1916: Crisis of faith led to a new baptism for Thomas MacDonagh

Leaving the Church behind him, Thomas MacDonagh found a new calling almost by accident, writes Shane Kenna

Born in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary in 1878, Thomas MacDonagh is one of the most fascinating characters behind the Easter Rising.

He was the child of a peculiar marriage of two national school teachers, his father a jovial drunkard with little interest in politics and his mother a devoted convert to Catholicism who instilled in her children a devotion to just causes.