Luke Wadding

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Luke Wadding (1588 - 1657), Irish Franciscan friar and historian, was born in Waterford and went to study at Lisbon.

He became a Franciscan in 1607, and in 1617 he was made president of the Irish College at Salamanca. The next year he went to Rome and stayed there till his death.

He collected the funds for the establishment of the Irish College of St Isidore in Rome, for the education of Irish priests, opened 1625, and for fifteen years he was the rector. He also founded the Ludovisi College for Irish clergy.

A voluminous writer, his chief work was the Annales Minorum in 8 folio volumes (1625-1654), re-edited in the 18th century and continued up to the year 1622; it is the classical work on Franciscan history. He published also a Bibliotheca of Franciscan writers, an edition of the works of Duns Scotus, and the first collection of the writings of St Francis of Assisi. He is buried in the San Isodore church, in Rome.

Through Wadding's efforts, St. Patrick's Day became a feast day.

In 2000 the Waterford Institute of Technology dedicated a new library building to his name.