The Ancient Order of Hibernians is America’s oldest Irish
Catholic Fraternal Organization founded concurrently in the
coal-mining region of Pennsylvania and New York City in
May,1836. The Order can trace its roots back to a series of
similar societies that existed in Ireland for more than 300
years. Today the AOH exists in America, Canada, Ireland,
England, Wales and Scotland, however, while the organizations
share a common thread, the American AOH is a separate and much
larger organization. The early Irish societies were born of a
need in the mid-fifteen hundreds to protect the welfare of
fellow Irish Catholics, and especially the clergy who risked
immediate death to keep the Catholic Faith alive in occupied
Ireland after the Penal Laws of 1691. These various secret
societies were formed across the country to aid and comfort
their people by whatever means was available. Similarly, the AOH
in America was founded at New York’s St. James Church on May
4,1836 by men emulating these Irish societies, to protect th