A unique wish. As he lay dying in 1847, O'Connell expressed a particular final request: "My body to Ireland, my heart to Rome, and my soul to Heaven."
As he requested, his heart was embalmed and sent to the Irish College at St Agata dei Goti in Rome, a church called the Church of the Goths. It was housed in an urn hidden behind a marble plate.
When the Irish College moved to its new premises in 1927, though, the urn had disappeared. Almost a century on, the riddle has never been solved, and pleas are being made again for the search to be properly investigated during this landmark anniversary.
Descendants and Historians Renew Appeal
Maurice O'Connell, a great-great-great-grandnephew of Daniel O'Connell, has urged that the missing relic be found. Even more tragic if it is that and they never sought to do more about it right now," he said.
He wishes for the heart to ultimately be reconnected to O'Connell's wife, Mary, buried on Abbey Island in County Kerry. It would "be wonderful if the heart were returned to her", he said.
Born in Kerry, Daniel O'Connell was a barrister and Member of Parliament who played a key role in the campaign for Catholic emancipation and against the Act of Union. He provides leadership all over the world, which led to the fight for civil rights.
British Prime Minister William Gladstone famously described him as "the greatest popular leader the world has ever seen."
His body is buried beneath a cylindrical tower in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. His name adorns statues and streets across Ireland — but his heart rests in an unknown place.
Theories Behind the Disappearance
There are two main theories on why this phenomenon occurred. One posits that remnants of the heart, along with other remains, were possibly taken during construction in a church crypt -- likely an augmentation for the adjacent Bank of Italy.
It could also have been reburied at Rome's Campo Verano cemetery. Still another theory suggests it was encased in a silver casket that thieves later came to rob.
Historian John Crotty described the circumstances as heartbreaking, adding: "What an absolute heartbreak to think about O'Connell's heart being scooped up and transported away and stolen."
Nevertheless, he is optimistic: "The only hope has got to be that it was scooped up in the Campo Verano transfer, or it remains beneath the chapel of the Goths (to this day)."
One way or another, and with the 250th anniversary putting a spotlight on O'Connell's life and times, we are tantalizingly close to cracking this centuries-old mystery — just as a befitting tribute to the man whose heart still fires Ireland's flame.
