The close association of St Patrick with Ireland extends back to Patrick’s own writings, probably dating to the fifth century. In these letters he states that he came from a Christian family in Britain. The location of his upbringing in Britain has…

One of the disciples of St David in the Latin Life of St David is named sanctus Aidanus. According to text, written late in the eleventh century by Rhygyfarch ap Sulien at his scriptorium in Llanbadarn Fawr, Aidan left David’s monastery and…

The Catholic mission in Fishguard was established in the late nineteenth century to minister to Irish workers and families involved in the construction of the port, mirroring a similar mission to Catholic families in Holyhead in the mid-nineteenth…

The statue of Réalt na Mara (Our Lady, Star of the Sea) was erected from subscriptions from dockers, others working around Dublin Port, and a range of companies. It was sculpted by Cecil King and unveiled and blessed on 24 September 1972. Realt…

Along the river Barrow, nestled upon a Caledonian batholith, on the Kilkenny side of the bank, lies a little town named Graiguenamanagh. It is in this village that our story begins, with a man called Gorman who was busy cutting Granite on the Quay…

In years gone by in Ireland, there had to be taxes paid on certain goods as tobacco and wine coming from foreign lands to Ireland. But the people who were poor at the time they could not afford to be paying tax on these goods. They often decided to…

The folklore gathered at the Irish Schools’ Collection contains many tall tales, strange happenings and stories of the supernatural spanning the length and breadth of Ireland. The example below, reported by Lill Dempsey of Ballyboher, County…