george washington in james hoban would be pleased and proud of this volume that you have all contributed to so significantly. i'm grateful for the time and investment of your scholarship and thoughts and experience that you shared with us in the book and as well as in today's program for the friendship that we have with each of you and for your kind words about the work of the association. to commemorate its 60th anniversary and the publication of james hoban designer and builder of the white house the white house historical association paid tribute to the irish immigrant at hobin's washington dc grave site. next on the presidency we hear from among others the irish ambassador to the united states who spoke about his countrymen the white house historical association hosted this event and provided the video. well, good afternoon again, and thank you all for coming on this. thankfully overcast but not

rainy day. we appreciate you being here with us. ambassador archbishop president general van buren the grand master of the grand lodge of the district of columbia our dear friends from the royal hibernians or the ancient hibernians hi, my name is stuart mclaurin and i'm the president of the white house historical association. and it's my privilege to welcome you here for this special occasion today. this is going to be a brief ceremony commemorating james hoban. whose work is simply referred to today? as the white house to be in our program with an invocation we are honored to have the distinguished papal nuncio representing the holy see to the united states of america his excellency archbishop kristoff pierre.

lord father of human family you created all human beings equal indignity. full forth into our hearts a spiritual fraternal spirit and inspiring us a dream of renewed encounter dialogue. justice and peace move us to create healthier societies and the more dignified world. a world without hunger poverty violence and war but above all may our hearts be open. to all the peoples and nations of the earth may we recognize the goodness and beauty. that you have sown in each of us. and thus fudge bones of unity common projects and share the dreams. amen okay.

thank you luke. thank you your excellency. 229 years ago the irish american architect james hoban was selected by then president george, washington. to design and build a new president's house. over the course of the next eight years. hoban led a building team comprised of enslaved free laborers stonemasons from europe to build this president's house 14 years later british torches left the president's house in ruins. hoban returned to lead the rebuilding of the white house

and later the south and north porticos. on the eve of saint patrick's day and the release of the association's new book on james hoban. is only fitting and proper that we gather on this hallowed ground for what we plan to be an annual observation. to honor hoban and the legacy of his life's work. i'm honored to be joined here today by anita mcbride representing the board of directors of the white house historical association. and father wakefield of saint patrick's church. and the reason we have father wakefield here is that not only did? james hoban build the white house, but he helped found saint patrick's the first church of any denomination in the federal city outside of georgetown. than in 1809. he constructed a new building for saint patrick's.

in 1815 the washington catholic seminary and later saint mary's and saint peters here in washington. early last year. we were approached by our good friends at the daughters of the american revolution. about restoring this historic, but very worn monument. so in a hot august day of last summer i came to this place. saw the condition of this beautiful historic marker that goes to the very core the very beginning of white house history. soon thereafter we committed to not only restore the marker itself but to maintain it perpetually. and do so in honor of james hoban whose life's work became the most recognized building perhaps in the world today. please join me in welcoming our partner in this important work the president general of the national society of the

daughters of the american revolution. denise storing van buren my goodness, isn't this grand? what a joy to gather with you here today and let me begin by extending our appreciation to the white house historical association for not only the tremendous work that they do in preserving the president's house, but also in stepping forward to join with our organization and honoring the memory. of james hoban and what he accomplished here in our nation's capital. i certainly want to recognize the daughters of the american revolution from the district of columbia who were instrumental on this stephanie green who is with us today. stephanie had first written an article for our national magazine that that explored his life and she became intrigued to find out where he had been buried when she arrived here. she was quite concerned about the condition of the grave and

thus began this incredible effort to buy our local daughters of the american revolution so capably led by their state regent cindy hayes to result in what we see today. and what most excites me is our partnership together in terms of continuing this tradition of honoring this man. you are all far more expert than i in the details of the life of james hoban. we all likely know some of the foundational items of his life as you know from probably researching and we first arrived in philadelphia from ireland. he later traveled to south carolina where it is presumed that george washington first admired his works and ultimately seventh home into philadelphia the next year 1792 the same year that the national design competition had been announced for the president's house and a capitol building. as we all know hogan's design was chosen actually by july and construction commenced some two decades later as stewart pointed out following the 1814 burning of the white house during the war of 1812. it was hoban who would rebuild

the southern portico for president james monroe and later still the northern portico for president andrew jackson. james hoban died in the district of columbia on december the 8th 9th, excuse me, 1831 and he was originally buried in home meets bearing ground near what is today dupont circle, which was closed as a cemetery in 1874. that is approximately when his remains were likely disinterred and reburied here at mount olivet cemetery where we gather today to honor his memory and his contributions to our nation. how tragic that james hoban's grave had been for all intents and purposes overlooked without due and proper recognition of his contributions to our nation's, federal city. overlooked that is until today. we owe a debt of gratitude to the white house historical association for not only making possible the restoration of the marker, but also the most important for serving a steward

of the president's house designed and constructed by james hoban as a fitting example of the gravitas that george washington knew would be important for our new nation to earn the respect that it needed in order to act on a world stage for the white house, of course serves as so much more than just a residence. it is a diplomatic seat a ceremonial site a symbol of democracy hogan's design created the iconic image of the united states presidency that remains the most recognized around the globe as a representation of our nation and our american values. it is a powerful symbol of a powerful nation designed and built at a time when much of that new capital city was a marshy unsettled place with aspirational dreams that would draw largely upon james hoban's white house as an anchor in the decades that would follow hoban's life serves as an inspiring example of the power

of the american experience and the opportunities available to those who come to our shores as immigrants. he was born in kilkenny, ireland a small city dating to the sixth century. it's focal point is kill kenny castle which remains a symbol of the northern excuse me norman invasion in ireland the castle would one day become the capital of a catholic rebel movement called the confederate ireland who supreme council actually met in kilkenny castle from 1642 until 1648. surely james hoban knew the significance and the symbolism of this castle and it's rebellious past as he grew up there as a young wheel right and carpenter growing up in this irish community. it is remarkable for me to stand here today and appreciate that james hoban was born in the shadow of a castle. a symbol of some many things illustrative of the old world and the old order and

re-established himself here in our nascent nation as the architect of the home design for the highest elected officer in a republic. helping story is fascinating and surprisingly little-known. like the white house his other designs including the octagon house here in dc stand as a testament to his brilliance and his talent and how fitting that now his grave better reflects his remarkable achievement inspiring life. and enduring gift to our nation. on behalf of the national society of the daughters of the american revolution i extend our deepest appreciation to those who have made this ceremony this marker. and this testament to the memory of james hoban possible. we are grateful. thank you. thank you. president general van buren. i need not remind. anyone in this crowd that tomorrow is saint patrick's day.

and i cannot imagine the people of any country around the world. that celebrates another country. as americans celebrate ireland and the irish on march the 17th and as a proper scott, i have to say i have a little bit of envy for that. but we will all pretend to be irish today and tomorrow. today this event is a prelude to the day of celebration that will occur tomorrow across this country. please welcome the distinguished 18th. ambassador of ireland to the united states of america his excellency daniel. mohall. see i'm wearing. i'm wearing my shamrock mask. thank you very much. stuart and delighted to see his accent to the payable announcer here. and indeed the president of the daughters of the american revolution. it's a great pleasure and honor to have you here and to have you here as well.

nancio for this occasion remembering the life and the work of a great irish, man who contributed usually to this country? of course. i'm also delighted to see representatives of the ancient order of hibernians here. these are my my firmest friends in america. i've been to so many. and hibernian functions now that i can hardly count them, but it's great to have them here again today for this wonderful occasion, and i want to thank all involved. who worked together to make this possible? i know stephanie green was mentioned and i want to contribute to stephanie for having had the the initial idea to do this to to restore the grave of james holborn and to and that has led to occasion here today. this is this is going to be my only live in patrick's day event. can you believe that so the rest of the events that i i've already attended for saint patrick's day webinars this morning, the teacher was involved in all of them and we were talking mainly about the economic ties between ireland

and the united states which are many and thriving but tomorrow will be occasion when i will be in the white house in the vice president's office in the speaker's office and in the ways and means committee office, but all will be virtual. so so it is a pleasure to be able to celebrate saint patrick's day related occasion in a face-to-face environment like this, so let me just say something about james holborn. transform was born in kilkenny as was mentioned by the president of the daughters of the american revolution. this is van buren. he was born actually in a place called callan which is just beside kilkenny. it's about 25 miles from where i was born. i grew up in waterford in the southeast around and the nearby county of waterford. but colin actually and they're not sure we'll be interested in this because at around the same time. as james holman was born another man was born in the same village of color.

a man called edmund ignatius rice blessed edmund ignatius rice who founded the irish christian brothers? and i went i did my school days in the school that brother rice first founded in waterford a school called mount zion still exists to this very day. and so somehow the small townlander village of callan produced two figures who had a global impact brother rice found in an order that spread all over the world and was particularly here in the united states, but also in australia and india elsewhere and james hogan who came over here to america and ended up designing and building the white house and other public buildings here the state department the war department and so forth. so james groban's story. is a story that's it epitomizes the story of ireland at that time. is james holman was clearly a very talented man?

who probably ought to have been able to become a powerful architectural force in the island of his time? but he couldn't do that. because there was a a ceiling a barrier. for catholics like james holborn because of what we're called the penal laws which were established to to if you like punish catholics for having a religion that was different from the established state religion at that time. and so people like james holman. had to leave ireland if they wanted to achieve. they're full potential. and he was one of many many people. at that time in the late 18th century and beyond well into the 90th in the 20th century who came to america looking for opportunities to fulfill their aspirations and to to build better lives for themselves and their families which for example after the great hunger of the 1840s many many irish people

fled, ireland and came here to america and became part of the fabric of modern america and contributed hugely to this country. and of course one descendant of that great diaspora the great irish diaspora of the 19th century is now occupying the white house president biden. and it will be very pleasure in particular for me tomorrow albeit virtually to meet the president in the company of our teacher. mijo martin. so during his life. james coleman would have seen many things happen in ireland he would have observed them from america read about them. he would have read about the the rising of 1798 by the united nourishment. he would have heard about the act of union probably wouldn't have approved of that because that was what eliminated the irish parliament and united ireland with great britain in a union that eventually was broken in 1922. but also he lived to see catholic emancipation in 1829 when the great irish liberator

daniel o'connell managed to persuade the british government by exclusively peaceful means by the way to grant catholic emancipation to give catholics full civil rights in britain until low catholics for the first time to serve in the british parliament. so every politician that has served every catholic politician that serves since that time or their gratitude to daniel o'connell and tomorrow when our prime minister meets vice president come out of harris he will. be talking to her about a visit that the great frederick douglass made to ireland in 1845 at the beginning of the famine and he met with daniel o'connell and douglas learned some lessons from daniel o'connell. the lesson was you could agitate peacefully and get political change without having to resort to violence, and that was a collins great message to the world and douglas often referred to himself as the black o'connell because he was inspired by o'connor. so point i make is that james holman lived through a very

eventful time in world history in particular. the american revolution which had a huge influence on his homeland? and it's it. it planted in ireland the seeds of a republican tradition that eventually bore fruit in 1922 when ireland became independent. so as ambassador violence in the united states, i'm proud and pleased to be here today to recognize the work of james corbin, but on the evil saint patrick's day also to recognize the contributions that so many irish people have made to this country over the decades generations and centuries past in that sense. james corbin epitomizes the irish connection with the united states that will be celebrating with as much gusto as we can tomorrow that's possible in the virtual world. thank you very much. thank you very much. ambassador. have a special presentation for you yesterday at the white

house. i had the privilege of presenting two president biden the very first copy of the book that the white house historical association will release tomorrow on the life of james hoban the designer and builder of the white house and we have our wonderful publications team led by marsha anderson and her colleagues here that do all of our wonderful publications, and this is one that we're particularly pleased and proud of so ambassador you and the president of the united states have the only leather-bound copies of this book. and i presented to you here. thank you very much. and it says you thank you very much says presented to daniel mold hall and master of ireland to the united states by the white house historical association, march 17th, 2021. so hold it till tomorrow and tell her read. thank you, very thank you. and now we have two elements that in a non-covid. commemoration such as this i would invite our participants up

and we would have a traditional wreath laying but given covid we went ahead and pre-placed the wreath in a place of honor and next year. we hope to have you all back here and we'll do a proper wreath laying. secondly, we have a plaque that has been a generated in luke. mitch if you'll assist with removing the cover i'll read the inscription that is on the plaque that will be here perpetually. and this plaque reads james hoban designer and builder of the white house 1755 to 1831. born in county kilkenny ireland in 1755 james hogan attended the dublin society school of architectural drawing and later immigrated to the united states. in 1792 his design for the president's house was selected by the commissioners for the district of columbia with the approval of president george, washington. for the next eight years hope and oversaw the massive

workforce of enslaved and free american. and free african americans immigrant laborers and skilled craftsmen who built the white house hoban rebuilt the executive mansion after it was burned during the war of 1812 and later added the south and north porticos. he was also active in civic affairs serving on the washington city council and is captain of a company of local militia. supported the creation of saint patrick's church and founded the sons of aaron an organization that assisted newly arrived irish immigrants. with housing provisions and medical care according to his grandson. he was buried in one of saint patrick's seminaries upon his death in 1831 and later reinterred in the family plot in mount olivet cemetery. james hoban is remembered for his role in designing and building america's most famous historic landmark. grave restoration by the white house historical association in the district of columbia daughters of the american

revolution dedicated march 17th, 2021 following the final blessing i would like to invite the annuncio the ambassador the president general mrs. mcbride a. join me here for a socially distance photograph in front of the marker and the plaque. i regret that we don't have a the opportunity to offer you any hospitality today given covid but next year when we gather we'll have a little bite to celebrate this wonderful occasion and to fellowship together and now our final blessing archbishop. before the blessing i would like as we are in some patrick day. you don't know also of the ambassador. the ambassador i was tempted to

make you suggestions that maybe today or for a few hours. we could change the name of united states of america by new island. so this is a the prayer of some patrick, which is beautiful. so i invite you to pray with me. christ on my right christ on my left. christ when i lie down christ when i sit down christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me. christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me because in the eyes that sees me christ in the ear that hears me. i rise today. through a mighty strength. the invocation of the trinity through a belief in the trainers. through a confession of the oneness. of the creator of creation. amen.

beautiful prayer so now the blessing or god trinity of love from the profound communion of your divine life pull out upon us return of fraternal love. grant us the love reflected in the actions of jesus. in his family of nazareth and in the early christian community grant that week asians may leave the gospel discovering christ in each human being recognizing him crucified in the suffering of the abundant and forgotten of our world and reason in each brother or sister. who makes a new start? come holy spirit show us your beauty reflected in all the peoples of the earth.

so that we may discover new. that all are important and all are necessary. different faces of one humanity that god so loves amen thank you all for coming stay safe, and we see you back here next year. here