Oral History Recollections of Fr. Ronan Herlihy OFM Cap.

Page 1

This recording contains an oral history interview with Father Ronan Herlihy conducted at his home in Raheny on 20 January 2003 on behalf of the Department of Modern History at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. It forms part of the Mission History oral Archive and was conducted by Dr. Charles Flynn. The oral archive is funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences by way of a post-doctoral fellowship which was awarded to Dr. Flynn. Tape 1: Side I If I could just ask you for the record to give me your name and tell me where you were born and when you were born? My name is William Herlihy, Liam Herlihy, which changed to Ronan Herlihy when I joined the Capuchin order. I was born in Castleisland in Kerry because my mother was from Castleisland so she went back to her home to have me. So that's why I was born in Kerry and I lived across the border in North Cork in a place called Knocknagree which is about half-a-mile from the border in the parish of Rathmore which is in Kerry and it's also in the Kerry diocese. So I'm from Cork in the Kerry diocese born in Kerry and lived in Cork. That would be awkward when it comes to sport I would imagine? It does yes. 2 Would you remember any incidents that your parents may have told you about so that we can get this back as far as we can go? Any - perhaps about the political things or various things that happened? Well yea in the time of the Black-and-Tans there was an ambush in a place called Toureengarrif which was in Kerry between Castleisland and Ballydesmond and the Black-and-Tans were ambushed there. And the following - it was a success from the point of view of the IRA or the Republicans and the following morning they (the Tans) came down to our village and there were several children playing hurling and they fired on them and they killed one chap of eighteen years of age and they wounded another two. (One of them was a first cousin). The two of them were my first cousins and one of them was wounded in the stomach and the Auxiliaries wanted to throw him into the back of a truck or a lorry to take him to hospital in Tralee but my father refused and he called them some names and he was very lucky to escape because they put the gun up to his head to try and get him to agree to send his nephew to the hospital. But eventually they took him into our house and he was nursed there by my mother. His brother became - his brother was shot in the thigh. They both became priests and there was another brother who was younger, he wasn't there, and he became a priest also. He was a Capuchin and he was one of the early missionaries out in Zambia or on Northern Rhodesia at the time and I think that's what kind of influenced me to join the Capuchins and to go to the missions. Now the man that was shot in the stomach was a priest in the diocese of Kerry and he went to Rome to study. He was teaching in All Hallows and he eventually ended up as Bishop of Ferns Donald Herlihy. He was also p…