| 1841-1921 [William Joseph Walsh]; b. Dublin; ed. St. Laurence O’Toole Seminary, Dublin; Catholic Univ., and Maynooth; Prof. of Dogmatic Theology, 1867-78; President, 1880; Archbishop of Dublin, 1885; appointment opposed by British Govt.; supported Plan of Campaign with Croke; abstained from comment on Parnell Crisis until 3 Dec., 1890, when he called on the party by telegram to ‘act manfully’; sent letter to the Irish Catholic giving notice that the bishops would consider the matter of Parnell’s leadership in Dec., and enjoining the necessity of hearing Parnell’s side before reaching a verdict; |
| issued Bimetallism and Monometallism (1893; German 1893; French 1894), advocating use of silver coinage; Commissioner of Intermediate Education, 1892-1919; Commissioner of charitable Donations of National Education, 1895-1901; Consultative Commissioner of Education for Dept. of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, 1900-04; Senate of NUI, and first Chancellor, 1908; supported employers in Lock-out strike, telling women who sent their children to be fed by English workers that they could no longer ‘held worthy of the name of Catholic mothers’, 1913. DIB DIH |
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Works
Louise Lateau (1876); Harmony of the Gospel (1879); Tractatus de Actibus Humanis (1880); The Queen’s Colleges and the Royal University [two Nos.] (1883; 1884); Offic[i]um Defunctorum et Ordo Exsequiarum (1884); Grammar of Gregorian Music (1885); Addresses on Irish Education (1890); Statement of the Chief Grievances of Irish Catholics in the Matter of Education (1890); Trinity College and the University of Dublin (1902); The Irish University Question; Trinity College and its Medical School (1906); The Motu Proprio Quantavis Diligentia and its Critics (1912); O’Connell and Archbishop Murray, and the Board of Charitable Donations and Bequests (1916); also A Plain Exposition of the Land Act of 1881 (1881). Num. contribs. to The Nation, Freeman’s Journal, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Fortnight Review, Dublin Review, et al.
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Criticism
Thomas J., Morrissey, SJ., William J. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin 1841-1921 (Dublin: Four Courts 2000), 416pp. Also, interview with Archbishop Walsh in Pall Mall Gazette (2 Dec. 1886).
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Commentary
Emmet Larkin, The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and the Fall of Parnell, 1888-1891 (Liverpool UP 1979): ‘Walsh […] had emerged as the undisputed leader of the Irish Church, as the various factions in the episcopal body represented by Gillooly, O’Dwyer and Croke all made their submission. The price paid for Rome’s favour and for unity of the episcopal body was, of course, the condemnation of the Plan of Campaign in the joint pastoral issued by the Bishops. Because there had been no new instance of the Plan being started after the Decree from Rome some two years before, the price paid was more formal than real, especially as the Bishops were virtually unanimous in their support of the Tenants’ Defence Association. The troublesome agrarian agitation was therefore effectively contained without impairing the Clerical-Nationalist alliance, and the National movement in general was turned in a conservatibe and political rather than a radical and agrarian direction. In summary, Walsh and his episcopal brethern had finally and effectively thrown their weight toward Parnell and away from Dillon and O’Brien. In doing so they had judiciously and prudently secured their own unity and Rome’s blessing on the eve of the most hopeful and promising general election in the history of the country.’ (p.49; quoted in Niamh O’Sullivan, Joyce: The Spiritual Liberator, BA Diss., UUC 2000.)
Books Ireland (April 2001), review of Thomas J., Morrissey, SJ., William J. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin 1841-1921 (Four Courts 2000); Walsh succeeded Cullen who was held to be too cosy with the British Govt. by many Irish priests; Walsh presided over Maynooth; received Cardinal’s hat; admired Cardinal Manning; skilled negotiator in industrial disputes; presided over funeral of Willie Redmond, 1917; opposed conscription; appeared at funeral of Thomas Ash, hunger striker; d. 1921 (p.105.)
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Notes
Interview: There is an interview with Archbishop Walsh in Pall Mall Gazette, 2 Dec. 1886, in which he advocated with-holding rents if not agreed by landlord, under Plan of Campaign, the rent to be given to the Campaign Fund. [See Dominic Daly, The Young Douglas Hyde, 1974, n., p.206].
Lock-Out: Dr. Walsh was antagonist to the Lock-Out strikers. (See A. N. Jeffares, W. B. Yeats, A New Biography, 1988, p.192; see also Conor Cruise O’Brien, ‘Passion and Cunning’, in Jeffares, ed., In Excited Reverie, 1965, p.236.)
Namesake:Irish Times, 9 May 1997, includes account of Ne Timere prohibition on mixed marriages in the form of an excerpt from an article in by Dr. Willie Walsh (Catholic Bishop of Ballina, Co. Mayo) in the journal Furrow advocating dialogue and accepting Catholic blame for the climate of ‘social genocide’ impelled on Protestants. Patsy McGarry, Religious Correspondent, cites High Court ruling of Mr Justice Gavan Duffy in 1950 to the effect that a Mr Tilson was not entitled to place his children in a Protestant home and was legally obliged to raise them as Catholics in view of his written promise at marriage; Tilson appealed to the Supreme Court and lost. Dr. Michael Browne (later Bishop of Galway), speaking at CTS meeting in Wexford in 1957 anent the infamous case of boycott at Fethard-on-Sea, spoke of a campaign to entire or kidnap Catholic children and deprive them of their faith.
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