Fr Sean Collins reached into one of the "capacious pockets" of his Franciscan habit to find a large key. He handed it to Micheál O'Dowd, mayor of Drogheda, in a gesture that symbolically ended 750 years of Franciscan presence in Drogheda, but also the remarkable gift of a friary and church to the people of the town.
The Franciscans were "handing back" to the people what was theirs, the vicar-provincial of the order said. And they were particularly pleased to be doing this on October 4th, the feast day of St Francis of Assisi.
Once before, the Franciscans of Drogheda gave up their church. That was in 1540, and under duress. This time, it has been done with enthusiasm. Drogheda has not just acquired a church and buildings for which the Franciscans no longer have a use. It has on St Laurence Street an art gallery to match that of any provincial town in Ireland, a place where, Fr Collins said, "visitors will find their spirit enriched".
The Franciscans decided in 2000 that they could no longer maintain their Drogheda friary. They sought advice from interested citizens, and the proposal emerged that the property be turned into an art gallery. Businessman and art-lover John Callan chaired the committee that took this proposal to donors, lenders, sponsors, partners and public authorities.
The friary has become the Highlanes Gallery - taking its name from the lane that runs down the side of the property - with two large, handsome exhibition spaces, a wine bar and a craft shop.
The ambitious and imaginative restoration of the church by architect Turlough McKevitt leaves many main features intact. Mayor O'Dowd and many more reared in the neighbouring streets can still see the backdrop to the altar at which they served.
The mayor spoke at last Wednesday's gallery opening of his "civic pride and personal pride". Civic pride because the Drogheda municipal art collection now has a fitting home, and personal pride because of his family connection with the former church.
There is personal pride too for me, my brothers and sister. For the establishment of the collection started just over 60 years ago, when our late parents, Bea Orpen and Terry Trench, brought together a committee with the aim of collecting art for the town.
They had moved to Drogheda three years earlier. My father was lucky to find a job there in the war years, albeit in an industry - oatmeal milling - of which he had no prior experience or knowledge. He and my mother quickly became active in many local societies and endeavours.
My mother taught art in the technical college and the grammar school for over 30 years, spoke on art appreciation at the ICA college in Termonfeckin and at guilds around the country, and painted scenes in the Drogheda area, in the west of Ireland, and on continental European holidays.
My parents worked their connections in the art world to secure gifts and loans of paintings for Drogheda, including some relevant to the town, and many representing 20th-century Irish art. In some cases, both interests could be met with a single acquisition. One of the leading Irish artists of the mid-century, Nano Reid, was from a family who owned a pub in James's Street. For some years, portraitist Hilda Roberts lived in Drogheda, where her husband, Arnold Marsh, was headmaster of the grammar school.
Another member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, Simon Coleman, was from nearby Duleek. A French artist couple, the Banchets, lived in Clogherhead. These are all represented in the municipal collection.
The first exhibition took place in 1948. General Risteard Mulcahy, Minister for Education, performed the opening, attended by local TD Frank Aiken - later Minister for External Affairs - and other TDs, senators and councillors. Political support for the art committee came in particular from the long-serving mayor Larry Walsh, but increasingly at a distance.
The corporation donated two views of Drogheda by an 18th-century Italian artist, Gabriele Ricciardelli, and other paintings of the town, but failed to appoint members to the committee from 1962. The committee did not function formally, although my father remained nominally Hon Sec.
For some years, the works had a room in the library on Fair Street. Loan exhibitions ran for a few weeks at a time, supervised by volunteers, and then the "gallery" closed again. The municipal collection was later dispersed around the walls of the library. The Hon Sec's reports repeatedly restated the ambition to establish not only a collection, but a gallery. By the time the collection was better accommodated in a new library in the 1990s, nothing had been added to its approximately 60 pieces for over a decade.
Now, thanks to the efforts of another generation of active citizens, the art collection has a permanent and proper home. This dedicated group invited their fellow-citizens to the opening event through the local press. After the key was handed over, and the speeches and prayers were done, the people queued from the street to enter the gallery.
The inaugural exhibition at the Highlanes Gallery - Irish Art from Nathaniel Hone to Nano Reid: the Drogheda Municipal Art Collection in Context, curated by Denise Ferran - runs until January 12th. Admission Free. More information at www.highlanes.ie