Daniel Delany
| Daniel Delany | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin | |
Stained glass window by George Walsh in Tullow
|
|
| Province | Dublin |
| Diocese | Kildare and Leighlin |
| See | Dublin |
| Appointed | 1788 |
| Predecessor | Dr James Keeffe |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1771 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 1747 Mountrath, Paddock, Laois |
| Died | 9 July 1814 (aged 67) |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Previous post | Coadjustor Bishop |
| Alma mater | Irish College, Paris |
| Motto | Fortiter et Suaviter |
Daniel Delany DD (February 1747 in Paddock, Mountrath, Laois, Ireland – 1814) was the [[Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin] and the founder of the Brigidine order of Catholic nuns, and the Patrician Brothers.
He was born as the first of two sons into a farming family in 1747. His father Daniel and younger brother John died when Daniel was still young, and his mother, Elizabeth Delany (née Fitzpatrick) sent him to her sisters to be cared for and to gain a better education. Daniel attended the local Hedge school at Briscula, just a few kilometres from his home.
In 1763 at the age of 16 Delany went to Paris to study for his priesthood at the Irish College, Paris and was ordained a priest in 1770/71. For the next five or six years Delany taught rhetoric at the English College at Saint-Omer in France. He returned to Ireland around 1777.
Soon after arriving he was stationed at Tullow as Bishop James Keeffe's assistant priest. He lived there for the rest of his life.
Catholic education in Ireland had been denied to the people of Ireland since the seventeenth century, in consequence many of the population suffered from poverty, hunger and drunkenness. Delany tried hard to bring back the traditional Catholic education to the community. He started by the establishment of Sunday schools for the youth of Tullow. He also formed a youth band to help teach his students hymns. Soon older people of the community started to join these classes.
Some time after 1794 Elizabeth Delany his mother died, leaving him all her property. Delany invested a portion of this property left to him and the interest went to charities. Delany also distributed prayer books to children on the day of their first communion.
In April 1783 Delany was appointed Coadjustor Bishop of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Soon afterwards he took up the motto "Fortiter et Suaviter" a motto he copied from his spiritual mentor St Francis De Sales (1567 - 1622).
With some relaxation of the Penal Laws in 1782, many Irish priests including Bishops Keeffe and Delany worked to rebuild churches, monasteries, convents and schools.
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