Irish Massachusetts

Congratulations to Catherine "Kate" McEvoy, who has been selected as the 2025 Grand Marshall of the 43rd Annual Worcester St. Patrick's Parade, taking place in downtown Worcester on Sunday, March 16, 2025. The  Worcester County St. Patrick's Parade committee recently held its Grand Marshal Banquet honoring  Kate, along with several others selected to represent the parade this year, including 2025 Parade Mayor  Kieran Hennessy and four Community Award winners Mary (Shea) Stratford, Jerry O'Rourke, Sheila Caggiano and Mary Ellen Murphy.  The banquet took place at Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester. McEvoy is a senior-level executive who is well-known for her success in the areas of fundraising, strategy development, marketing, business planning, and business development, serving most recently as Vice-President for Corporate Relations at UMass Memorial Health Care.  She is also an active volunteer and a leader in community organizations, and...

Christa Corrigan, photo courtesy of NASA Boston native, history teacher and astronaut  Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe  died on January 28, 1986,  when the shuttle Challenger she was on exploded shortly after lift-off.   In 1985, Christa was selected from more than 11,000 applicants as the first teacher to participate in a space mission. The world watched in excitement that day as McAuliffe and her fellow astronauts lifted off at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But that excitement turned to horror and grief as the spacecraft exploded seconds later. Read  NASA's account of the disaster .  Born in Boston, Sharon Christa Corrigan was the eldest of five children of Grace and Edward Corrigan, who lived on Strandville Road in Dorchester, near Columbia Point. Her family moved to Framingham where she grew up and married her high school sweetheart Steve McAuliffe. She began her career teaching high school students in Maryland and then New Hampshire. Since her...

   Photo Courtesy of Ireland.com   W. B. Yeats, Ireland’s influential poet and writer, continues to inspire the world today with his poetry, prose and plays.  His gravesite in County Sligo has become part of a pilgrimage literary tourists make to Ireland each year.   Yeats died at age 73 on January 28, 1939 in Mentone on the French Riviera, where he had gone to regain his health.  The previous summer, Yeats wrote his final poem,   "Under Ben Bulben,"  which gave instruction to his family and followers that he wanted to be buried in County Sligo, a place of inspiration throughout his life. Photo Courtesy of Discover Ireland The final stanza of his poem reads: Under bare Ben Bulben’s head In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid. An ancestor was rector there Long years ago, a church stands near, By the road an ancient cross. No marble, no conventional phrase; On limestone quarried near the spot By his command these words are cut: Cast a cold ...

Photo Courtesy of Brigid of Kildare Saint Brigid,  Ireland's beloved patron saint, is honored each winter in Ireland and in Irish and Catholic communities around the world.  She was  born in Ireland circa 450 A.D., the child of an enslaved woman and a king in the province of Leinster. Her feast day is February 1, which falls halfway between winter solstice and spring equinox and coincides with a Gaelic traditional festival called Imbolc.  On the Christian side, Brigid was venerated as “Mary of the Gael,” a saint for women, shepherds, beggars, refugees and those in childbirth, according to Smithsonian Magazine . “Like many of Ireland’s other Christian feast days, Brigid predates Christianity – her roots lie in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, the feast of the goddess Brigid, celebrated at least five millennia ago. In old Irish, Imbolc means "in the belly", a reference to lambing and the renewal spring promises,” according to the Embassy of Ireland, USA . Here are fou...

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), master short story writer and novelist whose ancestors emigrated from County Cavan in Ireland, will soon have a spot on the Boston Irish Heritage Trail , according to the Boston Irish Tourism Association (BITA), which oversees the historical walking trail.  Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809, the son of David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold, who were actors at the nearby Federal Theatre when Edgar was born. His Scots-Irish Presbyterian great grandparents, John Poe of Dring, County Cavan and Jane McBride of Balleymoney, County Antrim, emigrated with their son David (Edgar’s grandfather) from their farm in Cavan to the American colonies in the 1740s, settling first in Lancaster, Pennsylvania before settling in Baltimore, MD.   The life-size statue of Poe was unveiled in 2014 at Poe Square, located at the corner of Boylston and Charles Street outside the Transportation Building, not far from where Poe as born. The statue was initiated by Paul L...

Congratulations to U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Claire D. Cronin, who completes her service of nearly three years at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin representing the Biden Administration.     Ambassador Cronin will receive a warm welcome home back in Boston on Wednesday, January 22, when the  Irish American Partnership  honors her at its  Women's Leadership Celebration  at the Boston Harbor Hotel.  The event is part of the Partnership's Annual  Nollaig na mBan [Women’s Christmas] gathering. Ambassador Cronin will share her story and reflect on her remarkable career as a diplomat, elected official and attorney.  Proceeds from the event will be donated to the O’Neill School Grants program.  Cronin was nominated by President Joe Biden to be U.S. Ambassador to Ireland on June 23, 2021. After confirmation by the U.S. Senate on December, 2021, she was sworn into office by Attorney William Bonaccorso on January 19 2022.   Ambassador Cronin ...

Acclaimed actress, author, and model Bridget Moynahan is the 2025 recipient of the John F. Kennedy National Award , issued annually by the St. Patrick’s Committee of Holyoke, MA.  The prestigious award is bestowed each year to Americans of Irish descent who have distinguished themselves in their chosen career and who demonstrates the values of family, faith and community exemplified by John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy was the first recipient of the National Award and it was renamed in his honor after his death.  Moynahan is being honored at the JFK Awards Dinner at the Delaney House in Holyoke on Saturday, March 22. The public is invited to join the St. Patrick's Committee of Holyoke at the Reception. Here is ticket information . A native of Longmeadow, Moynahan grew up just 12 miles from Holyoke. She has an illustrious career as a television and movie star, best known for her iconic TV role as Erin Reagan in the long-running hit television series Blue Bloods. She has starr...

Jimmy Carter, Ray Flynn and Michael Quinlin. Photo by Gail Oskin, Courtesy of City of Boston Archives By Michael Quinlin  Over the past few weeks, my fond recollections of meeting Jimmy Carter in Boston for the first time have resurfaced, bringing back memories that I still cherish some three decades later.  On Sunday, January 10, 1993, Carter paid a flying visit to Boston to promote his new book, Turning Point: A Candidate, A State and A Nation Come of Age  at the Boston Public Library. The autobiographic memoir recounts how social and political inequities of the Deep South prompted Carter, a 38 year-old peanut farmer and former Naval officer, to enter politics in 1962 with a vision of righting the wrongs of a segregated society. Image Courtesy of Michael Quinlin When we learned of his upcoming visit, Boston Mayor Ray Flynn's office set up a last-minute meeting to seek Carter’s input on appointing an American envoy to help broker peace in Northern Ireland. The quest fo...

  In Ireland, January 6 has long been celebrated as Nollaig na mBan, or Women’s Christmas, a tradition with both Christian and Celtic roots. On the religious side, it is also called the Feast of the Epiphany, and the 12th day of Christmas, when the tree and decorations are taken down. University of Connecticut Professor Dr. Mary Burke has described Women’s Christmas in James Joyce Quarterly as “a day on which housewives took a break from the season's chores and ate their preferred foods together in what was (or evolved into) a woman-only celebration…. Nollaig na mBan appeared to be a tradition passed on orally from mother to daughter over generations.” In Dublin, the Irish Writers Centre is holding a Women of Magic and Science celebration at Pearse Street library on Monday, January 6, featuring writers Jessica Traynor, Zoé Basha, Marianne Lee, Nuala O’Connor, Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, Anne Tannam and Sophie White. In the US, the Irish American Partnership marks the occasion...

Séamus & Caoimhe  Uí Fhlatharta For visitors who want to experience the music and magic of Ireland in winter, check out TradFest in Dublin from January 22-26, 2025. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, TradFest is Ireland’s largest gathering of traditional and folk music. It features 100 Irish and international musicians and singers, performing at 85 events in dozens of iconic venues across the city, from cathedrals and castles to pubs and concert halls.   It is a feast of music, song and dance honoring Ireland’s storied musical traditions while also pushing their boundaries, as underscored by this year’s theme, ‘Two Decades of Different.’  This year’s line-up includes veteran traditional ensembles such as DeDannan and Scullion and individual legends Ralph McTell, Tom Paxton, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Maura O’Connell.  A tribute to legendary Dubliner banjoist Barney McKenna takes place on January 25-25 at the Abbey Tavern in Howth, featuring some of Irela...