Easter was never ‘a normal day’. Over the years in these pages we have often stressed the need to use words properly as an aid to clear thinking and so to a better understanding of things. Over recent days I have been struck by the way so many people speak of longing for ‘a normal…
A History of the Church through its Buildings by Alan Doig (Oxford University Press, £30.00) This is an unusual book by an author with unusual talents. Alan Doig studied architecture at King’s College Cambridge, later completing a doctorate in the same field. Having taught history of art for some seven years he was ordained into the Church…
Fortune’s Many Houses: A Victorian Visionary, a Noble Scottish Family, and a Lost inheritance by Simon Welfare (Simon & Schuster, £25.00) Here in Ireland for many people in the early 20th century (and some even now) the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen were figures of folklore among many nationalists, as both Lord Lieutenant Johnny Gordon and…
The Story of Nano Nangle: A Life Lived on the Razor’s Edge by Anne Lyons PBVM (Messenger Publications, $4.95 /£4.50) Anne Lyons has been appointed by the Presentation Order as the postulator to promote the cause of the beatification of the order’s foundress Nano Nagle, who died in 1784. The cause was opened on the bicentenary…
Pope Francis has returned safe and sound, despite the fears of many, from his historic four day trip to Iraq. His visit seems to have deeply affected many both in the country itself and in the wider world. The damage done in the decades since the original American interventions is still very real. But the…
This year marks the 1,500th anniversary of the birth of St Columcille according to tradition To commemorate this significant date in the history of Ireland and Scotland, a group of supporting institutions and authorities have come together to encourage a wide range of events of all kinds across Ulster and Alban, from Derry to Inverness, and to…
Thomas MacGreevy and the Rise of the Irish Avant Garde by Francis Hutton-Williams (Cork University Press, €39.00) I have long thought highly of Thomas MacGreevy, who managed to be both a Catholic poet, a Parisian friend of James Joyce, an apostle of modernism in Ireland – indeed in Europe – as well as head of our…
Though people complain about the health regulations due to Covid-19, the response by many of our cultural institutions has been wonderful. The leading art galleries – for instance – all have active sites which have virtual exhibitions of all kinds. The National Library of Ireland (NLI) and many others too are exploiting their collections to…
Miles to go before I sleep: Letters on hope, death and learning to live by Claire Gilbert (Hodder &Stoughton, £16.99) Out this month, Claire Gilbert’s unusual book which might have been a memoir of dying, becomes instead a celebration of living. It is a remarkable book, one which (as Rowan Williams is quoted as saying), is…
An Illustrated History of the Irish Revolution 1916-1923 by Michael B. Barry (Andalus Press, €24.95) This is another illustrated history from the pen and press of Michael B. Barry. He has chosen in this one to colourise the images of the past. This is a process which most historians are sceptical about. As I have said…