| His Eminence Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich |
|
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland |
|
| Archdiocese | Armagh |
| Appointed | 18 August 1977 |
| Reign ended | 8 May 1990 |
| Predecessor | William Conway |
| Successor | Cahal Daly |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 6 July 1948 (Priest) |
| Consecration | 2 October 1977 (Archbishop) by Gaetano Alibrandi |
| Created Cardinal | 30 June 1979 |
| Rank | Cardinal priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 November 1923 Cullyhanna, County Armagh, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 8 May 1990 (aged 66) Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France |
| Buried | St Patrick's Cathedral Cemetery, Armagh |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Tomás Séamus Ó Fiaich (3 November 1923 – 8 May 1990) was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1977 until his death. He was created a Cardinal in 1979.[1] He was born in 1923 in Cullyhanna,[2] and raised in Camlough, County Armagh, a staunchly Republican area of Northern Ireland.
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Tomás Ó Fiaich (anglicised: Thomas Fee) was ordained a priest on 6 July 1948; he spent his first year of ordination as assistant priest in Clonfeacle parish. He undertook post-graduate studies in University College, Dublin, (1948–50), receiving an M.A. in early and medieval Irish history; he also studied at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, (1950–52), receiving a licentiate in historical sciences. He joined the faculty 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.[3] From 1959 to 1974 he was Professor of Modern Irish History at the college.[4] In this capacity he suggested to Nollaig Ó Muraíle that he begin research on Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh and his works. He "was an inspired lecturer, an open and endearing man, who was loved by his students... Tomas O'Fiaich was my Good Samaritan" [ THE GOOD SAMARITAN - MEMOIR OF A BIOGRAPHER BY ANTHONY J. JORDAN WESTPORT BOOKS PP. 94 & 106-7. ISBN 9780952444756 ]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.[5]
Following the death of Cardinal William Conway in 1977, Monsignor 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.[6] Pope John Paul II raised Ó Fiaich to the cardinalate on 30 June 1979; he was appointed Cardinal-Priest of S. Patrizio that same day.[7]
Although Cardinal Ó Fiaich spent all of his formative years in academic circles, he proved to be an adept pastor.[8] His tenure as Primate is often associated with the political strife rampant in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 80s, along with the numerous epsidodes of child abuse and church governance[9]. One incident often closely associated with the late Cardinal is the Hunger Strikes that occurred in 1981.
The first major event in Ó Fiaich's cardinalate was the first ever papal visit to Ireland after 1,400 years of Christianity from 29 September to 1 October 1979 by Pope John Paul II. The Pope celebrated Mass before one million people in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. His major speech at the border with Northern Ireland called on all the organizations that were prolonging The Troubles to end their activities, and this was followed by a visit to the Marian Shrine at Knock, County Mayo.
Politically he was also criticised for his less critical stances on Irish republicanism than those taken up by his predecessor, Cardinal Conway, and the Bishop of Down and Connor, Cahal Daly (later Ó Fiaich's successor). Successive Irish governments, especially those under Taoisigh Jack Lynch and Garret FitzGerald, criticised him for what they claimed was excessive closeness to republicans. Unionists in particular were critical of Ó Fiaich.
Republicans, however, praised the Cardinal for his criticism of British policy in Northern Ireland and for his open championing of a united Ireland.
Some of Ó Fiaich's sternest critics were in the Irish media, notably The Sunday Independent (very anti-Republican) and The Irish Times (a Protestant/Pro-Union orientated newspaper). He was, however, strongly defended on occasion by The Irish Press (a more nationalist paper) and An Phoblacht.
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.[10] 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). He stated:
When hunger striker Raymond McCreesh died, Ó Fiaich said:
While the Cardinal showed deep concern for the treatment of prisoners, he was equally critical of those who used violence to further the cause of Irish nationalism.[11]
In 1983, Presbyterian Reverend David Armstrong was forced to leave Limavady due to threats arising from his wishing Father Kevin Mullan's Catholic congregation "Happy Christmas". Cardinal Ó Fiaich gave the Reverend a cash donation to help him resettle in England.[12]
During his tenure, Cardinal Ó Fiaich attended many synods and meetings of the Sacred College of Cardinals. The main meetings were
Cardinal Ó Fiaich was advised by Gemma Hearne, a housewife in County Wexford, about the misbehaviour of Father Seán Fortune, but took no action. Several years after Ó Fiaich's death the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Ireland became a matter of public debate.[14]
| Styles of Tomás Ó Fiaich |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Armagh |
Ó Fiaich's re-ordering of the high Victorian neo-Gothic St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh proved very contentious. He had the highly decorated High Altar and rood screen replaced by a plain white Wicklow granite altar table.
Though Cardinal 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 Cardinal Seán Brady and a more classical replacement installed.
Ó Fiaich died of a heart attack on the evening of 8 May 1990 while leading the annual Armagh diocesan pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Lourdes in France. He had arrived in France the day before and had complained of feeling ill shortly after saying Mass at the grotto in the French town. He was rushed by helicopter to a hospital in Toulouse, 125 miles away, where he died. He was aged 66. He lay in state at the cathedral in Armagh, where thousands of people lined up to pay their respects.[15]
He was succeeded as archbishop and cardinal by a man six years his senior, Cardinal Cahal Daly, then the Bishop of Down and Connor.[16]
The Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library, a registered charity, was officially opened in Armagh 8 May 1999 by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr. Marjorie Mowlam.[17] 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.
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 and #7 Division in New York City after the late Cardinal.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Cardinal Conway |
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland 1977–1990 |
Succeeded by Cahal Cardinal Daly |
| Preceded by William Cardinal Conway |
Cardinal-Priest of San Patrizio 1979–1990 |
Succeeded by Cahal Cardinal Daly |
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