 (see: Dissolution of the Monasteries). The first concrete historical mention dates from 1749 in a survey of the Catholic Chapels of Dublin, which refers to a statue in St. Mary's Lane Parochial Chapel. The chapel was torn down in 1816 to make way for a new school and no further mention of the statue is recorded until it was found by Father John Spratt, a member of the Carmelite order, in 1824. The restored statue has been on display near the high altar of the church in a purpose built shrine since 1915. The feast-day of Our Lady of Dublin is celebrated on 8 September.

Waterford City is the oldest city in Ireland . The vikings first established themselves there in 853 but where later pushed out . they later resettled in waterford in 918 . The dominicans came to waterford in the 1226 and it was their first convent in Munster . sometime after the Statue of our lady of waterford was brought to the church there. The dominicans left Waterford city in 2022. How ever a new Religious congregation , The Home of the Mother now administer the Church and have continued the devotions to Our Lady. The statue itself is a medieval Italianate design

The image  originally belonged to the Dominican priory of Youghal Co Cork. The priory of Youghal, was founded in the 13th century and  was rededicated to ‘Our Lady of Graces’ in the late 15th century, reflecting the fact  the image was the focus of very popular  Marian cult and pilgrimage. There are a number of legends and folk traditions pertaining to the origin of Our Lady of Graces and its arrival in Youghal all of which are detailed in the book Wells, Graves, and Statues: Exploring the heritage and culture of pilgrimage in medieval and modern Cork city. This small plaque was said to have performed many miracles, attracting a constant stream of pilgrims. Following the reformation the priory of Youghal was destroyed by Walter Raleigh in 1578. The plaque of Our Lady of Graces managed to survive perhaps due to its diminutive size which made it easy to conceal. There are sporadic references to the image in the historical sources  suggesting it continued in the possession of the Dominicans, and was still venerated and received offerings from pilgrims in the ensuing years.  In the seventeenth century the image along with a chalice from the Youghal priory was brought to the nearest Dominican priory, in  Cork city. Although Our Lady of Graces has been gone from Youghal for over 400 years, the image continues to have a connection with the town of Youghal and several modern artworks commemorate this link. The most impressive is a large stone statue depicting the image by famous Cork sculptor Seamus Murphy (1907-1975). This modern statue was erected in 1953 as part of a grotto of Our Lady of Graces, at South Abbey Street. It is carved from Portland stone and stands at over 1.5m in height dwarfing the minute original.

Queen Elizabeth I had outlawed the Catholic Church and it was an act of treason to shelter a priest. Sir John Bourke of Brittas, Co. Limerick was a secret member of the Rosary Confraternity of the hidden Dominicans of the City. He promoted the Rosary in his family and locality risking the enmity of the Crown by his open avowal of the Catholic Faith and protection of hunted clergy. When Elizabeth died and James, son of Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, came to the throne in 1603, there was a pause in the persecution as James I had promised that he would not persecute “any that will be quiet and give but an outward obedience to the law.” Bourke now openly attended St. Mary’s Cathedral which had been restored to the Catholics and was received with his family into the Dominican Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. However, English Catholics, disillusioned with their new king, led a failed assassination attempt against him in 1605 that triggered a new wave of anti-Catholicism and harsher legislation. On the renewal of persecution, Sir John was summoned to answer a charge of refusing to attend Church of England services and thereby committing a statutory offense. He was imprisoned, but his friend, Sir George Thornton, obtained his release; yet he continued to harbor hunted priests and protect Catholics. Each year he invited priests to secretly celebrate Mass in Brittas Castle. During one secret celebration on the feast of the Holy Rosary ─ the first Sunday of October ─ in 1606 or 1607, he was betrayed by his kinsmen, Theobald Bourke of Castleconnell and Sir Edmond Walsh of Abington. A detachment of soldiers arrived to arrest the priests and Sir John stalled until Mass was over and Fathers Clancy and Haligan escaped through a secret passage. On his refusal to co-operate, Brittas Castle was besieged. Sir John “with his helmet on his head, his shield on his left arm and his sword in his right hand, burst out and made good his escape.” He made it to Waterford on his way to Spain, but was there betrayed, arrested and sent back to Limerick for trial. He refused to renounce the Catholic Faith or conform to the new state religion, stating “he could acknowledge no king or queen against the King of Heaven and Queen of Heaven. . . whoever would act otherwise was not a servant of God but a slave of the devil.” He was tried by Judge Sir Dominic Sarsfield, and sentenced to be hanged, beheaded, and quartered. He was executed on Gallows Green three months later on 20 December and his body, returned to relatives, was buried in St. John’s Churchyard, where no trace of it remains. In 1625, Charles II took the throne on the death of James I and limited Catholic tolerance returned. Sir Dominic Sarsfield had renounced the Faith for political gain, but his brother kept it and passed it to his son Patrick. In 1640, Patrick Sarsfield (not the Earl of Lucan) the nephew of Sir Dominic, wanted to atone for the terrible deed of his uncle and he and his wife, Eleanor, had a statue of the Blessed Virgin carved from oak in Belgium. It was almost life-size at four and a half feet tall. It has Mary wearing a white robe and a blue cloak decorated with stars, and her brown hair is coiled over her right shoulder. She holds the infant Jesus in her left arm and through her right hand she threads a silver rosary coming from the hand of Jesus. At her feet are the carved faces of winged cherubs and on her head a jeweled golden crown. He also commissioned a silver chalice, which was placed in a hollowed out section of the statue’s back. Patrick and Eleanor donated the Statue and the Sarsfield Chalice, dated 1640, to the Dominicans of St Mary’s parish in Limerick and he inscribed it with his wife’s and his name in reparation for the sin of his Uncle. They were presented to Fr. Terence Albert O’Brien who would later become Bishop of Emly. However, the religious policies of Charles II and his marriage to a Roman Catholic, generated the mistrust of English Puritans who thought his views were too Catholic. In 1642 an English Civil War resulted in his overthrow and his execution in 1649 after which the anti-Catholic Puritan army of Oliver Cromwell turned its attention to Ireland. In September 1651, a messenger arrived at Limerick with the news that Cromwell’s army was on its way. Panicked residents began to prepare for an assault. Sacred books and vessels were taken from churches and hidden. The statue of Our Lady of Limerick, as it was now known, presented a problem because of its size, but it had to be protected from the infidel at all cost. It was decided to bury it in a coffin and that they did. On the last day of June, the Puritan army surrounded the city, terms of surrender were rejected and a siege began. Through a long hot summer with food supplies gone people were reduced to eating anything they could catch, even rats. Inevitably, plague broke out and hundreds died. Limerick finally capitulated and articles of surrender were signed. On 30 October 1651, all the city leaders were executed including Bishop Terence Albert O’Brien who had received the gift of the statue, but never revealed its secret location. A century passed and no one had seen the statue for a hundred years, though they knew of it existence and its legendary beauty. People prayed to Our Lady of Limerick as a means of keeping the memory of the statue alive. Finally, the Papists Act of 1778 became the first Act of Parliament for limited Roman Catholic relief. It was now safe to exhume the statue and its location was revealed. In 1780, the Dominicans built a small chapel in Fish Lane to replace an earlier church destroyed by anti-Catholic forces. The statue was recovered from its earthly grave where it was found lying face down, in perfect condition; no erosion, no insect damage and no rot had affected her. Inside the statue, the magnificent Sarsfield Chalice was found, as perfect as the day Patrick and Eleanor Sarsfield had donated it a century before. The statue was given a place of honor in the new Dominican chapel on Fish Lane where it remained until 1818 or 1820 when it was carried in procession and enthroned on its own altar surrounded by images of saints in the Church of St. Savior in Glentworth Street. In 1954 the Virgin was crowned with a tiara of gold, pearls and diamonds all donated by the women of Limerick with the result that rich and poor alike had some share in the graces that flow from Our Lady of Limerick. On the Virgin’s arm rests the Infant Jesus while the long silver rosary, with an ancient tubular cross, still stretches from her right hand. Our Lady of Limerick, a gift in reparation for the sins of man, watches over her beloved city and its people to this very day – a remarkable relic created to atone for deeds against the Irish, protected by the Irish and, after surviving the centuries, returned to a position of veneration by the Irish. As is the case with many accounts that took place in the penal times, secrecy was paramount and historical documentation is difficult to find. In this story, we found records that define Sir John Bourke’s arrest and execution as 1606 and 1607, yet the accounts are identical. There is also a question of whether the clergy were Dominican or Franciscan although the statue is now in the care of the Dominican sisters. In the absence of those minor details of historical data, we rely on the facts in hand and tradition and in this case the tradition has proven to be 99% accurate. Thousands of miles away, in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, stands Our Lady of Limerick Catholic Church, a historic church built in 1915 obviously by parishioners with a connection to Limerick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 17, 1982.

The statue, which is carved from oak in the baroque style is believed to be of Italian origin – Our Lady is dressed in the traditional blue and white robes and holds the infant in her left arm, with three heads of angels or cherubs at her feet.  In later years the statue was displayed with a crown, dated to 1922, on Our Lady’s head and a set of nineteenth-century rosary beads in the right hand.  A similar statue is located in the Dominican St Mary’s Church, Claddagh. The Dominican Sisters established a community in Galway in 1644, residing originally at New Tower Street, now St. Augustine Street. After fleeing Galway during the Cromwellian occupation of 1651/2, Sisters Mary Lynch and Julian Nolan returned from exile in Spain in 1686 and re-established a convent at the Slate Nunnery, Kirwan’s Lane, where Busker Browne’s is now. The statue, which has been recently conserved, was originally used in the Slate Nunnery.  It survived a fire in the Nunnery in 1842 with just minor damage, and in 1845 it was moved to the Convent at Taylors Hill.

Our Lady of Bethlehem (Athlone Madonna) Our Lady of Bethlehem An old wooden statue of Our Lady holding the Christ Child is preserved in our monastery. It was carved from bog oak, hence the dark colour of the wood and the reason why she is known affectionately by the sisters as ‘The Black Lady’. She has accompanied our Community for the best part of four centuries. In art history circles the statue is often referred to as the ‘Athlone Madonna’ because the motherhouse of our Community was a monastery known as ‘Bethlehem’ near Athlone on the shores of Lough Ree. The Poor Clare community had arrived there in about 1631, having been expelled from Dublin. By 1642, the political situation in Ireland was such that remaining there would have been dangerous for the sisters. In January 1642, one group of sisters, among whom were some native Galwegians, left Bethlehem to make a foundation in the relatively safer environment of Galway . Meanwhile, in the Summer of 1642, the remaining sisters in ‘Bethlehem’ were forced to flee. Mother Bonaventure Browne in her Chronicle of the early history of the Poor Clares in Ireland outlined what happened. (The excerpt below has been modernised  by Fr. Celsus O' Brien)   The Sisters spent some weeks there until they were finally warned that the heretics were on their way to the convent. They then escaped in boats to the other side of the lake. Seeing that their evil intentions came to nothing, the ruthless heretics entered the convent and stayed there for three days and three nights. They ate all the food of the poor Sisters and made great sport and mockery of the altars, pictures, ornaments and sacred objects found there. Some of them put on the nuns’ habits and said as a jest, “Come let’s say Mass while you serve us”. Finally, they set fire to the convent and everything that was in it only God preserved miraculously the tabernacle in the Choir where the Most Blessed Sacrament used to be kept and before which the Sisters prayed fervently for deliverance from their enemies; and likewise an old statue of Our Blessed Lady. Both of these were made of wood.

The 1st of May  signals the beginning of a month-long pilgrimage to the holy statue of Our Lady of Clonfert, located at Clonfert  village in the parish of Eyrecourt, Meelick & Clonfert, in East County  Galway. This is no ordinary statue and is one of only a handful of medieval statues to  have survive the destruction of the  Reformation in Ireland.  Housed  in the  Church of Our Lady of Clonfert, the statue is the focus of great devotion  especially during the month of May, when hundreds of pilgrims, some traveling long distances come here to pray.

St. Patrick’s Purgatory, more commonly referred to as Lough Derg because of its location in the lake of the same name in Co Donegal, is a pilgrimage site which dates back to the Fifth Century. Since then, uninterrupted for over 1500 years, it has been a place of Christian pilgrimage and prayer. The pilgrimage takes place on Station Island, and it has St. Patrick as its patron.  The original monastery on Saints Island in the same lake claimed St Davog, one of Patrick’s disciples, as its founder abbot. Mainly due to restrictions of weather conditions, the pilgrimage season is a relatively short one: the traditional Three Day Pilgrimage runs from 1st June to 15th August; Day Retreats are held in May, late August and September; school retreats are held in April-May and in September.

In this episode we shift from the great men and woman of the faith to the places that inspired them. Today Fr. Gabriel Burke shares the history and spirituality of Ireland oldest Marian shrine, Our Ladies Island.

The founder of the Knights of Columbus, Father Michael J. McGivney was a central figure in the growth of Catholicism in America, and he remains a model today. His example of charity, evangelization and empowerment of the laity continues to bear fruit and guide Knights of Columbus around the world. In his Apostolic Letter that was read at the Mass for Beatification on Oct. 31, 2020, Pope Francis stated that Blessed Michael McGivney’s “zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel and generous concern for the needs of his brothers and sisters made him an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance.” The Holy Father set his annual feast day for Aug. 13, the day between Father McGivney’s birthday (in 1852) and the day he entered eternal life (in 1890). The beatification ceremony in the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford, Conn., was a high point in a long process that began with the opening of the Cause for Canonization in December 1997. Shortly after Father McGivney was named a Venerable Servant of God in March 2008, Pope Benedict XVI cited him as a key figure in “the impressive growth” of the Church in the United States, stating, “We need but think of the remarkable accomplishment of that exemplary American priest, the Venerable Michael McGivney, whose vision and zeal led to the establishment of the Knights of Columbus.” Through the spiritual genius of Father McGivney, the Knights of Columbus has become a way for Catholic men to transform friends into brothers — brothers who care for one another. Just as those in need sought Father McGivney’s help in life, understanding that he was a “Good Samaritan” figure, more than 2 million members of the Knights of Columbus and their families, and many others around the world, continue to seek out Father McGivney as a heavenly helper in times of need today. On May 26, 2020, Pope Francis approved a decree for a miracle attributed to his intercession, opening the way for Father McGivney to be beatified. A second approved miracle is needed for him to be canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church. Those who knew him best in life saw in him both a “genial” countenance and a man with an “indomitable will” to achieve the good. In sum, his founding of the Knights of Columbus “attests to the love in which he held his brother man.” In these pages, you will get to know Father McGivney better, and join us in praying for his intercession as well as his canonization. You also can read accounts by contemporaries of Father McGivney about his life, works and virtues.

Born on March 1st, 1921 in Manhattan, Terence Cooke was the third and youngest child of Irish immigrants. His father was a chauffeur; his mother died when Terence was only nine. The child of a devout family, Terence manifested an interest in the priesthood at an early age. He entered Cathedral College and from there went to St. Joseph’s Seminary. The future Cardinal Archbishop of New York was ordained by Francis Cardinal Spellman on December 1, 1945. The young priest served as chaplain at Saint Agatha’s Home for Children before going to the Catholic University of America for graduate studies in social work. From there he went to Saint Athanasius Parish. Later he directed the CYO, was procurator of St. Joseph’s Seminary, and secretary to Cardinal Spellman. He then became Chancellor of the Archdiocese and finally Vicar General. He was consecrated bishop in 1965. Barely three years later Cardinal Spellman died, and the world expected him to be succeeded by one of the senior prelates of the Church. Pope Paul VI, however, had other ideas and chose instead a devout, relatively unknown Vicar General. And at the age of forty-seven Terence Cooke found himself Archbishop of New York and Military Vicar for the United States. His work His fourteen years as Cardinal Archbishop were a time of profound transformation. The 1960’s ushered in a period of turbulence and rapid change, and the Church strove to adapt itself to a transforming culture at the same time it was implementing the sweeping reforms of the Second Vatican Council. A faithful and loving shepherd, Cardinal Cooke never failed to listen to others and to address their needs. Ever responsive to the challenges of his times he founded:

Francis X. Ford was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 11, 1892. His father was Editor of “The Freeman’s Journal” and a dedicated champion of Irish freedom. From his youth, Francis was very much influenced by the world of journalism and literature which surrounded him. He attended St. Francis Preparatory School, Brooklyn, and then Cathedral College, Brooklyn. It was while he was at Cathedral College that Maryknoll was founded. In 1912, after the co-founder of Maryknoll, Father James A. Walsh, spoke to the young men at the College about the newly founded mission society, Francis decided that therein lay his vocation. He became the first student to enter the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 5, 1917, and the following year he accompanied Fathers Price, Meyer and James E. Walsh to China. These men comprised the first Maryknoll departure group. They proceeded to work in Yeungkong and the Kongmoon territory of South China. In 1925, when the new South China mission territory of Kaying was assigned to Maryknoll, Fathers Ford and Drought formed Maryknoll’s contingent into the new field. Ten years later, on September 21, 1935, Bishop James Anthony Walsh, in his last public official act, consecrated Msgr. Francis Ford as first bishop of Kaying and the mission was raised to a Vicariate. The new bishop returned to China and remained there throughout World War II. During this time he dedicated himself to the care of the countless refugees who flooded the city of Kaying. In 1946 he returned to the United States to attend the General Chapter as delegate of the priests in Kaying. A little while later he returned to China for what was to be the last time. Many years before he had composed a prayer in which he had asked God: “Grant us….to be the doorstep by which the multitudes may come to Thee.” He was now about to become just such a doorstep. In October, 1949, the Communists completed their drive to conquer China. On December 3, 1950 the first of the Bishop’s priests and sisters were imprisoned. Two days before Christmas he himself was placed under house arrest. On April 14, 1951, after a public trial, he and his secretary Sister Joan Marie were bound with ropes, placed under an escort of thirty armed soldiers, and taken to Canton prison. Along the entire route of their journey they were insulted and humiliated both physically and verbally, by the Communist-organized demonstrators of the Chinese people. After a year in prison, after much suffering, Bishop Ford died, reportedly on February 21, 1952. The news of his death came with the release of Sister Joan Marie, the following September. On September 9, 1952 a Pontifical Requiem Mass was celebrated at Maryknoll for the repose of his soul. Bishop Fulton Sheen preached the eulogy. The site of his grave in a public cemetery was marked by a Parish Foreign Mission priest for future identification of the location.

Daniel Bible Foley (March 3, 1913 – October 9, 1974), also known by his religious name Theodore Foley, was a Roman Catholic priest and the superior general of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ from 1964 to 1974. On May 9, 2008, the cause for beatification and canonization of Foley was opened in Rome. Foley was born in the North End, Springfield, Massachusetts on March 3, 1913, the son of Michael and Helen Bible Foley. He attended Mass at Sacred Heart parish in Springfield. He was educated at Sacred Heart Grammar School, Springfield, Cathedral High School, and later Holy Cross Preparatory Seminary, Dunkirk, New York. He professed his vows on August 15, 1933, at Our Mother of Sorrows Retreat, West Springfield, Massachusetts, and received the religious name Theodore. On April 23, 1940, he was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood, in Baltimore, Maryland, by Archbishop Michael Joseph Curley, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. From 1941 to 1942, he was a professor of philosophy for the Passionists. In 1944 he graduated with a Ph.D. in Theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.[3] From 1944, he taught theology as a member of the Passionist Seminary faculty at St. Michael's Monastery, Union City, New Jersey. As a teacher, Foley was known for his calm patience. From 1953 to 1956 he was Director of Passionist Seminarians. In 1956 he was appointed Rector of St. Paul's Monastery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Foley embraced Pittsburgh. He attended Pirates games and heard Confessions at three Catholic hospitals. In 1958 he was elected General Consultor for the Passionists in Rome. On May 7, 1964, Fr. Foley was elected Superior General of the Passionists throughout the world, a position he held until his death on October 9, 1974. Foley was the first American from the eastern United States to hold this position and guided the Passionists through Vatican II (1962–1965). In 1970, he was re-elected as Superior General. On October 9, 1974, he died in Rome[3] after contracting an illness on a trip to Asia. Foley is buried at St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church in Pittsburgh.

Juana Adelaida O’Sullivan and Rouley was born in New York, United States, on October 8, 1817 to a Catholic father and Anglican mother, being baptized in the Anglican Church. At a young age  the girl decided to become a Catholic. At the death of her father, both her brother and her mother wanted her to return to the Anglican Church, but Juan Adelaida was already anchored in Catholicism and remained in it. In 1840 she entered the monastery of the Visitation of Georgetown. In her life as a Visitation nun she discovered the writings of St. Teresa of Jesus and in her interior she made the decision to be her daughter. With the help of her confessor she was able to fulfill her desire and after some difficult and unforeseen ways, she arrived in Guatemala City on September 8, 1843, where she entered the monastery of Discalced Carmelites receiving the name of Maria Adelaida de Santa Teresa. In 1868 she was elected Prioress of the Community and as such had to face the expulsion of her community by the  liberal reforms  in 1871. Realizing the impossibility of re-inhabiting her monastery, she undertook, with a group of sisters, an itinerary that took her to Cuba, the United States and finally to Spain, reorganizing the Carmelite-Teresian life in Grajal de Campos (León) in 1882 and passing away there on April 15, 1893.

Bernard J. Quinn was born in Newark, New Jersey, to poor Irish immigrants, Bernard and Sarah Quinn. He entered St. John's Seminary in 1906. He was ordained on June 12, 1912, and was temporarily assigned to several different churches.[4] He served as a chaplain in the 333rd Machine Gun Infantry Regiment during World War I, and he was gassed in France. Following the war, he resumed his pastoral duties in Brooklyn. In 1922, Quinn established the first church for Black Catholics in Brooklyn, which he had consecrated to St. Peter Claver, which is still in operation and counts among the graduates of its parochial school the civil rights activist and singer Lena Horne. Quinn also included music as part of his ministry. Hundreds of black children joined the church choir, including Horne and Pearl Bailey. In 1928, he established the diocese's first orphanage for black children, in Wading River. His humanitarian work was met with opposition from some groups and individuals. In 1929, John L. Belford had written openly in his newsletter against the growing number of African-Americans in the Catholic Church, which was met with strong disagreement from Quinn. Quinn responded, "No church can exclude anyone and still keep its Christian ideals." The Little Flower House of Providence was burned twice in one year by the Ku Klux Klan, which prompted Quinn to rebuild once again but this time out of more fireproof material, according to a 1929 article in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle with the headline: “New Fireproof Orphanage Will Defy Incendiary.” It later became the base of operations for the Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York, which continues to provide services such as care for adults with developmental disabilities, for those in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island.

James Edward Walsh, MM (April 30, 1891 – July 29, 1981) was an American Roman Catholic priest and a bishop in China. He was a member of the Maryknoll order, and a missionary in China. Father Walsh was born in Cumberland, Maryland on April 30, 1891 to Mary Concannon and William E. Walsh. He was the second child of nine. After graduating at age 19 from Mount St. Mary's College, he worked as a timekeeper in a steel mill for two years until he became aware of Maryknoll, a new American order. In 1915, he became the second priest ordained in this order. He and three other men were sent on the order's first foreign mission to China in the year 1918. The other three were Father Thomas Frederick Price, one of the founders of Maryknoll and Superior of the group; Father Francis Xavier Ford; and Father Bernard F. Meyer. Fr. Walsh and Fr. Meyer arrived first, Fr. Price and Fr. Ford some weeks later. Their first point of debarkation in South China was the British colony of Hong Kong on 30 October 1918. While they were in Hong Kong, they stayed briefly with the Paris Foreign Mission Fathers at Battery Path. From Hong Kong, they went to Yeungkong (now known as Yangjiang) and started their missionary work in China there. Walsh's early years in China were chaotic, and included being captured by bandits and caught in bloody local conflicts. At the age of thirty-six, on 22 May 1927 he was consecrated Maryknoll's first bishop and served the Diocese of Kongmoon (now known as Jiangmen) in China. The ceremony was held on Sancian Island (now called Shangchuan Island), a lonely spot off the coast of South China where St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle to the Indies, died in 1552. In 1936, Bishop Walsh left China to return to the United States as head of Maryknoll. During his ten-year term he oversaw Maryknoll's first missions to Latin America and Africa. In November to December 1940, he and Father James M. Drought, his assistant went to Japan to take part in the diplomatic negotiation between US and Japan.[ However, following the Holy See's special request for his service in China, he returned to take charge of the Catholic Central Bureau in Shanghai in 1948 to coordinate mission activities in China. When the Communist Party of China seized power in 1949 they began harassing Catholic clergymen. The Catholic Central Bureau was shut down by the government in 1951. When Walsh's superiors in Maryknoll inquired about his safety he responded by saying, "To put up with a little inconvenience at my age is nothing. Besides, I am sick and tired of being pushed around on account of my religion." Although he anticipated arrest, Walsh chose to stay and tend to his congregation. He was eventually apprehended by communist authorities in 1958 and sentenced to twenty years in prison. He spent twelve years of his prison sentence in isolation and was suddenly released in 1970. He was deported via a footbridge to freedom in Hong Kong on 10 July 1970.[ He is believed to be the last of 7,000 foreign missionaries to be expelled from China after the Communist Revolution in 1949.

Servant of God Father Patrick Ryan, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish from 1872 to 1878, was a shepherd who gave his life in ministering to his flock. He died a martyr's death in the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 when he was only 33 years old. Patrick Ryan was born in 1845 near Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland. He entered St. Vincent's college, Cape Girardeau, Missouri in October, 1866. He was ordained a priest in the summer of 1869 at the Cathedral in Nashville by Bishop P. A. Feehan.  After his ordination, Father Ryan was appointed pastor of Clarksville and its missions. For three years, Father Ryan ministered to the people of Clarksville, Cedar Hill, Edgefield Junction, and the surrounding territory. At Gallatin he built a church, which served the congregation for many years. He took charge of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga on July 10, 1872. The parish, since the beginning, had always maintained a school for its children under the supervision of the priests. In 1876, Father Ryan brought in sisters of the Dominican Sisters of the St. Cecilia congregation of Nashville and turned the old presbytery into a school and convent.  In September 1878, a yellow fever epidemic hit the city. Four-fifths of the city's population fled, and 366 citizens lost their lives.  Father Ryan is described by an eyewitness as "going from house to house in the worst-infected section of the city to find what he could do for the sick and needy." He continued ministering to his flock after he himself had contracted the dread disease - to within 48 hours of his death. He was stricken on Sept. 26. On the morning of the 27th, he was reported much worse, but the evening of that same day he was visited by Dr. Luke Blackburn (afterward Governor of Kentucky) who reported that everything seemed to favor recovery. "He was cheerful and chatty," said Dr. Blackburn, and remarked was that Bishop Feehan had telegraphed asking how he was. "I told him if he wished I would send a dispatch to the Bishop on reaching the telegraph office. This I did, saying 'Father Ryan is much better and will recover, I think.' When I heard of Father's death, it astonished me more than an earthquake would have done." The heroic priest died Sept. 28, after having received the last sacraments from the hands of his younger brother, the Reverend Michael Ryan.  You can learn more about Father Ryan and the Cause for his Canonization at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul website.

Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory, (21 January 1893 – 21 January 1984), was an Ulster-born immigrant to the United States. She was a Roman Catholic religious sister who worked as an advocate for the impoverished elderly, founding a new religious congregation for this purpose, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. Her cause for canonization has been opened, and her life has been acknowledged by the Holy See as one of heroic virtue. She is honored by the Catholic Church as venerable.

Julia Teresa Tallon was born at a farm in upstate New York 1867 as the seventh of the eight children to the Irish immigrants Peter Tallon (1827 – 21 September 1872) and Bridget Duffy (1827 – 8 August 1905). After the death of her first husband, Peter Tallon, she married John Bogan. From 1879 she felt a strong call to enter the religious life as a sister despite the protests of her mother and siblings who did not approve of her decision. Her mother in particular – despite her deep faith – did not approve of her daughter's decision though was powerless to prevent this from materializing. Regardless of their opinion she joined the Holy Cross Sisters on 30 April 1887 and resided with the order at their convent until 1920 after the conclusion of World War I. Tallon founded the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate in New York on 15 August 1920 – an order that now operates in Nigeria and the Philippines. Tallon suffered from disabling illnesses in the final two decades of her life and she hid the fact that she was sick though a few of her colleagues knew of this. On 10 February 1954 she was critically ill after suffering a fall in her room and spent the next month in pain. She died on the evening of 10 March 1954 just as her fellow sisters concluded the recitation of the rosary at her bedside. Her remains were exhumed for canonical inspection and transferred on 16 October 2015 and then relocated for the final time on 9 December 2015.

Sister Moyra Martin (formerly Sister Alacoque) was born in Reaghstown, Ardee, Co. Louth in 1927. The second youngest in a family of six girls and four boys, she attended school locally and in the Saint Louis Convent in Co. Monaghan. She trained as a nurse after joining MMM in 1946. She began her training in the International Missionary Training Hospital (IMTH-now Our Lady of Lourdes) and completed it in Jervis Street Hospital in Dublin. In 1953, Moyra was assigned to Nigeria and was a ward sister in Saint Luke’s Hospital in Anua for five years. She then completed her training as a nursing tutor in London. After several months as nurse tutor in the IMTH, she returned to Anua, where for six years she was principal tutor in Saint Luke’s Hospital and a member of the Nursing Council for Nigeria. In early 1969 Sister Moyra returned to Ireland and was acting principal tutor in the IMTH. She also helped in our house in Clonmel for several months. After a short time as a nursing tutor in England, in 1971 she was assigned to Kenya and was a senior tutor in the Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya for three years. On one occasion she met and chatted with Prince Charles. In 1974 Moyra  got the opportunity to study theology in Regina Mundi, Rome, which she appreciated very much. She was able to put it into good use over the years. In 1975 she was assigned as principal tutor to our hospital in Dareda, Tanzania. Sister Moyra returned to Ireland in 1978. For a short time she was acting principal tutor in the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin. At that time she underwent major surgery, which prevented her from returning to Africa. She then helped in the Apostolic delegation in London. Then she was assigned to mission awareness work, which she did for several years. She also did relief work as a nurse tutor in several hospitals around Ireland.  In 1989 Moyra moved to Dublin. For a short time she did pastoral work in Virgin Mary Parish in Ballymun. In 1990 she was assigned to our house in Clonsilla, where for sixteen years she continued pastoral work in Mountview Parish. There she was also part of a team that gave An Síol (the seed) retreats to small groups, planting the seed of Christ in the hearts of the participants. She participated in the adult education programme in the parish, giving lectures in theology, scripture and related topics. Sister Moyra moved to our Motherhouse in Beechgrove, Drogheda, in 2006, where she was sacristan and helped with other duties. She helped to prepare children for baptism and First Communion and engaged in community activities. Over the years, her health deteriorated gradually, and in July 2016 she moved to Áras Mhuire for nursing care. She died there peacefully on 13 August 2018. Moyra was a deeply spiritual person. While her demeanour could be serious and her attention to detail exact, she could also bring great enjoyment. She was an avid reader from an early age, so much so that her mother described her as ‘the lady of the family’, who preferred to bury her head in books rather than do more practical work! In her later years, she continued to feed her love of literature and knowledge and was able to quote passages of poems even up to the last weeks of her life. When she was sent to study to be a tutor she discovered her love for and skill in teaching. Her students appreciated her humour and attention to detail. She loved her students and enjoyed their sense of fun. She loved her family and kept in contact with her many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews in Ireland, the UK and Canada, who were attentive to the end. Martin, Sr. Moyra

Born Joseph Ignatius Shanahan on 6 June 1871 in Glankeen, Borrisoleigh, County Tipperary, Ireland. He joined the Holy Ghost Order in Beauvais, France in 1886, where his uncle Pat Walsh (Brother Adelm) had also joined the Holy Ghost Fathers. He returned to Ireland, to Rockwell College, where he served as prefect and dean of studies. He was ordained in 1900 in Blackrock College, and went to Nigeria in 1902. He was instrumental in the setting up of the Kiltegan Fathers when in 1920, following his ordination in Maynooth as Bishop for Southern Nigeria (then a British protectorate) he appealed to students in Maynooth College for missionaries to Nigeria and Africa. In 1924 Bishop Shanahan founded a missionary society for women, the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, in Killeshandra, County Cavan, Ireland.] He returned to Africa, to Kenya to act as chaplain to the Carmelite Sisters in Nairobi in 1938. Bishop Shanahan died at Nairobi, Kenya, on Christmas Day 1943 aged 72 years, and was initially buried in the community cemetery in St Mary's School in Nairobi, Kenya. However, in January 1956 his remains were brought back to Nigeria for the "second burial" in the Cathedral Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha. The Bishop Shanahan National School, in Templeogue, Dublin, developed on land donated by the Holy Ghost Fathers, is named in his honor. Shanahan University is a proposed university being developed in the diocese of Onitsha.

Born in Ireland, Father Edward J. Flanagan arrived in the United States in 1904. Eight years later, he was ordained a priest and assigned to the Diocese of Omaha. Father Flanagan became a social reformer and a true visionary for changing how America cared for its children and families, passionately speaking out and taking action on social issues that few dared to address. He believed that children had the right to be valued, to have the basic necessities of life and to be protected. He sought to close reformatories and other juvenile facilities where children were abused and literally held as prisoners. In 1917, after years of working with Omaha's homeless men, he opened Father Flanagans Boys Home℠, which later became Boys Town, and championed the causes of children across the country. Father Flanagans Boys℠ Home accepted all boys, regardless of their race, creed or cultural background. The priest offered every child a new start in life, and he went to great lengths to seek out and bring in the neediest and most helpless - even boys who were in prison for serious crimes. Father Flanagan died in 1948, but his successors have faithfully carried on his legacy and the mission he started at Boys Town. Today, at 100 years strong, Boys Town still follows many of the same principles and practices that originated with Father Flanagan's vision.

Patrick Peyton, CSC (January 9, 1909 – June 3, 1992), also known as "The rosary priest", was an Irish-born Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and founder of the Family Rosary Crusade. He popularized the phrases "The family that prays together stays together" and "A world at prayer is a world at peace". Peyton staged massive Rosary rallies in key cities of the world and extensively utilized mass communication, helped by world-recognized celebrities of Hollywood at that time, promoting his ministry of binding families through prayer under the Family Rosary. Peyton was a popular and charismatic figure in Latin America and the Philippines, where he promoted the Rosary and was known for his strong Irish accent. His cause for canonization was opened in 2001 and Pope Francis declared him venerable on December 18, 2017.

The Servant of God, Alphonsus Lambe, (known as Alfie) was born in Tullamore, Ireland on the feast of St. John the Baptist, Friday, 24th June 1932, during the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. Like St. John he was a precursor - the precursor of the Legion of Mary, which Pope Paul VI described as “the greatest movement which has been established for the good of souls since the era of the great religious orders”. After spending a period of his youth in the novitiate of the Irish Christian Brothers, which he had to leave because of delicate health, he found his vocation in the Legion of Mary, and was appointed Envoy in 1953. With Seamus Grace, he left for Bogota, Columbia on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel 16th July of that year. For almost six years he worked ceaselessly in promoting the Legion of Mary in Columbia, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay and Brazil. After a short but grave illness he died in Buenos Aires on the feast of St. Agnes, 21st January 1959. God had bestowed on him great natural gifts, a personality which attracted souls to the service and love of God, an infectious enthusiasm, and a facility for learning languages, which enabled him to rapidly attain fluency in Spanish and Portuguese. During his years in South America he set up a great number of branches of the Legion of Mary, and trained a multitude in the apostolate of the Legion. His devotion to Mary was outstanding, and in contacts with Legionaries and others he explained and urged the practice of the True Devotion to Our Lady. He is buried in the vault of the Irish Christian Brothers, in the Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires.

Edel Quinn was born in Kanturk, Co. Cork, Ireland on 14 September 1907. As a girl her ambition was to enter a contemplative convent, but she was prevented from doing so by ill-health. At the age of 20 she joined the Legion of Mary in Dublin and was an enthusiastic member. In 1932 she became seriously ill and spent a long period in hospital. She resumed her activities in the Legion but for the remainder of her life was impaired due to that illness. In 1936 Edel was appointed Legion of Mary Envoy to East Africa – to countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mauritius. She encountered obstacles in this pioneering work and overcame them despite her poor health and harsh conditions. She had great faith in God’s love and a limitless trust in the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Edel was gifted with a clear practical mind. She had notable organising ability, an indomitable will and a depth of warmth and human empathy. Her infectious joyousness of spirit never failed her. These qualities quickly won everyone to her side. Although often working alone and in a state of ill-health and exhaustion, Edel established the Legion of Mary on a firm footing in the countries she visited – even as far as Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Hundreds of Legion branches and higher councils of the Legion were established – meaning that thousands of Africans were mobilised in the service of the Church. After eight years of heroic labour, Edel died in Nairobi on 12 May 1944 where she is buried in the Missionaries’ Cemetery. The Diocesan Process, the first step towards her beatification, was set in motion in 1957 by the Archbishop of Nairobi. She was declared Venerable on 15 December 1994 by Pope John Paul II. The following extracts from her private notes give an indication of her spiritual life: ‘What boundless trust we should have in God’s love! We can never love too much; let us give utterly and not count the cost. God will respond to our faith in Him …’ ‘Mary loves us because we are Christ’s legacy to her. Let us give ourselves completely to her to be made all His, to be consumed unceasingly, to be spent for Christ.’

Francis Michael Duff (7 June 1889 – 7 November 1980), known as Frank Duff, was known especially for bringing attention to the role of the Catholic Laity during the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church as well as for founding the Legion of Mary in his native city of Dublin, Ireland.

William Joseph Gabriel Doyle, SJ MC (3 March 1873 – 16 August 1917), better known as Willie Doyle, was an Irish Catholic priest who was killed in action while serving as a military chaplain to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the First World War. He is a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church. Doyle was born in Dalkey, Ireland, the youngest of seven children of Hugh and Christine Doyle (née Byrne). He was educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicester. After reading St. Alphonsus' book Instructions and Consideration on the Religious State he was inspired to enter the priesthood. In 1891 he entered St Stanislaus Tullabeg College, and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1907.[ From 1909 until 1915 he served on the Jesuit mission team, travelling around Ireland and Britain preaching parish missions and conducting retreats. In 1914 he was involved in the foundation of a Colettine Poor Clares monastery in Cork. He was an early member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association and had been considered a future leader of the organization by its founder, Fr James Cullen.

John Sullivan (8 May 1861 – 19 February 1933) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Jesuits. Sullivan was known for his life of deep spiritual reflection and personal sacrifice; he is recognised for his dedicated work with the poor and afflicted and spent much of his time walking and riding his bike to visit those who were troubled or ill in the villages around Clongowes Wood College school where he taught from 1907 until his death. From the 1920s onwards there were people who testified to his healing power despite the fact that he never claimed credit or causation for himself from these reported cases. Sullivan was known for his friendliness; his amiable nature was coupled with a somewhat shy temperament but one willing to aid those who needed it most. He was noted for his strong faith and for imposing multiple penances on himself such as eating little. Sullivan had long been admired during his life and was known as a man of inspirational holiness which prompted for calls for his beatification; the cause later opened and would culminate on 7 November 2014 after Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue and named him as Venerable. The same pope approved a miraculous healing credited to his intercession on 26 April 2016. His beatification, the first ever to take place Ireland, took place in Dublin on 13 May 2017. Blessed John Sullivan, Irish Jesuit priest

Ellen Organ (August 24, 1903 – February 2, 1908), known as Little Nellie of Holy God, was an Irish child, venerated by some in the Roman Catholic Church for her precocious spiritual awareness and alleged mystical life. Particularly dedicated to the Eucharist, the story of her life inspired Pope Pius X to admit young children to Holy Communion. In 1910, Pope Pius X issued the decree Quam singulari, which lowered the age of Holy Communion for children from 12 years to around 7.

Matt Talbot (2 May 1856 – 7 June 1925) was an Irish ascetic revered by many Catholics for his piety, charity and mortification of the flesh. Talbot was a manual labourer. Though he lived alone for most of his life, Talbot did live with his mother for a time. His life would have gone unnoticed were it not for the cords and chains discovered on his body when he died suddenly on a Dublin street in 1925. Though he has not yet been formally recognized as a saint, he has been declared Venerable and is considered a patron of those struggling with alcoholism.] He is commemorated on 19 June.

Columba was born in Queen Street, Dublin, Ireland on April 1, 1858, into a large and very religious family; three of his sisters became nuns. His father, William Marmion was from Clane, Co. Kildare. His mother, Herminie Cordier was French, prompting his biographer, Dom Raymond Thibaut to remark: "He owes to his Celtic origin his penetrating intelligence, his lively imagination, his sensibility, his exuberance and his youthful spirit. The French blood which ran in his veins contributes to his clearness of mind, his habit of clear perception, his ease of exposition, and his uprightness of character. From the combination of the two he derives his constant gaiety and his generosity of heart with all the strength, devotion, and fine feeling which this noble quality implies." He was baptized with the name "Joseph Aloysius". From a very early age he was seemingly "consumed with some kind of inner fire or enthusiasm for the things of God." He was educated at the Jesuit Belvedere College in Dublin. He entered the seminary at the age of 16. At the time he entered the seminary, his "faith was very strong";[ he perceived "something more than simple theoretical theses" in Catholic doctrine, in particular "that a man's love for God is measured by his love for his neighbor."

Margaret Aylward was born on 23 November 1810 in Thomas Street in Waterford to a wealthy merchant family. She was educated by the Ursuline nuns in Thurles, County Tipperary. After doing some charitable work in Waterford in her early years, Aylward joined her sister in the Sisters of Charity in 1834 as a novice. She left the noviciate in 1836 and returned to Waterford to continue her charity work in a secular role. Aylward again attempted to join a religious order in 1846 when she entered the Ursuline noviciate in Waterford, however she left after two months.