Cumann na Sagart was established on 1 February 1916 at the Maynooth Union meeting of that year.
The current president, Father Séamus Heaney, Parish Priest of Delvin, led the centenary celebrations on 6 June 2016 in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
The preacher at the centenary Mass was Bishop Philip Boyce OCD.
During their conference, Bishops congratulated Cumann na Sagart on reaching its centenary year and for the excellent work the association has undertaken over the past one hundred years in supporting priests and religious ministering in Gaeltacht areas, in gaelscoileanna and Irish speakers involvement in the liturgy across the island.
Bishops commended the work of the Cumann in providing texts and translations of liturgical and spiritual resources into the Irish language, and in its efforts to awaken interest in the Irish spiritual tradition by promoting the history, literature, oral tradition, hymnody and devotional aspects of the Irish language which sustained the faith of previous generations.
Cumann na Sagart has been asked to promote the new An Leabhar Aifrinn (the Irish language translation of the new edition of the Missal) which is expected to become available in 2017, and encouraged each parish in the country to obtain a copy of the Irish Missal when it becomes available.
