This Sunday 3 December, the First Sunday of Advent, Bishop Brendan Kelly, Bishop of Achonry, will celebrate a special Mass from RTÉ studios to mark the launch of the new altar edition of An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach, the Irish language translation of the Roman Missal. The Mass will be broadcast live on RTÉ One television and radio at 11.00am.
Participating at the Mass will be members of An Coiste Comhairleach um an Liotúirge i nGaeilge, An Coiste Sapienti and representatives of the Bishops’ Conference, the National Centre of Liturgy and Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Also joining on the day will be parishioners of Swords Parish in the Archdiocese of Dublin where the Eucharist is celebrated on Sundays in Irish at Draighneán, Kinsealy and Altar Server, Tom Long, from Dunboyne Parish in the Diocese of Meath.
Music during the celebration will come from a range of Irish composers for the liturgy, including Seán Ó Riada, Father Liam Lawton, Father Pat Ahern, Tomás Ó Canainn, Ronan McDonagh, Moira Bergin and Máire Ní Dhuibhir.
Welcoming the new translation, Bishop Kelly said, “This is a unique publication, and is hugely significant not only for the Church in Ireland, but for all who care for our culture and heritage, and particularly, our Irish language. It is my hope that this new edition of An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach will serve those who celebrate the liturgy in Irish, and that it may help to strengthen our Irish language as a living language of prayer both in the Gaeltacht and across Ireland. This new edition of An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach is a testament to what can be achieved through continuous collaboration.”
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.
For more information on An Leabhar Aifrinn Rómhánach, see www.liturgy-ireland.ie.
