Na Ċeiṫre Soisgéil agus Gníoṁarṫa na n-Aspol 1915, 1921 (Peadar Ua Laoghaire)

Peter O’Leary

Peadar Ua Laoghaire (also Peadar Ó Laoghaire or Peter O’Leary) was born in 1839 in County Cork in Ireland. He grew up speaking Irish as his first language. He studied at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1867. From 1891 he served as parish priest at Castlelyons in County Cork. It was here that in the 1890s he started his writing. He became a well loved Irish writer using the Munster form of Irish. He is regarded today as one of the founders of modern literature in the Irish language.

Peter O’Leary translated the whole Bible from Latin Vulgate into Irish Gaelic. His Bible is in hand-written manuscript form at the University of Maynooth in Ireland. Some of his translation work was published in a weekly feature in the Cork Weekly Examiner. During his lifetime many books were published, but only the 4 Gospels from his Bible were published, in 1915. Peter O’Leary died in March 1920.

Some of his Bible translation work was published after his death: The Acts of the Apostles (Gníoṁarṫa na n-Aspol) was published in 1921; Stories fron the Holy Bible (Sgéalaiḋeaċta as an mBíobla Naoṁṫa) were published in 7 parts from 1922; and the Story of the Maccabees (Sgéalaiḋeaċt na Macabéach) was published in 2 parts in 1925.

4 Gospels and Acts

The Gospel according to Matthew (An Soisgéal do réir Ṁaitiú), the Gospel according to Mark (An Soisgéal do réir Ṁarcuis), the Gospel according to Luke (An Soisgéal do réir Lúcáis) and the Gospel according to John (An Soisgéal do réir Eóin) were published as separate booklets in 1915. They were also published as one combined book called Na Ċeiṫre Soisgéil (The 4 Gospels) in 1915. They received the Imprimatur from the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin in 1915.

The book of the Acts of the Apostles (Gníoṁarṫa na n-Aspol) was published separately in 1921, and the page numbers followed on from the 4 Gospels. It received the Imprimatur from the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin in 1921.

These books were published in Dublin (Baile Atha Cliath) by Brun Agus O Nuallain. Each book is paragraphed with verse numbers, which follow the Vulgate versification tradition, in the margins. Each book starts with a brief introduction, and a chapter summary and footnotes translated from the English Douay-Rheims Bible added by Gearóid Ó Nualláin (anglicised as Gerald O’Nolan). Each book also includes helpful cross-references.

Digital Edition

In 2020 the printed editions of the 4 Gospels and Acts were digitised for the National Bible Society of Ireland. This was done to mark the 100th anniversary of Peter O’Leary’s death in 1920. In the digital edition the verse numbers are re-inserted. The digitised version called was called: Na Ċeiṫre Soisgéil agus Gníoṁarṫa na n-Aspol 1915, 1921 (Peadar Ua Laoghaire). It is now on the Digital Bible Library and available in the Irish Gaelic Bible app.