Father Finbarr Glavin

THE death has taken place of the district’s oldest priest, Fr Finbarr Glavin. He was 93.

Fr Glavin, who was from Dundrum, was buried at Aughlisnafin cemetery on Monday afternoon following a service at St Patrick’s Church in Downpatrick which was attended by many priests he had served alongside during his long ministry.

Born on September 15, 1923, Fr Glavin was ordained on June 19, 1949 and, incredibly, was working up until November last year. He has been described by those who worked alongside him as a “man of integrity and great faith.”

Fr Glavin was a great sportsman and played Gaelic football for Down minors and Ballykinlar.

He ministered mainly in the Co Down part of the Down and Conor diocese, spending time in Castlewellan and Killough. He also had a brief appointment at a convent in Coleraine.

Tributes to Fr Glavin’s ministry have been led by Canon Sean Rogan and Fr John Murray.

Canon Rogan, who spent nine years as the parish priest in Downpatrick before moving to Kilcoo, worked alongside Fr Glavin who was a senior curate during his time in Downpatrick.

He said: “Fr Glavin was a deeply religious person, a man of great faith and someone of absolute integrity. In many ways, he was old school and was someone who saw his vocation as fulfilling to the letter his duties as a pastor.

“Fr Glavin was absolutely dedicated to his calling and was a very charitable man. He was someone who took his calling extremely seriously and he was very loyal.”

Canon Rogan described Fr Glavin as a “man of great humility” and said his respect for the office of parish priest and his role as a curate was exceptional. 

He continued: “Never once would he have questioned anything when he was my curate; he never challenged anything I said which was a rather humbling experience for me as he was a man of tremendous experience, something we valued very much indeed.

“At finance committee meetings he would sit back quietly, but at the end he would always make some tremendously relevant comment. Fr Glavin would not be objecting to anything, but would offer his advice and was always very sagely. He was the senior priest of the diocese and his death marks the end of an era in many ways.”

Fr Murray said when Fr Glavin retired officially as PP of Killough, he decided he wanted to continue working and moved to St Malachy’s at Ballykilbeg.

“While he was limited to what he could do, incredibly, Fr Glavin was still visiting the sick aged 93 and was still taking Mass at the Quoile Fold beside the St Patrick Centre in Downpatrick and at nearby Abbeyfield,” he continued.

“There is also one story where the Downe Hospital could not get the priest on duty and they rang three or four other parishes in the area before they got in touch with Finbarr who arrived on a Zimmer frame to minister to a man who was dying and who was 20 years his junior.”

Fr Murray added: “Finbar was sort of old school and he would have been feisty about some of the things people would have said, but he was a character and a man of great heart who was much loved.”