Thoughts on the Centenary of the Rising

Easter Monday fell on April 24 in 1916 and was the day when a band of Irish Republican Brothers struck for independence the centuries’ old dominion of England and gain the freedom to be once again a sovereign nation. They proclaimed this Republic by occupying the General Post Office (GPO) and other buildings in the city and by reading the Proclamation of Independence on the steps of the GPO in the centre of Dublin city. Patrick Pearse was one of their most prominent leaders and he and the six other signatories were executed quite mercilessly, and without trial, in early May. Some months later the poet William Butler Yeats described these happenings in his poem “A Terrible Beauty is Born”. Whether that is so, is for others to adjudicate on and is perhaps, a work in progress, on many levels.

These men who led the rising were noble men, in the main writers, poets, dreamers, academics who had a vision greater than themselves for which they were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. Their courage and faith is something to be commemorated in this centenary year regardless of the merits of their political wisdom or military acumen. The War of Independence followed which ended with the signing of the Treaty with England in December 1921, a treaty which left the country divided; six counties of Ulster still part of Britain and an oath of allegiance to the British monarch one of its conditions. A bitter civil war ensued before what was called Irish Free State was established in 1922/23. It is not my intention, nor indeed within my competence, to comment on the rights and wrongs of the events of those few years – whether the injustices of generations of oppression justified them or not. That is for history and others to reflect and judge on.

It is, however, timely and salutary to consider how those men who sacrificed their lives would see the Republic of Ireland now and what they might have to say to our political leaders and us the populace who seem to have sold out on so much of what our ancestors held dear i.e. the Christian principles and convictions that sustained and informed them through the centuries. It is true that Ireland has taken her place among the nations of the world and has much to celebrate in its contribution on the world stage – notably its people who are far flung, well educated across the range of human endeavours; gallant in the sporting arenas, imaginative and creative in the world of the Arts and more. We now have, among our citizens other many from other nations whose arrival and diversity are an enriching factor. They are very welcome and have much to contribute to the common good in an open democratic country endowed with beautiful scenery and fertile land.

What about the inherent contradictions in how the current political culture reflects the heritage and culture it has received from the time of Saint Patrick who brought the Christian faith to Ireland in 432 AD and largely influenced the men of 1916? This faith that cost of our ancestors very dearly down through the centuries through the penal laws, persecutions, loss of lands, language, and most painfully the freedom to practice their Catholic faith in the wake of the Reformation, this faith that was sustained by the Rosary, love for Our Lady and the heroism of priests who risked their lives by saying Mass on the mass rocks still to be seen throughout the country.

Those many who emigrated, especially in the 1800s brought that faith with them steadfastly and often with great fortitude. On a visit to St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York some years ago I was very moved on reading that the people who gathered the money together to buy the site on Fifth Avenue where it now stands were the “Brigids” of New York as they were known by in those days – in other words the very many Irish women who emigrated and found work as nannies or domestic helpers in a city that was not particularly welcoming to Catholics. Thinking about the context of those times, I was impressed by their fortitude and their generosity but, most especially by their faith in God which gave them the superiority complex to plan this magnificent cathedral which was to become the first Catholic cathedral built in the English speaking world after Catholic Emancipation was passed in the House of Commons in 1829! (The American civil war intervened so after the foundation stone was blessed and laid it was forty years before the building could start) – but undaunted, start it did!

Let us not forget that the late 1800s and the first fifty or sixty years of the twentieth century saw Irish missionaries bring the light of the Gospel to far flung places long before phones, TV, texting WiFi, mass air travel etc made distances and partings bearable. Their legacy is there for all to see in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Today, there are inherent contradictions in the way aspects of our hard won sovereignty are conducted and our culture respected. (Bear in mind that the vast majority of people living in Ireland are baptised Christians.) For example; The preamble to our Constitution (written in 1937) begins as follows: “In the Name of the most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred…”. Nonetheless, referenda in recent times have voted into law things that contravene God’s law and most recently even the Natural Law. It would seem at least reasonable to either uphold the Preamble thus stated or take it out in the interest of legal integrity.

Another thing to consider at this juncture is the fact that the only woman to be crowned Queen of Ireland is Mary, the Jewish girl from Nazareth of the House of David who became the mother of the son of God Jesus Christ. This coronation happened in Kilkenny Castle on May 13, 1210 and has never been revoked despite the vicissitudes of history since then. When Our Lady appeared in Knock in August 1879 she came as a Queen. This is worth thinking about and remembering it was love for her and the praying of the Rosary that helped keep the faith alive in times of persecution.

Thus, as we rightly celebrate this centenary it is fitting to be grateful for so many blessings of this past hundred years, not least the establishment of good relations between Britain and Ireland, not just politically, but in recognition that Baptism unites us in Faith in Jesus Christ who mandated us, as his followers to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole Creation”.

There is a letter written two hundred years after the birth of Jesus to a Christian by the name of Diognetus that has survived which merits considering “Christians are to the world what the soul is to the body.” Does that resonate in our Christian hearts with great humility recognising the triumph of the Cross?

This centenary commemoration in Ireland neatly coincides with the Jubilee year of Mercy that Pope Francis has called in the Church. Let us re-engage with our Christian faith asking God’s mercy for our neglect of it. It is a Faith that is confident in God and in itself, and has no fear of public debate about its principles and convictions. The men who died in 1916 would agree that the only true liberty for the human person is the recognition that God is the Lord of the cosmos and the creator of man. His most powerful message is Mercy when we turn to Him.