The Book of the Skelligs, edited by John Crowley and John Sheehan, photography by Valerie O’Sullivan (Cork University Press, €49/£43.90) The Great Lighthouses of Ireland, by David Hare (Gill Books, €27.99/£24.99) The filming in the recent past of two episodes of the continuing Star Wars franchise has transformed the world-wide perception of the…
“Who founded Skellig monastery?” remains a moot question, as the lawyers say. The relevant contributors to this book have to admit that though the name of St Fíonán is associated with the early centuries of Skellig’s human history, who truly founded the monastery is an obscure issue. But it may be that light on this…
Dancing with Loneliness by José María R. Olaizola SJ Messenger Publication, (€12.95/£11.95) The author of this book is a Spanish Jesuit, who is presently head of institutional communications for the Society of Jesus in Spain (which means in effect, when you think about it, the whole Spanish speaking world, which I realised during the translation…
In a recent issue some remarks made by the authors of a book on the future of the concept of the parish suggest some confusion about the strange history of Dublin’s cathedrals. I know that many foreign visitors are certainly confused as to why the city has “three cathedrals”. Of course the older cathedrals, St…
Searching for Thaddeus: Images of a Forgotten Irishman in Ireland and Italy, by Patricia Curtin-Kelly (Liberties Press, €20/£18) This is an interesting and unusual book, which will perhaps lead readers into new places to explore, not only in the remoter parishes of western Munster, but also in northern Italy. It focuses on the city of Ivrea, a place…
The new national holiday on the first day of February has been judged a great success on its first celebration. Doubtless in the decades to come ways of celebration will become fixed and standardised, and we will all know what we can expect in the way of local events to celebrate the role of women…
Crazy about Dymphna: The Story of a Girl who Drove a Medieval City Mad, by Sven Van Dorst and others (Antwerp: Hannibal Publishing / Phoebus Foundation, €63.25/£55.00) Exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland, runs until May 28 Davnet and Dympna: a single cult, by Seosamh Ó Dufaigh (Clogher Historical Society, €30.00) In 2016,…
Joyce, Aristotle and Aquinas, by Fran O’Rourke (A volume in the Florida James Joyce Series, edited by Sebastian DG. Knowles; University of Florida Press, US$90hb/US$35pb/£38.95pb /€44.50pb) Today marks the anniversary of James Joyce’s birth in 1882, the first indeed in what can be seen as the second century of Ulysses. That book is now so…
His Homeward Journey: The Life and Works of Pope Benedict XVI, by Bishop Fintan Monahan (Veritas, €9.99 / £8.99) This short life of the Pope Emeritus was well advanced at the time of his recent death. It is exactly the sort of book which many people would have liked to have at hand then, for…
The Parish as Oasis: An Introduction to Practical Environmental Care, by Kevin Hargaden and Ciara Murphy (Messenger Publications, €14.95/£12.95) The very title of this book is enough to startle and attract my imagination as I had been reading a travel account of a journey through Ethiopia, that always troubled land, soon after the overthrow of…