Ann Sheehan (née Lawler) was raised an Anglican, the daughter of a Church of Ireland minister.
[2] Michael received private tuition early in life, and was then taught by the Christian Brothers at the Mount Sion schools in the city.
He was a leading activist in the movement for the revival of the Irish language,[5] and helped found Ollscoil na Mumhan in An Rinn, county Waterford in 1906.
[6] In 1919 he became vice-president of Maynooth College, and in 1922 he moved to Australia after he was consecrated Coadjutor Archbishop of Sydney.
[9] He returned to Ireland in June 1937, to live with the Holy Ghost Fathers, in Blackrock, County Dublin.