Francis Xavier Martin,

OSA Osa or OSA may refer to: Places * Osa Peninsula, a peninsula in Costa Rica * Osa (canton), a canton in the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica * Osa Conservation Area, an administrative area in Costa Rica * Osa, India, a village in Allahabad, ...

(Irish: ''Proinsias Xavier Ó Máirtín''; 2 October 1922 – 13 February 2000) was an Irish cleric, historian and activist.

Life

Francis Xavier Martin was born 2 October 1922 in Ballylongford,

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, Ireland. Francis was the youngest son in a family of five boys and five girls born to Conor and Katherine Fitzmaurice Martin. His father was a physician. All but one of his brothers also became priests: Conor became professor of ethics and politics at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

, and his brother

Malachi Malachi (; ) is the traditional author of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Nevi'im (Prophets) section of the Tanakh. According to the 1897 '' Easton's Bible Dictionary'', it is possible that Malachi is not a proper name, as it simply m ...

was for a while a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

and became a controversial writer.UCD Archives
/ref> Martin was raised in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, and attended the local national school before attending

Holy Faith Secondary School, Clontarf Holy Faith Secondary School, Clontarf is a girls' voluntary second level school in Clontarf on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Founded by the Holy Faith Sisters in 1890, and originally providing both primary (mixed sex) and secondary educati ...

and then went to

Belvedere College Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. History Belvedere owes its origi ...

, in Dublin. In 1941, he became an Augustinian friar. He received a B.A. from

in 1949. He was ordained a priest in 1952. Martin then pursued a doctorate at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, where he was the first Catholic priest admitted since the Reformation.O'Sullivan, Kevin
"F.X. Martin, noted Wood Quay activist, dies"
''The Irish Times'', 14 February 2000. In 1959, after completing his doctoral thesis at Cambridge, he became assistant in history at University College Dublin and in 1961 Professor of Medieval History. In 1963 he was appointed head of the Department of Medieval History.Melia, Paul

''Independent'', 6 February 2010. WoodQuay demonstration

He was chairman of the Friends of Medieval Dublin, 1976–83, and of the Dublin Historic Settlement Group, and was noted as a leading member of a well-publicized struggle, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, to save the historic

Wood Quay Wood Quay () is a riverside area of Dublin that was a site of Viking settlement. It is now the location of the Dublin City Council offices. Location The site is bounded on the north side by Wood Quay on the River Liffey, on the west by ...

archaeological site in Dublin. While Martin could not prevent the construction of a civic office building, in 1978, part of the site was declared a national monument. Martin, a keen horseman, earned from his colleagues the nickname "The Beggar on Horseback", from his evading a fine by citing that he was a mendicant. He was also chairman of the Council of Trustees of the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...

from 1977 to 1981.Emer Purcell
"News: Professor FX Martin's personal papers handed over to the National Library".
/ref> Martin was the author of landmark books on the history of Ireland and of his own Augustinian order. He died at the house of the Augustinians near Rathfarnham, County Dublin, on 13 February 2000, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.News item on the occasion of his death
/ref> According to

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

, Mrs

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

, "The passion with which F.X. strove to save Wood Quay, whether as a litigant, as leader of huge public demonstrations, or as occupier of the site itself, was a passion for a Dublin which understood and treasured its past. He combined this passion with a great sense of fun and love of life." Martin's papers are preserved in the archives of the

and the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thr ...

Select bibliography

*1948: "The writings of Eoin Mac Neill", ''Irish Historical Studies'', No. 21, pp. 44–62. *1950: ''Sanguinea Eremus Martyrum Hiberniae Ord. Eremit S.P. Augustini (1655)'', edition, Archivium Hibernicum, 15, pp. 74–91. *1950: "John Baptist Rosseter, osa: Family background and pre-American years", ''The Past'', # 6, 26–44. *1955: "Archives of the Irish Augustinians in Rome: A summary report", ''Archivium Hibernicum'', #18, 157–63. *1956: ''Irish material in the Augustinian Archives, Rome, 1354–1624'', eds. A. de Meijer and F.X. Martin, Archivium Hibernicum, xix (19), pp. 61–134. *1960: "An Irish Capuchin missionary in politics:

Francis Nugent Francis Nugent (1569–1635 at Charleville, France) was an Irish priest of the Franciscan Capuchin Order. He was the founder of the Irish and the Rhenish Provinces of the Order. Life Lavalin Nugent was born in Walshestown near Mullingar, C ...

negotiates with James I, 1623–4", ''Bulletin of the Irish Committee of Historical Studies'', No. 90, pp. 1–3. *1963: ''The Irish Volunteers 1913–1915: Recollections and Documents'', F.X. Martin (ed.); foreword by Eamon de Valera. Dublin 1963. *1967: ''The Course of Irish History'',

T. W. Moody Theodore William Moody (26 November 1907 – 11 February 1984) was a historian from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Background Early life Moody was born in Belfast, to a poor family who made their living from dressmaking and iron turning and wa ...

and F.X. Martin (eds.), Cork and New York. *1967: ''Giles of Viterbo'', New Catholic Encyclopedia, No. 6, Washington D.C. *1967: ''Gerald of Wales, Norman Reporter in Ireland'', ''Studies'', lviii, pp. 279–92. *1971: "Jean Waldeby .1312-c.1372; Ecrivain, theologien, predicateur in ''Dictionnaire de Spiritualite'', 8. *1973: ''The Scholar Revolutionary: Eoin MacNeill, 1867–1945 and the making of the New Ireland'', F. X. Martin, and

Francis John Byrne Francis John Byrne (1934 – 30 December 2017) was an Irish historian. Born in Shanghai where his father, a Dundalk man, captained a ship on the Yellow River, Byrne was evacuated with his mother to Australia on the outbreak of World War II. ...

, (eds), Irish University Press. *1975: "Obstinate Skerrett, Missionary in Virginia, the West Indies and England, (c.1674–c.1688)", ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', volume 35, 1975 (see John Skerrett (Augustinian). *1976: ''A New History of Ireland: Early Modern Ireland 1534–1691: volume III'', (eds.) *1978: ''No Hero in the House: Diarmaid Mac Murchada and the Coming of the Normans to Ireland'',

O Donnell Lecture O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

, xix, National University of Ireland. *1978: ''Expugnatio Hibernica: The Conquest of Ireland, by Giraldus Cambrensis'', A. B. Scott and F. X. Martin, eds, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. *1979: "The Wood Quay Saga. Part 1: November 1977 – January 1979: Bulldozers and a National Monument", in ''The Belevederian'', Dublin, pp. 215–33. *1981: "Dublin Universität 1312–1981", ''Theologische Realenzyklopädie'', No. 9, Berlin and New York, pp. 202–04. *1982: ''A New History of Ireland'', volume eight, Oxford (editor). *1984: ''A New History of Ireland'', volume nine, Oxford (editor). *1985: ''The Rosseters of

Rathmacknee Castle Rathmacknee Castle is a tower house and National Monument located in County Wexford, Ireland. Location Rathmacknee Castle is located in southeast County Wexford, west of Rosslare. History Rathmacknee Castle is believed to have been built b ...

, Co. Wexford, 1169–1881'', Dublin, Good Counsel Press. *1986: ''A New History of Ireland'', volume four (editor). *1987: ''A New History of Ireland'', volume two (editor). *1988: ''A New History of Ireland'', volume five (editor). *1988: "Murder in a Medieval Monastery" in ''Keimelia: Studies in Medieval Archaeology and History in memory of Tom Delaney''. Galway University Press.

Notes

References

*1988: ''Settlement and Society in Medieval Ireland: Studies presented to F.X. Martin, OSA'', John Bradley, editor. Boethius Press, Kilkenny, 1988. *2006: ''Ireland, England, and the Continent in the Middle Ages and Beyond: Essays in Memory of a Turbulent Friar, F.X. Martin, OSA'', J.R.S. Phillips and Howard Clarke, editors; University College Dublin Press, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, F.X. Augustinian friars 1922 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Irish historians Academics of University College Dublin People from County Kerry Members of the Royal Irish Academy Place of death missing Revisionism (Ireland) People educated at Belvedere College