Fr. Neal Ryan and “The Quiet Man” film.

Reverend Neal Ryan died October 4th 1877 aged 82 years. Was ordained in Maynooth in June 1822 appointed Parish Priest of Pettigo in March 1827 and continued so to his death. Fr. Neal Ryan served 50 years in the Pettigo Parish including the period of the Irish Famine of 1845-50 when on one Sunday he had to bury 14 corpses in Lettercran Graveyard. He was a much loved figure. He is most famous for lending his congregation to his Church of Ireland friend the Rev. James Benson Tuttle (1788-1877) when he was in difficulties. Numerous complaints were being made to his bishop who decided to come and see for himself.

On the appointed Sunday Fr. Ryan told his congregation in St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church, Mulleek, to go to the Church of Ireland service in nearby Aughterdrum Church later in the day and so they did and greatly impressed the bishop. Later the story was incorporated in the novel “Green Rushes” by Maurice Walsh and later into the film, “The Quiet Man” starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Coincidentally
the two clerical companions passed to a better world within weeks of each other. Fr. Ryan made notes on the weather and crops in the Pettigo area between 1855 and 1859. They are a record of the time when priests frequently lived on a small farm where they needed to grow their own crops of hay, oats and potatoes as well as getting turf cut and saved.
They can be found on the Internet at this location -http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~msjenkins/misc/fthrryan.htm