May the Road Rise to Stonehill
A Close Look at the College’s Irish Connections.
Stonehill College community members living far and wide were thrilled upon receiving word that one of their own was recently offered a place on the world stage.
In June 2021, President Joe Biden nominated alumna Claire (McLaughlin) Cronin ’82 as the United States Ambassador to Ireland. She was officially sworn in by attorney William Bonaccorso ’82 on January 19, 2022. She later presented her credentials to President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins at a ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin (“House of the President”) in Dublin on February 10, 2022.
Cronin, formerly the majority leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, grew up in nearby Brockton, Massachusetts. Her father was the son of an immigrant from Northern County Donegal. The newly minted ambassador, who majored in political science while attending Stonehill, highlighted her ancestry while appearing before the United States Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee in September 2021.
“When my grandfather left Donegal for the promise that America held, I can’t help but wonder what he would have thought if he knew his granddaughter would one day be testifying before this esteemed committee as the nominee to be the US Ambassador to Ireland,” she said.
Cronin’s appointment represents the latest in a series of connections between the College and Ireland. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we take a look at Stonehill’s Irish heritage.
An tUachtarán (“The President”)
Rev. Bartley MacPháidín, C.S.C. ’59 served as president of Stonehill College from 1978 to 2000.
The MacPháidín Library, built in 1998, was named in honor of the college's eighth president.
Rev. Bartley MacPháidín, C.S.C. ’59, one of the College’s most distinguished leaders, was raised in the Land of Saints and Scholars. Stonehill’s eighth president was born on September 6, 1936, in Donegal. He attended boarding school at Colaiste Einde (St. Enda’s) in Galway before immigrating to the United States.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Stonehill, Fr. MacPháidín was ordained as a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1963. He later returned to Stonehill to teach theology. In 1978, he was named president of the College. He stepped down from the role in 2000 but continued to serve the institution as President Emeritus and Chancellor until 2006. Though Fr. MacPháidín passed away in 2016, his legacy lives on. The College’s MacPháidín Library, built in 1998, was named in honor of the priest and president.
Leabhar Cheanannais (“The Book of Kells”)
A preview of that which awaits readers inside Stonehill's recreation of The Book of Kells.
The library’s namesake is not its only connection to the Emerald Isle. On display in the building is a special fine art edition of The Book of Kells, a work depicting the four gospels of the New Testament through a series of extravagant and complex illustrations. The original manuscript was created in the ninth century by Celtic monks from Scotland, who later brought the book to Kells, a town northeast of Dublin. The Book of Kells is preserved at Trinity College in Dublin.
The recreation on display at Stonehill was gifted to the College on March 12, 1990, by Joseph Malone, the former head of the Irish Tourist Board. A longtime friend of Stonehill, he received an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from the College in 1978. Malone was also the father of three Stonehill alumni (Joseph ‘83, Gina ‘84 and Jennifer ’93).
An Chailís Ardagh (“The Ardagh Chalice”)
The College is in possession of a recreation of the Ardagh Chalice, produced in Dublin by the Edmund Johnson Company in 1933.
In addition to The Book of Kells, Stonehill is home to a recreation of another famous Irish artifact: the Ardagh Chalice.
An enduring symbol of the early Irish Church, the chalice was part of the Ardagh Hoard, a collection of metalwork found in the 19th century by a man digging for potatoes near Ardagh, County Limerick. Some historians believe the hoard was buried during a period in Ireland’s history when Viking raids were prevalent.
Made of spun silver and decorated with gold, silver, glass, amber, enamel and rock crystal ornaments, the chalice was used for dispensing Eucharistic wine during Mass following its discovery. Currently, the original artifact is on display at the National Museum of Ireland, located in Dublin.
Stonehill’s reproduction of the chalice was made in Dublin by the Edmund Johnson Company in 1933. It originally belonged to Genevieve Garvan Brady, wife of William J. Babbington Macauley, the first ambassador from Ireland to the Vatican. The artifact is on long-term loan to the College from the U.S. Catholic Conference in Washington, D.C. It is kept in a display case in Donahue Hall's Irish Studies Library.
I Moladh Mná na hÉireann (“In Praise of Irish Women”)
Stonehill's Irish Studies Library is located in Donahue Hall.
The room that houses Stonehill’s copy of the Ardagh Chalice has almost as much history as the artifact itself. The Irish Studies Library was formally dedicated on May 7, 1982. It once housed a large volume of Irish poetry and literature, as well as busts of Sean O’Casey, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and others. When the space was turned into a conference room in 2001, much of its collection was moved to the MacPháidín Library.
The library was originally known as the Mary Joan Glynn Institute of Irish Studies. Glynn was a Stonehill trustee and vice president of marketing for Bloomingdale’s. During the room’s dedication, the fashion executive was given the “In Praise of Irish Women Award” in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of Irish cultural affairs.