MAC HALE, JOHN. - Irish prelate, b. 6 March 1791 at Tobbernavine, d. 7 Nov. 1881 at Tuam. He studied at the College of Maynooth and, after being ordained a priest, taught theology there. He was coadjutor to the bishop of Killala. In him, an unshakable doctrinal intransigence was coupled with a most vigorous patriotic spirit: alongside O'Connell, he was the best-known of the Irish nationalists.
He rarely made use of English, the language of the rulers, personally contributing through translations into Irish to keep national feeling alive. In the school question he opposed the establishment of united schools. He came to Rome in 1831. Three years later he was elected archbishop of Tuam; when, in 1852, Newman arrived in Dublin as rector of the new Catholic University, M. H. did not show himself overly enthusiastic about this choice, because in Newman he saw not only the former Protestant and the Oxford man, but the Englishman. In 1854 he was again in Rome for the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception and presented the Pontiff with a poem of his own in the Irish language on the Immaculate Conception. He translated the Pentateuch and the first eight books of the Iliad into Irish. In the island language he also wrote a diocesan catechism. At the Vatican Council he was among those who considered the definition of papal infallibility inopportune.