Denver, Colo., Mar 17, 2017 / 02:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- They’re Irish, they’re Catholic, and they’re proud. But you maybe haven’t heard of them.
They’re the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Lady’s Ancient Order of Hibernians, the oldest and largest Irish Catholic organizations in the United States.
Non-Irish need not apply to the orders – membership is reserved for those who can prove that at least some Irish blood flows through their veins. The word ‘Hibernian’ is another word for Irishmen, taken from ‘Hibernia’, the classical Latin term for Ireland.
Members also must be practicing Catholics willing to stand up for and support the Catholic Church.
Today, the order functions similarly to other Catholic charitable organizations, such as the Knights of Columbus, but with an Irish twist. They support many Catholic causes such as vocations and pro-life work, but they also promote Irish culture and education on Irish history, and help modern-day Irish immigrants to the U.S. and support a free and united Ireland.
“If you had a group of us in a room you’d have twice as many opinions as you’d have people,” Danny O’Connell, National Vice President for the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, told CNA.
“But the thing that pulls us all together is our culture, our music, our traditions, many of which came from the immigrants.”
Why the Ancient Order?
The orders come from a time when secret societies were in vogue, and the stakes were much higher.
After the Protestant Reformation, the English, who had conquered Ireland, tried fiercely to convert the stubborn Irish Catholics, to little avail. Irish Catholics soon became accustomed to “Mass rocks”, where a priest would say Mass outside on a rock and quickly be able to hide the altar cloth and feign a picnic if they were found out.
At this time, secret groups with names like the Whiteboys, Ribbonmen, and Defenders supported rights for Catholics, but their first job was to protect their clergy. Despite persecution, the Catholics clung fiercely to their faith.
As Catholic oppression continued and crop failures struck Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Irish began to move, and their secret societies, now a learned defense mechanism, came with them. It was around this time that the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Ireland and the UK was born.
Many Irish also immigrated to the United States, with more than 1 million doing so around the time of the Irish potato famine between 1845-1852. So many sick Irish died on the trip that the boats that brought them over began to be referred to as “coffin ships.”
“When people refer to the famine, most of the Irish see it as a genocide,” O’Connell explained. “It was the Great Hunger. They were exporting more food from Ireland than they are today, yet the Irish Catholics were dying and their teeth would be stained green because the only thing they could even try and eat was the grass. It was the British government starving the people who weren’t allowed to eat the food on their land except for the potatoes, and it was land that the British stole from us.”
But despite promises of religious freedom, the Irish found that United States was also hostile to Catholicism, under the guise of patriotism.
Since colonial times, Americans had been suspect of Catholics from all immigrant groups, suspicious that their allegiances to the Pope would trump their loyalty to the U.S.
“Like any immigrant group, when you were new in the U.S., you were low on the totem pole, you were the ones abused and beaten and robbed and not given good jobs,” O’Connell said.
“And people didn’t understand Catholicism, so they would prevent you from practicing your religion. So if you were having a Mass, they would beat up or often kill the priest … so the Hibernians would stay outside or wherever they were, and stand guard. Back in those days that’s what you did, you stood outside and protected the life of your priest, and that was the only way you could continue practicing your religion,” he said.
The Hibernians also helped their own to overcome discrimination when they were looking for housing and employment. In 1894, the Daughters of Erin, which eventually became the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, was founded in order to protect young Irish immigrant women in the United States.
The Hibernians today
A strong Irish Catholic identity, forged in the overcoming of numerous adversities, can still be felt strongly in many parts of the United States, and is what bonds the Hibernians together today.
Marilyn Madigan, the National Treasurer for the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, said the camaraderie among the early Hibernians can still be felt strongly in the organization today.
“It’s the best organization I’ve ever belonged to, we’re like a second family,” she said.
Madigan said one of the most important things the orders do today, besides their Catholic charitable work, is to help undocumented Irish immigrants in the United States, of whom there are an estimated 50,000. Most of them entered the country legally, but are now here on overstayed visas.
Fears and anxiety are even higher among this group after the election of President Donald Trump, who promised to crack down on illegal immigration.
“There are a lot of undocumented Irish in this country, and most of the Irish organizations do work to try to document those Irish, so we haven’t forgotten where we came from, we hold that country dear to our hearts, as well as our religion,” Madigan said. In fact, the two are really inextricably linked.
“Most of the famine Irish were Catholic, their religion was taken away from them, they had to go to Masses behind rocks, so our Irish and Catholic heritage is very important,” she said.
Because the orders are non-profit groups, they do not engage in any kind of lobbying for Irish immigration, and they also declined to comment politically on the immigration situation of other undocumented immigrants in the United States.
A completely free and independent Ireland is another cause near and dear to the Hibernian heart, and the group hopes to see a peaceful and legal reunification of the country soon, though Brexit has raised some doubts.
“We’re very involved with Brexit, the fear is that we could see a return to a hard border between the North and the Republic,” O’Connell explained. Ireland and Northern Ireland (the six northern counties that still belong to the U.K.) have enjoyed relatively open borders since the 1990s, to the benefit of both countries’ economies, he added. Several members of the order will be travelling to Europe to voice their support for an open border.
The diversity of causes that the order supports and the faith that undergirds it continues to tie them together, O’Connell said.
“The culture, the music, the song, that brings us all together, and it’s kind of like with a family … and it’s driven by being Catholic. There’s not another Irish group in the country that has that diversity, and that’s why we’re so strong.”
But membership is waning. The women’s and men’s orders combined have a membership of about 80,000 in the U.S., at a generous estimate. It’s something that has both O’Connell and Madigan concerned.
“It seems like the younger generations do not join organizations like we have in the past,” Madigan said. “It seems like the younger generation, while they’re proud of their heritage, they don’t join, or they may join or not be as active.”
“We’re trying to do a better job of welcoming people who are younger than 60,” O’Connell said.
“We’re in the process of really kicking off what’s going to be a several-year membership campaign. We’ve never really done that before, and we realize how many people say, ‘I don’t know anything about this, why don’t I?’”
What a Hibernian wants you to know about St. Patrick’s Day
While you might think you’d find a Hibernian dressed in green and drinking steadily like the stereotypical St. Patrick’s Day celebrant, there are a few things the Hibernians wish the general population understood about the holiday.
“First and foremost, to a true Irishman, St. Patrick’s Day is a feast day,” Madigan said.
“We start out with Mass, with the majority of us participating in parades prior to or on the day itself, where we highlight our Irish heritage.”
Getting drunk, she said, is not part of the plan.
“The things that upset me the most is that people think it’s just a day to go out and celebrate and imbibe in alcoholic beverages, and maybe be overserved,” she said.
“They wear shirts that are very denigrating to the Irish, making us look like we’re a race of drunks. We’re not, we’re a proud irish race that has spread Christianity throughout the world through our missionaries. And I don’t think that the general public really sees what we do.”
O’Connell said that he is also “very disturbed” by the T-shirts and decorations that denigrate the Irish.
“What I try to tell people when I talk to them about it, is I say change it to a different nationality, change it to a different race … can you imagine?”
St. Patrick’s Day is also an Irish-American holiday, he added. We eat corned beef and cabbage because that’s what the Irish immigrants in America ate because they couldn’t afford other cuts of meat. They wanted to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in a big way because they wanted to feel close to their Irish heritage. It wasn’t until recently that the holiday became anything more than any other feast day in Ireland, and they only started holding big celebrations for tourism purposes.
Still, he said, it’s hard to completely blame those who want to be Irish for a day.
“Being Irish is just so much fun.”
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“Sadly, this act adds to the continuous military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship.”
I am not sure that this statement accurately reflects the situation, but for the sake of argument let us accept it for now.
Will there be a similar statement regarding the Muslim murders of thousands of Catholics and other christians in Nigeria? And stating that these are Muslim murders?
Any forthcoming Vatican statements on the Chinese attacks on Catholics, clergy and churches in China?
Macht geht vor Recht. The Palestinians “have no cards”. The Christian West is Christian no longer. Its holy places, and the Christians of the Holy Land, have no defenders. Thank you Pope Leo for reminding everyone that there is a greater power, that will eventually triumph, even over those who have their pathetic, cruel cards today.
It would be true if the Pope directed those comments at Hamas and Islamic terrorists worldwide. His focus on Israel to the exclusion of Islamic terrorism is inexplicable in Islam’s cultural war against all infidels.
CFCz: Separate issues, different approaches. Give the man a break!
Separate issues??? Seriously??? How many rockets, cowardly hidden behind women and children, or within hospitals themselves, by cowardly terrorists, must be tolerated by the civilian population of Israel?
Painting a picture that accommodates Islamic terrorism, which began the war, is an act of gross moral cowardice by Leo. I expect we’ll have more episodes of his imitating Francis. After all, Francis downplayed the evil of slicing off the heads of children.
Given that Palestinian rockets have killed at most a few dozen outside its territory over the last few decades, killing 30,000 civilians and trying to ethnically cleanse the rest in order that it “never” happen again is deranged, cuel and immoral. In the real world, countries can suffer aggression, go to war and defeat aggressors, but rarely do they expect civilised onlookers to applaud them while they make the offending nation disappear so it never happens again. Never is a very big word in the real world. Life will always be dangerous. We are entitled to protect ourselves from stones being thrown at us, and fight back. But we can’t dream of living in a world where “never” will anyone exist who can throw a stone at us. That’s insanity.
Edward: Proportionality in the use of force in going to war (ccc2312) read the catechism. A great wrong was done to Israel, but that does not justify their disproportionate response and their annihilation of many innocent people. The blocking of aide-food and medical supplies-is immoral and must be condemned. The Pope as a spiritual leader has both the right and obligation to speak out and stand up for All those oppressed including the Palestinians. Doing so does not imply that he approves or supports Islamic terrorists in any way.
No reply buttons were allowed for the two comments of disinformation. “Ethnic cleansing?” An Orwellian reversal of history in the Middle East, where tens of thousands, without hyperbole, of terrorist attacks have been directed towards Israel with Palestinian leaders calling for the complete annihilation of every Jew in Israel and throughout the world. This is real genocidal evilness.
And Israel did not deny food and medicine to wounded civilians. They properly sought a process of screening, knowing of the historical moral bankruptcy of “impartial international groups” funneling additional weaponry under such a pretext.
Every sane person knows that if all Palestinians and neighboring Arabs made an honest authentic pledge to lay down all their weapons and abandon the commitment to anti-Jewish genocide tomorrow, there would be permanent peace in the Mideast.
If Israel made a unilateral decision to lay down its arms tomorrow, it would begin the complete annihilation of Israel from the face of the earth.
“‘We will have peace,’ said Theoden at last thickly and with an effort. Several of the Riders cried out gladly. Theoden held up his hand. ‘Yes, we will have peace,’ he said, now in a clear voice, ‘we will have peace, when you and all your works have perished – and the works of your dark master to whom you would deliver us. You are a liar. Saruman, and a corrupter of men’s hearts. You hold out your hand to me, and I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor. Cruel and cold! Even if your war on me was just as it was not, for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine for your own profit as you desired – even so, what will you say of your torches in Westfold and the children that lie dead there? And they hewed Hama’s body before the gates of the Hornburg, after he was dead. When you hang from a gibbet at your window for the sport of your own crows, I will have peace with you and Orthanc.“
Anything less than the Holy Father’s full recognition of the justice of the Israeli position is a disgrace.
Crusader;
Good points.
“The IDF ACKNOWLEDGED RESPONSIBILITY (EM) stating that ‘fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the Church mistakenly.”
Can anyone out there imagine such a statement and apology from ANY muslim ‘clerics’ or leaders?
No sane person could.
Nobody cares. Justice isn’t ascertained by which side seems to have scored a point, when both sides here are as bad as each other. What the Christian West needs to be in tears of anger about is what happens to its holy places and the Christians in our Holy Land.
That’s a grotesquely shallow, false, and insulting to Our Lord understanding of what it means to be “The Christian West.”
All people matter, and every moment of human moral interaction matters to Christians.
Perhaps I’m misunderstanding your statement, and if so, I apologize. But “both sides” are not “as bad as each other.” The truth of the matter was expressed very well in a comment above: if Hamas laid down their weapons there would be peace; if the Israelis laid down their weapons they would be annihilated.
“Every sane person knows that if all Palestinians and neighboring Arabs made an honest authentic pledge to lay down all their weapons and abandon the commitment to anti-Jewish genocide tomorrow, there would be permanent peace in the Mideast.
If Israel made a unilateral decision to lay down its arms tomorrow, it would begin the complete annihilation of Israel from the face of the earth.”
********
Exactly. Thank you Mr. Baker
Maybe the Gazans will beat their oppressors to death with empty baby bottles.
E Baker, as I wrote before, it’s insanity to demand to live in a world where nobody exists who can throw stones at you. Ethnically cleansing the Palestinians (which has happened and continues) is not merely a slogan. You ought to address that because it’s the cause for the popularity of most of the rhetoric coming from the other side. After all, the Palestinians were there first. While under Turkish and British control something was created in their midst which left them without any “cards”, and they’ve been fighting for their freedom as best they can ever since. Just like the Irish, they didn’t have a state, but it didn’t stop them from fighting. However, the main issue for the Christian West is its sacred sites, its Holy Land, and the Christians who live there. The Pope is articulating very well the Western policy of all time in the region.
I agree with one point. Hammas should stop ethnic cleansing and mass murdering their own people, including their ongoing slaughter of those Palestinians pursuing refuge in Israeli aid camps.
“They were there first”
Please learn some history. Many of the Muslims who displaced Jews from their ancient homeland, following a bloody conquest, while calling themselves Palestinian, began a centuries long process of seeking ways of exterminating the Jewish “infidels.”
“While under Turkish and British control something was created in their midst which left them without any “cards”
Don’t know what a card game has to do with anything, but the Muslim population was never forced to leave when the (something) State of Israel was endorsed and recognized by global consensus at the United Nations, a Jewish homeland necessitated by European “Christians” seeking their extermination as well. Events that forced their emigration to the stateless geographical land of Palestine. For the sake of real Christians, who know humanity also includes non-Christians, the formation of Israel helped preserve Christian holy sites within their land, as they’ve been undergoing systematic destruction in much of the Muslim world.
Imagine what Christian holy places in Israel might look like today minus the protection of the Israeli government?
E Michael Jones reminds us that in 2002, when the IDF occupied Ramallah in the West Bank, the Israelis took over the television stations and immediately began broadcasting pornography. We should be grateful the Holy Land is under the control of Israel.
E Michael Jones as a source of truthful information is not much different than consulting the archives of the Nazi Party for an accurate history of Judaism.
Jones has even faulted whatever whent wrong at VII as a Jewish conspiracy.
Tel Aviv’s protection has seen the majority of the Christians of the Holy Land depart since 1947. Many churches have been destroyed. In comparison, the Ottomans looked good
Many Christians left the Holy Land because of a 78 year continuous war.
Destruction of Churches were largely due to Islamic terrorism. And the Ottoman Empire doesn’t exist anymore, but in its former territories Christians and Jews remain subjects of hate with a desire for the destruction of all their culture and faith.
Like the Irish, the Palestinians weren’t asked about being displaced by people from Europe.The Palestinians have just as much, if not more DNA from the ancient population of Palestine as the immigrants who set up the new state in the 1940s.
The Palestinians were never “displaced.” Most left because they were assured from their own leaders that they could return once the Jewish “infidels” were eliminated.
And bringing DNA into the subject is off the wall preposterous.
They terrorised into leaving, in the 1940swere and onwards. DNA is always helpful in establishing who has lu ks with the pipe population in OT times.
No reply button to your last comment, but your first point of Palestinians having been terrorized is a blatant falsehood, and the notion of discerning ancient history from DNA, which has no such identifiable connection, is not supported by long established historical accounts. Judea was a Jewish civilization, and a civilization stemming from Muslim culture is still a premature proposition.
If even Zio-Evangelicals like Mike Huckabee are speaking out against Israel’s actions, you know that we are reaching a turning point.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mike-huckabee-rebukes-attackers-of-christian-church-village-crime-against-humanity-and-god/ar-AA1IWzVB?ocid=BingNewsVerp
https://www.theweek.in/news/middle-east/2025/07/21/us-ambassador-mike-huckabee-warns-israel-of-reprisals-over-new-visa-restrictions-rising-hostility-toward-christian-institutions.html