Sheehan, Patrick Augustine (1852-1913)

Irish novelist. His best-known work, My New Curate 1900, contains sketches of the life of a typical Irish priest.

Sheehan was born in Mallow, County Cork. Ordained as a priest 1875, he began his pastoral work in England, but in 1877 returned to Ireland, and from 1895 was priest at Doneraile in Cork, being made a canon of Cork Cathedral 1905.

In 1895 he published his first novel, Geoffrey Austin, a story of student life, followed by the sequel The Triumph of Failure 1899. Other novels are Glenanaar 1905, Lisheen 1907, The Blindness of Dr Gray 1909, Miriam Lucas 1912, and The Graves at Kilmorna 1915.