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Baptismal name: James Kelleher
Religious name: Br. Didacus Kelleher OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 4 Aug. 1873
Place of birth: Watergrasshill, County Cork (Diocese of Cloyne)
Name of father: Willliam Kelleher
Name of mother: Catherine Kelleher (née McCarthy)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 29 June 1895
Date of first profession: 29 June 1896
Date of final profession: 9 July 1899
Missionary activities: Travelled to the United States in May 1914
Date of death: 3 May 1947
Place of death: St. Bonaventure’s Friary, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Capuchin Friary, Rochestown, County Cork

From the ‘Necrology of the Western American Province’ (2005):

James Kelleher was born near Watergrasshill in County Cork in August 1873. He was received into the Capuchin Franciscan Order in June 1895, took Didacus as his religious name, and was solemnly professed as a brother in July 1899. After a few years he and Fr. John Butler OFM Cap. were assigned to the new Capuchin mission in the United States. In 1914 they arrived in Paradise near Abbottstown in Pennsylvania. Here Br. Didacus helped the friars in caring for the church, the sacristy, and especially the Altar. In 1931 he was transferred from Abbottstown and ministered for several years at other locations in the American mission. After completing his assignment in the United States, he returned to Ireland. The remining years of his religious life were lived as a cook and sacristan at various friaries in the home province. For a short time, he ministered in Holy Trinity Friary in Cork. He died at St. Bonaventure’s Hostel in Cork on 3 May 1947 and was laid to rest in the cemetery adjoining the Capuchin Friary in Rochestown in County Cork.

Baptismal name: Michael McDonnell
Religious name: Br. Anthony McDonnell OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 28 June 1867
Place of birth: Dublin
Name of father: Michael McDonnell
Name of mother: Mary McDonnell (née Larkin)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 19 Feb. 1903
Date of first profession: 19 Mar. 1904
Date of final profession: 13 June 1907
Date of death: 24 Dec. 1941
Place of burial: Cemetery, Capuchin Friary, Rochestown, County Cork

From : https://www.dib.ie/biography/dignan-john-a2583

Dignan, John (1880–1953), priest and bishop of Clonfert, was born 13 June 1880 at Ballygar, Co. Galway, son of Thomas Dignan, farmer, and Sarah Dignan (née Kelly). He was educated at Esker College, Loughrea, and St Patrick's College, Maynooth, was ordained a priest (6 September 1903) for the Clonfert diocese, and in the same year joined the staff of St Joseph's College in Ballinasloe where he served until 1915, becoming president in 1905. He served as a curate in the parish of Creagh and Kildoney (1915–19) and as parish priest of Abbey, Loughrea (1919–23), and subsequently in Killimer, before being appointed a bishop (March 1924). A staunch nationalist, he had served in 1917 as president of the east Galway board of the Sinn Féin executive and was a central figure in the organisation of Sinn Féin courts in the county; in his absence, his parochial house in Loughrea was raided and bombed by the Black and Tans. He was adamantly opposed to the Anglo–Irish treaty, and at the time of his consecration as bishop of Clonfert in June 1924 caused a minor sensation by declaring: ‘I predict that the republican party is certain to be returned to power in a short time. Prepare for that day. Do your best for its quick approach.’ In communication with Patrick Hagan, the rector of the Irish College in Rome, he defended his remarks, believing that republicans had been treated badly and deserved public endorsement. Known for his strong Fianna Fáil sympathies, he endorsed their programme for economic independence in 1933, and hailed the 1937 constitution as the ‘Christian charter of a Christian people’. In 1936 he was appointed chairman of the National Health Insurance Society (NHIS) and became the hierarchy's leading authority on social issues. He is best remembered for his 1944 pamphlet Outlines of a scheme of national health insurance. Strongly influenced by catholic social theory and following the continental pattern of health insurance, it exalted the authority of the family, and suggested the creation of a central insurance board and the removal of all responsibility for health and welfare from the government's control. GPs (employed in newly created health centres) were to be paid a salary or a combination of salary and fee or capitation with private practice, and church representation on the central and regional committees would supervise the service, to be financed by contributory payments. Dignan maintained the subtext of the plan was that ‘the whole poor law legislation. . . should be blotted out from our statute book and – from our memory. The [present] system is tainted at its root and it reeks now, as it did when introduced, of destitution, pauperism, and degradation.' The main weakness of the plan was that no costings were provided to show that it was financially viable, but it played an important role in forcing debate and articulating a new view of access to the health services. It infuriated the minister for local government and public health, Seán MacEntee (qv), who argued that Dignan's plan would confer power upon ‘doctors and ecclesiastics rather than democratically elected politicians’ and in 1945 Dignan was replaced as chairman of the NHIS by a civil servant. The clash was a catalyst in health becoming a government department in its own right (independent of local government) in 1947 and foreshadowed the Mother-and-Child controversy of 1951: it was ‘the first approximation to a church versus state clash that the country had seen since 1922’ (Garvin, 71–2). Dignan died 12 April 1953. The Labour party, who had supported his proposals, lamented that ‘the cause of social progress is poorer by his passing’.
Sources

Ir. Times, 14 Apr. 1953; John H. Whyte, Church and state in modern Ireland 1923–79 (1980); Ruth Barrington, Health, medicine and politics in Ireland 1900–79 (1987); Bernard Canning, Bishops of Ireland 1870–1987 (1987); J. J. Lee, Ireland 1912–85: politics and society (1989); Dermot Keogh, The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics 1919–39 (1991); Tom Garvin, Preventing the future: why was Ireland so poor for so long? (2004)

Baptismal name: Cornelius Francis Reardon
Religious name: Fr. Xavier Reardon OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 2 Feb. 1899
Place of birth: Blackrock Road, Ballintemple, County Cork
Name of father: Cornelius Reardon
Name of mother: Elizabeth Reardon (née Keane)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 17 Sept. 1916
Date of first profession: 17 Sept. 1917
Date of final profession: 14 July 1921
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1925
Educational attainments: BA (1926); Higher Diploma in Education (1926)
Missionary activities: Travelled to India in 1937. He returned to Ireland in 1948. Travelled to the United States in 1960. He returned to Ireland in 1967.
Date of death: 26 Dec. 1986
Place of death: Holy Trinity Friary, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Capuchin Friary, Rochestown, County Cork.

From the ‘Necrology of the Western American Province’ (2005):

Cornelius Reardon was born in Cork on 2 February 1916. His early education was with the Christian Brothers’ schools in Cork (Sullivans’ Quay and North Monastery). He completed his studies at the Capuchin Franciscan College in Rochestown, County Cork (1915-6). On 17 September 1916 he was received as a novice in the Capuchin Order, taking Xavier as his religious name. The following year, after making his simple profession, he began philosophy studies in University College Cork. He returned to Rochestown to undertake theological studies. He was ordained to the priesthood at Holy Trinity Church in Cork on 29 June 1925. His first assignment was teaching in Rochestown College (1925-6). He then served in three communities in Ireland (Kilkenny, 1929-30), (Rochestown, 1930-1), (Church Street, Dublin, 1931-7). In 1937 he volunteered for missionary work under Archbishop Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap. in India. For eleven years he laboured under difficult conditions, returning to Ireland in 1948. In the early 1960s he travelled to the United States and worked at various ministries in St. Patrick’s Friary in Wilmington, Delaware. Here he conducted novenas and retreats. He also helped in supply work. In 1963 he transferred to the new novitiate at San Lorenzo in Mission Santa Inés in California. Here he acted as spiritual director to the novices. He returned to Ireland in 1967 and spent the last years of his life in Holy Trinity Friary in Cork. He died on 26 December 1986 and was buried in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Friary in Cork.