It was named for the "Sword of Light" (in modern spelling Claíomh Solais) of Gaelic myth.

[1] In 1900 the League took control of the weekly bilingual paper Fáinne an Lae, when its editor went bankrupt.

[2] From, 1903 to 1909 the paper was edited by Pádraig Pearse, the teacher and barrister who later became a key figure in the Easter Rising in 1916.

Under his editorship the paper played a prominent role in the Irish Literary Revival, publishing original literary works in both Irish and English and devoting considerable space to commentary on cultural matters.

The paper continued under the names Fáinne an Lae (1918–19, 1922–30) and Misneach (1919–22), reverting briefly to An Claidheamh Soluis in 1930–31.