Tributes have been paid to Maynooth professor Fr Ronan Drury who has died aged 93. A stalwart of the national seminary, Fr Drury taught countless generations of Irish priests the art of preaching homilies. He died on Thursday, November 16, in Dublin.
A priest of the Meath Diocese, he was ordained in 1949 having begun his seminary formation in Maynooth in 1942.
At a solemn ceremony of Vespers in the Maynooth College Chapel current President Fr Michael Mullaney recalled that from 1942, Fr Drury had lived all but three years of his life at Maynooth. In fact, his long-time service to the college meant that he was resident on campus for more than a third of the college’s 222-year history.
Many former students and colleagues packed the Vespers service on Sunday evening, and remembered Prof. Drury at a reception afterwards in Pugin Hall.
As Professor of Homiletics, he not only trained and inspired students in Maynooth, he supervised an annual course at the Irish College in Rome for students preparing for ordination.
He became editor of The Furrow – a pastoral journal – in 1977 following the death of the founding editor Canon JJ McGarry. He continued as editor up until his death and colleagues recalled how he was working on the November issue during his final illness.
A native of Mullagh in Co. Cavan, Fr Drury celebrated a remarkable 68 consecutive Midnight Masses in his native parish. His requiem Mass was celebrated in the college chapel at Maynooth on Monday, November 20, and he was buried afterwards in Mullagh.