Body of kidnapped priest found ‘shot through the brain’ in Galway bog
Galway, 21 November 1920 - The Bishop of Galway, Thomas O'Dea, has called for calm after the body of priest, Fr Michael Griffin, was discovered in a bog outside the city.
Fr Griffin was kidnapped from his home in Galway on the night of 14 November by three men wearing trench coats. His body was discovered on 20 November buried in a bog near Barna, about four miles from Galway. There was a bullet wound in Fr Griffin’s right temple as well as an exit wound higher up on the right temple.
News of his murder has caused shock across the county. Men, women and children wept and some fainted as details of the priest’s murder were revealed at churches across Galway yesterday.
A statement issued this evening by the Bishop O’Dea, lamented that ‘the worst has happened. Father Griffin’s body has been found shot through the brain. It is the worst in the eyes of the world, the end of all; but to us, his friends, the supreme consolation is left that, so far as human judgement can discern, his soul is safe with God.’
Bishop O’Dea said that catholics everywhere will be ‘horrified... at this tragedy’, but he urged them to exercise restraint and prudence. Speaking at a mass in the cathedral this morning, Bishop O’Dea described the killing of Fr Griffin as a crime ‘probably without parallel in the long history of Ireland, and it was inconceivable that the people of the world or the people of England knew the truth about what was going on in this country.’
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
