Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stapleton, Theobald
STAPLETON, THEOBALD (fl. 1636), Irish writer, who called himself in Irish Teaboid Gállduf, was a native of Kilkenny of English descent, but does not seem to have been related to the Stapletons of Yorkshire (Chetwynd-Stapylton, Stapeltons of Yorkshire, 1897). He was ordained priest and lived for some time in Flanders. In 1639 he published in Brussels, ‘Catechismus seu Doctrina Christiana Latino-Hibernica,’ dedicated to Ferdinand, infant of Spain. He says that his motive in making the translation was that Irish was too much considered the exclusive property of poets and secular authors, so that the Irish themselves often said prayers in Latin, though knowing no language but Irish. The book, which is a quarto, was printed by Hubert Anthony Velpius at the Golden Eagle near the palace in Brussels, and is remarkable as the first book in which the Irish language was printed in Roman type. The title-page has a vignette copied with slight differences from that of the Sgathan an Chrabhaidh printed at Louvain in 1616. At the end is printed ‘Modh ro vras na teanghan Ghaoilaige do leagh,’ directions for reading Irish. The Irish letters, diphthongs, tripthongs, aspiration, eclipsis, and some contractions are explained in nineteen sections.
[Works; Anderson's Historical Sketches of the Native Irish, 2nd ed. 1830; Rev. C. P. Meehan's Rise and Fall of the Irish Franciscan Monasteries, 6th ed.]