Myles O'Reilly

Myles William Patrick O'Reilly (1825 in Balbriggan, Ireland – 1880 in Dublin, Ireland) was a Catholic soldier, MP and publicist. .

Career


He was commissioned a captain in the Louth Rifles in 1854, a British militia unit. When the Roman crisis arose he offered his services to Pope Pius IX against Giuseppe Garibaldi who had launched the "Expedition of the Thousand". Raising and leading an Irish battalion of 900 men, known as "The Battalion of St Patrick", he fought in the 18-day war until the surrender of Spoleto in September 1860. On the losing side at the Battle of Castelfidardo, the Papal States were soon reduced to the province of Lazio around Rome. Some of his men joined the "Papal Zouaves" after the war.

Subsequently, he was elected a Member of Parliament for the Longford division from 1862 to 1876, and was one of the founders of the Irish Home Rule League (1873–82). In addition to his historical Sufferings for the Faith in Ireland (1868), his pen was ever active in defence of the Holy See and Catholic interests.