The struggle between the Catholic Church and the Fenians, as this evolved in the mid-nineteenth century, had its origins in the wider context of the church’s horror of revolution and revolutionary movements. The locus classicus for this antipathy was the experience of the French Revolution and its aftermath. Equally, the spectre of revolution haunted Europe … Read more
Women provided an important part of the material support for the Fenian movement. Fenian women not only assisted in tactical efforts but also in fund-raising and prisoner support. Their most visible work was the Ladies’ Committee, established in 1865 soon after the suppression of the IRB newspaper The Irish People and the arrests of many … Read more
James Stephens and John O’Mahony, the formal founders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1858, had been out in ’48 but questioned the leadership of William Smith O’Brien. Unwilling to sanction even the commandeering of private property, O’Brien’s rising ended in the inglorious failure to dislodge less than 50 police from Widow McCormack’s house near … Read more
TheFenian spirit is ever present in Ireland and needs at any time but alittle organisation to make it burst into renewed activity.’ So wroteJohn O’Leary in 1896. O’Leary had been a leading Fenian, playing asignificant editorial role on the Irish People, for which in 1865 he,alongside other leading figures, was convicted of treason-felony andsent into … Read more