Seán Mac Réamoinn 1921 – 2007

The following Obituary by Mgr Tom Stack appeared in the Sunday Independent on 21st January 2007.

I REMEMBER, some years ago, after the funeral of the historian the late Máire de Paor, I noticed a woman in the church approaching Seán Mac Réamoinn, who had read a lesson during the memorial mass. His reading had been the renowned passage from St Paul, in which he lyrically counsels and affirms the primacy of love in the life of all Christians.

Guessing that the lady who had spoken to him might have been somewhat fulsome in her praise, I remarked to Seán that she had surely been complimenting him on his rendition of St Paul's famous Letter to the Corinthians.

"Yes," he replied smilingly. She had indeed expressed her admiration for his performance, and then he added with a coy twinkle: "And do you know she then said to me: 'Dr Mac Réamoinn, I take it that you also composed those lines as well.'"

He was clearly pleased with his new fan's outlandish, though well-meaning gaffe.

Seán Mac Réamoinn was, in his own way, nothing short of an institution during his long and varied life span. He represented a galaxy of varied gifts to different people. In so many ways he was a figure larger than life.

He was equally at home in the company of Irish-language enthusiasts, visiting scholars of every description, young traditional musicians and theologians.

A litany of his anecdotes and bons mots have passed into the folklore of his huge circle of acquaintances drawn from the worlds of scholarship, broadcasting, entertainment and ordinary citizenry.

The shining thread that ran through his engagement with whatever audience happened to be at hand was humour; both exuberant and wry. Invariably, people of all stripes left his company smiling, and often eager to pass on to posterity the roguishly profound puns or deliciously irreverent yarns which Seán had fashioned for their delight. This would be true whether the venue had been the Tower Bar in Henry Street (near Radio Eireann) or Madigan's of Donnybrook (near RTE), St Peter's Square in Rome or in an obscure country churchyard.

In addition to all that, as a broadcaster his gravelly gravitas was a familiar experience for generations of Irish radio listeners, whether Seán was covering on air a solemn state occasion or tentatively dissecting the finer points of some abstruse philosophical radio discussion, with the likes of the late communications guru Marshall McLuhan or the theologian Hans Kung.

For the aficionado of the Cumann Merriman Summer School in particular, Seán Mac Réamoinn will be fondly remembered from many Co Clare resorts, for his traditional annual introductory lecture entitled Scoil Merriman: Its Cause and Cure.Born in 1921 in Birmingham, of an insurance executive father from Boolavogue, Co Wexford, Seán Mac Réamoinn was educated at the Galway Jesuit school Coláiste Iognáid, and later at UCG, where he studied French and Irish, graduating with a master's degree in the latter.

He wrote scripts for Taibhdhearc theatre productions, including its annual Irish-language pantomimes, which were reputed to have been unfailingly witty and ingenious, as he transposed the stories of Irish saga literature into latter-day political satire and his own special brand of knowing fun.

Notably in the Sixties, he reported on the Second Vatican Council from Rome, conveying his well-researched conviction that the potential of this singular event could bring to birth a fresh and exciting vision for the life of the church in the world, as it finally buried the former culture of that institution, within which, as he memorably quipped (perhaps a little in caricature), "everything was forbidden, except what was compulsory".

May Seán Mac Réamoinn's gifted soul rest in peace, as he departs our company ar shlí na firinne. T.S.

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