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Hallowed Ground --The Fenian Graves at New York's Calvary Cemetery
†
Liam Ó Murchadha, do, scrí
The tragic lesson of An Gorta Mór, the
Great Hunger of mid-19th century Ireland
during which, as John Mitchel pointed out, the English
government encouraged and aggravated the Famine in
Ireland, for the purpose of thinning the population - An
Gorta Mór and the painful lessons of the 1848 “Young
Ireland” Rising, were as instructive to the Irish as the
Nazi-period and the Holocaust would later be to the
Jews. The population of Ireland was reduced by a half,
with half of those gone never living to see the bright
sun of Freedom, which shines upon America.
Consequent to 1848, the locus of Irish Revolutionary /
Republican activity shifted from Dublin to New York.
That conspiratorial élite of Irish exiles (including:
John O’Mahony, Michael Doheny and Michael Corcoran)
would initiate activities which would bring about the
formation of the 69th Regiment of New York,
and other American militia units, not only to be ready
to defend the Liberty of the land which had given them
refuge, but also to prepare a cadre to assist in the
future liberation of Ireland. These men, among
Ireland’s exiled children in America, would cause the
formation of the IRB / the Fenian Brotherhood,
which ultimately would organize the Irish Volunteers of
the 20th century, and summon the nation to
rise up and strike for freedom in the 1916 Easter
Rising, which, in turn, led to the formation of Oglaigh na hÉireann, the IRA.
In a close
spiritual communion with our Fenian dead, and with the
still militant believers in the Fenian Faith, we
continue to pledge to Ireland our love. We are mindful
of the example and of the words of Theobald Wolfe Tone
in 1798, of the necessity “to break the connection with England,
the never failing source of all our political evils, and
to assert the independence” of All Ireland - Ireland, as Pearse
taught, and as we would surely have her, Níl Saor
amháin, acht Gaolach; Níl Gaolach amháin, acht Saor - “Not Free merely, but Gaelic as well; not Gaelic
merely, but Free as well.” Like those who erected
this high cross we further pledge to continue to work in
the cause of Irish Freedom.
Mindful of the
Tradition entrusted to us, exemplified by this high
cross guarding these Fenian Graves, we should
again cite Pearse, “… we know only one definition of
freedom, it is Tone’s definition; it is Mitchel’s
definition; it is Rossa’s definition.
Let no man
blaspheme the cause that the dead generations of Ireland
served by giving it any other name and definition than
their name and their definition.”
On this Feast of
Christ the King, we should remember that Christ
is the only king before whom any Irish knee should
bend. [Fenian Memorial, Sunday, 20th
November 2011] ###
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