A delegation from Kilkenny, Ireland, paid a visit to Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul Sept. 8. They wanted to soak in some history that ties the two cities together. 

Archbishop John Ireland, the first archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was born in Kilkenny in 1838. He immigrated with his family to the U.S. when he was 10. He later served as archbishop for 30 years, beginning in 1888 when St. Paul and Minneapolis first became an archdiocese.  

A group of six from his hometown came to the cemetery where he is buried to honor him and the legacy he left in the archdiocese, the state and the country. 

They gathered around the large stone marker along with two priests in the archdiocese: Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, and Father Chris Collins, vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The mayor of Kilkenny, Joe Malone, began a brief, informal ceremony by laying a wreath on Archbishop Ireland’s grave. Father Ubel, who earlier led the delegation on a tour of the Cathedral, offered a short prayer, and Father Collins ended the gathering by leading a decade of the rosary. 

“It’s an honor to be here in this graveyard and lay a wreath on behalf of the people of Kilkenny city and county,” said Malone, who made his first trip to the Twin Cities in 2015. “We as Irish people are very proud” of Archbishop Ireland and his legacy. 

This is the 11th annual trip to Minnesota for people from Kilkenny, all organized by Eoin Hennessy of Kilkenny, who wanted to strengthen the relationship between Kilkenny and its sister city in Minnesota: the town of Kilkenny, which is about 50 miles south of the Twin Cities near Faribault. Kilkenny, Minnesota, was incorporated in 1883, and was founded by an immigrant from Kilkenny, Ireland,: Dennis Doyle. He is buried in Minnesota’s Kilkenny, and the delegation from Ireland has a custom of laying a wreath on his grave each time they visit. 

This year marks the first time the Ireland delegation came to Calvary Cemetery. Hennessy wanted to add something more to this year’s trip, so he proposed the idea of visiting Archbishop Ireland’s grave. He discussed it with his diocesan shepherd, Bishop Niall Coll, who “embraced the whole thing,” Hennessy said. 

After the visit to Calvary Cemetery, the delegation made two more stops in St. Paul, to St. Peter Claver and the University of St. Thomas, both founded by Archbishop Ireland. Their schedule also includes a town festival in Kilkenny, Sept. 9 and Mass Sept. 10 at St. Canice in Kilkenny. The trip happens in September because that marks the halfway point to St. Patrick’s Day (March 17). In turn, a group from Kilkenny, Minnesota, travels to their sister city in Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day there. 

“We’re very, very proud of our connection with Minnesota through Kilkenny,” said Andrew McGuinness, former mayor of Kilkenny, Ireland, who made the trip this year, “and the fact that Archbishop Ireland is one of our own and he has achieved so much here.”