I'd never heard or seen references to O'Connell as a womanizer and father of countless illigitimate children. Frankly, I doubt it. In her book "An Illustrated History of Ireland", published in 1868 and republished in 1995, the author, Mary Frances Cusack "The Nun of Kenmare", rhapsodizes about O'Connell in words like, "O'Connell represented Ireland, and Ireland was represented by O'Connell. We have had our great men and our good men, our brave men and our true men; but to my poor thinking, the greatest of our men was O'Connell - for whoever approached him in his mighty power of ruling a nation by moral suasion only?"

She goes on at great length, calling him "the best of our men", the "bravest", the "truest", and one of the "best and noblest patriots which the world has ever seen." I've had little contact during my life with Catholic nuns, but somehow, I find it difficult to think that good Sister Mary Frances would have felt so strongly positive about him if he had been an immoral philanderer and profligate! Of course, I could be wrong, but I'd need to see some trustworthy references to back up the story.