Kilkenny lecture to reveal local links to leading English churchman

The story of a man with strong Kilkenny connections who went on to hold the position of first Roman Catholic resident cardinal in England and Wales since the Reformation, is to be told at a Kilkenny Archaeological Society lecture this week.

Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman (1802-1865) was born in Seville, the son of James Wiseman whose father had left Waterford for Spain, and of Xaveria Strange, a native of Aylwardstown in south Kilkenny.  He was one of the leading scholars of his day, and played a key role in the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, of which he was its first resident cardinal since the Reformation.

The lecture will discuss his family background, his career as scholar and churchman, his achievements and disappointments, and his legacy to later generations.

Julian Walton, a former secondary schoolteacher and librarian with a lifelong interest in Irish history and genealogy, will deliver this lecture.  He has researched, lectured and written on different aspects of Waterford history, including the role played by Waterford merchants in 18th-century France and Spain.

During the 1990s he worked at Waterford Heritage Genealogical Centre, where among other assignments he undertook the conservation of Waterford Cathedral Library.  He was then employed at the library of University College Cork in the cataloguing of older printed books.

Since he “retired” in 2006 he has been Resident Historian at Dunhill Multi-Education Centre in County Waterford, where he hosts an annual series of lectures on aspects of local history. From 1994 to 2013 he presented a series of historical snippets for Waterford Local Radio entitled “On This Day”.

The Kilkenny Archaeological Society lecture will be held in Rothe House on Wednesday, February 12. It starts at 8pm. Admission is  €8 for KAS members and €10 for non-members.