Death of Prof Ronan Fanning felt strongly in Charleville

NEWS of the death of Professor Ronan Fanning (RIP), Professor Emeritus of Modern Irish History at UCD, Dublin last week, was received in Charleville with profound regret, especially by the members of Charleville Heritage Society.

Professor Fanning was co-author, with his great friend Michael Lillis, of the book, ‘ The Lives of Eliza Lynch - Scandal and Courage,’ which tells the story of Eliza Lynch, who was born in Charleville in 1833.

Both men contributed greatly to the remembrance weekend in Charleville in 2014, which was organised by the members of Charleville Heritage Society to commemorate the locally born Eliza Lynch, who is regarded as the National Heroine of Paraguay in South America.

The fact that she was born in Charleville was discovered through the research of Professor Fanning and Michael Lillis, and it was the first time the name of Eliza Lynch was made known to local people.

Professor Fanning contacted Michael McGrath to seek permission to view the baptismal record from the parish priest.

Subsequent sight of the baptismal records was readily granted by the then parish priest, Very Rev. Sean Cotter, and it proved that the authors were indeed right, as the entry in the baptismal record showed that Eliza Lynch was born in Charleville in June 1833 and baptised in Charleville parish church on the 2nd May 1834. She was the daughter of Dr John and Elizabeth Lynch (nee Lloyd).

The life of Eliza Lynch is recorded in their above named book, which was launched in Charleville in 2007 at the Schoolyard Theatre and when Charleville Heritage Society was founded in that year they commemorated Eliza Lynch in their weekend Festival of History. Among the attendees at that weekend in Charleville were the great-grandson of Eliza Lynch, now the Paraguayan Ambassador to the UK and Ireland, His Excellency Miguel Angel Solano Lopez.

The ambassador unveiled a plaque in Eliza Lynch’s honour on the gable wall of the former parish church where his great-grandmother was baptised, after Canon Cotter celebrated a special Mass in the Community Hall.

Sincere sympathy is extended to the family of Professor Fanning and to his best friend, Michael Lillis, on their sad loss.