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Could
Imperial Rome have conquered us?
Rev. Columbanus Dwyer discusses the question: “Could
Imperial Rome have conquered Ireland.” St. Patrick’s
Day recalls battles of the Irish against Roman legions kings
of Erin believed to have prevented attack on island by warring
on Latin army in Britain. Nations had frequent encounters
during a period of 400 years; Saint held as slave.The question
often has been asked why was Roman military power never
established in Ireland? It is the intention of the writer
to present the cause from the testimony of Latin authority;
also to present testimonies from other foreign sources,
including British; nor would it be right to omit facts of
Irish history.In the solution of the question it is well
to remember that Ireland was known by many names in ancient
times, Scotia being most generally used up to the twelfth
century though Hibernia, Lerne and Erin are frequently found
in the writings of foreign authors, as well as in Irish
documents.It was about the end of the twelfth century that
the name of Scotia was generally applied to Scotland as
we know it at present. In olden times it was known as Galedonia,
and among the Irish as Alba.There is very good reason to
say that about the beginning of the Roman invasion of Britain,
the Irish troops crossed the sea to aid their kinsmen, the
Picts, in north Britain, who must have sensed at that time
the danger of a Roman advance toward their homeland.
Invasion
From the very beginning of the Roman invasion of Britain,
history is unanimous in asserting the continuous warfare
of the Scots and Picts on Roman power. History also gives
good reason to say that it would be better for civilisation
in general if the Romans had been welcomed instead of opposed.To
arrive at the meaning of the word ‘Sect’, as used
in early times, a vast amount of testimony can be produced
supporting the Ven. Bede (b.672, d, 735 AD) who in his “Ecclesiastical
History” (book 1; chapter L) has this say:
“In process of time the population of Britannia was
increased in the quarter of the Picts by the accession of
a third nation, that of the Scots to the Britons and the
Picts. The newcomers, having passed out of Ireland, obtained
those possessions which they hold to the present day.”
Bede seems in doubt as to whether the Scots gained their
possessions through friendship or the sword, but all other
authors support the probability that it was through friendship,
as the ties of consanguinity existed between the Irish and
the Picts. Also, it seems reasonable to suppose that the
military alliance between the two peoples, seen in their
way on the Romans, ended in the Scots gaining their over
lordship of North Britain, and establishing their line of
kings there. From the latter fact we may reasonably judge
that in the united war on the Romans, the Scots were the
superior body, and hence gave their name to the country.
The Highlanders still speak the Gaelic their forefathers
spoke when they first crossed to Alba (Scotland) to fight
with the Picts against the common enemy.Irish annals show
that from the beginning of the Roman invasion of Britain,
the Irish ‘got busy’ against them as a matter
of safety to themselves, and we find that this warfare continued
up to the last moment of Roman in Britain. Even as late
as the fourth century, the attacks on the Romans by the
Picts and Scots are noted by various British writers; in
that century alone, ten serious raids on the Roman invaders
are noted; and though we are told, probably truly enough
that the Scots and Picts were repulsed on those occasions,
yet it is also admitted that on many occasions the Romans
were on the brink of sore defeat.So sore pressed were the
Romans that they had to resort to a most extraordinary measure
to ensure their safety in what is now England.Because of
his scholarship and his sources of rare manuscripts transcribed
from the writings of the pagan Irish, preserved for us by
the early Christian monks of Ireland, the “History
of Ireland” written by the Very Rev. Geoffrey Keating
about the middle of the seventeenth century has always been
recognised as the standard history of that country. He had
brought to light many things of importance to Ireland, and
because there are always the iconoclasts, the skeptics,
the would-be “know-betters” he faced much unwarranted
opposition.Especially on the question of the establishment
of heraldry in Ireland has Keating been made the object
of much sarcasm by the uninitiated, but without any argument
on their side. How unjustifiable such opposition is we shall
see.The arms of the O’Sullivan sept are different from
O’Sullivan Beara, but include in the sinister base
quarter those of the Bearhaven branch. The sept arms is
very ancient and no doubt its charges come down to us from
pagan times, for the central and original charges is the
‘snake-twined spear’, later so augmented as to
make one of the most beautiful coasts-of-arms known.(John
L. Sullivan’s ancestors lived in the vicinity of the
cemetery above noted, and there are many wonderful stories
told of them. It is unfortunate that those who have written
biographies of him did not know of it.)
The incising of armorial bearings on tombstones is ancient
in Ireland, the custom being - as we shall see - of pagan
origin, Keating has been upheld by the genuinely great scholars
of Ireland. Either that or they held a respectful silence
on matters they could not understand.A distant kinsman of
the late William Dwyer, who was a well known teacher at
the Old Brandy Hall National School, was Dan Dwyer, carpenter
- a man of keen intelligence and a good tradesman. He had
four sons - Robert, John, Dan and William (Bill) each had
a romantic life story. A school friend JD MacCarthy had
been for years in touch by correspondence with Dan, later
Father Dan, and William, editor and “Man about Town”
of the Fall River “Herald. Father Dan was for years
in a lucrative position in Boston (the chief city of New
Ireland). His spare moments he devoted to Press work - good
virile Catholic propaganda. It was appreciated by Church
dignitaries.One, a personal friend, prompted Dan to study
for the Church, as his exemplary life, and attachment to
the Faith of his fathers, so sturdily expressed in his writings,
betrayed a genuine vocation. Father Dan with misgivings
joined St Anthony’s College, Catskill, New York and
was ordained in the year 1921 in his sixty-sixth year and
was for many years an active and beloved soggarth, doing
credit in the Vineyard to his native race and creed.On looking
up old letters from Father Dan, to JD MacCarthy which JD
said he treasured as coming from a true and tried friend,
and a man of high attainments. We quote one: -
“My dear Jim, - Yes, there is surely an affinity, if
a name counts for anything . In Ireland it always did. My
mother’s father, a McCarthy, is buried inside the walls
of the old ruined Cistercian Church in Abbeyisland. Derrynane,
next to the ancient grave of the O’Connells. Mother
was very proud of the name and her forbears. The McCarthys
of Derrynane, gave the O’Connells a footing when they
were expelled from the Killarney district by the O’Donoghue’s.
“The days of our glory are over.” We live in more
practical times. Miss O’Reilly daughter of John Boyle
O’Reilly, wrote me from Constantinople, and promised
she would call on you when she visits Ireland.”
I got that letter in November 1913. Miss O’Reilly had
a roving commission from a syndicate of American papers.
The Great War broke on a peaceful world with a thunder of
guns, and Miss O’Reilly returned to Boston. Father
Dan was a great personal friend and admirer of the poet
and his family and for the reasons disclosed in my first
contribution of ‘Recollections, it would have been
a pleasure to extend to her a warm welcome to Ireland. The
fates decreed otherwise, and next year DV she may be among
the exiles to see the new bright face of the once Dark Rosaleen.
Should Fr Dan come he’ll get a warm welcome in Bere
where on his last visit he published a paper-stile, a keepsake
in many a home.
Fall
River
Bill Dwyer is an institution in Fall River which is Berehaven
transplanted.I visited Bill there in 1925 and shall never
forget my reception and experiences. Were I to recite these,
I would wander too far and keep going for months. Bill’s
column “The Man about Town” is unique and delightfully
interesting to a native of Bere, who would think he was
familiar with the name and history of the people referred
to.The Sullivan, the Sheas, the Crowleys, the Kellys, the
Harringtons, McCarthys, Dwyers all descendants of the emigrants
following black ‘47.Bill is physically a fine type,
and though three score and ten, he still makes his column
an attractive, spicy, literary treat. He’s beloved
of the city folk, and is sure “The Man about Town”.
How the exiles of Bere love “that spot” hallowed
by tragic and happy memories, every hill and dale, the rocked-ribbed
coast, and the shimmering sea and the grave-yards of their
fathers were pictured for them by their fathers and mothers
with a gaelic power of expression.There is no need to ask
the question of the Dwyers. Their lives were devoted to
Ireland, and all four brothers were ardent supporters of
the Irish Party.They were men and patriots. Robert Dwyer
was a gentleman, but the fire in his kindly Irish eyes was
eloquent of the depths of his soul. He is laid to rest in
Foildarrig. It would spoil Father D Crowley’s tribute
to his memory were I to say more, before giving it you,
as it appeared in the “Independent.”
Courtesy of the Southern Star
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