Tomás Séamus
Cardinal Ó Fiaich KGCHS (3 November 1923 – 8 May 1990) was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...
of the Catholic Church. He served as the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Primate of All Ireland
The Primacy of Ireland was historically disputed between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin until finally settled by Pope Innocent VI. ''Primate'' is a title of honour denoting ceremonial precedence in the Church, and in ...
and
Archbishop of Armagh from 1977 until his death. He was created a
Cardinal in 1979. He was born in 1923 in
Cullyhanna
Cullyhanna () is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village extends further over the townlands of Tullynavall and Freeduff. It had a population of 306 in the 2001 Census. It is within the Newry and Mourne Distri ...
, and raised in
Camlough
Camlough ( ; ) is a village five kilometres west of Newry in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village is named after a lake, known as Cam Lough, in the parish, which is about 90 acres in extent. South of the village is Camlough Mountain (Sli ...
,
County Armagh
County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...
.
Early life and education
Tomás Ó Fiaich (born Thomas Fee, adopting the fully Gaelicised version while a lecturer at
St. Patrick's College Maynooth) was born in Cullyhanna, South Armagh where his father was a local schoolmaster. He was educated locally before attending
St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh
St Patrick's Grammar School ( ga, Scoil Ghramadaí Naomh Pádraig), Armagh, is a Roman Catholic boys' non-selective voluntary grammar school in the city of Armagh, Northern Ireland. The present-day school was officially opened on Thursday, 27 O ...
and then proceeded to begin his studies for the priesthood in
St Peter's College, Wexford on 6 July 1948.
Cardinal John D'Alton appointed him as an assistant priest in
Clonfeacle
Clonfeacle is a civil parish in County Armagh and County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is split across the historic baronies of Armagh and Oneilland West in County Armagh and Dungannon Lower and Dungannon Middle in County Tyrone.
The Parish co ...
parish, but after Ó Fiaich returned to full health he commenced post-graduate studies in
University College, Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
, (1948–50), receiving an
MA in early and medieval
Irish history
The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quatern ...
. Further study followed at the
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, (1950–52), culminating in Ó Fiaich receiving a
licentiate in historical sciences.
In 1952 he returned to Clonfeacle where he remained as assistant priest until following summer 1953 and his appointment to the faculty of
St Patrick's College, Maynooth
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. ...
.
Member of staff at Maynooth College
Ó Fiaich was an academic and noted
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
scholar,
folklorist and historian in the
Pontifical University in St Patrick's College, Maynooth, the National Seminary of Ireland. From 1959 to 1974 he was Professor of Modern Irish History at the college. In this capacity he suggested to
Nollaig Ó Muraíle
Nollaig Ó Muraíle is an Irish scholar. He published an acclaimed edition of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's ''Leabhar na nGenealach'' in 2004. He was admitted to the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.
Life and career
A native of Knock, County Mayo, Ó ...
that he begin research on
Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh
Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (), also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius (fl. 1643 – January 1671) was an Irish scribe, translator, histori ...
and his works. He "was an inspired lecturer, an open and endearing man, who was loved by his students... Tomas O'Fiaich was my Good Samaritan."
He served as vice president of the college from 1970 to 1974 and was then appointed college president. He held this position until 1977.
Archbishop of Armagh
Following the relatively early death from cancer of
William Cardinal Conway in April 1977,
Monsignor
Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...
Ó Fiaich was appointed Archbishop of Armagh by
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
on 18 August 1977. He was consecrated bishop on 2 October 1977. The
principal consecrator
A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop.
The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...
was the
papal nuncio
An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...
Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi; the
principal co-consecrators were Bishop
Francis Lenny, the auxiliary Bishop of Armagh, and Bishop
William Philbin
William J. Philbin (26 January 1907 - 22 August 1991) was an Irish Roman Catholic Prelate. From July 1962 until his retirement, he held the title Bishop of Down and Connor.
Early life and priestly ministry
William Philbin was born in Kiltimag ...
, the Bishop of
Down and Connor.
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
raised Ó Fiaich to the cardinalate on 30 June 1979; he was appointed
Cardinal-Priest
A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...
of S. Patrizio that same day.
Papal visit 1979
The first major event in Ó Fiaich's cardinalate was the first ever papal visit to
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
from 29 September to 1 October 1979 by
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
. The Pope celebrated
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
before one million people in
Phoenix Park
The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tre ...
, Dublin. His major speech calling on all the organisations that were prolonging
The Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
to end their activities was made in the
Archdiocese of Armagh and was followed by a visit to the Marian Shrine at
Knock,
County Mayo. Cardinal Ó Fiaich was at the Pope's side during the entire visit.
Criticism
Ó Fiaich took a more understanding, or at least a less critical, stance than other episcopal colleagues on militant republicanism in part because of his own upbringing in Crossmaglen. His approach, including visits to republican prisoners in the Maze, triggered many complaints but Ó Fiaich was always adamant that he had pastoral responsibilities and that the strict work of politics especially in an era of Margaret Thatcher as well as
Taoisigh such as
Jack Lynch and
Garret FitzGerald, was not his sphere.
Unionists were also critical of Ó Fiaich.
Some of Ó Fiaich's sternest critics were in the Irish media, notably ''
The Sunday Independent'' (which had a very strong anti-republican stance) and ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
''. He was, however, strongly defended on occasion by ''
The Irish Press
''The Irish Press'' (Irish: ''Scéala Éireann'') was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995.
Foundation
The paper's first issue was published on the eve of the 1931 All-Ireland ...
'' (a more
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
paper) and ''
An Phoblacht
''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; en, "The Republic") is a formerly weekly, and currently monthly newspaper published by Sinn Féin in Ireland. From early 2018 onwards, ''An Phoblacht'' has moved to a magazine format while remaining an ...
'' (which had a very pro-Sinn Féin & IRA stance).
Hunger strikes
During the
IRA hunger strikes Ó Fiaich was believed by many to have been a privately influential figure among militant republican supporters, credited with helping end the first hunger strike through direct contact with militant republicans in the
Maze Prison
Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sep ...
in Northern Ireland. He visited the Maze and witnessed the "Dirty Protest" (where prisoners rubbed their faeces on the walls of their cells and left food to rot on cell floors, while just wearing blankets and refusing to wash, in protest at the withdrawal of
Special Category Status
In July 1972, William Whitelaw, the Conservative British government's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, granted Special Category Status (SCS) to all prisoners serving sentences in Northern Ireland for Troubles-related offences. This had be ...
from militant republican prisoners). He stated:
:"I was shocked at by the inhuman conditions . . . where over 300 prisoners are incarcerated. One would hardly allow an animal to remain in such conditions let alone a human being. The nearest approach to it that I have seen was the spectacle of hundreds of homeless people living in sewer pipes in the slums of Calcutta."
![Tomás Ó Fiaichrnf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Tom%C3%A1s_%C3%93_Fiaichrnf.jpg)
When hunger striker
Raymond McCreesh
Raymond McCreesh ( ga, Réamonn Mac Raois, 25 February 1957 – 21 May 1981) was an Irish volunteer in the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1976, he and two other IRA volunteers were captured while attemp ...
died, Ó Fiaich said:
:"Raymond McCreesh was captured bearing arms at the age of 19 and sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. I have no doubt that he would have never seen the inside of a jail but for the abnormal political situation. Who is entitled to label him a murderer or a suicide?"
While the Cardinal showed deep concern for the treatment of prisoners, he was equally critical of those who used violence to further the cause of Irish nationalism.
David Armstrong affair
In 1983, the Reverend David Armstrong, a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister, was forced to leave
Limavady due to threats that followed his wishing Father Kevin Mullan's Catholic congregation "Happy Christmas". Cardinal Ó Fiaich gave the clergyman a cash donation to help him resettle in England.
Vatican service
During his tenure, Cardinal Ó Fiaich attended many synods and meetings of the Sacred
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...
. The main meetings were
* First Plenary Assembly of the Sacred College of Cardinals,
Vatican City
Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—'
* german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ')
* pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—'
* pt, Cidade do Vati ...
, 5–9 November 1979
* World Synod of Bishops (Ordinary assembly), Vatican City, 26 September – 25 October 1980
* World Synod of Bishops (Ordinary assembly), Vatican City, 29 September – 28 October 1983
* World Synod of Bishops (Extraordinary assembly), Vatican City, 24 November – 8 December 1985
* World Synod of Bishops (Ordinary assembly), Vatican City, 1–30 October 1987
Reordering of Armagh Cathedral
Ó Fiaich's re-ordering of the high Victorian
neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
St. Patrick's Cathedral in
Armagh proved very contentious. He had the highly decorated
High Altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...
and
rood screen replaced by a plain white
Wicklow
Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has a ...
granite
altar table.
Though Cardinal Ó Fiaich himself wrote approvingly of the new design for the sanctuary, many others were highly critical, arguing that the new sanctuary design defaced what had been a particularly fine nineteenth-century building, with the brutal simplicity of the white oval altar contrasting with the original features surviving. One critic, writing in ''
The Sunday Independent'', compared Ó Fiaich's altar to something from the set of ''
Star Trek''. The altar table installed during his time as
Archbishop of Armagh was subsequently removed by
Seán Cardinal Brady and a more classical replacement installed.
Death
Ó Fiaich died of a heart attack on the evening of 8 May 1990 while leading the annual
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
by the
Archdiocese of Armagh to the
Marian
Marian may refer to:
People
* Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia
* Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name
* Marian (surname), a list of people so named
Places
* Marian, Iran (disambiguation)
* Marian, Queenslan ...
shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...
of
Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...
in France. He had arrived in France the day before and had complained of feeling ill shortly after saying Mass at the grotto in the French town. He was rushed by helicopter to a hospital in Toulouse, away, where he died. He was aged 66. He lay in state at the cathedral in Armagh, where thousands of people lined up to pay their respects.
He was succeeded as archbishop and cardinal by a man six years his senior,
Cahal Daly
Charles (Cahal) Brendan Cardinal Daly KGCHS (1 October 1917 – 31 December 2009) was an Irish philosopher, theologian, writer and international speaker and, in later years, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Daly served as the Roman Cat ...
, then the Bishop of
Down and Connor.
Legacy
Cardinal Ó Fiaich Library
The Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library, a registered charity, was officially opened in Armagh 8 May 1999 by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State,
Marjorie Mowlam
Dr Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minis ...
.
Named after the cardinal to honour his academic interests, it contains extensive archival material about Irish folklore, heritage and history. Cardinal Ó Fiaich's private papers covering his period as archbishop and cardinal are held by the library, as are those of nine previous Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh dating back to the mid-eighteenth century.
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich (An Chultúrlann) is an Irish language cultural centre in The Gaeltacht Quarter and is located on the Falls Road, Belfast. Opened in 1991, the centre underwent renovation in 2010 and was opened the following year by ...
is named in Cardinal Ó Fiaich's honour and is an
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
cultural centre in which the first
Irish-medium secondary school in Northern Ireland,
Coláiste Feirste
Coláiste Feirste is the only secondary-level Irish-medium school in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Previously known as ''Méanscoil Feirste'', the (Irish language school) is located in the west of the city in a new facility on Belfast's Falls R ...
was founded.
A bust of the cardinal can be seen in
An Ceathrú Póilí
An Ceathrú Póilí ( en, The Fourth Policeman; founded 1983) is an independent bookstore based in Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich on the Falls Road in Belfast's Gaeltacht Quarter. The shop primarily sells Irish language books and Irish traditio ...
, the centre's book shop.
Ancient Order of Hibernians
The
Ancient Order of Hibernians
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH; ) is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in N ...
, an exclusively Roman Catholic organisation largely (though not exclusively) based in the US, has named its No. 14 Division in Massachusetts and No. 7 Division in New York City after the late Cardinal.
Footnotes
# Then Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Garret FitzGerald, on behalf of the Government, raised Alibrandi's position directly with Pope Paul VI and Cardinal Benelli at a meeting in 1975. (FitzGerald in The Irish Times)
# Garret FitzGerald, ''All in a Life'' (Gill and Macmillan, 1991) p. 337.)
# Statement by Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich, quoted in Tim Pat Coogan, ''The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966–1996 and the Search for Peace'' (Arrow, 1996)
References
Writings
* ''Edmund O'Reilly,
Archbishop of Armagh 1657–1669,'' in ''Father
Luke Wadding Commemorative Volume,'' pp. 171–228 (Franciscan Fathers), 1957.
* ''Irish cultural influence in Europe, 6th to 12th century,'' Dublin, 1967.
* ''The Irish Bishops and The Conscription Issue 1918'', in ''The Capuchin Annual'', 1968.
* ''Columbanus in His Own Words'' (Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1974)
* ''Virgil's Irish background and departure for France,'' in ''Seanchas Ardmacha,'' ix (1985), pp. 301–17.
* ''Gaelscrínte san Eoraop.'' Dublin, 1986.
* ''Irish monks in Germany in the late Middle Ages,'' in ''The Church, Ireland and the Irish,'' (ed. W.J. Sheils and Diana Wood), Oxford, 1989; studies in Church history, xxv, pp. 89–104.
* ''The early period,'' in Rémonn Ó Muirí (ed.) ''Irish Church History Today,'' pp. 1–12, Armagh
991?* ''Virgils Wededegand in Irland und sein Weg auf den Kontinent,'' in ''
Virgil von Salzburg,'' pp. 17–26 (date unknown)
External links
BBC page on the hunger strikes containing comments by Cardinal Ó FiaichTomás Ó Fiaich memorial library and archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:OFiaich, Tomas
1923 births
1990 deaths
Irish cardinals
Roman Catholic archbishops of Armagh
People from Crossmaglen
20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland
Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II
Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni
Irish-language writers
People educated at St Peter's College, Wexford
Presidents of St Patrick's College, Maynooth
Academics of St Patrick's College, Maynooth
Irish Roman Catholic archbishops