Now the second part of a projected three-part series, ‘Tipperary 1917-1921 – a history in 80 documents’, again from the ‘Finding Tipperary‘ series of publications, will be launched by Councillor Seamus Hanafin, in ‘The Source’ building, Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, on SaturdayAugust 24th next at 3:00pm.
Open Invitation. An open invitation is extended to anybody with an interest in the history of Tipperary during that dramatic period.
Tipperary 1917-1921
The publication edited by Denis G. Marnane and Mary Guinan Darmody of Tipperary Studies, ‘Tipperary 1917-1921’, looks at events and personalities in the county during the War of Independence and the years leading up to Soloheadbeg. Through a series of documents including witness statements, letters, diary entries and newspaper reports, readers can view these events through the eyes of those present at the time.
The publication has received funding under the Tipperary Commemorations programme. Copies will be available free of charge from branch libraries and Tipperary Studies, to all those with an interest in this period.
A series of accompanying banners will tell the story in a temporary exhibition which will travel round the county in the coming months.
Note: For those of you residing abroad this free publication can be obtained on advance receipt of the cost of postage.
All are welcome to the official launch and for further information, contact Tel: 076 1066123or Email studies@tipperarycoco.ie
Pic. Left: Window dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas. Pic. Top Right: Summa Theologiae. Pic. Bottom Right: Archbp. Dr. Thomas Croke.
Ireland’s National Heritage Week 2019 begins August 17th.
Forgetting briefly the everyday religious benefits obtained by Thurles and Tipperary people; not to mention the same religious spiritual advantages enjoyed by hundreds of visiting day-trippers down through the centuries; it remains necessary to continue to reveal the history, relating to the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles, latter a truly magnificent edifice, built to the glory of God.
Slightly to the right hand side and to the rear as you face the Cathedral’s interior Tabernacle, can be viewed a stained-glass window, dedicated to Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274), probably born in the castle of Roccasecca in the Province of Frosinone, in the Lazio region of Italy, and who became a Dominican priest and Scriptural Theologian.
The dedicated window portrays the Saint, the son of Landulf of Aquino and his wife Theodora, holding a scroll containing the text of his Summa Theologiae, latter written between 1265 & 1274 and also known as the Summa Theologica or simply the Summa.
Summa Theologiae, Summa Theologica or Summa
The Summa Theologiae is the best-known work of St. Thomas Aquinas. Although never completed, same remains one of the most influential works within Western literature and a compendium of all of the main theological teachings held by the Catholic Church.
Same was intended as an instructional guide, not just for the few literate laity of that period, but also for theology students, including seminarians; to whom are extolled the five arguments required to prove the existence of God, which are known as the “five ways” or “five proofs” (In Latin: quinque viae).
The stained-glass window is the work of the renowned German stained-glass designer and manufacturing company of Franz Mayer, Munich. It is interesting to note that on closer inspection of this stained-glass window, the facial features of the late Archbishop Dr. Thomas William Croke appear; thus, replacing the unknown facial characteristics of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Text on the base of the window asks for prayers for Dr. Thomas Croke (D.Div.), [1824 – 1902], latter former Archbishop of Cashel and Emly and first patron of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Currently the largest Irish GAA stadium, “Croke Park“, situated at Jones’ Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 3, in which Tipperary will meet and hopefully defeat old rivals Kilkenny, in the 2019 Senior All Ireland hurling challenge, continues to be named in his honour.
A former Co. Tipperary woman, Ms Helen Maguire, aged 71 and Mrs Christine Skipsey aged 52; women at the centre of a baby mix-up, are now to seek High Court approval to bring a lawsuit against the former Sisters of Charity adoption society, previously known as St. Patrick’s Guild in Temple Hill, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
We understand Ms Maguire, a single mother, had her baby in London in 1966 and back then wished to keep her baby’s birth a secret from her immediate family. Ms Maguire, briefly placed her new born baby for safekeeping with the Sisters of Charity, in order to make a brief return visit home to her family in December of that same year.
Seeking somewhere to leave her daughter for safekeeping for some 6 weeks, she, on the advice of Fr. Michael Cleary (The “Singing Priest”), choose the Roman Catholic adoption society at Blackrock, in Co. Dublin, for that purpose.
Details of this story were first revealed back in June by the online newspaper Independent.ie
DNA tests, later conducted, revealed and confirmed, with 99.9% certainty, that Mrs Skipsey; the baby then returned to Ms Maguire, was indeed not the biological daughter of its mother.
The women are now seeking an apology from the Religious Sisters of Charity, which ran the adoption society in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, together with the Irish State; due to the perceived alleged failure by An Bord Uchtála, latter the former Irish adoption board then appointed by the Government.
Mrs Christine Skipsey now lives in Hertfordshire, north London, with her husband, while it is believed that the biological daughter of Ms Maguire was adopted by a married couple, then residing in Dublin.
Currently, it remains unclear to both women whether this mother / baby mix-up was deliberate or an honest mistake, however their search for the truth is expected to be greatly impeded by the fact that the Religious Sisters who were then involved, are no longer in the land of the living.
The Stoney family were once prominent landlords, here in North Tipperary. His mother Ethel Sara Stoney (1881–1976) wasdaughter of Edward Waller Stoney (Borrisokane, North Tipperary) and Sarah Crawford (Cartron Abbey, Co. Longford); Protestant Anglo-Irish gentry.
Educated in Dublin at Alexandra School and College; on October 1st 1907 she married Julius Mathison Turing, latter son of Reverend John Robert Turing and Fanny Boyd, in Dublin. Born on June 23rd 1912, Alan Turing would go on to be regarded as one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century.
A brilliant mathematician and cryptographer Alan was to become the founder of modern-day computer science and artificial intelligence; designing a machine at Bletchley Park to break secret Enigma encrypted messages used by the Nazi German war machine to protect sensitive commercial, diplomatic and military communications during World War 2. Thus, Turing made the single biggest contribution to the Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany, possibly saving the lives of an estimated 2 million people, through his effort in shortening World War II.
In 2013, almost 60 years later, Turing received a posthumous Royal Pardon from Queen Elizabeth II. Today, the “Turing law” grants an automatic pardon to men who died before the law came into force, making it possible for living convicted gay men to seek pardons for offences now no longer on the statute book.
Alas, Turing accidentally or otherwise lost his life in 1954, having been subjected by a British court to chemical castration, thus avoiding a custodial sentence. He is known to have ended his life at the age of 41 years, by eating an apple laced with cyanide.
The character of Alan Turing was played by actor Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game,“ latter a 2014 highly recommended film.
Remember Ireland’s National Heritage Week 2019 begins August 17th – August 25th.
To the less well informed, he appears to be carrying a Hurley stick, and this comes as no surprise since his icon is to be found in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, latter the undisputed home of hurling.
He is regularly a point of focus; visited on numerous occasions daily here in the Cathedral of the Assumption Thurles, since he is also the Patron Saint of hope for ‘hopeless cases and lost causes.’
Indeed, for this latter reason we understand many hurling supporters from Co. Laois have made a pilgrimage here to Thurles Cathedral this week, hoping for a better outcome, but in the knowledge that they will be forced to do battle with the mighty Tipperary hurling selection next Sunday. 🤣 🤣 🤣
All jesting aside, the Saint to whom I refer of course is St. Jude (Judas Thaddaeus), one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. A farmer by trade; St. Jude according to legend, was the son of Clopas and Mary of Clopas, herself a sister of the Virgin Mary, latter the mother of Jesus.
St. Judas Thaddaeus became known as simply St. Jude after early translators of the New Testament sought to disassociate his similar name totally from that of another apostle named as Judas Iscariot; subsequently abbreviating his forename. The Bible informs us that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ to “a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people”, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in Jerusalem.
The icon of St. Jude (Judas Thaddaeus) can be located over to the right-hand-side, as the visitor faces the Tabernacle in Thurles Cathedral; displayed in one of the many beautiful stained-glass windows, designed and manufactured by Franz Mayer & Co of Munich, Germany. And no, he is not carrying a Hurley stick in his right hand, rather he holds a Hurley shaped club, the symbol or attribute of what was to be his eventual martyrdom.
The window asks for prayers for Anastasia Hayes, Thurles.
After Jesus Christ’s death and following his precise command, (“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”), Saint Jude began preaching the Gospel in Judea, Samaria (Palestine), Idumaea (Jordan), Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq, Kuwait) and Libya. He was to suffer martyrdom about 65 AD in Beirut, Syria, together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, (the Zealot – to distinguish him from Simon Peter).
Sometime after his death, his body was brought from Beirut to Rome and placed in a crypt in St. Peter’s Basilica. Today, his bones are in the left transept of St. Peter’s Basilica under the main altar of St. Joseph in one tomb with the remains of the apostle Simon the Zealot.
It should be noted that almost all Christian Saints were traditionally represented in visible format by a symbol or attribute, usually carried in their hand. These symbols associated with their life, made them easily identifiable in the past to the vast majority of earlier pilgrims, whom then would have been mostly illiterate.
On the Thurles icon, St Jude is depicted holding in his left hand a book, said to be the ‘Epistle of Jude’, latter containing only 25 verses and to be found in the penultimate (second last) book of the New Testament series of writings.
The surname Thaddeus means ‘generous’, ‘courageous’ or ‘kind’. It is not therefore surprising that still today millions of people throughout our world and in today’s often confused and disorderly times, chat to him. Same are most often seeking a safe path away from incurable diseases found to be outside the reach of modern medical science. Their problem may be one of extreme poverty; mental depression; associated family distress or feelings of utter helplessness.
“If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”. – St Mark Chapter 9: Verse 23.
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