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A truly GREAT Irishman: Padraig Pearse
- Mar 17, 2008 at 2:46 PM
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Patrick Henry Pearse [Padraig MacPiarais] (1879-1916) was born in Dublin on November 10, 1879. Though best known as a primary organizer of the 1916 Easter uprising and co-author of the proclamation for the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ireland which he read from the steps of the General Post Office, Pearse was also the preeminate champion of his day for the restoration of the Gaelic language and its rich cultural history.
Padraig Pearse's father James was an Englishman from Devonshire and was a skilled stonecarver. James worked in Dublin where he met and married Margaret Brady originally from Co. Meath. Padraig was the second of their four children.
Pearse grew up in Dublin where he was schooled at the Christian Brothers School, Westland Row. It was here that he had his first formal instruction in the Gaelic language which would forever more be the passion of his life. Pearse went on to earn a BA in modern languages at University College in Dublin and a Law degree from Royal Univ. He never really practiced law though his one case involved the defense of the use of Irish language advertisements on horsedrawn carts.
There are remarkable similarities between American patriot Patrick Henry and Irish patriot Padraig "Henry" Pearse beyond the obvious shared names. Both men were gifted authors and orators influencing their countrymen to put their lives on the line for the sake of freedom and self-governance. As a teenager, Pearse joined the Gaelic League (the original Irish society) to fuel his love of the Gaelic tongue. He journeyed to western Ireland to master the Connacht dialect of Gaelic. The people in the west spoke Gaelic exclusively and hadn't been overtaken by English oppression. The academic community of the time viewed the Gaelic speaking peoples as uneducated and worthy of scorn. But Pearse viewed them as an untainted cultural treasure from which he could grasp the fullness of Gaelic literature and history.
By 1903, Pearse was contributing articles to the League's journal "The Sword of Light" (An Claidheamh Soluis). His mastery of the language became so complete that he could write anonymous articles in Gaelic that were acceptable to those raised on the language. He became editor of the journal in 1906. Now in his mid 20's, Pearse began to yearn for all Irish children to learn the Gaelic language and gain proper exposure to their rightful heritage. To that end he founded St. Enda's School in 1908. The school not only required instruction of the Gaelic language, but strove to instill "chivalry and self-sacrifice," "charity towards all," "a love of inanimate nature," and not only patriotism but "a sense of civic social duty". This was how it was put in school promotional materials.
Curriculum in schools of the time did not mandate Gaelic instruction. Pearse felt this was a grave mistake. He was a constant voice in the ear of administrators to correct this error, though he wasn't particularly successful. He wrote "The Murder Machine", a pamphlet condemning the repressive educational approaches of the era. Pearse began to expand his activities to the political arena. He supported an Irish Home Rule Bill floated by English Parliament in 1912. The bill meant the inclusion of Ireland within the framework of the British Empire. It offered local control in many areas, but left major economic and governmental power in the hands of the crown. Many Irish separatists including Sinn Fein diverged from Pearse's position and felt anything less than full independence was unacceptable. Pearse viewed Home Rule as the removal of one "manacle" of English oppression.
There were great social upheavals throughout Ireland in 1913. Pearse distinguished himself from other intellectuals by siding with workers in their quest for fairer wages and working conditions. He saw social justice as integral to Irish independence. He did not share the common belief of class structure. This helped endear him to many common folk.
That same year, Pearse joined the outlawed Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). In 1914, he co-founded the Irish Volunteers which acted as the public side of the IRB. He journeyed to New York to pitch for funds and other support for an Irish free state. Many were skeptical or indifferent to Pearse's message, which they'd heard from others for decades. Still, he was able to sway enough to raise funds for IRB efforts, the Gaelic League and St. Enda's. This illustrates Pearse's conviction that in order for an Irish Republic to emerge, Irish people needed to embrace the Gaelic language to regain their cultural autonomy and subsequently self rule. His intellectual fusion of the two was complete.
World War I offered opportunity for Irish separatists. England was preoccupied with war efforts on the European Continent. Pearse and others began to plot rebellion. The Easter Uprising of 1916 was hatched. Though in fighting and a lack of resolve by many of the people caused the Uprising to fizzle and fail, the heroism of the participants and the ideas they espoused lived on to inspire others.
Pearse wasn't much of a military tactition, this is true. As a scholar, visionary, author, poet, organizer and orator, Pearse takes his place as a major Irish historical figure. His brilliance shone through the use of language to inspire a fierce resolve for Irish independence. His words live on.
At four minutes past noon on Easter Monday, April 24th, 1916, a sudden hush fell over the O’Connell Street. From the steps of the General Post Office Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Republic:
POBLACHT NA h-EIREANN
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND
IRISHMAN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.
Having organized and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organizations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.
We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State. And we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.
The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irish woman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities of all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority in the past.
Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provision Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.
We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government,
- THOMAS J. CLARKE
- SEAN MAC DIERMADA
- THOMAS MACDONAGH
- P.H.PEARSE
- EAMONN CEANNT
- JAMES CONNOLLY
- JOSEPH PLUNKETT
Comments:
here's more, for anyone who enjoys great writing:
ORATION OF P. H. PEARSE OVER THE GRAVE OF O'DONOVAN "ROSSA"
Taken from A History of Ireland by Eleanor Hull
Volume Two, Appendix II
"It has seemed right, before we turn away from this place in which we have laid the mortal remains of O'Donovan Rossa, that one amongst us should, in the name of all, speak the praise of that valiant man, and endeavour to formulate the thought and the hope that are in us as we stand around his grave. And if there is anything that makes it fitting that I rather than some other--I, rather than one of the grey-haired men who were young with him, and shared in his labour and in his suffering, should speak here, it is, perhaps, that I may be taken as speaking on behalf of a new generation that has been re-baptised in the Fenian faith, and that has accepted the responsibility of carrying out the Fenian programme. I propose to you, then, that here by the grave of this unrepentant Fenian, we renew our baptismal vows; that here by the grave of this unconquered and unconquerable man, we ask of God, each one for himself, such unshakeable purpose, such high and gallant courage, such unbreakable strength of soul as belonged to O'Donovan Rossa.
"Deliberately here we avow ourselves, as he avowed himself in the dock, Irishmen of one allegiance only. We, of the Irish Volunteers, and you others who are associated with us in to-day's task and duty, are bound together, and must stand together henceforth in brotherly union for the achievement of the freedom of Ireland. And we know only one definition of freedom: It is Tone's definition; it is Mitchel's definition; it is Rossa's definition. Let no one blaspheme the cause that the dead generations of Ireland served by giving it any other name and definition than their name and definition.
"We stand at Rossa's grave, not in sadness, but rather in exaltation of spirit that it has been given us to come thus into so close a communion with that brave and splendid Gael. Splendid and holy causes are served by men who are themselves splendid and holy. O'Donovan Rossa was splendid in the proud manhood of him--splendid in the heroic grace of him, splendid in the Gaelic strength and clarity and truth of him. And all that splendour, and pride, and strength was compatible with a humility and a simplicity of devotion to Ireland, to all that was olden and beautiful and Gaelic in Ireland; the holiness and simplicity of patriotism of a Michael O'Clery or of an Eoghan O'Growney. The clear true eyes of this man almost alone in his day visioned Ireland as we to-day would surely have her--not free merely but Gaelic as well; not Gaelic merely, but free as well.
"In a closer spiritual communion with him now than ever before, or perhaps ever again, in spiritual communion with those of his day living and dead, who suffered with him in English prisons, in communion of spirit too with our own dear comrades who suffer in English prisons to-day, and speaking on their behalf as well as our own, we pledge to Ireland our love, and we pledge to English rule in Ireland our hate. This is a place of peace, sacred to the dead, where men should speak with all charity and with all restraint; but I hold it a Christian thing, as O'Donovan Rossa held it, to hate evil, to hate untruth, to hate oppression, and hating them, to strive to overthrow them. Our foes are strong, and wise, and wary; but strong and wise and wary as they are, they cannot undo the miracles of God, Who ripens in the hearts of young men the seeds sown by the young men of a former generation. And the seeds sown by the young men of '65 and '67 are coming to their miraculous ripening to-day. Rulers and Defenders of Realms had need to be wary it they would guard against such processes. Life springs from death, and from the graves of patriot men and women spring live nations. The defenders of this realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us, and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything. They think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace."*
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Thank you for my history lesson for the day.
- athimom
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