Film premiere on famous Longford priest Fr Joseph Mullooly to be screened on Sunday

2025 was a very special year for the many family connections in county Longford of the famous Dominican priest and archaeological excavator Fr Joseph Mullooly.

Last summer the south Longford community of Lanesboro gathered for a memorial lecture in honour of the young local man who left these shores in the 1800s and went on to become one of the most famous archaeologists in the city of Rome in Italy where he discovered the ruins of not one by three churches underground at the Basilica of San Clemente - only a few hundred metres from the Colosseum.

Fr Mullooly’s courage and desire to preserve ancient artefacts can be noted in his defence of the Basilica of San Clemente from destruction. When Garibaldi’s revolutionary forces took over Rome in 1848, Fr Mullooly defended his church even after the Pope fled the Vatican

Fr Joseph was the son of Gilbert Mullooly and Brigid Dowd in Lehery outside Lanesboro on the Ballymahon road with local connections in the Potter, Hanley and Killian families among others and in August it was there that film maker and videographer Lissette Carcamo first started work on a new film to tell the story of the life and times of this remarkable Irish man.

Lisette’s film includes contributions from Fr Paul Lawlor OJ Prior of San Clemente and Longford County archivist Martin Morris and footage by Lanesboro photographer Brigid Mullooly who visited Rome in September to capture the great commemoration of Fr Joseph with members of the extended family and the people of the dioceses of Ardagh and Clonmacnois for a magical few days.

The film premiere of Fr Joseph will take place in the Pier Inn, Lisnacusha, Lanesboro this coming Sunday, January 4, at 5pm. Eircode: N39 N406. Admission is free and all are welcome. 

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