Clare and the Great War

by Joe Power

  There may have been some foundation to the allegations by Mr Kerin that some Catholic clergymen of neighbouring parishes had refused to say a Mass for the soul of Willie Redmond. Speaking at a Sunday Mass in Clare Castle, by permission of Canon Bourke, PP, Fr Marcus McGrath, CC, publicly defended his honour against what he described as ‘a mean and malignant attempt to defame me before the county’:

  You will all know to what I refer. When I came here on Sunday last to celebrate Mass a notice was handed in asking me to request the prayers of the congregation for the late Major Redmond. Major Redmond’s death was a matter of public knowledge. It was as quite well known to me, and, if all were known, as deeply regretted by me as by the individual who wrote the notice, and it struck me as curious that in a matter which was so public, and which didn’t affect Clare Castle more than any other parish, any individual should dictate to me what my priestly duties were on that sad occasion.

  It was in these circumstances exactly that I omitted to make the public announcement, and by permission of the canon (Bourke), I am here today to explain my position and my action and to offer Holy Mass and to ask the prayers of the congregation for the soul of Major Redmond, making sure that I do not do so at the request of any person, whose claim to dictate to me, I repudiate.

  Refuse to pray for the soul of Major Redmond! Such is the vile calumny that has gone forth. I can tell you in all sincerity that at both of my Masses on that day I gave him a special memento that God would have mercy on his soul. Refuse to pray for his soul! I never refused to pray for anyone, living or dead, and least of all would I refuse to pray for the soul of him, who, though one may differ from him in politics, was a good Catholic, a brave soldier, who had the courage of his convictions, and when the bugle sounded went over the parapet and gave his life for the cause he thought was right. He was no shirker and paid the penalty. His body lies on a foreign land. May God have mercy on his soul.

  This then is the vile calumny that has created such commotion during the week and has brought my name on every lip as the name of one who refused to pray for a departed soul. This is the calumny that has been used to decoy and to bring out at midnight a number of men to insult their priest. This then is the calumny that has even reached the board of guardians for discussion. But I tell the people of this parish and the leaders of the midnight raiders and the man who had the impertinence to speak on behalf of prayers for anyone, and those who have criticised my position without knowing the true facts of the case, that I have done nothing of which I am ashamed, and which I would not do again 100 times in the same circumstances … Imagine this guardian, praying for forgiveness for those priests – this defender of religion!22

  Reading through the reports of the meeting of the board of guardians and the sermon at Clare Castle Catholic church published in the Clare Champion, one can detect the underlying tension and bitterness at parish level between the supporters of the Home Rule Party and the National Volunteers, led by John Redmond, and the supporters of the Irish Volunteers and the Sinn Féin party, led by de Valera, which was rising in popularity in the year after the Easter Rising. Both of these parties were zealously seeking the popular mandate at this time.

  Fr McGrath was not a follower of John Redmond at this time. Indeed, on the contrary, he was elected president of the Sinn Féin club in Ballyea on Sunday 18 September 1917. It must be remembered that Fr McGrath was one of only four curates in County Clare, who publicly opposed John Redmond’s policy of support for recruitment to the British Army during 1914 and 1915. Fr McGrath had told the congregation at Mass in Clare Castle on Sunday 4 October 1914 that ‘they should not believe all the stories of German atrocities in Belgium’. However, three weeks later, Fr McGrath was on the reviewing stand alongside Bishop Fogarty and others at the National Volunteer parade in Ennis on Sunday 25 October 1914, which supported John Redmond’s policy on the war. Fr McGrath must have, like Bishop Fogarty and other clergy, turned against Redmond’s policy during 1915 and 1916.

  It is also clear from his vigorous defence that Fr McGrath, while he may have privately prayed for the soul of Maj. Redmond, did not do so publicly at the Mass on Sunday 10 June in Clare Castle. By his own admission he took this action to teach a certain person (presumably a political opponent) a lesson, for having the temerity to dictate to him whom he should pray for. One presumes that Fr McGrath may have been instructed by either his parish priest, or perhaps even Bishop Fogarty, to limit the damage to the Church because of this controversy by offering public prayers for Willie Redmond’s soul at the Mass on the following Sunday, while proclaiming publicly that he would not be dictated to by any parishioner.23

  Fr Marcus McGrath CC, Clare Castle & Ballyea. (Original courtesy of the late Mrs K. McAllister. Copied by John Power)

  Following the death of Maj. Willie Redmond a committee was established to erect a memorial in his honour at Wexford, his native county. A national subscription was invited and committees established in various counties to collect funds. In County Clare fundraising was mainly in parishes such as Quin, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Clare Castle, where the Home Rule Party vote was strongest. A significant sum of £37 2s 0d was collected in the Clare Castle district alone. The names of the individual subscribers were given, along with their donations. This generous sum included 2 guineas from the parish priest, Canon P. Bourke and 5 guineas from the Clare Castle Land and Labour Association. Significantly, and perhaps not unexpectedly, the curate, Fr Marcus McGrath, CC, did not contribute to the collection, which was publicly acknowledged in a local paper.24

  The East Clare By-Election of 1917

  The death of Willie Redmond, MP, necessitated a by-election for the East Clare constituency. Shortly after the death was announced a meeting of Sinn Féin sympathisers took place in Ennis to secure the return of a Sinn Féin candidate as opposed to a member of the Home Rule Party. The meeting took place in the Clare Hotel at which the following attended – Revd A. Clancy, PP, Revd J. O’Donoghue, Revd M. Crowe, Revd T. Molloy and Revd W. O’Kennedy, (president of St Flannan’s College, Ennis). Besides the clergy the following also attended: Messrs Sean McNamara, Con Kearney, M. Nugent, P.C. Casey, M. O’Brien, M. Hegarty, A. Brennan, J. Barrett, J. Spellissy, M. Quin, RDC, D. Bugler, J. Crowe, T. McGrath, P. Brody, T. Considine, J. Spellissey and M. McInerney. The meeting, after some discussion on the merits of various candidates, unanimously agreed that Peadar Clancy of Cranny should be the candidate in the forthcoming election. Peadar Clancy fought during the Easter Rising; he had been sentenced to death and was currently serving a ten-year sentence of penal servitude. After selecting their candidate, the members formed a provisional election committee and appointed three men as joint secretaries – Revd M. Crowe, CC, and Messrs M. O’Brien and S. McNamara. The provisional committee then decided to summon a convention at the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis, on Thursday 14 June at 12 noon (old time), to select a Sinn Féin candidate and to form an election committee.

  More than 200 delegates attended the Sinn Féin Convention in the Old Ground Hotel. Revd A. Clancy, PP, acted as chairman, while Revd M. Crowe, CC, acted as secretary. Mr Sean Milroy of the central executive of Sinn Féin addressed the meeting, after which nominations for the vacancy took place. Five candidates were proposed and seconded. After a full discussion, the names of four of the candidates were withdrawn in favour of Professor Eamon de Valera, Dublin, who was one of the commandants during Easter Week and had been sentenced to death, but this had been commuted to penal servitude for life. As can be seen from the lists of those attending the Sinn Féin meetings, the Catholic clergy took a prominent part in the Sinn Féin organisation. Acting as chairmen or secretaries, they would have been a very influential voice for moderation among the other delegates.25

  According to Michael Brennan, de Valera was not a compromise candidate. Brennan stated that he, himself, was ‘on the run’ and was approached after a meeting of Volunteers and Sinn Féin members in Ennis to stand for the constituency. Brennan declined the offer and sugge
sted de Valera. Brennan’s brother Paddy wrote to another brother, Austen, that all the older men and the clergy wanted Eoin McNeill to stand for election. There was, apparently, a majority at the convention in favour of McNeill. However, Austen Brennan stated, after an adjournment, that if McNeill were selected by the convention that the Volunteers would not support him and they would put up de Valera to oppose both McNeill and the Home Rule Party candidate, Patrick Lynch.26

  A Soldier’s Song

  The combination of the death of Willie Redmond, MP, the 1916 Rising, the influence of bishops such as Bishop O’Dwyer, and the feeling of betrayal by Mr Asquith towards Ireland, brought about the conversion of the Clare Champion proprietors to the policies of Sinn Féin. In the issue of 30 June the editorial described Mr Patrick Lynch as ‘a crown prosecutor, who had never once advocated the cause of nationalism or Irish Independence’. On the other, hand the Clare Champion editor, with the support of the proprietors, the Galvin family, became enthusiastic supporters of de Valera. He was described as a man who appealed to the voters of East Clare to show their horror and detestation of the manner in which the English Government shot the leaders of the Dublin Rebellion. The Clare Champion described the ‘affecting scenes the wild enthusiasm and the tremendous reception given to de Valera when he arrived in Ennis’ before the election. The words of ‘A Soldier’s Song’ were boldly printed on the front page and his visit was comprehensively covered.

  A SOLDIER’S SONG

  We’ll sing a song, a soldier’s song

  With cheering, rousing chorus

  As round our blazing fires we throng

  The starry heavens o’er us.

  Impatient for the coming fight

  And as we wait the morning’s light

  Here in the silence of the night

  We’ll sing a soldier’s song.

  (Chorus)

  Soldiers are we

  Whose lives are pledged to Ireland.

  Some have come

  From a land beyond the wave

  Sworn to be free

  No more our ancient sire land

  Shall shelter the despot or the slave.

  Tonight we man the gap of danger

  In Erin’s cause, come woe or weal

  ’Mid cannons roar and rifles peal

  We’ll chant a soldier’s song.

  It should be noted that ‘A Soldier’s Song’ was written by Peadar Kearney in 1907. It was adopted by the Irish Volunteers as their marching song. It was translated into Irish by Liam O’Rinn in 1923 and ‘Amhrán na bhFiann’ became the Irish National Anthem in 1926.

  The paper noted that ‘a frenzied effort was being made to frighten the voters of Clare into the belief that de Valera is a desperado and an anarchist out for revolution, bloodshed and strife’. There seems to have been some truth in these allegations as one parish priest, Fr Slattery, PP of Quin, had urged the people to vote for Mr Patrick Lynch, KC, the Home Rule candidate, or else, he said, ‘they would face red ruin and revolution’. Another Catholic clergyman, Fr Hayes from Feakle, denounced Sinn Féin as having ‘a policy of socialism, bloodshed and anarchy which struck at the root of authority’. He appealed to his congregation to ‘save our country and our religion from a great danger by returning Mr Lynch, and not a foreigner, by an overwhelming majority at the head of the poll’. Fr P. Gaynor noted that ‘separation women’ put up fierce opposition to Sinn Féin.

  Eamon de Valera, c. 1916. (Courtesy of National Library of Ireland)

  However, one prominent national priest, Fr James Clancy, PP of Kilballyowen, spoke out publicly on de Valera’s behalf and in a letter to the Clare Champion of 30 June launched a powerful attack upon Mr Lynch: ‘There are two candidates for the honour of representing East Clare, Mr De Valera, with the shadow of an English prison still upon him and Mr P. Lynch, KC, with the hallmark of Dublin Castle. One has worn England’s chains, the other has worn England’s livery … Is Mr Lynch a nationalist, if so he has managed to conceal it very well? Can his most devoted partisan point to a single word or act of his on behalf of Ireland? …’ Meanwhile, the Clare Journal observed that the contest would be an historic one between Commandant de Valera, who represented the spirit of 1916, and Mr Lynch, of old Clare stock, representing constitutional methods, which won so much for Ireland.

  According to police reports, just before the election leaflets were circulated throughout the county, warning voters that the choice was between de Valera and conscription! One leaflet asked the question: ‘Who will you follow, the men who fought for you in Dublin, or the men who would have sent you to meet German guns?’27

  On his journey to Clare before the election, Mr de Valera paid a courtesy visit to Dr O’Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, who by then had become a strong supporter of Sinn Féin. With this ecclesiastical blessing from the most nationalistic of bishops, along with his republican pedigree, Mr de Valera won the election by a huge margin, defeating Mr Lynch by a margin of 5,010 votes to 2,035.

  After the election victory de Valera made triumphal tours of the county as the people rejoiced. Sinn Féin branches sprouted up all over the county, especially in the rural parishes. They were set up in places such as Ballynacally, Kilmihil, Coore, Knockerra, Kilmaley, Carron, Inagh, Kilrush, Ennis, Clare Castle, Ballyea, Kilshanny, Tulla, Quin, Kildysart, Inch, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Killimer, Kilbane, Ballycorick, Inch, Cloonanaha and Cratloe. Besides these, many branches of Cumann na mBan and Connradh na Gaeilge were established in the county. There were mass meetings held in towns and republican flags appeared all over the county.28

  Dr Fogarty, who, according to Gaynor, ‘kept strict silence during the election’, now openly declared his sympathy for Sinn Féin and sent a congratulatory message to the newly elected Sinn Féin MP. In this letter, addressed to Mr T.V. Honan, Bishop Fogarty regretted that he could not come to a public meeting to celebrate de Valera’s election. There were loud cheers for Bishop Fogarty at the meeting when the secretary to the meeting, Revd W. O’Kennedy, of St Flannan’s College read out the bishop’s letter:

  Dear Mr Honan,

  I join with you and the people of the county in giving a warm welcome to the brave and honourable representative of East Clare, Eamon de Valera. He stands for the honest policy of Irish independence, which should have behind it, and please God, will soon have behind it, the whole manhood of Ireland, both north and south.

  Had we that acknowledged right of every nationality, and were we free from all intermeddling in our national affairs by English cabinets, who have made such a mess of their own big business, the country would not now be convulsed by the horrors of Mountjoy Prison and the death of poor Thomas Ashe, to whose persecuted soul may the good God show eternal mercy.

  At this moment not one but several young men from Clare are undergoing the same infamous torture in the same degrading dungeon. And for what crime? Have they wronged or injured any man, or menaced public peace in any way? No, but they have been openly drilling, with no thought of injury or insult to any man. And for so doing they are arrested – some of them I am told mere lads of 17 years old – and thrust into prison and degraded to the level of jailbirds; and because their manly spirit preferred death to degradation of that kind, we have the hunger strike and forcible feeding with all its disgusting episodes. The whole proceeding is, I presume to say, a disgrace to civilised government.

  Public order is impossible in a community where young people are tyrannised over as they are now in Clare by petty officials because they had the audacity to elect Eamon de Valera as their sterling representative.

  Wishing your meeting and your efforts for Irish freedom every success and the blessing of God.

  I am, yours sincerely,

  Michael Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe.

  Dr Fogarty’s letter to Mr T.V. Honan was published in the Clare Champion of 6 October, 1917.29

  Bishop O’Dwyer died on 19 August 1917 and his great friend Bishop Fogarty gave the eulogy at his memorial Mass about a month later. Bishop O�
�Dwyer had been the moral leader of the Irish opposition to the war and now it seems that the role was falling upon Dr Fogarty. He gave a powerful panegyric about Dr O’Dwyer, which included the following:

  For the crisis is soon to come which will test to the core the stuff that Irishmen are made of. When brave and heroic Irishmen were being shot down in Dublin with unmerciful brutality, when poor Irish emigrants were being kicked and spat upon in the streets of Liverpool, when the whole country was being raided of its manhood and dragooned into terror, the one man in the land who had the courage to raise his voice in Christian protest and challenge the march of tyranny was the Bishop of Limerick.

  Then Bishop Fogarty published a leaflet entitled, The Sinn Féin Banner of Irish Independence, a letter from the Bishop of Killaloe, which had the following, ‘We had almost ceased to be Irish until Sinn Féin arose and struck the English rust from the soul of Ireland. Unfortunately that rust had eaten deep and spoiled many a good Irish heart.’ Bishop Fogarty later sent a letter to Edward Lysaght of Raheen in which he expressed his fear ‘that Home Rule would only be a sham’.

  Though he openly supported Sinn Féin after 6 October 1917, there is evidence that Dr Fogarty was moving towards supporting Sinn Féin policies, including abstention from Westminster, as early as May 1917. In a letter to Bishop O’Dwyer he stated:

  … The older folks, especially the older clergy, are not prepared to contemplate abstention yet. The (Home Rule) party is contemptible. The country would gladly give an independent party a new flag. The best course for Plunkett [Count Plunkett, father of the 1916 patriot, Joseph Plunkett], and Sinn Féin would be to form such a party, and having got it, then retire from the House of Commons, if they didn’t get what they wanted …30