The Irish Language

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  • People in History



An Claidheamh Soluis

The title banner from An Claidheamh Soluis newspaper, 26 March 1904, Vol. VI, no. 3. Patrick Pearse became its editor in 1903.

© Dublin City Public Libraries.
An Claidheamh Soluis
© Dublin City Public Libraries.

An Claidheamh Soluis

The title banner from An Claidheamh Soluis newspaper, 26 March 1904, Vol. VI, no. 3. Patrick Pearse became its editor in 1903.

© Dublin City Public Libraries.
Enlarge image

The Gaelic League

Patrick Pearse was an active member of the Gaelic League from his teenage years up until his death in 1916.

© Conradh na Gaeilge.
The Gaelic League
© Conradh na Gaeilge.

The Gaelic League

Patrick Pearse was an active member of the Gaelic League from his teenage years up until his death in 1916.

© Conradh na Gaeilge.
Enlarge image

Pearse's intense interest in the Irish language and Irish culture caused him to join the Gaelic League in 1895. In 1903, he became editor of its newpaper, An Claidheamh Soluis. For him, saving the Irish language from extinction was a cultural priority of the utmost importance. Under his editorship, the newspaper became more literary, with Pearse himself contributing poems and stories.

The key to saving the Irish language, he felt, would be a sympathetic education system. To advance this goal and his ideal of an Ireland 'not free merely but Gaelic as well', in 1908 Pearse established St. Enda's School (Scoil Éanna) in Ranelagh in Dublin. Later, the school moved to the Hermitage in Rathfarnham and remained there until its closure in 1935. The building now houses the Pearse Museum, featuring a nature study centre and surrounding parkland.

St. Enda's, Rathfarnham

This is where Pearse set up his school for boys. The building now houses the Pearse Museum and the grounds are a public park.

Copyright South Dublin Libraries
St. Enda's, Rathfarnham
Copyright South Dublin Libraries

St. Enda's, Rathfarnham

This is where Pearse set up his school for boys. The building now houses the Pearse Museum and the grounds are a public park.

Copyright South Dublin Libraries
Enlarge image


St. Enda's was intended as a model for a new Irish education system, with the pupils taught in Irish and a strong emphasis placed on nationalism. Willie Pearse gave up his sculpture and stonemasonry work to help in the running of St. Enda's. From 1913, Willie taught full time at the school to allow his more prominent brother to pursue his political activities.