In 1958, he became professor of modern languages at St Patrick's College, Maynooth,[3] a position he held until he retired in 1996.
[4] Devlin was an accomplished polyglot and popular teacher who was particularly known for his work in French and in Irish.
[5] For many years, he was rector of the Irish College in Paris and also published three novels in Irish: Néal Maidine agus Tine Oíche (1964), An Branar gan Cur (1979), and Sliocht ar Thír na Scáth (2018).
He has also published translations from French into Irish by La Fontaine, Pascal and Saint-Exupery.
[10] In 2001, Devlin was invested as an Officer of the Légion d'honneur, the highest French award available to a foreign national.