Top Vet Ordained

From the desk of Fr. Ignatius Waters, cp

Sunday, 25th February 2018

Galileo was a legendary stallion acknowledged as the “best sire on the planet” But that might never have happened without vet Niall O’Riordan and what Niall called divine intervention. Galileo fell gravely ill and needed two surgeries within 48 hours. So, it was no surprise his wound became infected. It was Niall’s job to nurse the horse to health. Despite his experience with thousands of racehorses, Galileo’s temperature continued to spike. It was then he placed Galileo’s fate in the hands of God: “I had been up all night with him. I went to mass at eight o’clock in the morning in Fethard. After mass, I went to the sacristy to Fr Tom Breen and said: ‘Fr Tom, Galileo is sick. Is there any chance you would come and bless him?'” Recalling the priest’s arrival at Coolmore, he says: “The best surgeon from England was there and Doug Byers, ‘the godfather of equine medicine’ and in comes this Catholic priest to bless the horse. They probably thought I was crazy. But that evening, Galileo didn’t spike a temperature again. Many people want to credit me with saving Galileo, but I’m convinced it was the priest who blessed him.”

Niall could have traded as a vet for years on the role he played in saving Galileo. But he didn’t. Instead, he chose to answer the calling he first had at the age of 17 and that was to become a priest. It followed a trip to the Holy Land. He explains it this way: “I really felt such a presence of God while there and was introduced to some of the Sisters from the Family of Mary. Then I met the founder of the community, Fr Paul. Through that, I fell in love with the community, and seven years later, decided to go to Rome and join them.

Asked how it felt to give up his career as a vet, he said: “There are enough vets in the world! As I explained to my father, I was a vet, but what could I do as a vet? I could treat an animal. But what is that compared to being a priest, who can bring heaven to earth and heal souls?” At the same time, he admitted: “It was a big change. When I was a vet, I was used to driving into a yard and having people stop what they were doing to come and help me. Now I had to learn to become the servant. Not that those who helped me as a vet were my servants. But I had to learn to serve. That’s what a priest is. He’s a servant of God and he serves the people.”

Last December, Niall was ordained as a priest with the Family of Mary in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. He returned home briefly to visit family and friends, but he already knew his mission would take him to Uzovska Panica in Slovakia, to tend to a community of Roma people. Fr Niall describes it as a world of abject poverty, but the Roma can rely on the care and support of the Family of Mary through its Caritas programme, which regularly distributes food and clothing. And I’m sure their horses will be well cared for too!

Hearing all this, I wondered are there any other vets or non – vets out there who would like to change careers and join our Congregation? From our beginnings, we were to be men of mercy, preaching the mercy and compassion of God for all people. And this, long before Pope Francis put such emphasis on the mercy of God. We were to help people to find God in their own hearts. But we cannot live our vocation in these countries for much longer unless God inspires men like Niall O’Riordan to join us.