In the first of a series running throughout August, Cardinal Cahal Daly tells Catherine Foleyabout the best summer he remembers.
Do you have a particular summer that stands out as perfect for you?
In the early 1960s, I was teaching philosophy in Queen's, and I had a predilection for French philosophy and theology. Each summer I used to spend at least a month, sometimes longer, in France.
My practice for years was to spend at least three weeks in Paris studying and writing and then to take a week exploring different regions of France.
The year that was very special for me was when I travelled up the Valley of the Rhône from Lyons. France at that time was just recovering from the German occupation and the whole humiliating experience of the occupation.
All its public services were badly run down. The trains were not Eurostar but clapped out trains. Not comfortable but operating and reasonably cheap, so between trains and buses of the same run-down quality I made my way gradually from Lyons northwards.
At the beginning of your trip, what stands out in particular?
Lyons is a very beautiful city on the Rhône, a city of great historic interest, particularly in the history of Christianity.
I made a visit as I did annually for many years to one of the great theologians of the Second Vatican Council, Fr Henri de Lubac. I used to visit him there annually but on this particular summer, I again visited him and we recalled memories of the council and particularly the drafting of some of the most important documents in which Fr de Luback was involved.
Then I continued north up to Ars where I visited the church where the Curé of Ars, used to celebrate Mass and preach. It was very moving for me to sit under the pulpit from which that great saint had preached to his congregation.
How old were you at the time?
I was in my early 50s. It was before my ordination as bishop. I was a very committed Francophile.
Did you have good weather?
The weather was beautiful all through. It was lovely summer weather, not excessively hot but there was sun each day.
What did you wear?
I wore a black suit and a Roman collar.
Where did you stay?
I stayed normally in the hotels that were nearest to the train station. I had a typical French breakfast each day - coffee and croissants. It was simple food. It was quite healthy and I ate quite well, mostly sandwiches at lunchtime, nothing elaborate.
Where did you go next?
From Ars then I went on further north by coach to a village called Assy which was celebrated in France for its wonderful collection of objects of religious art.
The curé was someone who loved sacred art and who had commissioned leading artists of France at that time to create work for his parish church. The French painter Leger was one of those and his representation of the Beast of the Apocalypse is very powerful. For me, however, what was beautiful is the representation of the face of Christ by the painter George Rouald.
That was the first time I had seen it. It's a very touching and moving representation of the life of Christ. I spent a long time gazing at that picture of Christ in the church of Assy.
From there, again by coach, I went further north. I went to Citeau with its memories of St Bernard and, of course, our own St Malachy, who died in the arms of St Bernard on his way back to Armagh.
Later in life, that memory has become more important to me in the Archdiocese of Armagh. Citeau is where the Cistercian Order was founded by St Bernard and one of the outstanding memories is my visit to the cathedral at Veselay. It's a most beautiful medieval cathedral and it really is beautiful beyond words. It was after dusk and it left an indelible memory. And close again to St Bernard's Monastery is the very well-known religious centre of Taisé. Then, as now, it was crowded with young people from all the countries of Europe, all of them absorbed in prayer.
Were you a solitary figure, travelling alone?
I didn't feel solitary at all because I was so absorbed in the life and history of that region of France.
Did you cover great distances?
The distances were not all that great. I went from Taisé to Dijon, home of the site of a Carmelite convent with another saint associated with it, Elizabeth of the Trinity, a great mystic of the early part of the 20th century.
I came on from there to Auxerre, which has strong associations with Ireland.
Germanus, its most famous bishop, was given responsibility by the pope of the time for the conversion of Ireland and prepared St Patrick for his missionary journey to Ireland and ordained him bishop. That was more or less the end of a wonderful summer, which has stood out in my memory ever since, and the sense that Ireland owes so much to continental Europe but that continental Europe in turn owns so much to Ireland.
•Steps on my Pilgrim Journey , an autobiography by Cardinal Cahal Daly, one of Ireland's most distinguished theologians, was published by Veritas in 1998. His latest book,The Breaking of Bread , was published earlier this year.