Detroit — Being a Catholic priest in 1560s Ireland meant having a price on your head.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) was founded in 1565 to protect these priests, who frequently had to offer Mass for Irish Catholics in secret or in the fields.

“It was an oppressive time in Ireland, under the British rule,” said James O’Kelly, historian of the Michigan state board of AOH, and a member of the Stephen Walsh Division in Detroit.

Besides protecting Catholic priests, O’Kelly said, the early Hibernians also served as head schoolmasters to teach the Catholic faith and Irish history, which was also outlawed by British governance at the time.

“It was also against the law to speak Gaelic,” added Richard McNichols, Catholic Action representative of the Michigan state board AOH and fellow member of the Stephen Walsh Division.



O’Kelly, of Commerce Township, has been a member of the Hibernians for 55 years; while McNichols, a Walled Lake resident, has been a member for 32 years.

The Hibernians in the United States were organized several centuries later for a slightly different reason, they explained, but still to protect those in vulnerable situations.

As many Irish immigrants arrived in New York City to escape the great 1800s potato famine, they encountered animosity from groups such as the “know-nothings;” individuals who fostered heavy anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiments.

“Many Irish were coming to the U.S. in search of a better life,” O’Kelly said. The Hibernians were organized to provide protection for the Irish immigrants, he said, but also to connect them with people of the same nationality and religion.

The first Hibernians came together at St. James Catholic Church in New York City in 1836, which expanded across the nation in the following years with its motto of “friendship, unity and Christian charity,” O’Kelly said.

The Stephen Walsh Division, which came together in 1919, has 220 members, not counting the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians’ (LAOH) Rose Kennedy Division, with which it works closely.

The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians as a national organization was originally recognized in Omaha, Neb., in 1894 as the “Daughters of Erin,” said Maureen Kelly, president of the Michigan state board LAOH.

“It was felt that the Ancient Order of Hibernians had always had women as a support group,” she explained, though in the early years the men didn’t feel it was necessary to acknowledge the women’s roles as prominently.

“The primary purpose of the (LAOH) was to protect young immigrant Irish girls come to the United States, to assist them in securing employment, to give them the opportunity to be with their own kind,” said Kelly, “and to keep them from becoming homesick and discouraged.”

In 1906, the ladies’ group was renamed to “Ladies Auxiliary to the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America,” and in 1984 the women voted to change it to its current title.

“In 2004 we have been officially incorporated on our own as Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, Inc.,” said Kelly, explaining there are 10 divisions in Michigan and approximately 330 Michigan members.

The preamble of the LAOH constitution states its intent and purpose to promote friendship, unity and Christian charity among its members, as well as assisting the people of Ireland to establish an Irish Republic including the 32 counties of Ireland.

The ladies also help aged, sick, infirm and blind members, as well as promote missions work and Catholic action initiatives. Both the men and women dedicate much of their time to supporting local charities, fundraising and promoting Catholic education.

“Most of us (in the Detroit area) owe our education to the nuns who taught in the Catholic school system,” O’Kelly said. “We decided to make that a priority to help parochial schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit.”

He explained that the past 30 years have seen AOH charity balls for numerous schools across Metro Detroit, with an emphasis on inner-city schools. This year’s charity ball will be held in November for Most Holy Trinity School in Detroit.

Kelly said the ladies, both nationally and in the state of Michigan, participate in numerous activities including Project St. Patrick, which promotes religious and priestly vocations; Right to Life; and FFAI (Freedom for All Ireland). Locally, LAOH divisions have supported the “Souperbowl” to benefit the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, among other fundraisers.

A special annual event of the Michigan LAOH is the Court of St. Brigid Scholarship Program, sponsored by the LAOH Rose Kennedy Division, which is open to 17- to 23-year-old young Catholic women of Irish descent.

“(The AOH) has helped me understand some of the things my grandparents and parents went through that I wasn’t aware of,” McNichols said. “It has given me a real connection to our music, literature and some of the problems that the Irish have fought through.”

Find out more

To find out more about the Michigan state board of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, visit www.michiganaoh.com. For information about the Michigan state board of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, visit www.laohmich.org.

 

Ancient Order of Hibernians

To become a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, one must be a practicing Catholic man of Irish birth or descent at least 16 years old, and who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intentions to become a citizen of the United States.

To become a member of the LAOH, one must be a practicing Roman Catholic woman of Irish birth or descent at least 16 years old; or, the mother of a LAOH member, wife or mother of an AOH member, or the mother of a Junior Hibernian.