Since 1983.
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Alfred O'Rahilly (see here and search),
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active supporter of Sinn Fein,
opposed WWI conscription,
opposed use of UCC buildings as British Army Hospital,
contributed to nationalist periodicals,
disputed allegations that Sinn Fein was Marxist, anti-Catholic,
PhD, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 1919, member of senate of NUI 1919-54, Registrar of UCC 1920-43, Sinn Fein member of Cork City Corporation from Jan 1920 to 1921, during War of Independence, he wrote controversial articles in Catholic Bulletin, Studies and Irish Theological Quarterly, offering a theological justification for the IRA war, in late 1920 he urged non-violent civil disobedience, after publication of "The Theology of Tyranny" he was twice imprisoned by the British authorities, at one point he was held in Cork Jail, adjoining the grounds of UCC, SW side of central Cork, in 1921 he published Who Burnt Cork City?, about the burning of much of Cork city centre by the Black and Tans in Dec 1920, he was arrested Apr 1921, jailed for 6 months, held in Victoria Barracks (now Collins Barracks), NE side of central Cork, then on Spike Island, near Cork, then on Bere Island, W Co.Cork, after the Truce he was released Oct 1921, he went to London as constitutional adviser to Irish leaders negotiating the Treaty, Dec 1921, after independence, he was on the committee that drafted the 1922 Constitution, he produced the "C" draft, which was very much a Catholic influenced document, but he failed to win the day with Cosgrave's government, and a more secular Constitution was adopted, (todo) see [NAI], archives of Dept of the Taoiseach, Cabinet: s 8953, File: Constitution Committee, 1922, Memorandum by Alfred O'Rahilly in regard to Draft C, 20 April 1922. On Chapter 8, "Family, Education, Religion", he writes that: "It embodies the Christian ideal of marriage, parental authority, protection of women and children, education, religion in a mixed State. ... In drafting Chapter 8 I am confident I express the views of the vast majority of the people of Ireland.", he was strongly pro-Treaty, early supporter of Cumann na nGaedheal, he once said that (his 1st cousin's dau) Sighle Humphreys would have shot him, if she had got hold of him during the Civil War, Cumann na nGaedheal TD for Cork city 1923-4, elected in 1923 general election (and here), resigned 1924 to devote himself to UCC, causing 1924 by-election, |
in physics he engaged in controversy attacking Einstein's
Theory of relativity,
there is a story that Einstein said there were only
half a dozen people who understood it,
one of whom was Alfred,
this story may be a myth,
founded Cork University Press
1931,
he added 350,000 volumes to UCC library,
despite being pro-Treaty,
he gradually came to be a strong supporter of
de Valera,
he opposed the IRA's continuing activities in the 1930s,
he was pleased by de Valera's more Catholic
1937 Constitution
that replaced the 1922 Constitution,
author of The massacre at Smerwick (1580),
1938,
he supported de Valera's neutrality in WW2,
Hon. D.Litt., NUI, 1939,
D.Sc., NUI, 1940,
he was perhaps Ireland's most prominent
traditional
lay Catholic apologist in the mid 20th cent,
huge output of papers, articles, books and letters on wide range of subjects and controversies,
engaged in controversy with H.G. Wells,
see his reply
[O'Rahilly, 1940]
to Wells,
see my personal commentary
on this,
"I come from Catholic forbears whose consolation
amid the persecution of Mr Wells's fellow countrymen
was - after Mass in a bleak field
- the recital of the Rosary."
[O'Rahilly, 1940],
"If I wanted to anchor in any century,
I would prefer the thirteenth
..
At any rate it would be more preferable
than to be so frightfully up-to-date as Mr Wells,
so much at the mercy of the latest fad or ephemeral stunt."
[O'Rahilly, 1940],
engaged in controversy with
Flann O'Brien,
who dubbed him "Alf the Sacred Raver"
(reference is to "Alph, the sacred river"),
there was a joke told in Cork of the man who arrives at
the Golden Gate
and finds St.Peter in a very agitated state, asks why, St.Peter replies that he is having a great deal of trouble with St.Thomas Aquinas,
who had begun to think that he was Alfred O'Rahilly
[Gaughan, 1986],
there is a modern version
of this joke,
where the person gets to heaven and sees
Bono:
"I didn't know Bono was dead."
"No, that's Jesus. He just thinks he's Bono.",
President of UCC 1943-54,
he instigated the Dept Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Dairy Science, Chair in Theology, adult education courses, and courses in Ethics for medical students,
ordered the removal
of the statue of Queen Victoria at UCC,
see Irish Times,
26 Aug 1997,
at one point
he was concerned about "immodest" dress among female students,
he banned bare legs on campus,
staff asked to enforce it,
founded Cork University Record 1944,
lived in a house in UCC,
Vice-chancellor of NUI
1943-45, 1948-51, 1954,
delivered series of talks on "Religion and Science",
Irish radio, early 1944,
published as booklet 1948,
Agnes died 14th Sept 1953, age c.68 yrs,
he was made Member of Order of St.Gregory 1954,
after his wife died, Alfred
retired from the UCC Presidency Oct 1954, and fulfilled a lifelong ambition
by finally
becoming a priest,
on his retirement,
the Irish Times profiled him,
25th Sept 1954,
they mention that somebody
described Alfred as
"the finest mind of the twelfth century",
but this is NOT their description,
ordained 18th Dec 1955, age 71 yrs,
in Blackrock College chapel,
by Archbishop McQuaid,
he was associated with Blackrock,
lived in a house in grounds of the college,
became a Monsignor
("created a domestic prelate" 1960),
worked on a comprehensive, multi-volume life of Christ, mammoth work, not completed before his death
(finally collected and published as
The Crucified, edited by J.Anthony Gaughan, 1985),
died St.Michael's hospital, Dun Laoghaire, 2nd Aug 1969, age 84 yrs,
poss. 5th Aug,
(todo) see [GROI],
see [Dict. Ir. Biog.]
and [Dict. Ir. Writers],
see multi-volume biography by J.Anthony Gaughan, 1986-93,
had issue:
[O'Rahilly, 1940] shows Alfred in full flight, a master of insult and ridicule - even if his arguments in my opinion are fundamentally flawed. A young student would need a lot of confidence to argue with him:
"But, then, Mr Wells has decided views on everything, views so clear to him that mostly he will not bother even to argue for them. I think it was Lord Melbourne who said: 'I wish to God I were as sure of anything as Tom Macaulay is about everything!' "
[See variants of this quote.]
...
"Thus, from his superior height, speaks the B.Sc. (hons.) in zoology of London. Why, even as an undergraduate he knew almost everything"
...
"This megalomaniac pose is tremendously convenient. I once had a student who adopted it - but he was plucked."