Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (1927 – 15 July 2016) was an Irish-language scholar, poet and priest from the Kerry Gaeltacht. He is perhaps best known for producing a translation of the Christian Bible into the Irish language.

Biography

Ó Fiannachta studied at Maynooth, University College Cork and All Hallows, Clonliffe College. He was ordained a priest in All Hallows College in 1953. He served for some time as a priest in Wales, 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. He was made professor of Modern Irish at Maynooth in 1982 and was awarded the Douglas Hyde prize for literature in 1969. He translated and edited an Irish-language version of the Bible – An Bíobla Naofa which was published in 1982. 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. 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. In 2013, he was made a Companion of the Order of Clans of Ireland. In 2015 he was awarded the American Irish Historical Society's Cultural Award. 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. He died in Dingle on 15 July 2016 at the age of 89 and is buried in the grounds of Séipéal Chaitlíona in Ventry.

Publications