“Iosagan” by Grade 5
Directed by Sr. Magdalene Marie MICM, this performance by the 5th grade of Immaculate Heart of Mary School is an adaptation of the play “Iosagan” written by Padraic Henry Pearse, Commander-in-chief of the Irish heroes of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. Besides being one of Ireland’s great patriots of independence, Pearse was a school teacher. He started two schools in Ireland, Saint Enda’s for boys and Saint Ita’s for girls, to preserve the Irish language, culture, and Faith as portrayed in Iosagan. With Our Lord in mind, Pearse would say, “If there were just one man pure enough and holy enough, that man could redeem all of Ireland.” He tried to be that man. After an unconditional surrender, he was executed at dawn, five days later by the British, on May 3rd, 1916 at the age of 36. The night before, he wrote to his mother, “…I have just received Holy Communion. I am happy except for the great grief of parting from you. This is the death I should have asked for if God had given me the choice of all deaths—to die a Soldier’s Death for Ireland’s freedom….”