Andrew Kerins ( ga, Aindreas Ó Céirín; 18 May 1840 – 17 April 1915), known by his religious name Brother Walfrid, was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Marist Brother and is best remembered for being the founder of Scottish football club

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Life

Walfrid was born of John Kerins and Elizabeth Flynn in

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, approx. 24 km south east of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is located in the north-west of Ireland. Ballymote lies in the barony of Corran. A commuter town with a stro ...

, a village in south

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

in the west of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. His ancestors, the '' Ó Céirín'' (later anglicised as "Kerins"), were anciently

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

lords of '' Ciarraige Locha na nÁirne'', with a long history in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

. He studied teaching and in 1864 joined The Marist Brothers Teaching Order. He moved to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in the 1870s and taught at St. Marys School and the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

School where he was appointed headmaster in 1874. He also helped found

St. Joseph's College, Dumfries St Joseph's College in Dumfries, South West Scotland, is a Roman Catholic secondary school. It began as a Catholic boys' boarding school run by Marist Brothers. History St Joseph's College was founded in 1875 as both a boarding school and th ...

. In 1888, he founded

The Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional association football, football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating po ...

as a means of raising funds for the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

poor and deprived in the East End of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. In 1893, Walfrid was sent by his religious order to

London's East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. Here he continued his work, organising football matches for and showing great kindness to the barefoot Catholic children in the districts of

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

and Bow. The charity established by Walfrid was named ''The Poor Children's Dinner Table''. He died on 17 April 1915, leaving a surviving brother, Bernard, in Cloghboley, County Sligo. Walfrid is buried in the Mount St. Michael Cemetery in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

Commemoration

A commemorative sculpture of Walfrid was erected outside

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

on 5 November 2005. BrotherWalfridCelticPark

The sculpture by Kate Robinson was cast in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

and its pedestal carved from

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. The statue cost £30,000 which was funded entirely by donations organised by the Brother Walfrid Committee, including £5,000 from then chairman of the club, Brian Quinn.MacDonald, Hugh
I’ve travelled half a million miles in my years here... It’s time to go
, ''The Herald'', 29 September 2007. The veil for the unveiling ceremony was made by workshops in fourteen schools and community centres throughout Glasgow. Funded by

Sense Over Sectarianism A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...

, artists worked with young people to create images of footballers and football strips which were digitally printed onto the veil itself. The unveiling was performed by former assistant manager and player Sean Fallon, himself a native of Sligo. The ceremony was attended by the

Archbishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is now part of the ...

, the Most Reverend Mario Conti who blessed the statue, several thousand fans and former Celtic and Rangers captains and managers

Billy McNeil William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager (association football), manager. He had a long association with Celtic F.C., Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club amba ...

and

John Greig John Greig (born 11 September 1942) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a defender. He spent his entire career with Rangers, as a player, manager and director. Greig was voted "The Greatest Ever Ranger" in 1999 by the ...

. New music for the ceremony called ''Walfrid at the Gates of Paradise'' was composed by relative

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

. Archbishop Conti presented club officials with a Celtic cross from the church where Celtic were established, Saint Mary's, Calton the second oldest church in the

Archdiocese of Glasgow The Archdiocese of Glasgow was one of the thirteen (after 1633 fourteen) dioceses of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland, including Clydesdale, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale, Liddesdale, Annanda ...

. After the ceremony, the Celtic Charity Fund presented a cheque of £5,000 for St Mary's, to help the restoration fund for the church and to recognise the important link between club and community. A further sculpture, a bust of Brother Walfrid, commemorating his links with his home town of Ballymote, was unveiled in the public park there in 2005.

References

External links

*
Biography of Brother Walfrid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walfrid, Brother 1840 births 1915 deaths Celtic F.C. 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Clergy from County Sligo Marist Brothers 20th-century Scottish Roman Catholic priests

Life

Commemoration

See also

References

External links