Father Peadar Ua Laoghaire or Peadar Ó Laoghaire (, first name locally ; 30 April 1839 – 21 March 1920), also anglicized as Peter O'Leary, was an Irish writer and

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

, who is regarded today as one of the founders of

modern literature in Irish Although Irish has been used as a literary language for more than 1,500 years (see Irish literature), and modern literature in Irish dates – as in most European languages – to the 16th century, modern Irish literature owes much of its popul ...

Life

He was born in Liscarrigane () in the parish of

Clondrohid Clondrohid () is a village and civil parish in County Cork, Ireland, four miles (6 km) north of Macroom. As of the 2022 census, the population of the village was recorded as 180, down slightly from 188 people as of the 2011 census. Geogr ...

(),

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, and grew up speaking

Munster Irish Munster Irish (, ) is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Munster. Gaeltacht regions in Munster are found in the Gaeltachtaí of the Dingle Peninsula in west County Kerry, in the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry, in ...

in the

Muskerry Muskerry () is a central region of County Cork, Ireland which incorporates the baronies of Muskerry West Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

. He was a descendant of the Carrignacurra branch of the Ó Laoghaire of the ancient

Corcu Loígde The Corcu Loígde (Corcu Lóegde, Corco Luigde, Corca Laoighdhe, Laidhe), meaning Gens of the Calf Goddess, also called the Síl Lugdach meic Itha, were a kingdom centred in West County Cork who descended from the proto-historical rulers of M ...

. He attended

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was of ...

and was ordained a priest of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1867. He became a parish priest in Castlelyons in 1891, and it was there that he wrote his most famous story, , and told it as a fireside story to three little girls. was the first major literary work of the emerging

Gaelic revival The Gaelic revival () was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including folklore, mythology, sports, music, arts, etc.). Irish had diminished as a sp ...

. It was serialised in the

Gaelic Journal The ''Gaelic Journal'' () was a periodical publication "exclusively devoted to the preservation and cultivation of the Irish Language". According to Tomas O Flannghaile it was "the first journal devoted to the living Irish language". It has been ...

from 1894, and published in book form in 1904. The plot of the story concerns a deal that the shoemaker Séadna struck with "the Dark Man". Although the story is rooted in the folklore the writer heard from shanachies by the fire during his youth, it is also closely related to the German legend of

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

. It was first published as a serial in various Irish-language magazines. Apart from ''Séadna'', Ua Laoghaire wrote an autobiography called ("''My Own Story''"), published by Norma Borthwick's ''Irish Book Company''. In addition, he translated some stories of medieval Gaelic literature into modern Irish, such as ''Eisirt'' and ''An Cleasaí'', and translated an abridged version of ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'' into his local dialect of Irish. Peadar Ua Laoghaire became known for his support for , the real Irish of the people rather than any attempt to revive older forms of Irish. But he also drew careful distinctions between what he saw as good Irish and bad Irish, saying in chapter 5 of ,

Before I left Liscarrigane, I had never heard from anybody's mouth phrases such as "tá mé", "bhí mé", "bhí siad"; I always used to hear "táim", "bhíos", "bhíodar", etc. Little things! – but little things that come repeatedly into conversation. A taut mode of expression, as against one that is lax, makes for finish in speech; in the same manner, a lax mode of expression as against the taut, makes for speech that is deficient. Besides, the taut speech possesses a force and a vigour that cannot be contained in speech that is falling apart...The loose mode of expression is prominent in Gaelic today and English is nothing else. English has fallen apart completely.

Accordingly, he strongly promoted Cork Irish as what he saw as the best Irish for propagation among the Irish people. He died in Castlelyons at the age of 80.

Works

The following is a partial list of his works: * ''Ar nDóithin Araon'', 1894 * ''Mion-chaint'', an easy Irish phrase book, compiled for the Gaelic League, 1899 * ''Eólas ar áireamh'', arithmetical tables in Irish, 1902 * ''An Soísgéal as Leabar an aifrinn'', 1902 (the liturgical readers from the Missal) * Irish prose composition: a series of articles, including several upon the Irish autonomous verb, 1902 * ''Aesop a Tháinig go hÉirinn'', 1903 * ''Sgothbhualadh'', a series of articles in Irish reprinted from the "Leader", 1904 * ''Séadna'', 1904 (originally serialised in 1898) * ''An Craos-Deamhan'', 1905 * ''An Bealach Buidhe'', a drama, 1906 * '' Tóruigheacht Dhiarmuda agus Ghráinne'', 1906 * ''Niamh'' 1907 * ''Eisirt'', 1909 * ''Seanmóin agus trí fichid'', sermons for every Sunday and holy day of the year, 1909–10 * ''An sprid: Bas Dalláin: Tadhg Saor'', three short plays, 1911 * ''An Cleasaidhe'', 1913 * ''Caitilina'', 1913 * ''Aithris ar Chríost'', 1914 (a translation into Irish of

Thomas à Kempis Thomas à Kempis, CRV ( – 25 July 1471; ; ) was a German-Dutch Catholic canon regular of the Augustinians and the author of '' The Imitation of Christ'', one of the best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", ...

' 'Imitatio Christi') * ''Sliabh na mban bhFionn agus Cúan Fithise'', 1914 * '' Lughaidh Mac Con'', 1914 * ''Bricriu'', 1915 * ''Na Cheithre Soisgéil as an dTiomna Nua'', 1915 (a translation into Irish of the

Four Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sense ...

) * ''Mo Sgéal Féin'', 1915 * ''Guaire'', 1915 * ''Ag Séideadh agus ag ithe'', 1918 * ''An teagasg críosdaidhe'', edited by Ua Laoghaire, 1920 * ''Don Cíchóté'', a partial translation of

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

' early 17th century novel ''

'', 1921 * ''Gníomhartha na nAspol'', 1921 (a translation into Irish of the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

) * ''Lúcián'', 1924 * ''Sgéalaidheachta as an mBíobla naomhtha'', 1924 (stories from the Bible) * ''Críost Mac Dé'', 1925 * ''Sgealaidheacht na Macabéach'', 1926 (the stories of the

Maccabees The Maccabees (), also spelled Machabees (, or , ; or ; , ), were a group of Jews, Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire. Its leaders, the Hasmoneans, founded the Hasmonean dynasty ...

from the

Apocrypha Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

) * ''Aodh Ruadh'', an adaptation of the life of

Hugh Roe O'Donnell Hugh Roe O'Donnell II (; 20 October 1572 – 30 August 1602), also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell, was an Irish Chief of the Name, clan chief and senior leader of the Irish confederacy during the Nine Years' War (Ireland), Nine Years' War. He was ...

(Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill) originally by

Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh (fl. 1603 – 1616), sometimes anglicised as Lewey O'Clery, was an Irish Gaelic poet and historian. He is best known today as the author of ''Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill'', a biography of Red Hugh O'Donnell. Life Bo ...

in the 17th century, 1929 * Notes on Irish words and usages * Papers on Irish idiom: together with a translation into Irish of part of the first book of Euclid, by the late canon Peter O'Leary; edited by Thomas F. O'Rahilly. * ''Cómhairle ár leasa'', articles published in the "Leader" * ''Mo shlighe chun Dé: leabhar urnaighthe'' An article listing 487 of Ua Laoghaire's articles and works was published in ''Celtica'' in 1954.Still available from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
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References

:''This page includes material translated from the corresponding article at the Irish Wikipedia as of 2007-10-07. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ua Laoghaire, Peadar 1839 births 1920 deaths 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth 20th-century Irish autobiographers Irish translators People educated at St Colman's College, Fermoy Christian clergy from County Cork Translators of the Bible into Irish Translators to Irish Writers from County Cork 19th-century Irish-language writers 20th-century Irish-language writers

Life

Works

See also

References