NEWTOWNSANDES
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WAR: The Executive Accountability Act would have prohibited presidents, vice presidents, and other Executive Office officials “from knowingly and willfully misleading Congress of the United States for the purpose of gaining support for the use of force by the Armed Forces of the United States.” This, Fisher argues, would have pleased the Founders.
“They knew the danger of executive wars,” he writes. “They understood that executive military initiatives threaten the legislative powers of war and spending and undermine popular government.”
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This from a Jewish doctor.Mart
We know what Hamas, Hezbolah and the Houties are doing to make the world a better place. Let's see what Israel is doing to help the world on just the medical front alone. And just think what the descendants of 6 million other Jewish people could have accomplished.
What Israeli Medicine is Working On.
The Israelis do not make islands in the shape of palm trees, towering skyscrapers, expensive hotels, nor do their leaders use cars with massive silver bodies (allusion to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates).
The pride of Israel is that its technologies will be able to be used by all humanity:
1. Tel Aviv University is developing a nasal vaccine that will protect people from Alzheimer's and stroke.
2. The Technion Institute of Technology (Haifa), has developed a simple blood test capable of detecting different types of cancer.
3. The Ichlov Center (Tel Aviv) isolated a protein that makes colonoscopy unnecessary to detect colon cancer, with a simple blood test. Colon cancer kills about 500,000 people annually.
4. Acne doesn't kill, but does cause anxiety in teens. The Curlight Laboratory has created a cure. Emitting UV rays at high intensity, kills the bacteria that cause acne.
5. The Given Imaging Laboratory has developed a tiny camera in the form of swallowed pills and transmits thousands of photos of the digestive tract. These high-quality photos (2 per second for 8 hours) can detect polyps, cancers, and sources of bleeding. The photos are sent to a chip that stores them and sends them to a computer. At the end of the process, the chamber is eliminated via the rectum.
6. The Hebrew University (Jerusalem) developed an electrical neurostimulator (batteries) that is implanted in the chest of Parkinson's patients, similar to the pacemaker. The emissions from this device block the nerve signals that cause tremors.
7. The simple smell of a patient's breath can detect if a patient has lung cancer. The Russell Berrie Institute for Nanotechnology has created sensors capable of sensing and registering 42 biological markers that indicate the presence of lung cancer without the need for a biopsy.
8. Catheterization can be dispensed with in many cases. Endopat is a device placed between the indicator fingers, which can measure the state of the arteries and predict the possibility of a heart attack in the next 7 years.
9. The University of Bar Ilan studies a new drug that fights viruses through the bloodstream. It is called Vecoy Trap, as it tricks a virus into self-destruction. Very useful to combat hepatitis, and in the future Aids and Ebola.
10. Israeli scientists at Hadassah Medical Center (Jerusalem) may have discovered the first cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehring's disease, in an Orthodox rabbi. Stephen Hawking, a famous British scientist, suffered from this disease and used methods invented by Israeli scientists to communicate.
You will never get this from main-stream media!
The world shouldn't live on bad news alone …. so spread this as good news.
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Vivian Silver, 74, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist who had been presumed kidnapped by Hamas, was declared dead this week after her remains were found at her home at Kibbutz Be’eri. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she was the longtime director of the Arab Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation, which organized projects joining communities in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In 2014, after the last major war between Israel and Hamas, she helped found Women Wage Peace, which promotes peace-building actions among women from all communities and across the political spectrum.
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Zelenskyy's fundraising drive: Today, President Joe Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has traveled to the U.S. to hold out his hands for some funds for his country's war against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion. "A bipartisan group of senators is struggling to finalize an agreement to tighten border security in exchange for more Ukraine funding," reports Politico, "and the chamber is scheduled to go into recess at the end of this week." It's likely that, if such a bill is drafted up at all, Biden will have to acquiesce to restrictions on asylum seekers as a condition for doling out more aid to Ukraine.
The New York Times characterizes Zelenskyy's visit as a "last-ditch pitch," which seems about right. A CNN poll from August shows how Americans have soured on supporting funding Ukraine's war effort, with roughly 55 percent saying that Congress should not authorize any additional spending and 51 percent saying the U.S. has done enough as-is. Contrast this with the 62 percent, right after Putin's invasion, who supported the U.S. doing more to help Zelenskyy.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGwJJSTrgrsfCqplbZxWfVnmBrL
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Beginning on the 28th of July 1914 World War 1 or the Great War as it's often referred led to the fall of four great imperial dynasties resulting in the destabilization of Europe and a revolution in Russia. The Central Powers (Germany, Austria -Hungary, and Turkey) were pitted against the Allies (France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and the US). After 4 years he Allied Powers claimed victory.
Britain's Mass Voluntary Recruitment
While a nationwide recruitment campaign took place at home for the British army, thousands more Irishmen were already serving or were recruited or conscripted in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Canada. Back in 1914, Ireland was on the verge of securing Home Rule when the Great War broke out. Both unionist and nationalist leaders put their differences aside and supported the war effort against Germany. The Nationalist leader John Redmond rallied support and created the National Volunteers which had approximately 10,000 men. It was this very group that launched the Easter Rising in 1916 while Britain continued to fight in WW1. It is estimated that one in three men of age throughout Ireland served in British forces during the war.
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By Silas Isenjia--Migrants
Kampala, 11 November, 2023 / 8:45 pm (ACI Africa).
African Catholic Journalists have been told to play their part in preserving the dignity of migrants by producing content that exposes agents who are behind the suffering of those who leave their countries in search of better living conditions.
In his address at the seminar that the Union of the African Catholic Press (UCAP) organized in Uganda, Dr. Ben Nnamdi Emenyeonu, a Nigerian researcher who joined other facilitators of the program urged Catholic journalists to use social media to shine a light on the injustices that migrants and refugees face, exposing “heartless agents who exploit young women by sending them abroad for prostitution or tricking them into low-paying jobs as housemaids in the Gulf states.”
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MYANMAR: A report published in March by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the conflict has resulted in a “humanitarian and human rights crisis” in which over 1.3 million people have been displaced and more than 3,000 civilians killed.
According to the U.N. report, as the conflict has escalated the Myanmar military junta has in recent months “stepped up aerial attacks, bombing villages, schools, medical facilities, and encampments for internally displaced persons.”
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By: Betsy Golden Kellem
November 29, 2023
The banjo has a complicated status in American entertainment culture. Sure, it may be Kermit the Frog’s favorite instrument, but more often than not, it’s the butt of jokes that make it seem like the gawky nerd of instruments. Literary scholar and editor Wes Davis, a banjo player himself, laments that even in the modern era, with rockers and bluegrass pickers and celebrities in its corner, for most people “the most familiar image of a banjo player…is still the mute, backwoods Georgia boy in John Boorman’s 1972 film Deliverance.” But the banjo has a rich history in North America, its early popularity driven in large part by Black musicians.
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Listening isn’t free — it costs time, attention, and effort. But what if you could get genuine listening for free? In this episode of Good and Decent, Senior Video Producer Josh Long shares a story about a listening project called Sidewalk Talk where people offer to sit down and listen to you with no strings attached.
We listen to the interview of Aimee Rozen, who is a therapist and one of the listeners in this project. Stay tuned to the end for a special announcement about new things coming with Grotto Podcasts!
Watch this mini-doc here:
Sidewalk Talk Project Offers Free Listening – Mini Doc #169: https://youtu.be/Lx3QHVx_r0g
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Old Times up North
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066416921231
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My first encounter with intergenerational transmission of trauma was in the 1990s, soon after my team documented high rates of PTSD among Holocaust survivors in my childhood community in Cleveland. The first study of its kind, it garnered a lot of publicity; within weeks I found myself heading a newly created Holocaust research center at Mount Sinai staffed largely by professional volunteers. The phone was ringing off the hook. The callers weren’t all Holocaust survivors, though; most were the adult children of Holocaust survivors. One particularly persistent caller—I’ll call him Joseph—insisted that I study people like him. “I’m a casualty of the Holocaust,” he claimed.
When he came in for an interview, Joseph didn’t look like a casualty of anything. A handsome and wealthy investment banker in an Armani suit, he could’ve stepped off the pages of a magazine. But Joseph lived each day with a vague sense that something terrible was going to happen and that he might need to flee or fight for his life. He’d been preparing for the worst since his early 20s, keeping cash and jewelry at hand and becoming proficient in boxing and martial arts. Lately he was tormented by panic attacks and nightmares of persecution, possibly triggered by reports of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
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Israel Hamas war
https://getpocket.com/collections/your-questions-about-the-israel-hamas-war-answered
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Sweeping scenery, ancient stone circles and rugged coastline make the Beara Peninsula one of Ireland's most dramatically beautiful spots. Local photographer Norman McCloskey recently released a striking collection of images which capture the region's untamed beauty. If you've yet to visit the Beara, his work might even inspire your next trip.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/beara-peninsula-photography
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MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE 2023 WORLD DAY OF THE POOR
19 November 2023, Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor” (Tob 4:7)
1. This, the seventh annual World Day of the Poor, is a fruitful sign of the Father’s mercy and a support for the lives of our communities. As its celebration becomes more and more rooted in the pastoral life of the Church, it enables us to discover ever anew the heart of the Gospel. Our daily efforts to welcome the poor are still not enough. A great river of poverty is traversing our cities and swelling to the point of overflowing; it seems to overwhelm us, so great are the needs of our brothers and sisters who plead for our help, support and solidarity. For this reason, on the Sunday before the Solemnity of Jesus Christ King of the Universe, we gather around his Table to receive from him once more the gift and strength to live lives of poverty and to serve the poor.
“Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor” (Tob 4:7). These words help us to understand the essence of our witness. By reflecting on the Book of Tobit, a little-known text of the Old Testament, yet one that is charming and full of wisdom, we can better appreciate the message the sacred writer wished to communicate. We find ourselves before a scene of family life: a father, Tobit, embraces his son, Tobias, who is about to set out on a lengthy journey. The elderly Tobit fears that he will never again see his son, and so leaves him his “spiritual testament”. Tobit had been deported to Nineveh and is now blind, and thus doubly poor. At the same time, he remains always certain of one thing, expressed by his very name: “The Lord has been my good”. As a God-fearing man and a good father, he wants to leave his son not simply material riches, but the witness of the right path to follow in life. So he tells him: “Revere the Lord all your days, my son, and refuse to sin or to transgress his commandments. Live uprightly all the days of your life, and do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing” (4:5).
2. We see immediately that what the elderly Tobit asks of his son is not simply to think of God and to call upon him in prayer. He speaks of making concrete gestures, carrying out good works and practising justice. He goes on to state this even more clearly: “To all those who practice righteousness give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it” (4:7).
The words of this wise old man make us think. We are reminded that Tobit had lost his sight after having performed a work of mercy. As he himself tells us, from youth he had devoted his life to works of charity: “I performed many acts of charity for my kindred and my people who had gone with me in exile to Nineveh in the land of the Assyrians… I would give my food to the hungry and my clothing to the naked; and if I saw the dead body of any of my people thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury it” (1:3.17).
For this act of charity, the king had deprived him of all his goods and reduced him to utter poverty. Still, the Lord had need of Tobit; once he regained his post as an official, he courageously continued to do as he had done. Let us hear his tale, which can also speak to us today. “At our festival of Pentecost, which is the sacred festival of weeks, a good dinner was prepared for me and I reclined to it. When the table was set for me and an abundance of food was placed before me, I said to my son Tobias, ‘Go, my child, and bring whatever poor person you may find of our people among the exiles of Nineveh, who is wholeheartedly mindful of God, and he shall eat together with me. I will wait for you, until you come back’” (2:1-2). How meaningful it would be if, on the Day of the Poor, this concern of Tobit were also our own! If we were to invite someone to share our Sunday dinner, after sharing in the Eucharistic table, the Eucharist we celebrate would truly become a mark of communion. If it is true that around the altar of the Lord we are conscious that we are all brothers and sisters, how much more visible would our fraternity be, if we shared our festive meal with those who are in need!
Tobias did as his father told him, but he returned with the news that a poor man had been murdered and thrown into the market place. Without hesitating, the elderly Tobit got up from the table and went to bury that man. Returning home exhausted, he fell asleep in the courtyard; some bird droppings fell on his eyes and he became blind (cf. 2:1-10). An irony of fate: no good deed goes unpunished! That is what we are tempted to think, but faith teaches us to go more deeply. The blindness of Tobit was to become his strength, enabling him to recognize even more clearly the many forms of poverty all around him. In due time, the Lord would give him back his sight and the joy of once more seeing his son Tobias. When that day came, we are told, “Tobit saw his son and threw his arms around him, and he wept and said to him, ‘I see you, my son, the light of my eyes!’ Then he said, ‘Blessed be God, and blessed be his great name, and blessed be all his holy angels. May his holy name be blessed throughout all the ages. Though he afflicted me, he has had mercy upon me. Now I see my son Tobias’” (11:13-14).
3. We may well ask where Tobit found the courage and the inner strength that enabled him to serve God in the midst of a pagan people and to love his neighbour so greatly that he risked his own life. That of Tobit is a remarkable story: a faithful husband and a caring father, he was deported far from his native land, where he suffered unjustly, persecuted by the king and mistreated by his neighbours. Despite being such a good man, he was put to the test. As sacred Scripture often teaches us, God does not spare trials to those who are righteous. Why? It is not to disgrace us, but to strengthen our faith in him.
Tobit, in his time of trial, discovers his own poverty, which enables him to recognize others who are poor. He is faithful to God’s law and keeps the commandments, but for him this is not enough. He can show practical concern for the poor because he has personally known what it is to be poor. His advice to Tobias thus becomes his true testament: “Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor” (4:7). In a word, whenever we encounter a poor person, we cannot look away, for that would prevent us from encountering the face of the Lord Jesus. Let us carefully consider his words: “from anyone who is poor”. Everyone is our neighbour. Regardless of the colour of their skin, their social standing, the place from which they came, if I myself am poor, I can recognize my brothers or sisters in need of my help. We are called to acknowledge every poor person and every form of poverty, abandoning the indifference and the banal excuses we make to protect our illusory well-being.
4. We are living in times that are not particularly sensitive to the needs of the poor. The pressure to adopt an affluent lifestyle increases, while the voices of those dwelling in poverty tend to go unheard. We are inclined to neglect anything that varies from the model of life set before the younger generation, those who are most vulnerable to the cultural changes now taking place. We disregard anything that is unpleasant or causes suffering, and exalt physical qualities as if they were the primary goal in life. Virtual reality is overtaking real life, and increasingly the two worlds blend into one. The poor become a film clip that can affect us for a moment, yet when we encounter them in flesh and blood on our streets, we are annoyed and look the other way. Haste, by now the daily companion of our lives, prevents us from stopping to help care for others. The parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-37) is not simply a story from the past; it continues to challenge each of us in the here and now of our daily lives. It is easy to delegate charity to others, yet the calling of every Christian is to become personally involved.
5. Let us thank the Lord that so many men and women are devoted to caring for the poor and the excluded; they are persons of every age and social status who show understanding and readiness to assist the marginalized and those who suffer. They are not superheroes but “next door neighbours”, ordinary people who quietly make themselves poor among the poor. They do more than give alms: they listen, they engage, they try to understand and deal with difficult situations and their causes. They consider not only material but also spiritual needs; and they work for the integral promotion of individuals. The Kingdom of God becomes present and visible in their generous and selfless service; like the seed that falls on good soil, it takes root in their lives and bears rich fruit (cf. Lk 8:4-15). Our gratitude to these many volunteers needs to find expression in prayer that their testimony will increasingly prove fruitful.
6. On this, the sixtieth anniversary of the encyclical Pacem in Terris, we do well to take to heart the following words of Pope Saint John XXIII: “Every human being enjoys the right to life, to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, including food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, every individual has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from work; widowhood and forced unemployment; as well as in other cases when, through no fault of his own, he or she is deprived of the means of livelihood” (ed. Carlen, No. 11).
How much still needs to be done for this to become a reality, not least through a serious and effective commitment on the part of political leaders and legislators! For all the limitations and at times the failures of politics in discerning and serving the common good, may the spirit of solidarity and subsidiarity continue to grow among citizens who believe in the value of voluntary commitment to serving the poor. Certainly there is a need to urge and even pressure public institutions to perform their duties properly, yet it is of no use to wait passively to receive everything “from on high”. Those living in poverty must also be involved and accompanied in a process of change and responsibility.
7. In addition, we must once more acknowledge new forms of poverty, as well as those described earlier. I think in particular of peoples caught up in situations of war, and especially children deprived of the serene present and a dignified future. We should never grow accustomed to such situations. Let us persevere in every effort to foster peace as a gift of the risen Lord and the fruit of a commitment to justice and dialogue.
Nor can we ignore those forms of speculation in various sectors, which have led to dramatic price increases that further impoverish many families. Earnings are quickly spent, forcing sacrifices that compromise the dignity of every person. If a family has to choose between food for nourishment and medical care, then we need to pay attention to the voices of those who uphold the right to both goods in the name of the dignity of the human person.
Then too how can we fail to note the ethical confusion present in the world of labour? The inhumane treatment meted out to many male and female laborers; inadequate pay for work done; the scourge of job insecurity; the excessive number of accident-related deaths, often the result of a mentality that chooses quick profit over a secure workplace… We are reminded of the insistence of Saint John Paul II that “the primary basis of the value of work is man himself… However true it may be that man is destined for work and called to it, in the first place, work is ‘for man’ and not man ‘for work’” (Laborem Exercens, 6).
8. This list, deeply troubling in itself, only partially accounts for the situations of poverty that are now part of our daily lives. I cannot fail to mention in particular an increasingly evident form of poverty that affects young people. How much frustration and how many suicides are being caused by the illusions created by a culture that leads young people to think that they are “losers”, “good for nothing”. Let us help them react to these malign influences and find ways to help them grow into self-assured and generous men and women.
When speaking of the poor, it is easy to fall into rhetorical excess. It is also an insidious temptation to remain at the level of statistics and numbers. The poor are persons; they have faces, stories, hearts and souls. They are our brothers and sisters, with good points and bad, like all of us, and it is important to enter into a personal relation with each of them.
The Book of Tobit teaches us to be realistic and practical in whatever we do with and for the poor. This is a matter of justice; it requires us to seek out and find one another, in order to foster the harmony needed for the community to feel itself as such. Caring for the poor is more than simply a matter of a hasty hand-out; it calls for reestablishing the just interpersonal relationships that poverty harms. In this way, “not turning our face away from anyone who is poor” leads us to enjoy the benefits of mercy and charity that give meaning and value to our entire Christian life.
9. May our concern for the poor always be marked by Gospel realism. Our sharing should meet the concrete needs of the other, rather than being just a means of ridding ourselves of superfluous goods. Here too, Spirit-led discernment is demanded, in order to recognize the genuine needs of our brothers and sisters and not our own personal hopes and aspirations. What the poor need is certainly our humanity, our hearts open to love. Let us never forget that “we are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them” (Evangelii Gaudium, 198). Faith teaches us that every poor person is a son or daughter of God and that Christ is present in them. “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).
10. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. In a page of her autobiography, Story of a Soul, she tells us: “I have come to realize that perfect charity means putting up with other people’s faults, not being at all taken aback by their faults, being edified by the smallest acts of virtue that we see practised. But above all, I have come to realize that charity must not remain locked in the depths of one’s heart: ‘No one’, Jesus says, ‘lights a candle to put it under a bushel basket, but puts it on a candle-stand, so that it can give light to everyone in the house’. For me, that candle represents the charity that must give light and bring joy not only to those dearest to me, but to everyone in the house, with the exception of none” (Ms C, 12r°).
In this house of ours, which is the world, everyone has a right to experience the light of charity; no one must be deprived of that light. May the steadfast love of Saint Therese stir our hearts on this World Day of the Poor, and help us not to “turn our face away from anyone who is poor”, but to keep it always focused on the human and divine face of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 13 June 2023
Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Patron of the Poor.
FRANCIS
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A UNIQUE exhibition looking at the futility of violence through quilting will open in Limerick this weekend.
St Mary's Cathedral at Bridge Street in the city centre is to play host to the display, which features work by Ann McCabe, who lost her husband to IRA forces in Adare back in 1996.
The exhibition is being curated in Limerick by local artist Kate Hennessy, who lives in the city centre, and all begins at 1pm this coming Sunday, November 19.
Works will be on display until 5pm on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/1347839/quilts-of-peace-exhibition-coming-to-limerick.html
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Honourary Lieutenant General of the Canadian Armed Forces, Richard Rohmer, one of Canada’s most decorated citizens, sat down with True North for a wide ranging discussion about his role in World World 2 as a fighter-reconnaissance pilot and his general thoughts on Canada.
By the age of 21, Rohmer had flown over 135 successful missions in the war, playing a key role in forcing the German surrender at Holland and flying missions on D-Day
https://tnc.news/2023/11/10/canadian-ww2-pilot-interview/
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The Vietnam War was one of the most disruptive and divisive conflicts of the 20th century.
The struggle for Vietnam dates back centuries, to when Vietnam was ruled by its powerful northern neighbour China. Viet rulers regained control in the 10th century and maintained their autonomy for almost 800 years.
https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/
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Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/239194201/joseph-henri-bechard: accessed 19 November 2023), memorial page for Joseph Henri Bechard (1919–14 Nov 2011), Find a Grave Memorial ID 239194201, citing Sacred Heart Catholic Church Columbarium, Sandgate, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia; Maintained by Patrick N. O'Neill (contributor 49914859).
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/239194201/joseph-henri-bechard#source
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She said her rosaries and had the Stations in the house which were held with due respect and reverence. She was progressive in her thinking, but she never crossed the line with politics. She never wanted her political beliefs passed on to the next generation. As she often said to me ‘You are too young for that information” or “somethings are best left unsaid and kept to yourself”.
The Ballyseedy monument was opened in 1959 and the Curran family was represented but no mention was made of their involvement in the 1923 explosion or incident as it was euphemistically called. Ballyseedy was a sad event which happened long before we were born but the story has been part of the folklore of our lives down the years and whenever we pass the Ballyseedy monument on the way into Tralee we recall Granny Curran and the many memories we have of her long life.
It is interesting that the Curran and Fuller families, in Ireland and America, are still in contact. Although all members of the family are fully au fait with the tragedy of Ballyseedy, they never speak about it. Is binn béal ina thost.
Let the past look after itself as my granny used to say.
https://listowelconnection.com/
Nov 2023
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Bridget Ahern was 76 when she passed away in 1941. She also died in Ahawilk, Feohanagh, in the presence of her son Pat Ahern.
https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/194933454/posts/113
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The Hebron massacre of 1929 is not only ground zero of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but also a vital lesson for anyone who wishes to understand or resolve the existential war Israel is fighting.
When Israelis and Jews across the diaspora cry out that the war with Hamas is not about settlements, the blockade of Gaza, or the stalled peace process, it is 1929 that forms the bedrock of that conviction. In 1929, there was no Israeli oppression to rise up against. Then, as now, the blind rage directed at Jews rested on the refusal of Arab leaders to share this homeland of the Abrahamic faiths with the Jewish people. The line between 1929 and 2023 cuts through a century of Palestinian leaders’ refusal to accept a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish state. The similarities between these massacres and the causes behind them are a testament to how misunderstood this conflict is.
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Ireland
New army pension files shed light on family of John B Keane
Granduncle of BBC journalist Fergal Keane was granted pension based on civil war record
The Black and Tans in operation during the War of Independence. Michael Purtill claimed to have orchestrated an ambush in Kilmorna in which three Black and Tans were killed returning to barracks on April 7th, 1921 though his senior officer contradicted his claim. Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Ronan McGreevy
Sat Oct 12 2019 - 01:10
An uncle of writer John B Keane had to flee Kerry during the civil war when his barracks was overrun by anti-Treaty republicans.
Michael Purtill was in the National Army upholding the Treaty during the civil war when he and 100 men took a boat across the Shannon estuary to safety in Co Clare in 1922.
The pension files of Purtill, his brother Edward and his sister Hannah Keane, John B's mother, have all been recently released in the latest tranche from the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC).
On Tuesday October 15th, The Irish Times, in conjunction with the Department of Defence, will publish The Revolution Files, a special supplement which will feature highlights from the MSPC.
Michael Purtill's file is the most detailed of the three siblings. He lists numerous attacks he was involved in while serving with the Ballydonohue Company in Kerry No. 1 Brigade.
He claimed to have orchestrated an ambush in Kilmorna in which three Black and Tans were killed returning to barracks on April 7th, 1921 though his senior officer contradicted his claim by stating that the men involved were injured. After that attack the IRA executed an old man Sir Arthur Vicars who they suspected of passing on information to British forces.
During the civil war, Michael Purtill took the Free State side unlike most IRA men in the county who went over to the anti-Treaty side.
On June 17th 1922 he sustained a fractured shoulder while making preparations to defend the National Army barracks in Listowel from anti-Treaty troops.
When the barracks was overrun, Purtill, then a captain, gathered 100 men together and fled north to Tarbert where they took a boat across and regrouped in Ennis.
Purtill said he later persuaded a number of anti-Treaty rebels to switch sides and was responsible for arresting Con Dee, one of the main anti-Treaty commanders in the area.
He made much of his service on the Treaty side during his application for a pension.
“Now, gentlemen,” he wrote in 1927, “I hope my appeal will receive your favourable consideration. You have reliable evidence before you, my record is clear during the whole time. I have been a strong supporter of the Government since it was formed and on these considerations, I am looking forward to a decision in my favour.”
He was eventually awarded a pension for five years service.
Both sides of John B Keane’s family were steeped in republican politicians. His father Bill was in the old IRA, but never applied for a pension as he already had a pension as a national school teacher.
However, when he died, Hannah Keane successfully applied for a dependent’s allowance as a widow. She also stated that she had been in Cumann na mBan during the war and was awarded a service medal for her efforts during the War of Independence.
Edward Purtill did not succeed in getting a pension for his efforts during the War of Independence which included digging up the body of an IRA volunteer Michael Galvin who had been buried by the Black and Tans. Galvin was reburied in the family graveyard. Edward Purtill took no part in the civil war.
The involvement of the Keane and Purtill families in the revolutionary period have been covered in BBC journalist Fergal Keane’s family memoir Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love which was published two years ago.
Hannah Keane and Michael Purtill were his grandmother and granduncle respectively. “I was never able to ask my grandmother or her brother Mick what they thought of the civil war,” he wrote.
Both went on after the Civil War to become staunch supporters of the Fine Gael party.
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CONNOR NTS
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=search2
Hi Guys.
I have hit a brick wall with my family tree. My 2nd Great Grandfather, John O'Connor indicates on his New Zealand marriage certificate and his son's birth certificate that he was born in Newtonsandes in 1855, his father was John O'Connor and his mother Johanna Maloney. I have tried all the avenues I can find but have had no luck finding his birth or any further information of his parents.
Can anyone help?
--------------------------
There is a baptismal record for a John Connor parents John Connor and Johana Mahoney in Lixnaw RC parish which is the adjoining parish to Moyvane or Newtownsandes but the date is too early?? 1838.
this family seemed to move around - some baptisms of later children.
See link to record
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/7cb57f0385240
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8
Kerry / Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« on: Thursday 07 May 09 10:00 BST (UK) »
Hi Catherine,
There was a coastal battery at Tarbert at the beginning of the 1800s which was still there in the 1840s http://tinyurl.com/cs9uxg
I don't know if it was there in the 1880s. If someone has access to an Ordnance Survey map of the period they should be able to answer the query.
Christopher
-------------------------------
Royal Marines Tarbert
« on: Friday 25 July 08 15:32 BST (UK) »
Does anyone know anything about a Royal Marine station in Tarbert about 1882 ? My great grandfather Giles Cook from Somerset seems to have been there in 1882 .He married Hanoria Scanlan in the Catholic Church in Ballylongford .His address is shown on the marriage cert as Tarbert and he was a Royal Marine .They had a son in 1864 before returning to Plymouth England .where later my grandfather was born
but I am unable to trace any details of the birth of this son in Ireland .Would there be records in any Marine papers?Any help would be appreciated.
Catherine
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Reply
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Author Topic: Munster Fusiliers in France (Read 24142 times)
Offline namatse
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #27 on: Thursday 03 June 10 10:45 BST (UK) »
I have just been given details of this site and would be grateful for any information regarding Private Timothy O'Neill - RMF 2nd Bn. Service No: 3073 He died on 05/05/1916 and is buried at St Patricks Cemetry LOOS.
Timothy was my Grand fathers brother. Unfortunately I have little knowledge of the family other than that they were living in Cork originally but Timothy's place of residence at time of death is recorded as Ynishir, Glamorgan.
I don't know how old Timothy was or how he died any help or "point me in the right direction for info) would be much appreciated.
namatse
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #28 on: Sunday 15 August 10 08:25 BST (UK) »
Quote from: dncreagh on Tuesday 25 May 10 21:19 BST (UK)
Mitch. My grandfather served with the RMF 1st bn.I would love to know where he fought at. My uncle his son does not know much . He said he was wounded twice and was also gassed in the first gas attack by the germans. his name is Patrick Mcgovern. reg no 4688. Enlisted 23/4/1915. Discharged 27/6/1918 due to gassing.
Private Patrick McGovern 4688, confirm he was listed with the 1st battalion. If you have the correct enlistment date, in all probability he was intially at Gallipoli, then France starting 1916.
He was awarded the Military Medal, the award was Gazetted 19/11/1917.
1st battalion movements extract.
December 1915 - Suvla Bay, Gallipoli was evacuated on the 20th, Anzac followed and arrangements made to evacuate the Cape Helles area in January.
1916 - 1st January - The Battalion supplied working parties to evacuate stores. On the 2nd Jan. Battalion was evacuated from the Gallipoli Peninsula, boarded the trawler 'Princess Alberta' for Mudros, the 6th they transferred to the 'Caledonia' for Egypt, arriving Alexandria on the 8th and then entrained for Suez for rest up period.
1916 - January thru' February - The Battalion remained in the Suez area and men were engaged in sporting activities and light duties, a welcome relief from the trenches of Gallipoli.
1916 - 21st February - Orders were received for the 29th Division to proceed to France.
14th March - The the Battalion embarked on the ship 'Alaunia', entered the Suez Canal at 6.30pm for Port Said where it left on the 16th for France.
1916 - 22nd March - Arrived at Marseilles, Battalion entrained for the journey to Pont Remy, arriving at 4.30pm on the 23rd.
1916 - March December 1918 - The Battalion participated in many major engagements during their time in Belgium and France, it would be a lengthy exercise to present in full the various actions. Listed below are a few of the war sectors they fought in.
1916 - 13th April - The Battalion relieved the 1st Inniskillings in the line in front of Auchonvilers, facing Beaumont Hamel, this was to be their first experience of the trenches of France.
24th April - Orders were received that the 1st Battalion RMF was to be withdrawn from the 29th Division and transferred to the lines of communication at Boulogne base for purposes of recruiting and training.
May - Orders were received to join the 48th Brigade of the 16th (Irish) Division, on the 28th the 1st Battalion left Boulogne for Mazingarbe via Bethune, 6 officers and 283 other ranks from the now disbanded 9th Battalion RMF joined the 1st Battalion. The 9th Battalion had suffered heavily in counter attacks at Loos.
September - In action in the Ginchy sector.
22nd November - The Battalion was transferred to the 47th Brigade, 21 officers and 446 other ranks from the now disbanded 8th Battalion joined the 1st Battalion.
1917 - January - February - In trenches in the Spanbrock sector.
June - Wytschaete Ridge battle. November - Cambrai battle, the Tunnel Trench.
1918 - March - German offensive, Tincourt, Doingt, Morcourt and Proyart battles.
July - September - Drocourt line and Canal du Nord sectors.
November 11th 1918 - at 11.00am. Hostilities ceased. The German High Command signs an Armistice.
I will endeavour to determine from my references why he was awarded M.M. and when likely he was gassed.
Sullivan, O'Sullivan, Higgins, County Kerry
Royal Munster Fusiliers
Offline paddy418
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #29 on: Friday 01 October 10 23:15 BST (UK) »
Quote from: Mitch on Wednesday 15 June 05 15:20 BST (UK)
Hi Tom,
The 2nd Munster Fusiliers left for France as part of the BEF on the 12th of August 1914. They arrived in France at Le Harve on the 13th of August and from there moved to Boue, east of Etreux and remained there until the 23rd Aug. They were not involved in the initial retreat from Mons but were deployed in a rear guard action that lasted several days and saw the Battalion surrounded at Etreux and massacered by the advancing German army. Indeed they did succeed in delaying the German advance and allowed other BEF Battalion's to escape south. Now to answer your questions, I do not believe that your uncle was in Turkey for the simple reason that the 2nd Munsters fought in France also the fact that he signed up on August 14th 1914 is perhaps inaccurate as he more than likely would not have been involved in the Retreat from Mons thus attaining the Mons star. It is more likely that he was part of the initial BEF and in the army before the war broke out.
I cannot see how he could have ended up in Turkey if he was part of the 2nd Munsters. The 1st Munsters were the Battalion in Turkey and they eventually did come back to France but were absorbed into the 2nd Munsters but this was not until some time in 1917.
However if your aunt is correct in saying that he was in the 7th Reserve Battalion then he would have fought in Gallipoli
7TH SERVICE BATTALION
This Battalion was also formed under Lieut.-Colonel H. Gore, and was a component of the 30th Brigade under Brigadier General L.L. Nicol.
This Brigade with the 29th and 31st Brigade's formed the 10th (Irish) Division under Lieut.-General Sir B.T. Mahon K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O. The Battalion was raised by Army Order 324 issued 21st August 1914
BATTLE ZONES
August 1915, to Gallipoli
August 1915, Suvla Bay, Scimitar Hill.
October 1915, Salonica, Kosturino, Struma.
September 1917, Egypt & Palestine, Gaza, Jerusalem, Tell Asur.
May 1918, France, absorbed by 6th Battalion RMF 6th November 1916.
The 2nd Munster timeline is as follows-
1914 -
August - Fought a rearguard action at Etreux.
The action at Etreux became a classic example of the performance of a rearguard. The 2nd Battalion, not even up to full strength, held off a German attack force of superior numbers.
December - Ypres Salient offensive and the Festubert battle.
1915 -
May 9th - Rue du Bois battle. (also known as Aubers Ridge battle). The 2nd Munster's suffered many casualties on this day due to friendly artillery fire. The Battalion's "General Absolution", given by the Chaplain Father Francis Gleeson before battle, was captured in a painting by WW 1 illustrator Fortunino Matania.
June 30th - 1st Division was transferred to IV Corps, the Battalion proceeded to Vermelles
September 25th - Loos sector battles.
1916 -
June - The great raids on German lines at Lievin, 3 miles south of Loos.
July - Commenced the attack on the village of Contalmaison.
September thru' December - Defense of Martinpuich and the Somme offensive.
I am not sure therefore which version of events is true. If he signed up on August 14th 1914 then he was not at Mons. But your aunt is correct in saying that the 7th Bn was in turkey.
Incidently I have the diaries of Fr Francis Gleeson Chaplain to the 2nd Munsters in France 1914-1916. I know for certain that when I was transcribing these I came accross a Fitzmaurice again I do not know it it is your relation but the reason I know this is that one of my friends is Fitzmaurice and they took a particular interest in this name when I pointed it out to them. I will have another look and let you know in the coming days (that's if I can find it again)
KInd Regards
Mitch
Offline paddy418
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #30 on: Friday 01 October 10 23:28 BST (UK) »
My uncle William Drury was a CSM in 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers. He got married from Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee on 16 Feb 1917. His twin children were born in Newtownsandes on 8 Nov 1917 and on the birth certificate William Drury was noted as "Prisoner of War in Germany". In the 9 months between marriage and birth of his children where in France would William Drury have served and been taken prisoner? His regimental number was 7878.
John Buckley
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #31 on: Thursday 07 October 10 21:04 BST (UK) »
Hi i am looking for info on my Granduncle
william Dineen
Born Ballinclogher
Lixnaw
County kerry
Birth: Feb. 11, 1889
Death: Apr. 21, 1916
William joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers in Tralee County kerry Ireland
Rank: Pte.
Regiment: Machine Gun Corps.
Unit; 3rd Company, Infantry.
Service No:19411.
His number was 4519.
He is buried and has a headstone in
Cemetery: Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay in France.
We have a photo of him in his uniform
I would be very greatful for any info as we know nothing of him.
* 24371833_128112365047.jpg (14.95 kB, 250x369 - viewed 872 times.)
* 24371833_128112361660.jpg (31.65 kB, 250x333 - viewed 853 times.)
Offline corisande
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #32 on: Thursday 07 October 10 21:35 BST (UK) »
Re Dineen
Welcome to Rootschat :)
Firstly you probably would have been better starting your own thread, it tends to get buried in a long thread like this one
His MIC tells you
1. Landed in France 2 Sep 1914
2. He was almost certainly in 2nd Battalion RMF
3. You need to plough through Ancestry records to see if there is a service or pension record.
4. Go to Great War Forum to make a post and find out where his MGC unit was the day he died.
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Offline shanew147
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #33 on: Thursday 07 October 10 21:42 BST (UK) »
Quote from: o.reilly on Thursday 07 October 10 21:04 BST (UK)
Hi i am looking for info on my Granduncle
william Dineen
Born Ballinclogher
Lixnaw
County kerry
Birth: Feb. 11, 1889
Death: Apr. 21, 1916
...
maybe you already have this and are looking for later military details -
Baptism of William Dinnen 17 February 1889 (birth 11 Feb) RC Parish of Lixnaw, Co. Kerry
Father Patrick Dinnen
Mother Mary White
from www.irishgenealogy.ie
Shane
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Offline corisande
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #34 on: Thursday 07 October 10 21:45 BST (UK) »
Quote
Re: William Drury, 7878 RMF
His MIC shows he landed in France 23 Mar 1915
He went on to the 5th Territorial Bn Lincs Regt as a CSM, 4795288. You could use that to get his service record as the new numbers were stored elsewhere and have survived - mind you cost you £30, a copy of his death cert and currently a 8 month wait.
Grant in Tipperary
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Offline o.reilly
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Re: Munster Fusiliers in France
« Reply #35 on: Thursday 07 October 10 21:51 BST (UK) »
Thank you for the info on William Dineen
---------------------------
Scanlon (Ballylongford) Hehir Cook
Offline Christopher
Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 07 May 09 10:00 BST (UK) »
Hi Catherine,
There was a coastal battery at Tarbert at the beginning of the 1800s which was still there in the 1840s http://tinyurl.com/cs9uxg
I don't know if it was there in the 1880s. If someone has access to an Ordnance Survey map of the period they should be able to answer the query.
Christopher
Dublin, Ireland
Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 07 May 09 10:16 BST (UK) »
Slater's of 1881 mentions a Fort, on Tarbert Island
'..a tower and battery, to which is attached an establishment of the Royal Artillery, also a light-house..'
the 1894 edition mentions that '..the battery has been dismantled since 1891.'
Shane
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Offline catherinelawrence
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Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 09 May 09 11:06 BST (UK) »
Thanks for your help I visited Tarbert last year but was unable to get much info rmation
Catherine
Scanlon (Ballylongford) Hehir Cook
Offline sartana
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Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #4 on: Friday 18 September 09 10:47 BST (UK) »
Snap.
My ancestor, William Henry HOOPER, from Plymouth, was also a Royal Marine.
He married a Annie Susan CASSIDY at Tarbert Church in 1878. He was based on HMS Valiant, which seems to have been used as a Coast Guard vessel on the River Shannon between the years of 1868 and 1883. Other sources say that the Valiant was the Guard ship based at Tarbert, which was an appointed Coast Guard station.
Here is the wikipedia entry for the ship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Valiant_(1863)
Offline catherinelawrence
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Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #5 on: Friday 18 September 09 12:39 BST (UK) »
Thanks Sartana It is always interesting to hear about anything connected to one`s relatives .It gives more of an idea of how they lived . Catherine
Scanlon (Ballylongford) Hehir Cook
Offline jamesL
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Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #6 on: Friday 12 March 10 22:00 GMT (UK) »
Interested to hear about HMS Valiant. My Great Grandfather John King served on this ship from Sept 1868 till April 1878. I have been trying to access the ships muster for this period without any luck so far.
Jls
Sullivan O'Hanlon McCullough Canning
Kelly King Walsh Green McMorrison
Offline jeanffrench
Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #7 on: Sunday 27 March 16 14:06 BST (UK) »
There was a Coast Guard Station at Ballyheigue, near Tarbert, Co Kerry. My GG Uncle, a Coast Guard, was living at Ballyheigue from at least 1873 to 1876. According to his Coast Guard file at the National Archives, Kew, the name of his station was "Valiant", Ballyheigue.
Clarson, Clampett
Offline crimea1854
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Re: Royal Marines Tarbert
« Reply #8 on: Sunday 27 March 16 16:46 BST (UK) »
I appreciate that JamesL posted six years ago, but John King, born 11 May 1840, Kilrush, Co. Clare, can be found on ADM 175/53 pdf 319 and 175/54 pdf 211. According to these CG records his continuous service numbers were 27353 & 78483.
Martin
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=51707.msg3447235#msg3447235
==============================
Drugs War; California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, Vermont, and Virginia are just some of the states with social equity programs failing to deliver restorative justice and direct relief to victims of the drug war. Instead, state regulators created systems that allow third parties to intercept and absorb the benefits of the programs. In many cases, the parties benefiting from social equity programs are wealthy, connected political insiders and large commercial cannabis companies.
For example, in Illinois, the state took over three years to issue a legal marijuana retail business license to a social equity applicant. When it finally did, the first social equity license didn’t go to upstarts trying to rebuild lives damaged by the War on Drugs. Instead, the social equity license went to an ownership group that included a former Chicago narcotics detective, an executive of the Chicago transit authority, and prominent restauranteurs. Their legal marijuana dispensary opened in 2022 in Chicago’s affluent River North area.
===========================
Executed at Tullylease Village on April 27th 1822.
Triple Execution in 1822 Tullylease Commemorated in Poetry, Song and Stone
Posted on April 27th, 2023
At the commemoration and unveiling in Tullylease on Sunday were from left: Adrian McSweeney, Billy Leen, Mary J Leen, Nick Ring, Eileen O’Keefe, Dr Tim Horgan and Philip Egan.
Click on the image above to see and hear Mary J. Leen’s self penned song in memory of the terrible events in Tullylease in 1822 and in honour of Na Buachailí Bána at Sunday’s unveiling of the memorial stone sculpted by her father Billy Leen.
A triple execution in Tullylease was recalled at a commemoration on Sunday last, April 23rd at 2pm.
William O’Mahony (48) Daniel O’Keeffe (39) and Thomas Murphy (24) were executed at Tullylease Village on April 27th 1822.
Almost 201 years on, Tullylease Historical and Heritage Society, supported by Cork County Council and the local community, marked this tragic event in the parish.
Tralee Sculptor’s Work Unveiled
A memorial stone created by Tralee sculptor, Billy Leen was unveiled at at Páirc na Saoirse. MC on the day was Eileen O’Keeffe Secretary of Tullylease Historical and Heritage Society.
The event was attended by the deputy mayor of Cork County, Cllr. Ian Doyle along with council representatives: Cllr. John Paul O’Shea; Michael Moynihan, T.D. and Conor Nelligan, Heritage Officer, Cork County Council.
Events from the 1820s
Sheila O’Keeffe read the newspaper article outlining the reported events from the 1820s and it was evident that life was very tough for the people in this part of Duhallow and that these men and their families had scarcely enough to eat.
From official documents their crimes were cited as burglary and stealing clothes.
These three unfortunate men were tried in Cork City and sentenced to be executed. They were taken from Cork County Gaol to Mallow Bridewell and from Mallow to Tullylease in a four wheeled carriage.
Striking Terror
A circuitous and rugged route was taken in order to strike terror into their fellow countrymen through Ballyclough, Castlecor, Kilbrin, Ballybahallow, Freemount and finally Tullylease.
A four wheeled carriage had never been seen in these places before.
A newspaper of the time notes the appearance of one of the men, William O’Mahony: “He was an old man and in rags. Minutes before his execution he declared solemnly that he had never been sworn a Whiteboy – nor ever joined them by day or by night, that he had never robbed before or injured any man to the value of a shilling.”
The Necessities of Life
“He turned to his fellow accused Murphy and declared: ‘it was you that induced me to go with you on that fatal night, but I forgive you, and furthermore, I declare I would not have gone with you only myself and my family wanted the necessities of life, and a bit to eat which you knew well”
The Whiteboys. na Buachaillí Bána was a secret Irish agrarian organisation that defend the rights of tenant farmers.
Their grievances related to the injustices meted out to tenant farmers who often lived at subsistence levels.
These injustices involved extortion in the form of extremely high rents, taxes and tithes demanded from the farmers.
Dr. Horgan’s Moving Oration
Dr. Tim Horgan, historian, delivered a moving oration outlining the historical background to the events leading up to the hanging of the men at Tullylease including the significance of the Whiteboy movement in Ireland.
Poet Philip Egan recited an original poem composed for the event. Newmarket Pipe Band lead the parade from the football field down to the spot where the new memorial stone was erected.
Nicholas Ring, chairman of Tullylease Historical and Heritage Society, one of the main organisers of the event, spoke to thank everyone.
Na Buachaillí Bána
Three local children, Olivia Larkin, Kyran Walsh and Paddy Newman laid wreaths at the new monument.
The Walsh family from Tullylease Village, Catherine, Seán and Sineád Walsh. played a set of traditional tunes.
An original song called ‘Na Buachaillí Bána’ was composed for the occasion and performed by Mary J Leen with Adrian McSweeney and can be seen at: https://youtu.be/PAsDbffT35A
http://www.mainevalleypost.com/2023/04/27/triple-execution-in-1822-tullylease-commemorated-in-poetry-song-and-stone/?fbclid=IwAR2I_6F8pc0QgYw1IpFYC-fihH4Rp59Wogc0mnUcQbvxLn6ffpTi4cs97OQ
=======================
By Courtney Mares
Rome Newsroom, Apr 7, 2023 / 14:05 pm
The meditations and prayers for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday this year come from the testimonies of victims of violence whom Pope Francis encountered during his international apostolic journeys over the past ten years.
Officials in the Roman Curia compiled testimonies from Ukraine, Russia, the Holy Land, Central Africa, the Middle East, South America, and other parts of the world to go with the 14 Stations of the Cross, titled “Voices of Peace in a World at War.”
=======================
Between Silk and Cyanide By Leo Marks
When 22-year-old Leo Marks joined the Special Operations Executive in 1942, his brilliant cryptographic skills altered the course of World War II. “Enthralling… Full of an eccentric charm as well as fascinating, previously undisclosed details of the secret war waged in the occupied countries”
========================
Churches Come to the Aid of Earthquake-Stricken Syria
In response to the earthquake, the patriarchs of and heads of churches in Syria demand the lifting of ‘unjust sanctions,’ calling for ‘exceptional measures’ to secure delivery of humanitarian aid.
=========================
EU Meeting Feb 9th 2023
All leaders of the European Union's member states posed for a photo with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to conclude his visit to Brussels.
==================
Feb 9 2023
The earthquake death toll has reached a combined 15,000 this morning, with the chances of survival for those still trapped under razed buildings decreasing dramatically. Experts have estimated that, while most people will have survived in the 24 hours following the devastating tremors, as the week moves on, only six percent of people found underneath the rubble will be recovered alive. The latest toll sits close to 16,000, with Turkish authorities estimating that fatalities grew by more nearly 500 overnight to 12,873, up from Wednesday's total of 12,391. Syria's total remains in the 2,000 range, standing at 2,992, but the civil war means that volunteer organisations are left to report fatalities, with no central agency able to reliably tally deaths across the country. The overall number of deaths between Turkey and Syria now stands at 15,865.
=========================
Here the poverty which exists is of the most visceral kind. New arrivals often appear famished, and the usual diseases associated with war and famine are common. Men limp around with horribly twisted limbs which in another country could be operated on, but which here bring a life sentence of suffering.
As he walks through one of the main thoroughfares, a crippled little girl of about six passes nearby. She moves on all fours along the filthy ground, with improvised knee pads providing some protection.
Malakal’s people are remarkably cheerful in spite of everything, but the circumstances of life have hardened them.
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Sydney: The premier of the Australian state of New South Wales is fielding questions about his leadership after news broke that he wore a Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday party.
--------------
Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January is the day to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution and in the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. 2.3 million people, according to the museum’s data, visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum.
Germany implemented the persecution. Following Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor on 30 January 1933.
===================================================
The 1918 General Election was significant in many ways. Not only was it the first election in which women could stand, it was also the first time that women over 30 who met a property qualification could vote. Interestingly, the press labelled 1918 as the ‘women’s election’.
Constance Markievicz was selected as a Sinn Féin candidate for Dublin St Patrick’s. Markievicz was in Holloway prison during the election for her involvement in anti-conscription activities during the First World War, and she had previously been imprisoned for her involvement in the Easter Rising in 1916. Indeed, the only reason she was not executed for treason was because she was a woman.
The National Archives holds a large amount of material on Markievicz and her election campaign in the Home Office and Colonial Office records. These records provide a unique insight into Markievicz’s election campaign, both in terms of the logistics of how it was run and the causes that she championed.
=========================
Roasa Ammuel is a 28-year-old Ethiopian from the Tigray region. She is married with two children, a boy of 8 and another 1-year-old boy. She and her husband lived in Shiraro, in west Tigray; they had a shop where they sold domestic articles. They were not rich but were able to take care of themselves and their family.
Her husband was ex-military, so when the civil war between Tigray and the federal government started in November 2020, he joined the Tigray People's Liberation Front to fight. Roasa Ammuel and her two children were left on their own to take care of the shop and themselves.
Their troubles began when the Eritrean military came to the region to fight against the Tigray defense force in support of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Roasa Ammuel said that the Eritrean military who came to their village met only women and children, and raped, beat or killed most of the women. Roasa Ammuel was one of them who suffered terrible abuse.
=============================
By Agnes Aineah
Freetown, 03 November, 2022 / 9:45 pm (ACI Africa).
Five-year-old Alusine wants to be a soldier when he grows up “to arrest all bad men.” Asked to name his village, Alulu, as he is fondly referred to at St. Mary’s Fatima Interim Care Centre in River Number Two estate outside Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, says he comes from “Emergency!”
Having been brought to the Children’s home from a hospital’s Emergency Room (ER) where he had undergone surgery, recovered and had no one to pick him up, Alulu knows no other native village apart from Emergency. To him, that’s where he was born. The bubbly youngster had been admitted to the hospital ER with a deep cut on the head, a gaping wound on his stomach, and with bruises all over his body. Born with a slightly deformed head to a mentally ill mother, Alulu’s caregivers had thrown him from a high building, wanting him dead.
Like Alulu, all 24 children at the home that was founded by Fr. Peter Konteh, a Catholic Priest in Sierra Leone, have heart-wrenching pasts.
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NEW YORK (CNS) — “Little Amal,” a giant puppet that is on a worldwide pilgrimage to raise awareness about the plight of unaccompanied refugee minors, made a stop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Sept. 18. Made by the Handspring Puppet Company, Little Amal was crafted and molded from natural cane and carbon fiber by dozens of artists, and she needs four puppeteers to help her come to life, including animating her eyes and face.
The 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl met migrant families who recently arrived in New York City from Ecuador, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
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We know that most school shooters have a connection to the school they target. Twelve of the 14 school shooters in our database prior to the most recent attack in Texas were either current or former students of the school. Any prior connection between the latest shooter and Robb Elementary School has not been released to the public.
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However, most school shooters are motivated by a generalized anger. Their path to violence involves self-hate and despair turned outward at the world, and our research finds they often communicate their intent to do harm in advance as a final, desperate cry for help.
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By Silas Isenjia
Bangui, 21 May, 2022 / 4:00 pm (ACI Africa).
More than 300 children who served as child soldiers in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been given an opportunity to transform their lives through training opportunities spearheaded by Jesuits Refugee Service (JRS), an international refugee entity of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
In a Monday, May 16 report, JRS leadership says that children in CAR have been at high risk of abuse, recruitment, and exploitation by armed groups since the onset of civil unrest in 2013.
“To foster the social inclusion of children…, in 2017 JRS CAR began campaigning to demobilize young people and provide them with educational and training opportunities,” JRS officials say in the report.
They add in reference to the training opportunities, “Given the stigma faced by former child soldiers, these activities also targeted the broader community, to encourage reconciliation and promote social cohesion.”
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Ms. Lalonde says that the needs in Mozambique, which she describes as one of the poorest countries on the African continent, are immense.
“For the past three years, many farmers have been unable to cultivate their land, which has been ripped out by terrorist groups or flooded by successive storms,” the Director of ACN Canada says.
For more than two years now, Aid to the Church in Need has been supporting hundreds of displaced families with food, hygiene products, health care and seeds.
The international charity also makes spiritual and psychosocial assistance possible for those who are traumatized and in need.
“We must continue to support them, because without us, they literally have nothing left,” the Catholic foundation reports, in reference to the victims of the Mozambican crisis.
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During his homily, Cardinal Cantalamessa alluded to the war in Ukraine.
“One thing of which these events have suddenly reminded us: the structures of the world can change from one day to another,” he said. “Everything passes, everything ages; everything — not only ‘the blissfulness of youth’ — wanes.”
“There is only one way to escape the current of time that drags everything with it: to pass on to that which does not pass! To put our feet on firm ground!”
“Easter, Passover, means passage: let us all aim to experience a real Easter this year, Venerable Fathers, brothers and sisters: let us pass on to the One who does not pass. Let us pass on now with our heart, before passing on one day with our body.”
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War in Ukraine-
By Peg Prendeville
“The Russians are coming, hide under the bed”
How often in youth did I hear people say
And I wondered for sure if all Russians were bad
And I hoped and I prayed that I’d not see the day
When the Russians decided to start a big war
And pile pain on the neighbours who lived right next door
Led by a fanatic who was hungry for power
Bringing their standard of living right down to the floor.
For just as Covid 19 got tired and stepped back
Putin decided to light up the fuse
Despite assurances that it was not his plan
He sent in the troops and all hell broke loose.
But we mustn’t lose hope or cry out in pain
There’s good to be seen all over the earth
And we pray that it spreads deep into Ukraine
So, soon again, they’ll feel safe in their country of birth.
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Tsar-struck
How Vladimir Putin uses the history of the Russian Empire
MARCH 2022
On February 24, Vladimir Putin shocked the world by starting a war in Ukraine.
In the run-up to the Russian invasion, Putin delivered far-reaching speeches and wrote
an article to legitimise his actions – packed with intense rhetoric on imperial as well as
Soviet history. This is, however, not something new. Putin has consistently instrumentalised history
to achieve his policy goals since the day he became president.1 Over the years, he has increasingly and repeatedly referred to the history of the Russian Empire, as a discourse analysis of over 500 of his speeches and other sources over the years reveals.
1 This research was conducted at Utrecht University(UU) in fulfilment of the MA in International
Relations in Historical Perspective. See the UU thesis archive for the complete research results.
2 Much has been written about the ways in which Putin has instrumentalised the history of World War II and the Soviet Union, but less about how he us
file:///C:/Users/jerk/AppData/Local/Temp/DrostTsar-struckClingendael.pdf
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In the First World War 1.5 million volunteers from India rallying under the British flag and were fighting in the trenches.
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By Katie Yoder
Washington, 05 March, 2022 / 4:00 pm (ACI Africa).
A Catholic Ukrainian journalist is documenting day-to-day life in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country — and sharing her faith in God along the way.
“These days, I fall asleep with the rosary in my hands and the prayer ‘Hail Mary’ on my lips,” the journalist in Kyiv, who remains anonymous for security reasons, says in her most recent diary entry on March 3. “I believe I’m holding Mary's hand. She's nearby.”
St. Rita Radio, an EWTN affiliate in Norway, is translating and sharing the journalist's daily messages in the form of a video and podcast series titled "Diary from Kyiv." The first episode was released on Feb. 26.
The 3- to 6-minute video episodes (available on YouTube and Facebook as well as Spotify and Apple Podcasts) feature a voice-over from a translator as images or short video clips from Ukraine appear.
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CNA Staff World
March 4, 2022
The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said on Friday that “many people” have told him that they have seen “luminous angels over the land of Ukraine.”
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk was speaking in a video message recorded on March 4 in the besieged Ukrainian capital Kyiv, whose patron saint is St. Michael the Archangel.
“Here in Kyiv we perceive that the patron of our city is the Archangel Michael who with the cry ‘Who is like God?’ cast into the abyss Lucifer — the one who rose up against God’s truth and was the leader of the diabolical armies,” he said.
“We perceive today that the Archangel Michael together with the whole Heavenly Host is fighting for Ukraine. So many people from throughout Ukraine are turning to me saying that they saw luminous angels over the land of Ukraine.”
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Ernest’s youngest child was only four when he died. His widow, Isabella, would live for another 46 years, without remarrying. Ernest’s cause of death was listed on his death certificate as intestinal disease of the kidney and urenia. Urenia is linked to renal disease, which sadly claimed the lives of many who worked and were exposed to cotton dust in the mills.
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The 16-millimeter film, made by his grandfather, David Kurtz, on the eve of World War II, showed the Alps, quaint Dutch villages and three minutes of footage of a vibrant Jewish community in a Polish town.
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A sobor in the East is analogous to a “synod” of bishops in the West, though a sobor has actual governing, not only advisory, authority.
In 1946, with Stalin consolidating his World War II gains in Eastern Europe, he ordered the liquidation of the UGCC. Soviet officials then convened, by force, a sobor of the UGCC in the western city of Lviv. Ukrainian Catholics refer to it as a “pseudo-sobor” as it did not include all the legitimate bishops and was convened improperly.
The Lviv pseudo-sobor renounced the 1596 “Union of Brest” by which the UGCC returned to full communion with Rome. The pseudo-sobor, under duress, declared their Church to be in communion with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow.
What followed was a fierce persecution for those who rejected the decisions of the fake sobor. The UGCC became the largest underground religious group in the world. For 44 years, Ukrainian Catholics only had religious freedom outside of Ukraine. The liquidation of the UGCC gave rise to a remarkable story of fidelity, martyrdom and eventually restoration.
Patriarch Shevchuk, on the 75th anniversary last year, spoke of the effect on the Orthodox, the supposed beneficiary of Stalin’s policy. In 1942, Stalin had revived the Russian Orthodox Church in order to build up national solidarity in the fight against Hitler; it became akin to a branch of the state.
“The Lviv pseudo-sobor, in my opinion, was a great humiliation of the Russian Orthodox Church,” Patriarch Shevchuk said. “I don’t think the Russian Orthodox Church needed such a ‘gift’ from Stalin.”
Being co-opted by a corrupt regime is worse than being controlled by it.
That’s the lesson relevant to China today. The Christian Church, which was illegal for nearly three centuries under the Roman Empire, knows how to live under persecution. Indeed, the blood of the martyrs has been recognized as the seed of new Christian witness since those early centuries.
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By: Morgan Godvin
November 9, 2021
9 minutes
If humanity has always had wars, it seems natural to assume soldiers have always suffered from PTSD. But PTSD as a recognized diagnosis is relatively new. In fact, PTSD was not added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) until 1980.
Since the close of the Vietnam war, journal articles began to question the link between the mental health consequences of having served in Vietnam, crime, and incarceration rates. But those articles didn’t yet have the PTSD diagnosis in their analytic arsenal—it simply didn’t exist. Now that it does, contemporary articles retroactively apply what we now know as PTSD to centuries-old accounts of veterans suffering mental health issues. To understand the modern discourse around PTSD and incarceration, it is imperative to understand its evolution through history.
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V E Day began with Mr Churchill's broadcast officially announcing the end of war in Europe. Londoners took to the streets in celebrations which continued for nearly two days. Outside Buckingham Palace the crowds chanted 'we want the King'
https://youtu.be/NEavcsrMoMw
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The victor of the Civil Wars described himself as pious, honest and selfless. But, as all too many victims of his lies and malice would have attested, the reality was often more sinister, writes Professor Ronald Hutton
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Saint John XXIII’s Story
Saint of the Day for October 11- (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963)
Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities.
The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo’s diocesan seminary, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order.
After his ordination in 1904, Fr. Roncalli returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary, and as publisher of the diocesan paper.
His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921, Fr. Roncalli was made national director in Italy of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He also found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City.
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-xxiii?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=169550050&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-97TizvmdZ1t4oyN2X-vpF_isQIANnVvu10ODbK5Eyz_RN7wnw1LN3itCPUL1Kicb6770X0wUjUTmyxwWaYu4jC_LfmVw&utm_content=169550050&utm_source=hs_email
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Rome Didn't Fall When You Think It Did ---------------------------------
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This mistake matters for two reasons. First, Marcellinus’s manufactured fall of Rome helped create conditions that permitted Justinian to launch a war that killed hundreds of thousands and destroyed the prosperity that Roman rule had once created in the West. His words had real, deadly and long-lasting consequences.
Second, the manufactured fall of Rome reveals the unstable boundaries between historical epochs. For 1,500 years, Odoacer’s coup has concluded a cautionary tale about how barbarian commanders in the Roman army ended Rome’s empire. People around the world have scrutinized this story so that their societies may avoid suffering Rome’s fate. But, if we recognize that Rome did not fall in 476, the lessons we take from Roman history become quite different. Rome’s story then does not warn us of the danger of barbarous outsiders toppling a society from within. It instead shows how a false claim that a nation has perished can help cause the very problems its author invented. We ignore this danger at our peril.
https://time.com/6101964/fabricated-fall-rome-lessons-history/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB
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The victor of the Civil Wars described himself as pious, honest and selfless. But, as all too many victims of his lies and malice would have attested, the reality was often more sinister, writes Professor Ronald Hutton
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We cannot but speak..... (Fr. Michael P.O’Sullivan, Intercom October 2021.)
After the first World War, Pope Benedict XV invited Catholics to bring light to a
world devasted by conflict. By virtue of their baptism, all Catholics were called
to be missionary minded, and missionaries needed to be men and women of
God. His successor Pope Pius X1 made the second last Sunday of October a day
dedicated to ‘the missions’, that is a special day to pray for and assist
missionaries in their call to ‘go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good
News’.
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What were the key tasks in this “export of liberal democracy”? Here is my two-point summary.
First, the United States and its allies had to build an Afghan military that could protect this project. #FAIL
Second, the Western nation builders had to sell a vision of an Islamic culture that, somehow, embraced American values on a host of different issues — from free elections to freedom for women, from Western-style education to respect for the Sexual Revolution in all its forms. This Georgetown University faculty lounge vision of Islam needed to be more compelling than the one offered by the Taliban. #FAIL
Looking at this from a journalism perspective, I think it is more than symbolic that most of the elite media coverage of the fall of this new, alternative Afghanistan have almost nothing to say about Islam and, in particular, the divisions inside that stunningly complex world religion. Was this, in any way, a “religion story”? Apparently not. #FAIL
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About Beyond 2022 – creating the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland
Beyond 2022 is an all-island and international collaborative research project working to create a virtual reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland, which was destroyed in the opening engagement of the Civil War on June 30th, 1922.
The ‘Record Treasury’ at the Public Record Office of Ireland stored seven centuries of Irish records dating back to the time of the Normans. Together with our 5 Core Archival Partners and over 40 other Participating Institutions in Ireland, Britain and the USA, we are working to recover what was lost in that terrible fire one hundred years ago.
Video link
https://youtu.be/9UP9SqqW9PY
Filename
Army 4 5 2014.wmv