The late Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 was blessed, his funeral Mass heard on Friday afternoon, \u201cwith a God-given talent, but by God he utilised it to the fullest, right up to very recent times\u201d.<\/p>\n
Friday would have been the renowned singer and educator\u2019s 90th birthday, and the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Ballinlough was packed with family, friends and admirers, only five months after the funeral of his beloved wife Eileen.<\/p>\n
His son, Con \u00d3 S\u00e9, told the congregation that the three cornerstones of his father\u2019s long life had been his career in education, his singing and his family.<\/p>\n
Although Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 had gained national and international renown as a gifted singer, his role as a teacher was his priority, his son said.<\/p>\n
He taught in Wicklow, Bandon, and Gurranabraher, and the final 13 years of his career in education were as principal of St Mary\u2019s on the Hill School in Knocknaheeny.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw first-hand his relentless drive and commitment to ensure that every single child in that school got the best possible chance in life,\u201d Con \u00d3 S\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
A gifted tenor, he first came to prominence as a singer in the 1960s with Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Riada\u2019s group Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed Chualann, touring internationally with Comhaltas Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed \u00c9ireann, and his 1962 version of An Poc ar Buile made him famous.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got so much from the simple act of singing for people,\u201d Con \u00d3 S\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made no difference to him whether it was singing to a packed square in Puck Fair in Killorgin or in the National Concert Hall. It is hard to think of two more different settings, but he did knock the same buzz out of one as the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that his father loved his family \u2018above all else”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat is why we will miss him so much. He and Mam gave us the ultimate gift as children. They gave us happy childhoods wrapped in the warmth of a loving home. You can do no more for your children.\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
Mr \u00d3 S\u00e9 ended his eulogy by paying tribute to his father \u201cin the same way he did to Mam just five months ago\u201d, singing R\u00e9ir D\u00e9 go Ndeanam from the \u00d3 Riada Mass.<\/p>\n
The funeral Mass was celebrated by Canon Michael Keohane, and concelebrated by the bishop of Cork and Ross Bishop Fintan Gavin, Fr Colum \u00d3 Se, Bishop Emeritus John Buckley, Fr Kerry Murphy O\u2019Connor, Fr Pat Crean-Lynch, Fr Noel Murphy, Fr Dave McAuliffe, and Canon Teddy O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n
President Catherine Connolly was represented at the funeral by her aide de camp Commandant Deirdre Newell, and the Taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin, was represented by Captain Brian O\u2019Shea. Mr Martin\u2019s wife, Mary, attended the funeral.<\/p>\n
The Lord Mayor, councillor Fergal Dennehy attended, as did former lord mayor councillor Tony Fitzgerald, former Fianna F\u00e1il TD \u00c9amon \u00d3 Cu\u00edv, Fine Gael senator Garret Kelleher, and balladeer John Spillane.<\/p>\n
Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Se\u2019s great friend Peadar \u00d3 Riada was there to lead C\u00f3r Ch\u00fail Aodha. They had sung together in 2023 at Shane MacGowan\u2019s funeral. There too was Peadar\u2019s sister, Se\u00e1n\u2019s goddaughter, Liadh N\u00ed Riada, former Sinn F\u00e9in MEP and presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
As the coffin was brought from the church to the sound of C\u00f3r Ch\u00fail Aodha performing A R\u00ed an Domhnaighfrom the \u00d3 Riada Mass, through a guard of honour of young pupils from St Mary\u2019s on the Hill, the most vivid rainbow shone through the clouds over Ballinlough.<\/p>\n
Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Se was laid to rest in the soil of his native Bantry, at the Abbey Cemetery which overlooks Bantry Bay, reunited with his wife of 58 years, Eileen, who went before him last August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The late Se\u00e1n \u00d3 S\u00e9 was blessed, his funeral Mass heard on Friday afternoon, \u201cwith a God-given talent,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[79,93,42,43,40,38,41,39,620],"class_list":["post-249226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cork-news","tag-entertainment","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-west-cork"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}