Today, the feast of St Columba, sees the centenary celebrations of the founding of the Long Tower Church of St Columba in the heart of Derry city. Pope Benedict has named Cardinal Keith O'Brien, archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, as his special envoy to the celebrations.
The cardinal will be accompanied on his mission by Fr Thomas P. Donnelly, pastor emeritus of Nazareth House, Fahan, Co. Donegal, and an expert on the life of St. Columba, and by Fr Michael Canny, administrator of St. Eugene's Cathedral in Derry.
The Long Tower Church began life as a small church in 1783. It was the inspiration of Fr John Lynch, a native of Balteagh, Dungiven, and theology graduate of the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, who was parish priest of Derry at that time.
The small church was extended in 1810 and 1890 and finally remodelled into its present shape with three galleries in 1909.
The renovations completed in preparation for the centenary include a memorial dedicated to a former Bishop of Derry Raymond O'Gallagher who was martyred in 1601 at Claudy, County Derry, and the renovation of the tomb of the bishop who commissioned the church, Bishop John Keys O'Doherty (1889-1907).
Besides, three grand panels behind the High Altar depicting Christ ascending into heaven with Saint Peter and Saint Paul on either, have been taken out, repaired in Belfast and reinstalled.
Meanwhile, in preparation for the celebrations a local undertaker and members of the Long Tower Restoration Group conducted an investigative "dig" with a small earthmover of a mound in the graveyard attached to the church, but no human remains or coffins were found.
It is planned that Cardinal O'Brien will plant a tree at the spot in honour of St. Columba.
The Long Tower church is especially admired for its ornate neo-renaissance interior and its copies of Old Masters' paintings.
The parish has a population of nearly 8,000 and overlooks the Catholic Bogside part of Derry.
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