Fr. Maher was born at Donore, Co. Carlow, on 24 May 1793
— the year that Carlow College, the first of the Catholic
seminaries, opened its doors for students, the year also
when the Catholic 40/- freeholders were given the vote. Both
events were afterwards important in his life. His parents
were comfortable farmers and were related to what has been
called the Catholic clerical aristocracy of Kildare &
Leighlin — the Mahers, Morans and the Cullens. His nephew
and close friend, Archbishop Cullen was. Ireland's first
Cardinal and his grand-nephew Archbishop Moran was also a
Cardinal. His immediate relations formed the hard core of
the rising educated Catholic middle-classes who looked after
the numerous new churches and convents that were beginning
to dot the 19th century Irish landscape.
Fr. Maher's
family moved to Kilrush, Co. Kildare just before the 1798
rebellion troubled the countryside, and his brother-in-law
Hugh Cullen of Prospect was charged with sheltering the
rebels but released. Maher received his early education in
the famous Quaker school at Ballitore, Co. Kildare (Edmund
Burke had earlier been to that same school and Paul Cullen
was later to be a pupil there). After this he spent about 8
years in Carlow College before going to Rome in 1817 where
he finished his theological studies with the Vincentians
prior to his ordination there in 1821. From 1822-7 he was a
curate in Carlow, living with JKL, and it was during these
years that he had his first controversies with the
Evangelicals. From 1827-30 he was PP of Leighlinbridge
during the last years of the struggle for Catholic
Emancipation.
He served as PP of the united parishes of Goresbridge and
Paulstown from 1830-33 at the height of the Whiteboy
agrarian activities in this locality, where he was one of
Bishop Doyle's most reliable 'trouble shooters'. The new
parish priest induced many to renounce the secret society
and to hand over their arms to him. These were surrendered
to the authorities in Carlow and Kilkenny. Adopting Bishop
Doyle's advice on vigilantism, Fr. Maher at the head of
parishioners and aided by the police, dispersed the
Whitefeet from Castlecomer who had been perpetrating
outrages in the neighbourhood of Goresbridge. On another
occasion he encouraged his congregation at the last Mass one
Sunday to pursue a body of Whitefeet who had appeared in
arms in Paulstown. The arrested Whitefeet were later handed
over to the police. In faction fighting that was not
unrelated to the Whitefeet and Blackfeet, Fr. Maher once
intervened physically in order to restore the peace by
knocking down several of the combatants.
The power which had for long resided in the landlords was
now slipping to the priests. And some of the more extreme
Tories among the gentry were convinced that it was a mistake
on the part of the government, the magistrates, and police,
ever to make the priest the means of communication with the
Catholic population even on matters of violence because it
gave them a consequence they ought not to have.
A Tory witness told a select committee in 1832: 'Such
persons as Lord Killeen or his father (Lord Fingall) or Lord
Kenmare and such other gentlemen who are always loyal and
well conducted should have been the medium and not the
priests'. But that battle had been fought. Aristocracy,
whether Catholic or Protestant was retreating, unevenly, it
is true, before the advances of democracy, and in the
diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. it was men like Bishop
Doyle and his friend and ally Fr. Maher whose influence
mattered to an increasing extent.
Maher was recalled in 1833 to live with the ailing JKL
and became Administrator of the Cathedral between 1833-37.
He served as Professor of Theology and Sacred Scripture in
Carlow College from 1837-41. It was during the 1830s that he
was involved in the Tithe-war and in all the excitement of
O'Connell's election 'campaigns in Carlow. In these years,
Maher, his friends and relations were all very much involved
in the anti-tithe agitation. Middle class Catholics led by
O'Connell and Doyle objected to the payment of tithes mainly
on religious and liberal grounds. They objected to the
inequity of Catholics having to pay an additional tax for
the upkeep of the 'heretical' but richly endowed established
church which catered for a minority. It was enough to breed
discontent, said O'Connell, to see this immense wealth
poured into the laps of the Church of Ireland having to
contribute one tenth of the produce of their land, including
one potato in ten, for the upkeep of the Church of Ireland.
The objections of the Catholic farmers to tithes were
essentially on agrarian and economic grounds. Tithes were
seen as an extension of rents and as part of the oppressive
land system. Nor did it ease relations between the people
and the established church that some of the clergy in
attempting to get their tithes were seen to act as
tyrannical magistrates and landlords. That some of the
resident clergy were also proselytising evangelicals only
served to arouse further hostility among local Catholics.
The campaign of resistance against tithes was nowhere
carried out with greater resolve than in the diocese of
Kildare and Leighlin where it had JKL's fullest support. Fr.
Maher's brother, Patrick Maher of Kilrush was jailed on four
occasions for persistently refusing to pay tithe. So, too,
was Fr. Andrew Fitzgerald, President of Carlow College,
jailed on similar charges.
The electoral successes which Maher had helped to
spearhead, eventually broke the monopoly of the tory gentry
in the constituency. As Fr. Maher put it after one election
victory in the 1830s "It is now evident that the people
have the power in their hands of choosing their own
representative. The road to a seat in the legislature is
henceforth open to the best friend of the people. It is
closed against all others. The key to the House of Commons
is now in the hands of the people, which key had too long
lain in the breeches pocket of the aristocrats. This is a
mighty advantage. The highest court in the realm shall no
longer be encumbered by a cohort of aristocratic incapables;
or polluted by the presence of borough mongers or placemen or
the nominees of any party. The reform bill has conferred
upon the people the power of sending their friends to
parliament and leaving their conservative neighbours at
home. The difference between an aristocrat and a popular
member of parliament is that the former, is always for
things as they are, the latter seeks a change for the
better. The victory establishes the fact that the people can
send whom they please to parliament, and this has shaken
this vicious system and laid .the foundation of a better
order" of things."
Fr. Maher became PP of Carlow-Graigue in 1841, and apart
from two years in Rome (1844-6) recuperating from a serious
illness, he ministered in Graigue for over three decades,
including the Repeal and Famine years, until his death in
1874. For most of the time that he was PP of Graigue he
lived in Carlow College.
Fr. Maher returned, after his recuperation in Rome, on
the eve of the worst disaster in modern Irish history — The
Great Famine. He felt deeply for the sufferings of the poor
during this calamity and he laboured indefatigably in their
interests. His experience of the Famine was the cause of his
most -bitter condemnation of Government policy in Ireland.
His indignation was equaled only by the burning words of
John Mitchel: "The Almighty indeed had sent the potato
blight, but the English created the Famine."
He condemned Work Houses, whose main object he said was
not to relieve destitution, but which were the pretext and
excuse for refusing relief and
"thereby save property as
best they can from the charge of supporting the hated poor".
The Carlow Work House had been built for 800 but there were
1200 there after the famine. Breakfast and lunch consisted
of 8 oz of maize and 2 oz of rice made into gruel. There was
no dinner. Children got half portion of gruel for breakfast
and bread for lunch.
