Lambert McKenna S.J. was a Jesuit priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 and writer.

He was born Andrew Joseph Lambert McKenna in Dublin and studied in Europe. He collected and edited religious and folk poetry in the Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

. Working with the Irish Texts Society

Irish Texts Society

The Irish Texts Society was founded in 1898 to promote the study of Irish literature. The Society publishes annotated editions of texts in Irish with English translations and related commentaries....

, he edited the famous Contention of the bards

Contention of the bards

The Contention of the Bards was a literary controversy of early 17th century Gaelic Ireland, lasting from 1616 to 1624 , in which the principal bardic poets of the country wrote polemical verses against each other and in support of their respective patrons.There were thirty contributions to the...

 and many anthologies of Irish bard

Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

ic poetry and historical works. He is a former editor of The Irish Monthly and An Timire.

He was awarded an honorary Doctorate for his contribution to Celtic Studies (D. Litt. Celt) by UCD in 1947 on the same day that Jack Butler Yeats

Jack Butler Yeats

John "Jack" Butler Yeats was an Irish artist. His early style was that of an illustrator; he only began to work regularly in oils in 1906. His early pictures are simple lyrical depictions of landscapes and figures, predominantly from the west of Ireland—especially of his boyhood home of...

 was also awarded an honourary Doctorate.

Works

His works include:

• English-Irish Phrase Dictionary (1911)
• The Church and Labour:Series of Six Tracts (1913–14)
• Dánta do chum Aonghus Fionn Ó Dálaigh (1919)
• Iomarbháigh na bhfileadh
  Contention of the bards
  The Contention of the Bards was a literary controversy of early 17th century Gaelic Ireland, lasting from 1616 to 1624 , in which the principal bardic poets of the country wrote polemical verses against each other and in support of their respective patrons.There were thirty contributions to the...
  
  (1918–20)
• The Social Teachings of James Connolly (1920)
• Dán Dé (1922)
• Life and Work of Rev. Aloysius Cullen S.J. (1924)
• Philip Bocht Ó hUiginn (1931)
• English-Irish Dictionary (1935)
• Dioghluim Dána (1938)
• Athdioghluim Dána (1939–40)
• Bardic Syntactical Tracts (1944)
• Leabhar Méig Shamhradháin (1947)
• Leabhar Í Eadhra (1951)