Ó Colmáin, Domhnall (c.1645–c.1704), writer, was born probably in the Knockraha area of Co. Cork. Little is known of his background. He was most likely a priest and in the preface to Fr Cornelius Mac Curtain's Agallamh na bhFíoraon, he is referred to as a doctor of law. A colophon in one eighteenth-century manuscript (RIA, 24 P.17) notes he was a doctor of canon law. His biographer, Brian Ó Cuív (qv), states that he was well educated and competent in Irish and French. He was also familiar with classical literature and mythology and was able to quote with ease from Cato, Cicero, Horace, Ovid, and Seneca. He also quoted from St Augustine and had a very good knowledge of the scriptures to which he made regular reference for illustration purposes.
Ó Colmáin was a close friend of Sir James Cotter (qv), the assassin of the regicide John Lisle, and tutor to his son James Cotter (qv) at Ballinsperrig, Co. Cork. Ó Cuív notes that according to ecclesiastical sources a Domhnall Ó Colmáin was parish priest in Glauthane around 1670, parish priest of Rinmahon in 1700 and parish priest of Knockraha.
Ó Colmáin was the author of the prose text ‘Párliament na mBan’ which gives an account of a parliament of women held in Co. Cork and was written for his pupil James Cotter (1689–1720). The text is extant in at least forty manuscripts and is based on the Sentulus, one of Erasmus's Colloquia familiaria. The account of the first two sessions of the parliament is primarily a translation from Erasmus. It is didactic and of a religious nature, dealing with such themes as theft, prayer, lust, anger, envy, backbiting, laziness, drunkenness and lying. The ‘Párliament’ is particularly noteworthy according to Ó Cuív because of the author's attempt to adapt the idea of a parliament as a literary medium for didactic material. The text deals with the theme of a feminist movement, which was unusual in Irish literature of that period. It is linguistically significant because it represents the Irish of Cork at the end of the seventeenth century and also provides a good example of the socio-cultural background of that time. It may have been written as early as 1670, with revisions made 1697, including the addition of a preface addressed to James Cotter.
Practically nothing else is know about Ó Colmáin except that he was acquainted with Dr Eoin Baiste Mac Sleighne (1639?–1712), bishop of Cork and Cloyne (1693–1712), Donnchadh Mac Cárthaigh, Fr Cornelius MacCurtain, Fr Conchubhair Ó Briain and the poet Liam An Dúna Mac Cairteáin (qv). Each of these men composed a praise poem or approbatio for the text.
The year of Ó Colmáin's death is uncertain and his place of burial is unknown.
More information on this entry is available at the National Database of Irish-language biographies (Ainm.ie).