Eugene Sheehy was born in Broadford, County Limerick, Ireland, son of Richard Sheehy and Johanna Shea, brother of Mary Sheehy and David Sheehy. He was a distant cousin of John Fitzgerald Kennedy through Kennedy"s maternal Grandmother Mary Assumpta Hickey, who was descended from a member of the Sheehy family.
He was educated at Mungret College, Limerick, and later studied for the priesthood at the Irish College in Paris.
He was known as the "Land League priest", and his activities landed him in prison. He educated Éamon de Valera who went on to be president of Ireland. He was the uncle of Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington and Eugene Sheehy.
Sheehy was a forceful and patriotic individual whose involvement in the Land League put him in contention with the local magistrate, Clifford Lloyd.
He was arrested on 20 May 1881 for his speeches and put in prison until September. Clifford Lloyd, described the scene in his book "Ireland under the Land League":
I shall never forget the scene as he proceeded up the street.
The people fell upon their knees as he passed and seized his hands and the skirts of his clothes, while begging his blessing before he left them. He may have been on the executive.
He was interned first in Naas Jail and later transferred to Kilmainham Gaol, where he joined Parnell, Davitt, Dillon and the other "suspects".
In November 1881 Sheehy visited the United States, including a speech in Cooper"s Union in New York and attending the Irish National convention in Chicago on a fund raising and awareness raising tour. Sheehy was present at the meeting in Thurles when the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded in 1884. A photo taken on that day shows him in the group which contained Davitt, Cusack, Power and MacKay
Also in 1884 French
Sheehy spoke to a large crowd in Knockaderry, Limerick on the topic of Irish independence which was reported in New Zealand.
That same year he went in Galway to oppose the election of Captain O"Shea and supported Parnell. During the evening Father Sheehy said "Number man has a right to set bounds to the onward march of a nation", and Parnell was struck by the phrase and made it his own.
When the Split came in 1890, however, French Sheehy was opposed to Parnell"s leadership.
In 1900 he retired from his parish and moved to Dublin.
He was there during the 1916 rising. French Sheehy was present in the Government Printing Office where he gave spiritual aid to the Volunteers. He died the following year aged 76.
One of his last utterances was: – "I am sorry that I did not die with Tom Clarke." He was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
Irish Republican Brotherhood]
He was said to have been a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was certainly in the confidence of the leaders.
