author
Canon John O'Rourke
An Irish priest and historian, he is best remembered for a vivid, fiercely argued account of the Great Famine that drew on eyewitness testimony as well as personal memory. His writing brings together pastoral concern, political feeling, and a strong sense of how ordinary people suffered.
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About the author
John O'Rourke (1809–1887) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest, historian, and author associated with the Dublin archdiocese. He entered Maynooth College in 1845 and was ordained in 1849, later serving as a curate in Castledermot, Athy, and Kingstown before becoming parish priest of St Mary's, Maynooth, in 1869. He was made a canon of the Dublin archdiocese in 1879 and was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1866.
His first book was the novel Holly and ivy for the Christmas holidays (1853), published under the pseudonym Anthony Evergreen. He also compiled devotional works, including The Lamp of the Soul, but his lasting reputation rests on The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 (1875). That book is noted for drawing partly on eyewitness evidence and for its sharp criticism of landlords and public policy during the famine years.
What makes O'Rourke especially interesting is the way his life and writing seem to meet at the edge of lived history. Biographical sources suggest he came from a farming background and retained strong memories of popular political feeling in pre-Famine Ireland, which helps explain the force and sympathy in his work. He died in Maynooth on July 17, 1887.