SUDDEN DEATH OF MONAGHAN ARCHBISHOP EVOKES SORROW AND MANY TRIBUTES
The sudden passing at the weekend of Archbishop Noël Treanor of Silverstream, Tyholland has evoked widespread sorrow and evinced many tributes from leading figures of Church and State. Aged 73, Archbishop Treanor, the former Bishop of Down and Connor, had been serving as Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union and was in Brussels when his sudden death occurred on Sunday morning. He was appointed to the position by Pope Francis on November 26 2022.
He is survived by his brother John, sister Mary nephew John Thomas and nieces Lisa, Rachel, Catherine, Erin and Rhianon and by a large circle of extended family and brother clergy. He was predeceased by his father John and mother Molly. At the time of going to Press, funeral arrangements had not been finalised. Born on December 25 1950 in Monaghan Town, Archbishop Treanor grew up in the parish of Tyholland, where he attended Leitrim National School and St Brigid’s National School before completing his early education at St. Mary’s Christian Brothers School, Monaghan.
He pursued his third level education at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth and in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1976 for service in the Diocese of Clogher in St Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan. In his years of service in Clogher he served as curate and hospital chaplain in Monaghan Town, and in Enniskillen as Director of Adult Education and, in 1986, Co-ordinator of the Diocesan Assembly of Clergy. He was a member of the Council for European Affairs of the Irish Bishops Conference. He was appointed to the staff of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) in 1989.
On March 31 1993 he was appointed Secretary General of COMECE, a post he continued to hold until his appointment by Pope…