Former Delvin curate dies in Wicklow

A 90 year old retired priest who served as a popular curate in Delvin for fifteen years has died in Co. Wicklow.Fr. Eugene J. (Hughie) O’Reilly, who spent 37 years as a missionary in Africa, died peacefully in the care of nursing staff of the Care Unit at St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow, on Wednesday, August 4.A native of Ferbane, Co. Offaly, Fr. O’Reilly was born to Eugene J. and Julia (née Coady) O’Reilly on May 17, 1920, at the height of the Irish War of Independence. He was the youngest of six children (two brothers and three sisters), and attended Ferbane National School between 1926 and 1933, before receiving his secondary education at St. Finian’s College, Mullingar between 1934 and 1939.He began his spiritual year in Kiltegan in 1939, and was ordained to the priesthood in Carlow Cathedral on December 18, 1945, by then Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Thomas Keogh.Fr. O’Reilly was one of eight priests who travelled to Nigeria in 1946, where his sister, Sister Patrick, also served with the Holy Rosary Sisters. He was appointed to the Diocese of Ogoja, and his first port of call was Abakaliki, where he remained before being appointed to Ikom during Christmas 1946. Fr. O’Reilly found Ikom a difficult and stressful place, but he spent most of his first tour there, and after a brief home leave, he returned to Nigeria and was appointed to Obudu, where he spent the next ten years, during the 1950s.He found his ministry in Obudu - a cooler location in the Nigerian mountains - to be a much more pleasant experience. He opened several schools, managing 41 mission schools and twenty council schools, bringing him to the end of his second tour of Nigeria.In 1960, he returned to Nigeria following a serious stomach operation, and was sent to Umuezeoke, to Ngbo and finally to Nkalagu, where he completed a house commenced by Fr. Pat Dorr. He then went to Ishiagu, where he had his most enjoyable stay in Africa.The Biafran war then intervened, and he experienced the tragic consequences of civil war. After a brief return to Ireland, he came back to Ishiagu, where he took on a busy pastoral schedule. He made many friends there, who remained in his memories and prayers for the rest of his life.After leaving Ishiagu, he moved to his final Nigerian parish of Ikwo, before he had to return home to Ireland due to declining health and diphtheria.On his return to Ireland, he settled in the Diocese of Meath, and was appointed curate of Delvin parish, replacing Fr. Austin Gogarty. He spent the next fifteen years in Delvin, and will always be remembered by his former parishioners for his good humour.Reluctantly, he retired to Kiltegan in 1988, where he spent the next twelve years in peace. During his last illness, he was moved to the centre’s Palliative Care Unit, where he died in the company of nurses, staff and four of his fellow priests on August 4.Fr. O’Reilly is survived by his nephews, nieces, grandnieces, grandnephews, cousins, his Society family and many friends and former parishioners.He was predeceased by his sisters Bridget, Rose, and Sister Patrick, and his brothers Jim and William.After reposing at St. Patrick’s, Kiltegan on Thursday last, he was removed to the St. Patrick’s Chapel, with Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul celebrated on Friday morning, followed by burial in the Society Cemetery.