Life
1895-1973 [fam. ‘Charlie’]; b. 28 July, Cootehill, Co. Cavan,
his mother Jenny [née Corry] dying in childbirth; after which his
father, Eugene, a dispensary doctor in Co. Cavan and Monaghan, quickly
remarried Agnes ‘for the children’; ed. St. Patrick’s College,
Cavan, where he was poorly fed and bullied, moved to Blackrock College,
Co. Dublin, 1910; influenced by Br. Gaspard O’Reilly, an ascetic;
Clongowes Wood College; made tour of European Marian shrines with his
father, novice at Holy Ghost Fathers, Kimmage; ed. UCD (Classics), and
Rome; ord. St. Mary’s, Rathmines, 29th June, 1924; appt. Dean of
Studies, Blackrock College, 1925, discovering a natural flair for networking;
appt. President of College, 1931-39; forbade women's participation in
athletics for reason of dress; Archbishop of Dublin, 1940; est. Catholic
Social Service Conference, 1942; estab. Catholic Social Welfare Bureau,
1942; conducted extensive building programme; reiterated ban on Catholics
attending TCD, 1944, and renewed these instructions annually in Lenten
letters; fnd. Dublin Institute of Catholic Sociology (later Dublin Inst.
of Adult Education; prominent opponent of Mother and Child Scheme proposed
by Dr. Noel Browne as Min. of Education, 1950; met with An Taoiseach J.A.Costello, who
agreed that a serious issue of ‘faith and morals’ was involved,
leading to resignation of Browne; told his diocesans on returning from
Vatican II, ‘no change will worry the tranquillity of your Christian
lives’; secret care of poor and ill; created diocesan press office;
imposed ban on Catholics attending TCD under ban of mortal sin, Lenten
Pastoral, 1961; deemed material in the dismissal of John McGahern from
Clontarf Secondary School; received with surprise the news from the Papal
Nuncio Gaetano Alibrandi that his resignation had been accepted by the
Pope, on 27 Dec. 1971, leading to his retirement 1972; d. Loughlinstown
Hosp., 7 April; succeeded by Dr. Dermot Ryan, who his ‘service to the
truth’ shown in his ‘pursuit of right doctrines’; sometime called McQuaid
has been called the ‘druid of Drumcondra’. DIB DIH DUB WJM
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Works
Higher Education for Catholics (1961), 22pp.
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Criticism
John Cooney, ‘Mother’s Death at Childbirth Shaped Archbishop’s
Fate’, in The Irish Times (28 July 1995).
John Cooney, John Charles McQuaid: Ruler of Catholic Ireland (Dublin: O’Brien Press 1999), 526pp.
James Kelly & Dáire Keogh, eds., History of the Catholic Diocese of Dublin (Dublin: Four Courts 2000), 400pp.
Maurice Harmon, ‘In Charge of Scholarship and Sanctity’, review of John Cooney, John Charles McQuaid, in Books Ireland (March 2000), pp.70-71.
Patricia Craig, reviewing John Cooney, John Charles McQuaid (O’Brien Press), in Times Literary Supplement, 17 March 2000.)
Dermot Keogh, review of Cooney, John Charles McQuaid, in Studies (Summer 2000). See at Studies, online.)
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Notes
Patrick Kavanagh: Archbishop McQuaid wrote to Kavanagh’s widow
at her husband’s death that he ‘had arranged that at the shortest
notice the poet would be received and cared for in the Mater Private Nursing
Home. But it was not God’s will.’ (Reported in Bernard O’Donoghue,
review of Antoinette Quinn, Patrick Kavanagh: A Biography, in Times Literary
Supplement, 29 Nov. 2002, p.10.)
Ita Geraghty, school-teacher and neice of the Labour Mayor of Limerick, recalls visiting Archbishop McQuaid in search of clerical release from an unhappy marriage and being told by him - without removing the rifle he used to shoot pigeons from the veranda at Drumcondra - ‘Go home, woman, and look after your husband.’ (Family anecdote.)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)