Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Church positions | |
| See | Armagh |
| Title | Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh |
| Period in office | 18 August 1977 – 8 May 1990 |
| Raised to cardinalate | 30 June 1979 |
| Predecessor | William Cardinal Conway |
| Successor | Cahal Cardinal Daly |
| Previous post | President, Maynooth College |
| Personal | |
| Date of birth | 3 November, 1923 |
| Place of birth | Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh |
Tomás Séamus Cardinal Ó Fiaich (November 3, 1923 – May 8, 1990) was an Irish Cardinal, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and the Primate of All Ireland from 1978 until his death. He was born in Cullyhanna[1], and raised in Camlough, County Armagh, a staunchly nationalist/republican area of Northern Ireland in 1923, three years after the controversial partitioning of Ireland.
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[edit] Priest, president to archbishop
Tomás Ó Fiaich was ordained a priest on 6 July 1948; he did pastoral work in his home diocese of Armagh until 1953. He joined the faculity of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth in 1953. Tomás Ó Fiaich was an academic and noted Irish language scholar, folklorist and historian in the Pontifical University in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, the National Seminary of Ireland[2]. From 1959 to 1974 he was Professor of Modern Irish History at the college[3]. In this capacity he suggested to Nollaig Ó Muraíle that he begin research on Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh and his works. He served as vice president of the college from 1970 to 1974; in 1974 he was appointed college president, a post that traditionally precedes appointment to an episcopal position in the Irish Church. He held this position until 1977.[4]
Following the death of William Cardinal Conway in 1977 Fr. Ó Fiaich was appointed Archbishop of Armagh by Pope Paul VI on 18 August, 1977. He was ordained bishop on 2 October 1977. The Principal Consecrator was the Papal Nuncio Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi; the Principal Co-Consecrators were Bishop Francis Lenny, the Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh and Bishop William Philbin the Bishop of Down and Connor[5]. Pope John Paul II raised Ó Fiaich to the cardinalate on June 30, 1979; he was appointed Cardinal-Priest of S. Patrizio that same day[6].
[edit] Years as Archbishop of Armagh
Although Cardinal O’Fiaich spent all of his formative years in academic circles, he proved to be an adept pastor[7]. His tenure as Primate is arguably most associated with the political strife ramant in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 80s. One incident often closely associated with the late Cardinal is the Hunger Strikes that occurred in 1981.
[edit] Hunger Strikes
During the IRA hunger strikes Ó Fiaich was believed by many to have been a privately influential figure among republican supporters, credited with helping end the first hunger strike through direct contact with republicans in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland.[8] He visited the Maze and witnessed the "Dirty Protest" (where prisoners rubbed their faeces on the walls of their cells and left food to rot on cell floors, while just wearing blankets and refusing to wash, in protest at the withdrawal of Special Category Status from republican prisoners), stating
- "I was shocked at by the inhuman conditions . . . where over 300 prisoners are incarcerated. One would hardly allow an animal to remain in such conditions let alone a human being. The nearest approach to it that I have seen was the spectacle of hundreds of homeless people living in sewer pipes in the slums of Calcutta."
When hunger striker Raymond McCreesh died, Ó Fiaich said:
"Raymond McCreesh was captured bearing arms at the age of 19 and sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. I have no doubt that he would have never seen the inside of a jail but for the abnormal political situation. Who is entitled to label him a murderer or a suicide?"
While the Cardinal showed deep concern for the treatment of prisoners, he was equally critically of those who used violence to further the cause of Irish nationalism.[9]
[edit] Activities at the Vatican
During his tenure, Cardinal Ó Fiaich attended many synods and meetings of the Sacred College of Cardinals. The main meetings were
- First Plenary Assembly of the Sacred College of Cardinals, Vatican City, November 5 - 9, 1979
- World Synod of Bishops (Ordinary assembly), Vatican City, September 26 - October 25, 1980
- World Synod of Bishops (Ordinary assembly), Vatican City, September 29 - October 28, 1983
- World Synod of Bishops (Extraordinary assembly), Vatican City, November 24 - December 8, 1985
- World Synod of Bishops (Ordinary assembly), Vatican City, October 1 - 30, 1987[10]
[edit] Controversial reordering of Armagh Cathedral
| Styles of Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Armagh |
Ó Fiaich's re-ordering of the high Victorian gothic St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh proved highly controversial. He had the highly decorated high altar and screen replaced by a plain white Wicklow granite altar table.
Though Ó Fiaich himself wrote approvingly of the new design for the sanctuary, many others were highly critical, arguing that the new sanctuary design defaced what had been a particularly fine nineteenth century building, with the brutal simplicity of the white oval altar contrasting with the original features surviving. One critic, writing in the Sunday Independent, compared Ó Fiaich's altar to something from the set of Star Trek.
Ó Fiaich's altar piece was subsequently removed by Archbishop Seán Brady and a more classical replacement installed.
[edit] Sudden death
Ó Fiaich died of a heart attack at the age of 66 while leading an Armagh diocesan pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Lourdes in France. He lay in state at the cathedral in Armagh where thousands of people lined up to pay their respects[11].
He was succeeded as archbishop and cardinal by a man six years his senior, Cahal Cardinal Daly, then the Bishop of Down and Connor[14].
[edit] Cardinal Ó Fiaich Library
The Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library, a registered charity, was opened in Armagh in the years after his death.[12] Named after the cardinal to honour his academic interests, it contains extensive archival material about local and national Irish folklore, heritage and history. Cardinal Ó Fiaich's private papers covering his period as archbishop and cardinal are held by the library, as are those of nine previous Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh dating back to the mid eighteenth century.
[edit] Ancient Order of Hibernians
The Ancient Order of Hibernians, an exclusively Roman Catholic organization largely (though not exclusively) based in the USA, has named its #14 Division in Massachusetts after the late Cardinal.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Then Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Garret FitzGerald, on behalf of the Government, raised Alibrandi's position directly with Pope Paul VI and Cardinal Benelli at a meeting in 1975. (FitzGerald in The Irish Times)
- ↑ Garret FitzGerald, All in a Life (Gill and Macmillan, 1991) p.337.)
- ↑ Statement by Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich, quoted in Tim Pat Coogan, The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966-1996 and the Search for Peace (Arrow, 1996)
[edit] References
- ^ Early years of Cardinal O’Fiaich[1]
- ^ Website for St. Patrick's College, Maynooth[2]
- ^ Irish Times Obituary[3]
- ^ Significant appointments of Tomás Ó Fiaich[4]
- ^ Ordination of Tomás Ó Fiaich to bishop[5]
- ^ S. Patrizio Cardinal Titual Church[6]
- ^ Comments from Basil Cardinal Hume[7]
- ^ Cardinal O’Fiaich visits the Maze[8]
- ^ Cardinal O’Fiaich criticizes violence.[9]
- ^ Attendance at meetings in Vatican City[10]
- ^ Funeral of Cardinal O’Fiaich[11]
- ^ Link to the Cardinal Tomas O'Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive[12]
[edit] Writings
- Edmund O'Reilly, Archbishop of Armagh 1657-1669, in Father Luke Wadding Commemorative Volume, pp.171-228 (Franciscan Fathers), 1957.
- Irish cultural influence in Europe, 6th to 12th century, Dublin, 1967.
- The Irish Bishops and The Conscription Issue 1918, in The Capuchin Annual, 1968.
- Columbanus in His Own Words (Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1974)
- Virgil's Irish background and departure for France, in Seanchas Ardmacha, ix (1985), pp.301-17.
- Gaelscrínte san Eoraop. Dublin, 1986.
- Irish monks in Germany in the late middle ages, in The Church, Ireland and the Irish, (ed. W.J. Sheils and Diana Wood), Oxford, 1989; studies in Church history, xxv, pp.89-104.
- The early period, in Rémonn Ó Muirí (ed.) Irish Church History Today, pp. 1-12, Armagh [1991?]
- Virgils Wededegand in Irland und sein Weg auf den Kontinent, in Virgil von Salzburg, pp.17-26 (date unknown)
| Preceded by William Cardinal Conway |
Archbishop of Armagh Primate of All Ireland 1977 – 1990 |
Succeeded by Cahal Cardinal Daly |
