The Choctaw Donation

The Choctaw Donation During Irish Famine

 

A well remembered donation to famine relief was that made by the Choctaw tribe of American Indians who in 1847 sent a donation of $710, the equivalent of more than $100,000 today. They had a special affinity with the hungry and those who had lost their homes, since it was only 16 years since their tribe had been made homeless and walked the “Trail of Tears” from Oklahoma to Mississippi, along which many of them died.

This extraordinary gift from a people who were themselves impoverished has never been forgotten. In 1997, the 150th anniversary of that generous gesture, a group of Irish people walked alongside members of the Chokraw Nation along the 500 mile Trail of Tears in reverse, back to the Choctaw homeland. In so doing they raised together over $100,000 which was donated to Famine relief in Somalia.

Not Famine But Genocide. The Irish Famine

History of Clonmacnoise

Clonmacnoise (Irish: Cluain Mhic Nois, “meadow of the sons of Nos”) is a monastic site overlooking the River Shannon in County Offaly. The extensive ruins include a cathedral, castle, round tower, numerous churches, two important high crosses, and a large collection of early Christian grave slabs.

Clonmacnoise was founded in 548 by St. Ciaran, the son of a master craftsman. The settlement soon became a major center of religion, learning, trade, craftsmanship and politics, thanks in large part to its position at the major crossroads of the River Shannon (flowing north-south) and the gravel ridges of the glacial eskers.

The settlement was also situated between the two provinces of Meath and Connacht, and benefited from the patronage of powerful provincial kings. Clonmacnoise was originally associated with Connacht, but from the 9th to 11th centuries allied itself with Meath. In the late 11th and 12th centuries, allegiance reverted once again to Connacht. The last high king of Ireland, Rory O’Connor, was buried in Clonmacnoise’s cathedral in 1198.

Religion was the central focus at Clonmacnoise, but it always had a large lay population and thus looked more like a town than a monastery. The houses and domestic buildings were made of wood and have not survived. The earliest churches at Clonmacnoise were also made of wood, but from the 10th century onward they were built of stone.

Like nearly all monastic settlements in Ireland, Clonmacnoise was plundered on several occasions by invaders, including the Vikings and Anglo-Normans. It then fell into decline from the 13th century onwards until it was destroyed in 1552 by the English garrison from nearby Athlone.

Bronze Age Ireland

Metallurgy arrived in Ireland with new people, generally known as the Bell Beaker People, from their characteristic pottery, in the shape of an inverted bell.This was quite different from the finely made, round-bottomed pottery of the Neolithic. It is found, for example, at Ross Island, and associated with copper-mining there. 

The Bronze Age began once copper was alloyed with tin to produce true Bronze artifacts, and this took place around 2000 BC, when some Ballybeg flat axes and associated metalwork were produced. The period preceding this, in which Lough Ravel and most Ballybeg axes were produced, and which is known as the Copper Age or Chalcolithic, commenced about 2500 BC.

Bronze was used for the manufacture of both weapons and tools. Swords, axes, daggers, hatchets, halberds, awls, drinking utensils and horn-shaped trumpets are just some of the items that have been unearthed at Bronze Age sites. Irish craftsmen became particularly noted for the horn-shaped trumpet, which was made by the cire perdue, or lost wax, process.

Copper used in the manufacture of bronze was mined in Ireland, chiefly in the southwest of the country, while the tin was imported from Cornwall in Britain. The earliest known copper mine in these islands was located at Ross Island, at the Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry; mining and metalworking took place there between 2400 and 1800 BC. Another of Europe’s best-preserved copper mines has been discovered at Mount Gabriel in Cork^. Mines in Cork and Kerry are believed to have produced as much as 370 tonnes of copper during the Bronze Age. As only about 0.2% of this can be accounted for in excavated bronze artifacts, it is surmised that Ireland was a major exporter of copper during this period.

Ireland was also rich in native gold, and the Bronze Age saw the first extensive working of this precious metal by Irish craftsmen. More Bronze Age gold hoards have been discovered in Ireland than anywhere else in Europe. Irish gold ornaments have been found as far afield as Germany and Scandinavia. In the early stages of the Bronze Age these ornaments consisted of rather simple crescents and disks of thin gold sheet. Later the familiar Irish torque made its appearance; this was a collar consisting of a bar or ribbon of metal, twisted into a screw and then bent into a loop. Gold earrings, sun disks and lunulas (crescent “moon disks” worn around the neck) were also made in Ireland during the Bronze Age.

Smaller wedge tombs continued to be built throughout the Bronze Age, and while the previous tradition of large scale monument building was much reduced, existing earlier megalithic monuments continued in use in the form of secondary insertions of funerary and ritual artifacts. Towards the end of the Bronze Age the single-grave cist made its appearance. This consisted of a small rectangular stone chest, covered with a stone slab and buried a short distance below the surface. Numerous stone circles were also erected at this time, chiefly in Ulster and Munster.

During the Bronze Age, the climate of Ireland deteriorated and extensive deforestation took place. The population of Ireland at the end of the Bronze Age was probably in excess of 100,000, and may have been as high as 200,000. In Ireland the Bronze Age lasted until c. 500BC, later than the Continent and also Britain.

The Lost Wax Method of Bronze Casting

Skellig Michael Monastery

Skellig Michael Island

The Skellig Rocks, Skellig Michael (also known as Great Skellig) and Little Skellig, are towering sea crags rising from the Atlantic Ocean almost 12 kilometres west of the Ivereagh Peninsula in County Kerry. Located at the western edge of the European landmass, Skellig Michael was the chosen destination for a small group of ascetic monks who, in their pursuit of greater union with God, withdrew from civilisation to this remote and inaccessible place. Some time between the sixth and eight centuries, a monastery was founded on this precipitous rock giving rise to one of the most dramatic examples of the extremes of Christian monasticism.

The monastic community appears to have moved to the mainland by the thirteenth century but the island continued to be venerated as a place of pilgrimage in the following centuries. In the nineteenth century, two lighthouses were built on Skellig Michael, establishing its importance in Ireland’s maritime history.

Skellig Michael is also one of Ireland’s most important sites for breeding seabirds both in terms of size of colonies and diversity of species.

The well-preserved monastic remains have retained a strong spiritual after-life which appeals strongly to the human psyche. Visitors cannot but be awestruck by the physical achievements of these early monks which, when combined with the sense of solitude, ocean and bird sounds evokes a quiet sense of magic. This is beautifully expressed by George Bernard Shaw who, following a visit in 1910, described this ‘incredible, impossible, mad place’ as ‘part of our dream world’.

In 1996 UNESCO inscribed the island of Skellig Michael onto the World Heritage List in recognition of its outstanding universal value.

 

For more information click Here

 

The Annals of the Four Masters

     In the 1630s four professional historians compiled a set of annals of Irish history that emulated the early modern trend of writing national histories. The 'Four Masters' were Mícheál Ó Cléirigh OFM, Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, Fearfeasa Ó Maoil Chonaire and Cú Choigcríche Ó Duibhgeannáin. They were assisted by two scribes Muiris Ó Maoil Chonaire and Conaire Ó Cléirigh. The annals were compiled between 1632 and 1636 at the Franciscan house at Drowse, near Ballyshannon, Co Donegal. They contain a history of Ireland from the biblical Flood to the death of Hugh O'Neill in 1616. Two sets of the annals were made, one destined for Louvain, the other for their patron inIreland.

 

 Read more...........

Missouri’s German Unionists: From Defeat to Uncertain Victory Over Slavery

 

Slave auctions were held on the steps of the Court House in St. Louis before the Civil War, a source of resentment among the city’s Germans

 

When the Civil War began in April 1861, the Union’s most important resource for controlling the slave-state of Missouri was the large German community centered in St. Louis. Germans had formed their own clandestine pro-Unionist militias even before the war had begun and they had been in the forefront of Union military operations throughout 1861. Read more........

 

From the Long Island Wins Website

3 Irish Missionaries Martyred in Germany

Saints Killian, Kolonat & Totnan

 

According to Irish sources, Kilian was born in Mullagh, Cavan, Ireland. The name has several variations in spelling (e.g. Chillian, Killian, Cilian, Kilian). In Ireland, the preferred spelling is Cillian. Saint Kilian's feast day is July 8, and he is usually portrayed, as in his statue at Würzburg, bearing a bishop's mitre and wielding a sword. The Kiliani-Volksfest (two weeks in July) is the main civil and religious festival in the region around Würzburg. 

There are several biographies of him. The oldest texts which refer to him are an 8th century necrology at Wurzburg. With eleven companions he went to eastern Franconia and Thuringia. After having preached the Gospel in Würzburg, he succeeded in converting to Christianity the local lord, Duke Gozbert, and much of the population.

Kilian eventually told the Duke that he was in violation of sacred scripture by being married to his brother's widow, Geilana. When Geilana, whom Kilian had failed to convert to Christianity, heard of Kilian's words against her marriage, she was so angry that she had her soldiers sent to the main square of Würzburg, where Kilian and his colleagues were preaching, and had him beheaded, along with two of his companions, Saint Colman (also called Colonan or Kolonat) and Saint Totnan.

St Killian at Wurzburg

St Totnan

Relics of the Three Saints

The elevation of their sacred Relics was performed by Bishop Burchard, first bishop of Würzburg. Their skulls, inlaid with precious stones, have been preserved to this day. On St Kilian's day, a glass case containing the three skulls is removed from a crypt, paraded through the streets before large crowds, and put on display in Würzburg Cathedral, which is dedicated to St. Kilian. Statues of these three saints (among others) line the famous Saints' Bridge across the river Main.

Stones Brochure

Click Here To View Brochure

Bronzes Brochure

 

Click Here To View Brochure

Ogham Plaque

'Here Lies A Gael'

Ogham Burial Marker

     The Ogham alphabet is thought to be named after the Irish god Ogma. One theory of its origins is that it evolved out of a system of tallies used for accounting. About 500 Ogham inscriptions have been found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England and the Isle of Man dating from between the 4th and 7th centuries AD. There are inscriptions in ancient Irish and Pictish which have not been deciphered. A number of bilingual inscriptions in Ogham and Latin or Ogham and Old Norse written with the Runic alphabet have been found.
While all surviving traces of Ogham are inscriptions on stone, it was probably more commonly inscribed on sticks, stakes and trees. Inscriptions generally take the form of somebody's name and the name of a place and were probably used to mark boundaries.

Ogham Stones of Ireland

Valentia Slate

Valentia Slate Cremation Plaque

Valentia Island, also spelled Valencia Island, is one of Ireland's westernmost points, lying off the southwest coast of Kerry. Since it first opened in 1816, stone from the Valentia Slate Quarry has been sought after for its durability and its beautiful purple hue. Its high quality is of world-renown and it graces such historical places as the Houses of Parliament in Westminster and St Paul's Cathedral.

 

Valentia Island

 

Kilkenny Marble

Kilkenny Marble Memorial Plaque

Kilkenny City is known as the 'Marble City'  due to the glistening effect of the marble paving in its narrow streets. The Black Quarry has been in use since the 17th century and the large hewn blocks were transported by horse dray to the River Nore which facilitated their final journey to Milmount where the blocks were worked to their fine finish.

Among the recipients of this fine marble was Cobh Cathedral in Cork, a poignant site for the many thousands who emigrated to America from this port.

The marble has a rich dark black hue with white fossil flecks.

The Lonesome Boatman

The Stone Walls of Ireland

 Stone Walls West of Ireland

The typical stone walls iconicly associated with the West of Ireland are dry stone walls, no mortar or cement,  are made by carefully selecting stones that will balance and ‘sit’ into the wall as they are built. The reason for their existence is simple and practical. The land in many parts of Ireland is naturally very stony and in order to be farmed the stones had to be cleared. Since there was no method of getting rid of the stones and there was a need to create separate divisions of land, the obvious thing to do was to build walls, lots of them. The size of the fields is proportional to the stoniness (or poverty) of the land: more stones means more walls means smaller fields.

The walls are built ostensibly by placing smaller stones on larger from base  to top although given their nature there is an element of 'make it up as you go along' depending on the size and shapes of the stones to hand. The stone is primarilly limestone and granite. The walls are never built high and are in need of regular repair and attention. There are no tools or bonding material used, the stones are to 'sit' into the matrix as it evolves.

Their predominance in the west of Ireland derives generally from the gradual decline in farmland quality as one travels from east to west. Cromwell's infamous dictum during the Plantations 'To hell or to Connaught', when the indigenous Irish were driven from their land, graphically sums it up.

During The Great Famine public work schemes were introduced as alleviation measures wherein walls were built literally up the sides of mountains with no obvious divisions of lands. These became known as Famine Walls and can be seen to this day.

The so-called “Great Wall of Mourne” is often mistaken for a famine wall, but is much later, although the local employment it gave during construction was welcome. On average 1.5 meters high and about one meter thick and built from local granite it winds over 35 kilometres, crossing fifteen mountains. It took more than 18 years to complete, from1904 to 1922.

 

St Bridget's Cross

St Bridget's Cross

Irish Memorial Stones' bronze St Bridget Cross is unique in that each cross is cast from an individual cross woven in the traditional way from reeds. No two are the same.

St. Brigid was born in AD 450 in Faughart, near Dundalk in Co. Louth. Her father, Dubhthach, was a pagan chieftain of Leinster and her mother, Broicsech, was a Christian. She lived during the time of St.Patrick and was inspired by his preachings, converting to Christianity. Legend says that she prayed that her beauty would be taken away from her so no one would seek her hand in marriage thus enabling her to complete devotion to the spread of the Christian message.

Shen entered convent life receiving her veil from St Macaille. Thereafter Brigid founded many convents all over Ireland; the most famous one was in Co. Kildare. It is said that this convent was built beside an oak tree where the town of Kildare now stands. Around 470 she also founded a double monastery, for nuns and monks, in Kildare. As Abbess of this foundation she wielded considerable power, but was a very wise and prudent superior. The Abbey of Kildare became one of the most prestigious monasteries in Ireland, and was famous throughout Christian Europe.

St. Brigid also founded a school of art, including metal work and illumination, over which St. Conleth presided. In the scriptorium of the monastery, the famous illuminated manuscript the Book of Kildare was created.

The cross for which her name is synonymous is reputedly to have come form an encounter with a dying, pagan Cheiftain. At his deathbed she fashioned the cross from reeds spread on the floor; so moved was the Cheiftain by this that he converted to Christianity.

 St. Brigid died in AD 525 at the age of 75 and was buried in a tomb before the High Altar of her Abbey church. After some time, her remains were exhumed and transferred to Downpatrick to rest with the two other patron saints of Ireland, St. Patrick and St. Columcille. Her skull was extracted and brought to Lisbon, Portugal by two Irish noblemen, and it remains there to this day St. Brigid is the female patron saint of Ireland. She is also known as Muire na nGael or Mary of the Gael which means Our Lady of the Irish. Her feast day is the 1st of February which is the first day of Spring in Ireland.

Clonmacnoise Crucifixion Plaque

Clonmacnoise Crucifixion Plaque

Irish Memorial Stones offers a beautiful solid bronze rendition of the famous Clonmacnoise Crucifixion Plaque. The figure of Christ is shown with outstretched arms and feet turned outwards. Angels are perched on Christ's arms with the sponge-bearer Stephaton holding a cup and Longinus, the spear-bearer, positioned on either side.

52 Irish Round Towers

52 Round Towers in Ireland

     Click on the link above for a treasure throve of pictures and information on the most iconic round towers throughout Ireland.

A Cross to Bear

Penal Cross

• Under the Penal Laws the Irish Catholic was forbidden the exercise of their religion.  It.....
•   was forbidden to receive education.
•   was forbidden to enter a profession.
•   was forbidden to hold public office.
•   was forbidden to engage in trade or commerce.
•   was forbidden to live in a corporate town or within five miles thereof.
•   was forbidden to own a horse of greater value than five pounds.
•   was forbidden to own land.
•   was forbidden to lease land.
•   was forbidden to accept a mortgage on land in security for a loan.
•   was forbidden to vote.
•   was forbidden to keep any arms for his protection.
•   was forbidden to hold a life annuity.
•   was forbidden to buy land from a Protestant.
•   was forbidden to receive a gift of land from a Protestant.
•   was forbidden to inherit land from a Protestant.
•   was forbidden to inherit anything from a Protestant.
•   was forbidden to rent any land that was worth more than 30 shillings a year.
•   was forbidden to reap from his land any profit exceeding a third of the rent.
•   could not be guardian to a child.
•   could not, when dying, leave his infant children under Catholic guardianship.
•   could not attend Catholic worship.
•   was compelled by law to attend Protestant worship.
•   could not himself educate his child.
•   could not send his child to a Catholic teacher.
•   could not employ a Catholic teacher to come to his child.
•   could not send his child abroad to receive education. 

 

The Celtic Cross

The Celts were the ancient inhabitants of much of Europe. A spiritual people, their rich mythology and symbology later merged with the Christian beliefs they embraced to create a distinctive art seen especially in Ireland and Scotland. The Celtic Cross is known throughout the world as the emblem of Celtic Christianity and it can be considered the symbol of Celticness itself. Celtic Crosses began to appear during the fifth century AD.  Some say it's shape is derived from a pagan sun symbol, the sunwheel,which later became a symbol of the Christian Godhead.

The sunwheel was originally a cross surrounded by a circle with a center stone representing the sun and "mock suns" at the four quarters. The cross represents eternal life; it's horizontal axis being the earthly world and the vertical axis the heavenly world coming together as the union of heaven and earth.The oldest Celtic crosses were carved into large slabs of rock that lay flat on the ground. Later versions stand in an upright position, with rock carved away from the cross. Tenth-century Irish crosses were sometimes capped with a pitched roof. Celtic crosses were often decorated with interlaced knot work, spirals, key patterns, animal figures, foliage designs, and Biblical stories. Some crosses were memorials, inscribed with names of individuals; modern Celtic crosses are often used as tombstones in Irish churchyards.

 The Irish contribution to the development of Christianity, particularly in the early centuries after the crucifixion, provides a more than adequate basis on which to formulate any movement geared toward underpinning Christian faith in an era where that faith is under severe strain.

In a deeply rich symbolism, essential in the Celtic oral tradition, the fundamental tenets of Christian belief were beautifully rendered as powerful tools for conversion. At its heart was the Celtic Cross, with its distinctive circle adorning the top of the crucifix. Whilst the exact provenance of the meaning of the intertwined cross and circle is unclear it is now generally accepted that it represents a pagan evolution to Christian belief.

Irish Memorial Stones have fused the ancient designs of Celtic Crosses with native Irish stones and marbles to offer a unique and enduring memoriam plaques.

Poulnabrone Dolmen

Poulnabrone Dolmen (Poll na mBrón in Irish meaning "hole of the quern stones" (bró in Irish)") is a portal tomb in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland, dating back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC to 2900 BC. It is situated 8 km (5 miles) south of Ballyvaughan in the parish of Carran, 9.6 km (6 miles) north-west of Kilnaboy.