Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin (c. 1715 – 1795), known in English as Timothy O'Sullivan, was a composer of mostly

Christian poetry Christian poetry is any poetry that contains Christian teachings, themes, or references. The influence of Christianity on poetry has been great in any area that Christianity has taken hold. Christian poems often directly reference the Bible, whil ...

in the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

whose ''Pious Miscellany'' was reprinted over 40 times in the early 19th century.

Early life and works

Ó Súilleabháin was born in Míntín Eoghain in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Killeedy Killeedy () is a civil parish located south of Newcastle West in County Limerick, Ireland. This parish consists of two villages, Ashford and Raheenagh. The elevation of the parish varies from 1,184 ft. OS at Mauricetown and 1,082 ft ...

near Tournafulla, in the

Sliabh Luachra Sliabh Luachra (), sometimes anglicised Slieve Logher, is an upland region in Munster, Ireland. It is on the borders of counties County Cork, Cork, County Kerry, Kerry and County Limerick, Limerick, and bounded to the south by the Munster Blackw ...

region of

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 ...

c.1715. His early works were reflective of

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 ...

bardic poetry of the period, including laments, eulogies, "drinking songs" and

Aisling The , , approximately ), or vision poem, is a mythopoeic poetic genre that developed during the late 17th and 18th centuries in Irish language poetry. The word may have a number of variations in pronunciation, but the ''is'' of the first s ...

-themed

war poet War poetry is poetry on the topic of war. While the term is applied especially to works of the First World War, the term can be applied to poetry about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of th ...

ry promoting the

Jacobite risings Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, ...

. Ó Súilleabháin lived in

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 ...

for a period and was friendly with fellow Jacobite poet Seán "Clárach" Mac Domhnaill. After moving to

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...

during the 1760s, he experienced a religious conversion and thereafter primarily composed

upon themes such as the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

, the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains from sexual activity that is considered immoral or from any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for exampl ...

, the

rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

, and St

Declán of Ardmore Declán of Ardmore (; ; ; died 5th century AD), also called Déclán, was an early Irish people, Irish saint of the Déisi Muman, who was remembered for having converted the Déisi in the late 5th century and for having founded the monastery of ...

. Up to the time of his death, Tadhg Gaelach was sometimes looked after by the O'Callaghans; a relatively prosperous Ballylaneen Catholic farming family. He was also a frequent guest of the village

Roman 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'' re ...

, Fr. Richard Morrissey. Other local friends and patrons included the O'Phelan (Ó Faoláin) family, and one of his last songs is written in their honour ''Do Seoirse agus Domhnall Ó Faoiláin'' to be sung to the air, "Bonny Jane".

Death and legacy

Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin is said to have collapsed and died while praying inside St. Patrick's Church in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

in April 1795, and lies buried in Ballylaneen. Upon hearing of the death of his close friend and fellow poet, Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara composed a

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a term o ...

for Ó Súilleabháin in

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

verse.Daniel Corkery (1926), ''The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century'', Wipf and Stock Publishers, pages 246 - 247. While manuscripts of Ó Súilleabháin's Christian poetry had already circulated before his death, and in 1802 a printed collection of twenty-five religious poems was published at Clonmel under the title ''Timothy O'Sullivan's Irish Pious Miscellany''. Between 1816 and 1879 more than a dozen new editions of the ''Pious Miscellany'' were printed and sold in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

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

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, which leaves little doubt that it was the most widely read Irish-language book ever published before the later

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 ...

. A collection of Tadhg Gaelach's hymns were published by ''an tAthair''

Pádraig Ua Duinnín Patrick Stephen Dinneen (; 25 December 1860 – 29 September 1934) was an Irish lexicographer and historian, and a leading figure in the Gaelic revival. Life Dinneen was born near Rathmore, County Kerry. He was educated at Shrone and Meentogue ...

in Dublin in 1903.

References

External links

Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin

Dictionary of Irish Biography The ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (DIB) is a biographical dictionary of notable Irish people and people not born in the country who had notable careers in Ireland, including both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. History The ...

Timothy O'Sullivan's Pious Miscellany
published in Irish in 1868, by John O'Daly Publishers, 9 Anglesea St.,

{{DEFAULTSORT:O Suilleabhain, Tadhg Gaelach 1715 births 1795 deaths 18th-century Irish-language poets Irish Catholic poets Irish poets Irish Jacobites Jacobite poets Underground education Writers from County Limerick

Early life and works

Death and legacy

Further reading

References

External links