Both these plaques are in the main concourse of Dublin's Heuston Station.
John Heuston was executed for his part in the 1916 Rising. He had worked for the rail company and on the 50th anniversary of the Rising, CIE, which is now the holding company of Irish Rail, named the country's main rail station after him.
His brother, Fr John Heuston, was a Dominican priest. On entering the Order he was given the name John. His baptismal name was Michael.
Just days before the execution of his brother, Brother John, he was not yet an ordained priest, was granted special permission by the Dominicans to leave his priory in Tallaght and visit his brother in his death cell.
Fr John was a highly intelligent man with a great mathematical flair. His interests covered a wide spectrum. He was in many aspects of his life considered to be eccentric. It is believed that he has written/compiled important material on the apse of San Clemente in Rome.
We both lived in the Irish Dominican Priory, San Clemente in Rome in the mid-1970s. On one occasion I commented to him that he was ahead of his time. "No Michael, the province is simply behind in its ways," he replied.
I am a lowly member of the Irish Dominicans. But it baffles me how the Irish Dominicans have not given prominence to the Heuston brothers in the run-up to the centenary of the 1916 Rising. It so happens the Order has also begun to celberate the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the Dominicans.
Shocking PR, a glimpse of how out of touch the Catholic Church is and can be with the world around it.
The lives of the Heuston brothers is such an attractive story and not a word.
Fr John Heuston died in Rome on March 6, 1984.
Will the Irish Dominicans remember Fr Thomas Walsh, who died in Dublin On August 16, 1987? He was another Irish Dominican with links to the 1916 Rising. There may well be others.
Fr John Heuston died in Rome on March 6, 1984.
Will the Irish Dominicans remember Fr Thomas Walsh, who died in Dublin On August 16, 1987? He was another Irish Dominican with links to the 1916 Rising. There may well be others.
Such a pity.
Below this plaque there is another oblong plaque, which reads:
TO COMMEMORATE THE 1916 RISING THIS BUILDING WAS NAMED HEUSTON STATION IN HONOUR OF SÉAN HEUSTON
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