He used to be one of the country's best-selling authors. His books were to be found in almost every Irish home, and the mention of his name would evoke an immediate response. But now, in the midst of Ireland's seasonal celebration of literary heritage, where is the summer school celebrating Canon Sheehan?
With most of his works relegated to the lower shelves of second-hand bookshops and a rapidly ageing readership, it would appear his moment has passed. Literary guides no longer mention him, nor do the majority of recently published academic studies of 20th-century Irish authors; when his name crops up in a publication, it is usually only in passing. Even in Doneraile, the Co Cork village where Sheehan served as parish priest for the last 18 years of his life, he is little remembered.
Only 20 years ago, the canon's current neglect would have seemed no more likely than did his original success. Born in Mallow in March 1852, he was always destined to become a Catholic priest and so, despite bouts of ill health, was duly ordained at the age of 23.
The customary peripatetic career of a young curate followed, with spells in England and his native town before he was appointed to Doneraile, in 1895. It was there he wrote almost all of his books, between attending to his pastoral duties and carrying on an increasingly extensive correspondence with friends and admirers around Europe and the United States.
Sheehan's first work of fiction, Geoffrey Austin, Student was published the year he settled in Doneraile, but it made little impression and his literary ambitions might have been doomed had the book not been noticed by the editor of the American Ecclesiastical Review, who encouraged him to write a series for the journal; this eventually, in 1900, became My New Curate, one of Sheehan's most abidingly popular books.
Launched as an author, for the rest of his life he produced a succession of novels and short stories, collections of essays, poems and even a play. The first of these genres proved to be the most popular among Sheehan's readers, thanks to such books as Glenanaar - a historical novel from 1905 based on the Doneraile Conspiracy of 1829 - Lisheen, from 1907, and The Blindness Of Dr Gray, two years later.
But he never enjoyed universal acclaim, with some of his fellow clergymen being among his most vociferous critics. The response to his controversial novel Luke Delmege, published 100 years ago, was hostile. In an era when members of the clergy were held in high regard, not least by themselves, it was felt in some circles that he ought not to reveal their frailties in print.
Upset by the criticism, the extremely sensitive Sheehan almost abandoned writing. Nonetheless, by the time he died, in October 1913, he had become one of the most famous writers in Ireland, his books distributed not only in this country but also in many others.
Mallow and Doneraile competed over which town should have the privilege of erecting a statue to his memory, with the latter being the eventual victor, in 1925. The most tangible reminder of the canon's former high reputation, it still stands in front of the village's church, close to his grave; inside the building are two stained glass windows installed in Sheehan's honour.
And, aside from a small plaque on the wall of the former parochial house - which is being restored by local man Michael O'Sullivan, who owns the adjoining property - there is little else to mark his once dominant presence.
Sheehan left many personal mementoes to the local Presentation convent, but the order closed that house 10 years ago, and when the nuns left Doneraile they took the archive with them. An exhibition held in the village in October 1963, to mark the 50th anniversary of Sheehan's death, saw many items associated with the writer being brought together, but these were later returned to their owners.
It is now 20 years since Doneraile last marked the man who was once the area's most famous resident. In 1971, encouraged by the broadcaster Donncha O'Dulaing, who was born in the village, a group of local people organised the first North Cork Writers Weekend, which, while focusing primarily on Sheehan, also paid attention to the work of Elizabeth Bowen and Edmund Spenser, among others. That event continued each year for a decade, but eventually it petered out. In 1995, the centenary of Sheehan's appointment to Doneraile was marked by a small celebration in the village.
And since then, while the summer-school phenomenon has thrived elsewhere, little or nothing has been done to keep alive the memory of Canon Patrick Augustine Sheehan, even though a number of local residents still take pride in the reputation he once enjoyed. That reputation, in steady decline at least since his books went out of print in the 1970s, is unlikely to recover its former high position, not least due to changing times and tastes.
Novels written by a priest, many of them featuring a clergyman as the hero, hold a narrow appeal today. Sheehan's literary style, somewhat anachronistic even during his lifetime, now looks very dated, and his books suffer from excessive sentimentality and melodrama.
In many respects, he is the Irish equivalent of Mrs Humphry Ward, the late-Victorian English novelist whose work also frequently concentrates on problems of faith and morality, in her case among members of the Anglican community.
In fact, for readers now, Sheehan's unabashed Catholicism is probably his greatest strength, as, unlike the majority of authors from the late 19th and early 20th centuries who are still studied, such as W.B. Yeats or J.M. Synge, it reflects popular faith of the period. Similarly, because the canon's inspiration came from parochial work, his books offer an invaluable insight into now-vanished rural and small-town life.
Is there any chance that a Canon Sheehan revival could yet occur? In Doneraile, the present parish priest, Canon Gerard Casey, is familiar with his predecessor's work and keeps a complete set of Sheehan's books in his house. There are other Sheehan enthusiasts in the area, such as Michael Shine, a local historian, and Nora O'Keeffe, an English teacher. She remembers when extracts from the canon's work were included in the Intermediate Certificate's set texts, but accepts that even in Doneraile there is a danger the writer may yet be totally forgotten.
It now seems, however, that some kind of Sheehan tribute will take place next spring in Doneraile, timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the writer's birth. It may not lead to a full-scale resurgence of interest, or even to the republication of his books. But perhaps it may alert new readers to a forgotten figure in the literary history of Ireland and offer them an opportunity to discover his not inconsiderable merits. Perhaps it will even open up the possibility of Doneraile, like so many other Irish towns and villages at this time of year, hosting its very own summer school.
