Could Imperial Rome have conquered us?

Rev. Columbanus Dwyer discusses the question: “Could Imperial Rome have conquered Ireland.” St. Patrick’s Day recalls battles of the Irish against Roman legions kings of Erin believed to have prevented attack on island by warring on Latin army in Britain. Nations had frequent encounters during a period of 400 years; Saint held as slave.The question often has been asked why was Roman military power never established in Ireland? It is the intention of the writer to present the cause from the testimony of Latin authority; also to present testimonies from other foreign sources, including British; nor would it be right to omit facts of Irish history.In the solution of the question it is well to remember that Ireland was known by many names in ancient times, Scotia being most generally used up to the twelfth century though Hibernia, Lerne and Erin are frequently found in the writings of foreign authors, as well as in Irish documents.It was about the end of the twelfth century that the name of Scotia was generally applied to Scotland as we know it at present. In olden times it was known as Galedonia, and among the Irish as Alba.There is very good reason to say that about the beginning of the Roman invasion of Britain, the Irish troops crossed the sea to aid their kinsmen, the Picts, in north Britain, who must have sensed at that time the danger of a Roman advance toward their homeland.

From the very beginning of the Roman invasion of Britain, history is unanimous in asserting the continuous warfare of the Scots and Picts on Roman power. History also gives good reason to say that it would be better for civilisation in general if the Romans had been welcomed instead of opposed.To arrive at the meaning of the word ‘Sect’, as used in early times, a vast amount of testimony can be produced supporting the Ven. Bede (b.672, d, 735 AD) who in his “Ecclesiastical History” (book 1; chapter L) has this say:

“In process of time the population of Britannia was increased in the quarter of the Picts by the accession of a third nation, that of the Scots to the Britons and the Picts. The newcomers, having passed out of Ireland, obtained those possessions which they hold to the present day.”
Bede seems in doubt as to whether the Scots gained their possessions through friendship or the sword, but all other authors support the probability that it was through friendship, as the ties of consanguinity existed between the Irish and the Picts. Also, it seems reasonable to suppose that the military alliance between the two peoples, seen in their way on the Romans, ended in the Scots gaining their over lordship of North Britain, and establishing their line of kings there. From the latter fact we may reasonably judge that in the united war on the Romans, the Scots were the superior body, and hence gave their name to the country. The Highlanders still speak the Gaelic their forefathers spoke when they first crossed to Alba (Scotland) to fight with the Picts against the common enemy.Irish annals show that from the beginning of the Roman invasion of Britain, the Irish ‘got busy’ against them as a matter of safety to themselves, and we find that this warfare continued up to the last moment of Roman in Britain. Even as late as the fourth century, the attacks on the Romans by the Picts and Scots are noted by various British writers; in that century alone, ten serious raids on the Roman invaders are noted; and though we are told, probably truly enough that the Scots and Picts were repulsed on those occasions, yet it is also admitted that on many occasions the Romans were on the brink of sore defeat.So sore pressed were the Romans that they had to resort to a most extraordinary measure to ensure their safety in what is now England.Because of his scholarship and his sources of rare manuscripts transcribed from the writings of the pagan Irish, preserved for us by the early Christian monks of Ireland, the “History of Ireland” written by the Very Rev. Geoffrey Keating about the middle of the seventeenth century has always been recognised as the standard history of that country. He had brought to light many things of importance to Ireland, and because there are always the iconoclasts, the skeptics, the would-be “know-betters” he faced much unwarranted opposition.Especially on the question of the establishment of heraldry in Ireland has Keating been made the object of much sarcasm by the uninitiated, but without any argument on their side. How unjustifiable such opposition is we shall see.The arms of the O’Sullivan sept are different from O’Sullivan Beara, but include in the sinister base quarter those of the Bearhaven branch. The sept arms is very ancient and no doubt its charges come down to us from pagan times, for the central and original charges is the ‘snake-twined spear’, later so augmented as to make one of the most beautiful coasts-of-arms known.(John L. Sullivan’s ancestors lived in the vicinity of the cemetery above noted, and there are many wonderful stories told of them. It is unfortunate that those who have written biographies of him did not know of it.)

The incising of armorial bearings on tombstones is ancient in Ireland, the custom being - as we shall see - of pagan origin, Keating has been upheld by the genuinely great scholars of Ireland. Either that or they held a respectful silence on matters they could not understand.A distant kinsman of the late William Dwyer, who was a well known teacher at the Old Brandy Hall National School, was Dan Dwyer, carpenter - a man of keen intelligence and a good tradesman. He had four sons - Robert, John, Dan and William (Bill) each had a romantic life story. A school friend JD MacCarthy had been for years in touch by correspondence with Dan, later Father Dan, and William, editor and “Man about Town” of the Fall River “Herald. Father Dan was for years in a lucrative position in Boston (the chief city of New Ireland). His spare moments he devoted to Press work - good virile Catholic propaganda. It was appreciated by Church dignitaries.One, a personal friend, prompted Dan to study for the Church, as his exemplary life, and attachment to the Faith of his fathers, so sturdily expressed in his writings, betrayed a genuine vocation. Father Dan with misgivings joined St Anthony’s College, Catskill, New York and was ordained in the year 1921 in his sixty-sixth year and was for many years an active and beloved soggarth, doing credit in the Vineyard to his native race and creed.On looking up old letters from Father Dan, to JD MacCarthy which JD said he treasured as coming from a true and tried friend, and a man of high attainments. We quote one: -

“My dear Jim, - Yes, there is surely an affinity, if a name counts for anything . In Ireland it always did. My mother’s father, a McCarthy, is buried inside the walls of the old ruined Cistercian Church in Abbeyisland. Derrynane, next to the ancient grave of the O’Connells. Mother was very proud of the name and her forbears. The McCarthys of Derrynane, gave the O’Connells a footing when they were expelled from the Killarney district by the O’Donoghue’s. “The days of our glory are over.” We live in more practical times. Miss O’Reilly daughter of John Boyle O’Reilly, wrote me from Constantinople, and promised she would call on you when she visits Ireland.”

I got that letter in November 1913. Miss O’Reilly had a roving commission from a syndicate of American papers. The Great War broke on a peaceful world with a thunder of guns, and Miss O’Reilly returned to Boston. Father Dan was a great personal friend and admirer of the poet and his family and for the reasons disclosed in my first contribution of ‘Recollections, it would have been a pleasure to extend to her a warm welcome to Ireland. The fates decreed otherwise, and next year DV she may be among the exiles to see the new bright face of the once Dark Rosaleen. Should Fr Dan come he’ll get a warm welcome in Bere where on his last visit he published a paper-stile, a keepsake in many a home.

Fall River
Bill Dwyer is an institution in Fall River which is Berehaven transplanted.I visited Bill there in 1925 and shall never forget my reception and experiences. Were I to recite these, I would wander too far and keep going for months. Bill’s column “The Man about Town” is unique and delightfully interesting to a native of Bere, who would think he was familiar with the name and history of the people referred to.The Sullivan, the Sheas, the Crowleys, the Kellys, the Harringtons, McCarthys, Dwyers all descendants of the emigrants following black ‘47.Bill is physically a fine type, and though three score and ten, he still makes his column an attractive, spicy, literary treat. He’s beloved of the city folk, and is sure “The Man about Town”. How the exiles of Bere love “that spot” hallowed by tragic and happy memories, every hill and dale, the rocked-ribbed coast, and the shimmering sea and the grave-yards of their fathers were pictured for them by their fathers and mothers with a gaelic power of expression.There is no need to ask the question of the Dwyers. Their lives were devoted to Ireland, and all four brothers were ardent supporters of the Irish Party.They were men and patriots. Robert Dwyer was a gentleman, but the fire in his kindly Irish eyes was eloquent of the depths of his soul. He is laid to rest in Foildarrig. It would spoil Father D Crowley’s tribute to his memory were I to say more, before giving it you, as it appeared in the “Independent.”

Courtesy of the Southern Star