Born July 5th, 1940
Died June 28th, 2025
Fr Oliver Crilly, who has died aged 85 after a short illness, was a scholar of Irish culture, helped modernise Irish publishing, not just ecclesiastical publishing; contributed to public life in the North, including to legislative change; played multiples roles in the Catholic Church; was a stone cutter; and was amused to have lent his surname to Father Ted Crilly of the sitcom Father Ted.
As a scholar he was among the pioneers of modern literary criticism in Irish.
This began at his time in St Patrick’s College Maynooth (now Maynooth University) in the early 1960s. Then it was the national seminary, with no lay students. Irish-language scholarship flourished there in these years.
Vatican II was blowing a spirit of change through the church. A number of talented students and academics came together. Some at its centre had, like Crilly, attended St Columb’s College in Derry. Columb’s was noted for the teaching of Irish and French. Thus, former students had the necessary language skills.
Oliver and his contemporaries brought the methods of French Nouvelle Critique to studying modern Irish-language literature. Several had spent periods studying in France. Their approach marked a qualitative advance on previous criticism. In turn, their new approach fed into the further development of the literature.
He continued to produce literary criticism after ordination, obtaining an M Phil from the University of Ulster, Coleraine (now Ulster University).
A few years after ordination, the Irish bishops appointed him as director of Veritas Publications in Dublin, their publishing company. They sought a priest formed by Vatican II. His bishop, strongly pre-Vatican II, initially blocked the appointment, before being outmanoeuvred.
He achieved much at Veritas. Probably most significant was overseeing the production of the Children of God religious education course for primary schools, in the light of Vatican II. For this, he drew on international best practice.
He also oversaw production of many new liturgical texts, in both English and Irish. At short notice he oversaw producing millions of people’s booklets for the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II. Under him Veritas strove for excellence in design. He also collaborated with secular firms in developing Irish publishing.
In the early 1980s he returned to the Diocese of Derry as a pastor. There he was known for empathy and keenness to involve the laity in the life of the church.
Seamus Heaney was from the next parish, and the pair became close friends
He played a role in the North’s public life. He was a member of the Catholic Bishops’ Commission on Justice and Peace. In this he took part in negotiations attempting to resolve the 1981 hunger strikes. (Two hunger strikers were relatives.) Unfortunately, the negotiations were unsuccessful.
During negotiations he was seen as honourable. He wanted to save the lives of the hunger strikers, and of those who would die in the resulting unrest.
Later he was one of a group of churchmen across denominations who drew up a report on prison conditions.
He played a part in introducing parading legislation in the North, as a member of the North Commission. The UK government established the commission in the 1990s, at a time of tension around parades. The commission recommended establishing the Parades Commission, which the UK government did.
He sat on the Western Education and Library Board and broadcast regularly on BBC Radio Ulster.
His role was not confined to Ireland. In the mid-1990s he travelled to Rwanda with Trócaire to assist in the aftermath of the genocide there.
As a writer he produced several books. An Crith Beo examines the thinking and themes in the writing of Donegal writer Seosamh Mac Grianna, one of the most significant Irish-language writers in the first half of the last century.
The title Think Big, Act Small: Working at Collaborative Ministery through Parish Pastoral Councils’ explains Oliver’s vision of the church.
Rún Ard Crosa Éireann (Secret of Ireland’s High Crosses) is also significant. This was inspired by the High Cross of Maghera. He shows understanding of the religious and secular history of Ireland between the 7th and 12th centuries: of scripture, and of the craft of stone cutting.
He himself had developed that skill, spending part of his annual holidays honing his stone-cutting technique.
He was known for his kindness. When working in Dublin he was told of a pregnant Traveller and her partner living in dire conditions. He obtained furniture and, with a friend, went round in a van and delivered it.
He was always committed. A former member of his pastoral council said: “If he was asked to take part in something, he didn’t go along for the tea and coffee, he was there to make his mark.”
That was shown in his life-long commitment to the Irish language. For many years he helped to maintain an Irish summer college in the Gaeltacht pocket of Glenvar, on Donegal’s Fanad peninsula.
Oliver Crilly was born on July 5th, 1940, between Maghera and Magherafelt in Co Derry, in Lavey parish. He was the second of three sons born to Robert Crilly, a farmer, and his wife Rosena (née Bradley).
He was educated at Rocktown Primary School, progressing to Columb’s. Many contemporaries subsequently became prominent in other walks of life, including the poet Seamus Heaney.
Heaney was from the next parish, and the pair became close friends. After Columb’s he entered Maynooth, graduating with a degree in Celtic studies.
After ordination he taught in St Patrick’s College, Maghera, before being moving to Veritas. In Dublin he became a friend of Dermot Morgan. Morgan paid him the fond tribute of further immortalising his surname, by bestowing it on the character of Fr Ted Crilly. On return to the dioceses he served in a number of parishes, ending his ministry in Castlefinn, Co Donegal.
He is survived by his brothers Tony and Fr Pat.
