Mention of Siamsa Tíre brings to mind Fr Pat Ahern and vice-versa. Apart from co-founding Siamsa Tíre in 1973 Pat was its sprid, the spirit that invigorated it over the years, much to the cultural benefit of Ireland.
This unusual exhibition at the Irish Architectural Archive (IAA), which has another week to run, is well worth catching, and the names of those mounting it should be noted for a sight of their future work.
Ignatius Loyola Christian Mystic, by Brian O’Leary (Messenger Books €19.95/ £18.95) Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises have been explored by readers since they were written, and have proved over the centuries to be immensely influential. The idea of ‘composition of place’ can even be traced, so I believe, in the earliest impulses to write…
A further recollection from an active literary life A most memorable day in my life as a writer was my visit to the Palace of Westminster, the home of the British Parliament. This was occasioned by the publication in 1973 of my book Listowel and its Vicinity, which included an account of the Hare…
A Quiet Space: A short history of the Sanctuary, by Sr Stan Kennedy and Sr Síle Wall (Veritas, €16.99/ £14.90) This little book is a short history guide to the Sanctuary, founded by the redoubtable Sr Stan and her associates. She herself writes: “Over 23 years ago, we had a vision for the Sanctuary.…
The visit of Pope Francis to Mongolia elicited some curious reactions, which show that many people are far from appreciating the role of Mongolia, not only in medieval history, but also nowadays and the place in today’s world the country’s government is attempting to build. It was pointed out that there were only about 1,450…
Sean O’Casey’s Dublin trilogy – The Shadow of a Gunman (1923), Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926) – was the first effort at demythologising the Irish revolution in the public sphere. As Conor Cruise O’Brien wrote, these plays “are not revolutionary, and are even counter-revolutionary in their implications and…
With God You are Never Alone: The Great Papal Addresses, by Benedict XVI (Bloomsbury, £14,95 / €17.50) In this book, which is bound to secure a wide readership, the 10 most important speeches of the Pontificate of Benedict XVI, are collected by Fr Federico Lombardi, of the Ratzinger-Benedict Foundation in Rome. These speeches reveal the…
Thomas O’Loughlin This week we continue the exploration we began in the first part of this essay, published in the last issue. Disputes and churches If it were not for the conflicts in the Aegean churches we might never have had the genuine letters of Paul. There were disputes about practices and unwillingness to welcome…
France on trial: The case of Marshal Pétain, by Julian Jackson (Allan Lane, £25.00/€29.50) Marshal Philippe Pétain, head of the collaborationist Vichy regime in France during World War II, was put on trial for treason at the end of the war in 1945. It was essentially a show trial, ordered by the provisional government newly installed…
Peter Costello