Terence O'Reilly MRIA (1947–2023) was a professor of Spanish at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

who undertook research on the literature, history and art of the

Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...

Career

Terence O'Reilly received his B.A. Honours degree in Spanish and French in 1969 from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

, followed by a PhD for a thesis on the literature of meditation in early sixteenth century Castile and Aragon in 1972. In 1973, he was granted a

research fellowship A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for list of academic ranks, academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under ...

in the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, where he worked in the Spanish department. In 1975 he moved to

(UCC) to take up a college lectureship in Spanish. According to his UCC research profile, his principal fields of research included the literature, history and art of Spain during the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

(c. 1470–1700), the prose of the period, religious writings (

Ignatius Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the So ...

Teresa of Avila Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; ) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or reap", or from θέ ...

John of the Cross St. John of the Cross (; ; né Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar of ''Converso'' ancestry. He is a major figure of the Counter-Reformation in Spain, ...

), and the paintings of

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

and

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

.‍

Personal life

O'Reilly was born in London to Irish parents and lived for a period in India. In 1968, he married the historian Jennifer O'Reilly (née Williams). He died in 2023, having been diagnosed with

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

in 2017.

Honours

* Lansdowne Lecturer,

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, British Columbia (2002) * Government of Ireland Senior Research Fellow (2004–2005) * Member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

(2007) * Veale Chair of Spirituality,

Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy The Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy was a Jesuit-run institution of higher education and research, located in Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland. From November 1989, when it was granted designated status under the National Council ...

, Dublin (2009)

Selected publications

* ''From Ignatius Loyola to John of the Cross: Spirituality and Literature in Sixteenth-Century Spain'' (Routledge: 1995) * ''The Bible in the Literary Imagination of the Spanish Golden Age: Images and Texts from Columbus to Velázquez'' (Saint Joseph's University Press: 2010) * ''The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Contexts, Sources, Reception'' (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2020) * ''Humanism and Religion in Early Modern Spain: John of the Cross, Francisco de Aldana, Luis de León'', ed. Stephen Boyd (Routledge: Variorum, 2022) Reviews: *Javier Francisco San José Lera (2022), ''Modern Language Review'', *Alicia Silvestre Miralles (2023), ''Calíope''

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OReilly, Terence Academics of University College Cork Alumni of the University of Nottingham 20th-century British historians 21st-century British historians Historians of Spain 1947 births 2023 deaths Date of birth missing Date of death missing Place of birth missing Place of death missing