When east Galway priest Fr Martin McNamara opened up his church almost three years ago to discover that six oil paintings by renowned artist Evie Hone had been stolen, his initial shock quickly turned to despondency.
“It was a very difficult time – I had called myself the caretaker, and they were gone from my care,” Fr McNamara (68) said. “And so I never thought I’d see them, and it is so good to see them coming home ...”
Lined up against an altar rail, the six depictions of the Stations of the Cross were delivered back to the Church of St Peter & St Paul in Kiltullagh on Wednesday afternoon.
On waste ground
Detective Insp
Mick Coppinger
and Det Sgt
Willie Beirne
of Galway Garda station had accompanied Fr McNamara to
Tullamore
Garda station to collect the paintings. They had been located on waste ground near Edenderry, Co Offaly, on Tuesday after a tip-off.
"The first I knew was when I was coming back from a conference in Loughrea and Supt Marie Scahill was waiting at my door on Tuesday evening,"Fr McNamara said. "I couldn't believe it – was so happy – I am really so happy."
Apart from the loss of their frames, the paintings appear to be undamaged. They were wrapped together in plastic, and this material will be submitted for full forensic examination.
A Garda investigation into the theft would continue, Dept Insp Coppinger said. A full security review of the church has been undertaken in the meantime, and it has been upgraded significantly.
The six stolen paintings were among 14 gouache studies commissioned in 1945-46 by a private benefactor for the parish church in the small rural village of Kiltullagh, lying between Athenry and Loughrea.
The Dublin-born painter and stained-glass artist, who died in 1955, created works for a number of churches, including the east window at Eton College's chapel in Windsor, England. One of her best-known works is My Four Green Fields, in Government Buildings in Dublin.
The paintings, which were taken some time on or before June 22nd, 2013, would have been difficult to sell, given the attendant publicity.
The images had been reproduced in a booklet for the church, and reproductions were commissioned.
At the time, Fr McNamara said his suspicions had been aroused when the key to one of the church’s side doors went missing several days earlier. He had arranged for a replacement, but the church, next to his home, was being watched.
Fr McNamara’s parish of some 600 families is growing, given its proximity to the motorway, to Athlone and Galway. “I’ll be here 30 years in September,” he said.
“But I never thought I’d see a day like this.”
