Catherine Brigid Cronin (; 26 January 1892 – 25 July 1945) was an Irish woman widely known as the fiancée of Irish revolutionary leader and Chairman of the Provisional Government, Michael Collins. Early life Catherine Bridget ‘Kitty’ Kiernan was born on 26 January 1892 in Granard, County Longford to Peter Kiernan and Bridget née Dawson. She was educated at Loreto Convent, County Wicklow. Hers was a very comfortably-off merchant family with five sisters and one brother. Her parents enjoyed a happy marriage, and life in the Kiernan home was joyous until Kitty reached her teens. On 27 November 1907 her sister, Elizabeth Mary (a twin), died aged eighteen of pulmonary tuberculosis, while Elizabeth’s twin sister, Rose, would seem to have died the same year in Davos, Switzerland–which would also indicate tuberculosis as a cause of death. Her mother Bridget died on 29 November 1908 of apoplexy, while her father, Peter, died almost exactly a year later, on 9 November 1909, of pneumonia. The Kiernan family owned the Greville Arms Hotel in the town, as well as a grocery shop, a hardware store, a timber and undertaking business and also a bar. Around the corner from the hotel they operated a bakery which supplied the town and most of the surrounding countryside. All the family worked in one capacity or another. Relationship with Michael Collins Michael Collins, one of the principal founders of the independent Irish state, was introduced to the vivacious Kiernan sisters by his cousin Gearóid O'Sullivan, who was already dating Maud Kiernan. Collins initially fell for the captivating Helen Kiernan, but she was already engaged to someone else. He then turned his interests to Kitty, who had already captured the interest of Collins' friend Harry Boland. However, it was Collins to whom Kitty became engaged, with plans to marry Collins in a November 1922 double ceremony to include the nuptials of Maud and Gearóid. Collins' death four months earlier resulted in a single wedding taking place. Later life and death On 10 June 1925, Kitty married Felix Cronin, who was Quartermaster General in the Irish Army. They had two children, their first born son, Felix junior (d. 21 November 1999), and their second son, Michael Collins Cronin (b. 20 December 1929, d. 5 January 2021). Felix junior and his son Rex (d. 25 November 1986, aged 23) are interred with his parents Kitty and Felix in Glasnevin Cemetery.