Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig

Who was Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig?

Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig was a scholar and poet of noble descent from Ossory. Only a handful of his poems are still extant. A cry of despair against the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, and its consequences for the world and class which he belonged to, his Faisean Chláir Éibhir bears a striking resemblance to the poetry of the great Dáibhí Ó Bruadair: "A trick of this false world has laid me low: servants in every home with grimy English but no regard for one of the poet class save "Out! and take your precious Gaelic with you!"

Mac Giolla Phádraig was ordained a priest in 1610. Around the year 1651 he was appointed vicar general and apostolic vicar of the diocese of Ossory. He was executed by Oliver Cromwell's forces shortly afterwards. A memorial to him lies in the village square of Durrow.