Copy of last letter from Patrick Pearse to his mother Margaret Pearse, 3 May 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Copy of last letter from Patrick Pearse to his mother Margaret Pearse, 3 May 1916

1 COPY Kilmainham Prison, 3rd May, 1916. My dearest Mother, I have been hoping up to now that it would be possible to see
you again but it does not seem possible â€” good bye dear, dear mother â€”
Through you I say good bye to Wow Wow, M.B., Willie, Miss Byrne, Micheal,
Cousin Maggie, & everyone at St. Enda's â€” I hope and believe that Willie
and the St. Enda's boys will be all safe. I have written two papers about financial affairs and one about
my books which I want you to get. With them are a few poems which I want
added to the poem in the M.S. in the large bookcase. You asked me to
write a little poem which would seem to be said by you about me. I have
written it and one copy is in Arbour Hill Barracks with the other papers
and Father Aloysius is taking charge of another copy of it. I have just received Holy Communion. I am happy except for the
great grief of parting from you. This is the death I should have asked
for if God had given me the choice of all deaths â€” to die a soldier's
death for Ireland and for freedom. We have done right. People will say hard things of us now, but
later on they will praise us. Do not grieve for all this, but think of
it as a sacrifice which God asked of me and of you. Good bye again dear mother. May God bless you for your great
love for me and for your great Faith, and may he remember all that you
have so bravely suffered. I hope soon to see Papa and in a little while
we shall be all together again. Wow Wow, Willie, Mary Brigid and mother â€” good bye. I have not
words to tell you of my love of you and how my heart yearns to you all.
I will call to you in my heart at the last moment. Yours son,
Pat. 'Wow Wow', is a sister â€” 'Willie' is
the brother who was shot.

Copy of last letter from Padraig Pearse to his mother. Written when it is clear that he will not see his family again. Although Pearse is heartbroken by the need to part with his family he exhibts great pride in his actions and with almost perfect recognises that 'People will say hard things of us now, but later on they will praise us.' The letter mentions that he has taken last Communion, and some books and poems he wants his mother to have.Patrick Pearse (1879-1916) was a writer, educationalist and revolutionary. He was a leading member of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, a signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, commander in chief of the rebel forces and declared president of the Provisional Government on the outbreak of the Rising. He was executed for his part in the Rising on 3 May 1916.

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__1445.html)