Dossier 21 - Balkan Byways

Kathleen M. Murphy (d. 22 March 1963). She was born in Birr, County Offaly, to a devout Catholic family, and had two stepbrothers who were priests in the Diocese of Killaloe. It was said of her: ‘Kathleen was generally acknowledged to be the most widely travelled Irishwoman of her era, and she was well-qualified to write the travel articles she occasionally published in Catholic journals. She won first prize in the 1932 Aonach Tailtean literary competition and received the Papal decoration 'Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice' for her poetry. When she was not travelling, Kathleen regularly attended all of Dublin’s theatrical and musical events. She was a tall woman, and always wore a black mantilla. She visited, among other places, south-east Asia, the ruins of the Inca civilization in South America, the Great Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, Morocco, Lapland, Persia, Japan, Iraq, Belgrade, Bali, Rio de Janeiro, and the ruins of Babylon. She always maintained that she was rarely photographed’.