Peace garden dedicated to Irish priest

The year before he died in the September 11th attack on the Twin Towers, Fr Mychal Judge had called to a farmhouse in Keshcarrigan, Co Leitrim, and asked for directions to his father's ancestral home.

Yesterday, as the people of Keshcarrigan dedicated a peace garden and memorial to Fr Judge's memory, local farmer John Keaney recalled how moved the Franciscan priest had been as he took away a pebble as a keepsake from what remained of the Judge home.

"If you won the Sweep or the Lotto you wouldn't be as happy as he was that day," said Mr Keaney.

Fr Judge's twin sister, Dympna Jessich, on a two-day visit from New York, was guest of honour at yesterday's ceremony on the shores of Kesh lake - still known locally as Judge's Shore.

Her brother had spent nine years as chaplain to the New York firefighters, "the happiest nine years of his life. He died just as he had lived. Nobody who knew him could have imagined him dying with his head on a pillow," she said.

"I think Mychal wishes he was here," said Ms Jessich, who presented the people of the village with the two flags that draped her brother's coffin - the flag of the New York City Fire Department and the Stars and Stripes.

Fr Chris Keenan, who succeeded Fr Judge as chaplain of the fire department, also attended with the charge d'affaires of the US embassy, Jonathan Benton, and representatives of the fire departments of New York and Leitrim.