History Main / IrishPriest

* Fr. Devlin (played by Dennis O'Dea) in ''The Story of Esther Costello'' convinces prosperous Margaret Landi to take Esther from her village to a deaf-blind school. She's shown typing a letter to him. At the very end, Margaret sends for him to become Esther's guardian since she's about to kill her husband and herself.
* The 1947 film ''Captain Boycott'' depicts the OriginStory for [[BrandNameTakeover the familiar term]]. Creator/AlastairSim plays Father [=McKeogh=] who supports the tenant farmers in the non-violent ostracism of Boycott, their evil English land agent. At the end he tells the victorious farmers that "in the future, if any man offends against the community you can ostracize him -- you can isolate him -- you can '''[[TitleDrop boycott him]]'''."

This was [[TruthInTelevision indeed once very common]] back in TheFifties and earlier when Ireland essentially ''did'' export clergy.[[note]]The Irish tradition of exporting Catholic clergy arguably goes back to [[TheLowMiddleAges the 6th century]], when the sainted Irish abbots Columba and Columbanus evangelized and founded monasteries in Scotland and France, respectively. Both took significant numbers of Irish monks with them to help.[[/note]] In part this was due to the tradition of Irish priests and nuns going overseas both as students and missionaries and in part simply due to the very high emigration rate in Ireland (12.7 people per 1000 in 1950). It also runs with the stereotype, within Britain and the US, that Irish Catholics are particularly devout.

* ''[[VideoGame/ShadowHearts Koudelka]]'': Father James O'Flaherty. A survivor of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland) The Great Famine]], he studied at an English university and then entered the Vatican and embarked upon a long career as a Bishop. His haughty, quarrelsome, and arrogant personality puts him at odds with both Koudelka and Edward.

* One''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' plot-arc features Brother Ulm, a monk in the Corbettites, a monastic order devoted to operating a politically neutral free-to-all rail liner service throughout Europa. He serves as the conductor aboard the [[CoolTrain Wyrm of Limerick]], and eventually [[spoiler: has his consciousness transferred and becomes the controlling intellect on a new super-train.]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* One appears on ''Series/GoodEats'', along with [[IrishmanAndAJew a rabbi]]. Alton asks the priest about corned beef in Ireland, and the priest replies that he doesn't eat it. The rabbi doesn't provide much insight into the origin of the dish, either. The nutritional anthropologist explains that a traditional dish in Ireland is ''[[EverythingsBetterWithBacon bacon]]'' and cabbage.[[note]]What the original Irish immigrants thought of as "bacon" was ''[[UsefulNotes/SeparatedByACommonLanguage very different]]'' from what North Americans call "bacon". North American "bacon" is cut from the pork belly. In the UK and Ireland, "bacon" was and still is a cut made mainly of pork loin, often with a small piece of belly meat attached.[[/note]] When Irish immigrants came to the US, what they called "bacon" was out of the financial reach of many of them.[[note]]A more complete explanation of ''why'' it was out of their reach can be found in the "Particular dishes" folder of ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff/{{Food}} Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Food]]''.[[/note]] But they ''did'' have lots of new Jewish neighbors, who couldn't eat bacon of any type because of Kosher laws forbidding pork and pork products. They had lots of brisket, though, and showed their new Irish neighbors a way of preserving it that renders a meat product ''kind of, sort of'' like bacon. As a result, it became the replacement for bacon in the traditional dish in the US. (In fact, it's so popular that if St. Patrick's Day happens to fall on a Friday during Lent, when meat is forbidden to Catholics, the Catholic Church actually ''grants an exception to that rule'' for corned beef and cabbage!)

[[caption-width-right:350:Creator/MartinSheen[[note]]Born Gerardo Estévez, Irish Catholic on his mother's side, Spanish Catholic on his father's[[/note]] as Fr. Daniel Barry in ''Stella Days'']]

** In one episode, a nun gushes to a black priest about what wonderful work he must be doing among those poor Africans, and ask how the missions there are doing. The priest replies in a thick Irish accent: "[[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish Sure, I wouldn't know, I'm from Donegal.]]"

* ''Series/CityOnAHill'': Father Doyle is originally from Northern Ireland though moved to Boston getting away from UsefulNotes/TheTroubles (it's [[TheNineties set in 1992]]), with a strong Irish accent.

* Father Everett in the ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' movie.

This was [[TruthInTelevision indeed once very common]] back in TheFifties and earlier when Ireland essentially ''did'' export clergy.[[note]]The Irish tradition of exporting Catholic clergy arguably goes back to [[TheLowMiddleAges the 6th century]], when the sainted Irish abbots Columba and Columbanus established missions and monasteries in Scotland and France, respectively. Both took significant numbers of Irish monks with them to help.[[/note]] In part this was due to the tradition of Irish priests and nuns going overseas both as students and missionaries and in part simply due to the very high emigration rate in Ireland (12.7 people per 1000 in 1950). It also runs with the stereotype, within Britain and the US, that Irish Catholics are particularly devout.

This was [[TruthInTelevision indeed once very common]] back in TheFifties and earlier when Ireland essentially ''did'' export clergy.[[note]]The Irish tradition of exporting Catholic clergy arguably goes back to [[TheLowMiddleAges the 6th century]], when the sainted Irish monks Columba and Columbanus established missions and monasteries in Scotland and France, respectively.[[/note]] In part this was due to the tradition of Irish priests and nuns going overseas both as students and missionaries and in part simply due to the very high emigration rate in Ireland (12.7 people per 1000 in 1950). It also runs with the stereotype, within Britain and the US, that Irish Catholics are particularly devout.

This was [[TruthInTelevision indeed once very common]] back in TheFifties and earlier when Ireland essentially ''did'' export clergy.[[note]]The Irish tradition of exporting Catholic clergy arguably goes back to [[UsefulNotes/TheLowMiddleAges the 6th century]], when the sainted Irish monks Columba and Columbanus established missions and monasteries in Scotland and France, respectively.[[/note]] In part this was due to the tradition of Irish priests and nuns going overseas both as students and missionaries and in part simply due to the very high emigration rate in Ireland (12.7 people per 1000 in 1950). It also runs with the stereotype, within Britain and the US, that Irish Catholics are particularly devout.

This was [[TruthInTelevision indeed once very common]] back in TheFifties and earlier when Ireland essentially ''did'' export clergy. In part this was due to the tradition of Irish priests and nuns going overseas both as students and missionaries and in part simply due to the very high emigration rate in Ireland (12.7 people per 1000 in 1950). It also runs with the stereotype, within Britain and the US, that Irish Catholics are particularly devout.

* One appears on ''Series/GoodEats'', along with [[IrishmanAndAJew a rabbi]]. Alton asks the priest about corned beef in Ireland, and the priest replies that he doesn't eat it. The rabbi doesn't provide much insight into the origin of the dish, either. The nutritional anthropologist explains that a traditional dish in Ireland is ''[[EverythingsBetterWithBacon bacon]]'' and cabbage.[[note]]What the original Irish immigrants thought of as "bacon" was ''[[UsefulNotes/SeparatedByACommonLanguage very different]]'' from what North Americans call "bacon". North American "bacon" is cut from the pork belly. In the UK and Ireland, "bacon" was and still is a cut made mainly of pork loin, often with a small piece of belly meat attached.[[/note]] When Irish immigrants came to the US, what they called "bacon" was out of the financial reach of many of them.[[note]]A more complete explanation of ''why'' it was out of their reach can be found in the "Particular dishes" folder of ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff/Food Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Food]]''.[[/note]] But they ''did'' have lots of new Jewish neighbors, who couldn't eat bacon of any type because of Kosher laws forbidding pork and pork products. They had lots of brisket, though, and showed their new Irish neighbors a way of preserving it that renders a meat product ''kind of, sort of'' like bacon. As a result, it became the replacement for bacon in the traditional dish in the US. (In fact, it's so popular that if St. Patrick's Day happens to fall on a Friday during Lent, when meat is forbidden to Catholics, the Catholic Church actually ''grants an exception to that rule'' for corned beef and cabbage!)

* One appears on ''Series/GoodEats'', along with [[IrishmanAndAJew a rabbi]]. Alton asks the priest about corned beef in Ireland, and the priest replies that he doesn't eat it. The rabbi doesn't provide much insight into the origin of the dish, either. The nutritional anthropologist explains that a traditional dish in Ireland is ''[[EverythingsBetterWithBacon bacon]]'' and cabbage. When Irish immigrants came to the US, bacon was out of the financial reach of many of them. But they ''did'' have lots of new Jewish neighbors, who couldn't eat bacon because of Kosher laws forbidding pork and pork products. They had lots of brisket, though, and showed their new Irish neighbors a way of preserving it that renders a meat product ''kind of, sort of'' like bacon. As a result, it became the replacement for bacon in the traditional dish in the US. (In fact, it's so popular that if St. Patrick's Day happens to fall on a Friday during Lent, when meat is forbidden to Catholics, the Catholic Church actually ''grants an exception to that rule'' for corned beef and cabbage!)

* Parodied in the ''Babes and Bullets'' section of ''Comicbook/GarfieldHisNineLives'', in which Sam Spayed is hired by the widow of a priest called Father O'Tabby, whose superior is Father O'Felix. The parody comes in when he asks how a priest could be married, and is told they're Greek Orthodox. This is not elaborated upon.

* A ''Northern'' Irish priest, Father Peter in ''Series/DerryGirls''.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* Monsignor Ryan from FanFic/AngelOfTheBat is a priest of Irish descent, though he and his family have been in America long enough that he doesn't have many stereotypes attached to him.
* Tapper Smurf, the [[{{Oireland}} Oirish]] [[TheBartender bartender]] in ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'', becomes one in the latter years of his life, calling himself Pastor Nevin (a variant of his birth name Naomhán), during the framing story of "A Wedding To Remember". He isn't Catholic, though he does have some of its trappings like wearing a long black robe.

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* [[PunnyName Patrick Fitzpatrick]] of ''Series/VeronicaMars''. Also most likely a [[CorruptChurch Corrupt Priest]] and a member of Irish {{Mafia}}.

[[folder:Stand Up]]
* Tommy Tiernan has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3UL_uCNWCo a bit on this.]]
-->We used to grow priests in Ireland. We used to grow them from bits of people that we didn't like. But we over-planted. We had an epidemic. We were flooded with them. So, we tried to engage the rest of the world in a priest-for-potato swap. And we were conned by the Africans. Bastards! Took all our priests, not a potato between them. Pagan spudless fuckers! Our priests went over to Africa, and what happened? What do you think happened? They melted! And now we've run out of priests in Ireland. There's none left. And irony of ironies, what's happening? Missionaries! From Africa!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Subverted in ''WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged''. Father O'Mally'O'Connel'O'Carrol'O'Reilly'O'Brian'O'Sullivan [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin (who is also Italian)]] is Italian.
[[/folder]]

* It seems that at least half of Springfield's Catholic clergy in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is Irish.
** And one of them is actually voiced by Creator/LiamNeeson.

In terms of rank, the [[AuthorityTropes authority tropes]] arguably equal are BadassPreacher, CorruptCorporateExecutive, {{Landlord}}, PreacherMan, PedophilePriest, {{Schoolteachers}} SexyPriest, SinisterMinister and TheVicar. For the next step down, see StudentCouncilPresident. For the next step up, see DeanBitterman.

* The Priest in S2 of ''Series/{{Fleabag}}'' is a Catholic proest played by Irish actor Andrew Scott, using his own accent.