A couple who devoted their lives to teaching and to setting up a secondary school on the Dingle peninsula have been conferred with a knighthood, by order of Pope Benedict XVI.
Bishop of Kerry Dr Bill Murphy presented the order to Aodán and Síle Ó Maolchatha at St Brendan's Church, Cloghane, at the foot of Mount Brandon on Sunday.
The new Knight of the Order of St Sylvester and his Dame will now be able to take Communion on horseback. Apparently one of the privileges of some papal orders is that the knight does not have to dismount. "However, I am very sorry to say we will never take advantage of that," said Dame Síle.
The honorary title of Knight of St Sylvester is conferred on lay people who have given long service to their community and their profession. Women were admitted to the order in the mid-1990s.
The conferring of couples in the order is very rare and the Ó Maolchathas are one of only a handful of couples to have received it.
In 1961 the couple returned from Nigeria to Síle's native Cloghane to set up a secondary school that would be "as Irish as it could be". Síle taught French, Irish and English in Mheánscoil Leitriúigh, while Aodán taught maths, science and Latin. Both are now retired but the school is continuing and being replaced by a new building in nearby Castlegregory. Over the past 34 years it has produced doctors, teachers, lawyers and a range of professions and careers.
Five of the couple's six children - one is in Australia - were present at Sunday's conferring.