Swords Around the Cross is a full length treatment of the heroic struggle of the Catholic clansmen in Ireland in their courageous effort to defend their Faith and country against English encroachment and conquest during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Writing a gripping and dramatic narrative from an unabashedly Catholic viewpoint the author has made this story come to life revealing it as an important and formative period of Irish history Timothy O donnell has written a thorough careful yet gripping account of Irish history in the rather obscure period at the end of the sixteenth century Not only has he shed much light on a period about which relatively little has been written he has at the same time produced a moving tribute to the courage and faith of the Irish of that tragic age James Hitchcock Ph D Your study is an important contribution to the history of a crucial period in Ireland and I wish to congratulate you upon it This study will be read with much