blackisthelight

Maria Duce

It was only later in his life, and after his correspondence with the far more politically active Father Coughlin had begun, that Fahey became more involved in politics. His motivation may also have been influenced by the death of Father Edward Cahill in 1941. Cahill had led a group called An Ríoghacht that used well-connected members to press for strict Catholic control of the State. One of Fahey’s most prominent legacies was that of the Maria Duce organisation which was founded in 1942 from a reading group led by Fahey. His book ‘The Kingship of Christ and Organised Naturalism’ acted as a handbook for the group and contained multiple sections claiming Jewish designs on the destruction of the Church and social norms. The group was avowedly anti-communist and produced a regular periodical called Fiat which had an estimated circulation of over 10,000. Fahey was the unofficial head of the group which was composed of enthusiastic lay-people such as Tom Agar, who became President of the society. An editorial in Fiat proclaimed Maria Duce to be fighting to save the world from Satanism, Freemasonry and the Jewish Nation.

A significant part of the group’s endeavours involved campaigning against Hollywood films under the banner of the Catholic Cinema and Theatre Patrons Association (CCTPA) which picketed cinemas and organised campaigns to urge censorship of films deemed inappropriate to their sense of morality. It was through Hollywood films that many in the group saw the pernicious influence of Jewish decadence corrupting Irish youth. More broadly, American culture represented a threat to traditional Irish Catholic values, and the impact of glamorous celluloid images being shown in villages and towns across the country was a deep concern to conservative Catholics raging against the modern world. British newspapers and Hollywood movies were seen as twin prongs of a cultural imperialist assault. The world had changed enormously by 1945 but Ireland had largely chosen to avoid taking part in the events, leading to the impression of a country emerging suddenly into harsh sunlight, unsure of what was going on. A December 1951 protest at the Gate Theatre led by Maria Duce secretary Mícheál Ó Tuathail against Orson Welles’ appearance at a production of Tolka Row led to a mob rushing the building, with shouts of ‘Burn it down!’ filling the streets as protestors scuffled with onlookers. Archbishop McQuaid was well aware of the actions, often being informed beforehand and did not disapprove. Fahey viewed the ensuing publicity as a success:

'the success of the night can be gauged by the venom of the counter-attack ... I am amazed that in all the controversy we got so much space'.

McQuaid instigated censorship of theatre productions on his own accord too – a 1957 production of A Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams led to obscenity charges being laid against the producer following McQuaid’s complaints, and productions of plays by James Joyce and Seán O’Casey were also targeted. An appearance by Gregory Peck was also targeted by the CCTPA for a proposed event at the Adelphi Cinema in November 1949. He had been invited by the more liberal Catholic Stage Guild who were then pressured to cancel by CCTPA and Archbishop McQuaid who had been approached by Fahey to intervene. Fahey was passing on information from California State Senator Jack Tenney about supposed Communists in Hollywood worthy of being blacklisted. Tenney headed the California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities , was General Douglas MacArthur’s running mate for the presidency in 1952 and had produced a series of antisemitic books such as Zion’s Fifth Column and Zion’s Trojan.

Another target for Maria Duce was Danny Kaye, scheduled to perform at the Theatre Royal in June 1952. The case against Kaye was again taken up by the CCTPA, demanding the cancellation of his shows due to his 'established connections with several communist-front organisations’, while postcards were distributed which stated ‘Catholic Dublin will keep out this Masonic Jewish Communist’. Despite the organising, no public protests materialised and crowds of punters enjoyed the shows. The activities of CCTPA subsided after this, with Fahey dying in January 1954. Frank Duff, founder of the lay society Legion of Mary, and the Pillar of Fire society for Catholic – Jewish dialogue, recalled Maria Duce members infiltrating Legion of Mary meetings and distributing anti-Jewish literature. Fahey devoted time to corresponding with Church hierarchy and provided them with propaganda to back up his claims of Jewish and communist influence in Hollywood. Fahey’s American connections came into play here – In addition to material provided by Reverand Smith and Senator Tenney, Fahey had a long correspondence with Myron Coureval Fagan, a writer and director who became an influential conspiracy theorist and founder of the Cinema Educational Guild in the post-war years. Fagan and Fahey may have been introduced by antisemite and populist demagogue and founder of the America First Party, Reverand Gerald L.K. Smith. These transatlantic relationships were mutually beneficial, with Fahey receiving the prestige of communication with American insiders in the fight against communism, and Fahey’s impeccable religious and academic credentials lending weight to their paranoid fantasies. The CCTPA regularly distributed material that had originated with the CEG.

Maria Duce was also involved in a campaign to change Article 44 of the constitution, organising a petition to strengthen the definition of the Catholic Church as the official religion of the State. In spite of the outrageously overt antisemitism of the group’s activities, Fahey and other members tried to deny that they hated Jews as such, but instead hated and opposed Jewish Naturalism. Fahey’s writings and campaigns had gained accolades and support from various bishops around the country. However by 1951, with Maria Duce’s increasing public presence, McQuaid grew tired of the lay group’s independent organisation and its focus on “High Finance and International Jewry” and began its effective suppression. Following Fahey’s death in 1954, the Maria Duce society was directed by McQuaid to change their name to Firinne (Truth) and it survived into the 1960s. Probably the most famous member of Maria Duce was Seán South, a Limerick man who died during an IRA raid on an RUC barracks in Co. Fermanagh in 1957. Seán South was born in Limerick in 1928. His family had moved to the city around 1904 and his grandfather had purchased a premises for a grocery shop on Henry Street that had been vacated by a Jewish family, the Goldbergs, who had left following the attacks in 1904 and moved to Cork. Seán’s father took over the running of the grocery shop but died of tuberculosis in 1931 when Seán was three years old. He attended school in Limerick, completing his leaving cert in 1945 at the CBS in Sexton Street. South took a strong interest in the Irish language and scouting, joining the Catholic Boy Scouts aged eleven, and was joined there by the McCourt brothers. As part of the scouting activities, the boys took part in parades for the Redemptorist Fathers Confraternity. South was an enthusiastic Scout member and became Assistant Scoutmaster in 1947, leading Irish language patrols and starting his own magazine Gasóg Óg (Young Scout). Aged seventeen, South joined the Local Defence Force, an army reserve group akin to the FCA, where he received arms training and became an officer, obtaining the rank of First Lieutenant by 1955. Most descriptions of his character indicate a quiet, thoughtful and mild-mannered man.

South was a devout Catholic, attending mass every day. As part of his political endeavours, South was at times involved with Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League, the Legion of Mary and Clann na Poblachta. He co-founded an Irish language and culture organisation called Saighdiuiri na Saoirse in 1949 which published a newsletter called An Dord. The group had strict rules about not speaking English and struggled to attract new members. To encourage younger members, a youth wing called Giollai na Saoirse was started and proved more popular. South was elected as President of the Limerick Presidium of the Legion of Mary, and assisted the Catholic clergy in gathering information on Jehovah’s Witnesses active in Limerick, resulting in a blessing form the local Bishop.(It is unclear what was done with this information or the Jehovah’s Witnesses.) He was a talented artist and edited and illustrated his own magazines An Gath and An Giolla. South became involved in the Maria Duce movement, founding the Limerick branch of the group in 1949. Maria Duce were heavily involved in campaigns against Jewish and Communist influence in cinema that included picketing and leafletting of cinemas. As part of this campaign South wrote a series of letters to the Limerick Leader in 1949. As the country was embroiled in its own Red Scare at the time, these letters found a welcome home in the local newspaper. The letters were mostly anti-Communist in nature, but given the nature of Fahey’s teachings and some of the content of the letters, it might be assumed that South believed Jews were in control of the Communist movements. He complained about the “stream of insidious propaganda which proceeds from Judaeo-Masonic controlled sources, and which warps and corrupts the minds of our youth” and ”Jewish and Masonic executives” for turning cinema into “schools of corruption”. One of the letters included a list of sixty or so Hollywood stars accused of being Communist agents and concluded with the statement that “readers have by now some idea of the powers possessed by Communists in Hollywood…with Jewish and Masonic executives dictating to Communist rank and file.”

South may have been involved in the fascist political group Ailtirí na hAisérighe which was formed in 1942 by Gearóid Ó’Cuinnegáin. No official record of his membership exists but records are not complete and one of his biographers has claimed he was a member. However, as pointed out by RM Douglas, the group’s failure to capitalise on his martyrdom suggests that he was not a full member. Ailtirí na hAisérighe had campaigned strongly in Limerick for the 1945 local elections and their associated groups Craobh na hAiséirighe and Glún na Buaidhe had members in Limerick that South had befriended. South bought literature from Ailtirí na hAisérighe members which included a variety of antisemitic pamphlets stirring hatred against the Jewish community. South distributed the Maria Duce newsletter Fiat around Limerick which consisted of Fahey’s antisemitic writings and anti-communist screeds. Subjects included blaming the Jews for the US entry into the 2nd World War, blaming the Jews for creating Bolshevism, blaming the Jews for using Hollywood to spread evil, and blaming the Jews for all evil that ever existed in the world since the death of Jesus. The Limerick branch of Maria Duce was active during the Article 44 debate, with members writing to the Limerick Leader to try and establish Catholicism as the state religion and remove mention of Judaism and other religions from the constitution which they saw as necessary to prevent the advance of Jewish Naturalism in the country.

Fahey died in January 1954 and Maria Duce went into a steep decline, but South continued to lead the Limerick branch. He also wrote a series of articles for the Gaelic League magazine Rosc between 1954 and 1956 based on Fahey’s economic theories along with Hillaire Belloc and AK Chesterton, two favourite Catholic antisemites of the era. Fahey, like most of the Church, had hated the IRA who he thought were Communists, but South differed and after Fahey’s death he became a volunteer. In April 1954 South resigned from the Army Reserve, the Legion of Mary and all other organisations and joined the IRA. At the time the IRA was undertaking raids on British military bases to gather arms for a new campaign. After undergoing induction he became the Limerick Training Officer and carried out exercises in the Limerick area.

Sinn Fein’s United Irishman paper, continuing the tradition set by its founder Arthur Griffith, was still publishing antisemitic articles around this time, castigating the new state of Israel as pro-Communist and anti-Catholic, and denouncing its recognition as a result of rampant Jewish influence and fear of Jewish economic interests. Given this continued antisemitism following the Holocaust and the very recent history of sections of the IRA supporting Nazi Germany during the war, it is not unlikely that South felt comfortable politically in the organisation as it combined these views within larger Irish nationalist ideals. His career in the IRA was to be short-lived as he died aged twenty-eight a couple of years later.

South was killed alongside Fergal O’Hanlon on New Year’s Day 1957 during an attack on an RUC barracks in Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh as part of the IRA’s Operation Harvest campaign which ran from 1956 to 1962. The unit had engaged in several weeks of raids and manoeuvres in Fermanagh during December and the local RUC were on high alert. A dump truck was taken by the unit and the RUC barracks was attacked with grenades, machine gun and rifle fire with a group of fourteen volunteers. The RUC returned fire, several men were wounded and the attack abandoned. South manned a machine gun which sprayed the barracks from the back of a truck during the attack but was shot and fatally wounded by returning gunfire. The unit escaped over the border to Monaghan but left behind two dead, South and O’Hanlon, a twenty year old volunteer from Monaghan. The operation was led by Seán Garland, later leader of the Official IRA and Workers Party who carried the wounded South away from the damaged truck to a farm building where he and O’Hanlon died. Up to fifty thousand people attended his funeral as Limerick came to a standstill to honour its fallen son. With his death on active service, South joined the ranks of Republican martyrs and was commemorated with a song Seán South from Garryowen which remains a popular rebel song, while O’Hanlon was memorialised in the song The Patriot Game.

REFERENCES

Athans, Mary Christine (1987) A New Perspective on Father Charles E. Coughlin Church History , Jun., 1987, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Jun., 1987), pp. 224-235

Athans, Mary Christine (1991) The Coughlin – Fahey Connection New York: Peter Lang

Bishop, Patrick and Mallie, Eamonn (1987) The Provisional IRA London: Heinemann

Cooney, John (1999) John Charles McQuaid Dublin: O’Brien Press

Curtis, Maurice (2010) A Challenge to Democracy – Militant Catholicism in Modern Ireland Dublin: The History Press

Curtis, Maurice (2019) Control and Constraint – The Catholic Action Movement in Ireland in the Twentieth Century Dublin: The Old Dublin Press

Delaney, Enda (2001) 'Political Catholicism in post-war Ireland: The Revd Denis Fahey and Maria Duce, 1945-54', The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 487-511.

Delaney, Enda (2011) Anti-communism in Mid-Twentieth-Century Ireland The English Historical Review , August 2011, Vol. 126, No. 521 (AUGUST 2011), pp. 878-903

Flynn, Kevin Haddick (2007) Seán South of Garryowen History Ireland, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan. – Feb., 2007), pp. 36-41

Fogerty, Des (2006) Seán South of Garryowen Limerick: AK Ilen

Gannon, Seán (2010) Schools of Corruption – The Contexts for Seán South’s Antisemitism The Old Limerick Journal Winter Edition 2010

Hannigan David (1993) Spiders Under the Stone Fortnight , Feb., 1993, No. 314 (Feb., 1993), pp. 34-35

Hickey, DJ and Doherty JE (2005) A New Dictionary of Irish History from 1800 Dublin: Gill and MacMillan

Kertzer, David I. (2001) The Popes Against the Jews – The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism New York: Vintage