Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (1927 – 15 July 2016) was an Irish-language scholar, poet and priest from the KerryGaeltacht. He is perhaps best known for producing a translation of the Christian Bible into the Irish language.
He served for some time as a priest in Wales,[1] where he became a good friend of Waldo Williams, prior to returning to Maynooth College, where he became professor of early Irish in 1960 as well as Welsh Language lecturer.[1] He was made professor of Modern Irish at Maynooth in 1982 and was awarded the Douglas Hyde prize for literature in 1969.[citation needed]
He translated and edited an Irish-language version of the Bible – An Bíobla Naofa which was published in 1982.[2]
In Léim an Dá Mhíle (1999); bilingual Irish/English edition (2005), he portrays the public life of Jesus as lived, not in Galilee, but in the Dingle peninsula.[3]
He retired from Maynooth in 1992, returning to Dingle as parish priest. In 1998 he was awarded the title monsignor by Pope John Paul II.[1] In 2013, he was made a Companion of the Order of Clans of Ireland.[4] In 2015 he was awarded the American Irish Historical Society's Cultural Award.[1]
He was involved in many Dingle events such as the blessing of the boats and participated in the Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis name-change debate.[5]
He died in Dingle on 15 July 2016 at the age of 89[6] and is buried in the grounds of Séipéal Chaitlíona in Ventry.[1]
Publications
An Bíobla Naofa, translated and edited by Padraig Ó Fiannachta (1982)
