Gaeilge

In his introduction to the version of Tadhg Ó Cianáin's Imeacht na nIarlaí, edited by himself and Pádraig de Barra, Tomás Ó Fiaich made the following observations: Bhí sé d'ádh ar phrionsaí Chúige Uladh cuid de shárshaothar ealaíne na hEorpa a fheiceáil ar a n-aistear. Is iomaí duine a rinne an Grand Tour san 18ú haois agus nach bhfaca oiread a chonaic siadsan. An ardeaglais Rómhánúil i Tournai. Na hardeaglaisí Gotacha in Amiens agus i Milano. Hôtels de ville sáráille i Rouen agus sa Bhruiséal agus i Lováin. Céimeanna tosaigh na Barócúlachta sa Róimh. Luann Ó Cianáin na péintéireachtaí a chonaic siad in Eaglais Pheadair i Lováin agus ina measc bhí "An Suipéar Deireanach" agus " Mairtíreacht Naomh Erasmus" le Thierry Bouts agus "Iosa á Bhaint den Chrois" le Roger Van der Weyden (tá an ceann deireanch seo sa Prado i Madrid anois). Luann sé na pictiúir san ardeaglais i Bâle agus ina measc bhí go leor chefs d'oeuvre de chuid Holbein. Chonaic Ó Dónaill freascónna Giotto in Assisi agus chonaic Ó Néill dealbh Mhaois le Michelangelo in Eaglais San Pietro in Vincoli sa Róimh. Is baolach gur mó an spéis a chuir Ó Cianáin i scrínte na naomh ná i saothar na n-ealaíontóirí, ach sna scrínte féin bhí cuid de shárshnoíodoíreacht na meánaoiseanna (De Barra, Ó Fiaich: 1972, 49-50). The Ulster princes had the good fortune to see some of the major European works of art during their journey. Many a person undertook the Grand Tour in the eighteenth century and did not see as much as they did. The Romanesque cathedral in Tournai. The Gothic cathedrals in Amiens and Milan. Particularly beautiful Hôtels de Ville in Rouen, Brussels and Louvain. The early stages of the Baroque in Rome. Ó Cianáin mentions the paintings they saw in St. Peter's church in Louvain, among which were Thierry Bouts' 'The Last Supper' and 'The martyrdom of St. Erasmus, and Roger Van der Weyden's 'Jesus taken down from the Cross' (This latter painting now hangs in the Prado in Madrid). He mentions the paintings in cathedral in Bâle which included a number of Holbein's chefs d'ouevre. O' Donnell saw Giotto's frescos in Assisi and O' Neill saw Michelangelo's statue of Moses in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. Ó Cianáin was regrettably more interested in the shrines of the saints than in the work of the artists, even though the shrines themselves contained some of the best craftmanship of the Middle Ages.

The presence of the Ulster Earls as honoured guests of Paul V at the canonization of Santa Francesca Romana on 29 may attracted much comment. This article places this particular canonization in its proper context: the revival of canonizations in 1588 after a hiatus of more then sixty years, the use made by the Spanish monarchy of Spanish saints to advance the power of the Iberian crown, and the canonization of Rome's first saint in a thousand years.

Arna fhoilsiú ag COMHAR Teoranta le cabhair deontais i gcomhair tograí Gaeilge a d'íoc an tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas trí Choláiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh. Gabhann COMHAR buíochas le hAcadamh Ríoga na hÉireann as a dtacaíocht leis an bhfiontar seo.

This article analysises the concept of pilgrimage in the travel narrative of Tadhg Ó Cianáin. In a text that spans fifteen months, over forty per cent of the narrative is taken up with just two days, the pilgrimage to Loreto and pilgrimage of  the Seven Basilicas in Rome. The essay argues that the concept of pilgrimage is central to the whole narrative,  During the period the Ulster Earls spent in the Spanish Netherlands in the winter of 1607 and early spring of 1608, they would have observed how pietas austriaca moulded the outlook of the archdukes Albert and Isabella on both religion and politics. Furthermore, the Ulster Lords would have noted how the archdukes made pilgrimages to the famous Marian shrine of Halle  prior to taking important political decisions. Finally, if we accept that Ó Cianáin wrote his text for public recitation rather than private reading, we can see how his audience who had not visited these. shrines,  became a community of virtual pilgrims involved in 'soul travel'.

Is le cabhair deontais i gcomhair tograí Gaeilge a d'íoc an tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas trí Choláiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh le tacaíocht Choiste Léann na Gaeilge, Litríocht na Gaeilge agus na gCultúr Ceilteach, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann, a fhoilsítear an ríomhiris seo. Aithníonn COMHAR an tacaíocht seo. comhartaighde.ie

Is le cabhair deontais i gcomhair tograí Gaeilge a d'íoc an tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas trí Choláiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh le tacaíocht Choiste Léann na Gaeilge, Litríocht na Gaeilge agus na gCultúr Ceilteach, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann, a fhoilsítear an ríomhiris seo. Aithníonn COMHAR an tacaíocht seo. comhartaighde.ie

Tadhg Ó Cianáin records that Aodh Ó Néill visited the church of S. Onofrio on the Gianiculum, 12 June 1608, feast of the saint. This initiates a pattern discernible throughout the Roman section of Ó Cianáin's narrative where visits to churches tend to occur on the patronal feastday. Since the solemn liturgies celebrated on these days would have been attended by leading Roman dignitaries, Ó Néill was able to exploit these occasions to present himself as a godly prince of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. While Ó Cianáin normally confines himself to listing the relics of the churches he visits, on this occasion he embarks on an elaborate account of the life of S. Onofrio. The narrator, in fact, adheres very precisely to the sequences of events presented in the series of twenty seven lunettes in the cloister of S. Onofrio that were prepared for the Holy Year of 1600. This is the only time in the narrative that the Irishman engages with the works of art encountered on his travels. Whereas in some instances the passage of time has eroded some of the accompanying Italian and Latin explanations, Ó Cianáin actually fills these lacunae, thus maintaining the thread of the narrative. Why did this series of frescos impact so much on the Irishman? The similarity between aspects of the life of S. Onofrio and elements of Irish literature offers a plausible explanation. The infant Onofrio's suckling by a white hind would easily recall the Fianaigecht tradition that Oisín's mother was a doe, while other elements of the saint's life would strike a chord with those familiar with Irish hagiography. The very deployment of the lunettes round the four walls of the cloister follows the pattern of birth-tales, boyhood adventures, adult exploits and death of the hero that was an integral part of the Irish tradition. Utimately it was the delight of encountering so much that was familiar in such an exotic location that impacted most on Ó Cianáin.

This papers treats of Tadhg Ó Cianáin's descriptions, of the  most famous relic in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Veronica, once when it was shown to the orphans of Santo Spirito in Sassia to the Basilica on 26May 1608, and again on 12 June 1608 when Aodh Ó Néill (Hugh O'Neill) and his entourage made the pilgrimage of the Seven Basilicas. Ó Cianáin was able to distinguish between the relic (veronica, true image)and the lady named Veronica who, according to later tradition, wiped Jesus's  face with a towel only to have his image miraculously imprinted on the towel. This essay also situates Ó  Cianáin's accounts with various traditions associated with the veronica.

One of the most intriguing aspects of early modern Ireland is the continental college movement. This refers to the establishment of forty-five Irish institutions on the European mainland between 1578 and 1700 for the purpose of training young people for the priesthood and religious life. Twenty-three of these colleges were for religious orders, twenty-two for diocesan clergy. Less the result of a strategic option or a response to the directives of Trent, this movement was forced on the Irish church as a result of the political-religious changes that took place in Ireland during the Elizabethan conquest. While the burning down of the last significant Franciscan house of formation in 1600 brought the issue to a head for the Irish friars, it is noteworthy that a number of mature laymen from Irish hereditary literary families had already decided to go abroad and join the Franciscan order in Salamanca. Some of these were destined to play leading roles in the history of the Irish province during the first half of the seventeenth century. Names that immediately spring to mind are Flaithrí Ó Maoil Chonaire/Florence Conry (ca. 1560-1629), Aodh Mac Cathmhaoil/Hugh McAughwell (1570-1626), Aodh Mac an Bhaird/Hugh Ward (ca. 1591-1635), while not forgetting Luke Wadding who entered the order in Portugal at the age of sixteen in 1604. 1 At the general chapter of the Franciscans in Toledo in 1606, two decisions were taken that were to have profound implications on Irish ecclesiastical and cultural life. The first of these was the launch of a campaign to promote the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. The second was the appointment of Florence Conry (ca. 1560-1629) as minister provincial of the Irish friars on May 13. 2 Given that the choice of minister provincial had always been the prerogative of the provincial chapter, the Irish delegates were naturally incensed that their rights had been infringed. The general chapter, on the other hand, felt that the needs of the order in the disturbed situation of early seventeenth-century Ireland took precedence over the sensitivities of the Irish delegates and proceeded with Conry's appointment. 3 Belonging to an Irish hereditary learned family that had served as historians to the Mac Dermots and O'Connors of Connaught, Conry abandoned his profession in late 1590 to go abroad and study for the priesthood in Spain. A deterioration in his relationship with the Jesuit rector of the Irish college in Salamanca, based on the latter's perceived bias against Gaelic students from Con

This paper examines the way in which ideologies are produced, reinforced and challenged through language use in the context of the Irish language. Through sociolinguistic analysis, it illustrates how dominant ideological constructions of Irish have represented the language, its speech community and its culture as homogeneous and conservative, bound up with a narrowly-defined sense of Irish identity. The study of “Gaeilgeoirí Aeracha Aontaithe” and other voices within the contemporary Irish-language movement demonstrates a challenge to such representations. In drawing on discourses which link the language (and the “Gaelicness” it embodies)  to a multiplicity of experiences and social and sexual identities, such elements within the language movement can be seen as part of a “symbolic revolution” within Gaelic culture.

Woods places contemporary drag performance in Ireland within the historical context of dissident, subversive elements of Irish popular culture. The chapter examines drag performance within the Irish LGBT movement as a performative practice that queers dominant and intersecting discourses on gender, sexuality and national identity while also reinflecting Bakhtin’s conception of the carnivalesque. In exploring traditional wake games, Woods highlights resonances between critical drag performance and aspects of traditional Irish popular culture. The chapter illustrates that—in their re-imagination of social, sexual and gender identities—the traditional Irish wake and contemporary drag practice constitute parallel aspects of Irish popular culture, serving as performative expressions issuing from the margins that destabilise dominant understandings of dominant social, gender and sexual subjectivities

The period 1990–2010 saw several major transitions in Irish culture and society. The establishment of the IRA and UVF/LVF ceasefires and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, a significant challenge to and weakening of the position of the Catholic Church as a major power bloc within the Irish state, and the increased visibility and acceptance of non-normative gender and sexual identities at discursive and legislative levels, all occurring against the backdrop of the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger, prompted changing constructions of national and gender identity. Critical analysis, however, cautions against the easy equation of change with unilinear progress towards equality and liberation. Looking at representations of trans identities issuing from within and without the LGBT movement at various points during the Celtic Tiger era and beyond, this paper illustrates the complex and variegated relationships between such representations and dominant discourses on gender and on national belonging. An exploration of Neil Jordan’s 'The Crying Game' and 'Breakfast on Pluto' and on performances associated with the Alternative Miss Ireland pageant demonstrates that while representations of transgressive identities can serve to support as well as challenge hegemonic constructions of gender and nationality, performative representations, and drag performances in particular, may serve not only to queer dominant and intersecting discourses on masculinity, sexuality and national identity, but also to reinflect Bakhtin’s conception of the carnivalesque in a critical engagement both with political questions and with dominant constructions and definitions of the political field itself.