Local history: 85,000 people took the pledge when Fr. Theobald Matthew visited Castlebar
By Alan King
TRADITIONALLY, children are asked ‘to take the pledge’ or abstain from alcohol in the period leading up to their Confirmation.
In the years before the Great Famine, a now largely forgotten Irish priest, Fr. Theobald Matthew (1790-1856), established the Teetotal Abstinence Society in 1838. Their aim was to promote complete abstinence of alcohol from persons who took a pledge.
Fr. Matthew, a native of Tipperary, was ordained a Capuchin priest in 1813 and grew increasingly alarmed at the abuse of alcohol which he witnessed during his ministry. In Cork city, within months of forming the society, he enrolled over 150,000 members.
Through regular meetings, marching bands and rallies, the organisation grew rapidly – in Nenagh 20,000 persons were said to have taken the pledge in one day, 100,000 at Galway in two days and 70,000 in Dublin in five days. At its height, his movement included an estimated three million people.
He received invitations to preach from over the country and in July 1840 accepted one from his former classmate, Fr. Richard Gibbons, P.P., Castlebar, to visit the town. Gibbons came from a very old family who had a grocery/hardware business on Bridge Street (now located at entrance to car park beside Vaughan’s) which finally shut in 1935 after 155 years in business.
Arriving late on a Saturday night, many of the houses were illuminated and two large bonfires blazed in Linenhall Street and on Staball Hill.
He was welcomed by the committee members of the newly formed Castlebar Abstinence Society which included Fr. Gibbons, President, and John Hogan, Secretary, foreman of the Mayo Telegraph (Connaught) newspaper. Other members included John Faulkner, later of the Grove, and Edward Boyle, foreman of Dudgeon’s Soap Factory in Bridge Street (where Elverys Sports is today). Fr. Matthew spent the night at Fr. Gibbon’s house in Ellison Street (across from the now Bank of Ireland).
The next day, he preached in St. Mary’s Parish Chapel (known locally as the ‘Barn Church’) to raise funds for the installation of the new organ. The chapel and surrounding streets were thronged with people, particularly as Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator, an acquaintance of Fr. Matthew, was in the congregation to hear the sermon. Afterwards, in the church yard, he administered the pledge to those present and later moved to the Fairgreen where he repeated this process for hours.
That Sunday evening, the local Temperance Band, dressed in a sky blue uniform with scarlet trimmings, marched in procession through the streets, including that described in the local press as ‘George’s Street’ (now Upper Charles Street) before finishing up at the Mall. A banquet for three hundred people was held in his honour that night in the Court House.
It’s estimated that up to 85,000 persons took the pledge in Castlebar during his two-day visit.
* Alan King is a member of the staff of Mayo County Library