Biography of Br. Walfrid, founder of Celtic Football Club

More than 100 people gathered at Celtic football ground in Glasgow on the evening of 8th November to celebrate the publishing of a biography of Brother Walfrid (Andrew Kerins), an Irishman who lived and worked in Great Britain. Brother Walfrid founded Celtic, now a world-famous football team, in 1888 when he was Head Master of one of the Marist schools in Glasgow in order to raise funds to provide breakfasts for the poor children attending his school.

The biography was written by Dr Michael Connolly, now a lecturer at Stirling University in Scotland and was originally his doctoral dissertation. Dr Connolly gratefully acknowledged the helo he had received from the Marist Brothers in his research for the dissertation. In particular he was grateful for the opportunity to visit L’Hermitage and Saint-Genis-Laval, where he consulted the archives of the former Province of Beaucamps, to which Great Britain and Ireland had belonged in the middle of the 19th century. Only the covid lockdown had prevented him from visiting the General Archives in Rome.

At the celebration on 8th November, the Marist Brothers were represented by Brothers Alan Hargan and Colin Chalmers. Brother Colin spoke to the audience about Walfrid’s Marist life. He said that Walfrid was a true son of Marcellin. Both had become aware of the needs in their environment and responded to those needs. He also said that very few Brothers in the world today knew that Celtic Football Club had been founded by a Marist Brother. Brother Colin said “we Brothers are often very bad at identifying our own heroes.”

The book
Title: Walfrid. A Life of Faith, Community and Football
Author: Michael Connolly
Published by: Argyle Publishing