Séamus Ó Fianghusa (Fennessy): God’s Own First Responder, St. Jude Thaddeus

Séamus Ó Fianghusa, known as ‘Séamus na Gaeilge’ in the Donegal Gaeltacht, is an author and US Army soldier. We recently spoke with him about his book on St Jude, patron saint of lost causes, Gaelic culture, and his Catholic faith.  In March of 2006, he started learning Irish. He achieved recognition within the Irish language movement after attaining fluency in the tongue within a short span of time and with no formal instruction.  He went to Ireland for the first time in the summer of 2008 and currently spends his time between Ireland and the United States.  He is a passionate advocate of all aspects of traditional Celtic culture and one of the relatively few practitioners of the ancient Gaelic art of song known as ‘sean-nós’.  In Ireland, he is a frequent contributor to Irish language media, with numerous appearances on national television and radio.