16 Facts About Ethna Byrne-Costigan

Ethna Byrne-Costigan was an Irish academic and writer.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan was born at Upper Leeson Street, Dublin on 24 May 1904.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan was the eldest daughter of the chief architect to the Office of Public Works, Thomas Joseph Byrne and Mary Ellen Byrne.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan was schooled at Loreto Hall in St Stephen's Green, going on to attend University College Dublin.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan went on to study for her doctorate at the Sorbonne in Paris with the thesis Bourdaloue moraliste, which was published by Beauchesne.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan stayed in this position until 1969, establishing the Italian department and introducing a refresher course for French teachers.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan translated Le mie prigioni by Silvio Pellico into Irish, which is held by the Pellico Museum in Turin.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan founded the Dante Alighieri Society in Cork with Dr Piero Cali, serving as the president from 1956 to 1969.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan retired from UCC, taking up part-time lecturing at Trinity College Dublin on Italian philology and medieval texts.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan was a member of the Irish national committee of UNESCO, and represented Ireland twice at the biennial UNESCO conference in Paris.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan was the honorary secretary of the Celtic Congress.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan was a talented embroiderer, with her work exhibited as part of the Embroiderers' Guild in the United States.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan married the Egyptologist and linguist George Costigan in 1941, with whom she had one daughter, Celine.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan published her memoirs, Ethna Mary twice, under the pseudonym "Ethna Bee Cee" in 1989.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan remained an active researcher, delivering a lecture to the Old Dublin Society on Sydney, Lady Morgan in 1984.

Ethna Byrne-Costigan died at her home in Palmerstown Villas, Rathmines, Dublin on 12 January 1991.