The Life and Times of an Irish-speaking Presbyterian Minister
Exploring the background to Rev. Andrew Bryson's 1786 sermon in the Irish language
Andrew Bryson was born in Banbridge in 1763, the son of Rev. James Bryson. Having offered himself for the Presbyterian ministry, he was ordained on 15 August 1786 in Dundalk. His predecessors had been fluent in Scots Gaelic, but he was the first of a series of ministers in Dundalk who could preach and write in Irish. Tragically, Andrew Bryson’s life was cut short when he died in March 1797, aged only 33.
Not long after settling in Dundalk, Andrew Bryson prepared, in Irish, a sermon, which has been beautifully presented and preserved in his brother Samuel Bryson’s Gaelic manuscript collection in the Belfast Central Library.
This book explores the significance of the sermon in the context of Bryson’s ministry in Dundalk, the development of Presbyterianism in the region, and the relationship between Presbyterians and the Irish language.
The contents of the book are:
- An overview of the first two centuries of Irish Presbyterianism (Robert S. Tosh);
- Presbyterians and the Irish language (James Stothers);
- Who was Andrew Bryson? (Janet Taylor and Godfrey Brown);
- Presbyterians in Dundalk (Godfrey Brown);
- Presbyterian meeting places of Dundalk and surrounding area (Janet Taylor);
- Andrew Bryson’s sermon (Godfrey Brown);
- An analysis of the language of the Bryson sermon (Peadar Mac Gabhann)
Appendix: Andrew Bryson’s in-laws: the McGlathery family of Faughart, Newry and Belfast (Janet Taylor).
The book is available from the Ulster Historical Foundation.