The Patrician Charism

As a youth growing up in Ireland, Daniel Delany was fortunate in that he had members of his family with sufficient wealth to send him to France for his education. This would have been most unusual in the Ireland of those times, where the vast majority of Catholic children had no access to any formal education. For centuries, Ireland had been ruled from England and was occupied by the British army.

By the Penal Laws, public worship and public education were denied to Catholics until the Act of Catholic Emancipation in 1829. In his time of study and preparation for the priesthood on the continent, Daniel Delany was removed from the atmosphere of discrimination and suppression that was the lot of Catholics generally in 18th century Ireland.

Even though public worship was legally prohibited, most local authorities in the country had given up efforts to prevent Catholics from coming together for Mass on Sundays by the time Fr Delany took up his first Irish appointment. Tullow was a rural parish about 70km south-east from Dublin, in the country of Carlow.

Like most rural parishes of the time, the majority of parishioners of Tullow were uneducated and lived in poverty and hardship. Fr Delany was appalled at the ignorance, poverty, helplessness and the general condition of the people.

He was especially disturbed at the lack of hope there was for young people and he set about doing something to improve their circumstances. He established two confraternities, one for women and one of men, from parishioners who had some ability and willingness to help the young. The initial purpose was to run after-Mass, Sunday school for children to give them a basic understanding of their faith and to prepare them for the sacraments.

Later, some members of the confraternities offered to teach the children and teenagers simple skills in handiwork and sewing. The hope was to gainfully occupy some of their time, to give them an interest and self-confidence, as well as the skills to improve their human condition.

Fr Delany, soon to become Bishop Delany, was a support and mentor to the two confraternities, from whom he invited some to become the foundation members of two new religious orders. Given the economic and social circumstances at the time of foundation, education and formation programs for the pioneer members were very basic, with mere survival as a priority.

However, each new Congregation went its separate way, endeavouring to honour the wishes of the Founder, Bishop Delany. As for the confraternities from which they grew, the religious instruction and general education of the young remained the main focus of their work.