Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa (1831-1915) was a leading Fenian and lifelong enemy of foreign rule in Ireland, he dedicated himself without compromise to the cause of national independence. Arrested and subjected to brutal imprisonment by the British state, he endured years of hardship rather than abandon his principles. Exiled to America, he continued the struggle, organising and sustaining the campaign against British power and giving material support to revolutionary action. In all circumstances he remained steadfast, refusing to recognise the legitimacy of any authority but that of the Irish nation. His life was one of relentless resistance, carried on across prison, exile and age. In his defiance and perseverance, O’Donovan Rossa embodied a Republicanism that would neither yield nor forget and whose purpose remained the complete and final freedom of Ireland.