Today, accompanied by my Pretani Associates colleague Helen Brooker, and on the invitation of the Board of the Glasnevin Trust, I was present at the official opening of the newly reinstated staircase of the O’Connell Tower in Glasnevin, Dublin. This was performed by Paschal Donohue, TD, Minister for Finance &Public Expenditure and Reform. I was delighted to meet my old friends and colleagues Sir Jeffrey and Kingsley Donaldson, Bertie Ahern, John Green and George McCullough of the Glasnevin Trust and Eugene Keane of the Office of Public Works. The  55-metre round tower was built in the 1850s to commemorate the life of Daniel O’Connell and has reopened – 47 years after being damaged in a bomb blast by Loyalists in 1971, in retaliation for the 1966 IRA bombing of Nelson’s Column.

Known as the Liberator, O’Connell founded Glasnevin cemetery in 1832 and was laid to rest there after his death in 1847 as he travelled to Rome on a pilgrimage. O’Connell’s remains were later exhumed and interred in a crypt at the base of the memorial tower built in his honour, which I first visited with my friends Dr Ian and Eileen Paisley on the invitation of Bertie Ahern.

The granite tower was a popular visitor attraction for more than century but was forced to close  when it was badly damaged by the gelignite bomb.The blast shot up through the tower, destroying its staircase and blowing out the windows. A large crack caused by the bombing is still visible on the structure. There was only one casualty, a pigeon who was nesting there.

The crypt was refurbished a decade ago and in 2016 the Glasnevin Trust, in partnership with the Office of Public Works (OPW), began work to restore the tower and install a new 198-step staircase.Visitors can now climb to the top and access a 360-degree panorama affording views across Dublin, Meath, Wicklow and the Irish Sea.

The reopening of the O’Connell Tower was marked by the laying of a time capsule at the base by students from the O’Connell School in Glasnevin.When the foundation stones of the tower were laid in 1854 a lead time capsule containing medals, documents and objects relating to O’Connell’s life was placed within it.

Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, attended the reopening ceremony. “In recent years, Glasnevin Cemetery has become a unique and unmissable Dublin attraction,” he said. “Developing from a traditional cemetery, and the resting place of more than one million people, to the home of the wonderful museum and visitor centre and an exceptionally engaging and entertaining tour, it draws tens of thousands of visitors every year. The restoration of the iconic O’Connell Tower, with a newly installed staircase that promises unparalleled views, adds yet another string to the already fulsome Glasnevin Cemetery bow. It is a privilege to be here today, alongside the students from the local school that takes O’Connell’s name, to see the results of the extraordinary work undertaken by the OPW and the Glasnevin Trust. It is testament to the man we refer to as the Liberator and one of the seminal figures in Irish political life.”

Chairman of the Glasnevin Trust, John Green, said: “The reinstatement of the stairs in the O’Connell tower will allow us to experience the full magnificence of this mausoleum. Of course, we remember O’Connell through the bridges, streets, and squares named after him, but as we approach the centenary of the founding of our state we must remember how important O’Connell is in our nationhood. “O’Connell lit a beacon for the peaceful parliamentary political process, a beacon carried on by (Isaac) Butt, (Charles Stewart) Parnell, (John) Redmond and, perhaps more significantly, every Taoiseach since the end of the civil war. Hopefully the exhibition inside the tower will not only enhance the climb but also help to reinstate Daniel O’Connell to his rightful position in the pantheon of Irish leaders.”

Today Pretani Associates attended the Easter At Home held at the Bannside Library at the invitation of Rhonda, and Eileen, Baroness Paisley and her family. I accompanied Dr Paisley and Eileen many times to Glasgow during his illness to buy books, which he loved. As the greatest Unionist politician since Edward Carson, he had many interests and was extremely widely read.

Holy Saturday,or Holy Sabbath (Sabbatum Sanctum in Latin) or Great Sabbath….This is the day when the body of Our Lord Jesus lay in the tomb, while, according to the Apostle’s Creed his spirit entered the Dark Realms, called Hell in the Old English usage. Here he liberated the souls of the righteous since the beginning of the world of conscience and left the souls of the damned. In medieval times this was called the “Harrowing of Hell”…Some therefore call it Black Saturday and others Joyous Saturday in celebration of Our Lord’s victory over the Dark Realms.

“Gàidhlig agus “Gaeilge” (“Scottish Gaelic” and “Irish”)! What could be meant by “Gàidhlig  agus Gaeilge”? These are merely two forms of the same word used in different regions – Scotland and much of Ireland respectively – to mean the same thing, the Gaelic language – all of it. So what is the purpose of contrasting them?. Some people are using them to mean “Scottish Gaelic” and “Irish” respectively, but that is the English-Speakers way of thinking about it. That’s not the way the native Gaelic-Speakers think. To them, it is all the one thing – “the Gaelic”.

If they are from Scotland, they call their  language “Gàidhlig”, and they call the Irish part of it “Gàidhlig Éirinneach”. If they are from Ulster, they call their language “Gaedhlig”, and “Scottish Gaelic” is “Gaedhlig na hAlban”. If they are from Munster, they call it “Gaolainn”. If they are from Connacht, or from Official Caighdeán-land, they call it  “Gaeilge”.

But to someone thinking primarily in English, the usual concepts are “Scottish Gaelic” and “Irish”, regarded wrongly as different languages, The proper term “Gaelic” is still available to signify their commonality, but, for nationalistic political reasons is being less used in English and has become of secondary rank. But in Gaelic itself, the commonality is the primary concept, and it is called by one of the regional forms given above for the term “Gaelic”, while the names of the different varieties (“Gàidhlig Éirinneach, Gaeilge na hAlban, Gàidhlig Uladh and Gaeilge na Mumhan) are secondary.

To hear someone thinking in English while speaking Gaelic, and copying the primary distinction of English by contrasting “Gàidhlig” and “Gaeilge”,  native Gaelic-speaking persons, such as my relatives in Islay, wouldn’t understand it – the idea that they are different languages is foreign, (or at least not primary ) to them. And when they catch on to what is intended, the usage is  annoying.

It is great when Gaelic -speaking people from Ireland and Scotland get together. But how often do we hear people at these events talking about “Gàidhlig agus “Gaeilge”?. They are supposed to be bringing these two groups together, and they start off by creating a psychological division between the two, which never existed in Gaelic, only in English. The contrast they are trying to express is actually a political one, not between forms of speech, but between “Eirinn agus Alba”, Ireland and Scotland and that is totally wrong.

The six most recognized members of the German resistance group  were arrested by the Gestapo, tried for treason and beheaded in 1943. The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled by the jurist Helmuth James Graf von Moltke out of Germany through Scandinavia to the United Kingdom, and in July 1943, copies of it were dropped over Germany by Allied planes, retitled “The Manifesto of the Students of Munich”.

Another member, Hans Conrad Leipelt, who helped distribute Leaflet 6 in Hamburg, was executed in January 1945 for his participation. Today the members of the White Rose are honoured in Germany amongst its greatest heroes, since they opposed the Third Reich in the face of almost certain death.

White Rose survivor Jürgen Wittenstein described what it was like to live in Hitler’s Germany: “The government – or rather, the party – controlled everything: the news media, arms, police, the armed forces, the judiciary system, communications, travel, all levels of education from kindergarten to universities, all cultural and religious institutions. Political indoctrination started at a very early age, and continued by means of the Hitler Youth with the ultimate goal of complete mind control. Children were exhorted in school to denounce even their own parents for derogatory remarks about Hitler or Nazi ideology.”

The British Red Poppy, the German White Rose, the French Blue Cornflower….Stand by the Red, White and Blue…Eternal symbols of Resistance to the Nazis, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

On Friday 29th October, 2010 Royal Irish Regiment soldier Ranger Andy Allen, now MLA for my constituency of East Belfast, helped launch the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal in Northern Ireland. This was the second year running Ranger Allen had been the public face of the Ulster Poppy Appeal and we are proud of him, his comrades and their families.

Poppies of several varieties have been known to medicine since the dawn of human civilisation. The ancient Egyptians used extracts to calm anxious children. The Assyrians, Greeks and Romans said they were sent by the Gods to relieve pain and suffering. And so they still do. The Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) was native to Anatolia (modern Turkey), but has since spread throughout Asia. The capsule of this White Poppy secretes a milky fluid from which morphine, heroin, codeine and papaverine are all derived. This poppy was known as the Flower of Forgetfulness to the Ancients. Legend has it that the great Mogul Warrior Genghis Khan caused the White Poppy to turn Red by the slaughter of his enemies on the Battlefield.

But the Red Poppy of Remembrance, which we wear on 11th November every year, has a different origin. This is the Corn Poppy or Flanders Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), the extract of which has only a mild sedative effect. Before he himself succumbed to pneumonia and meningitis the Canadian Doctor Lt Col John McCrea wrote about the Corn Poppy in his famous poem In Flanders Fields at a dressing station north of Ypres on Essex Farm in 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow .
In Flanders fields.

This was the red poppy used by the widows of French ex-servicemen to raise money by those incapacitated by the War and through them has become the symbol of sacrifice and remembrance of the British Legion, the Canadian Legion and the Anzacs. Because of the efforts of Moina Mitchell, it has also become a symbol in the United States of America for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. Thus while the White Poppy remains the Ancient Flower of Forgetfulness, the Red Poppy reminds us that we must never forget those who have given their health, happiness and lives for our freedom.

Ed: Blog Links

Remembrance 1, Sunday, November 11. 2007

Remembrance 2, Sunday, November 11. 2007

On Sunday May 23, 1971 I attended Pastor Henry A, Krommes’ Mohican Church of the Brethren, near Wooster, Ohio with my brother-in-law Earl’s parents Maw and Paw Beegle, Paul, Faye and the rest of the family. They are the loveliest people I have ever met and looked after me during my many sojourns in America. Historically the family belong to the Dunkers, members of a pious religious group also known as the German Baptist Brethren.  They are referred to as Dunkers due to their tradition of fully immersing, or dunking,  those being baptized, as in our Old Gospel Hall in Conlig., now a Community Hall.  They share a traditional rural life style with other Anabaptist groups, such as the Mennonites and the Amish (Pennsylvania Dutch), but their beliefs distinguish them from these other more well known sects. The Brethren love feast is a conscious imitation of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. It begins with foot washing symbolizing humility and service. They then share a meal, symbolizing fellowship. Finally, they share the bread and cup communion (using unfermented red grape juice), symbolizing participation in Christ’s suffering and death. They practice the Holy Kiss or kiss of peace, a traditional Christian greeting dating to early Christianity.

The Dunkers began as a small pacifist community which emerged from German Reformed and Lutheran Churches in 1708 in West Central Germany, with origins in the Schwarzenau Brethren (German: Schwarzenauer Neutäufer ‘Schwarzenau New Baptists’) organized by Alexander Mack of Schwarzenau, Germany. The other two pacifist Churches are the Amish and the Quakers.The Brethren movement began as a melding of Radical Pietist and Anabaptist ideas during the Protestant Reformation we celebrate today. During a 10 year period from 1719 to 1729, all of the Dunkers fled Germany to avoid religious intolerance.  They crossed the Atlantic and settled in the farmlands of eastern Pennsylvania, where they prospered.  By the early 1880’s the sect had grown from the original 50 families to 58,000 people.  In 1882, the Dunkers officially split between progressive  and conservative (Old Order) members.  The conservatives rejected modern farm machinery and other late 19th century inventions.  Likewise, they wanted to maintain their older customs, style of dress, and forms of worship.

The original  language of the Dunkers was Pennsylvania German (Deitsch, Pennsylvania Deitsch, Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch, Hinterwäldler Deutsch, usually called Pennsylvania Dutch) now spoken mainly by the Amish and Old Order in the United States and Canada, closely related to the Palatine varieties of the Geman language. There are possibly more than 300,000 native speakers in North America.  Although for many, the term ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ is often taken to refer to the Amish and Old Order  groups exclusively, the term should not imply a connection to any particular religious group. In this context, the word “Dutch” does not refer to the Dutch people or their descendants. Instead it is probably left over from an archaic sense of the English word “Dutch”; compare German Deutsch (‘German’), Dutch Duits (‘German’), Diets (‘Dutch’), which once referred to any people speaking a non-peripheral continental West Germanic  language on the European mainland. Alternatively, some sources give the origin of “Dutch” in this case as a corruption or a “folk-rendering” of the Pennsylvania German endonym “Deitsch”. As their settlements abutted that of the Scotch-Irish, Pennsylvania Dutch also has words of Ulster origin,

Lord’s Prayer..

Pennsylvania Dutch

Unsah Faddah im Himmel,
dei nohma loss heilich sei,
Dei Reich loss kumma.
Dei villa loss gedu sei,
uf di eaht vi im Himmel.
Unsah tayklich broht gebb uns heit,
Un fagebb unsah shulda,
vi miah dee fagevva vo uns shuldich sinn.
Un fiah uns naett in di fasuchung,
avvah hald uns fu’m eevila.
Fa dei is es Reich, di graft,
un di hallichkeit in ayvichkeit. Amen.

Modern German

Unser Vadder im Himmel,
dei Naame loss heilich sei,
Dei Reich loss komme.
Dei Wille loss gedu sei,
uff die Erd wie im Himmel.
Unser deeglich Brot gebb uns heit,
Un vergebb unser Schulde,
wie mir die vergewwe wu uns schuldich sinn.
Un fiehr uns net in die Versuchung,
awwer hald uns vum ewile.
Fer dei is es Reich, die Graft,
un die Hallichkeit in Ewichkeit. Amen.

English

Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses;
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power
and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

The fool says in his or her heart that there is no God. Yet they cannot explain the singularity of the universe or the reality of time. They say that they know, or have been told, how and when the universe was formed, but they cannot explain why. They use the benefits of quantum mechanics in their everyday lives in their mobile phones and i pads but they do not understand the reasons for it, no not one of them, explaining it in incomprehensible gobbledygook. They say that light exhibits the properties of both waves and particles. They say this with a straight face as if they had knowledge of what they are talking about . They have a sense of convolution which can be defined for functions on the set of integers. Generalisations of convolution have applications in the field of numerical analysis and numerical linear algebra, and in the design and implementation of finite impulse response filters in signal processing. But they have no sense of the convolution of convolution or Convovulation as an integral part of the formation of matter.

November 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication in 1964 of the discovery of the famous Belfast scientist, John Stewart Bell that any hidden variables theory whose predictions agree with those of Quantum Mechanics must be non-local. Known as Bell’s Inequality, it derives limits on the degree of correlation of the quantum spins of entangled pairs of particles which have to be satisfied by any local hidden variables theory. Bell then demonstrated conclusively in the Review of Modern Physics at the end of 1964 that von Neumann’s proof ruling out hidden variables theories, published in 1932 in his book The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics is flawed. However rigorous testings over the following years have shown that Bell’s Inequality is violated. Nevertheless we do not yet have a quantum theory of Gravity although I have formulated my own theory of Convovulation , which is a theory beyond the quantum.

Patricia M Byrne writes for the Royal Irish Academy:

John Stewart Bell (1928-90), physicist, was born 28 July 1928 in Belfast, second child among one daughter and three sons of John Bell and Annie Bell (née Brownlee) of Tate’s Avenue, Belfast. Both families were of Scottish protestant extraction. Although his father had left school at 12, his mother saw education as a route to a fulfilling life and encouraged her children. However, means were limited and only John was able to stay at school over 14 years of age. He was educated at Old Ulsterville elementary school and Fane St. secondary school before attending the Belfast Technical College, where an academic curriculum, combined with practical courses, provided a sound basis for his future interests in practical and fundamental aspects of science. His interest in books and science from an early age earned him the nickname “the prof.” at home. At the age of 16 (1944) he began working as a junior laboratory assistant in the physics department of QUB under its professors Karl Emelaus and Robert Sloane. Recognising his ability, they encouraged him to attend first-year lectures. The following year, with money saved from his job and some extra support, he enrolled for a degree course. A scholarship was later awarded and he graduated with a first-class degree in experimental physics (1948), staying on to achieve a second degree in mathematical physics (1949). He was particularly interested in quantum mechanics, and encouraged by the crystallographer Paul Peter Ewald (qv), who taught him in his last year at QUB, he applied for a position at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, near Oxford (1949). There he worked under Klaus Fuchs (later arrested for espionage, 1950) on reactor physics before moving to Malvern to work on accelerator design. Here he met Mary Ross, a member of the design group, and they began a collaboration that lasted his lifetime, marrying in 1954.

In 1951 he was given leave of absence to work with Rudolf Peirls in the department of mathematical physics at Birmingham University, where he developed his version of the CPT theorem of quantum field theory (Time reversal in field theory, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. (1955), A 231, 479-495) for which, with some additional work, he later gained his Ph.D. (1956). Unfortunately, the same theorem was published simultaneously by the renowned physicists Gerhard Lauders and Wolfgang Paulii, who received all the credit. Bell returned (1954) to Harwell to a newly set-up group to study elementary particle physics. Unhappy with the gradually more applied nature of the group’s work, he and Mary moved (1960) to the Centre for European Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, where they could both continue pursuing their research interests; she on accelerator design and he on high energy physics, accelerator physics, and what he called his “hobby”, quantum measurement theory.

He published around eighty papers in high-energy physics and quantum field theory. In 1964 he published his greatest contribution to quantum theory, “On the Einstein Podolsky’ community. The theory was experimentally tested and came to be known as ËœBell’s inequality” or “Bell’s theorem”, a proof of quantum theory that reopened to experiment the fundamental basis of physics. Henry Stapp of the Lawrence National Berkeley Laboratory, California, called his result Ëœthe most profound discovery of science” (H. Stapp, “Are superluminal connections necessary?”, Nuova Cimento (1977), xl B, 191-205). Another of Bell’s papers discredited an earlier Ëœproof” by von Neumann of the impossibility of adding hidden variables to the theory of quantum mechanics.

Bell’s pioneering work had an enormous influence on subsequent developments in quantum theory, quantum experiments, and quantum technology. A collection of his own views on quantum philosophy was published in Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics (1987) and presented with humorous illustrations. A list of his publications is found in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (1999).

He received many honours in his life, mostly at the latter end of his career; FRS (1972), Reality Foundation Prize (1982), honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1987), the Dirac medal of the Institute of Physics (1988), honorary D.Sc. from QUB (1988) and TCD (1988), the Heinman prize of the American Physical Society, and the Hughes medal of the Royal Society (1989).

Unassuming and modest about his own work, he is remembered for his intellectual precision, integrity, and generosity, as well as a keen Ulster sense of humour. An incisive critic, he could be irritated by those less rigorous in their views of quantum physics than himself. He was a frequent visitor to Belfast, where his family remained. His younger brother David, after studying at night, qualified as an electrical engineer and became a professor at Lambton College, Canada, where he wrote several textbooks.

John Bell died of a stroke at his home 1 October 1990 in Geneva, aged 62. The proceedings of a conference to commemorate his life’s work were published in Quantum [Un]speakables from Bell to quantum information (2002). The Institute of Physics, who had described him as one of the top ten physicists of the twentieth century, mounted a plaque commemorating his pioneering work and contribution to science on the old physics building of QUB (2002). According to Andrew Whitaker (1998), biographer of Bell, his work has changed our perception of physical reality and the nature of the universe”.

Biographical encyclopaedia of scientists (1992); Andrew Whitaker,“John Bell and the most profound discovery of science”, Physics World, xi, no. 12 (1998), 29-34; P. G. Burke and I. C. Percival, “John Stewart Bell”, Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Royal Society, xlv (1999), 45, 3-17; John Bradbury, Celebrated citizens of Belfast (2002), 10-11; Charles Mollan and Brendan Finucane, Irish innovators in science and technology (2002); QUB communications office media release, 7 May 2002; Andrew Whitaker, “John Stewart Bell 1928-1990″, Physicists of Ireland (2003) 273-81; www.history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Bell_John.html (accessed 5 Feb. 2003).

Aramaic is a language or group of languages belonging to Northwest Semitic, which also includes the Caananite languages such as Hebrew and Phœnician. The Aramaic alphabet was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to the Hebrew, Syriac and Arab alphabets.

During its approximately 3100 years of written history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship, religious study and as the spoken tongue of a number of Semitic peoples from the Near East.

It is generally agreed by historians that Jesus and his disciples primarily spoke Aramaic (Jewish Palestinian Aramaic), the common language of Judea in the first century AD, most likely a Galilean variety distinguishable from that of Jerusalem. The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities.

Matthew 27:46

Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, saying “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34

And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, for what have you forsaken me?”

Overall, both versions appear to be Aramaic rather than Hebrew because of the word “forsaken” which is originally Aramaic. The “pure” Biblical Hebrew counterpart to this word, is seen in the first line of Psalm 22, which the saying appears to quote. But Jesus is not quoting the canonical Hebrew version  attributed in some Jewish interpretations to King David, cited as Jesus’ ancestor in Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus, if the Eli. Eli version of Jesus’ outcry is taken; he may be quoting the version given in an Aramaic Tarqum.