GRAIGUE-CULLEN

Carlow County - Ireland Genealogical Projects (IGP ^TM)

A.M.D.G.

The Glories of Graigue-Cullen

The Glories of Graigue-Cullen

Meanderings in the Parish

By Rose Madder

Page 1

Foreword

The parish of Killeshin, of which Graigue-Cullen is the most populous centre, boasted of nine Catholic Schools in the year 1824.

One of these was a classical school, and another, a private boarding school for boys conducted in the mansion now known as Everton House.

There is no need to dwell here on the difficulties and poverty of teachers and pupils in that dark period before the emancipation bill became law — its history is familiar to all. Suffice it to say that the number of schools is an indication that education was sought after in the parish.

It is noteworthy, too, that the buildings used as school, according to the diocesan records, were, with the exception of one, substantial stone buildings, in happy contrast with the mud cabins, lean-to sheds, and cow houses which did duty in many other parishes.

The diocesan records relating to this period, giving particulars of the number of schools, pupils, records and qualification of the teachers, the subjects taught and the textbooks used are contained in Dr. Brenan’s recent authoritative work on the subject “The Schools of Kildare and Leighlin.”

Many progressive steps have been taken since 1824, but, in too many places throughout the country the schools are still dismal and unhygienic buildings unfit for the needs of the present generation.

This, alas, is too true a description of the schools at present existing in Graigue-Cullen, and it is with the object of helping the fund now being raised to remedy this state of affairs that this booklet is presented to the public.

December, 1937.

Graigue-Cullen

Known for many a year as Carlow-Graigue the people of this little townlet of Leix, a couple of decades ago, to testify their loyalty and undying regard for a well loved pastor changed its name to Graigue-Cullen.

Father Hugh Cullen was the priest thus honoured and his memory is still kept green in the hearts of the Graigue people as well as in the name of their village.

Lying in the deep valley of the Barrow it is geographically situated in Leix but for the sake of convenience it has been incorporated within the Carlow Urban Area and shares in the amenities of that town.

In sporting fields, however, it is loyal to the County of the O’Moores and the Graigue men have proved themselves to be no mean asset to the Leix hurling and football teams.

In the past the lot of those residing in the streets adjacent to the river has been y no means pleasant during a wet season.

The river often overflowed its banks and, in the case of those whose dwellings were only a single storey in height, flight was the only remedy.

Happily, progress has made a difference here. Improvements were effected by the Barrow Drainage, and under an extensive housing scheme, upwards of one hundred and twenty commodious well built sanitary dwellings have been erected, each with a garden attached, and into these, the inhabitants of the flooded areas have been transferred.

The old type of dwelling still exists in a few streets, but very soon, it is hoped, these, too, will disappear, and modern houses for all will take their places.

The old church in Maryborough street which served Graigue-Cullen for may a year, has been superseded by a handsome Gothic building, the romantic story of which will be told in a later chapter.

This new church adjoins the convent of Poor Clare Colletines, and the foundation stone was laid on Ascension Thursday, 1928, by Most Rev. Dr. Cullen, of happy memory, and this same prelate opened and dedicated it to St. Clare, in October the following year.

The Very Rev. James Fogarty, P.P., Portarlington, was then in charge of the parish of Graigue-Cullen and his name will be ever inseparably associated with Saint Clare’s.

He was transferred to Portarlington in December, 1936, and had then accomplished a good deal in the way of embellishing the interior of the Church.

The sanctuary is exceptionally beautiful. The high altar of pure white marble, with tall gleaming candlesticks and crucifix of silver, stands out in relief against a back-ground of light vari-coloured marbles inset with rich red panels of Tunisian marble. The two side altars have mosaic panels of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady to relieve their whiteness, and a magnificent marble altar rail encloses the sanctuary.

Within the rails on the Epistle Side is the Grille, behind which the community of Poor Clares assemble to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion.

On the wall of the transept at this side is a replica of a Monstrance set in a marble shrine.

This marks the position of the actual Monstrance on the Altar in the Nuns Chapel. Where Our Lord is enthroned, and where the faithful daughters of Saint Clare engage in Perpetual Adoration.

A strikingly devotional Way of the Cross in marble, adorns the walls of the church.

Outside, to the left of the main door, is a plot where the bodies of four former parish priests are now laid to rest.

A simple granite stone records their names.

The Wheels of Time

Political Opponent’s Victory

Memorial Shelters Patriot Priest’s Grave

[Originally Published in “The Irish Catholic.”]

A most unusual scene took place at Graiguecullen, Carlow, on the evening of Thursday, July 8, 1937, when the bodies of four former parish priests of that place were removed from their resting place in the precincts of the old church, and borne in oak coffins remained for the night in St. Clare’s Church.

On the following morning the Bishop of the diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Keogh, presided at the obsequies and gave the final Benediction and recited the prayers over the grave in the grounds of St. Clare’s where the four coffins rest side by side.

******

The body of Father James Maher, who died in 1874, was found to be in a wonderful state of preservation. He was a remarkable man, and he is still remembered and revered for his work for his downtrodden fellow-Catholics.

 

The following is a brief sketch of his career :—

 

On May 24, 1793, James Maher was born at Donore, Co. Carlow. Whilst he was still an infant his parents removed to Kilrush, Co. Kildare, and in this county the youth grew up, receiving his elementary education at a Quaker school in Ballytore. From there he entered Carlow College, and in 1816 he went to Rome, where he was ordained in 1821. Returning home, he laboured for six years in Carlow and Kildare, and from the former town he went to take charge of the parish of Leighlinbridge in 1827.

In three years’ time he was translated to the more important combined parish of Paulstown and Goresbridge.

During his sojourn in Carlow he had come immediately under the eye of the great “J.K.L.,” and that wise and holy prelate soon appraised the merit and fine qualities of the young curate at their true worth, and so it is not surprising to find, in 1833, Dr. Doyle expressing a wish to Father Maher that he should return to Carlow.

Dr. Doyle was aware at the time of the seriousness of his malady, and felt his strength failing, so Father Maher resigned his parish and took up residence in Braganza, the unpretentious palace of the prelate.

Kindred souls, they had the welfare of their Catholic people at heart, and when “J.K.L.” passed to his eternal reward in 1834, Father Maher took up the pen and fought the battle of Catholicism and the poverty-stricken in the tradition of his patron.

A collection of his letters was published shortly after his death, edited by Dr. [afterwards Cardinal] Moran, who was at the time Bishop of Ossory. This great friends, who was destined to be Archbishop of Sydney, also wrote a foreword to the collection.

Subsequent to Dr. Doyle’s death Father Maher acted as Administrator in Carlow, and later joined the professorial staff of Carlow College. He was appointed parish priest of Killeshin, of which Graigue forms portion, 9n 1841.

This year was a historic one on account of the memorable election fought in Carlow between “young” Dan O’Connell, son of the Liberator, and Colonel Bruen, a Protestant landowner.

Father Maher, at the head of his people, threw himself wholeheartedly into the fray. Described as having a rugged nobility of features and a voice clarion clear, he was everywhere, coaxing, cajoling, entreating, commanding. The weak-kneed and the recalcitrants quaked in his presence.

The great man himself was there, and thousands thronged to hear the fiery eloquence of O’Connell, but, to Carlow’s lasting shame, it was in vain, and Col. Bruen was returned by the narrow margin of nine votes.

It was a sad disappointment and well night broke the heart of Father Maher. He had a severe illness, and on recovering was granted two years’ leave of absence to recuperate. This he spent in Rome. He had not long resumed his official duties when the sorrow and hunger of ’47 was on the land and his heart bled for his people. He gave away practically all he possessed, and one story of his charitableness which occurred about this time and is still related in the humble home of Graigue may be repeated here.

Father Pat Maher was a cousin to Father James and at the time of the following incident was acting as his curate. An ill-clad, shivering wretch presented himself to the priest, begging for clothing. Father James had but the coat he was wearing, but Father Pat possessed an overcoat and this was hanging in the hall.

Unable to refuse a plea that was obviously genuine, Father James forthwith wrapped the miserable creature in the coat, and the latter went his way calling down blessings on his benefactor.

Poor Father Pat ! The taking of his overcoat was the last straw, and when he discovered his loss he fled to the Bishop begging for a transfer, which the Bishop, very human and very humane, granted. Father Pat, with the remnant of his wardrobe, went as curate to Kildare, to return to Graigue as P.P. on the death of his cousin, and after five years to share his grave. He died in 1879.

Returning to Father Maher. The President of Carlow College, realising how the holy priest neglected himself in the cause of charity, offered him the hospitality of the college and he lived there for some years, beloved and reverenced alike by staff and students.

On Holy Thursday, April 2, 1874, the aged priest was called to his eternal reward. Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral, Carlow, by his friend, Dr. Moran. His Eminence Cardinal Paul Cullen was present, and the Bishop of the diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, and Dr. Lynch, his coadjutor. Two hundred priests were in the choir, and a huge congregation overflowed the church. Accompanied by these, the remains were brought to Graigue church, and on the Gospel side of the High Altar laid to rest.

His cousin, as I have said, later shared his grave, and two other priests — namesakes also — were also interred within the precincts of the church. The first of these, Father Daniel Byrne, succeeded Father Pat Maher as pastor in Graigue, and died in 1897. Father George Byrne was his successor, and he was buried in 1909.

******

This article would not be complete without a reference to the church where the four rested for the brief space of a night. In 1841 the supporters of Col. Bruen, elated by the success of their candidate, decided to erect a memorial to perpetuate the victory. This memorial took the form of a church, a gem of Gothic art, erected on part of the Bruen estate.

There it stood for eighty years, for the latter part of which it was an empty shell, the parish church of the town being more than ample for the needs of the Protestant congregation. The graceful spire of the church was plainly visible to the Poor Clares in their convent across the water. The Mother Abbess, learning that it was unused, mobilised her spiritual forces and stormed heaven for its purchase and transfer to a site adjoining the convent, for use as a parish church. At length her bullets, as she termed her “Aves,” won the day and in 1927 the church was purchased by the then parish priest [Father Fogarty] for re-erection in Graigue.

Eight years ago it was completed and dedicated to Divine worship, and under its shadow the remains of Father James Maher and his three successors in the pastoral charge of Graigue now rest.

Graigue has ever revered its pastors and perpetuates the memory of one in its very name, for it is now known as Graigue-Cullen in honour of the priest who came after Father Geo. Byrne — Father Hugh Cullen.

What a splendid demonstration of love and loyalty to our Holy Faith and to God’s anointed ones was evinced by the crowds that followed those four simple coffins from the old church to the new, and what holy rivalry there was, for every man in the parish wanted to help to bear them on his shoulder !

Croppy Hole

Carlow did not escape unscathed in that “year of darkened hearths and roofless homes, the year of ’98.”

Over six hundred were slaughtered in the streets, many more were burnt in their cabins on the outskirts of the town by the savage soldiery, and upwards of two hundred were executed.

Four hundred and seventeen of the victims were interred in a common grave in Graigue. The plot is now enclosed by a railing and a simple Celtic cross has been raised to their memory.

May they rest in Peace !

Killeshin and its Famous ruins

Killeshin hill occupies a commanding position overlooking the Barrow valley and the town of Carlow and several counties my be seen from its summit.

It marks the end of the Slieve Margy range and many legendary and historical tales are told in connection with it.

Its interest for us commences at the beginning of the 6th century when a monastery was founded there. St. Laserian, patron of the diocese and Abbot of Leighlin, received part of his early education at Gleann-Uisean as it was named from an association with Ossian son of Finn McCool.

Pillaged and burnt on many occasions the ruins existing to-day probably date from the 11th century.

The ancient doorway is in a remarkable state of preservation and archaeologists look on it as a rare example of Irish Romanesque architecture.

The mouldings and carvings are still to be discerned, together with part of an inscription, which fosters the belief that the church was erected in memory of a prince who was killed in the hunting field.

About one hundred years a go a wanton act of vandalism on the part of the man who owned the property where-on the ruins are situated deprived us on one of the more perfect round towers in the country, dating from the same period as the church.

Sp solidly was it constructed that in spite of its antiquity and height, it came to the ground practically intact when it was undermined.

The church at present in use, was built well over one hundred years ago, and is dedicated to the Most Holy Cross.

There are many in the parish who remember the annual walk on the first Sunday in May when the parishioners marched in procession to gain the Plenary Indulgence attached to the titular feast.

Sletty

St. Patrick marked the site of the first church. Sletty lies about a mile and a half to the north of Graigue-Cullen and marks a direct link with St. Patrick.

The National Apostle old and feeble though he was at the time, came all the way from Armagh to mark the site of the first church erected here.

Earlier in his ministry he had visited Sletty and appointed Fiacc first Archbishop of Leinster.

Fiacc a widower with an only son, Fiacra, founded his first monastery on the Wicklow-Carlow border.

How long he remained there is not stated, but during his sojourn sixty of his spiritual sons went to heaven, so we may presume he was there for many years.

An angel appeared to him and directed him to the place where he was to make another foundation and where his body would await the Resurrection.

Fiacc was loath to change, and declared he would not build a church until Patrick, his master, would measure its dimensions and consecrate the site.

On learning this, Patrick, as I have said, undertook the long and wearisome journey to comply with Fiacc’s request.

Fiacc was succeeded at Sletty by his son Fiacra who in some mysterious way, centuries later gave his name to the hansom cabs of Paris, and equally mysteriously he is looked upon as the patron of knitters in parts of Scotland, to the present day.

As at Killeshin, many of the dead of the parish are interred at Sletty and wait the sound of Gabriel’s trumpet in the company of Fiacc and Fiacra.

Their remains lie under the shadow of a 13th century ruin and a tall granite cross, uninscribed, but said to date from St. Fiacc’s time. An ancient font belongs to the same period and lies within the ruin.

St. Mary’s College, Knockbeg, stands on portion of the old monastery lands and contains within its boundary the holy well of Saint Fiacc.

The present rector of St. Mary’s, Father P. Swayne, has had the well enclosed by a neat railing.

In St. Mary’s too, an ancient bell, formerly used at Killeshin, hangs in a little belfry over the College Chapel.

Old Derrig

A Retreat Beloved of J.K.L.

Very near to Graigue-Cullen, on the Killeshin road stands Old Derrig.

Within the peaceful walls and sunny garden of this un-pretentious old house, the great prelate Dr. Doyle, loved to linger.

He resided here for several years and fain would have lived the life of the hermit he so often playfully styled himself, but the woes and sorrows of his persecuted fellow Catholics haunted the peaceful quiet of his retreat.

In Old Derrig, in the intervals of his visitations and other Episcopal duties, he took up his pen and wrote the “Twelve Letters on the State of Ireland” that focused the attention of England as well as of Ireland and set both countries asking “Who if J.K.L.?” In these letters “James of Kildare and Leighlin” put forward such a valiant case for his cause that in the following year he was summoned to London to give evidence before the Lords and Commons in Committee on the disabilities of the Catholics of Ireland.

He paved the way for Emancipation with his evidence and apropos of this, the answer of one of the lords to a friend’s query: “How are you getting on with your examination of Doyle?” “Our examination of Doyle! Why, Doyle is examining us !” is illuminating.

On his return from this momentous journey his clergy in the diocese presented him with an illuminated address, and inaugurated a fund for the purchase of a residence for him and his successors in the See which “would fix the attention of posterity on the period and the prelate.”

Braganza was the house thus purchased and to it, he reluctantly transferred himself from Old Derrig.

He was deeply attached to the people of Graigue and it is told that at six a.m. during the summer months he was often to be found surrounded by his humble neighbours in the garden at Old Derrig.

In Braganza he took up the task of building the Cathedral and here, solaced during his last years by the companionship and counsel of Father James Maher, he passed to his eternal reward in 1834.

“The Graves, Carlow

The Burial Place of Bishops

Though not situated in Graigue-Cullen it will not come amiss to include this brief sketch of “The Graves,” as many of the dead of the parish have been interred in this tiny cemetery.

Here is an inscription from the tomb of a parishioner —

 

Ellen Keagan, who died 13th August, 1708.

Cherished the needy always, with plenty blesd

And may her soul enjoy eternal rest. Amen.

[The subjoined article was originally published in “The Irish Catholic.”]

******

On April 10, 1647, the Confederates, under General Preston, laid siege to Carlow Castle.

It was not by any means the first time in its history that the castle had been invested, but a particular interest is attached to this occasion. After sustaining the siege for nearly a month the garrison surrendered on May 2.

The significance of this victory for the Confederates can be gauged from the fact that Carlow was the last place of any importance in Leinster with the exception of Dublin that remained in the hands of the enemy.

Moreover, as described in the Rinnucini MSS., the town for one hundred and ten years had been a nest of heresy.

Small wonder, then, that the fall of this last outpost of the Pale should be the cause of much rejoicing.

On May 3 [the feast of the finding of the Holy Cross], a solemn Te Deum was sung in St. Mary’s Church, Kilkenny, in the presence of the Supreme Council of the Confederates and the civic authorities.

From this cameo it is easy to imagine what the humiliations, trials, and sufferings of the Catholics resident in the town must have been.

Abundant evidence of the trail of the despoilers of the churches may be seen in the ruins abounding in the district.

Off the Beaten Track

About forty years previous to this event, the Earl of Thomond, then in possession of the castle, gave the Catholics of the town a small plot of land to bury their dead. This was soon after the accession of James I. This consecrated mould, for it is little else, is the subject of this brief article.

Comparatively few, beyond the townspeople, know of its existence, for though it is plainly visible from the river and towpath, these are off the beaten track, and its entrance from the main thoroughfare is reached by a lane that skirts the town dumping-ground, and there is no indication that this peaceful God’s acre lies beyond.

Very occasionally a funeral may be seen winding its way along this lane to “The Graves” as the burial ground is unpretentiously named, a small number still claiming the right of interment there.

Bishop James O’Keeffe

As may be expected, most of the stones are hoary and weatherbeaten, and the inscriptions undecipherable.

One in exceptionally good condition, with a neat railing enclosing the grave, attracts notice.

It marks the resting place of a former Bishop of the diocese, Dr. James O’Keeffe, and as the Latin inscription states, the stone was erected to his memory by an illustrious successor, Dr. Doyle, the great J.K.L.

 

Dr. O’Keeffe was elected to the See on November 7, 1751, and for thirty-six years he laboured strenuously. The following quotations from a panegyric by J.K.L. tend to show what manner of man he was :—

 

“Religion seemed to arise at his call from the grave in which it was buried, and the vineyard assigned to him changed from a state of desolation to comparative fruitfulness. God blessed his word and works in both of which he was powerful.” Another passage describes his wider activities: “He was the soul o the Irish Prelacy and laity.”

Educating Future Priests

With the relaxing of the Penal Code in 1782 he set about establishing a college for the training and educating of a domestic priesthood.

At this time he was old, and his sight was failing. He was without funds but with unlimited faith that God for whose glory he was striving, would help him out.

Planning to build his college in Tullow he was disappointed and secured a site adjoining the old parish church in Carlow instead. In order to be near the scene of operations he left his home in Tullow, humble as it was, and took up his abode in a mean hovel in Carlow.

He lived to see the building take shape, passing to his eternal reward in September, 1787. He expressed a wish that his remains should be buried in The Graves, and thanks to a faithful servant who had kept secretly from his master against the day of his burial, five pounds, a coffin and shroud for his interment were provided.

The Great J.K.L.

Dr. Doyle, whose home, Braganza, was adjacent to The Graves, writes :—

“Here he desired that his remains should be laid amidst the poor for whom he had lived, and with whom after death, he desired to be associated . . . I have often visited his naked grave and heaved a sigh to heaven over so much worth. I have enclosed with a railing the sod which covered him and raised a stone and inscribed his name on it over the spot where he lies entombed. I desire that my remains be gathered to his in the hope of accompanying him at the general resurrection to the presence of Our Lord.”

******

A contemporary of Dr. O’Keeffe, Dean Gernon, who was parish priest of Carlow and Killeshin during practically the whole time that the former was bishop, predeceased him by a few months, and his tombstone, too, is well preserved and the epitaph quite legible. Here it is :—

Rev. Dean Gernon, deceased March ye 4th, 1787, aged 80 years, Parish Priest of Carlow and Killeshin, thirty-six years.

Stay, child, be thine the tribute of a tear,

The pastor and the friend lies buried here;

He’s gone! Nor seek his merits to disclose,

For on the wings of hope they now repose.

From thee one sigh his manes to attend,

He was the honest and the generous friend.

No more, but let this tomb, this sculptured bust

Declare — alas! Here lies poor Gernon’s dust.

Say, calm he slumbers in you deep retreat,

Immured from envy and oppressive fate.

Aspiring fame insidious world adieu,

Pease here is found, anxiety with you.”

******

These are but two of the many of sterling worth who tended their flocks in the dark and bitter days that are gone, thank God. May they by the Barrow, and others of their ilk in quiet graves by many a river in Ireland, rest in peace.

Epilogue

Our pilgrimage is ended!

We have visited the places in the parish were saints meditated and prayed, laboured and taught.

The heritage of the people of Graigue-Cullen is a precious one.

Their forbears fought valiantly for Faith and Fatherland, and the loyalty that is the outstanding characteristic of Graigue men today, will guard the glorious legacy that has been bequeathed to them, and pass it on, enriched, to coming generation.

J.K.L. lived on neighbourly terms with the Graigue people and how he laboured for education ! He cherished the ambition to see “a well ordered male and female school in every parish in the united diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.2

That laudable ambition we must strive to achieve in Graigue-Cullen.

The existing schools are antiquated and unsuitable for present needs, and now that the project has been launched let each and all strive to assist the esteemed pastor of the parish, Very Rev. P. O’Haire, in the good work of providing suitable schools.

Perchance, too, that these few pages may meet the eyes of some of the children of Graigue-Cullen now far from their native parish, exiles in distant lands.

Maybe, it will bring their minds back to their own schooldays within sound of the Barrow flowing gently over the weir, and inspire them to assist in the work.

It if does the writer will be amply rewarded.

May they remain staunch and true to their early teaching, and may St. Fiacc and our great Patron St. Patrick, guard them. Amen.

Prayer to St. Patrick attributed to St. Fiacc

Let us put our trust in Patrick, chief apostle of Erin. A bright flame, honourable illustrious his name. He baptised Gentiles; he battled with obdurate Druids. He overcame proud men by the aid of the King of bright heavens. He sanctified the fair plains of Erin. Great is the man to whom we pray.

Let us pray to Patrick, chief apostle, to save us on the judgment-day from eternal condemnation and from the evil designs of wicked demons. May god be with me, with the prayer of Patrick, Chief Apostle.

 

This article sent in by JJ Woods Aug 2007

(It was found in an old pamphlet about Graigue-Cullen which was published in 1937. Don't know if there are any other copies in existence)

Note from Michael Purcell:

Rose Madder was the pen name of  a lady who lived on the Athy road. The lady's name was Alice Treacy her two nieces live in her house now.

There is no copyright. It was published to raise funds for the building of St Clare church, Graiguecullen and published by Sean O Leary.

---

P.S.

My grandfather, William Purcell, of Tullow Street and his sons were the ones who re-coffined the four priests when they were re-interred in St. Clare's. My late Uncle Ger made a cross from some of the wood which came from Fr. Maher's coffin. I think some believed there was a cure in it but I don't know anything about its effectiveness.

J.J. Woods c2007

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