Higgins of Rathmore

William Higgins 1827-1908 was probably the youngest son of Patrick (d. 1850). It appears that the Aghamore farm was divided between his elder brothers Peter (d. 1882) and John (d. 1876) and William acquired at farm nearby at Rathmore, possibly the farm which had formerly been owned by Archbolds. William married Mary Deignan (or Duignan) and they had at least nine children.

James (1878 – 1969) was the seventh child of William of Rathmore and Mary Duignan, and the longest surviving of them – only he and Elizabeth (d. 1963) lived beyond 1950. He was ordained a priest in 1914, at the relatively late age of 36 – it is noted that he was a ‘late vocation’ but it’s not known what he had done beforehand. He served in a number of parishes before becoming Parish Priest of Abbeylara in 1942, and then of his home parish of Colmcille (Aughnacliffe) from 1955 to his death in 1969 aged 91. At some point he was also made a Canon of the Diocese of Ardagh.

He was known to be shrewd in business affairs as well as religious matters, He used his talents in the financial support and progress of his nephews and nieces, ensuring that they studied hard and made the most of their talents. He could be very sharp and said directly what was on his mind. Though he appears to have been generous to family members, he also seems to have been concerned to ensure that he always had enough to be generous with!

His eldest brother Patrick (b. 1861) had also become a priest and was working in Massachusetts. It seems that James learned in 1924 that Patrick was seriously ill and travelled to the US, arriving just in time to be with him when he died. He either already knew, or then found out that Patrick had a substantial fortune, but no will. At least some of this seems to have come from bequests from other branches of the Higgins family, from Cloncoose just over the border in Co. Leitrim.

James learned also that the local bishop was of the view that the money belonged to the Church. James felt otherwise, and fought, and eventually won a legal case to keep the money in the family. It was a source of some resentment, however, that the money did not return to the branch of the family from whence it originally came.

Later in life, his sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie) became his housekeeper after she was widowed. She had married Patrick Brady in 1912 when they were both relatively older (he was 52 and she was 32) and had no children. Patrick Brady’s nephew Patrick Boyle was later to marry Katie Higgins (daughter of Lizzie’s 1st cousin Pat Peter). As Patrick Boyle’s father had died leaving four young sons under 6, the maternal Brady connection was very strong, and Patrick Brady, it seems had been a father figure to them. Patrick Boyle had helped him on the farm down the years, and as his other brothers had gone to the US, it seems that there was an understanding or an expectation that he would inherit the farm or at least receive some benefit. That did not happen; when Brady died in 1957 everything went to Elizabeth. She moved in to be housekeeper to her brother James, and it appears she left the proceeds to him when she in turn died in 1963.

James, now in his middle 80s, needed another housekeeper, and the job went to his recently widowed niece Rita Gaffney, the daughter of his sister Mary Gaynor of Lisryan. When James died in 1969, his will showed some bequests for Masses and other items, but the residue went to Rita.

Rev. Patrick Higgins 1861-1924

Bishop William O'Higgins 1794 - 1853

Following the relaxation of the Penal Laws at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries and Catholic Emancipation in 1829, the Catholic church began to organise itself to strengthen its institutions, impose discipline on its administration and hierarchical structures and regularise the religious practices of the people. The style of Catholicism that emerged from these reforms came to dominate Irish life until the end of the 20th century. Though now often described as ‘traditional Irish Catholicism’ it was in fact very different from the fairly lax approach to popular religious practice that had existed beforehand.

The creation of this powerful institution was made possible by the efforts of a remarkable cadre of bishops who came to the fore at this time. Though usually of humble origin, they were well-educated usually in Rome and Paris, ambitious, capable, fiercely loyal to the Papacy and determined to make the church the central focus of people’s identity. By cooperating with the state, the church effectively influenced or controlled many of the state’s functions, especially education and welfare. To the common people, the bishops became a new aristocracy; the old Gaelic nobility was gone and the Anglo-Irish gentry commanded no loyalty but the bishops were princes sprung from the people; their residences, close to the new imposing cathedrals they had built, were invariably called ‘the bishop’s palace’.

One of these enterprising bishops was Dr William O’Higgins, Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise between 1829 and 1853. Though there is no firm evidence to link him to Higgins of Aghamore, both were part of that large network of Higginses in North Longford / South Leitrim. The following account of his life is based on Drumlish Remembers, compiled and published by Fr. F. Gray in 1969.

“He was one of the most noteworthy prelates who ever ruled the diocese. He was an eminent scholar, a capable administrator and a holy man who exercised no small influence on the people and public affairs of his generation.

William Higgins was born in Barraghbeg, Drumlish on the 1st August, 1794. (Much later, he gaelicised his name, adding the O in honour of his friend Daniel O’Connell who had done the same). He was educated at home by his mother and by a travelling classical teacher. Later he attended a number of hedge schools and one of them it is commonly held was the forerunner of the now St. Mary’s, Moyne.

In 1812 he began his studies for the priesthood at the Picpus Seminary, Paris and in 1815, he assisted in the reopening of the Irish College in Paris, closed since the French Revolution. The years he spent in France were very eventful ones. In his diary we read that after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo he met in Paris “Malachy McGarry and Peter Creegan from Drumlish, Owen O’Reilly from Monaduff and an O’Reilly from the rocks of Bohey.”

In 1817, William O’Higgins was ordained a priest and graduated from the Sorbonne University with an MA. O'Higgins taught at the University of Vienna, before going to Rome. There he earned Maxima cum laude for his Doctorate of Divinity, following the defence of his thesis before the future Pope Gregory XVI. Returning to Ireland in 1826 O'Higgins taught at Maynooth College, where he held the chair of dogmatic theology.

Three years later, he was consecrated Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois. On a number of occasions he was the representative of the Irish bishops on the Continent and in Rome. It was due to his ability and diplomacy that the Burses for the education of Irish students on the Continent and in Maynooth College were retained.

From the beginning it was his determination to provide the diocese with an ecclesiastical Seminary and a Cathedral. On the 19th May, 1840, he laid the foundation stone of the present St. Mel’s Cathedral. By 1846 the walls, pillars and the entire masonry were finished. Only the roof remained to be done, but then the famine came. It was ten years later before the Cathedral was completed but Dr O’Higgins didn’t live to see it finished. On the 3rd January, 1853, he passed to his eternal reward while still a comparatively young man.

Thus passed a great priest, a great patriot and a great Irishman. He was an ardent supporter of Daniel O’Connell and a life-long friend of “the Lion of the West” Archbishop John McHale of Tuam. The principles he lived by and the ideals he fought for lived on. He was a granduncle of Canon John, Fathers Tom and Matt Conefrey and a great-granduncle of Fr. Peter Conefrey. His remains are interred in the vaults of the noble Cathedral he founded.”