An Bíobla Naofa: The First Catholic Bible in Irish

AN BÍOBLA NAOFA: THE FIRST CATHOLIC BIBLE IN IRISH
By JOHN HENEGHAN

ACOMMITTEE WAS established in 1945 to make an Irish version of the New Testament available. Seán Ó Floinn, Éamonn Kissane and Donnchadh Ó Floinn were on that committee. Donnchadh Ó Floinn was responsible for the translation through the 1950s particularly Mark 1-8. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta and Tómas Ó Fiaich guided Luke through the printing stage. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, Colmán Ó Huallacháin OFM and Tómas Ó Fiaich were appointed to the Committee in 1966.

John was published in Irisleabhar Má Nuad in 1962 and most of the other books were published under the imprint of An Sagart. The basic Hebrew version was used to make the books available. The Jerome Biblical Commentary, and Peakes’ International Commentary were used as these were books with expert knowledge on the bible and they assisted the research that the scholars were undertaking.

Pádraig Ó Fiannachta hadn’t much regard for the English version of the Jerusalem Bible and he didn’t use the King James version either.

The only influence of Bedell (the older Protestant translation of the Bible into Irish) was to be found in the translation work of Joseph Duffy (later Bishop of Clogher). Padraig Ó Fiannachta made sure that each translator was assisted by a bible scholar with an L.S.S. as a basic qualification.
The Advisors
Pádraig Ó Nualláin OCSO: Tobit, Ecclesiastes, the Minor Prophets except Obadiah. He also did Hebrews.
Father Colmcille OCSO: The Psalms.  Máirtín Mac Conmara MSC wrote the forward to these.
Seán de hÍde SJ: Song of Songs.
Gearóid Ó Meachair: Forward to the Prophets.
Brendan Devlin: Isaiah.
Joseph Duffy: Ezechiel
Aibhistín Valkenburg OP: Jeremiah with the forward dedicated to Bedel.
Seán Mac Cárthaigh: Acts of the Apostles and Pauline letters except Hebrews.
Tomás Mac Aodha: 1-3 John.
Pádraig Ó Fiannachta translated : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Proverbs, Sirach, and Mark cc. 9-16, John, James, 1-2 Peter, Jude, Apocalypse.
Seán Ó Caoinleáin advised Pádraig Ó Fiannachta with the Catholic Letters.

It was Caoimhín Ó Condúin C.M., who was an advisor to Padraig Ó Fiananchta to validate his own work. He was an advisor for Pentateuch, John and the Apocalypse. He had Father Dónall Ó Conchúir for the historical books as well as the information that is in the prefaces to the for the Wisdom books except the Psalms. Ó Fiannachta was also responsible for the Irish language in the General Introduction. He translated some of the introductions too because not everyone had good Irish.

He made an effort to ensure that the language was standardised and consistent throughout the work that started with the De Bhaldraithe Dictionary and reached its climax in 1977 with the Ó Dómhnaill Dictionary. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta was in correspondence with Muiris Ó Droighneáin about the standardisation also on a regular basis.
The other Advisors
Donald Ó Conchúir.
Sean Ó Caoinleáin.
Wilfrid Harrington OP.
Some other scholars were invited to make recommendations to the text as amendments:
Seán Mac Riabhaigh.
Pádraig Ó Nualláin OCSO.
Liam Leader.
Morgan Ó Curráin MSC.
Maolmhuire Ó Fiaich CSSp.

By 1977 there was an Irish version of each book published. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta got a grant from an Irish American Cultural Organisation through Cardinal Ó Fiaich to supply a single volume of the books. He promised do this within three years, he got two copies of each text as a heap of foolscap pages and he attached the text in the middle of the pages, he corrected them, he standardised them with help from other scholars, Muiris Ó Droighneáin particularly.  Then he prepared the text for the printer and went to the printer with IR£14,000 with paper which was bought from Clondalkin Paper Mills that were about to close but that were kept open for a extra few days.

There is a huge tea box in the Museum in Maynooth in which is the copy prepared for the printer and the various proof readings are there. The Bible was printed, bound ready within three years—27 months to be precise. Cardinal Ó Fiaich praised Padraig Ó Fiannachta’s work highly in the preface. It was accepted by the Church of Ireland as an authentic text and Archbishop Caird launched the second edition. A pocket edition was published after that and then it was published on CD-Rom in 1998. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta gave a chance to each of the scholars to read their work in proof format before submitting the final proofed version. He also dealt with the main business selling and commercial business arising from the bible
The Methodology and Analysis
As Pádraig Ó Fiannachta was the main worker on the translation, St John’s Gospel will be examined in detail, as he translated this himself. I chose this method as I don’t have Greek or Hebrew and as I am not a biblical scholar. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta himself recommended the Revised Standard Version (RSV) to me.

Ó Fiannachta adhers to the official standard for the most part; it is a style that is compact and precise that can be seen in it:

Thug Eoin freagra orthu. Déanaim féin baiste le huisce ar seisean ‘ach tá duine in bhur measc nach aithnid daoibh’ an té atá ag teacht i mo dhiaidh, nach fiú mé iall a chuaráin a scaoileadh (John 1: 26-27, An Bíobla Naofa, p. 1075).

The same style is adhered to throughout:

Tá an uair ag teacht—tá sí ann cheana nuair a chluinfidh na mairbh glór Mhac Dé agus iad seo a chluinfidh mairfidh siad. (John 5: 25, ibid. p. 1080)

If Ó Fiananchta’s version is compared to the RSV, some similariites and differences can be seen between them. In the English version the same concise style can be seen, but, as it was published in 1952, the English is somewhat archaic. In addition there are more notes at the foot of the pages in the English one, illustrating where the same stories can be found in the other Gospel stories. An example in critical thinking in biblical research is that of the woman accused of committing adultery which is found in the Irish Bible but is not found except as a footnote in the RSV:
John Eight

They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the Temple. The Scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst they said to him…(John 7: 53-8: 4, RSV)

This was done in the light of the most recent research because the Church at the time wished to deemphasise the merciful Jesus in return to the original scriptural sense—the mercy of God was stressed in the 19th Devotional Revolution in reaction to the Jansenist heresy which all but omitted it. The Irish Bible was published as is known after the Second Vatican Council. In general, the Ó Fiannachta style follows the normal custom of bibles. It must be remembered that Pádraig Ó Fiannachta based his translation on the basic Hebrew version and also on the Greek version. It is an excellent effort and the talents of the translator must be praised.

John Heneghan (also Seán Ó hÉanacháin) has higher degrees in Modern Irish and extensive experience in second and third level Irish language education.  He lectures in the Training College of An Garda Síochána (the Irish national police academy) and also works for the force as a certified legal translator.

The Brandsma Review, Issue 128, September-October 2013