12 May 563: Saint Columba and his twelve companions crossed the sea from Ireland in a currach of wickerwork covered with hides. They had been forced into exile by political events at home. They landed at the little island of Iona off the east coast of Scotland on the eve of the Feast of Pentecost. The island, according to Irish sources, was probably granted to the monastic colonists by King Conall of Dalriada, Columba's kinsman. It was a convenient situation, being midway between his countrymen along the north western coast of Ireland and the Picts of Caledonia. He and his brethren proceeded at once to erect their dwellings, consisting of a church, refectory, and cells, constructed of wattles and rough hewn wood. It is believed that it was here and in this year that the first Annals of contemporary events were recorded on a regular basis. The island is a Christian place of worship to this day.
12 May 1853 – The Great Industrial Exhibition opened by Lord Lieutenant, Earl of St. Germans, at Leinster Lawn, Dublin. The Exhibition, sponsored by William Dargan, lasted until 31 October 1853.
12 May 1916: James Connolly and Seán MacDermott were executed in Kilmainham Jail. These were the last of the executions of the leaders of the Easter Rising. Connolly was taken there by ambulance from Dublin Castle, carried on a stretcher into the prison yard, strapped into a chair in a corner of the yard and executed by firing- squad. Their bodies, like that of the other executed men, were taken to the British military cemetery adjoining Arbour Hill Prison and buried, without coffin in a mass quicklime grave.
12 May 1944: Venerable Edel Quinn, Legion of Mary Envoy to Africa, next to Frank Duff the most famous member of the Legion of Mary, died in Nairobi, Kenya of T.B. on this day. She was 37 years old. ‘Everyone who knew her, including her parents, her three sisters and a brother, describe Edel as having been totally unselfish, giving herself to others without consideration of herself. Edel had a concern for everyone and shared in their sufferings, but never revealed her own. She was truly patient in her suffering, which was considerable, but she never gave evidence of pain or worriment. She was always cheerful, even when she was in intense pain or extreme discomfort.’
12 May 1981: - Francis Hughes died after fifty-nine days on hunger strike in Long Kesh (Maze Prison). The second republican prisoner to join the H-Block hunger-strike for political status - a fortnight after Bobby Sands - was the twenty-five-year-old Francis Hughes, from Bellaghy in South Derry: an IRA Volunteer who organised a successful series of military operations until his capture after a shoot-out with the SAS, and was once described by the RUC as their 'most wanted man' in the North.
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