First Communion

In this film, Father Delany captures a group of children dressed in their finest outfits, proudly walking down an inner city Dublin street on their way to First Holy Communion. A crowd gathers at the railings of the church to see the event and wave at the camera.

Father Jack Delany (1906-1980) was ordained in 1930 at the age of 24 and served as a parish priest in Dublin in the 1930s and 1940s. He served mainly around Seán McDermott Street (then Gloucester Street), Rutland Street and Gardiner Street. His films offer a fascinating glimpse of life at the time in inner-city Dublin and include scenes of trips with parishioners, tenement life, school children at play, religious processions, and residents of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Convent (which housed a Magdalene Laundry).

To see more of The Father Delany Collection, click here.

With kind permission of Irene Devitt.