Tomás Ó Fiaich
Template:Infobox cardinalbiogTomás 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, and raised in Camlough, County Armagh, a staunchly nationalist/republican area of Northern Ireland in 1923, three years after the controversial partitioning of Ireland.
From president to archbishop
Tomás Ó Fiaich was an academic and noted Irish language scholar, folklorist and historian in the Pontifical University in Maynooth College, the National Seminary of Ireland. From 1959 to 1974 he was Professor of Modern Irish History at the college. From 1974 until 1977 he served as college president, a post that traditionally precedes appointment to an episcopal position in the Irish Church.
Following the death of William Cardinal Conway in 1977 Fr. Ó Fiaich was appointed Archbishop of Armagh by Pope Paul VI. The appointment was credited to the Papal Nuncio in Ireland, Archbishop Alibrandi, a controversial figure whom the Fine Gael — Labour National Coalition had already sought to have removed due to his perceived closeness to Irish republicans.[1]
Initially blocked for cardinalate by Pope John Paul I
The United Kingdom and Irish governments of James Callaghan and Jack Lynch respectively had privately lobbied to prevent Ó Fiaich from being awarded the red hat because of the belief that he was too close to Irish militant republicanism. Writing later, then leader of the Opposition Dr. Garret FitzGerald referred to
- "another disturbing development . . . the public references by Cardinal Ó Fiaich to British withdrawal and to our boys in Long Kesh, which no political party or leader has felt strong enough to challenge." [2]
Pope John Paul II raised Ó Fiaich to the cardinalate on 30 June, 1979.
Accused of being the "provo cardinal"
Ó Fiaich's republicanism proved controversial. While lauded by republicans he was criticised by both unionists and moderate nationalists as the "the Provo cardinal". ("Provo" is a slang term for the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).)
Hunger Strikes
During the IRA hunger strikes Ó Fiaich was 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. 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." [3]
When hunger striker Raymond McCreesh died, Ó Fiach 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?"
His stance was opposed by the Irish government, the British government, the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the United Kingdom's Basil Cardinal Hume and the Papal pro-Nuncio to the Court of St. James, Archbishop Bruno Heim, who both declared the strikes to be suicides, in contrast to Ó Fiaich's opinion (above). However, Ó Fiaich had the support of Archbishop Alibrandi in this matter.
Controversial reordering of Armagh Cathedral
| Styles of Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich | |
|---|---|
.svg?lang=en) | |
| 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 in Armagh Cathedral 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.
Criticism
Attacks from Catholic conservatives
Tomás Ó Fiaich was one of the most controversial modern Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh. Religious conservatives criticised his moderate comments during the passionate and emotive Pro-Life Amendment constitutional referendum on abortion, and the 1986 constitutional referendum on divorce, and compared him unfavourably to the more outspoken conservative bishops, Kevin McNamara, the Bishop of Kerry (and later Archbishop of Dublin) and Jeremiah Newman, the controversial Bishop of Limerick.
Appointment of 'balancing' conservatives as Archbishop of Dublin
The belief that he was too liberal in the context of Pope John Paul II's pontificate led to the imposition from Rome of two balancing conservative figures as Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland in succession, Fr. Kevin McNamara, an outspoken conservative bishop, and a surprise choice as McNamara's successor, Fr. Desmond Connell, Professor of Metaphysics at University College Dublin.
Criticism by Irish politicians
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 Conor, Cahal Daly (later Ó Fiaich's successor). Successive Irish governments under taoisigh Jack Lynch and Garret FitzGerald criticised for what they claimed was excessive closeness to republicans. Unionists in particular were critical of Ó Fiaich.
Praise from republicans
Republicans however praised the cardinal for his criticism of British policy in Northern Ireland and for his open championing of a United Ireland.
Sexual scandals under his Primacy
After his death Ó Fiaich's leadership of the Catholic Church in Ireland underwent further criticism when in the early to mid-1990s a series of sexual scandals and crises engulfed the Church; from the child sexual abuse committed by Norbertine priest Brendan Smyth to the relevation that one of Ó Fiaich's fellow bishops, Eamon Casey, had a son by a former mistress, as did prominent priest Fr. Michael Cleary.
The President of the National Seminary, at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth College, Dr Miceál Ledwith, resigned in controversial circumstances amid allegations of sexual advances towards students. He had been appointed President in 1985 despite O'Fiach and his fellow bishops being told in 1983 of concerns about Ledwith.
Critics in the media and elsewhere, noting that this happened during Ó Fiaich's primacy, questioned his leadership and his failure to tackle the issues. Defenders of Ó Fiaich in turn stated that while Ó Fiaich was Primate of All Ireland, each diocese was a separate entity under the leadership of the local bishop and that the Primate cannot influence, or necessarily be aware, of local issues unless informed about them by the bishop.
Media criticism
Some of Ó Fiaich's sternest critics were in the Irish media, notably the (anti-republican) Sunday Independent and the (liberal) Irish Times. He was however strongly defended on occasion by the (more radically nationalist) Irish Press and An Phoblacht.
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 was succeeded as archbishop and cardinal by the 6 years older, Cahal Cardinal Daly, then the Bishop of Down and Connor ([4]), and an outspoken critic of the PIRA.
Cardinal Ó Fiaich Library
The ([5]) Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library, a registered charity, was opened in Armagh in the years after his death. 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.
Ancient Order of Hibernians
The Ancient Order of Hibernians, an exclusively Roman Catholic nationalist organization largely (though not exclusively) based in the USA, has named its #14 Division in Massachusetts after the late Cardinal.
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)
Writings
- Tomás Ó Fiaich, 'The Irish Bishops and The Conscription Issue 1918', The Capuchin Annual, 1968.
- Tomás Ó Fiaich, Columbanus in His Own Words (Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1974)