IN A CHURCH overflowing with young people for the funeral Mass of Sebastian Creane (22), the student stabbed to death in his Bray home, his mother Nuala Creane asked mourners to rise above fear, blame and anger, to cast out negativity and to honour her son’s life by “co-creating the most enlightened lives you can”.
In a composed, powerful and passionate eulogy at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Bray, Co Wicklow, with her surviving son, Dylan, standing supportively behind her, Ms Creane explained how she had tried to rationalise “this incomprehensible act which took place in our home . . . this tragic incident which caused mayhem in all our lives and robbed D [Dylan] of a younger brother he was so proud of”.
Dylan, Sebastian and their friends Jennifer Hannigan and Laura Mackey had “faced a presence of demonic proportions that manifested through Shane Clancy”. Two boys died that morning when Clancy stabbed Sebastian to death and left Dylan and Jennifer – Clancy’s former girlfriend – severely wounded before taking his own life.
She noted the similarities between them. They were both 22; both had the same initials; both were entering their final year in college and looked set, even in these recessionary times, to have fruitful careers. “So many similarities. Yet on the morning of August 16th, my God of Small Things said to me, one boy represented the light, the other the darkness, as they both played their parts in the unfolding of God’s divine plan. And as a result, we – my beloved J [her husband James] and I – and all of you are faced with a choice. Do we continue in darkness, seeing only fear, anger, bitterness, resentment, blaming, bemoaning our loss, always looking backwards, blaming, blaming, blaming,” she asked passionately, “or are we ready to transmute this negativity? We can rise to the challenge with unconditional love, knowing that we were born on to this earth to grow.”
She also called on those present to support Jennifer Hannigan, asking them first to fill their hearts with memories of a happy moment in their lives and then to “bring your attention to Jen”. “She blames herself. Bathe her heart in that happiness and then forgive yourselves. The light that shone in Seb shines in you also, in its own special way. Let it shine and be at peace.”
Sebastian Creane was later taken to Leigue Cemetery in Ballina, Co Mayo, for burial after a service in St Muredach’s Cathedral on the banks of the River Moy.