“Blessed Peter O’Higgins OP”, Fr Henry Flanagan OP, 1985, Newbridge College, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
This statue of Blessed Peter O’Higgins OP (1602? -1642) stands outside the Dominican Priory of St Eustace at Newbridge, County Kildare, in Ireland. When Fr Peter O’Higgins was born, Catholicism in Ireland had been outlawed by the English. But he was educated in secret in Ireland and then in Spain and had became a Dominican priest. When Charles I came to the throne there was a limited tolerance of Catholicism and he returned to Dublin. From there he was sent to the town of Naas to re-establish a Dominican house. He managed to establish a ministry in and around Naas. A rebellion broke out in 1641 and with it came the collapse of law and order in Kildare. Fr Peter was proactive helping those in danger from the rebel forces irrespective of their denomination. Notably, when a Church of Ireland minister called William Pilsworth was captured by the rebels, his life was spared only because Fr Peter intervened. The Government forces came to Naas and Fr Peter, who probably could have escaped, was arrested and taken to Dublin. There were about twenty letters sent from Protestant landowners asking that his life be spared. These people testified that they themselves owed their goods and their lives to his agency. It was expected that Fr Peter would soon be released. But in Dublin the justice was only prepared to offer him his freedom on condition that he renounced his Catholic faith. He requested that this be put in writing and handed to him at the gallows. Holding it in his hand he said, “So here is the condition on which I am granted my life. They want me to deny my religion. I spurn their offer. I die a Catholic and a Dominican priest. I forgive from my heart all who have conspired to bring about my death.” A crowd had gathered. Some of them would have wanted to hear a Catholic priest renounce his faith. Having spoken, he threw the document to them. In the crowd was the Reverend William Pilsworth. He shouted out that this man was innocent but he went unheeded. It was early on the morning of 23rd March 1642. It is this moment that the sculptor Fr Henry Flanagan OP (1918 – 1992) shows in his limestone sculpture. Having spoken and accepted his martyrdom, Fr Peter looks heavenward and faces east towards the light of morning. Blessed Peter O’Higgins was part of a Dominican ministry in Kildare which continues today. In 1356 the Norman family FitzEustace founded a Priory in Naas dedicated to St Eustace. The Priory was suppressed in 1590, and although records are sparse, it is known that this house was refounded for short period by Blessed Peter. The presence of Dominicans in the area would continue through the penal times (1690 – 1782). It is known that in 1730 that there was a Dominican house out in the fields on the banks of the River Liffey at Yeomanstown, near the village of Caragh, which is just a few miles from Naas. In 1852, with Catholic Emancipation in place, the Dominicans opened a school at Roseberry, on the outskirts of Newbridge also on the banks of the Liffey, a few miles upstream from the site at Yeomanstown. This school is now known as Newbridge College. I grew up near Yeomanstown and can remember playing in those fields. I attended Newbridge College and was taught art by Fr Henry Flanagan. He was a good teacher and a prolific sculptor of both religious and secular subjects, with over 400 of his works located throughout Ireland. To my mind, this statue is one of his best works. It captures in limestone both the faith and humility of Blessed Peter. Fr Henry Flanagan is sometimes referred to as the “Preacher in Stone” and I think this statue justifies that title. The statue is remarkable too in that it was sculpted by a member of the same Dominican community as Blessed Peter and is now located outside their Priory and Church. On Thursday we celebrate the memory of Blessed Peter along with that of a Dominican Bishop Terence Albert O’Brien who was martyred in 1651. Blessed Terence and Blessed Peter pray for us.
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