The
Protestant Reformation that swept Europe in the 16th
century was marked by Royal intrigues over control of
the Roman Church's wealth, and conflicts over which
religion could be practiced. Violence erupted in many
countries. Elizabeth I declared the Church of England
to be the State religion, and considered Ireland part
of her state. Most Irish did not agree. The Papacy
launched a counter-reformation and Ireland became a
battlefield between the two forces as the Irish, who
embraced the Church introduced by St. Patrick, became
the target of a campaign to reduce Rome's power by
converting the masses to Protestantism. The
persistence with which the Irish clung to their
religion drove the English to extremes in repression.
Penal laws disenfranchised Irish Catholics from the
political, social, and economic life of their own
country, and with their religion outlawed and their
clergy on the run, they became an underground society
practicing their religion in secret.
Not
surprisingly, secret societies were formed to protect
the values under attack. In various locales, groups with
names like Whiteboys, Ribbonmen, and Defenders were
identified with attacks on landlords, but each society
included in its avowed purpose the protection of the
Roman Church and its clergy. As time and government
prevailed, some societies were suppressed, but most
reorganized under a new name for the same purpose –
defense of faith and homeland. History provides us with
the names of many of these organizations, and even
limited details of some. We know, for example, that the
motto of the Defenders in 1565 was Friendship, Unity,
and True Christian Charity, but the secret manner in
which these societies operated left few records for
modern analysts. As a result, a true history of their
times may never be written.
Secret Societies
Exported
What
history does tell us however, is that continued
oppression and periodic crop failures forced many
Irish to flee to other lands for survival. The
inclination toward secret societies which had
developed in Ireland by now became an Irish defense
mechanism, especially among those emigrants committed
to the ethnic slums of the lands to which they fled.
Initially formed as fraternal associations to promote
the welfare of its members and families, like the
Hibernian Sick and Funeral Society in England, they
soon found a militant dimension necessary to protect
their church and clergy and defend members from
bigoted opposition. In early nineteenth century
America, the Ancient Order of Hibernians with its
motto Friendship, Unity, and Christian Charity became
the most recent link in the evolution of those ancient
societies. Organized with the same intention of
defending Gaelic values under attack, it can claim
continuity of purpose and motto unbroken back to the
Defenders of 1565. The need for a defensive society in
America was the same as it was in Ireland.
Colonial
America was an extension of England in language,
customs and traditions and though American historians
claim religious freedom back to William Penn’s
Pennsylvania, John Locke’s Carolina, Roger Williams’
Rhode Island, and many others, this freedom did not
include Catholics. These were still English colonies
and though the English were willing to accept other
Protestant sects, they discriminated against Catholics
because of a biased belief that Catholics owed their
allegiance to a foreign prince - the Pope. By 1700,
New York's Catholic population was almost stamped out
by drastic penal laws. Then came the Revolution, and
in spite of the large number of Catholics who
supported Washington, the spirit of the leading
colonists was still intensely anti-Catholic. The first
flag raised by the Sons of Liberty in New York was
inscribed No Popery. Not much changed after
independence either. At the Constitutional Convention
in 1777, a strong anti-Catholic faction was led by
John Jay, soon to be first Chief Justice of the United
States, who denied civil rights to Catholics until
they swore an oath renouncing the authority of the
Pope. Thereafter, Catholics remained barred from
public office unless they took that Test Oath. This
was the America to which a steady flow of Irish
Catholics emigrated after the failed rising of 1798 in
Ireland.
The Early Irish in
America
As the Irish population grew,
anti-Catholic forces celebrated Pope Day, and carried
straw effigies of St. Patrick on March 17 which were
desecrated to taunt the Irish. The new Irish were
quick to defend their honor; their reaction was swift,
and violence was a normal result. The influence of the
growing Irish population finally forced the city to
ban such effigies in 1802. Then, in 1806, Francis
Cooper became the first Catholic elected to the New
York Assembly; he was told he would have to take the
Test Oath. A petition signed by the parishioners of
St. Peter’s - the city’s only Catholic parish -
complained that the oath denied Catholics the
opportunity of discharging their civic duties, and
again, the large number of signatures prompted State
Senator and city Mayor De Witt Clinton to sponsor a
bill that abolished the Test Oath. But some forces
were not happy, and a few months later, an
anti-Catholic mob attacked St. Peter’s Church. They
were held off by members of the Irish community who
formed a guard around the building, but the
confrontation sparked two days of rioting
Anti-Catholic bigotry, cloaked in the guise of American
patriotism, emerged in a nativist prejudice against
immigrants –– especially the Irish, who began arriving
in large numbers. A period of extreme intolerance was
launched in the early 1800s that began with social
segregation, resulted in discrimination in hiring, and
reached its climax in the formation of nativist gangs
such as the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, the True
Blue Americans and others bent on violence against the
Irish Catholic immigrant population. These gangs would
coalesce in 1854 into the American Party or 'Know
Nothings'. Reminiscent of the penal laws, they sought
legislation against the immigrant population who, it was
stated, diluted American principles. The growing number
of Irish, fleeing conditions in their native land, had
become a focus of that prejudice. They were driven to
the most difficult and demanding forms of labor where
even minimal safety and welfare standards were ignored.
In Ireland, the bias of their colonial masters made it
necessary to guard their activities from public
scrutiny; in America the prejudice from nativists and
abusive employers made similar secrecy necessary.
Gradually, they came together in the same type of secret
societies that had protected them in Ireland.
Nativist
prejudice grew from intolerance to violence. St. Mary’s
RC Church in New York was burned to the ground in 1831;
in 1832, 57 Irish railroad workers suffering from
Cholera near Malvern, Pennsylvania were refused medical
attention, died and were dumped in an unmarked mass
grave; in 1834, the Ursaline Convent in Massachusetts
was burned down; while in 1834 and 35, nativist gangs
attacked the Irish neighborhood of Five Points in New
York resulting in several major street brawls that
lasted for days.
The AOH is Born
Then, in 1836, according to The
Miner’s Journal, a newspaper in Pennsylvania’s
Schuykill County anthracite coalfield region, and
other newspapers, journals and verified sources of
information, we have learned that a contingent of
miners from a local group called the Hibernian
Benevolent Society traveled to New York’s St Patrick’s
Day parade. While there they met with a group of New
York Activists from the St. Patrick’s Fraternal
Society. The subject of the meeting is not recorded,
but since nativist activity was becoming a national
threat, it is not difficult to imagine the Irish
seeking to coalesce several societies into one major
defensive organization. Thus was born The Ancient
Order of Hibernians (AOH). In several versions of the
their own history, written and expanded over its
lifetime, reference is made to the founding of its
first Division at New York’’s St James Church on May
4, 1836 –– less than two months after the historic
meeting of the New York and Pennsylvania activists.
Coincidentally, another Division was formed at the
same time in the coal-fields of Pennsylvania. Local
tradition notes that one Jeremiah Reilly of Cass
Township, Hecksherville, Schuylkill County, PA started
the first AOH division there, but no records have been
found to authenticate this.
Know
nothing activities spread across the country. In 1854,
construction of the Washington Monument was halted when
nativists stole and destroyed a granite block donated to
the project by Pope Pius IX since they would tolerate no
Catholic stone in that icon to America’’s first
president. The following year, a nativist attack on an
Irish neighborhood in Louisville, KY caused 22 deaths
and considerable arson and looting. Although the secrecy
surrounding the early operation of the AOH makes their
origins and their reaction to such attacks difficult to
define, it is not unlikely that those who had been
members of secret societies in Ireland and England
called on their collective experience, and banded
together in this new land for the same or similar
defensive purposes and dispensed home-grown justice.
Soon, other societies like the Hibernian Friendship
Society in Arlington Virginia, founded in 1831, joined
the growing union of Irish societies that became known
as the Ancient Order of Hibernians. As nativist bigotry
spread across America, so too did the AOH. True to their
purpose, they provided social welfare benefits to
members and stood guard to defend Church property. After
their formation, actual attacks were few and far
between, but the long, cold, and lonely nights of vigil
were many. At about this time, a society in Ireland
adopted the name Ancient Order of Hibernians and the
organization now had Irish links.
As the
heroism of the Irish Brigade and other Irish units in
the American Civil War had America cheering for the
exploits of the sons of Erin in American uniform, the
honesty, devotion, and natural charm of the Irish girls,
who had found employment as domestic help, were winning
admirers on the home front. The natural result of this
new regard was a decrease in prejudice against the
Irish, and the Know Nothing movement, recognized for the
bigoted group it was, faded away. It would emerge again
in organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, and other groups
dedicated to ethnic hatred and anti-Catholic propaganda,
but never again would America politically support a
national army of zealots. The AOH, on the other hand,
grew stronger. It followed Irish immigrants as they
worked their way across the country.
The Early AOH
The early AOH in America
remained a defensive, yet secret, society, and while
little is known of its specific activities, it is
known that it assisted Irish immigrants in obtaining
jobs and social services. Membership was well-guarded
and restricted to Irish-born. Even minutes books used
member numbers instead of names to protect identities.
The first national conventions of the Order were held
in New York, but as the Order grew, other
jurisdictions began seeking the honor, with Boston
becoming the site of the first non-NY gathering. Other
controversial issues of the early Order included
opening membership to Irish Americans so that
American-born sons of immigrants could join and the
right of the AOH in Ireland to speak for the Order
when they were still dominated by the Crown. At the
same time, the militant Fenian Brotherhood began to
infiltrate the AOH and run their people for top AOH
offices. In the midst of all these issues the AOH
split!
In 1883,
the Land League called for a Philadelphia convention
of all the Irish organizations in America to support
Charles Stewart Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party in
their fight for Home Rule. The Irish AOH endorsed Home
Rule and Alexander Sullivan, a former member of AOH
Div 8, Chicago, who had been suspended for non-payment
of dues, aspired to Presidency of the new American
branch of the Land League. Sullivan conspired with
Henry Sheridan of Div 8, to have the Division
financial secretary give him credentials as the
Division representative to the convention instead of
an officer named O'Malley, who had been elected by the
membership. Sullivan was nominated for President of
the American Land League, and Andy Brown, County
delegate from St Louis, seconded the nomination
guaranteeing a subscription of $60,000. if Sullivan
were elected. Sullivan was elected. When asked where
the money would come from, Brown replied,“from the
AOH”. Sullivan went to AOH National Delegate
(President) Jeremiah Crowley, asking that an
assessment be levied on every member to honor the
pledge he made at the Convention. The assessment was
so ordered with no regard for the feelings of the
members - many of whom vehemently objected to the
Irish AOH position.
Division of the Order
Meanwhile, many of the rank and
file of the American AOH refused to communicate
further with Crowley, and appointed Francis Kiernan as
National Delegate until the next National Convention
in Cleveland on May 16, 1884. At that convention,
Crowley appeared and, after a bitter credentials
battle, was seated. At the end of a stormy convention,
Henry Sheridan of Chicago, Sullivan's co-conspirator
was elected National Delegate by a slim majority, and
Crowley was made Chairman of National Directory. Three
months later, a notice in the New York Times announced
that another National Convention of the Order had been
held on August 13 in New York City during which the
members of the National Board, who were elected in
Cleveland, were tried and expelled on charges of
conspiring to introduce Irish National Politics into
the American Order and merge it with the fragmented
Fenian Brotherhood. John Nolan (formerly of the Irish
AOH) was elected National Delegate.
On August
26, the `expelled' Board sent a circular to all
Divisions reporting, "a conspiracy has been unearthed in
New York which has been in secret operation for 18
months, headed by Hugh Murray of New York County and
aided by one Mr. Nolan, ex-member of the Irish AOH." They
accused the `conspirators' of holding a mock convention,
electing officers, and seceding from the organization.
They also revealed that they had come to New York to
determine the state of affairs, and learned that before
the Cleveland Convention had even met, the New Yorkers
had raised $800. and sent Mr Nolan to Ireland with a
message to the Irish AOH that he would be elected
National Delegate for America if the Irish AOH would
support them as the legal AOH. The circular reported
that the Irish order agreed, and, by that agreement, had
conspired with the `New York traitors' and thereby
demonstrated that they were “unfit to preside at the
head of an organization of the magnitude of ours”. The
Cleveland Board therefore announced that they had
severed all links with the group that they had once
“looked to as a faithful friend and father” adding, for
good measure, that they were a drain on the Order in
America, intellectually a disgrace, and had sacrificed
the whole organization for a few New York favorites. It
was signed by the Cleveland National Board including
Henry Sheridan, National Delegate and Jeremiah Crowley,
Chairman.
Law suits
followed by both sides over Division and County property
and the right to use the name `Ancient Order of
Hibernians'. There were now two organizations in
America: one took the name of the AOH, Board of Erin,
and the other the AOH in America. American branch also
changed the title of National Delegate to National
President. Some of the Board of Erin members in Ireland
continued to send correspondence and merchandise to the
Board of Erin in America, while others recognized only
the AOH in America. In 1886, National President Nolan of
the American Board of Erin traveled to the Board of Erin
Convention in Ireland to stop them from communicating
with the AOH in America. He charged that some of the
Board of Erin members had continued their support for
the American faction, and the animosity which had split
the Order in America was thereby exported to Ireland and
they too split with expulsions and law suits resulting.
American Reconciliation
Thus did
politics, personal greed, and petty jealousy bring to
a shameful and disgraceful state, one of the noblest
of the ancient Orders of Ireland. It would be many
years, filled with accusations, lies, and treachery
before saner heads prevailed and the two factions in
America were brought to true brotherhood through the
intervention of Antrim-born Bishop James McFaul of
Trenton, NJ. At an AOH national convention in
Trenton, Bishop McFaul encouraged the warring factions
of the AOH to come together and charter a merger. The
American Branch, represented by its President, P.J.
O'Connor of Savannah, GA and the Board of Erin Branch,
represented by its National Delegate, Rev. E.S.
Phillips of the diocese of Scranton agreed and the
Board of Erin Branch was re-absorbed into the American
Branch in July, 1898.
The sad
part is that the bond between the American and Irish
branches of this noble order were never officially
reconciled. The intervening years have dimmed the
recollection of the dispute, but the memory that one
existed was never truly forgotten.
Years
later, the apolitical and religious posture of the Irish
organization dictated their decision to support
Parnell's struggle for an independent Ireland through
Parliamentary reform and they became champions of Home
Rule in Ireland. The appearance in the early 1900's of a
more militant faction never swayed the AOH Board of Erin
from that commitment, and they were often criticized for
not being outspoken disciples of the revolutionary
action proposed by the heroes of Easter Week. They
remained true to their principles, and gave neither
support nor opposition to the militants during the 1916
insurrection, the War of Independence, and the Civil War
that followed. This again strained relations with the
American AOH who supported the militants although AOH
divisions in Ireland who remained affiliated with the
American Board did take part in the rising.
For years, the two Boards remained
as distant cousins who never spoke. Few remembered, or
even knew, the old animosities, and fewer still held
grudges against the branch of the Order across blue
highway home, yet the breach remained - in spite of the
fact that the AOH in America proudly pointed to their
Irish heritage and the fact that the Irish organization
had a litany of proud accomplishments and opposition to
the Crown.
International
Reconciliation
Then, in
1981, Jack Connolly, President of the AOH in America,
stopped into an AOH hall in Ireland. His historic
gesture, opened dialogue between the two branches of
the Order, and resulted in the visit of a group of
Belfast Hibernians to Boston and New York to march in
their St Patrick's Day parades. Hospitality was
provided to visiting Hibernian officials during the
next few administrations, but little of significance
occurred until 1992 when Board of Erin Secretary Frank
Kieran visited America. Hibernian hospitality was
extended by the American Board and, in conversations
held during that visit, it was proposed that the two
branches consider a joint project. At the 1994
American National Convention in Louisville Kentucky,
it was announced that the joint project would be a
memorial to the victims of the Great Hunger to be
erected in Ireland in 1995.
On August
20 1995, the dream came true as the American and Irish
National Boards gathered in Ennistymon, Co. Clare to
dedicate that memorial. In unveiling the memorial, Dail
Eireann's Minister of State, Donal Carey, noted that
this was the first national monument in all of Ireland
to the victims of the Great Hunger, and it took the AOH
to do it. It was a proud moment for the AOH, and a
visible indication of what unity can achieve. More
significant, but less publicized was an event that took
place days earlier on August 12, just after the American
Board had arrived in Ireland. It was the first joint
meeting in history between the AOH National Boards of
America, Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales. That
meeting opened a new chapter in Hibernian history, which
was confirmed by the hospitality extended in Hibernian
Halls in Counties Louth, Down, Antrim, and Derry where
the American Board was hosted and celebrated. The
American Order also marched in solidarity with Board
of Erin AOH in Co Derry in commemoration of the Feast
of the Assumption and later, Bloody Sunday. As a
result of those historic gatherings and marches, the
prejudice of the past has been buried, and the AOH now
stands, not only as the oldest Catholic Lay
organization in America, but as the largest Irish
Catholic society in the world with Divisions across
the United States, and close ties with the AOH in
Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales.
In America, the Division is the basic unit of the
Order. Divisions are combined into County Boards,
which are in turn governed by State Boards, and an
overall National Board elected every two years. Annual
dances, concerts, and parades sponsored at all levels
of the Order raise millions for charity while
providing a showcase for the positive contributions
the Irish have made in every walk of American life.
Divisions and Hibernian Halls across the country have
traditionally provided a welcome for new immigrants.
Here, the unique art, dance, music, and other
interests of the Irish are fostered and preserved,
making the AOH a home away from home for many. They
are at the forefront of support for issues concerning
the Irish such as Immigration Reform, MacBride
Legislation, and the Right to Life. They serve their
Church well, yet, they never forget their ancestral
homeland, and can always be found lobbying, praying,
and working for the total independence of a united
32-county Ireland –– as their constitution avows: ``by
all means constitutional and lawful''.
The
initials AOH may tell the story best. Those who say it
means Add One Hour are describing the easygoing, no rush
attitude of many of its members, while America’s Only
Hope has been used to define the loyalty of the Irish to
the principles of their adopted land. In any case, its
members are best described by the statement, To be Irish
is a Blessing, To be a Hibernian is an Honor.
Interested in becoming a
member?