MAYNOOTH EXHIBITION 18 APRIL – END MAY 2018

Maynooth University is hosting an exhibition at the Russell Library to commemorate the centenary of a landmark meeting at Maynooth College between members of the Mansion House Conference to oppose conscription and the Irish Catholic hierarchy.

‘On Active Service’: Maynooth College, Chaplains & the Anti-Conscription Crisis‘ will launch at 1.00pm on Wednesday, 18 April 2018 in the Russell Library.

Rev. Professor Michael Mullaney, President of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and Professor Victor Lazzarini, Dean of Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy at Maynooth University will speak at the event.

The exhibition explores the themes of army chaplaincy recruitment and resistance to conscription in Ireland during World War I and will be on display in the Russell Library until the end of May 2018.

A deputation from the Mansion House Conference, including Éamon de Valera and Lord Mayor of Dublin Laurence O’Neill, travelled by taxi from Dublin to Maynooth College for a landmark meeting with the Irish Catholic hierarchy on the 18th April 1918 during which they agreed to denounce any attempts by the British Government to enforce conscription in Ireland.

The exhibition features a number of documents and artefacts including a pledge signed by over 250 staff and students at Maynooth College resisting the right of the British Government to enforce military service by the most effective means at their disposal. A selection of original photographs and postcards from a Maynooth alumnus serving as an army chaplain in Mesopotamia during WW1 is also on display for the first time in the Russell Library.

The exhibition is part of Maynooth University’s programme to commemorate key events during the revolutionary period that helped shape the course of history and the development of an independent Ireland.

Professor Marian Lyons (Department of History) and Barbara McCormack (Special Collections Librarian) curated the exhibition with kind support from Maynooth University’s Commemoration Committee.

The launch is open to the public and is free to attend but those interested should contact the Russell Library (library.russell@mu.ie) to confirm their place.

For more information, please contact Barbara McCormack (Special Collections Librarian, Maynooth University Library)

Email: barbara.mccormack@mu.ie

Tel: +353 1 708 3890