Benedict Gerard Hegarty was
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| Fr Benedict Hegarty OP |
born in Passage West, Co Cork on February 13, 1937. He attended Christian Brothers College Cork before joining the Dominican Order in St Mary’s Priory, Pope’s Quay, Cork in September 1955.He never lost touch with his old school, CBC, where he was chaplain for a number of years.
Ben, as he was known in the Order, made simple profession the following year and was ordained a priest on July 8, 1962.
He did post graduate studies in the University of St Thomas in Rome, while living in the Irish Dominican community at San Clemente. Ben went on to study Scripture in Jerusalem and obtained his LSS degree in biblical studies at the Biblical Commission.
He was regent of studies in Tallaght in the 1970s, finishing in the job in 1981.
There was a strike in the studentate during his time as regent, which naturally caused stress and division in the community. Like all strikes it was eventually settled but the wounds remained.
I was only reminded some weeks ago that I attended class on the one-day strike. The strike was not of Ben’s making. During his time as regent he introduced a new style of lecturing. He was always brave enough to search for new and fresh ideas.
He was librarian in Tallaght, which houses the main library of the province.
On one occasion while teaching in Tallaght, the students were tired and bored, Ben sensed it and famously said: ‘...like, I demand enthusiasm’. And he could say it with a flourish with his fabulous voice, with his silver hair swirling in the air. Ben had enthusiasm in buckets.
He also taught at the Mater Dei Institute of Education and at Clonliffe College and lectured the Dominican Sisters of the Cabra Congregation.
While on the teaching staff in Tallaght he was a regular member of the Thursday cycling/walking gang.
On one of those outings he and I locked our bicycles inside the gates of the Augustinian Priory at Orlagh. When we returned four or five hours later, my bicycle was gone but Ben’s was still there. He looked at me and said: ‘oh, isn’t that grand’. It was anything but. Whatever way he said it, we both laughed and went on our way. After a day’s walking in the hills it was no short walk back to the priory in Tallaght. He had a fabulous way of saying the word ‘grand’. And regularly used it.
He loved being in the hills and it is said he had the walking track in Tallaght worn away to nothing. He kept fit, walking and cycling was his way of doing so as he did not play football.
He was a heavy smoker. He noticed one day on removing a painting from the wall in his room in Tallaght how clean the space behind the picture was compared to the rest of the room. On seeing that, he was shocked and never smoked again. And his method of giving up the dirty habit was quite amazing, indeed brilliant.
Ben moved seamlessly from academics to pastoral work. He was parish priest in St Dominic’s in Tallaght, where he built up close relationships with the people in the parish. Later he was prior in Newry and Ennismore. At one stage he was elected prior in San Clemente in Rome but dismissed it out of hand.
Ben spent some time as chaplain at Tallaght University Hospital, a job he loved doing. He was dedicated to caring for the sick and elderly.
He succeeded Fr Gus Doherty as prior in Newry. A few days after his arrival in St Catherine’s, a long-standing member of the Dominican Third Order/Lay Dominicans, said to a member of the community that Fr Ben was a lovely man but unlike Gus, he felt Ben was an ‘epidemic’.
Ben was a voracious reader, he was seldom without a book in his hand and everywhere he lived the walls of his room were filled with bookshelves. On moving in to his room in Newry a local man installed extra shelves. Alas, they were poorly secured and one night, while all were asleep, one shelf, stacked with books, came tumbling down. The late Fr Norbert Barry ran out on to the corridor convinced that a bomb had exploded.
He had a special eye for people on the margins and on a number of occasions he took people under his care, who were generally considered a liability.
He had a lovely touch of affirming his fellow Dominicans. On one occasion he phoned me to compliment me on a newspaper column I had written. I received the call on a Saturday afternoon at Connolly Station. At the time Ben was an elderly man and I was so chuffed that he took the trouble to call. They were the sort of quiet acts that Ben did.
He could easily give the impression of being ‘terribly gránd’, but in reality and in his soul he was anything but. Ben was a man without a hint of airs and graces.
While he was prior in Ennismore he was greatly appreciated by the wider community and introduced many new forms of ministries. He was upset when the province decided to close and sell Ennismore. He rightly saw Ennismore as one of our flagship apostolates.
Ben was a kind man, a scholar, who wore his scholarship easily. He was a class act, a character, the sort of Dominican who would have the ability today to inspire and impress those who have little or no time to talk and think about God.
On hearing of his death a parishioner in St Dominic's wrote: "Those who were privileged to be in Fr Ben’s company always left with a new piece of knowledge of Christ and the Scriptures. He will be remembered by all in St Dominic’s (Tallaght) for his care and devotion and his role as chaplain in Tallaght Hospital”.
May he rest in peace.
Benedict’s body will be lying in state in St Mary’s Church, Pope’s Quay, Cork tomorrow, Friday, March 21 from 4pm to 6pm, followed by Vespers.
Funeral Mass in the church on Saturday, March 22 at midday, followed by burial at St Joseph’s Cemetery, Ballyphehane.
