Daniel Delany (1747—1814)

Co. Loais’s Best Kept Secret

Evangelist to the Poor Educator of the Young Builder of Churches

Founder of the Brigidine Sisters Founder of the Patrician Brothers

A man whose courage and vision has touched the lives

of thousands around the world.

by Br Aengus Kavanagh fsp Superior General of the Patrician Brothers 1986 - 1992

and a proud son of Abbeyleix, County Laois

Daniel Delany ~ 1747 - 1814 /1

Laois’s best kept secret - The person from the county who is best known and most remembered overseas:Daniel Delany (1747—1814)In January 1747, Daniel Delany was born into a farming family in the townsland of Paddock not far from Mountrath in County Laois. Current owners of the land, Peter and Agnes Bennett have restored the ruins of the 1747 Delany home in recent years. (Laois crest >>)While Daniel was quite young his younger brother and his father died. His mother, Elizabeth (nee Fitzpatrick), commit-ted his care to her two unmarried sisters in Mountrath who, in comparative terms, were reasonably well off and who had had the benefit of some formal education. It seems that young Daniel had religious leanings from an early age. Brigidine Sister, Rita Minehan in her short history of the Brigidines , Acorn To Oak, captures the setting of the times and gives an insight:The pastor of Mountrath at that time was Fr Denis Lalor. He lived in disguise in a mud hut in a bog nearby. He instructed Daniel in the faith. The only place of Catholic worship in the town was a small roughly thatched house built on a sandbank of a small river. It was in that little chapel on the sandbank that Daniel received his First Holy Communion when he was 10 years old.We are told in the annals that he used to open and lock the chapel when it got flooded and prepare the table for Sunday Mass. He would also gather boys of his own age and teach them hymnsIn 1763, when he was sixteen, with the help of the well-connected aunts, the Fitzpatricks, Daniel went to France to advance his educa-tion. Seven years later, he was ordained as a Catholic priest and by then had gained a reputation as a scholar and spent the next seven years as a teaching member of staff at a reputed Catholic College in Paris, St Omer’s.When Daniel became aware that the Penal Laws were being relaxed somewhat he returned to Ireland in the late 1770’s spending about six months in Mountrath, close to his aunts and his ageing mother. His first official appointment was to Tullow in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. He was appalled and dispirited by the situation which con-fronted him in Tullow. The vast majority of the people were living in dire poverty and in advanced stages of general degradation. Law-lessness and violence were widespread in the wake of decades of dis-inheritance and oppression. His first thoughts were to return to teach-ing and scholarly pursuits in Paris. However, the deeper and more compassionate instinct within him prevailed. He resolved to commit all his knowledge, skills, and energies to the alleviation of the em-bedded sense of hopelessness in his new setting. Being a young and well educated priest, his first concern was the ignorance of most in the matter of religious faith and practice. Few would have had any formal education beyond a possible stint in a hedge school. Early in his time

at Tullow, he gathered some leaders from among the parishioners and formed them into a Confrater-nity For Christian Doctrine. Religious and moral instruction for youth became a routine practice in the parish after Sunday Mass. Indulging his own appreciation of music and singing he encouraged this interest, thereby improving active participation in the Sunday Mass and in other religious devotions. His concern for the wellbeing of parishioners went well beyond renewal in religious practice however. He was driven in his commitment to the elevation of the human condition for all, especially the young people. He organized adults who had special skills and experience to provide training for youth in a range of trades and hobbies.

Patrician College, Mountrath, 1810 - 1930.

Bust of Delany on prominent display in many Patrician

schools in India.

Daniel Delany ~ 1747 - 1814 /2

After only six years in the parish, he was appointed as Coadjutor Bish-op to the sick and aged Bishop O’Keeffe whose seat was Tullow at the time. In 1788 Daniel became bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, re-maining at Tullow and, despite his wider responsibility for the whole Diocese, remained unswerving in his efforts to improve the conditions and raise the spirits of the local people. His efforts to maintain reason and calmness among his parishioners were severely tested in July 1798 when the parish priest of Boolavogue, Fr John Murphy, was brutally executed by the British military in the town square of Tullow for his support of the ’98 Rising. Such were the troubled times in which he exercised his pastoral and spiritual ministry as a bishop.Through all the political turmoil, he tried to maintain balance and give leadership acknowledging the justifiable grievances of Catholics but, at the same time, seeking to diminish hatred and violence.The separate Confraternities of men and women he had established remained strong and active in the parish. Emboldened by their suc-cess, he invited a number of women of faith to be the pioneers in a new Religious Congregation. On the 1st of February 1807, the Feast of St Brigid, six local wom-en who had been members of the Confraternity were blessed and in-augurated by Bishop Delany as the first group of Brigidine Sisters. Likewise at Tullow and on the 2nd of February one year later, 1808, Bishop Delany commissioned four local men as the pioneer Patrician Brothers.Thus within a space of twelve months, two Religious Congregations were founded by Bishop Delany in Tullow in the first decade of the 19th century.The founding women and men of the two Congregations were bound together in a union of hearts and minds to carry forward the vision of Daniel Delany for a better quality of life for all. Like Daniel Delany these women and men were convinced that the most practical way to improve the lot of people was to empower them through a good edu-cation, nurturing good human values , integrated with religious and spiritual values.Despite many hardships and difficulties, each of the new Religious Congregations grew in numbers adopting the provision of good ed-ucation for Catholic children as their main mission. Given Daniel Delany’s Mountrath roots it is no great surprise that the first foundations of the Congregations beyond Tullow were in Mountrath, the Brigidines in 1809, and the Patricians in 1810. With the passing of the years, Mountrath became a place of formation and training for Brigidine Sisters and for Patrician Brothers. At the invitation of an Irish Bishop, Bishop Murray in rural New South Wales, four Patrician Brothers arrived in Australia in March 1883 and six Brigidine Sisters arrived in June 1883. In a new and strange land, the Brothers and the Sisters immediately immersed themselves in the staffing and administration of Catholic schools in separate parts of the Diocese, bringing with them the vision and spirit of their Founder. On the other side of the world, isolated from families and loved ones, these pioneer Patricians and Brigidines endured great emotional loss along with physical hardships in their early years in Australia. Many of them died when they were comparatively young, never having had

the chance to re-connect with the land of their birth. Looking back now, we can only admire the spirit of faith and generosity of these women and men who were inspired by the vision of Daniel Delany.In the years to follow, the Brothers and the Sisters, in separate communities took their founding spirit to places whose names and locations Daniel Delany would never have known, places in India, Pakistan, America, Mexico, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Ghana.

Delany College, Granville,Australia

Students of Patrician College, Blacktown, Australia, around sculpture of Bishop Delany.

Delany Academy, Dormaa, Ghana. Established 2008

Bishop Delany Memorial School, Eldoret, Kenya.

Bishop Delany Patrician Train-ing House, Mananthavady, India

Daniel Delany ~ 1747 - 1814 /3

In some of these remote places, to this day you will find school crests of Brigidine foundations carrying the official motto of Bishop Daniel Delany encapsulating his philosophy of life:‘Fortiter et Suaviter’ which is usually translated as ‘With Strength and Gentleness’Each of four Patrician-linked schools in Sydney has a large bronze bust of Daniel Delany prominently displayed in the school playground. A school in the western suburbs of Sydney and formerly known as Patri-cian Brothers, Granville, is now well known as Delany College, Gran-ville.The most recent African foundation of the Patrician Brothers at Dor-maa in Ghana is called the Delany Academy. A second-chance, sec-ondary school sponsored and administered by the Patrician Brothers at Eldoret in Kenya is named The Delany Memorial School.Many of the twenty Patrician institutions widely scattered throughout India have busts or paintings of Daniel Delany prominently displayed. Two separate places of education and formation for Patrician aspirants are called Delany Bhavan. A place of residence for Patricians in the remote West Sepik District of Papua New Guinea is known as Delany Haus. A retreat and recreation setting for the Patrician Brothers on the

Central Coast, north of Sydney, carries the name Delany Place.The celebration of Bicentenary of Foundation in recent years by the Brigidines (2007) and the Patri-cians (2008) rekindled interest in, and appreciation of, the faith and courage of the Founder.An anthem specially commissioned for the Bicentenary by the Patricians in Australia contains the lines:Inspired by Daniel Delany The Brothers brought knowledge and hope to the poorSince Bicentenary, the anthem is frequently used at Patrician school liturgies. It can be inspiring to hear hundreds of voices from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, thus remembering in sacred song a man from a far-off time, and from a far-off place called Laois! An outcome of the Patrician Bicentenary celebrations was a resolution by the Brothers and lay princi-pals to establish a structure to raise and to direct funds to outreach projects, especially Patrician mis-sions. As a result, a legally incorporated body with lay and Religious Directors was set up. The body is known as the Delany Foundation.The story of Daniel Delany along with the Brigidines and the Patricians is but a variation of a theme that has been repeated over many centuries as new Religious Orders and Congregations came to birth in the Catholic church. It is ironic that Ireland’s golden era in this context was in the 19th century, a time of great oppression and poverty. Access to education and health-care was the lucky lot of the privileged few.In such times of apparent hopelessness, men and women of faith and vision stepped forward burning with a passion to bring about improvement, attracting followers who were likewise inclined. Heroes of the times were Nano Nagle (Presentation Sisters); Edmund Rice ( Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers); Catherine McAuley (Mercy Sisters); Mary Aikenhead (Charity Sisters); Margaret Alyward ( Holy Faith Sisters).In addition to making good education and healthcare accessible to the masses in Ireland, women and men from these Religious Congregations dispersed widely throughout the known world establishing foundations that remain centres of faith and vital humanitarian service to this day.What a pity that this rich legacy of Irish missioners to the world can be so easily brushed aside in its land of origin by a loud minority in recent years who seek to shape the national narrative in the light of their disproportionate fixation on shadows of the past ?The flame that may have flickered delicately in Tullow in the bleak Februaries of 1807 and 1808, con-tinues to burn brightly in many parts of the world to-day bringing light and warmth.Laois-man, Daniel Delany, was the first to kindle that flame.

ooOOOoo

Delany Day annual celebrations at Delany College, Granville,

Australia.

Delany Museum, Tullow, Ireland.