Written by: Joseph P. Heenan Sometimes in life, history unexpectedly intersects with the present. Such is the case this year as The Society of The Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick celebrates our 250th Anniversary. The 100th Anniversary meeting on March 17th, 1871, was celebrated with great fanfare having General Ulysses S. Grant, President of the […]
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Old St. Mary’s hosts remembrance of ‘Father of the American Navy’
CatholicPhilly.com Old St. Mary Parish in Philadelphia hosted the annual commemoration of American Catholic patriot Commodore John Barry on Sunday, Sept. 13. Following a Mass celebrated by Old St. Mary’s pastor, Msgr. Paul DiGirolamo, a ceremony took place in the parish cemetery behind the church in Old City Philadelphia. The cemetery holds the remains of […]
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In this recently discovered speech from 1926, Hon. Michael J. Ryan celebrates the important role the Irish played in the founding of America, particularly within Philadelphia’s Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. He even proclaims, “No organization has a better right than [The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick] to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of […]
Read MoreA Look Back in History: 1926 Speech to the Society
A Look Back in History, by Joseph P. Heenan From the records of The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick On the evening of March 1, 1926, the Society of The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick held special exercises at the Academy of Music to celebrate the sesqui-centennial of the Declaration of Independence. Excerpts from address […]
Read MoreA Look Back in History: Brevet Major General St. Clair Augustin Mulholland
Written by Russ W. Wylie, Past President St. Clair Augustin Mulholland, who would become the President of The Hibernian Society (with which The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick amalgamated in 1792) from 1892 to 1894, was born in Lisburn, County Antrim, Ireland and emigrated with his parents as an eleven year old boy to Philadelphia. […]
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