St Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm blitz while Mass was in progress. The thunderstorm erupted during evening Mass, and the lightning hit knocked out the lights and the sound system.
The priest celebrating Mass, Fr Gerard O’Leary, said there was a palpable shock and fear among members of the congregation as he waited until the cathedral’s generator kicked in and restored power.
"I think everybody got a fright and we were very lucky that there was no real damage done," he remarked. "We were very relieved that nobody inside or outside of the building was hurt," he added.
Fr O’Leary said he was satisfied that the Mass should resume and reassured worshippers that they were safe.
The giant spire in the Pugin-designed building had attracted the lightning and brought it down so everyone inside was quite safe, he explained.
"We were very lucky to have the lightning conductor as that prevented any real damage being done," he said.
“I’ve been told that it was quite visible hitting the building outside so anyone looking at it would have seen what happened.”
“It was harder to tell what was going on inside but I felt that it was right to keep going with the Mass.”
Fr O’Leary said that while the telephone connection was disabled, the cathedral suffered no significant damage.
“In the sacristy, wiring was damaged and the alarm box was basically melted; the lightning seems to have come down the phone line so it threw out all the phones in the cathedral,” he explained.
The cathedral was restored in a €1 million renovation project in the run up to its 150th anniversary five years ago.
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