Mo Mowlam is dying.

Americans who have never heard of her should remember her name. Hers is one of the great peace-making stories of our time.

By the late 1990s, Northern Ireland had been at war with itself for nearly 30 years. As Northern Ireland secretary, in 1998, she saw that the peace process could never get off the ground without the support of radicals, then held at Maze Prison.

She went to Maze Prison.

Mo Mowlam spent an hour in that prison, talking to prisoners face-to-face, eventually persuading them that the para-militaries should send representatives to peace talks.

The result was the Good Friday Agreement.

It wasn't perfect then. It's still not perfect. But it is holding. The killing has stopped. The IRA has stood down. A cycle of life is replacing the cycle of death.

My mother's maiden name is Mathilda Gertrude Edwina O'Donnell. She likes to note that her ancestor, John O'Donnell, came to these shores from County Cork. But Cork was an exile. The O'Donnells actually come from northern Ireland, and were among the first Catholics expelled when the British re-settled the area with Protestants, in the 17th century.

I would like to say, on behalf of my mother, that I'm over it. All Irishmen, around the world, need to heed this. If we can get over it, if there's ever a chance of that, we all have Mo Mowlam to thank. So the Catholic prayer is appropriate here. (It's printed from memory. Some things you don't forget.)

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Amen.

The family motto of the O'Donnell family is, "In this name you shall conquer." Mo Mowlam conquered Ireland for the cause of peace. If it be God's will, she will find honor in heaven.

When they tear down the divide in Belfast, call it Mowlam Way.