A childhood lasts a whole lifetime.
Andrew Kerins from County Sligo lived through the most catastrophic years in Irish history.
Born in 1840 in Sligo he was seven years of age when An Gorta Mór fell upon the Irish people.
At the height of the Famine those fit enough to provide a decent burial for the dead were overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands were interred without shroud or coffin in mass unmarked graves.
It was the final indignity of a people dispossessed of decent lands centuries earlier and ethnically cleansed by Cromwell’s troops into the boglands of Connaught.
My father was a Mayo man and his mother reared me on tales of those terrible times.
Family research I carried out some years ago revealed that her father’s brother had died as a four year old during the Famine years in a Mayo village where no household escaped the ravages of the great hunger.
Such events leave can leave a psychic wound that never fully heals.
Brother Walfrid’s grave in Dumfries is suitably humble for a man who would have been horrified by anything ostentatious or grandiose.
Yesterday he was remembered in a ceremony organised by the Celtic Graves Society.
Although we gathered around his graveside in Dumfries yesterday to honour the man who founded Celtic it was An Gorta Mór that commanded my attention as we travelled back to Celtic park.
I suspect that those awful years never ever left Walfrid in peace.
Childhood trauma is like no other.
The wound is seared into the most vulnerable of psychological tissue.
The emotional pain never really goes away.
Was this the fuel that drove him to provide food for hungry children?
He was certainly a driven man possessed of great energy and focus.
The Irish who escaped to Glasgow left an impoverished land and found themselves in probably the most anti-Irish city on the planet.
As a fifteen year old immigrant to Scotland Andrew Kerins experienced that racism first hand.
It was in that awful situation that Brother Walfrid grew to manhood and entered the church for a life of duty and service.
As the football club he founded steps out on Wednesday night to the strains of Zadok the priest, Handel’s coronation anthem would make the Sligo man smile wryly as his life was not concerned with those of elevated status.
Celtic football club has a unique narrative that the entire world should be aware of.
An Gorta Mór created the community that gave birth to Celtic.
Brother Walfrid was no dilettante missionary reared in comfort and indulging in noblesse oblige among the starving.
He was serving his own people and doing his god’s work by using any means necessary.
He devoted his life to the service of others.
On Wednesday night in the Lisbon Lions stand this atheist will remember him as I gaze upon a living breathing monument one man’s liberation theology.
Last year the Celtic’s charity foundation helped to feed and save over 60,000 children in Somalia.
The existence of the Celtic family is the wonderful legacy that Walfrid gave to the world.
My childhood was lit up by a love of Celtic and I have a Sligo man to thank for that.
Francis Gerald Allen
Brilliant article Phil;1st visit Iv’e made to your blog for a while, hope it won;t be too long till the next visit; after reading this it puts into perspective a comment on the Daily Records sports blog today pointing out a quote from the Sun about you being a bigoted sectarian journalist,coming from the the cause of the Leveson enquiry, you can be proud to be singled out by excrement and vermin from the Sun.Hopefully the rag and its Scottish complement are going to be up in front of the beaks for their role in the alleged perjury in the Tommy Sheridan Trial.
Also,just to say again how pleased to see the post about Bro. Walfrid,and learned some things I didn’t know about the famine. My family comes from Ballymote. Co. Sligo. and I was born there in 1943, but have lived in Doncaster. South Yorkshire since 3 years of age. You may know that Shuggie Keevins’s family comes from just a few miles from Ballymote town; oh the irony; his ancestors must be turning in their graves at Shuggie’s acceptance of the 30 pieces of silver.
September 3, 2012 at 5:07 pm
Paradise Lost
An Atheist would say we got lucky, Walfrid just happening to be in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, is no big deal….it happens all the time….Churchill, Wallace, Wellington, Larsson, etc…
Me, i don’t believe in random chance, i believe things happen for a reason, i believe God answers the prayers of the needy, i believe in the teachings of the Messiah….i believe good will always overcome evil.
People say, “How can God allow attrocities?” Simple! Out of evil acts, comes the opportunity for acts of greater good, Imagine the most evil act conceivable: humanity kills the only Son of God. What good comes of it? The redemption of humanity.
September 1, 2012 at 8:39 pm
lisa mcdonnell (coatbridge)
Surprised that your an atheist Phil!
August 30, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Uncle Meat
I think people should be looking forward instead of constantly looking back, a monument to people who died in a famine 160 years or so ago come on, somebody’s having a laugh.
August 30, 2012 at 11:43 am
joe
Why do people talk about a “famine”. The one hundred or so cargo ships that left Irish harbours every week laden with food are well documented and actually increased in the worst years like 1847. You can,t export food in huge quantities like this during a famine – its impossible. The English landlords got much better prices back in England and Irish peasants couldn,t afford the food so they were left to starve.
August 28, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Frankier
Lesley – In what way did I discredit anything Celtic has done,
and why would I be jealous of anyone or anything associated with a football team? I have supported Celtic all my life but I feel sad for people who profess to actually LOVE them or any of their players. Celtic (Peter Lawwell) wouldn’t sh!te on the ordinary fan and the quicker they realise that the quicker they can concentrate on the really important things in life; their family for a start. It really is an insult for someone like you to insinuate that I am in some way stupid.
Get yourself a life. Double the population of Kilmarnock go to Celtic Park on a fortnightly basis and Lawwell manages to convince you all that they are skint. That shows you who the really stupid ones are.
August 28, 2012 at 1:53 pm
albannach-éireannach
Thanks for a reminder of the origins of Celtic FC, Phil.
It reads like a piece of idealistic fiction, the drive and determination of a man to breach the confines of poverty and extend to all in need, through something as initially humble and simple as a football club.
I fear, though, the finances being spent would be a contentious matter for Br Walfrid. Would he encourage such liberal spending of millions which would be better housed in the immediate environs and the raising of education and standard of living (in my opinion), or would he see it as a continuation of a social vehicle which had to be as attractive as it would be efficacious?
Regardless, it is a legacy that none can express adequately for countless generations of both charity and entertainment.
As an aside, the loss of life in parts of the Isle of Skye and other Highland regions during An Gorta Mór are noteworthy – the same blight affected the yield of potato crop here, too. Similarly, in no small part either, to the current situation of a fall of 40% in potato produce and import to these isles.
Thank God it is a supplement and not a staple diet anymore.
CM.
August 28, 2012 at 2:13 am
SamBrowneBelt
Very emotive Phil, good stuff.
August 27, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Lesley
Why are there so many angry people on here!!! I am Scottish with part Irish heritage and let’s face it if it where not for the work of Brother Walfred there are many of us that may not be here today… So let’s celebrate the life of a man and thank the 6 players given to him by Hibs to start a legacy that today is one of the most loved clubs in the world today….As a passionate Celtic fan I love my ‘Celtic’ club, picked as both Scotland and Ireland are Celtic nations!!! (has anyone even bothered to do the tour or read up in why our Clubs name is as it is today and not Glasgow Hibernian as we started out???)
Scots, Irish, welsh, English, Asian, Australian, American….who cares we are a club open to all with the proudest heritage in world football and to hell to anyone who diminishes it…. Even some of the hate filled bile we listen to from across the city are unaware that children of EVERY RELIGION where fed by brother Walfred and Glasgow Hibernian….so maybe some of them have something to be thankful for also…
Don’t hate… Just be proud whichever you are, and anyone who tries to discredit what Celtic did are just (frankier) jealous or stupid…whichever!
August 27, 2012 at 10:21 pm
macaroni
Dal. – HEAR HEAR. Well said.
August 27, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Willie K
I’m not normally one to offer praise. I’ll make an exception after reading through this piece of writing. Excellent.
August 27, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Dal
Every right minded Celt knows what Brother Walfrid would have thought about John Reid. He would have deplored the imperialist war criminal, not to mention those who voted him in.
August 27, 2012 at 8:23 pm
macaroni
PaulMc.
“Celtic were NEVER an Irish Club.” Why do you feel the need to emphasise the word NEVER. My guess is that it annoys you when Celtic are referred to as Irish.
Celtic are an inclusive club, open to every race,creed and colour as everyone knows. However, as you correctly state yourself, her roots are Irish. So even though The Club are based in Scotland they are, in part at least, Irish. There is no getting away from that. Always have been, always will be. Deal with it.
August 27, 2012 at 7:47 pm
PaulMc
Thanks for missing the point completely. All my ancestors come from Ireland. I was making the point that Celtic are an all inclusive club with Irish roots and that they were formed to forge links between communities, unlike their old rivals.
August 28, 2012 at 1:30 am
The Wallace
Instead of just commemorating the sad circumstances of the people effected by the blight, for it was not a famine in the strictest sense, since there was enough food being produced, but it was being exported right from underneath the starving people’s noses, and it did not just happen in Ireland, in the Highlands and Islands the Gaeltach suffered a blow (whole areas of the highlands were completely depopulated)which saw it barely survive into the Twentieth century and who knows if it’s recent resuscitation will be anywhere successful enough to help it survive. The dirty barefoot heilander was just as big a figure of ridicule and derision as the tattie munching paddy, remember they both spoke the same language and had been involved in the ’45 one hundred years previously.
Sorry back to my point, I think it should contain the real reasons and culprits, starting with that ba’heid Adam Smith and his idiotic idea of Laisse-Faire economics to every landlord/laird, politician and religious zealot who profited from the suffering caused by their great inhumanity.
Not so much ‘these poor people how they must have suffered’ but more along the lines ‘LEST WE FORGET’.
This sounds a lot more severe than I wanted, but I believe it should also be a warning to the future as well as a commemoration of the past.
August 27, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Stevie Reid
A fantastic footballer from spain also sums it up perfectly. His quote ” Celtic, like barca, are more than a football club. They are a symbol of a culture, and a community, that has not always been made to feel welcome in our respective countries.” Xavi Hernandez..Barcelona f.c.
August 27, 2012 at 6:44 pm
franco
There should be a memorial to” the great famine” at CP when they redesign the front entranceway hh god bless brother walfrid.
August 27, 2012 at 5:01 pm
alfredo
Personally, I wonder if I or many others pay enough heed to this man’s gift to us all. Not many have originated such a revered Organisation from incredible limited resource. Statues arent enough. Ps great work on friday night, great night of q and a.
August 27, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Gerry Carty
Brother Walfrids legacy is close to all our hearts.He was/is an inspiration to all,whether catholic,protestant or of no religion .All are made welcome at celtic park …and thats the way it should be .
You said so much in a few paragraphs Phil.
August 27, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Peter g
Phil,
Over the last no of years I have read books on the history of other football clubs and of the spread of football itself from these islands all over the globe. The point is phil the more I read about other clubs with their fantastic achievements in world football the more I come to realise just how special celtic football club really are. It is the very starting point of our club which makes it so special, the seeds of which were sown some 40 years before the birth took place.that is the story which makes our football club so special to all of us, the story which means we do not just support our club but we love our club.
August 27, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Carntyne
A lovely piece that tugs at the heart strings.
August 27, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Frankier
Celtic are now a franchise. As Irish as Frankie and Benny’s, who are as Italian as Celtic are Irish. Try and work that one out. Great and all as Brother Walfrid was his statue still stands in the bronze position at celtic park. That takes a fair bit of the glamour away from him.
August 27, 2012 at 1:14 pm
PaulMc
I thought I could be cynical! What a bizarre outlook, to use the term “glamour” in connection to a man who sought no such thing. We honour his memory with the statue, likewise Jock Stein. Celtic were NEVER an Irish club, their roots are Irish. The name of the club was chosen to reflect the links between Scots and Irish this is like the ABC of being a Celtic fan. How can you not know this?
There is nothing wrong with spreading the name of the club far and wide and trying to gain new support through that.
August 27, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Stephen McCormack
For those who don’t comprehend the An Gorta Mór (the Great Famine) between 1845 and 1852 didn’t discriminate between religion and both Catholics and Protestants in Ireland died in their hundreds of thousands. It is estimated that at least 1 million people died during this period. The famine happened in both the North and South of Ireland. The North losing many Scottish Protestant descendants who moved their duration the plantation Ulster many years earlier. Those who survived the famine emigrated to the four corners of the world and some took the short journey and travelled to Scotland.
Celtic Football Club was founded in 1888. Its principal founder was a Marist Brother named Walfrid. The Club had two principal aims: The first aim was to raise funds to provide food for the poor of the East End of Glasgow, an area of the City that was greatly impoverished and had a high rate of infant mortality. Within the East End was a large Irish community bo
th Protestants and Catholics, and friction was growing between the native Glaswegians and the new influx of Irish. Brother Walfrid saw the need for social integration and his vision was a football club that Scottish and Irish, Protestants and Catholics alike could support. A new football club would be a vehicle to bring the communities together and this was the second aim. The Marist brother sought for the Club to have both a Scottish and Irish identity and hence, the Club’s name “Celtic” came about, representing a bridge of cultures across the Irish Sea.
Glasgow remains as the only City in the world, which the immigrants from Ireland came to, which does not have a memorial to remember the An Gorta Mór (the Great Famine). This doesn’t do a service to the hundreds of thousands of Protestants and Catholics who died during this period.
August 27, 2012 at 12:54 pm
lesley
Stephen McCormack… so well said, I am from a mixed family and getting that message across to some of those who support Rangers is very hard…Frankier please tell me you are not a celtic fan, I would not like to think you are with that opinion…The one thing that sticks in my throat is that there was enough money to feed these people yet the BRITISH government still took their quota, should I say more or does that not just speak volumes for the British empire!!!!
It says allot that we are the only country in the World that does not show respect to ‘the great famine’ and shows what our country is really all about which guts me as a Scot.
August 27, 2012 at 11:05 pm
Mouldy67
OSCAR KNOX APPEAL
Hello , just to let you know that I am planning to take part in a 50 mile cycle from Glasgow to Edinburgh, 09/09/2012
During the next 2 weeks I plan to train very hard in order to be able to take part in this cycle where I would hope to be able raise some funds for “Wee Oscar Knox” who is 3 year old kid and is not keeping very well just now.
You can read Oscar’s story on web link below….
http://www.justgiving.com/Team-Oscar-Knox-Appeal-Cycle-09092012-Paul-Muldoon
In the meantime, all donations are welcome, thanks
August 27, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Mouldy67
Very touching Phil
This needs to be the next project of the Celtic family to get a proper tribute to the famine within the open space of glasgow
August 27, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Bill
Humble beginnings
It fills your heart with pride when you contemplate the origins of Celtic. How lucky are we to support such a club. We do have a unique narrative and we are all eternally grateful to Brother Walfrid.
August 27, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Ben mcginlay
Well written Phil. Glasgow Celtic, if Carlsberg did football teams……..I’m so proud to be a Celtic supporter, always have and always will.
August 27, 2012 at 12:06 pm
keighley bhoy
Brilliant piece Phil, 125 unbroken years of fantastic history, my love of all things Celtic is as strong now as it ever was, we are more than just a football team, hail hail, GOD BLESS THE CELTIC+
August 27, 2012 at 11:30 am
michael mccahill
Hail! Hail! Phil a great example of what Glasgow Celtic not only stand for but what they were born for, Brother Walfrid’s legacy lives on in the heart and mind of all things Celtic and in the hearts and minds millions across the globe. Thank you for sharing.
August 27, 2012 at 11:19 am
Joseph
A little tear in the eye there Phil.
August 27, 2012 at 11:05 am
Martybhoy
Glasgow Celtic are a truly noble cause and I am a proud lifetime follower. Since childhood they were the investment of every future dream I had.The reality was and still is that we are so much more than a football club.
Brilliantly put in a few paragraphs again,Phil.
Can’t wait for the Kindle version of the latest tome.
Keep on Keeping on that man McG.
August 27, 2012 at 10:57 am
Steve
Nice thoughts Phil. Great plug for the CGS too. They deserve it. I think we all, when alive, consider it a comforting thought, to think we might be remembered when we no longer exist. A sense of continuance with the extended Celtic family.
August 27, 2012 at 10:40 am
Walter Harvey
Extemely well put Phil and a great reflection on what our club means to many and stands for today.Thanks for the enlightenment.
August 27, 2012 at 10:32 am
Steve Clontarf
Lovely, lovely piece. The club is very special to me and you have expressed what is at the heart of my love for Celtic. Thank you Phil.
August 27, 2012 at 10:25 am