Séamus Ó Súilleabháin () was an Irish

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

, writer and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

. Ó Súilleabháin transcribed and wrote down a great deal of material from several different

genres Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other form ...

; songs, poems,

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood. They were secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...

lore, stories such as '' Cath Bruíon Caorthainn'' and ''

Cath Gabhra ''Cath Gabhra'' ( English: ''The Battle of Gabhair'' or ''Gowra'') is a narrative of the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. It tells of the destruction of the fianna and the deaths of most of its warriors in a battle against the forces of High K ...

''. One such manuscript that survives states at the end that

''I have thus finished this book, for the Revd. Joseph Baylee, rector of Holy Trinity Church ( Woodside,
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
) and headmaster of the Birkenhead College ... December 15th 1849 dated at the town of
Headford Headford () is a small town in County Galway, located 26 km north of Galway city in the west of Ireland. It is an angling centre for the eastern shore of Lough Corrib, and Greenfields, approximately 6.5 km west of the town, is its bo ...
in the
County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. James O'Sullivan Scribe and Translateor.''

Rev. Baylee was his patron, and lived in Oldtown, Chuallacht na gCairde,

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

. He was stridently

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, and said that the

Catholic 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 ...

faith was "spiritual tyranny which they, the said unhallowed and unsantified Philistines, have exercised in England, Ireland and Scotland." He seems to have lived for a time in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, and may have been a schoolmaster.

References

* ''Scríobhaithe Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge I nGaillimh 1700-1900'', William Mahon, in "Galway:History and Society", 1996 Writers from County Galway 19th-century Irish writers Year of birth missing Irish translators {{Ireland-bio-stub