Article about Father Pat Lavelle written by Father Jarlath Waldron www.tourmakeady.com
Fr. Pat Lavelle was perhaps the best-known individual Irish priest in the mid years of the last century. At that period everybody in the British Isles, because of him knew where Partry was. This was because of the name he had made for himself for his unflagging efforts to protect his parishioners from eviction at the hands of the local landlord, Archbishop Thomas Plunkett, Protestant Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry since 1839. The bishop at that time lived in Tourmakeady on the estate which he bought from George Henry Moore after the Famine (read Gerry Moran 's "The Mayo Evictions" Fr. Lavelle was born in Mullagh, Murrisk, Co. Mayo, in the year 1825. He entered St Jarlath’s, Tuam, when he was aged 15 and Maynooth in 1844, just before the Famine, and the year Fr. Peter Conway was building Partry Church. After being ordained, as was to be expected for one so brilliant, he was appointed as Professor of Philosophy at the Irish College, Paris, in the year 1854. In addition to his philosophy lectures, he undertook to teach the students who would need it, as priests, the Irish language, at which he was equally as proficient as he was in English. To these he was shortly to add a third language - French. Even in Paris his abrasive temperament was evident and his prolonged squabble with the Rector, Dr. Miley of Dublin, ultimately brought about his removal from the college in 1858. Back home in his diocese, Fr. Lavelle was sent to work as a curate in Mayo Abbey, but his stay there was very short. Dr. MacHale badly needed a man of his mettle elsewhere. So we find him being appointed as Parish Priest of our parish of Ballyovey in the year 1858. Although he lived in Tourmakeady, which he always referred to as "Mount Partry", he was shortly to be known as the "Patriot Priest of Partry".
RESENTED
Why Partry? As you suspect from what I have said, things were at a very disturbed state in Tourmakeady because of the activities of Archbishop Plunkett, his sister, Catherine, and a number of the Bible readers who now alone were trying to force Catholic tenants to send their children to one or other of the five Church of Ireland schools but were then busily proselytising them - trying to make loyal little Protestants out of them. Need one say that this was bitterly resented by the Catholic parents and, most of all, by their military active priest, Fr. Peter Ward. But despite all his activity, somehow Fr. Ward, winning the odd battle, was losing the war. Perhaps it was the fact that Bishop Plunkett was not afraid of him. Archbishop MacHale decided to send to Tourmakeady a priest who would put the fear of God into him. This man was only pint-sized but he was a pint-sized battleship. So in October 1858, Fr. Ward was transferred to Williamstown to make room for the pocket battleship. We have not the time nor space to go into details of the Plunkett - Lavelle war. Suffice it to say that by using the courts and the national and British mainland press, Fr. Lavelle brought to the attention of the world the underhand means that the Protestant landlord was using to coerce his tenants into the Protestant faith. Even that bastion of Protestantism and Unionism, the London Times (which hated everything Irish) turned on Plunkett and condemned him. It did not happen over- night, but the leagage stopped. The war was won, Plunkett and later his sister, left in disgrace and for his remaining years resided in Tuam but never lost his genuine love for the country around Lough Mask and I think, by his direction, he was buried in Tourmakeady. Gracious as he could be, Fr. Lavelle in every kind or terms, of the Archbishop on the following Sunday in Tourmakeady, and I think I read he was present at the burial.
SCARS OF BATTLE
If he won the war Fr. Lavelle did not escape the scars of the battle. The court cases had beggared him. He was a confirmed litigant, indeed addicted to the courtroom. Not all of his cases either were in defence of his parishioners. Indeed there were some that were against some members of his flock. I recall a celebrated case about a patch of turnips where his action was counter-action by his parishioners. It is many years since I read it in the Connaught Telegraph of the day and I have only vague memories of the details but I think what was at issue was the ownership of the aforesaid turnips which had evidently been promised at sowing time to the priest. The vendor evidently before sowing time had a more tempting offer and intimated to the priest that he considered the contract cancelled. The hot-tempered priest grunted an inaudible reply and stormed off. But later on in the year, when the turnips were at their blushing best one golden autumn afternoon, the intrepid pastor arrived driving a horse and cart. He had two helpers and each of the three had a spade "at him". Without leave the energetic ally harvested the beautiful turnips, loaded them on their vehicle and carted them of in triumph to the priest's home. Unfortunately they were met on the way by the owner of the field and his wife. As Woodhouse said, if the pair were not disgruntled by the sight they beheld they were far from being gruntled. And as the Connemara woman said "bhiodar a caitheamh slurannai lena cheile". It would not have been too bad if all they were throwing at one another were 'slurannai'. No, regrettably, there occurred multiple assaults by both sides. At least so it was alleged. The evidence of the court was somewhat obscure and the frustrated Justice fined both parties and bound them to the peace, left the disputed turnips with the priest, at the augmented price, and dismissed both cases.
PALTRY SUMS
I mention this case because it illustrates the kind of man he was and also it shows how he lost fortunes in the pursuit of the passion for the courts. You see even though he won most of his cases, the judges tended to fine his defendants paltry sums, once at least a halfpenny! So by the end of the sixties, although he was left monarch of all that he surveyed in Tourmakeady, he left it in a state of lawlessness (his enemies alleged) and not only was he penniless but he owed hundreds if not thousands of pounds. But Fr. Lavelle could not live without a cause, which was another way of saying that he needed somebody to fight. Shortly after vanquishing Lord Plunkett, and possibly because of his disillusionment with British Justice which was so hurting his own pocket, he turned his attention to Irish politics. It was the days of budding Fenianism. Fr. Lavelle joined the National Brotherhood of St. Patrick (a kind of front organisation) and later - some believed - the Fenians themselves. Indeed it is even alleged that he was a member of the Supreme Council. This I doubt. But what is certain is that he once drew on himself the attention and hostility of Cardinal Cullen of Dublin who frequently reported this 'turbulent priest' to Rome. Matters came to a head in November 1861, over, the celebrated big political funeral of Terence Bellew MacManus. The remains of this minor Irish patriot were honoured by Church and State in the U.S.A. where he died, and the Fenians there decided to send his remains home for burial in Ireland where they hoped there would be a big dramatic display with all the trimmings. But Cardinal Cullen (who hated the Fenians) refused to allow the remains of this Fenian to rest in any of the chapels of his diocese, or any of his priests to officiate at his funeral. But the situation was tailor-made for our little man. He walked in the massive cortege after the coffin, without a stole, reciting prayers, officiated at the graveside and compounded the insult to His Eminence by preaching an inflammatory panegyric: "We will not be oppressed forever. The iron blood of the intruder, the stranger, the spoliator and the tyrant will not forever tread upon our necks". And he concluded with an almighty swipe at the Dublin Cardinal: "St. Malachy, St. Laurence O'Toole, patriotic Oliver Plunkett, martyr to thy patriotism, were you alive today would you deny Terence Bellew MacManus a night' rest before the lamp of your sanctuaries? Oh, Ireland, Ireland, how thou art fallen! '' The fat was in the fire. The Pope of Rome heard of the misdemeanours of our parish priest by express delivery, which the Cardinal followed next year by a personal report when on his routine visit to the Holy City. But it took years of sustained pressure by him to 'nail' our little man, simply because his superior, The Lion of the Fold, continued to stand by his inferior officer. But in April 1864, Cullen thought he surely had him this time: Rome had ordered MacHale to suspend the Partry P.P. The old Lion, cornered at last, growled his submission. He despatched the letter of suspension to Partry - but by a slow horse. A fast horseman was sent ahead to tell the pastor 'to take a powder', to absent himself rapidly from his care. And it so transpired that Fr. Lavelle did not receive in person the 'lattitat' from His Holiness. As a matter of fact, he was over in Glasgow by the time the Papal document reached Mount Partry.
ABSOLVED
Later on that year, Fr. Lavelle went to Rome himself, and defended his case so ably that he was reinstated and absolved. But the battle with the Cardinal went on intermittently until the latter died in 1878. In November 1867, Fr. Lavelle suffered a very serious eye injury, which troubled him somewhat for the rest of his life. What happened was this: a neighbour's house caught fire and, typically of the man, he rushed out to help, but was struck by a piece of falling timber. Cardinal O Fiaich quotes the rather incredible yarn: "Legend has it that he immediately jumped on his horse and rode the whole way to Dublin, keeping one hand over his injured eye to protect it." And so life went on. Hardly a month passed without him being in the public eye. What with his activities in the Amnesty Movement (for the release of the Fenian prisoners3 elections, and his continued defence of the Brotherhood, his name was constantly kept before the public. He was, as you can gather, an inveterate letter-writer. If there were no a letter from his own pen in each week, then you could certainly read his recommendation of Dr._ _ _’s Super Spectacles which the public were each reminded, he found mightily helpful ... he could read for hours without get ting tired! But his debts remained. I think they worried his Archbishop more than they did him. Be that as ii may, when Dean Michael Waldron, the aged pastor of Cong, died, Dr. MacHale appointed Fr. Lavelle in his place (Cardinal Cullen complained bitterly of this 'promotion' of his archenemy). It was, and is, accepted by all that the purpose of this change was to give him a chance to get out of debt which he would never do were he to remain on in Partry. All this happened in the year 1869. One of his first acts in Cong was to publish his famous book "The Irish Landlord since the Revolution" -- to us, today, a dry read, enlivened only by the Appendix on 'The Doings in Partry'. His second exploit was even more spectacular, and equally typical of the man who seemed to crave publicity. About this event I must confess that I am going to be more than a little biased. For you see, the man Fr. Lavelle was trying to ‘put down’, his predecessor, Dean Waldron, was my great-granduncle (uncle to my grandmother, Mary Waldron). The matter at issue between them was nothing less than the famous, the priceless Cross of Cong.
CUSTODY
As the first secular successor to the last Abbot (Prendergast) of Cong on the shoulders of Michael Waldron fell the responsibility of the custody of this magnificent work of ancient. Irish craftsman- ship which was originally made for the Augustinian Abbey of Tuam to be the worthy receptacle for a genuine Relic of the True Cross. The Cross he had to keep in his 'digs' (there was no house for the Cong priest) and take out regularly for funerals, processions, etc. Apart from the horrendous security worry, it was clear to everybody that all this manhandling of the Cross was having disastrous effects on its very fabric; some portions of the ornamental work had actually fallen out. It happened that a Professor McCullough from the National Museum had a great gr8 for Cong, and for its Cross, and was a frequent visitor there. Appalled by what he saw being done to the Cross and frightened about its inevitable theft sooner or later, and consequent disappearance out of the country, he begged the P.P. to donate it to the Museum where its beauty could be appreciated by millions, and it would be safe from theft and gradual disintegration. There was no question of buying this priceless jewel, but he offered the considerable carrot of 100 guineas gift from the Museum to Cong parish. Fr. Waldron hesitated for some years until, what he took to be 'an act of God', pointed the way for him. A terrific storm (the Great Wind of 1869) swept off the thatched roof of Cong Church; to re-roof it with slates would cost about &100. He made up his mind quickly, handed over the Cross and roofed his church, at no cost to his poor parishioners. Is doiligh - ní h-ea, ní feidir chuile dhuine a shású. Obviously some people complained and no one more vociferously than his successor. With him 'deeds speak louder than words'. He took his trap to Claremorris, the train to the Broadstone Terminus, a cab to the Museum in Kildare Street, walked in, smashed the glass case containing the Cross of Cong, put it under his wide-fitting overcoat, and walked out ... all in broad daylight! Of course he got no distance before the police apprehended him, took him to the nearest Bridewell and relieved him of 'his swag'. He returned home to a tumultuous welcome in Cong. He hadn't brought back their precious possession to them, but he had made a Big Gesture in a Most Dramatic Manner. He had done what he ever strived to do - he "had caused talk"! But, apart from these two sensations, he did precious little else during his nineteen years in the parish of Cong -- to disturb the peace, or "cause talk". Indeed "the mysterious silence from Cong" during the agitated years of the Land War (1879--1882) baffled both friends and foes, and historians ever since. One suggestion must have some validity: his peace and quietude had been purchased by the big landlord of Cong, Lord Ardilaun of Ashford Castle; that, terrified they would be the new target of this notorious landlord-baiter, Guinness had straightaway invited the new P.P. up to Ashford and let his charming wife, Lady Olive, make the proposition: 'If you stay quiet while you're here, and leave us alone, we'll pay off your debts right now’. It is probably preposterous but the transformation in Fr. Lavelle -- his socialising with landlords where he had hitherto unceasingly attacked them -- understandably provoked such gossip. Then he had got a very serious dressing-down by Judge Keogh for his participation in the stormy Galway bye-election on 1872. Perhaps this, too, helped to tame him.
AGITATION
But it is this extraordinary apathy during the heady days of the Land League Agitation that mystifies one. It should have been a ready-made platform for the man who chased all over Ireland, and England, addressing anti-landlord meetings and demonstrations denouncing English misrule in Ireland. And after all were not all the sentiments that were being shouted from platforms all over the country based upon his own book "The Irish Landlord since the Revolution"? I can only recall his attending two Land league meetings during those three years: the first was when he breezed unexpectedly into the weekly meeting at the League offices in
Dublin. In deference to his former reputation he was asked to preside. His speech on that occasion was nothing short of pathetic: there are many good landlords don't rock the boat too much, or you might hurt some of them! Ardilaun?
CONG MEETING
The second meeting, which he had done his utmost to forestall, he could hardly refuse to attend. It was the Cong Land League meeting held on July 11th, 1880. The Clonbur priest, Fr. Watt Conway, had finally persuaded the Cong people to go ahead and ignore Ardilaun's wrath. This they did -- and in style -- for to com- pound the insult they held it right up against Ardilaun's Demesne wall at the old Abbey ruins. The P.P. could not possibly refuse to attend. His speech here, too, was pathetic, and even though he waived his book at them and protested that his sentiments had not changed since he penned those words, no one was impressed. It was a sad climb down!
DEATH
Fr. Lavelle died in Cong on November 17th, 1886, aged 61. And whatever about his peaceful latter years, he must rank as one of the bonniest clerical combatants of the 19th century. I sometimes wonder what kind of a parish would we have today were it not for him. Would we have a Catholic parish at all? The people of Cong erected a plaque in their church in his memory: "Pray for the soul of Patrick Lavelle, who, in dark and evil days, fought the battle of faith and fatherland." We, the people of Ballyovey, owe him that, too.
RESENTED
Why Partry? As you suspect from what I have said, things were at a very disturbed state in Tourmakeady because of the activities of Archbishop Plunkett, his sister, Catherine, and a number of the Bible readers who now alone were trying to force Catholic tenants to send their children to one or other of the five Church of Ireland schools but were then busily proselytising them - trying to make loyal little Protestants out of them. Need one say that this was bitterly resented by the Catholic parents and, most of all, by their military active priest, Fr. Peter Ward. But despite all his activity, somehow Fr. Ward, winning the odd battle, was losing the war. Perhaps it was the fact that Bishop Plunkett was not afraid of him. Archbishop MacHale decided to send to Tourmakeady a priest who would put the fear of God into him. This man was only pint-sized but he was a pint-sized battleship. So in October 1858, Fr. Ward was transferred to Williamstown to make room for the pocket battleship. We have not the time nor space to go into details of the Plunkett - Lavelle war. Suffice it to say that by using the courts and the national and British mainland press, Fr. Lavelle brought to the attention of the world the underhand means that the Protestant landlord was using to coerce his tenants into the Protestant faith. Even that bastion of Protestantism and Unionism, the London Times (which hated everything Irish) turned on Plunkett and condemned him. It did not happen over- night, but the leagage stopped. The war was won, Plunkett and later his sister, left in disgrace and for his remaining years resided in Tuam but never lost his genuine love for the country around Lough Mask and I think, by his direction, he was buried in Tourmakeady. Gracious as he could be, Fr. Lavelle in every kind or terms, of the Archbishop on the following Sunday in Tourmakeady, and I think I read he was present at the burial.
SCARS OF BATTLE
If he won the war Fr. Lavelle did not escape the scars of the battle. The court cases had beggared him. He was a confirmed litigant, indeed addicted to the courtroom. Not all of his cases either were in defence of his parishioners. Indeed there were some that were against some members of his flock. I recall a celebrated case about a patch of turnips where his action was counter-action by his parishioners. It is many years since I read it in the Connaught Telegraph of the day and I have only vague memories of the details but I think what was at issue was the ownership of the aforesaid turnips which had evidently been promised at sowing time to the priest. The vendor evidently before sowing time had a more tempting offer and intimated to the priest that he considered the contract cancelled. The hot-tempered priest grunted an inaudible reply and stormed off. But later on in the year, when the turnips were at their blushing best one golden autumn afternoon, the intrepid pastor arrived driving a horse and cart. He had two helpers and each of the three had a spade "at him". Without leave the energetic ally harvested the beautiful turnips, loaded them on their vehicle and carted them of in triumph to the priest's home. Unfortunately they were met on the way by the owner of the field and his wife. As Woodhouse said, if the pair were not disgruntled by the sight they beheld they were far from being gruntled. And as the Connemara woman said "bhiodar a caitheamh slurannai lena cheile". It would not have been too bad if all they were throwing at one another were 'slurannai'. No, regrettably, there occurred multiple assaults by both sides. At least so it was alleged. The evidence of the court was somewhat obscure and the frustrated Justice fined both parties and bound them to the peace, left the disputed turnips with the priest, at the augmented price, and dismissed both cases.
PALTRY SUMS
I mention this case because it illustrates the kind of man he was and also it shows how he lost fortunes in the pursuit of the passion for the courts. You see even though he won most of his cases, the judges tended to fine his defendants paltry sums, once at least a halfpenny! So by the end of the sixties, although he was left monarch of all that he surveyed in Tourmakeady, he left it in a state of lawlessness (his enemies alleged) and not only was he penniless but he owed hundreds if not thousands of pounds. But Fr. Lavelle could not live without a cause, which was another way of saying that he needed somebody to fight. Shortly after vanquishing Lord Plunkett, and possibly because of his disillusionment with British Justice which was so hurting his own pocket, he turned his attention to Irish politics. It was the days of budding Fenianism. Fr. Lavelle joined the National Brotherhood of St. Patrick (a kind of front organisation) and later - some believed - the Fenians themselves. Indeed it is even alleged that he was a member of the Supreme Council. This I doubt. But what is certain is that he once drew on himself the attention and hostility of Cardinal Cullen of Dublin who frequently reported this 'turbulent priest' to Rome. Matters came to a head in November 1861, over, the celebrated big political funeral of Terence Bellew MacManus. The remains of this minor Irish patriot were honoured by Church and State in the U.S.A. where he died, and the Fenians there decided to send his remains home for burial in Ireland where they hoped there would be a big dramatic display with all the trimmings. But Cardinal Cullen (who hated the Fenians) refused to allow the remains of this Fenian to rest in any of the chapels of his diocese, or any of his priests to officiate at his funeral. But the situation was tailor-made for our little man. He walked in the massive cortege after the coffin, without a stole, reciting prayers, officiated at the graveside and compounded the insult to His Eminence by preaching an inflammatory panegyric: "We will not be oppressed forever. The iron blood of the intruder, the stranger, the spoliator and the tyrant will not forever tread upon our necks". And he concluded with an almighty swipe at the Dublin Cardinal: "St. Malachy, St. Laurence O'Toole, patriotic Oliver Plunkett, martyr to thy patriotism, were you alive today would you deny Terence Bellew MacManus a night' rest before the lamp of your sanctuaries? Oh, Ireland, Ireland, how thou art fallen! '' The fat was in the fire. The Pope of Rome heard of the misdemeanours of our parish priest by express delivery, which the Cardinal followed next year by a personal report when on his routine visit to the Holy City. But it took years of sustained pressure by him to 'nail' our little man, simply because his superior, The Lion of the Fold, continued to stand by his inferior officer. But in April 1864, Cullen thought he surely had him this time: Rome had ordered MacHale to suspend the Partry P.P. The old Lion, cornered at last, growled his submission. He despatched the letter of suspension to Partry - but by a slow horse. A fast horseman was sent ahead to tell the pastor 'to take a powder', to absent himself rapidly from his care. And it so transpired that Fr. Lavelle did not receive in person the 'lattitat' from His Holiness. As a matter of fact, he was over in Glasgow by the time the Papal document reached Mount Partry.
ABSOLVED
Later on that year, Fr. Lavelle went to Rome himself, and defended his case so ably that he was reinstated and absolved. But the battle with the Cardinal went on intermittently until the latter died in 1878. In November 1867, Fr. Lavelle suffered a very serious eye injury, which troubled him somewhat for the rest of his life. What happened was this: a neighbour's house caught fire and, typically of the man, he rushed out to help, but was struck by a piece of falling timber. Cardinal O Fiaich quotes the rather incredible yarn: "Legend has it that he immediately jumped on his horse and rode the whole way to Dublin, keeping one hand over his injured eye to protect it." And so life went on. Hardly a month passed without him being in the public eye. What with his activities in the Amnesty Movement (for the release of the Fenian prisoners3 elections, and his continued defence of the Brotherhood, his name was constantly kept before the public. He was, as you can gather, an inveterate letter-writer. If there were no a letter from his own pen in each week, then you could certainly read his recommendation of Dr._ _ _’s Super Spectacles which the public were each reminded, he found mightily helpful ... he could read for hours without get ting tired! But his debts remained. I think they worried his Archbishop more than they did him. Be that as ii may, when Dean Michael Waldron, the aged pastor of Cong, died, Dr. MacHale appointed Fr. Lavelle in his place (Cardinal Cullen complained bitterly of this 'promotion' of his archenemy). It was, and is, accepted by all that the purpose of this change was to give him a chance to get out of debt which he would never do were he to remain on in Partry. All this happened in the year 1869. One of his first acts in Cong was to publish his famous book "The Irish Landlord since the Revolution" -- to us, today, a dry read, enlivened only by the Appendix on 'The Doings in Partry'. His second exploit was even more spectacular, and equally typical of the man who seemed to crave publicity. About this event I must confess that I am going to be more than a little biased. For you see, the man Fr. Lavelle was trying to ‘put down’, his predecessor, Dean Waldron, was my great-granduncle (uncle to my grandmother, Mary Waldron). The matter at issue between them was nothing less than the famous, the priceless Cross of Cong.
CUSTODY
As the first secular successor to the last Abbot (Prendergast) of Cong on the shoulders of Michael Waldron fell the responsibility of the custody of this magnificent work of ancient. Irish craftsman- ship which was originally made for the Augustinian Abbey of Tuam to be the worthy receptacle for a genuine Relic of the True Cross. The Cross he had to keep in his 'digs' (there was no house for the Cong priest) and take out regularly for funerals, processions, etc. Apart from the horrendous security worry, it was clear to everybody that all this manhandling of the Cross was having disastrous effects on its very fabric; some portions of the ornamental work had actually fallen out. It happened that a Professor McCullough from the National Museum had a great gr8 for Cong, and for its Cross, and was a frequent visitor there. Appalled by what he saw being done to the Cross and frightened about its inevitable theft sooner or later, and consequent disappearance out of the country, he begged the P.P. to donate it to the Museum where its beauty could be appreciated by millions, and it would be safe from theft and gradual disintegration. There was no question of buying this priceless jewel, but he offered the considerable carrot of 100 guineas gift from the Museum to Cong parish. Fr. Waldron hesitated for some years until, what he took to be 'an act of God', pointed the way for him. A terrific storm (the Great Wind of 1869) swept off the thatched roof of Cong Church; to re-roof it with slates would cost about &100. He made up his mind quickly, handed over the Cross and roofed his church, at no cost to his poor parishioners. Is doiligh - ní h-ea, ní feidir chuile dhuine a shású. Obviously some people complained and no one more vociferously than his successor. With him 'deeds speak louder than words'. He took his trap to Claremorris, the train to the Broadstone Terminus, a cab to the Museum in Kildare Street, walked in, smashed the glass case containing the Cross of Cong, put it under his wide-fitting overcoat, and walked out ... all in broad daylight! Of course he got no distance before the police apprehended him, took him to the nearest Bridewell and relieved him of 'his swag'. He returned home to a tumultuous welcome in Cong. He hadn't brought back their precious possession to them, but he had made a Big Gesture in a Most Dramatic Manner. He had done what he ever strived to do - he "had caused talk"! But, apart from these two sensations, he did precious little else during his nineteen years in the parish of Cong -- to disturb the peace, or "cause talk". Indeed "the mysterious silence from Cong" during the agitated years of the Land War (1879--1882) baffled both friends and foes, and historians ever since. One suggestion must have some validity: his peace and quietude had been purchased by the big landlord of Cong, Lord Ardilaun of Ashford Castle; that, terrified they would be the new target of this notorious landlord-baiter, Guinness had straightaway invited the new P.P. up to Ashford and let his charming wife, Lady Olive, make the proposition: 'If you stay quiet while you're here, and leave us alone, we'll pay off your debts right now’. It is probably preposterous but the transformation in Fr. Lavelle -- his socialising with landlords where he had hitherto unceasingly attacked them -- understandably provoked such gossip. Then he had got a very serious dressing-down by Judge Keogh for his participation in the stormy Galway bye-election on 1872. Perhaps this, too, helped to tame him.
AGITATION
But it is this extraordinary apathy during the heady days of the Land League Agitation that mystifies one. It should have been a ready-made platform for the man who chased all over Ireland, and England, addressing anti-landlord meetings and demonstrations denouncing English misrule in Ireland. And after all were not all the sentiments that were being shouted from platforms all over the country based upon his own book "The Irish Landlord since the Revolution"? I can only recall his attending two Land league meetings during those three years: the first was when he breezed unexpectedly into the weekly meeting at the League offices in
Dublin. In deference to his former reputation he was asked to preside. His speech on that occasion was nothing short of pathetic: there are many good landlords don't rock the boat too much, or you might hurt some of them! Ardilaun?
CONG MEETING
The second meeting, which he had done his utmost to forestall, he could hardly refuse to attend. It was the Cong Land League meeting held on July 11th, 1880. The Clonbur priest, Fr. Watt Conway, had finally persuaded the Cong people to go ahead and ignore Ardilaun's wrath. This they did -- and in style -- for to com- pound the insult they held it right up against Ardilaun's Demesne wall at the old Abbey ruins. The P.P. could not possibly refuse to attend. His speech here, too, was pathetic, and even though he waived his book at them and protested that his sentiments had not changed since he penned those words, no one was impressed. It was a sad climb down!
DEATH
Fr. Lavelle died in Cong on November 17th, 1886, aged 61. And whatever about his peaceful latter years, he must rank as one of the bonniest clerical combatants of the 19th century. I sometimes wonder what kind of a parish would we have today were it not for him. Would we have a Catholic parish at all? The people of Cong erected a plaque in their church in his memory: "Pray for the soul of Patrick Lavelle, who, in dark and evil days, fought the battle of faith and fatherland." We, the people of Ballyovey, owe him that, too.