This impressive memorial in limestone is situated in
the front section of the cemetery. There
is no visible sign of the stone mason’s name. The main inscription reads:
Of your charity pray for the repose of the soul of Mrs
Catherine Condon alias Whelan who died on the 14th of January 1865
aged 67 years. And of her son John Condon who died on the 21 of November 1866
aged 40 years.
Beneath this are later inscriptions which include:
Michael F. Keane B.E. Local Government Inspector who died on 9 November 1950
and Margaret Condon who died on 7 April 1904. Her son Rev. John Condon O.S.A. died 18 Dec.
1941 (Interred in Glasnevin). On another
panel members of the Clancy family are recorded.
The Rev. John Condon was born in Dungarvan in 1867 and
was an only child. He studied in the
Augustinian seminary and completed his secondary education at Castleknock
College. There he became a close friend
of D.P. Moran, founder and editor of The Leader. Condon’s obituary noted that: ‘They were
kindred spirits forthright and uncompromising in their condemnation of that
national apathy and ‘Shoneenism’ which characterised the Ireland of their early
days. Father Condon…became a frequent
and valued contributor to his papers’.
He was ordained in Rome in 1889. He spent brief periods in New Ross, Cork and
London but spent most of his life in Dublin. He went to America and Canada to raise funds
for St John’s Lane. He was a chaplain in
the North Sea during WWI.
He was acquainted with fellow Dungarvan native, the
artist, Michael Augustine Power O’Malley. In 1915 Father Condon published a book of
short stories titled: The Crackling of Thorns which was illustrated with
six drawings by Power O’Malley. It was
published by M. H. Gill, Dublin and sold for 3 shillings and 6 pence. The book was reviewed in a number of Irish
publications. The Irish Monthly
(July 1915, p.469):
‘We have in Father Condon still another Irish priest
who has a real gift for storytelling. The
ten stories and sketches…are distinctly above the ordinary run of such
collections. The scenes are placed in
America, Rome, and Ireland, here Dungarvan and its neighbourhood are especially
favoured. The six illustrations by M
Power O’Malley are a genuine addition to the book which is well turned out
except for its too plain and unattractive cover’.
It was also reviewed in the Irish Volunteer (29
May 1915):
‘Father Condon draws from life and writes about what
he has seen and felt. Some of his sketches
reveal the petty hideousness which a phase of American life has to offer…and he
tells of the loneliness, poverty, and false pride of many exiles’.
Father Condon died at the hospice at Harold’s Cross, Dublin, on 18 December 1941 and was buried in Glasnevin. A report on the funeral noted that the chief mourners were D. Greaney (cousin) and Mrs D. Greaney
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| Rev. John Condon |
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| "The Crackling of Thorns" by Rev. John Condon |
