Wilfrid John Harrington was born on March 18 1927 in Eyeries, near Castletownbere, the son of Agnes Mary (nee McCarthy) and Jeremiah Joseph  Harrington, a principal teacher in the local national school. He was educated at his father's school and at Newbridge College, run by the Dominican Fathers, which order he joined in 1945, studying philosophy at St. Mary's in Tallaght, South Dublin, before going to Rome for his theology studies. There he was enrolled in the Angelicum, and after ordination in 1953 and graduation in 1954 with a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, he carried out further studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Commission in Rome (Licentiate awarded 1957) and at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem.

In the latter year he was appointed as Professor of Scripture at the Dominican House of Studies in Tallaght, where he continued to teach until 2000, combining this commitment at various times with lecturing duties at Maynooth (1961-65), the Milltown Institute (from 1966j, the University of Dublin (Trinity College 1979-82), the Church of Ireland Theological College (from 1985) and several institutions in the U.S., including St. Michael's College, Vermont and Gonzaga University, Seattle, Washington. Among his students at Milltown was the singer Sinead O Connor, who dedicated her 200 album to him. Sinead studied Old Testament Scripture with Wilfred at Milltown Institute in 2003/4, . The album includes eight original songs on themes from the Prophets and the Psalms written by Sinead, as well as cover versions including I Don't Know How To Love Him from the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the spiritual Rivers of Babylon with new lyrics penned by O'Connor.

His Maynooth years, where he joined Fr. John O'Flynn on the Scripture faculty, covered the gap between the retirement of Fr. Michael Leahy and the appointment of Fr. Gerry Meagher, was distinguished by the emphasis on scripture as an inspirational source for the new evangelisation decreed by the Second Vatican Council

and by his involvement with Padraig O'Fiannachta

In the 1960s he produced a regular column on religious subjects for the Irish Press and also appeared on RTE's televised religious presentations.

 

 

 

From the Foreword to 

 

WILFRID J. HARRINGTON, SCHOLAR AND FRIEND 

MICHAEL GLAZIER

WILFRID J. HARRINGTON OP is a man of deep convictions, one who is studious yet wears his learning lightly; a man of many friendships, some spanning many decades; a scholar who is aware that the Bible poses numerous and unending challenges; and he has spent his life exploring its message and untangling its complexity. A group of scholars have written this book to honour his achievements; but it is not a Festschrift that marks the end of a career. Far from it: other books are in the pipeline — to add to more than fifty already published. Nor has Wilfrid any intention of ending his teaching assignments in Dublin and in America.

In the late 1950s, Wilfrid began to publish articles on Scripture, encouraged, as he likes to recall, by one of his students, a fellow Corkman called Jerome Murphy-O’Connor. In 1963 Wilfrid’s writing career started in earnest, in Manhattan, when someone sent me a batch of pamphlets written by him on the four gospels. I thought they should appear as a book but the problem was to interest a suitable publisher. I called a very serious and studious editor and he promised to read the pamphlets. A few weeks later he called and suggested that we meet at The Brittany on the west side of New York City. This was a restaurant known for its rural French cuisine, and seasoned drinkers swore that its ‘Southern Comfort Manhattan’ was the best in the city. The serious editor and I had a couple of drinks and I futilely suggested that we order dinner and told him that wise men had sworn that the ‘Southern Comfort Manhattan’ was the enemy of tomorrow. Early the following morning I got a tired and dour call from the editor stating, very bluntly, that all agreements made at The Brittany were null and void. He forgot that the possible book was never discussed.

Later that day, when his health was much improved, he called again and almost cheerfully told me he would gladly publish the Harrington book and it would bear the title Explaining the Gospels.

Wilfrid Harrington’s first book was on its way in America and it was a great success, which encouraged him to accept an invitation from Priory Press to write a commentary for the Bible. Record of Revelation was published in three volumes in 1963. The trilogy was translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish and Croatian. When Priory Press went out of business, Alba House published another hardback edition, but it became obvious that it should be published in paperback to reach a wide student market. Alba House negotiated with Doubleday’s prestige Image Books series which issued a paper book edition with a new title, Key to the Bible, and it had a great academic reception. Wilfrid Harrington became known as an author who understood the mind and needs of students. In 1978, when Bible study groups were proliferating, his New Guide to Reading and Studying the Bible was used by groups all over North America.

Wilfrid is a liturgical man and is keenly interested in the scriptural readings in the liturgy. He wrote two three-volume studies on the liturgical readings: The Gracious Word and The Saving Word; and he also published studies of the four Evangelists: Mark, Realistic Theologian; Matthew, Sage Theologian; Luke, Gracious Theologian; and John, Spiritual Theologian. A glance at the bibliography at the end of this book helps one appreciate the wide variety and scope of his biblical writing.

After her coronation in 1558 Queen Elizabeth I, anxious to convert the Gaelic-speaking Irish from Catholicism to Protestantism, decreed that the New Testament should be translated into Gaelic and contributed a printing press and type fonts to print the book. She evidently did not appreciate the difficulty of a task that was only completed in 1603, the year of her death. In the following centuries Protestant scholars translated the New Testament, and, less often, the entire Bible into Gaelic (Irish). In 1981 the complete Bible was published in this language by Maynooth University: Wilfrid Harrington (Wilfrid Ó hUrdail) was among the scholars who contributed to An Biobla Naofa.

Recently an administrator in St Michael’s College in Vermont was asked how long Wilfrid Harrington had taught in the college’s summer school. He paused, and then opined, ‘Harrington is like the library. He seems to be around forever’. Actually it was Paul Couture SSE, the director of the summer school at St Michaels’s College run by the Edmundites, who in 1964 invited Wilfrid to teach the New Testament courses. Every year since then he has been invited back, and he was recently told to keep coming back ‘until his summers run out’. He makes a point of knowing every pupil in his class, and it is safe to guess that, over the years, Wilfrid never gave a failing grade to any pupil. After finishing at St Michael’s, Wilfrid used to give a retreat to a community of enclosed nuns (during the retreats he wrote Come, Lord Jesus: a Biblical Retreat) and then he used to visit us to take it easy after a working summer.

One evening he mentioned how grateful he was for the stipend that the enclosed nuns gave him. I jokingly said that the good nuns were breaking all the minimum wage laws and suggested that he do a little work in my publishing company: and since then Wilfrid has been a regular visitor before he sets off for St Michael’s each year. Joan, my wife, says he is the ideal guest. He rises every morning before 5:30, fixes his breakfast and sets out on a very long walk past the groves and lakes which beautify the small town (pop. 1,200) noted for its great book shops, good bars, art stores and genial people.

One afternoon in 1978 he surprised me by asking why my company did not publish Catholic books. I told him that the company was set up to publish legal history and congressional studies in series rather than individual books. He suggested that I should consider publishing a multi-volume commentary on the New Testament with the title New Testament Message and said he would co-edit the series if I found an American biblical scholar who would co-edit with him. A few weeks later I was in New York and I decided to ask Raymond Brown SS to see me. He valued his time and rationed it sparingly. He told me to meet him at 9 am for a brief meting at Union Theological Seminary. I told him I intended to publish a new New Testament commentary. He said he thought it was an opportune idea, and said that Donald Senior CP, whom he greatly respected, would make the ideal American co-editor. Harrington and Senior worked wonderfully and constructively together as editors, and their project was published in record time.

Wilfrid Harrington believes that America has become the centre of Catholic biblical research, and many of the scholars who write in this volume have contributed significantly to making it and keeping it so. But the list of contributors to this volume shows that biblical studies are alive and well in other parts of the world, not least in Ireland, in Australia, and among Wilfrid’s Dominican brothers and sisters. This book is a fitting tribute to Wilfrid Harrington, honouring him and his remarkable contributions (thus far!) to biblical scholarship, pastoral liturgy and the preaching of the Gospel. The chapters follow the order of the Mass, using the Bible to illustrate aspects of the liturgy and turning to the liturgy to highlight biblical themes. It will be of interest therefore far beyond the academic community and should prove very useful for the Church at large. In this it carries on the biblical and liturgical apostolate that has been Wilfrid’s life’s work.