Kissane, Edward Joseph (1886–1959), priest and biblical scholar, was born 14 May 1886 in Lisselton, Ballybunion, Co. Kerry. He was educated at St Michael's College, Listowel, and St Brendan's Seminary, Killarney. In September 1903 he entered St Patrick's College, Maynooth, where he took degrees in philosophy (LPH) and theology (BD 1910). He studied Hebrew and Aramaic under Patrick Boylan (qv). On 30 June 1910 he was ordained priest at Maynooth and was attached to the archdiocese of Toronto. He studied at the newly founded Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, 1910–13, and obtained a licentiate in sacred scripture. He also acquired a DD at St Appollinaris in 1911. During this period he resided at the Canadian College in Rome. He also took the opportunity in April–July 1913 to visit Palestine and Egypt. Appointed professor of scripture at St Augustine's seminary, Toronto, in 1913, four years later he became professor of Old Testament and oriental languages at Maynooth.
His publications included Book of Job (1939); Book of Isaiah, i (1941); ii (1943); Psalms, 2 vols (1953–4); he was also co-editor (1919–21) of the Irish Theological Quarterly. He became vice-president of Maynooth in 1941, and was appointed president in 1942, serving as pro-vice-chancellor of the NUI in 1949. He was subsequently made a domestic prelate (1945), and protonotary apostolic (1953). Academic honours included membership of the RIA (1943), an honorary D.Litt. (NUI) (1946) and an honorary LLD from St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada (1953). He represented Ireland on KLM's inaugural flight from Amsterdam over the North Pole to Japan in November 1958. He died 21 February 1959 in Dublin.