Edmond Kelly
Edmond Kelly
Canon Edmond Kelly was an Irish Catholic priest who served as a military chaplain with the British Army during the First World War. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 for gallantry during the Battle of Passchendaele near Ypres. After the war, he returned to parish work in County Tipperary and served as Parish Priest of Killenaule and Moyglass from 1934 until his death in 1955.
"Before ridding myself of the dust of the battlefield, I must send you an account of the death of your guide, philosopher, and dear friend, Major Willie Redmond. There is something very strange and weirdly fitting about it in all its circumstances—so fitting that if the good God had given him a choice of deaths he would hardly have dared to ask for a death so entirely according to his dearest wishes."
"Fr Michael Kelly. P.P. Cloneen and Killusty in 1805. Native of Moyglass parish, probably Curraghtarsna. Born 1735. C.C. in Killenaule for about six months in 1764. Was P.P. Cloneen and Killusty in 1792, but for how long before that is unknown. Died 16 Oct. 1805, aged 70; buried in the old cemetery of Cloneen. He was great-grand uncle of Canon Edmond Kelly, P.P. Killenaule 1937-55."
"The freedom of the world is at stake... Of course the idea of an arrogant Prussian imposing his will on Europe is simply intolerable. But who is to prevent him? Our soldiers; and never did soldiers fight in a more holier or patriotic cause. Irish soldiers at the present crisis are our truest patriots... Some say that they will shed the last drop of their blood if the Germans dare invade Ireland. When, say, Clonmel is being shelled from outside Dungarvan Bay they will begin to bestir themselves."
