When Seamus met John Paul: ‘The atmosphere was electric, I’ll never, ever forget it’

"I will never forget the excitement - the roar that went up at the sight of the helicopter coming and then the noise of the rotors. The atmosphere was electric, I'll never, ever forget it."
Seamus was a newly married young man, and between his wedding in Rome a few months earlier and the papal visit, he had two fairly close encounters with the late pope and canonized saint.
Seamus was a freelance photographer at the time and was delighted to get an opportunity to join the press corp at Killineer, thanks to a local priest.
"The late Fr Jim Shevlin was curate in Ardee at the time and he got me accreditation for the local parish magazine, 'Deeside Doings'."
"That meant I got inside the cordon with the rest of the photographers and we were right beside the stage where the pope said the mass.
"There was great excitement - at that time, even the sight of the helicopter was quite unusual. He was quite close to us."
"I remember when he got into the popemobile and passed right us, the place was buzzing, everybody was cheering. we thought it was deadly."

 

As the pope continued on his way through the crowds in the popemobile, Seamus managed to manoeuvre his way onto the stage, where the Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur was playing for the pope.
"They were playing Lonesome Boatman and anytime I hear that tune, I think of that day.
'My wife Betty was with me. She was pregnant with our first child at the time."
Seamus remembers being a little confused by the pope's Polish accent.
"I heard him say, you must turn away from the path of violins - and I thought what has he just said. It took me a minute or two to make sense of it - that he had said violence."
Seamus will never forget the crowds at Killineer.
"When we were leaving the site, we had to go to the right, along the road. The crowds were thronged from one ditch to the other as far as we could see. There was an amazing buzz.
"When we got home to Ardee, the place was thronged with people and cars, all heading north."
"It is a day I'll never forget."
The papal mass was Killineer was actually the second time that year that Seamus encountered the Pope. In fact, he had got very close to the Pontiffl earlier that year when he and Betty got married in Rome.
They were married in the Basicila of Saint Mary Major Church by Monsignor John Hanley, who was the Postulator of the cause of Blessed Oliver, prior to his canonisation in 1975, and was later PP in Laytown and then Carnaross.
"It was a Wednesday and there was an audience with the pope that day and Mons Hanley organised tickets for us, and because we were newly married, we got up in the front row.
"There were four little nuns there who were very excited. When the Pope came along and started greeting those of us in the front, he shook Betty's hand and then it was my turn, but the four nuns suddenly swooped forward in a fever of excitement and surrounded him. I didn't get to shake his hand."

 

"I've told that story many times. It was something in my life that will live forever. Pope John Paul II is no longer with us, but that memory will always be with me.
Seamus won't be going to see Pope Francis when he comes to Ireland next month.
"As time has gone on, I don't think I could get up as early or stand as long as in those days.
"It would never be as exciting as the first time anyway. This will be somebody else's first time," he said.