Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig (c. 1580 – 1653) was an Irish poet and priest. He is not to be confused with any of the Barons of Upper Ossory, his relations, several of whom bore the same name in Irish.

Background

Mac Giolla Phádraig was descended from a dynasty of the

Gaelic nobility of Ireland This article concerns the Gaelic nobility of Ireland from ancient to modern times. It only partly overlaps with Chiefs of the Name because it excludes Scotland and other discussion. It is one of three groups of Irish nobility, the others bei ...

that had ruled

Ossory Osraige (Old Irish) or Osraighe (Classical Irish), Osraí (Modern Irish), anglicized as Ossory, was a medieval Irish kingdom comprising what is now County Kilkenny and western County Laois, corresponding to the Diocese of Ossory. The home of t ...

since before the 8th century. Only a handful of his works of

Irish bardic poetry Bardic poetry is the writings produced by a class of poets trained in the bardic schools of Ireland and the Gaelic parts of Scotland, as they existed down to about the middle of the 17th century or, in Scotland, the early 18th century. Most of t ...

are extant. A cry of despair against the

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the Commonwealth of England, initially led by Oliver Cromwell. It forms part of the 1641 to 1652 Irish Confederate Wars, and wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three ...

, and its consequences for the world and class to which he belonged, his ''Faisean Chláir Éibhir'' bears a striking resemblance to the poetry of the great

Dáibhí Ó Bruadair Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (1625 – January 1698) was a 17th-century Irish language Irish poetry, poet who was probably received his training in a Bard, Bardic school . He lived through a period of change in Irish history, and his work reflects the de ...

: ''"A trick of this false world has laid me low: servants in every home with grimy English but no regard for one of the poet class save "Out! and take your precious Gaelic with you!"'' Mac Giolla Phádraig was ordained a priest in 1610. In 1622 he made a copy of the '' Leabhar Branach'', a book of Irish poetry in praise of four of the O'Byrne chieftains of Ranelagh; it is thanks to this copy that the poems survive. Around the year 1651 he was appointed vicar general and apostolic vicar of the diocese of Ossory, which covers

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the City status in Ir ...

and western

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

. He was killed by

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

's forces shortly afterwards. In ''Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica'', his death is described: "He was pursued into a cave by the heretics, who there cut off his head, placed it on a pole at the gates of a certain town and left his body to be devoured by the wild beasts." The historian William Carrigan writes that according to local

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

, a slaughter was committed at a

Mass rock A Mass rock ( Irish: ''Carraig an Aifrinn)'' was a rock used as an altar by the Catholic Church in Ireland, during the 17th and 18th centuries, as a location for secret and illegal gatherings of faithful attending the Mass offered by outlawed ...

in Tinwear, a quarter of a mile from Durrow. According to Fearghus Ó Fearghail in ''Kilkenny History and Society'', "Bernard Fitzpatrick, who had administered the díocese after Bishop Rothe’s death from his hiding place in his ancestral home in

, was tracked down and killed in 1653." A memorial to Mac Giolla Phádraig stands in the square in Durrow.

''Faisean Chláir Éibhir''

The full title comes from its first line: ''Och mo chreachsa faisean chláir Éibhir''. Mac Giolla Phádraig's most famous work deplored the anglicisation of ordinary poor Irish farm labourers, pejoratively known as

churl A churl ( Old High German ), in its earliest Old English (Anglo-Saxon) meaning, was simply "a man" or more particularly a "free man", but the word soon came to mean "a non-servile peasant", still spelled , and denoting the lowest rank of freemen ...

s, in the 1600s. He considered that formerly they were poorer and more respectful of his Church and

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

culture, but were now starting to adopt

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

and the English language. Extracts give a flavour: :‘… each beggarwoman’s son has curled locks, bright cuffs about his paw, and a golden ring like a prince of the blood of Cas.. each churl or his son is starched up around the chin, a scarf thrown around him and a garter on him, his tobacco-pipe in his gob.. his knuckles bedecked with bracelets.. a churl in each house that is owned by a speaker of horrible English and no-one paying any heed to a man of the poetic company, save for "Get out, and take your precious Gaelic with you".' Is cor do leag mé cleas an phlás-tsaoile: mogh i ngach teach ag fear an smáil-Bhéarla 's gan scot ag neach le fear den dáimh éigse ach 'hob amach is beir leat do shár-Gaeilgsa'

Notes

References

* ''Irish poets, historians, and judges in English documents, 1538–1615'',

T.F. O'Rahilly Thomas Francis O'Rahilly (; 11 November 1882 – 16 November 1953)Ó Sé, Diarmuid.O'Rahilly, Thomas Francis (‘T. F.’). ''Dictionary of Irish Biography''. (ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Pr ...

, RIA Proc. 26 C (1921–4), 88–120. * ''Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig'', C. Mhág Craith, '' Celtica'' 4 (1958) 103–205 * ''An appeal for a guarantor'', Pádraig A. Bhreatnach, ''Celtica'' 21 (1990), 28–37, esp. pp. 32–33

External links

Gleanings from Irish manuscripts
National Library of Scotland
The Fitzpatrick – Mac Giolla Phádraig Clan SocietyThe Fitzpatrick Clan Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgiollaphadraig, Brian 1580s births 1650s deaths 17th-century Irish poets Irish poets 17th-century Irish-language poets Christian clergy from County Kilkenny Executed people from County Kilkenny 17th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests FitzPatrick dynasty People executed under the Interregnum (England) Irish-language writers

Background

''Faisean Chláir Éibhir''

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links