Ireland’s distinguishing mark in history is her love of God and love of country, ‘her unconquerable, her unpurchasable devotion to faith and freedom’.
The conversion of Ireland by St. Patrick and her admission into the Christian republic stand out for all time as the greatest event in Irish history … I believe all the historians unite in testifying that the ancient Church of Ireland was the university of the world.
‘The Philosophy of Irish History’, text of O’Connor Power’s lecture in the Round Room of the Rotundo, 26th April 1880.