John O'Mahony (antiquarian)

John O'Mahony (1844–1912) was an Irish Catholic priest, antiquarian, writer and founder member of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.[1]

Born near Enniskean in County Cork in 1844, O'Mahony was educated in Bandon and Cork before attending St Patrick's College, Maynooth.[1] He was ordained in 1870 and moved to Cork city where he was a curate in South (St. Finbar's) Parish.[1]

During the 1880s, he was a supporter of the Land League, Home Rule movement and of Charles Stewart Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party.[1] This political position was at odds with that of the then Bishop of Cork,[2] William Delany, who transferred O'Mahony out of Cork city to a rural parish.[3][4] Despite an appeal to Rome, this "demotion" was not overturned.[5] After Delany's death, O'Mahony returned to Cork to North (Cathedral) Parish.[1]

In later life, O'Mahony was a supporter of the Gaelic League and was president of the Maynooth Union.[1] Having "literary and antiquarian interests", he was a founder member of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, and contributed a number of articles to the society's journal.[1]

O'Mahony died at Crookstown, County Kildare on 4 January 1912. A statue of him, reputedly weighing 11 tons, was erected in the Catholic church in Cloghduv.[1]

References
  1. Woods, C. J. (October 2009). "O'Mahony, John". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.006879.v1.
  2. Boyce, D. George; O'Day, Alan (2021). Parnell in Perspective. ISBN 9781000385656. the Cork priest John O'Mahony [..] in 1880 as a curate had incurred the wrath of his bishop by supporting Parnell's candidature
  3. Bolster, Evelyn (1993). A History of the Diocese of Cork: the Episcopate of William Delany, 1847–1886. Cork: Tower Books. pp. 259–275. ISBN 9780902568228.
  4. Woods, C. J. (October 2009). "Delany, William". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.002513.v1.
  5. Campbell, Fergus (2009). The Irish Establishment 1879–1914. Oxford University Press. p. 254. ISBN 9780199233229. William Delany, the Bishop of Cork [..] transferred two curates (John O'Mahony and Denis McCarthy) from the city parish of St Finbarr's to the rural parishes of Kinsale and Bandon, apparently because they had supported Parnell at the Cork city election. This transfer was regarded as a demotion [..] and the two curates appealed to Rome [..] to no avail
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