Fordham’s Irish Connections

Fordham University has long held a connection with the Irish of New York City. Founded in 1841 by Archbishop John Hughes, an immigrant from County Tyrone, the University has continued to host and educate members of the Irish and Irish American communities. Below are several facts about the University’s connection to Ireland and the Irish.

• In 1847, at the height of the great famine in Ireland, Fordham, (then St. John’s College) sent Jesuits to care for the thousands of sick and starving Irish emigrants who arrived in Canada. Many of these Jesuits contracted mortal diseases and infections.
  
  
• Highly decorated Civil War General and Irish immigrant James O’Beirne was a graduate of Fordham University.
  
  
• From 1928 to 1932, Belfast-born poet Joseph Campbell brought his School of Irish Studies into the Fordham curriculum.
  
  
• In 1941, Fordham hosted an Irish feis, or festival, that included competitions in step dancing, harp, Irish language, and essay and poetry writing.
  
  
• Ireland’s poet laureate, Seamus Heaney, composed “Verses for a Fordham Commencement,” a poem delivered at the 1981 graduation ceremony.
  
  
• Jamie O’Neill, older brother of Nobel prize winning playwright Eugene O’Neill, attended the preparatory school for three years, writing for the high school newspaper during that time.
  
  
• The University archives maintain the McLees Collection, a series of Irish Language texts donated by the McLeese family.
  
  
• The University Archives also possesses a book signed by William Butler Yeats.
  
  
• Fordham marches every year in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.
  
  
• Academy Award Winner Liam Neeson was the recipient of an honorary degree in 2003.
  
  

Irish and Irish American alumni and faculty are many and illustrious. They include:

• John E. McMahon, an 1852 graduate and first colonel of the 155 New York Volunteers in the U.S. Civil War;
  
  
• Maurice O’Connell, professor emeritus of History at Fordham and a descendent of Daniel O’Connell, the 19th Century Irish Politician who organized the Catholic Association, which played an important role in the passage of the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829;
  
  
• Mary Higgins Clark (FCLC ’79), author of over 40 mystery novels, including Moonlight Becomes You and On the Street Where You Live;
  
  
• Peter Quinn (GSAS ’75), author of Banished Children of Eve;
  
  
• Susan Cahill (GSAS ’95), author of For the Love of Ireland;
  
  
• Thomas Cahill (FCRH ’62), the author of several books, including How the Irish Saved Civilization;
  
  
• Fordham alumnus William J. Flynn (GSAS ’51), chairman of Mutual of America and a prominent figure in the early stages of the current peace process in Northern Ireland;
  
  
• The late former University president James C. Finlay, S.J., also a Fordham alumnus, was one of many Fordham faculty members who was born in Ireland.

History of Irish Studies at Fordham

From its inception, the student body of Fordham included large numbers of students who were themselves Irish-born or of Irish descent.

However, it was not until 1928 that the University specifically pursued Irish studies, with the creation of the School of Irish Studies. Formulation of the School was at the behest of famed Northern Irish poet, Joseph Campbell, who founded the program and ran it until 1932.

Joseph Campbell was born and educated in Belfast where he worked for the Ulster Literary Theatre and as a collector of County Antrim folk songs. An ardent supporter of Irish independence, he supported the Easter Rising of 1916 and actively pursued the promotion of Irish culture at home and abroad.

Although the School of Irish Studies dissipated with Campbell’s departure, the scholarly interest in Irish subjects remained, leading to the creation of the Institute of Irish Studies in 1998.