Rev. William “Willie” Brennan (1891-1973) Parish Priest of Glenmore

Danny Dowling (1927-2021) interviewed Rev. William “Willie” Brennan (1891-1973) a little over a year before his death. At that time Fr. Brennan was the Glenmore Parish Priest although he was over 80 years of age. Fr. Brennan provided Danny with an outline of his assignments since being ordained and provided a list of his siblings. Fr. Brennan spent over 30 years in Glenmore and continued to reside in the Glenmore Priest’s House until his death on 30 September 1973. Danny at the end of the interview noted that Fr. Willie was a well-liked man, keen gardener and hurling enthusiast.

Brennan Family

Danny recorded that Fr. Brennan was the son of James Brennan (Huggingstown) and his wife, Bridget Fitzpatrick (Kilcreddy, Ballyhale).  Based upon parish records we believe that Fr. Brennan’s mother was Bridget O’Donnell. His parents were married on 26 Februrary 1881 at Piltown. James Brennan was from Kilkeasy and the bride, Bridget O’Donnell was from Barnacole, Co. Kilkenny. The groom’s father was Edmund Brennan (farmer) and the bride’s father was Thomas O’Donnell (farmer).

James and Bridget Brennan farmed at Kilkeasy and had three sons and two daughters.

[1.0] Edmond Brennan (b. 1882) remained on the farm. He survived Fr. Brennan. Danny noted that he was married to ______ Farrell, of Scart, Dungarvan(?), Co. Kilkenny. Edmond and his wife had 5 sons and 2 daughters. Edmond appears to have predeceased Fr. Brennan. However, one of Edmond’s daughters was Anna Culleton née Brennan (c. 1933-2025) of Kilbride, Glenmore.

[2.0] Thomas Brennan (b. 1883) survived Fr. Brennan and was residing in Greystones, Co. Wicklow. He farmed in Flood Hall, Knocktopher. Sometime after his wife died in 1953 he sold out and moved to Dublin. He was married to E. Holden a native of Windgap, Co. Kilkenny. Thomas Brennan, and his wife, had two children [2.1] Earnest Brennan and [2.2] Lulu Brennan.

[3.0] Bridget Brennan (b. 1885) married James Carroll, of Stonyford. Bridget and James had 3 sons and 2 daughters. In 1973 at the time of Fr. Brennan’s death Bridget was living in Laucus, Stoneyford.

[4.0] Margaret Brennan  (b. 1887) married Martin Farrell of Scart and at the time of the interview the couple were living in Jerpoint Hill, Thomastown. The couple had 4 sons and 1 daughter.

[5.0] William Brennan (1891-1973)

Assignments

William Brennan was ordained at St. Kieran’s College, Kilkenny 1917 (his obit has 1919 as his date of ordination).  Below are the nine assignments and the duration of each assignment that Danny recorded in Father Brennan’s 1972 interview. Further information has been gleaned from Fr. Brennan’s obituary as well as contemporary newspaper articles.  

Assignment 1.0 British Mission

Fr. Brennan after ordination served on the British Mission. He first went to North Shields, England, where he spent 2 years.  

Assignment 2.0

Thereafter he was transferred to Jarrow on Tyne, where he gave 5 years.

Assignment 3.0

For his third assignment he was sent to Whitley Bay, U.K. for a period of 6 months.

Assignment 4.0 Back to Ireland

Fr. Brennan was recalled to Ireland from Whitley Bay. He was appointed the temporary C.C.in Inistige for 6 months.

Assignment 5.0

Fr. Brennan was then transferred to Ballycallan, as C.C. for 2 years.

Assignment 6.0

After Ballycallan Fr. Brennan was transferred to St. Mary’s, Kilkenny, as C.C. for 9 years. While at St. Mary’s Fr. Brennan presided at a meeting in June 1933 of the Junior and Minor Hurling Selection Committee held in City Hall Kilkenny (Munster Express, 23 June 1933, p. 8). At the end of May 1934, the Kilkenny All-Ireland Hurling team winners of the 1933 All-Ireland Championship travelled to the United States by ship. “The players were accompanied by Sean Gibbons, Chairman of the Kilkenny Board and Rev. Wm. Brennan, C.C.. (now curate at Glenmore)…”  (Munster Express, Fri. 19 May 1939, p. 6 ).

Assignment 7.0–C.C. of Glenmore

After St. Mary’s he became C.C. of Glenmore, replacing Dr. Michael Gibbon’s who had died. According to Fr. Brennan’s grave marker he served in Glenmore from 1935 to 1946. During this time in 1941 he was elected Chair of the Glenmore Football Club and re-elected in 1942  (Munster Express, Fri. 18 April 1941, p. 3).

Assignment 8.0–C.C. Seir Kieran, Offally

After 9 years as C.C. in Glenmore he was transferred to Seir Kieran, in Offally where he was A.D.M. for 7 years.

During this assignment he conducted a wedding with his cousin. His cousin was also named Rev. William Brennan. This Fr. W. Brennan was the C.C. Murrinstown, Co. Wexford (Munster Express, Fri. 27 Aug. 1948, p. 3.)

Assignment 9.0–Parish Priest of Glenmore

Fr. Brennan was reappointed to Glenmore this time as the Parish Priest in 1953. He remained in this post until shortly before his death in 1973.

In 1953, as Glenmore Parish Priest, he was  appointed to the Kilkenny Old Age Pensions Committee to fill one of the vacancies due to the deaths of Thomas Mullally and John Irish of Glenmore (Munster Express, 11 Dec. 1953, p. 3).

Fr. Brennan also represented Glenmore on a Committee of the Kilkenny Co. Vocational Education, regarding the erection of a new vocational school in this area. Other Glenmore representatives included: T. Cuddihy, Glenmore Creamery Manager; James Kelly, Aylwardstown; Wm. Walsh, Cappagh and Nicholas Mullins, Flemingstown  (Kikenny People, Fri. 18 June 1955, p. 6).

In 1967, Fr. Brennan celebrated his Golden Jubilee. The following year he was elected President of the Glenmore Muintir na Tire (Waterford News & Star, 6 Dec. 1968, p. 2). He is credited with the building of the new National Schools in Ballyfacey and Robinstown in 1958. He is also credited with establishing a Parish Hall in the old National School. He also completed extensive work on St. James Church including having the exterior pebble dashed. The Church was re-dedicated in June 1973.

Fr. Brennan retired shortly before his death. He was replaced by his Curate Rev. Phil Madigan. Fr. Brennan was allowed to stay in the Glenmore Parish Priest House on the Priest Lane, Robinstown. His housekeeper, Hannie Kennedy (c. 1920-1982) of Ballinclare, Glenmore worked for Fr. Brennan from his days as the Curate of Glenmore right up to the time of his death.  See our obituary page for Fr. Brennan’s obituary.

As a mark of respect the National Schools in Robinstown and Ballyfacey were closed. The children formed an honour guard. Fr. Brennnan was laid to rest next to his predecessor Fr. William Grace (c. 1899-1953).

Fr. Brennan’s Estate Sale at the Glenmore Parochial House

A Notice to Creditors was published in the Kilkenny People (19 October 1973, p. 5) for the very Rev. William Brennan, late of Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny, Parish Priest, deceased. It called upon all persons claiming to be creditors or otherwise having any claims against the estate to send detailed particulars in writing to James P. Coughlan and Co. of New Ross.

The next month advertisements were in all the local newspapers (New Ross Standard, Fri.   2 Nov. 1973, p. 19) for the Estate of Fr. Brennan. The Estate sale was held on 5 November 1973.   Fr. Brennan’s black Morris Minor 1000 with license plate LIP 75 had 31,000 miles, and was insured until February 1974. It is believed that Ned Kennedy “the builder” of Kilbride purchased this automobile.

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Fr. Brennan conducted a lot of Glenmore marriages. Do you have a photo of Fr. Brennan that we can add to this post? Did you attend the Estate Sale on 5 November 1973?

Please send any corrections, additional information or photographs to glenmore.history @gmail.com .

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh