Bishops will today welcome the new altar edition of An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach, the Irish language translation of the Roman Missal, at the celebration of Mass on the first day of the winter 2017 plenary meeting of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
The Mass will take place this evening, Tuesday 5 December, at 6.00pm in Saint Mary’s Oratory of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, will be chief celebrant of the Mass, which will be concelebrated by the bishops of Ireland using the new edition of An Leabhar Aifrinn. Bishop Brendan Kelly, Bishop of Achonry, will preach the homily.
As a gesture of thanksgiving, all those involved in the translation and production of the new edition of the Missal were invited to attend the Mass, including members of An Coiste Comhairleach um an Liotúirge i nGaeilge, An Coiste Sapienti, the National Centre of Liturgy, Veritas Publications and Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
Music during the celebration will be led by Dr John O’Keeffe with the Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Seminary Choir.
An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach is the liturgical book which contains all the rubrics and prayers for the celebration of the Eucharist in Irish. The finished Irish translation is the fruit of a huge collaboration between linguists, theologians and native Irish speakers that began 14 years ago in 2003. Professor Cathal Ó Háinle, Professor and Fellow emeritus of Trinity College, Dublin, provided a substantial part of the primary translation for discussion and analysis by An Coiste Comhairleach um an Liotúirge i nGaeilge – a committee chaired until 2011 by the late Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta. Between 2011 and 2014, An Coiste Sapienti reviewed the translation. That committee was chaired by Archbishop Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam. Since 2014 Colette Dower of Veritas Publications has been working with a team of editors in order to typeset the text. The music editor of An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach is Dr Ite O’ Donovan.
800 copies were published by Veritas Publications and 685 have been sold to date.
The official launch of An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach took place on Sunday 3 December in a Mass broadcast by RTÉ One television and radio. For more information on An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach, see www.liturgy-ireland.ie.
