Rescued Victorian pipe organ is key to special Mass in Limerick

AS THE church bell tolled on a sunny, mid-August evening, there was great anticipation and excitement in St Patrick’s Church, Doon.

The pipe organ, built in 1880, was rescued from spiders' cobwebs in the closed Convent of Mercy and was sold. 

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Nine years after it had gone under the hammer at auction in 2016, the sweet, sonorous strains of the Victorian pipe organ were going to be heard again by parishioners and visitors at the Heritage Week Event organised to celebrate its installation. 

Chief celebrant Fr Jimmy Donnelly PP was joined by Fr Johnny Sweeney with Deacon Tom Anderson assisting.  

Tina Cummins, of Dún Bleisce Parish Choir, assisted in the liturgy with the readings while Brendan Byrnes, Beth O’Brien and Luke Ryan of Dún Bleisce Historical and Literary Society read the Prayers of the Faithful. 

Sisters of Mercy congregation were in attendance including Sr Cecilia English who joined other past and present members of the parish choir in their performance of the Ó Riada Mass with guest organ accompanist Éamonn Quigley. 

In his homily, Fr Donnelly described the pipe organ as part of our heritage “not frozen in time but alive in the present”.

“It is a reminder that we too have a responsibility to cherish what we’ve been given and to hand it on enriched to those who come after us,” he said. 

Sr Mary Coyle, of the Mercy Archive Centre, explained that she herself was a ‘Doon girl’ and spoke of how happy she was that the dulcet tones of the pipe organ were to be heard again and how she loved being involved in the project.

Sr Mary thanked Fr Donnelly, sacristan Michael Reale, the parishioners of Doon, the parish choir, the Historical and Literary Society and the Heritage Council for helping to bring this project to fruition. 

Sr Mary explained that the memorial booklet for the event would now form part of the Mercy archives.   Presentations were made to choir director Assumpta Uí Riain, organist Mairéad Quigley and guest accompanist Éamonn Quigley.

Refreshments were enjoyed in the Fr McGrath Hall thanks to the Historical Society and Parish Choir, facilitated and assisted by hard working members of Doon Community Council. There was a lot of joy, nostalgia and sense of community.

A recording of the Ó Riada Mass is available on YouTube via the Dún Bleisce Historical and Literary Society Facebook page.