It has always been a characteristic of Irish society that disparate figures of significance can become intertwined in the most unlikely of circumstances.
One connection that is generally lesser known is the one between the dominant political figure and the dominant religious figure of the century in Ireland, Michael Collins and Frank Duff.
Collins was of course involved in the Easter Rising and later took a pivotal role in the War of Independence. As part of the first Dail, he served as Minister for Finance and also headed up Intelligence for the Irish Republican Army. Collins once credited GK Chesterton's writings with having given him the idea to carry out espionage in the fashion that he did during the War of Independence.
When Collins signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Civil War ensued, with the Free State fighting against those who opposed the agreement with Britain.
As the Free State was being established, Frank Duff was hired by Collins as his personal secretary. Duff had just founded the Legion Of Mary at that time, the lay Catholic group which would go on to be the most influential Irish Catholic movement of the century. It has often been forgotten and maligned in Duff’s home country, with their efforts in places such as North Korea, China, Africa and South America dispelling notions of an insular church and hence requiring being memory holed by anti Catholic historians and media. Duff’s efforts to help Dublin’s women out of prostitution and poverty are also rebukes to those who claim that the church was singularly antagonistic towards women during that period.
Collins, having worked as Finance Minister, would no doubt have been impressed with Duff’s prodigious insight into economic matters, having honed his skills as a civil servant.
When Collins left Dublin for the last time, only to be assassinated in Cork 99 years ago today, it was Frank Duff who saw him off from the city.
It was not the end of Duff’s role in the Free State, he worked in the Department of Finance until he retired in 1934 to work full time with the Legion of Mary. Duff eventually oversaw the group’s international success, growing to millions of members all across the world within decades.
The decision of Collins to sign the Anglo Irish Treaty may have divided many, but the greatness of the man is undeniable. Likewise, Frank Duff may remain underappreciated in his home country, but the influence of the man will become apparent as the Legion of Mary celebrates its centenary in the year ahead.
Both men were of a generation of heroic virtue that must serve as an example for future Irish people, as the country continues to lose its identity and to slip into a non entity that is run not by it’s own people but rather from Silicon Valley, Beijing, London and Brussels.