Theobald Mathew

Theobald Mathew died in Queenstown, County Cork, on 8 December 1856, ending the life of the priest who pulled millions of Irish people away from the bottle. He had arrived from the streets and kitchens of Cork to build a movement so large it bent the nation before the famine broke. Queenstown received his death as a harbour receives a ship: suddenly, completely, and with every rope still tied to the place he changed.