A FUNERAL Mass for a Kerryman killed in conflict during the 1916 Rising is to be held this Friday night – almost 100 years to the day of his death.
Captain Patrick O’Connor, a proud son of Rathmore, was shot dead on Dublin’s Moore Street shortly after he left the GPO in 1916.
An acclaimed dramatisation of his life story, penned by local journalist Aidan O’Connor, packed Rathmore Community Centre for four nights this week.
Captain O’Connor was never afforded a Christian burial and his remains are in a mass grave in Glasnevin Cemetery. But his relatives were anxious that a proper funeral Mass be held to give a final sense of closure to the heartbreaking saga that has lasted a century.
It will be celebrated by Fr Pat O’Donnell in St Joseph’s Church, Rathmore this Friday night at 8.00pm and many of those who performed in the musical drama will take part in the ceremony which will be enriched with music, song and verse.
Patrick O’Connor was born in March 1882 to Tom O’Connor and Mary (nee O’Donoghue), and from a very young age he had a love of history and politics. He grew up on a farm with his four brothers as two sisters and he later secured first place in Ireland, England and Scotland in the Civil Service exam to land a job in the GPO in London, at the age of 18.
He put in for a transfer to Dublin in 1915, to work in the GPO, and from there got involved in the Dublin Battalion of the Irish Volunteers and the IRB.
In 1916 he was at home in Rathmore for the funerals of his father and brother Denis – who both died through illness – when he was summoned to Dublin for the Rising. He left Rathmore by train and joined up with the Volunteers in the GPO. The journey was to have a bloody ending.
Captain O’Connor was gunned down as he accompanied colleagues on an operation along Moore Street and the devastating news was later relayed to his heartbroken mother and siblings at home in Rathmore.
“Behind every volunteer and soldier lies a personality, a family and a life. Long before Patrick O’Connor became a volunteer, he was a son, a brother, a friend and a colleague. While the country lost a true patriot, those close to him lost a loved one,” said journalist and author Aidan O’Connor.
Meanwhile, the Rathmore actor who brilliantly portrayed Captain Patrick O’Connor in the musical drama has told of the great sense of pride the involvement gave him.
Brian Hickey remarked: “I’ve lived my life always proud to be Irish but never have I felt more Irish than I do right now. It’s nice to take stock and remember who we are and what we were meant to be.”
He added: “Thank you Patrick O’Connor, forever we will live together.”
Captain O’Connor’s relatives were delighted that the story was so wonderfully told by the local drama group and humbled by the fact that the venue was packed every night for four nights as locals turned out in force to remember a local son.
* Pictures from the musical drama by Paudie Healy, Evoque Photography
