O’Reilly, Daniel Patrick, 1831-1894, Capuchin priest

Daniel O’Reilly was born in Castlepollard, a small village in north County Westmeath on 22 November 1831. He was born into a reasonably affluent farming family, and he was sent to St. Patrick’s College in Carlow for his education where he excelled in classical studies. Having decided to join the Capuchin Franciscans, he was sent to Belgium for his novitiate studies in about 1850. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1855 and soon afterwards returned to Ireland. Most of his life in ministry was spent in Church Street in Dublin where he devoted his energies to financing the construction of St. Mary of the Angels (built between 1868 and 1881) on the site of an earlier Capuchin chapel. He served as guardian (local superior) of the Church Street community from 1864 to 1866. In 1873 he was appointed Custos (superior) of the Capuchin foundations in Dublin and in Kilkenny which remained subject to the supervision of the Provincial Minister of the Capuchins in Paris. Fr. O’Reilly preached at the opening of the Irish Capuchin novitiate in Kilkenny in October 1875. The original pulpit in St. Mary of the Angels (unveiled on 25 December 1883) was presented to him as a token of esteem by several wealthy benefactors. His work in rebuilding the Irish Capuchins was recognised when was he was afforded the title of Provincial Minister several years before the Irish Province was canonically restored in 1885. He died (of dropsy or edema) on 3 September 1894 in the Church Street Friary and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Baptismal name: Daniel O’Reilly
Religious name: Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC
Date of birth: 22 Nov. 1831
Place of birth: Castlepollard, County Westmeath
Date of ordination (as priest): 1855
Date of death: 3 Sept. 1894
Place of death: Church Street, Dublin
Place of burial: Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin