author
Thomas Connellan
b. 1854
An Irish priest-turned-polemicist, he wrote fiercely argued religious books after a dramatic break with the Catholic Church. His life moved from County Sligo to Dublin and London, and his writing reflects the sharp controversies of late 19th-century Ireland.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Geevagh, County Sligo, in the mid-1850s, Connellan studied at Athlone Diocesan School and Maynooth College before being ordained a Roman Catholic priest for the diocese of Elphin in 1880. Sources differ on the exact year of his birth and death, but they agree that he was active as a priest, writer, and public religious controversialist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
His life took a striking turn in 1887, when he disappeared from Athlone and was widely believed to have drowned. Instead, he had gone to London, later joining the Church of Ireland. After that break, he became known for evangelical and anti-Catholic writing, edited a paper called The Catholic, and set up a mission in Dublin.
Catalog and reference sources connect him with works including Rev. T. Connellan, to his dearly beloved brethren, the Roman Catholics of the diocese of Elphin, Old Paths, and An Irish Priest to His Late Flock. Even in a small body of surviving records, he stands out as a vivid and controversial figure whose books grew directly out of personal upheaval and religious debate.