Stars are out to celebrate life of Moya Brennan at funeral service in Donegal
Singer Daniel O’Donnell and his wife Majella were among the mourners attending the funeral of Moya Brennan in Co Donegal this afternoon.
The musician and songwriter, who was a member of Grammy award-winning Celtic fusion pioneers Clannad, died peacefully earlier this week at the age of 73, surrounded by loved ones, according to a family statement.
Crowds turned out to St Patrick’s Church, Meenaweal, Crolly, in the Irish-speaking Gweedore area for the send-off.
The hearse carrying the coffin of Clannad singer Moya Brennan arrives at St Patrick’s Church in Meenaweal, Co Donegal, for her funeral mass. Pic: Mark Marlow/PA Wire
U2 members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, as well as Andrea Corr from the Corrs, joined those attending the funeral of much-loved Moya in Co Donegal.
Mourners filled St Patrick’s Church, while others gathered outside, when the service started just after 2 pm.
A guard of honor was formed outside the church by local primary school pupils, a musical marching band, and staff from a community centre.
U2 band member Bono arrives at the funeral mass for Clannad singer Moya Brennan. Pic: Mark Marlow/PA Wire
Peacemakers, a song by Moya, featuring her son Paul’s voice when he was 4 years old, played as the coffin entered the church.
Some of the symbols of the singer’s life were brought to the front of the church by loved ones, including her beloved harp, a lanyard from the last gig she played, and a Donegal GAA jersey, during the presentation of life symbols.
Cormac DeBarra performed ‘Mr O’Connor’ and Daniel and Majella O’Donnell performed ‘Here I Am Lord.’
Andrea Corr of the Irish folk band The Corrs arrive at the funeral mass for Clannad singer Moya Brennan. Pic: Mark Marlow/PA Wire
An tAth. Brian Ó Fearraigh, the parish priest and celebrant for the mass, led the service in both Irish and English and spoke about how Moya had represented Donegal so well through her music.
‘Through her singing and harp-playing, she gave expression not only to melody, but to the deep spirit, beauty, and soul of her people and place.
Moya Brennan. Pic: Simone Joyner/Redferns
In Máire Ní Bhraonáin, so fittingly known as the First Lady of Celtic Music, there was something of that vision of beauty spoken of by John O’Donohue, the great Celtic poet-philosopher of our time: when he spoke of beauty as “a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming.”
The hearse carrying the coffin of Clannad singer Moya Brennan arrives at St Patrick’s Church in Meenaweal, Co Donegal, for her funeral mass. Pic: Mark Marlow/PA Wire
‘In Máire, Donegal person of the year, 2023, and in Clannad awarded the Freedom of Donegal in 2024, the beauty of our county and it’s people, it’s hills and valleys, it’s mountains, its wild seas and Atlantic winds, and silence of Donegal, in and through Máire, all of this and much more, the ancient Celtic soul found voice and harp. And we are grateful.’
