Father Leonard said that from the television portrait it was inferred that Sean MacDiarmada did not go to Mass. If that was so he was not the first man who refused to go to Mass because of a dispute with a priest however illogical that was.
But the fact was that Sean MacDiarmada was a deeply religious man, as was evidenced by his last letter to his brothers and sisters in which he wrote: "By the time this reaches you, I will with God鈥檚 mercy have joined in heaven my father and mother as well as my dear friends who have been shot during the week. I have priests with me almost constantly in the past 24 hours. One dear old friend of mine, Dr Paddy Browne of Maynooth stayed with me up to a very late hour last night. I feel a happiness the like of which I never experienced in my life before and a feeling that I could not describe. God bless and guard you all and my the Lord have mercy on my soul."
Father Leonard recalled that the late Father Albert wrote a wonderful description of the death of Sean Heuston ...
Father Leonard recalled that the late Father Albert wrote a wonderful description of the death of Sean Heuston who was executed on Sunday, May 7, and he read an extract from this account which was published in last issue of the Catholic Standard. Father Albert was of Protestant English stock and he had tremendous interest in all the leaders.
PEOPLE WERE UPSET
A British captain speaking to Father Aloysius said: "Father Aloysius they are the bravest and cleanest lot of men I have ever met." They were, said Father Leonard, brave. They were clean in the eyes of the British captain and they were clean too in the eyes of God.
Thanking Frank Hall for the help he had given, Father Leonard said that people were upset that there was little said about the religious faith of the leaders in the previous week鈥檚 television programmes. "I think we owe it to the young people of this country to put the spiritual aspect of the lines of these men before them as an ideal to follow."
