CÉADAOIN -- On June 1, 1866, the Fenian Brotherhood undertook the most famous action of its history: the invasion of Canada. Mexican and…

Ireland's sons were outnumbered and outgunned in their native land by those who would impose the chains of bondage on them. Though Ireland meant much to them, freedom meant more and they fled their homeland for the far corners of the world bringing with them the traditions of a warrior race. Sadly, warfare has been part of Ireland's existence throughout…

In France, during the reign of King Henry IV (1589-1610), a series of recurring religious conflicts erupted and grew so violent they became known as the Wars of Religion. The war was between the ruling Catholics and a…

It was shortly after 5 pm on the hot afternoon of June 1, 1921, in Milltown, County Kerry when the sharp ringing of the phone shattered the still air of the doctor’s office. Thirty-eight-year-old Dr. Daniel Sheehan, whom many of the…

         Once upon a time in Ireland — at least at the time I made my first trip in 1984, and even a decade later — a salad was not a salad as we know it today: think a few leaves of iceberg and a slice or two of tomato. Perfectly acceptable at…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 22, 1805, Young Irelander Michael Doheny (right) was born in Fethard, Co. Tipperary. Doheny joined O'Connell's Repeal Association in the 1830s and wrote for the Young Irelanders' publication, The Nation, under the name Eiranach. He fled to the…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 15, 1847, Syria, the first ship to arrive during what Quebecois would call the 'Summer of Sorrow,' landed at the Canadian quarantine station in the St. Lawrence River, just north of Quebec. The French had called that…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 8, 1857, William Brown, of Foxford, Co. Mayo, an Admiral in the Argentine navy, died in Buenos Aires. Brown first came to the New World as a boy, when his family immigrated to the United States in 1786. He later went to sea on a merchant ship. Pressed into the British navy in 1796,…

On this day 5^th May 1981 a daring political statement was made when a young man died while adhering to the ancient Irish Brehon law of “Troscad.” 

The phenomenon known as ‘troscad’ (translated as ‘hunger strike’) is nothing new in Irish society. It predates Christianity, which swept Ireland in the mid-5^th…

Rocks and stones have always been special to the Irish. The Stone of Fal, reportedly brought to Ireland by the Tuatha de Dannan, was said to have the power to roar – but only when a man fit to rule Ireland stood upon it. The Rock of Doone, similarly only roared out under one fit to be a Chieftain of the…