The name was adopted by groups of Irish immigrants in the United States,[3] its purpose to act as guards to shield Catholic churches from anti-Catholic forces in the mid-19th century, and to assist Irish Catholic immigrants, especially those who faced discrimination or harsh coal mining working conditions.

[citation needed] Many members in the coal mining area of Pennsylvania allegedly had a background with the Molly Maguires.

[7] It was strongly opposed to secular ideologies such as those of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (the IRB), who were most unhappy at the re-emergence of this old rival "right-wing" nationalist society.

[11] After the 1916 Easter Rising the organisation declined outside of Ulster, its members absorbed into Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (the IRA).

On the other hand, on 13 June 1916 Joe Devlin chaired an AOH Convention in Dublin that approved the proposed partition of Ireland by 475 votes to 265.

[13] Many republican leaders in the 1916–1923 period, among them Seán Mac Diarmada, J. J. Walsh, and Rory O'Connor, had been "Hibs" before the formation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913.

[12] The AOH is also significant as a link between the new nationalist organisations and the century-old tradition of popular militant societies.

The quasi-Fascist Blueshirts movement of the 1930s may, in fact, have owed as much to the Ribbon tradition which it so much resembled, as it did to continental analogies.

[14] Within Ulster generally, but especially within Northern Ireland, the AOH remains a visible but somewhat marginal part of the Catholic community.

However the Molly Maguires and their criminal activities were condemned at the 1876 national convention of the AOH[23] and the order was reorganised in the Pennsylvania coal areas.

(Irish-American Alliance)), while the small earlier group called itself Ancient Order of Hibernians, Board of Erin (A.O.H (B.O.E.)).

The Bucks County Division 1 Clubhouse, constructed in 1893, is believed to be the one of the oldest, continuously operated AOH Halls.

He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service during the Civil War, where he served in the Union Army with the Second Irish Dragons.

The Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians raised $50,000 to build the Nuns of the Battlefield sculpture in Washington, D.C., which the United States Congress authorised in 1918.

[23] The AOH's national chaplains have included prominent clergymen such as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Cardinal Francis Spellman.

The memorial and associated "Barry Gate" was presented to the academy by the members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.