Fr. Matthew Russell, S.J. (1834-1912) intended to found a devotional magazine with the name Catholic Ireland in 1873, but it emerged as a literary journal named The Irish Monthly. Russell, who edited the magazine until his death, had a great talent for friendship, so people of many different backgrounds and beliefs wrote for him. He treated authors as members of a family circle and encouraged many women to write. He published W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, Hillaire Belloc, Katherine Tynan and Dora Sigerson Shorter, amongst many others.