PRESS RELEASE
4 January 2010
Overview for media of funeral liturgy for Cardinal Cahal Daly RIP
Requiem Mass for Cardinal Cahal Daly – 5 January 2010
St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh
At 12:00 noon Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, will process with concelebrating bishops and priests from the sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral to the main door, where they will enter the Cathedral and process up the central aisle to celebrate this Requiem Mass.
The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has nominated Cardinal Brady both to celebrate the Mass and to be his personal legate (representative) at the ceremony.
Chief mourners
Mr Patrick Daly (brother), Ms Rosaleen Daly (sister), Ms Barbara Daly and Ms Mavis Daly (sisters in law), nephews and nieces including Fr Brian Daly, priest of the Diocese of Down and Connor.
Main Con-celebrants
Fr Brian Daly; Bishop Gerard Clifford, (Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh); Bishop Colm O’Reilly (Ardagh and Clonmacnois); Bishop Noel Treanor (Down and Connor) (– see also below).
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of Edinburgh; Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster; will be in choral dress and will be seated in the Sanctuary of the Cathedral during the Mass.
Choirs
St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir will sing during the Mass. The conductor of the choir is Mr Colm Murphy. ‘The Priests’, Fr Eugene O’Hagan. Fr Martin O’Hagan and Fr David Delargy, will sing at the Prayers of Commendation at the end of the Mass. St Malachy’s Choir, Armagh, under its conductor, Mr Sean Boylan, will sing Salve Regina by the graveside.
Deacons
Rev Stephen Kelly (Batterstown Parish in the Diocese of Meath) and Rev Conleth Meehan (a native of Dungannon Parish, Archdiocese of Armagh)
Master of Ceremonies
Fr Rory Coyle (to direct the liturgy throughout the Mass)
Servers and Acolytes (candle bearers)
Seminarians from Maynooth College and Irish College, Rome
1. Ryan McAleer- Thurifer
2. Paul Murphy- Candle
3. Thomas McHugh- Candle
4. Aidan McCann- Cross
5. Sean McGuigan- Holy Water
6. Brian Slater- Book
Servers from Armagh Parish
1. Niamh Evans – Mitre
2. Orla Trainor – Crozier
3. Malachy Donaldson- Gifts
4. Dermot Hicks – Gifts
Readers
1st Reading: Dr Gerard Daly, (a nephew of Cardinal Daly)
Psalm sung by: Anne Boylan, (St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir, Armagh)
2nd Reading: Ms Blaithin Doran, (a native of the parish of Dromintee, Armagh)
Prayer of the Faithful
1. Sr Teresa Walsh, (Sister of Nazareth, Belfast)
2. Ms Kate Acton, (Diocesan Youth Director)
3. Mr Aidan Black (Armagh Parish)
4. Joanna Hillan
5. Leigh Egerton
6. Noelle Boyle
Offertory Procession
1. A member of the Ardagh and Clonmacnois Lourdes Committee
2. Mary Livingstone, President of the Armagh Diocesan Pioneer Association
3. Patrick Daly, a brother of Cardinal Daly
4. Rosaleen Daly, a sister of Cardinal Daly
5. Barbara Daly, a sister-in-law of Cardinal Daly
Special Message from the Holy Father
After the final prayer of the Mass, Fr Eugene Sweeney Cathedral Administrator and former diocesan secretary to Cardinal Daly when he was Archbishop of Armagh, will read a message of sympathy from the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, to Cardinal Brady, on the death of Cardinal Daly.
Concelebrants of the Requiem Mass include:
The Bishops and Archbishops of Ireland; The President of Maynooth College; The President of the Irish College, Rome; President of St Malachy’s College, Belfast; The Abbot of Mellifont; Abbot of Portglenone; The Prior of Servite Priory, Benburb; The members of the Chapter of Armagh Diocese; representatives of the priests of Armagh, Down and Connor, and Ardagh and Clonmacnois (including the Vicars General, members of the Senate of Priests, Vicars Forane); Cardinal Daly’s former secretaries.
Burial
Various pall bearers will carry the remains of Cardinal Daly from the Cathedral to his burial place in the grounds outside. The pall bearers include: six priests of the Archdiocese of Armagh; cathedral stewards; Armagh scouts; students of St Patrick’s Grammar School, Armagh GAA players; and finally Daly Family members.
Cardinal Brady will lead prayers at the graveside. Fr Eddie O’Donnell (secretary to Cardinal Daly when he was Bishop of Down & Connor) will pray a decade of the Rosary. Then the remains will be laid beside the graves of Cardinal Daly’s three immediate predecessors:
– Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich (died in 1990)
– Cardinal William Conway (died in 1977)
– Cardinal John D’Alton (died in 1963)
Backgrounds notes
- Cardinal Cahal Daly was the 113th successor to St Patrick. He was born in Loughguile, Co Antrim on 1 October 1917. He was educated at St Patrick’s National School in Loughguile, and then as a boarder in St Malachy’s College, Belfast.
- He studied Classics at Queen’s University in Belfast and earned his BA with Honours and also the Henry Medal in Latin Studies in 1937 and completed his MA the following year.
- He entered St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and was ordained to the priesthood on 22 June 1941. He continued studies in theology in Maynooth, from where he obtained a doctorate in divinity (DD) in 1944.
- His first appointment was as Classics Master in St Malachy’s College (1944-1945). In 1945, he was appointed Lecturer in Scholastic Philosophy at Queen’s University, Belfast. From 1952–1953 Queens granted him sabbatical leave, which he spent studying at the Catholic Institute of Paris where he received a licentiate in philosophy.
- He was a peritus, or theological expert, at the Second Vatican Council (1963–1965) to the late Bishop William Philbin, former Bishop of Down and Connor, during the first session of the Council and to the late Cardinal William Conway, former Archbishop of Armagh, for the rest of the Council.
- Cardinal Daly was ordained Bishop of Ardagh & Clonmacnois in 1967 and was subsequently appointed Bishop of Down and Connor in 1982.
- Cardinal Daly was appointed as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland on 16 December 1990 and served until his retirement, at the age of 79, when he was succeeded by the then Archbishop Brady on 1 October 1996. Cardinal Daly was created a cardinal in by the late Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1991. Cardinal Daly had as his motto, “Jesus Christ, yesterday and today” taken from Hebrews 13:8.
- Upon his retirement Cardinal Daly returned to his study of theology and philosophy. He authored a series of books on violence and the search for peace in Northern Ireland including a book of memoirs ‘Steps on My Pilgrim Journey’ which was published in 1998. Among his other published works are ‘Philosophy in Britain from Bradley to Wittgenstein’ and ‘The Minding of Planet Earth’, published in 2004. In March 2007 the late Dr Thomas Kelly, former head of the Department of Philosophy at NUI Maynooth, launched ‘Philosophical Papers’, a collection of articles previously published in various journals by Cardinal Daly.
Further information
