A remarkable friendship existed between Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion of Mary, and WT Cosgrave who died 60 years ago on November 16th, 1965.
Many tributes followed Cosgrave’s death, including an impressive one from then taoiseach Seán Lemass. Understandably the tributes focused on his public life. But there were other, less well known strands. Among these was Cosgrave’s support for the lay Catholic organisation founded by Duff in 1921, and which today numbers four million active members worldwide.
Following school in Blackrock College, Duff entered the Civil Service in the Land Commission where he made a significant contribution to the 1923 Land Act before transferring to the Department of Finance. He identified closely with the Civil Service ethos.
In a letter written to Seán Ó Faoláin in August 1944, Duff would write, “My cast of mind is mechanical rather than literary. I was a civil servant.”
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On Saturday July 15th, 1922, in the middle of the Civil War when ministers and officials were living in Government Buildings in Upper Merrion Street, Duff, accompanied by Father Michael Creedon, a priest in Francis Street parish, obtained an interview with WT Cosgrave, then minister for local government and soon to be president. EP McCarron, secretary of the department of local government, was also present and probably facilitated the meeting.
Duff and Fr Creedon were seeking accommodation for homeless women whose alternative was prostitution. The Monto area of Dublin, named after Montgomery Street, since named Foley Street, was such a thriving centre for prostitution and for late-night drinking in shebeens that it merited a mention in the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1903.
Cosgrave recalled how “Frank and Fr Creedon came to the ante-chamber of the cabinet room while a meeting was in progress – asking to see me. It was then he told me of efforts of Fr Creedon and himself on behalf of these friendless girls”.
Cosgrave listened intently and asked them to come back in the morning for his response. On the following morning, Sunday, Duff and Creedon called to Government Buildings where they were given a letter.
The letter, in Cosgrave’s handwriting, informed them that premises at 76 Harcourt Street had been placed at their disposal free of rent and taxes. A previous owner of the house was the builder, Batt O’Connor, a close friend of Michael Collins.
You have won the deep respect of all and you have made Ireland respected everywhere. Personally I could not possibly express the extent of my regard for you and for your work
— Frank Duff
In 1926 at a time of great poverty and dire housing conditions in Dublin, Mr Cosgrave’s government made available to Duff the premises of the North Dublin Union for use as a hostel for homeless men. The Morning Star, as the hostel was named, was officially opened in the presence of a small number of guests, including president Cosgrave, on March 25th, 1927.
In October 1930, the Regina Coeli, a hostel for homeless women and their children, opened beside the Morning Star. Both hostels, which have remained open without interruption since 1927 and 1930 respectively, are served by voluntary workers who are members of the Legion of Mary.
In 1930 when Duff had still failed to obtain a meeting with the Archbishop of Dublin, Archbishop Byrne, regarding recognition for the legion, Duff again approached Cosgrave. On this occasion Cosgrave, recognising difficulties with the archdiocese, arranged a meeting with the papal nuncio, Paschal Robinson, who had arrived in Ireland on January 14th, 1930.
A handwritten letter – undated, but clearly written shortly after Robinson arrived in Ireland – from Paul Banim, the president’s secretary, to Duff, said: “You are to be in room 58 Shelbourne Hotel at 5 o’clock sharp. The President has made the appointment you sought. Ring me.” At the time the Nunciature in the Phoenix Park was undergoing renovations and Robinson was staying in the Shelbourne.
In the year following the Shelbourne meeting, Cosgrave accompanied Duff to the Nunciature on May 7th, 1931, when a proposed Roman trip was discussed. Two weeks later on May 23rd, Duff, accompanied by Monsignor O’Brien from Liverpool, travelled to Rome.
In Rome Duff was received in audience by Pope Pius XI, who said that he wished the legion would spread over the world. Thanks to Cosgrave, Duff was received by the pope many years before he was received by his own archbishop in Dublin.
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Duff never forgot his debt to Cosgrave. When Cosgrave’s government was replaced in 1932, he wrote to Cosgrave, “You have won the deep respect of all and you have made Ireland respected everywhere. Personally I could not possibly express the extent of my regard for you and for your work.”
According to his son Liam Cosgrave, “The last letter that WT wrote was to Frank Duff the actual day he got his final attack 15th November 1965. He died on 16th.”
At the time Duff was in Rome for the Vatican Council. A Requiem Mass was held in Rome, at which the government was represented by then minister for agriculture and fisheries, Charles Haughey.
