John O'Hanlon (writer) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Very Rev. John O'Hanlon MRIA
John Canon O'Hanlon
Born	(1821-04-30)30 April 1821 Stradbally, Laois, Ireland
Died	15 May 1905(1905-05-15) (aged 84) Dublin, Ireland
Resting place	Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
Occupation	Catholic priest, scholar, writer
Language	English
Nationality	Irish
Notable work	Lives of the Irish Saints

John Canon O'Hanlon (born April 30, 1821 – died May 15, 1905) was an Irish Catholic priest, a smart scholar, and a talented writer. He also wrote poems and drew pictures. He was involved in Irish politics too. He is most famous for studying Irish folklore and writing about the lives of saints. His biggest work was a huge collection called Lives of the Irish Saints.

A Look at John O'Hanlon's Life

O'Hanlon was born in Stradbally, a town in Laois, Ireland. His parents were Edward and Honor Hanlon. He went to the Preston School in Ballyroan. Later, he studied to become a priest at Carlow College.

In 1842, before finishing his studies, he moved to America with his family. They first went to Quebec, Canada, then settled in Missouri, USA. This move might have happened after his father passed away. O'Hanlon continued his studies at a college in St. Louis. He became a priest in 1847. He worked as a priest in the St. Louis area until 1853.

After that, he returned to his hometown of Stradbally because he wasn't feeling well. A year later, his health got better. O'Hanlon then offered to work for the Archdiocese of Dublin. He became a curate, which is a priest who helps the main parish priest. He worked at the church of Saints Michael and John.

In 1880, he became the main parish priest for Sandymount and Ringsend in Dublin. He served at St. Mary's Star of the Sea church in Irishtown. You can still see a special plaque there today that remembers him. He stayed in Sandymount/Ringsend until he died in 1905. In 1885, he was given the special title of Canon by Archbishop Walsh. In 1897, he celebrated 50 years as a priest, which is called his Golden Jubilee. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

O'Hanlon's Writings and Books

O'Hanlon started writing when he was in America. At that time, many Irish people were moving to America because of the Great Famine. He felt very sad about their struggles. Because of this, he wrote An Irish Emigrant's Guide to the United States in 1851. He even published a new version in 1890.

He also wrote more serious, scholarly books. He worked on a book about Saint Malachy. Some of his research was published in The Boston Pilot newspaper. He also wrote articles about Saint Patrick. In 1849, he published Abridgment of the History of Ireland. Later, in 1903, he published Irish-American History of the United States. For a while, he was even the editor of a Catholic newspaper called The St. Louis News-Letter.

Exploring Local History and Folklore

When O'Hanlon returned to Ireland, he became very interested in local history and old stories (folklore). He wrote about how useful the records from the Ordnance Survey were for studying the history of places like Kilkenny and his home county, Laois. The Ordnance Survey maps and records helped people learn about different areas. He wrote many articles about the Ordnance Survey and the histories of other Irish counties.

Laois was always special to O'Hanlon. He worked on a two-volume book called History of the Queen's County. This book was published after he died in 1907. He also wrote articles about the "Old Churches of Leix" and collected the poems of John Keegan, a writer from Laois. O'Hanlon's own most famous poem is "The Land of Leix."

Writing About Saints

O'Hanlon's most famous work is his collection of stories about saints, especially his Lives of the Irish Saints. This huge work tells the stories of saints based on their feast days, from January 1st to December 31st. He started this project in 1875. By the time he died in 1905, he had published 9 volumes and was working on a tenth. This amazing work covered about 3,500 saints over more than six thousand pages!

He also wrote many books about individual saints. However, he often used these smaller writings again in his larger Lives of the Irish Saints. Even though newer studies have updated some of the information, his Lives is still a great source of local history and old traditions.

Other Interesting Works

O'Hanlon didn't just write about saints. He was also interested in famous people from his own time and from history. He published new versions of books by William Molyneux and Henry Joseph Monck Mason. He even planned to write a full biography of Daniel O'Connell, a famous Irish leader. But he put that aside to work on his history of Laois.

O'Hanlon was also a poet. He wrote under the pen name "Lageniensis," which means "Leinster man" (Leinster is a province in Ireland). His collected poems include a long poem called "The Land of Leix." He also wrote many "lays" (short poems or songs) that told stories from Irish mythology. His poems often had many notes explaining local and historical details.

He loved to travel. He often went to Europe to do research for his Lives of the Irish Saints. In 1891, when he was 70 years old, he traveled thousands of miles through the USA and Canada. He even wrote a travel book called His Life and Scenery in Missouri (1890). He also wrote books to help people learn, like Cathecism of Greek Grammar (1865), and books about prayer, like Devotions for Confession and Holy Communion (1866).

O'Hanlon's Love for Art

Besides all his other talents, O'Hanlon was a good artist. He especially liked to draw local places and features.

A sketch by O'Hanlon of Moycreddin lower Cemetery (1874)

He drew 128 of the pictures in his Lives of the Irish Saints. That's about one-fifth of all the drawings! O'Hanlon believed it was important to study and record places (this is called topography). He thought the government should hire artists to draw local features that might disappear over time. His own drawings and the way he used drawings by others show he cared about saving visual details from history.

His artistic skills also showed in his interest in buildings and architecture. He wrote about the churches of Laois. He also praised the new church of St. Laurence O'Toole in Dublin in his book The Life of St. Lawrence O'Toole, Archbishop of Dublin (1857). He even helped restore his own church, St. Mary Star of the Sea.

Supporting the Irish Language

O'Hanlon cared a lot about bringing back and keeping the Irish language alive. When he came back from the United States, he joined the Ossianic Society. As a priest in Dublin, he became a council member of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (started in 1877). He stayed active with this group until he died, even becoming a vice-president. He also helped edit works by Henry Joseph Monck Mason, another Irish language supporter.

In 1900, a local branch of Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League) was started at his church, Star of the Sea. O'Hanlon became its president. He was known for often going to the Irish language classes to encourage the students.

O'Hanlon's Political Views

O'Hanlon's political ideas seemed to start when he was a child. During his childhood, there was a lot of protest and trouble in Ireland. People were fighting for change, and some violent groups existed. O'Hanlon remembered seeing the Ballykilvan evictions in 1828, where people were forced out of their homes. As a teenager, he went to a big meeting led by Daniel O'Connell in 1836. His experiences as a priest helping poor people in St. Louis and Dublin also likely shaped his political views.

O'Hanlon was not an extreme priest. He always respected his bishop's authority. But some of his writings show his own political beliefs. He wanted to help with the discussions about Ireland's place in the world. In 1893, he went to the British Parliament in London to listen to debates about Home Rule for Ireland. Home Rule meant Ireland would have its own government. O'Hanlon supported this idea. He admired leaders like Charles Stewart Parnell and William Gladstone.

In the 1890s, he published new versions of old books by Molyneux and Monck Mason. These books had argued for Ireland to govern itself. O'Hanlon wanted to remind people of these earlier ideas. He even dedicated Monck Mason's book to Gladstone.

When he collected his poems as "Lageniensis," he dedicated them to Lady Aberdeen. Her husband had been the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (the British ruler in Ireland) and was about to become the Governor General of Canada. O'Hanlon praised Lady Aberdeen for helping the poor in Ireland and starting the Irish Industries Association. He then compared Ireland's situation to Canada's. He argued that Ireland should get the same self-government as Canada. He also expressed sadness about the "Parnellite split," which was a division within the Irish political party. He hoped that Ireland would eventually get a "Constitution" that would give equal rights to everyone, no matter their beliefs, and make the British Empire stronger.

After Parnell's party failed and Gladstone resigned in 1894, O'Hanlon seemed to lose hope for Home Rule. But his true political hero remained Daniel O'Connell. O'Hanlon was the main secretary for the O'Connell Monument Committee. He wrote their Report in 1888. He was probably the main person who helped overcome many problems over 20 years to build a monument to O'Connell in Dublin's Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street).

How O'Hanlon Was Remembered

O'Hanlon was a humble person, but his achievements were recognized. At his Golden Jubilee (50 years as a priest), his church members and other priests honored him. They praised his work as a priest, his support for Irish interests, and his many writings. William Walsh, the archbishop of Dublin, said that O'Hanlon worked so hard as a priest that people wondered how he found time to write. But he wrote so much that people wondered how he found time to do his church work! He was part of literary groups in Dublin. He was also chosen as a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a very respected group.

Even the famous writer James Joyce mentioned O'Hanlon in his novel Ulysses. In one part of the book, Joyce describes O'Hanlon's activities at the St. Mary Star of the Sea church. This shows that O'Hanlon was a well-known figure in Dublin.

List of Works

• Abridgment of the History of Ireland from its Final Subjection to the Present Time (Boston, 1849)
• The Irish Emigrant's Guide to the United States (Boston, 1851; new edition, Dublin, 1890)
• The Life of St. Laurence O'Toole, Archbishop of Dublin (Dublin, 1857)
• The Life of St. Malachy O'Morgair, Bishop of Down and Connor, Archbishop of Armagh (Dublin, 1859)
• The Life of St. Dympna, Virgin Martyr (Dublin, 1863)
• Catechism of Irish History from the Earliest Events to the Death of O'Connell (Dublin, 1864)
• Catechism of Greek Grammar (Dublin, 1865)
• Devotions for Confession and Holy Communion (Dublin, 1866)
• The Life and Works of St. Oengus the Culdee, Bishop and Abbot (Dublin, 1868)
• The Life of St. David, Archbishop of Menevia, Chief Patron of Wales (Dublin, 1869)
• Legend Lays of Ireland (verse, under the pseudonym "Lageniensis") (Dublin, 1870)
• Irish Folk-Lore, Traditions and Superstitions of the Country; with Humorous Tales (Lageniensis) (Glasgow, 1870)
• Lives of the Irish Saints: with special festivals, and the commemorations of holy persons, compiled from calendars, martyrologies, and various sources, relating to the ancient church history of Ireland (Dublin, 9 volumes published from 1875, with a 10th partially completed in 1905)
• The Buried Lady, a Legend of Kilronan (Lageniensis) (Dublin, 1877)
• The Life of St. Grellan, Patron of the O'Kellys (Dublin, 1881)
• Report of the O'Connell Monument Committee (Dublin, 1888)
• The Poetical Works of Lageniensis (Dublin, 1893)
• Irish-American History of the United States (Dublin, 1902)
• History of the Queen's County (completed by Rev. E. O'Leary) (Dublin, 1907)
• Editor, Henry Joseph Monck Mason Essay on the Antiquity and Constitution of Parhaments of Ireland (1891)
• Editor, William Molyneux The Case of Ireland's Being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England Stated (1893)
• Editor, Legends and Stories of John Keegan (with a memoir of Keegan by David James O'Donoghue) (Dublin, 1908)