Death of Fr Michael Keaveney, one of the divers who discovered Spanish Armada shipwreck

An Inishowen priest, who has died, was the longest-serving cleric in the Derry Diocese, and one of the longest-serving in the entire country.

Moville native Fr Michael Keaveney has passed away at the age of 98.

Incredibly, he was a priest for more than 74 years, serving during some of the worst years of the Troubles, but he’ll be best remembered for being an original member of the successful diving team, which discovered the wreck of La Trinidad Valencera off Kinnego Bay in 1971.

The 16th-century Spanish Armada find remains one of the most important in Irish maritime history.

He was just 44-years-old when he helped uncover the ship, which had lain undiscovered for almost 400 years. Fr Michael himself discovered a cannon from the stricken vessel.

Fr Keaveney also taught two Nobel Laureates, John Hume and Seamus Heaney, during his 25 years as a teacher at St Columb’s College in Derry.

Fr Michael’s parents were both natives of Connacht, who had settled in Moville. His mother Brigid [Shanley], from Leitrim, got a job in the Moville Post Office, while his father James followed soon after, securing a job in the local co-op.

The Keaveney family lived near the old chapel in Moville and son Michael, born in 1927, soon began to show an interest in following a religious life.

Michael attended Ballynally National School, before going on to study at St Columb’s College in Derry, across the newly-established border at Muff.

He went on to study in Maynooth for a few years before travelling out to the Irish College in Rome in 1947.

Fr Michael was ordained in Rome in 1951, following in the footsteps of his older brother Fr Lawrence Keaveney, who had been ordained three years earlier at Ballybrack in 1948.

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Fr Michael's initial appointment was back to familiar territory, to the staff of St Columb's College, an appointment that was destined to last for 25 years, during which time he taught mathematics, religious knowledge, as well as Gaelic football and swimming.

It was during this period that he would become a deep-sea diver and eventually help recover the Spanish Armada shipwreck from Kinnego Bay. Ironically, the wreck was in the news earlier this week, as fresh restoration works begin on the treasures recovered from the sea off North Inishowen all those years ago.

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After more than a quarter of a century in the classroom at St Columb’s, Fr Keaveney went on to become Administrator in St Joseph’s parish in Galliagh before, in 1985, becoming parish priest in Killygordon, where he helped refurbish the historic St Patrick’s Church and also became known among parishioners for his rousing rendition of ‘Nessun Dorma’, the Pavarotti opera hit from the Italia 90 World Cup.

By 1992, he was moved to Omagh and, following a decade as parish priest there, he wound up as a curate in Faughanvale, where he officially retired due to ill health in 2008 at the age of 81.

Fr Michael's mind always remained alert thereafter, and he featured in an extensive interview series with the Inishowen Independent newspaper in 2021 at the ripe old age of 94.

At that time, he was celebrating another milestone, the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the wreck of the La Trinidad Valencera, which now becomes his greatest legacy.

Rest in peace Fr Michael.