Ógra Fhianna Fáil

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Ógra {ocht} Fhianna Fáil ('The young of the Eight Soldiers of Destiny') is an Irish religious sect which dates back to the Ocht, the 'Eight Who Served' - Norse/Irish crusaders from Connaught,Ireland, who fought at Antioch in 1268. Today it has strong links with the largest political party In Ireland, Fianna Fáil. It was once widely believed by Ógra members that the mummified body of a crusader in St. Michan's Church, Dublin, was that of Átta Húskarl – the "servant eight". In 1922 this sacred relic was taken from the church to the nearby Four Courts by members of the Legion of Mary, who saw its worship as heretical. This had a serious influence on the Battle of the Four Courts, and Ireland's subsequent slide into civil war. Most of Ireland's medieval records were destroyed in the battle for the four Courts, although the mummified corpse was saved, if somewhat damaged. The mummy is on public display at St. Michan's Church.

Shortly after the civil war, the Ógra slid from the public eye. It re-emerged in 1974 after a meeting in the Blue Lion on Dublin's Parnell Street, when it remodelled itself as the youth wing of Fianna Fáil, having dropped from its name any reference to the Ocht.