A year-long celebration is underway to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Swinford, a County Mayo town as proud of its heritage as its time-honored strength of community. ℘℘℘The words were painted high on a whitewashed brick wall, just above a red and green Mayo flag flapping in the wind. MELLETT’S DRINKING EMPORIUM ESTB 1797“Is it true?” I ask my … [Read more...] about In East Mayo: A Community Where Past Is Prologue
Chicago
Wild Irish Women: Chicago May
“How hard Ireland was on the women who could not fit in – the wild ones, the ones who had to get out, seeming emigrants but actual exiles.” – Nuala O’Faolain Chicago May wasn’t from Chicago and, in fact, spent little time there, but the name somehow suited her. May Duignan was born in 1871 in the remote county of Longford in the ancient world that was 19th-century Ireland. Her … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Chicago May
Chicago Miracles
Miracles happen in threes, but few foresaw this one coming when Ireland’s rugby team met the New Zealand All-Blacks in a historic match November 5 at Chicago’s Soldier Field, home to the Chicago Bears. ℘℘℘ Euphoria reigned that week in Chicago, where the lovable-loser Cubs had just broken their 108-year failure to win a World Series in dramatic, come-from-behind, fashion. Many … [Read more...] about Chicago Miracles
President Michael Higgins Visits the Midwest
By Abdon Moriarty Pallasch May 12, 2014
Irish President Michael Higgins is retracing the steps of his youth through the United States’ Midwest, meeting along the way with groups seeking to help undocumented Irish citizens here. The chief purpose of Higgins’ week-long visit was to deliver the Commencement Speech at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., where some 48 years ago at the age of 25, he came to earn a … [Read more...] about President Michael Higgins Visits the Midwest
Hospital Nuns: From the Civil War to Today
From the Civil War to Chicago’s Mercy Hospital, the extraordinary history of Irish nuns in health care. The Sisters of Mercy were the first women to go with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War in 1854. They worked with her to make nursing more effective and to improve sanitary conditions. In America, the Sisters of Mercy would make their impact on the battlefields in … [Read more...] about Hospital Nuns: From the Civil War to Today