Press Releases11 Jan 22

Dean & Chapter of St Patrick’s pay tribute to Bishop Hannon

Warm tribute has been paid by the Dean of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, to the former Bishop of Clogher, the Right Reverend Brian Hannon, “whose life and ministry were the epitome of the search for the healing of conflict in Northern Ireland throughout the Troubles.”

In expressing the condolences of the Chapter of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral to Bishop Hannon’s wife Maeve, and sons, Desmond, Brendan and Neil, the Very Reverend Dr William Morton said that the bishop had striven always to offer spiritual and pastoral support and leadership through the most difficult years of violence in Northern Ireland.

As an ordinand, Dr Morton recalled attending a memorial service in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in November 1987 for the victims of the Enniskillen bombing one week earlier. In a landmark address, for which he received a sustained standing ovation, Bishop Hannon thanked the full capacity congregation, including the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Carmencita Hederman, and political and community leaders from all over Ireland, “for the wave of prayer and compassion that has surrounded those bereaved and injured in Enniskillen and for the new determination by so many to say to all our fellow countrymen, ‘No more of this’.” Nothing in Ireland, in the Republic, or in Northern Ireland, could justify such an atrocity,” he said.

The Dean at that time was Dr Victor Griffin whom Bishop Hannon succeeded as Rector of Christ Church, Londonderry, in 1969 where he remained until 1982 before being appointed Rector of Enniskillen, and subsequently Dean of Clogher, and Bishop of Clogher. Dean Morton also recalls attending a meeting of the Irish College of Preachers led by Bishop Hannon who delighted all present with his skills as a gifted pianist, a musical tradition which has been carried on by his son Neil, and his highly–rated band The Divine Comedy.