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The life and death of a Galway priest are remembered in the city this weekend. Father Michael Griffin was taken from his home and later assassinated by British forces, on this day a century ago.
His death convulsed the city, and thousands of mourners came to pay their respects at his funeral just over a week later.
Griffin responded to a knock on his door late on the night of November 14, 1920.
Neighbors reported seeing him leave the property, but when there was no sign of the priest the next day, concern for his well-being grew.
Six days later, the 28-year-old’s body was found in a field near Bearna. They had shot him in the head.
After being lured by British forces to leave the house, he is believed to have been taken to Lenaboy Castle, on Taylor’s Hill, where auxiliary forces were stationed. There, he was interrogated and eventually killed.
The kidnapping and murder of Fr. Griffin came at a time when tensions were particularly high in Co Galway.
The attack is believed to have been in retaliation for the murder of a local teacher, believed to have been a British informant, the previous month.
Galway historian Tom Kenny says that Father Griffin was indeed a marked man, after his name appeared in correspondence sent by the alleged informant to British authorities.
“There were several very unpleasant events at the local level in the weeks leading up to the kidnapping, including the execution of the master, who had been given the last rites before his death. This immediately put several priests, including Father Griffin, under a cloud. deep suspicion. “
The Black and Tans had warned the clerics that they were under threat as a result.
The night he left his home in Montpellier Terrace, Father Griffin left behind the Eucharist and the holy oils.
An autopsy carried out on his body showed that the priest had been killed shortly after the abduction and had died as a result of a single shot to the temple.
The people of Galway were horrified by the murder and flocked to pay their respects to Fr. Griffin, who was at St. Joseph’s Church on Presentation Road.
Exactly a century after his death, preparations are under way for a special mass to mark the anniversary of the murder. The table on which Father Griffin rested is still in the sacristy, and the church’s remodeling work is due to be completed this week, ahead of a service by Galway Bishop Brendan Kelly.
Photographs of the funeral procession show the magnitude of the crowd in November 1920. Several hundred clergymen and several thousand members of the public attended.
Tom Kenny says the murder made international news and was seen as an attack on the Catholic religion. The British Army and authorities initially denied any involvement in the incident.
He says that while no one was tried for the murder, “six months later, a high-ranking military man finally admitted that it was the Auxiliaries who had done it.”
One hundred years later, the legacy of Fr. Griffin lives on in various aspects of Galway life. A GAA club was named in his honor, a local street bears his name, and a memorial at the site of his body, near the town of Bearna.
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