Supreme Sacrifice: The Story of Eamonn Ceannt, 1881-1916.
Author: HENRY, William.
Cork: Mercier Press, 2005. 160 pages. Illustrated. Paperback.
“‘Keep this in mind Aine my dear love. Tell Ronan I’m dying for Ireland. When he gets sense and wisdom he will understand that much Sweet is death for one’s country. This is the 7th day of May 1916.’
The next day Eamonn Ceannt was executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Jail. Ceannt had become inflamed with the idea of nationalism in 1898, the centenary of the 1798 Rebellion, while at school in the North Richmond Street Christian Brothers School in Dublin.
In 1899 he joined the central branch of the Gaelic League and it was here that he first met Patrick Pearse and Eoin MacNeill. He became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1912 and helped found the Irish Volunteers the following year, holding the post of director of communications for the organisation.
He communicated his passion for a new Ireland in Spark magazine in 1915: ‘The enemy is within our gates … Truly, Irishmen, ye do not sufficiently realise the importance of the war on which we are engaged.’
That same year, together with Pearse and Plunkett, he began putting together plans for a rebellion.”
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