{"id":11353,"date":"2026-03-17T16:08:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/?p=11353"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:53:21","slug":"eire-og-young-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/eire-og-young-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00c9ire \u00d3g \/ Young Ireland\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a spotlight exhibit in Special Collections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Matthew Knight, Irish Studies Librarian and Curator<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This St. Patrick\u2019s Day and in the March\u2013April spotlight exhibit, Rare Books and Special Collections celebrates the youth of Ireland, who were seen in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the true soul of the Irish Nation. After all, if Irish independence were to be achieved, nationalists would first have to win the hearts and minds of the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1842, a group known as Young Ireland founded a newspaper called The Nation<\/em> to advocate for a politically independent Ireland. The Nation<\/em> envisioned an Irish identity undivided by race or religion; united by Irish language and culture; and forged from a romanticized version of Irish history. To achieve these ends, Young Ireland sought a legion more formidable than a thousand men clad in steel: The young intellect of the country.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of our prized collections is a series of draft songs composed for The Nation <\/em>newspaper by one of the founders of Young Ireland, Thomas Davis (Thomas Davis Collection, MSE\/IR 1001<\/a>). Although Davis tragically died of scarlet fever at age thirty, many of his compositions (\u201cA Nation Once Again,\u201d \u201cThe West\u2019s Asleep,\u201d and \u201cLament for Owen Roe O\u2019Neill\u201d), intended to inspire the Irish youth of his time, are still sung today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u201cThe Brigade\u2019s Battle Eve\u201d
MSE\/IR 1001<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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Rare Books Large DA 950.2 .Y66 1876<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Although the British banned the speaking of Irish and the teaching of Ireland\u2019s history from the national school system, associations inspired by the Young Ireland Movement began to encourage children to study the Irish language, play Gaelic sports, and perform Irish drama and music. This alternative education included journals such as Young Ireland<\/a><\/em> (1875-1891) and groups like the Irish Fireside Club (founded 1887), which helped foster a new national identity among the nation’s youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These activities served as training grounds for future nationalists and paved the way for the formation of Connradh na Gaedhilge (The Gaelic League) in 1893. This organization continued to solicit the support of Irish youth, and published numerous books, pamphlets, and broadsides intended to ensure children remained at the forefront of the revival of Irish language and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Tadgh \u00d3 Donnchadha, An t\u00c1ille\u00e1n<\/em>. Dublin, 1924.
Rare Books Large PB 1399 .O42765 A5 1924<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

First published by Connradh na Gaedhilge in 1902, An t\u00c1ille\u00e1n<\/a><\/em> was written by Tadhg \u00d3 Donnchadha (\u2018Torna\u2019) with illustrations of the ideal country life by Seoirse Ua F\u00e1g\u00e1in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Torna\u2019 dedicated the book to the youth of Ireland, saying, \u201cCuimhnighidh air gur i n\u00c9irinn do rugadh sibh, gur ceart d\u00fainn \u00e1r nd\u00edcheall do dh\u00e9anamh ar son \u00c9ireann; maireamhaint agus b\u00e1s d\u2019fh\u00e1gh\u00e1il i n\u00c9irinn; agus \u00f3\u2019s \u00ed an Gaedhilg \u00e1r dTeanga f\u00e9in, \u00ed labhairt \u00ed comhnuidhe.\u201d [Remember that you were born in Ireland, and we must do our best for Ireland; to live and die in Ireland; and since Irish is our own language, speak it always.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Rare Books Small M 1744 .F8 1913<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Fu\u00ednn na Sm\u00f3l<\/em> (Songs of the Thrushes)<\/a> is a collection of Irish tunes drawn from manuscripts, oral tradition, and shorter printed works. An tAthair P\u00e1druig Breathnach (1848\u20131930), a Catholic priest and member of the Gaelic League, collected Irish songs from his parishioners in his youth. He later published them in a series of works like this one, with each tune printed in the Gaelic typeface and set to a melody in tonic solfa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although dedicated to children learning Irish in school, these songbooks had much to offer adults committed to the de-anglicization program of the Gaelic League. Sales ran into the tens of thousands, and they had a lasting influence on the Irish oral tradition.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rare Books Small DA 954 .F53 1924<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When Gaelic revivalism became more political, groups like Na Fianna \u00c9ireann (Boy Scouts of Ireland), founded in 1909, emerged to support a future military insurrection. First published in 1914, the Fianna Handbook<\/em><\/a> served as the official guide and training manual for Na Fianna \u00c9ireann. The Fianna Handbook <\/em>was the Irish nationalist alternative to the Baden-Powell Boy Scout handbook, with the Fianna portrayed holding rifles, in contrast to the Baden-Powell Scouts, who carried walking sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guide featured training in signaling, first aid, camping, and military drill, but also contained chapters devoted to a cultural nationalist education. Patrick Pearse contributed a chapter on the legendary Fianna; Countess Markievicz, the group’s founder and \u2018Chief,\u2019 wrote an inspiring foreword and designed the cover; Roger Casement penned an essay on chivalry; and Douglas Hyde submitted a chapter in the Irish language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Current and former Fianna participated in the 1916 Easter Rising, and the organization later worked alongside the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Independence (1919-21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighty years after Young Ireland founded The Nation<\/em> newspaper, the Irish Free State was declared, and Irish Independence followed soon after. The Gaelic revival survived largely because it recognized that nobody was too young to serve their country, and the new Irish state found many former “Firesiders” and Fianna members serving in leadership roles. These once pint-sized radicals ensured that their dream of a free, Gaelic Ireland would pass to the next generation of Irish children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Footnotes<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

1<\/a> The Nation<\/em>, 14 October 1842. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>2<\/a> See Nicholas Carolan, \u2018Fr P\u00e1druig Breathnach and Irish Traditional Song\u2019, B\u00e9aloideas: the journal of the Folklore Society of Ireland<\/a><\/em>, vol. 87 (2019), pp. 82\u201399.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous St. Patrick’s Day blog posts:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

2025: Discovering Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland<\/em>
<\/a>2022: The Breastplate of Saint Patrick \u2014 Thomas Kinsella and the Dolmen Press<\/a>
2021: Competing with Finian\u2019s Rainbow<\/a>
2020: St. Patrick\u2019s Day Postcards<\/a>
2019: St. Patrick and the Nun of Kenmare<\/a>
2018: St. Patrick\u2019s Day in America, 1872<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This St. Patrick\u2019s Day and in the March\u2013April spotlight exhibit, Rare Books and Special Collections celebrates the youth of Ireland, who were seen in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the true soul of the Irish Nation. After all, if Irish independence were to be achieved, nationalists would first have to win the … Continue reading \u00c9ire \u00d3g \/ Young Ireland\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a spotlight exhibit in Special Collections<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1936,"featured_media":11394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"[]"},"categories":[75050,75053],"tags":[77938,73938,12614,77948,77929,5072],"class_list":["post-11353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibits","category-irish-studies","tag-book","tag-manuscripts","tag-music","tag-otd-holidays","tag-periodicals","tag-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1936"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11353"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12469,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11353\/revisions\/12469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}