James O'Laverty (1828 - 1906):
Cleric, Roman Catholic and historian
James O'Laverty was born in Lecale, in eastern
County Down, he was educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast, and
Maynooth, where he was ordained in 1851.
He was curate in Ahoghill and Portglenone,
in County Antrim and in 1857 he became dean of the diocesan seminary
in Belfast and chaplain to the Belfast Workhouse.
He was parish priest of Holywood, County
Down, for over thirty years until the time of his death.
He established a National School in 1869
and erected a church dedicated to to St Colmcille. He wrote many
articles for the Ulster Journal of Archaeology.
From 1878 until 1887 he produced the definitive
Historical Account of Down
and Connor (4 vols), which he acknowledged as owing a debt to
the work of Bishop William Reeves. A fifth volume dealt with the
bishops of the diocese.
In 1904 he became Monsignor.
He is buried in the church -yard in Holywood.
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