On Our Knees, Famine in the Parishes of Killala Diocese (1845-1852), is the second

volume of a comprehensive two-volume study of the Great Famine in Killala diocese

written by Fr Brendan Hoban.

While Ocras (Volume 1) presented a general account of what happened year by year

(1845-1852) in Killala diocese, On Our Knees relates the Famine history of each of

the 22 parishes in Mayo and North Sligo.

In On Our Knees, in the detail gleaned from a generous archive, the horror of the

Famine emerges in the lived experiences of the people: the conditions in which they

lived; the personal, social and poverty constraints they laboured under; the horrors

they experienced; the fevers they were prone to; their efforts to stay alive; the deaths

they endured.

On Our Knees chronicles the agony and the anguish of the Famine years in Killala

diocese in chilling detail. This was the way it was.