'Living saint' with Leitrim roots was first victim taken from twin towers after 9/11 attacks
Keshcarrigan will come together tomorrow, September 12, to honour “one of Leitrim’s sons”, Fr Mychal Judge, 25 years after his death on September 11, 2001.
A memorial event is set to take place tomorrow, September 12 to remember “one of Leitrim’s sons,” 25 years on from the anniversary of his death.
Fr Mychal Judge, born Robert Emmett Judge, was an Irish-American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest who served as a chaplain with the New York City Fire Department. He was the first recorded fatality on the day of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001.
Known to many at the time as a “living saint,” Fr Mychal had strong Leitrim links. His father came from Keshcarrigan and his mother from Drumkeeran. A memorial garden has been established in his memory in Keshcarrigan.
To mark the 25th anniversary of his death, Keshcarrigan Development Association is organising a commemoration in the village on Saturday at 1:30pm. Patrick McGreevy, Chairman of the Keshcarrigan Development Association, spoke of the strong connection Fr Mychal had with Leitrim.
“We would remember him as one of Leitrim’s sons. Fr Mychal would have frequented Keshcarrigan, he visited the ancestral home where his father came from,” he explained. “Before he died, he brought a cornerstone from the house to bring back. He brought a piece of Leitrim and Keshcarrigan back to New York.”
He continues to be remembered fondly in both Leitrim and America.
“He was so well loved in the emergency services in New York where he served his community, and he was much well loved and respected in the community in Keshcarrigan that knew him as well. We should keep that alive,” said Mr McGreevy.
The event will take place tomorrow at 1:30pm, with attendees meeting in the village of Keshcarrigan. Representatives from the Leitrim Fire Service, the National Ambulance Service (NAS) Honour Guard, An Garda Síochána and local political representatives will be in attendance, alongside music from the NAS Pipe Band and Kiltubrid Pipe Band, who will lead the march to the Fr Mychal Judge Memorial and Peace Garden in the village.
Mr McGreevy stressed that the event is open to everyone and is non-political, with the sole focus on honouring Fr Mychal Judge, along with members of the emergency services and the people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
“Those who cannot go to New York to remember him, can come to the peace garden in Keshcarrigan on September 12 and be a part of that commemoration,” he said. “It’s to remember Fr Mychal and the sacrifice he made along with all the other responders and all the people who lost their lives.
“There’s a lot of people in the Leitrim community who lost ancestral family members in 9/11, both in the emergency services, and people who worked in the building,” he added.
At the Memorial and Peace Garden, there will be speeches followed by a wreath-laying ceremony. A reception will take place afterwards in the village.
Fr Mychal Judge was known in New York for ministering to those alienated by society and for his charity work. On September 11, he rushed to the World Trade Centre and delivered prayers in the streets before entering the front lobby of the building, where he continued to offer aid and prayer before he was killed by debris.
The land where the Fr Mychal Judge Memorial and Peace Garden now stands in Keshcarrigan was once owned by the Judge family. In Keshcarrigan, an important piece of history lives on and continues to be remembered.