‘Nobility and courage’ of 1916 Rising volunteers remembered

The “nobility and the courage” of those who had given their lives for Irish freedom was recalled at a memorial Mass to mark the actual centenary of the Easter Rising.

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said the present generation should never forget the ideals expressed in the Proclamation.

Speaking at the State commemoration at Arbour Hill church on Sunday, he invoked the words of Patrick Pearse after the Rising, 'Please God, it will not be in vain".

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 3

A soldier salutes during the State religious ceremony to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising leaders at Arbour Hill Cemetery, Dublin. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

"As Irish men and Irish women we are called still today never to betray the ideals which inspired these who took part in the 1916 Rising or to let those ideals be betrayed or watered down through our cynicism or mediocrity," he said.

“Commemoration is not just celebration and looking back. We celebrate the 1916 Rising by the way we live as individuals and as a society. We commemorate the 1916 Rising, as each new generation springs up, with a promise and a commitment to put in place in differing and changing times those ideals expressed in the Proclamation.

Ideals

President Michael D Higgins, acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny, members of the Cabinet, the Defence Forces and relatives of those involved in the Easter Rising were present at Arbour Hill for Sunday's service.

Dr Martin said the commemorations were not just about looking back but a “promise and a commitment to put in place in differing and changing times those ideals expressed in the Proclamation”.

The Archbishop said it was striking about the leaders of the Rising that they bore no rancour in their last hours.

“We owe it to those leaders never to allow ourselves to resort to revenge and hatred,” he said. “They fought for peace and reconciliation and justice in our country and for all who belong here or who come to our shores.”

Later President Higgins laid a wreath at the memorial wall in Arbour Hill to remember those who died in the Rising.

‘Dripping with blood’

Elsewhere, in official state events, wreaths were laid at Cahill’s Monument in Tralee and the 1916 Commemoration Monument in Limerick city.

In Sligo a civic reception was held for descendants of local families involved in the Rising. Croke Park hosted the Laochra festival of dance, song, poetry and pageantry on the pitch after National League football finals.

Among the heirlooms used in the service was the chalice and the paten used at Joseph Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford’s wedding in Kilmainham seven hours before his execution. The archbishop also marked the role of priests who gave the last rites to the executed rebels.

He said one chaplain graphically recalled how their bodies arrived in Arbour Hill “still warm and dripping with blood” before being “hurriedly buried into an open common grave”.

Meanwhile, in Belfast several hundred dissident republicans marched through deserted streets in the city centre and amid a heavy security presence before shops opened for trading. Scores of loyalist counter demonstrators protested against the parade on Royal Avenue.

Additional reporting: PA