A century ago, when some impecunious deceased constables of the Dublin Metropolitan Police were given anonymous funerals, the Passionists of Mount Argus joined forces with Assistant Commissioner John Mallon, from Flurrybridge, Co Armagh, to found the DMP Catholic Obsequies Association.
In the social conditions in rural Ireland in the 19th century, the means to bring home the body of a relative who had died in Dublin was not always available to an impoverished family. In a circular letter to the force, Mallon recalled past neglect "with pain and sorrow".
Over the years, the spiritual director appointed by the Mount Argus community emerged as unofficial chaplain to the DMP, and to the Garda Siochana in the city after amalgamation of the two police forces in 1925.
Father Clarence Daly CP, who died recently, was most distinguished in a long line of chaplains, having served in that capacity for an unprecedented quarter-of-a-century.
Born at Castlerea, Co Roscommon in 1928, the grandson, son and nephew of constables in the Royal Irish Constabulary, Joseph Daly joined the Congregation of the Passion at The Graan, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh in 1947. It must have been a fair test of humility to be named for an obscure 7th-century Austrian saint.
In a homily extolling the virtues of his dead confrere, Father Ralph Egan, himself a former Garda chaplain, recalled that Clarence stamped his own strong character on a name associated with an ineffectual character in whimsical literature.
In stature he was a big man, with a bluff personality that perfectly matched the manners of workaday policemen.
His mission coincided with the early manifestations of discontent in the Garda Siochana close on 40 years ago as a new generation of independent-minded gardai replaced the founder members of the force.
The consequences for the Garda Siochana, and for the Government and the community at large, of the breakdown in discipline and of the years of disenchantment with the leadership of the force following the Macushla affair in 1961 would have been more serious were it not for the energy of one man who was not a member of the force.
At a turning point in Garda history, when respect for authority had been all but whittled away, Clarence acted as a buffer between the men and their officers - a debt of honour acknowledged privately by successive commissioners.
The charismatic Passionist, with total commitment to the welfare of the rank-and-file, spent every waking hour calling at the stations, visiting hospitals and the families of sick men in their homes. He never forgot a name, a gift he acquired during his seminary years when he trained an obstinate mind to memorise theological definitions, and names and dates in church history by pinning abstracts from textbooks alongside his shaving mirror.
The respect of the rank-and-file for the big, bluff priest was all the greater for his outspoken honesty. Preaching at the annual Garda retreat at Mount Argus, his advice to policemen to distance themselves from politicians was a recurring theme.
In extraordinary times, recognising the vital role he was playing, his superiors were reluctant to upset the relationship of mutual affection he had built up with the force. In 1982, with Commissioner Patrick McLaughlin and Bishop Brendan Comiskey, he led the great Garda diamond jubilee pilgrimage to Rome. He was invited by Pope John Paul II to concelebrate Mass in the papal chapel, a crowning of his ministry.
When he stepped down the following year, his departure was regretted by all ranks. In recent years, he preached an annual charity sermon in the United States on behalf of Concern America. For this work, last year, he won the Michael Doheny Humanitarian Award. An indefatigable labourer all his life in God's vineyard, he pushed himself to the very end. On the evening before he died, having closed a retreat in Sligo, he returned directly to Mount Argus, driving his own car, to deliver the homily at a Garda funeral the following morning. He had not completed his preparations for a new day when the call came.
"Happy are the dead who die in the faith of Christ! They may rest from their labours, for they take with them the record of their deeds." (Rev 14v13).
Of Father Clarence CP it can truly be said, without disrespect to his worthy confreres before and after him, we will not see his like again. G.A.