

Cathal Buidhe Mac Giolla Ghunna (c.1680 - 1736):

Cathal Mac Giolla Gunna was born in County Cavan or County Fermanagh, and though he had been educated for the priesthood, he wandered the roads as a poet and gained such an infamous reputation that the priests of County Cavan ordered that no Catholic home should shelter him. It is said that on his death, when a priest was being fetched, he wrote a poem of repentance, 'Aithreachas Chathail Bhuidhe', on the wall of a hut and that a halo of light surrounded his dead body. A few poems survive which are attributed to him, the most celebrated of which is 'An Bonnan Buidhe'.

Born: c.1680
Died: 1736
Kate Newmann