Lough Derg’s Prior Msgr La Flynn paid tribute to local sculptor Brendan McGloin who was the responsible for sculpting the threshold stone at St Patrick’s Basilica in the Station Island. Mr McGloin died on April 4 and was buried in St Ninnidh’s Cemetery, Bundoran on April 7.
Msgr Flynn said that “apart from his widely appreciated figurative work, Brendan excelled in lettering, as Lough Derg pilgrims can see from his work on the threshold stone at the Basilica laid down to mark the Jubilee Year of Mercy (2015-16).”
For that Jubilee Year, Pope Francis stipulated “that a Holy Door would be opened in every cathedral and in significant places of pilgrimage. In St Patrick’s Basilica at Lough Derg, we designated the main door, and to mark it we laid down a new threshold stone,” Msgr Flynn said.
He said that “Brendan worked closely with Prior of the time, Fr Owen J McEneaney and his team, including myself to deliver the stone, with the key text: ‘I am the Door, enter and be safe’.”
“The tradition of pilgrims walking barefoot on the Three Day Pilgrimage was one of the elements that inspired our choice to mark the Holy Door with an engraved threshold stone, that now remains as a permanent witness to the mercy of the Lord as pilgrims tread across it beginning and ending the Station Prayer and coming to liturgies and devotions that are part of the pilgrimage programme.”
“From the outset,” Msgr Flynn said, “Brendan ‘got’ the significance and he brought his skill and his consummate professionalism to achieving the commission with lettering that is truly a work of art in its own genre.”
Msgr Flynn said he “spoke with him again about two years ago when I was researching for a different project, and it was then he told me he was undergoing chemotherapy. An exceptionally talented man who has left a lasting legacy through his many, many pieces of art.”
“As Brendan now passes through the final door, may he enter and be safe for all eternity.”
