Mons Ó Fiannachta, a man of vision who will be sadly missed
“Msgr. Ó Fiannachta was a much-respected and much-loved pastor, as a scholar he was deeply respected for his work in Celtic Studies. He will be
deeply missed.” President Michael D Higgins
EVER since his death on Friday last, Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta has been was very much on the minds of the people of West Kerry as they remembered a man whose vision, personality and generosity of spirit were admired and appreciated.
Mons Ó Fiannachta, who was aged 89, had been a patient in Dingle Hospital in recent weeks but up to that time he led a very active and prodigiously productive life. When he wasn’t travelling he could be found from morning till night in his office in An Díseart, working on episcopal and secular projects that included writing for and editing Irisleabhar Mhá Nuad and editing/managing An Sagart publishing house.
Born into a family of eight children in Baile Móir, Ventry, in 1927, he studied in ‘ The Sem’, UCC, Maynooth College, and All Hallows College where in 1953 he was ordained ‘for export’ going on to serve in Wrexham Parish in Wales for six years.
At the age of 33, a chance meeting with one of his former teachers at Maynooth resulted in Fr Pádraig returning to the college and two years later he was appointed professor of Early and Middle Irish and lecturer in Welsh. He spent 34 years at the university where, aside from teaching, he threw himself into research and academic projects that, among a great body of other work, produced the first complete modern Irish Catholic Bible.
After leaving Maynooth he served briefly in Baile Bhúirne and then Glenflesk before returning to Dingle as Parish Priest in 1993. Never shy of voicing his opinion or of taking a stand in the centre of controversy, he was soon to the fore in local issues.
In 2005 he led a campaign demanding a new community hospital for Dingle and after the hospital was finally built he was back at the head of local protests, blasting HIQA for delaying the opening of the facility. And in the midst of the controversy that erupted following Páidí Ó Sé’s ‘ f **ing animals’ comment he famously put up a highly erudite and entertaining defence of his friend in a radio interview, prompting the presenter, Marian Finucane, to comment that if she ever needed a lawyer she’d be sure to look him up.
The Monsignor will be remembered for all that by the people of West Kerry but, perhaps more so, he will be remembered by many individuals for his unseen acts of kindness and generosity, particularly to those on the margins.