Matthew Kelly (21 September 1814 – 30 October 1858) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest, academic and antiquary.

Life

Born at

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

, he was eldest son of James Kelly, by Margaret Sauphy. An uncle,

Patrick Kelly Patrick or Paddy Kelly may refer to: Politicians * Patrick Kelly (Irish politician) (1875–1934), Irish soldier, farmer and politician, Teachta Dála (TD) for Clare 1927–1932 * Patrick Kelly (Canadian politician) (1846–1916), Prince Edward I ...

, was

Bishop of Waterford The Bishop of Waterford was a medieval prelate, governing the Diocese of Waterford from its creation in the 11th century until it was absorbed into the new Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore in the 14th century. After the creation of ...

. Kelly was taught in very early years by

Michael John Brenan Michael John Brenan (1780 – 1847) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and a scholar of church history who gained notoriety through his temporary defection from the Catholic Church to the Church of Ireland (Anglican). Life Brenan was born in ...

, author of the ''Ecclesiastical History of Ireland''. When about seven years of age he entered the Kilkenny diocesan seminary, and in 1831 he began theological studies at

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland. ...

, where he was elected a Dunboyne student in 1836. From 1839 to 1841 Kelly was professor successively of philosophy and theology in the

Irish College at Paris The Irish College in Paris (french: Collège des Irlandais, links=no, la, Collegium Clericorum Hibernoram) was for three centuries a major Roman Catholic educational establishment for Irish students. It was founded in the late 16th century, and c ...

, and on 5 November 1841 was appointed to the chair of ''

belles-lettres is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pejora ...

'' and French at Maynooth; on 20 October 1857 he became professor there of ecclesiastical history. In 1854 he was made D.D. by the pope, and about the same time a canon of Ossory. Kelly died on 30 October 1858, and was buried in the cemetery of Maynooth.

Works

Kelly was a student of Irish antiquities and ecclesiastical history. He made large collections for a work on ‘The Ecclesiastical Annals of Ireland from the Invasion to the Reformation,’ as a continuation of the work of John Lanigan, and was superintending the publication of the ‘Collections on Irish Church History’ by

Laurence Renehan Laurence F. Renehan (1797–1857) was an Irish historian, author, administrator and Roman Catholic priest who served as president of St Patrick's College, Maynooth from 1845 to 1857. Renehan conducted extensive research on the history of Catholi ...

. He edited John Lynch's ‘Cambrensis Eversus,’ Dublin, 3 vols. 1848–52 (for the Celtic Society, of whose council he was a member); Stephen White's ‘Apologia pro Hibernia,’ Dublin, 1849; and Philip O'Sullivan's ‘Historiæ Catholicæ Iberniæ Compendium,’ Dublin, 1850. He also translated Jean-Edmé-Auguste Gosselin's ‘Power of the Popes during the Middle Ages,’ London, 1853 (vol. i. of the ‘Library of Translations from Select Foreign Literature’), and published a ‘Calendar of Irish Saints, the Martyrology of Tullagh; with Notices of the Patron Saints of Ireland. And Select Poems and Hymns,’ Dublin, 1857. Kelly contributed to various periodicals, notably the '' Dublin Review'', and a collection of his essays, entitled ‘Dissertations chiefly on Irish Church History,’ was edited, with a memoir, by D. McCarthy, Dublin, 1864.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Matthew 1814 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Irish antiquarians Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Academics of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Burials at Maynooth College Cemetery