Next year will be the centenary of the death of Fr William Casey PP who was Parish Priest of Abbeyfeale from 1883 until 1907. The event will be commemorated with various functions and events throughout West Limerick and beyond, and is certain to revive major interest in the life and times of this extraordinary man who bequeathed such a permanent and enduring legacy to the people of his beloved town on the banks of the Feale.

Fr Casey was born near Mitchelstown, Co. Cork in 1840 and, having completed his studies at St. Coleman’s Diocesan Seminary, Fermoy, was ordained in 1868.

He served a temporary period in Abbeyfeale in 1869, before returning as curate in 1871, and he remained here until his death 36 years later.

Details of Fr Casey’s time in Abbeyfeale have been well documented in various local publications down through the years, and indeed an RTE “Radharc” programme on the life of our patriot priest won a premier broadcasting award at Monte Carlo in 1964.

Now, as we approach the centenary of his death, it might be interesting to speculate on how Fr Casey would regard life in Abbeyfeale today, and what he would make of the many changes that have occurred since he took his final stroll down Main Street all those years ago.

The first thing that he would undoubtedly notice is how the town has grown and prospered over the intervening years, with new houses, shops and business premises springing up everywhere. It has developed into a busy, bustling, thriving, multi-cultural metropolis – and has the resultant traffic-jams to prove it.

Fr Casey devoted much of his life to opposing the tyrant landlords who at one time owned most of Abbeyfeale and charged exorbitant rents to their tenants. It was his fervent belief that the people should take possession of their own homesteads. In 1879 he formed a branch of the Land League in Abbeyfeale and led a united and highly effective campaign against the landed gentry, and slowly broke their stranglehold.

The benefits of this victory are now being enjoyed by the descendants of those who took part in that historic campaign. The invader has been banished and the land is once more in the rightful ownership of the people. (although anyone today wishing to purchase a prime site on which to build a house, would probably need to win the lotto!)

From his vantage point high in The Square, Father Casey has an excellent overview of the town. He will note the impressive new Church with its modern architectural style, and must wonder what happened to the old one. He is not alone.

The old St Mary’s Church was situated where the Boys School now stands. It was built in 1848 during the famine years and replaced a thatched Church that had been built on the site of the old abbey. This thatched Church was apparently still in use up to 1864, and one of its gables was, until recent times, visible inside the graveyard gate.

Father Casey would have spent all of his ministry in the old St Mary’s Church. He would have celebrated Mass (in Latin, of course) and would have preached to his people from the imposing marble pulpit to the left of the main alter. The old people spoke of him as a fiery and uncompromising orator, mercifully brief, but with a piercing wit and a fine turn of phrase. Here he would have heard confessions, conducted funeral services, officiated at marriage and baptismal ceremonies and carried out all of the pastoral duties associated with a Parish Priest. Here also, he was brought on his final journey in 1907, and laid to rest in the aisle by the side of the main altar.

In June of 1968 the new Church of the Assumption in Convent Street was blessed and officially opened by His Lordship Most Rev. Dr. Henry Murphy, Bishop of Limerick. And in December of 1968, the remains of four former Parish Priests were exhumed from St Mary’s Church and re-interned at the rear of what would later become St Mary’s Boys School. They were Fr Daniel Lyddy (P.P. 1824-1849) Fr Thomas Carroll (P.P. 1849-1856) Fr Michael Coughlin (P.P. 1856-1883) Fr William Casey (1883-1907).

A simple stone slab now covers their final resting place.

Many people still regret the demolition of St Mary’s Church, and also the demise of the Latin Mass. That unforgettable introduction, which was used in every Catholic Church all over the world for centuries; “In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Introibo ad altare Dei” still has the power to send a shiver down the spine of even the most committed atheist.

At present, a priest can apparently celebrate an occasional Latin Mass if he can get permission from his Bishop. Would not a Mass in Latin to commemorate the death of Fr Casey next year be a fitting tribute? And if we could include the music of the late great Sean O’Riada in the mix, we would have a sell-out!

And isn’t there a certain irony in the fact that, nowadays, we recite the Liturgy in the very language of those who once banished our forefathers to the Mass Rocks? The good news is that His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, is said to be preparing to widen the use of the old Latin rite again and is expected to publish new guidelines on the subject very shortly.

Anyway, having perused the new Church, Father Casey might now let his gaze wander across the street and feel consoled by the fact that at least the Sisters of Mercy Convent was still in existence. Wrong! The building is still standing, but the good nuns moved out in 2003, having been there since 1871, co-incidentally the same year that Father Casey was appointed curate.

Father Casey enjoyed a cordial relationship with the convent. He was on the Board of Management of the school and, when the Convent Chapel was opened in 1893, he regularly celebrated Mass there. He enlisted the help of the Sisters in nursing the sick in their homes, particularly during a severe outbreak of fever in 1883 which claimed many lives including several of the nuns.

Hopefully, in years to come, somebody will sit down and write the definitive history of the Sisters of Mercy in Abbeyfeale. Their contribution to the community, both publicly and privately, has been immense and it deserves to be recognized.

On a lighter note, the very first sub-fifteen minute Mass was celebrated in the Convent Chapel early one Sunday morning back in 1973. The celebrant and still current record-holder has asked to remain anonymous; “Ah sure, if word got out, they’d all want one!” he explained, so we will respect his wishes.

Anyway, he kicked off at 7.30 am and was giving us all the Final Blessing at 7.44 and 56 seconds precisely, as timed independently by two coursing enthusiasts with stop-watches used for clocking greyhounds- and you can’t get more accurate than that! We got the full treatment; gospel, parish notices, sermon, trimmings, decade of the rosary, a reading of the Christmas dues (in September?) etc. and then we were out the gate and running for Tony Murphy’s bus which was revving up like a racing car out on the street. Father Anonymous still managed to get in there ahead of us, (they definitely have the power) and then we were off, and heading lickity-split for Mountmahon and all points beyond.

Never before had men prayed so fervently – or so fast! But our prayers were answered later that afternoon as the Limerick hurlers cruised to victory over Kilkenny in the All Ireland final at Croke Park.

The ways of The Lord are strange indeed.

Father Casey of course was an ardent football enthusiast and had even organized a local team before the GAA was formed in 1884. There is a rumour (probably false) of a famous football game that was played on the banks of the Feale before proper rules were formulated which comprised over fifty players on each side and lasted for three hours. (This may very well have been a forerunner of the present international rules competition. Our venerable padre was a man who was years ahead of his time.)

The first recorded game under rules took place in 1891 when Abbeyfeale played Doon in a county senior championship match at Croom. They travelled by train to Patrickswell and then walked the six miles to Croom accompanied by Father Casey, the Brass Band and a large crowd of travelling supporters.

Abbeyfeale failed to win a county title during the lifetime of Fr Casey. However, the sporting seeds that he sowed and the legacy that he left behind, were the beginnings of a great footballing tradition that has endured through the generations and seems destined to continue well into the future.

Fr Casey’s, the club that so proudly bears his name, collected their eighth senior county title just a few short weeks ago. Afterwards, they did the obligatory victory parade through the town They paused briefly in front of the monument to salute their founder, and you could almost feel the hand of history reaching down through the decades to touch them. It was a special moment.

Father Casey rests peacefully now in a quiet spot by the banks of the Feale, and just a stone’s throw away from his beloved football club. The old bell from St Mary’s Church has been restored to the grounds of the national school nearby, and its familiar peal continues to ring out over the graveyard and over the parish to call the faithful to prayer. And still the memories endure of a very ordinary man who was blessed with extraordinary courage, vision, compassion and a great love for God and for his fellow human beings.

Next year the people of Abbeyfeale will come out in great numbers to honour the memory of their revered patriot priest. It should be a fitting tribute to a man who has managed to touch the hearts of so many.