Excellent copy of the first edition of this important Irish catechism – the first book printed with Gaelic type by the Propaganda Fide, especially commissioned in 1675 and in use until 1707 (Lynam, p.11). The Irish Franciscan Francis Molloy (Froinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh, d.1684) taught theology at the Roman College of St Isidore and in Vienna. In 1676, Molloy published the first Irish grammar in print. The genesis of ‘Lucerna fidelium’ lies in a 1670 petition to the Propaganda Fide for the urgent release of a new Irish catechism for the use of missionaries; evidence suggests copies of this book were sent directly to Ireland. ‘Lucerna’ is divided, following the genre of catechisms, into sections on the Articles of the Catholic faith, their meaning according to the Roman Church, and an overview of errors and false arguments against orthodox faith. The work ends with a poem in Irish, ‘Soruid a dhithreabhach Ruama go clar Coinn’, dedicated to the Irish scholars and missionaries in exile, who would be its chief readers. This kind of catechism ‘assisted Irish Catholics in maintaining their faith and exposed them to aspects of the spirituality of their Catholic counterparts in Europe. This exposure prevented the Irish from being completely isolated in spiritual matters and enabled them to have a better understanding of the Catholic world’ (Mac Murchaidh, p.90). It was still owned and cherished by Irish Catholic families in the C18 and C19.

Sir John Leslie, 1st Baronet (1822-1916), was Conservative MP for Monaghan county, and a painter.