Monsignor Dr Denis McDaid (1899–1981) was an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman who served as Rector of the
Pontifical Irish College
The Pontifical Irish College is a Roman Catholic seminary for the training and education of priests, in Rome. The College is located at #1, Via dei Santi Quattro, and serves as a residence for clerical students from all over the world. Designated ...
from 1939 – 1951 and thereafter was a Canon of
St. Peter's Basilica. He is buried in
Campo Verano
The Campo Verano (Italian: ''Cimitero del Verano'') is a cemetery in Rome, Italy, founded in the early 19th century. The monumental cemetery is currently divided into sections: the Jewish cemetery, the Catholic cemetery, and the monument to the ...
in Rome.
Monsignor Dr Denis McDaid was educated in
St Columb's College
St Columb's College ( ga, Coláiste Naomh Colum Cille) is a Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland and, since 2008, a specialist school in mathematics. It is named after Saint Columba, the missionary monk from County Don ...
and studied for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained a priest for service in the
Diocese of Derry in 1922. He undertook doctoral studies in Rome and then spent four years in the
Archdiocese of Glasgow before an 8 years stint as a curate in Leckpatrick and a further curacy in
Kilrea in 1936/
He was appointed Seminary Rector in early 1939.
The historian Dermot Keogh wrote in his 1925 book ''Ireland and the Vatican'' that McDaid was "reserved, formal and not a little pedantic" and that it was a pity other stronger candidates were not offered the post.
McDaid's nationalist sentiments caused some unease to Irish diplomats who wished that in the context of the German occupation of Rome during the Second World War, McDaid would speak less in public and "attend to his own business."
McDaid later wrote an account of the College during the war years which was published in the College magazine The Coelian in 1968.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDaid, Denis
1899 births
1981 deaths
People educated at St Columb's College
20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests
Place of birth missing