An archaeological assessment at 2-5 Meath Market, South Earl Street (beside HI’s offices) has uncovered substantial structures of archaeological significance, which appear to be the remains of the medieval Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr. The abbey, later known as Thomas Court, was founded in March 1177 by William fitz Audelin, a deputy and kinsman … Read more
In Ireland today, as elsewhere, fosterage finds its place in society as a much altered carry-over from the past. Nowadays, it arises for a negative reason: the inability of biological parents to cope, for whatever reason. Fosterage in the past was the antithesis of this. It was a form of child-rearing chosen and upheld for … Read more
Patrick’s own writings, in the form of two documents, have survived the passage of time. One, the Confessio, is a defence against his critics. The other is an indignant letter to a man called Coroticus who had taken some of Patrick’s newly baptised followers into slavery. The problem with these writings, which amount to no … Read more
Mel Gibson’s recently released film Braveheart, based rather loosely on the life of the Scots hero William Wallace, has engendered much debate and not a little criticism. It is a far from perfect production with many distortions of fact and some cringe-inducing historical gymnastics. In many cases these misconstructions were not necessary. We could have … Read more
One of the most carefully fostered aspects of the image of the Catholic priest is that he is without a wife. Indeed, this image has been built up by the church administration as an essential part of its own esprit de corps. In recent centuries, certainly since clerical problems in mid-eighteenth-century France, church authorities have … Read more