15‭ ‬May‭ ‬1847:‭ ‬Death of Daniel O’Connell‭ ‘‬The Liberator‭’ ‬at Genoa while making his way to the Holy City.‭ ‬His heart was taken on to Rome‭ (‬now lost‭) ‬and his body was returned to Dublin for internment in Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery.‭

On May‭ ‬15,‭ ‬1847,‭ ‬Father Miley,‭ ‬O'Connell's companion on his last journey,‭ ‬wrote from Genoa:‭ ‬“The Liberator is not better.‭ ‬He is worse‭ – ‬ill as ill can be.‭ ‬At two o'clock this morning I found it necessary to send for the Viaticum and the holy oil.‭ ‬Though it was the dead of night,‭ ‬the cardinal archbishop‭ (‬he is eighty-eight years old‭)‬,‭ ‬attended by his clerics and several of the faithful,‭ ‬carried the Viaticum with the solemnities customary in Catholic countries,‭ ‬and reposed it in the tabernacle which we had prepared in the chamber of the illustrious sufferer.‭ ‬Though prostrate to the last degree,‭ ‬he was perfectly in possession of his mind whilst receiving the last rites.‭ ‬The adorable name of Jesus,‭ ‬which he had been in the habit of invoking was constantly on his lips with trembling fervour,‭ ‬His thoughts have been entirely absorbed by religion since his illness commenced.‭ ‬For the last forty hours he will not open his lips to speak of anything else.‭ ‬The doctors still say they have hope.‭ ‬I have none.‭ ‬All Genoa is praying for him.‭ ‬I have written to Rome.‭ ‬Be not surprised if I am totally silent as to our own feelings.‭ ‬It is poor Daniel who is to be pitied more than all.‭”
Henry Peel OP

St Martin de Porres Magazine,‭ ‬a publication of the Irish Dominicans.