About 15 years ago I acquired a radio cassette recorder, and, living in Lancashire with excellent RTE reception, made a hobby of recording its best. On St Patrick’s Day I recorded the sweet lilting Irish of a Protestant service in Cork, and an ecumenical Service, also in Irish, and an Irish Mass from Maynooth. The chief Maynooth celebrant was the College President, Monsignor Tomas O Fiaich.
The Cosgrave coalition was then in office and its most noteworthy spokesman was Conor Cruise O’Brien, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and chief overseer of RTE. O Fiaich’s accent lacked the musicality of Cork, nor indeed, Belfast, having the harsh edge of South Armagh and North Louth.
But to my ears his sermon was music.
He started with the observation that for some fashionable trendsetters to be Irish and Catholic were causes for shame and breast=beating.
He spoke of the life of St.Patrick.
His discourse was peppered with words such as “neart” (strength) and “croga” (brave) which in Irish have a resonance, not found in English, which the Greeks called “onomatopoeia” to indicate that to follow St.Patrick was no path for a wimp.
It was not a political sermon, textually, but the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, if he heard it, (and he collected “subversive” letters from the newspapers) must have welcomed it like a Semtex enema.
It surprised and delighted me when O Fiaich was raised to the See of Patrick. The media “stick” he got from both sides of the Irish Sea was entirely predictable.
It wasn’t till I spoke to a friend from Crossmaglen that I realised what a really popular man O Fiaich was with the laity. For all the bunkum about the Irish being priest-ridden, the most pious Catholics amongst them can be scathing about their clergy. And one priest, when I mentioned what a good press a certain bishop had had, assured me the Diocesan clergy regarded him as a shit, a verdict he endorsed heartily.
It’s been a sad spectacle these past couple of decades to see Irishmen and women, some of real talent and learning , selling their souls and their country, for a well-paid job, or an approving editorial, in London, Brussels, or – God help us!- Dublin.
Of those who bucked the trend the most outstanding examples were Tomas O Fiaich and Cearbhaill O Dalaigh. I believe both will retain a warm place in Irish hearts when their detractors, if remembered at all, will have joined the Quislings of Norway and the collaborators of Vichy France in the dustbin of European history.
I had a glimpse of the effect O Dalaigh had on those who met him,from an Englishwoman who worked as a translator at the European Court when he was a Judge there. She had no interest in nor knowledge of politics, nor did I mention O Dalaigh to her. She said he was a lovely man, well-liked by all who had dealings with him.
Yet, when he was President of Ireland, a Yahoo of a Defence Minister called him a “thundering disgrace”* to Irish soldiers, who, led by their Chief of Staff, applauded the insult.
The key positions in Irish affairs could do with more like Tomas O Fiaich and Cearbhaill O Dalaigh, who brought to their high offices culture and courtesy, and the character, when circumstances demanded, to kick against the pricks.
Donal Kennedy JUNE 1990
*I’ve since heard that what the Yahoo said was “a Thundering Ballocks.”
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THAT WAS WRITTEN IN 1990. “Fifteen years ago” referred to 1975.
How time flies when you’re enjoying yourself!
I was thinking that some of the younger readers might need some instruction into the intricacies and meaning of “a radio cassette recorder”…..That was back when you had a little bit of control over technology.
key positions in irish affairs could do with more like tomas ofiaich..
we are only starting to rid ireland of the likes of him and his ilk.
His father Master Pat Fee taught my father at Cregganduff Primary school outside Crossmaglen and my father had a few good stories and nothing but respect for his teacher. My mother told me that she and my father met the Cardinals parents in Dublin around the time of his ordination and they celebrated with drinks of milk in a cafe as they were all members of the Pioneers. (PTAA ..??). Is there anyone who doesn’t regret that they didn’t talk and listen more to their parents when they were alive ..??
“In October 1969, Paddy Donegan, Fine Gael spokesman on industry and commerce, came to national prominence when he was fined £20 at Drogheda District Court, after pleading guilty to firing a shotgun beside Travellers’ caravans to get them to leave Newtown, Monasterboice. The court was told he had later apologised to the Travellers.”
And he was still made Minister of Justice ..??
“The common touch” is sometime of a cliché But Times O’Fiaich certainly had it. In 1987 my son was attending the Gaeltacht in Rann na Feirste. He was sent to carry a message to Cardinal Ó Fiaich who was chaplain to the college. On enquiring as to my son’s name (Seán) he enquired as to whether he was a son of a certain Seán Patterson who had taught the Cardinal Irish dancing in the early 1940’s in Cullyhanna. My son explained this was his grandfather but was now long dead. So Thomas Cardinal Ó’Fiaich’s maths may not have been wonderful but to associate my son’s name with someone who had taught him Irish dancing nearly a half century before was no mean feat. No fheicfear a leitheid arts.