The sun shone gently on a lovely Sunday evening for the Annual Concelebrated Mass of St Feichin in Lackan Cemetery in Abbey parish – setting the mood surrounding the celebration of the birth of St Feichin all of 1445 years ago.

St Feichin is the Patron Saint of Abbey parish and Abbey National School – and the faith of those present was very evident at this special community spiritual event.

Bishop Charles Hammawa, Bishop of Jalingo Diocese in Nigeria, came again this year to Lackan for the Mass – as were all his priests from Jalingo Diocese who have ministered and are currently ministering in Clonfert Diocese.

Bishop Charles, as chief celebrant, was joined by Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop of Killaloe and nine concelebrating priests.

These included Fr Brendan Kelly, Abbey/Duniry; Fr Tony Nzinang, CC, Loughrea; Fr John Naughton, Portumna; Fr Michael Ifiora, CC, Loughrea; Fr. Gregory Shinvo, CC, Ballinasloe; Fr. Brendan Lawless, PP, Kilconieran/Clostoken; Fr. Augustine Chifu, Jalingo Diocese; Fr Peter Hassan, Rector St. Augustine’s Seminary, Jos, Nigeria. and Fr. Kieran Danfulani. CC. Magheracloone, Co. Monaghan.

Saint Feichin was born 1445 years ago in Ballysodare, Co Sligo. He had associations with many parts of Galway including High Island and Omey Island in Connemara; Kilbeacanty near Gort and Lackan in Abbey parish.

He was in Lackan in the year 620 as a young priest and was responsible for establishing the Hoy Well, with its cure for sight problems. The Holy Well is a place of pilgrimage to this day with many people coming here throughout the year.

When Mass was over people prayed at the Holy Well and venerated the Stations of the Cross which are located there.

Earlier, Fr Peter Hassan delivered a powerful and inspiring homily for the occasion.

“As we gather in this sacred famine cemetery on the feast of St. Feichin, to remember those who suffered and died here, let us draw strength from the Word of God,” he told the congregation.

“Jesus challenges us in the Gospel to not only hear His word but to build our lives upon it. In today’s world that means living with integrity, compassion and faith in the face of a culture that often pulls us towards the temporary and the shallow. Like St. Feichin we are called to be builders of faith, of community and of justice.

“As we honour the past let us also look forward with hope, determined to live lives rooted in God’s love and grounded in His Living Word,” he added.

Fourteen hymns were sung throughout the Mass by the St. Feichin’s Choir with Carmel O’Halloran and Florence Lyons and Musical Director Mary Lyons.

The solo singing of “There is a Place” by Florence and “The Deer’s Cry” by Carmel were both beautiful and moving.

The final hymn sung at the Mass was “Faith of our Fathers”. The words of the hymn captured the strong Faith evident and practiced by the congregation at the Mass.

The Offertory Instrumental, “Ag Chriost an Siol” was played by Bernadette Connors on the accordion. The Mass Servers were Tadhg McGreal and William Donohue.

The John Paul 11 Awards students, Eimear Fahy, Thomas Gorman and Eanna Tyrrell from Mercy College, Woodford, composed and prayed their own Prayers of the Faithful especially for the Mass. They were joined in praying the Prayers of the Faithful by Sarah Craughwell and Kaitlin Craughwell.

After the Mass, community spirit and generosity were to the fore as refreshments were provided for all the congregation and for the bishops and priests by the hardworking people doing the catering.

In preparation for the Mass great work was carried out by GRD under the stewardship of Sean Larkin and his team of workers.

The organisers thanked Liam Fallon for his work in maintaining the Cemetery environs throughout the year. The Fallon family were thanked by the organisers for the use of their field for the car park.

Pictured: Concelebrants of the Mass in Lackan (from left) Fr Peter Hassan, Fr Tony Nzinang, Fr Gregory Shinvo, Fr Kieran Danfulani, Fr Michael Ifora, Bishop Charles Hammawa, Bishop Fintan Monahan, Fr Augustine Chifu, Fr John Naughton and Fr Brendan Lawless. Missing from photo is Fr Brendan Kelly.