Anthony Fahy
1805–1871
Irish link: Documented
The Loughrea Dominican who was chaplain, banker and matchmaker to the Irish of Buenos Aires from 1844 to 1871, and a supporter of Rosas.
- Church
- Community
San Antonio de Areco
A pampas town the Irish Argentine Historical Society calls typically Irish, with the Mooney and Morgan families' church, school and hospital.
- Kind
- Town
- Where
- Buenos Aires · San Antonio de Areco · Argentina
- On the globe
- 34.25° S, 59.47° W · Coordinates from Wikidata · See it on the globe
Visiting
Visiting: Not confirmedas of 2004
The IAHS described the church, hospital and school in 2004; no current Irish society or event in the town was found.
Source: IAHS, Irish Place Names and Landmarks: San Antonio de Areco (2004), 2004(opens in a new tab)San Antonio de Areco is described by the Irish Argentine Historical Society as a typically Irish town. Fr Anthony Fahy placed an assistant chaplain there, after Chascomús and Dolores, and a 2025 Canal 26 feature says he visited Luján and Areco every six months. The 1869 census counted 178 Irish in the partido and the 1895 census 84.
The Mooney family settled here in the 1850s. Guillermo Mooney, known as "el gaucho inglés", founded the estancia El Paraíso, served as a Conservative politician in the province, died in 1928 and is buried at Areco. Margarita Morgan, née Mooney, also a child of William Mooney of Milltown, Co. Westmeath, was the town's great benefactor. Born in Pergamino in 1839, she founded the María Clara Morgan hospital in 1900, gave St Patrick's chapel in 1902 and received the papal decoration Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1908. She died at Areco in 1923. The IAHS also records the Clonmacnoise school, which it dates to 1902; María José Roger's chronology instead dates Clonmacnoise to 22 March 1922 and St Mary's school to 16 March 1901. The IAHS page notes the grave of Fr Richard Gearty.
Fr Alfredo Kelly, later parish priest of San Patricio in Belgrano, was the first parish priest of St Patrick's in Areco, an Irish chaplaincy church, IrishCentral reported in 2013. The Duggan family's estancia San Ramón and the railway town of Duggan lie in the same partido.
Where sources disagree
Published sources give different versions. Here is each one with its source, and the wording we use.
The founding date of the Clonmacnoise school
1902
Source: IAHS, Irish Place Names and Landmarks: San Antonio de Areco (2004), 2004(opens in a new tab)22 March 1922
Source: María José Roger, Irish Schools and Educators in Argentina, SILAS (2003/2005), 2005(opens in a new tab)
We say: Founded through Margarita Morgan's gifts (date unconfirmed)
When Guillermo Mooney came to Areco
Settled in 1856 with his father
Source: IAHS, Irish Place Names and Landmarks: San Antonio de Areco (2004), 2004(opens in a new tab)Born on 19 February 1858
Source: SILAS DILAB, Cané, Mooney, Guillermo (1 Feb 2004), 1 February 2004(opens in a new tab)
We say: The Mooney family settled at Areco in the 1850s
People linked to this place
The five, El Periodista, 1985The Pallottines of San Patricio
–1976
Irish link: ReportedThree Pallottine priests and two seminarians killed at St Patrick's, Belgrano, on 4 July 1976; the order came from Ireland, the case is unresolved and a canonisation cause is open.
- Church
Margarita Morgan
1839–1923
Irish link: DocumentedThe benefactor who gave the Irish saints' altars to Luján basilica and built a hospital, a chapel and a school at San Antonio de Areco.
- Community
- Church
Team photograph, 1936Luis Duggan
1906–1987
Irish link: DocumentedThe 1936 Olympic polo gold medallist from the Duggan family of Ballymahon, wool brokers and landowners behind the town of Duggan.
- Sport
- Land and business
Sources
- Source: IAHS, Irish Place Names and Landmarks: San Antonio de Areco (2004), 2004(opens in a new tab)
- Source: SILAS DILAB, Gonzalo Cané, Morgan, Margarita (1 Oct 2003), 1 October 2003(opens in a new tab)
- Source: SILAS DILAB, Cané, Mooney, Guillermo (1 Feb 2004), 1 February 2004(opens in a new tab)
- Source: María José Roger, Irish Schools and Educators in Argentina, SILAS (2003/2005), 2005(opens in a new tab)
- Source: Canal 26, El trágico final del cura irlandés más famoso de Buenos Aires (29 Jun 2025), 29 June 2025(opens in a new tab)
- Source: Patrick McKenna, MA thesis, NUI Maynooth (1994), 1994(opens in a new tab)
- Source: SILAS, Irish Settlers in Argentina (c. 2006), 2006(opens in a new tab)
- Source: IrishCentral, Pope Francis launches sainthood case for three Argentine priests with Irish connections (12 Apr 2013), 12 April 2013(opens in a new tab)