Devoted Catholic & Determined Writer Louise Imogen Guiney in Boston

Later publications

Irish-related publications

Louise Imogen Guiney, Robert Emmet DA948.6 .E5 G9 1904 Irish

In 1904, Guiney published a biographical study of Robert Emmet (1778-1803), the Protestant Irish Republican and Irish nationalist patriot who led an abortive rebellion against British rule and was executed for treason. Describing herself as “chiefly Irish, and as much so on principle as by lineage,” Guiney encouraged Americans to take a fresh look at Emmet as a romantic rebel leader.

Guiney’s final collection of poetry included some tributes to Ireland. Guiney was excited when Sir William Hadow, British educational reformer and musicologist at Worcester College, Oxford, set her “Irish Peasant Song” poem to music, bringing it to a wider audience.

Louise Imogen Guiney, Happy ending; the collected lyrics of Louise Imogen Guiney

PS1767 .H3 1900, Theology and Ministry Library, Boston College

Louise Imogen Guiney, Happy ending; the collected lyrics of Louise Imogen Guiney

PS1767 .H3 1900, Theology and Ministry Library, Boston College

The Recusants

Guiney was descended from English Catholics, known as “recusants” for their refusal to attend the services of the Anglican church, which separated from Roman papal authority during the reign of King Henry VIII, inaugurating the Protestant Reformation in England. Her ancestors were persecuted and eventually exiled, settling in France and Ireland, where her father was born. Guiney took great interest in this heritage, especially following her visits to England and Ireland in the 1890s. She wrote a biography of Edmund Campion, a Jesuit scholar who was martyred in 1581, beatified in 1886, and eventually canonized in 1970.

St. Edmund Campion, SJ (1540-1581)

P. Alfred Hamy, Galerie Illustree de la Compangnie de Jesus, BX3755 .H3 1893 JESUITICA OVERSIZE

Guiney spent the last twenty years of her life in England, much of it devoted to gathering information about recusant poets. She died before she could complete her intended book on the subject, but her collaborator, Geoffrey Bliss, SJ, edited and expanded her notes for publication in 1938.

Louise Imogen Guiney, Recusant Poets, PR1195 .C4 G8 1938 GREENE’S LIBRARY

In 1913, Geoffrey Bliss, SJ, was charged with creating an anthology of Catholic poets during England’s penal period. When he learned of Guiney’s extensive research on recusant poets, he proposed a collaboration. Published a decade after her death, Bliss insisted that only her name appear on the title page.
Guiney published her biography of the martyred Jesuit Edmund Campion in 1908. This copy is from the Weston Jesuit Theological Library, which was reaffiliated with Boston College in 2006

Louise Imogen Guiney, Blessed Edmund Campion, BX4705 .C27 G8 1908a

Boston: A Publishing Hub
Guiney and Boston College