Bhí baint aige le haistriú an Tiomna Nua go Gaeilge. Tá eolas air in Ossory clergy and parishes, 1933 le J.B. Leslie, in I bPrionta i Leabhar. Na Protastúin agus Prós na Gaeilge 1567–1724, 1986 le Nicholas Williams agus in Dictionary of National Biography. Ba é a athair Patrick Walsh, iar-Chaitliceach a ceapadh ina easpag ar Phort Láirge agus Lios Mór. I bPort Láirge a rugadh é. Deirtear in DIB gur leanbh tabhartha é sa mhéid nach mbeadh a thuismitheoiri pósta go ceann tamaill. Rinne sé staidéar i bPáras, Oxford agus Cambridge; ghnóthaigh sé BA in Cambridge 1562/3 agus MA i 1567. Bhí sé féin agus Seán Ó Cearnaigh ina mic léinn in Cambridge ag an am céanna (‘An Bíobla i nGaeilge 1600–1981’ le Breandán Ó Madagáin in An Léann Eaglasta in Éirinn 1200–1900, 1988 in eagar ag Máirtín Mac Conmara). Bhí post aige ar dtús i ndeoise Phort Láirge sular ceapadh é ina Sheansailéir ar Ardeaglais Naomh Pádraig i mBaile Átha Cliath i 1571. Bhí Seán Ó Cearnaigh ina chisteoir san ardeaglais chéanna agus in ‘Addenda et Corrigenda’ a leabhair tugann Williams an t-eolas seo leanas as Works of James Ware, 1764: ‘...gur chuir Seán Ó Cearnaigh agus Nicolás Bhailís ordú á dhéanamh “that the Prayers of the Church should be printed in that Character and Language [.i. cló Eilise agus an Ghaeilge], and a Church set apart in the Shire town of every Diocese, where they were to be read, and a Sermon preached to the common People; which proved an instrument of conversion to many of the ignorant sorts of Papists in those Days”.’

I bhFeabhra 1577 coisreacadh é ina Easpag ar Osraí. Ba iad Seán Ó Cearnaigh agus é féin a chuir tús leis an leagan Gaeilge den Tiomna Nua arbh é Uilliam Ó Domhnaill a chuir dlús leis. Tá sliocht as litir Sir John Perrot i gcló ag Williams: ‘... whereas by the travaile of Nicholas Welshe, late buyshope of Ossery, and of one J. Carney, deceased, the Newe Testament was translated unto the Irysh mother tonge, but yet hetherto never imprynted...’. Deir Leslie: ‘He also began a translation of the New Testament into Irish, but did not live to complete it, being murdered in his house on Dec. 14, 1585, by one James Dullard, whom he had proceeded against, in his Court for adultery.’ Deir W. G. Neely (Kilkenny: an urban history, 1391–1883, 1989) go raibh ardmheas ar Bhailís sa deoise, gur theith Dullard isteach sna coillte mar ar chroch ceithearnaigh é. Luaitear fáth eile leis an dúnmharú, gur laghdaíodh go mór ar ioncam na deoise le linn an easpaig a bhí ann roimhe agus go raibh Bhailís ag iarraidh tailte na deoise a athghabháil, rud ar theastaigh ó Dullard stop a chur leis. Deir Neely: ‘One fails to find evidence that the people of Kilkenny ever had convinced protestant clergy until after 1570. Nor was strong episcopal leadership available until 1577 when Nicholas Walsh, a scholar with a desire to make the teachings of the reformation available to Irish speakers, was appointed.’ Deir Williams: ‘Ní foláir nó fear fada caol a bhí ann, mar “Nicholas the Scar[e]crowe” a thugann sé féin air féin.' Tá sé curtha in Ardeaglais Chainnigh i gCill Chainnigh.

Diarmuid Breathnach

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