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Lisdoonvarna. skelter. P.P.
T. Tim
Mr. Horsar
Canon Shelby

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THE AUTHOR OF "MY NEWCURATE" ETC."

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KEN. 8358.
2, WENTWORTH STUDIOS,
MANRESA ROAD, CHELSEA.
LONDON, S.W.
OCT 12. 1925.
Dear Mr Gullagher
/ Kenneth books or
photographs & copy of
paper you kindly
sent me earlier for
which many thanks
Yours faithfully
Fr Doyle Gover
/

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IN MEMORY OF REV. CANON SHEEHAN.
How shall we mourn his passing—scholar, poet, saint,
How do him honour who no honour sought?
He fled from praise, but now unsealed our lips' restraint
To chant a pæan o'er the work he wrought
For God and Land—all else he heeded not.
The glamour of the world was nought to his great soul—
He shunned life's garish ways—that prayerful heart
Found peace in solitude, for there he saw unroll
Those visions of the saint's and poet's art
Which only to the few their light impart.
Two loves absorbed his soul: God and his native land—
The essence of the saint's—the patriot's creed;
They were his very being, thus his magic wand
Showed us the higher things, taught us the need
Of nobler lives for faith and country freed.
Austere and calm—he walked and prayed in lonely
ways,
Prayed while he mourn'd o'er his loved country's
fate,
Yet seer-like saw, with proud and kindling gaze,
The dawn of glory o'er the night of hate—
Then that calm heart beat strong and passionate.
For from his boyhood's hour he sighed and hoped for
her,
Through failure, doubt, despair, he saw hope's star—
Prayed at the sacred altar as God's minister
Her faith should triumph in a bloodless war,
And spread her glories o'er the earth afar.
And only one regret o'er-shadowed that great heart
Ere on its weariness the great Light shone,
That from his own dear isle his wistful soul should part
Before the shadows of the night had gone
Beneath the glories of its Freedom's dawn.
And so he slept on Mary's Feast—the Rosary—
Be sure for that he prayed, he loved her so
From that ecstatic hour, when hoping trustingly
He felt th' anointing oil awake the glow
None but the chosen Levite e'er may know.
Not Ireland's only he: the Celtic world claims him;
From Southern Cross to where the North winds rave,
Our race prays for his soul, and many an eye grows dim,
And turns all wistful towards his far-off grave
In Desmond's vale by gentle Mullagh's wave.
Here where his wondrous genius at its zenith glowed,
Each spot he loved shall whisper of his fame—
The stream, the bridge, the village street, the shady
road,
The wood, the Convent mount repeat his name—
So fond tradition shall his worth proclaim.
"Twas fitting here his faithful soul should pass to God,
Here where he toiled death broke its prison bars,
"Twas here amongst his own he wished his last abode—
Hushed in Earth's mantle from life's fretting jars,
He sleeps " beneath the Cedars and the Stars."
Leaden 6.2.1915
"LIS MOR," Dublin.

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Sweet Heart of
salvation.—
Mary, be my
300 days.
SACRED HEART OF JESUS,
HAVE MERCY ON THE SOUL OF
VERY REV.
P. H. Canon Sheehan
D.D., P.P., DONERAILE,
Who died on the 5th October, 1913,
Rosary Sunday,
AGED 61 YEARS.
————— R. I. P.

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1916
MODELLED BUST of Canon Shechan. JOSEPH HICKINS

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IN MEMORIAM.
A white marble beltic cross, outside the Parish Church of Doneraile, marks the grave of Canon Sheehan. The epitaph, selected by himself — "Master where dwellest thon? But Jesus answered Come and see" — rivals in simplicity but excell in sublimity, that of Duke Delmege — "Here lieth — Pray for his soul." Here, not only women and children, but also members of the sterner sex, may still be seen praying for his eternal repose. This is the fulfilment of a wish expressed by him, when, on the morning he preached his farewell sermon and thanked the people for their constant kindness to him, he pointed out this spot as his chosen burial place, hoping that children on their way from school and people leaving the church might pray for the repose of his soul. Here, too, come visitors from all parts of the world, especially from U.S.A., to see the last resting-place of this renowned author.
Shortly after his death a committee was formed and a fund was opened for the erection of a suitable memorial in his honour. Generous subscriptions powered in from far and near. Two stained-glass windows were erected in the Parish Church. A third — one of St. Patrick — was donated by the Convent School children. But there was considerable delay about the public monument owing to the rival claims of Mallow and Doneraile and the question was set aside for some years.
When, at length, it was decided that Doneraile had the prior claim, many meetings and consultations took place, before details were agreed upon regarding the nature of the monument, the material to be used, and the most capable person to undertake the work. It was not until 1925 that final arrangements were made and as a result, we have the magnificent bronze statue of the Canon, designed and executed by Francis Doyle-Jones M.B.R.S. of Chelsea, now standing in the centre of the church-yard. On the advec of Mr. Doyle-Jones, the predestal was procured nearer home, and this part of the work was done by Mr. Ellis of bork.
In 1925 the C.J.G. did not exist and carries were not in general use in country towns, so the local carrier James Cleary, had perforce to bring the
7' statue in its large crate on a one-house cart from the Mallow Station (nine and a half miles distant) to the Convent garden. The lid was raised and the packing removed as the Community gathered round to gaze for the first and for many of them the last time on those dear familiar features. There he was, gentle, refined, serious, bespectacled, ever-busy pen in hand, as if pausing to think of the next sentence, or of a more appropriate, word, or perhaps — to adapt his own words in "Parega" — "whipping up his faculties" to recall some suitable biblical, classical or mythological quotation. It matters not — it was he. It was their own Canon Sheehan! Little wonder that tears gushed forth anew from eyes that had so often seen him in the flesh, from hearts that had so often threlled to the charm of his personality.
It is a significant incident that the statue spent its first night in the Parish in the Convent garden. The following morning it was removed to the Church-yard, and shortly afterwards (on Oct. 18) it was unveiled, in presence of a large and distinguished gathering, by His Lordship, Most Rev. Dr. Browne, then Bishop of Cloyne. His Lordship delivered the opening address, after which Rev. Michael Phelan S. J. preached a beautiful panegyrie and other important personages also paid tribute to the wonderful work done by Canon Sheehan for the Church, for batholic literature and for his own parish.
Every year on St. Patrick's Day, and again on Oct. 5th, the Doneraile Proventation runs send a wreath to be placed on his grave. There is a large statue of St. Joseph with a commemorative plaque in their little Chapel, "In Memory of Our Beloved Superior." His picture hangs in every classroom in their school, and in every home in the parish.
Truly, it needs not "a temple made with hands" to keep the memory of Canon Sheehan alive in Doneraile. It is enshrined in the inmost sanctuaries of the hearts of the people, who erected these memorials in taken of their love and loyalty to that devoted Pastor who still looks down and watches over them from his Home above the "Cedars and Slars."
Smc

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Cork Ex 19.x.25
A PRETTY TRIBUTE.
Sheila Sullivan, who is aged but four years, performed a delightful little act when she laid a wreath at the base of the monument. The picture includes (second from the left) Mr. Doyle Jones, the sculptor; the Very Rev. Canon Barry, P.P.; Most Rev. Dr. Browne, and Messrs. Harold Barry, and J. J. O'Connor (who is nearest to the monument). (A full report of the interesting ceremony, and of the speeches at the meeting, appears in this paper).