Archbishop Michael Aidan Courtney was born in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, in 1945, the youngest of a family of seven of the late Dr Louis and Elizabeth Courtney.
He attended Clongowes Wood College and after studying economics and law at UCD for a year, he transferred to Rome where he studied for the priesthood.
In 1968 he was ordained for Clonfert diocese.
He was curate in Tynagh, Co Galway, from 1969 to 1973, while also chaplain to Tynagh mines and teaching in St Raphael's College in Loughrea.
He was curate in Woodford, Co Galway, from 1973 to 1975. During those seven years he was diocesan adviser on religious education.
Returning to Rome in 1976, he took out a Licentiate in Canon Law and a Doctorate in Moral Theology.
He entered the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy and in 1980 was sent to represent the Holy See in South Africa.
Subsequently he served in Zimbabwe, Senegal, India, Yugoslavia - the only Vatican diplomatic mission in eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall - Cuba and Egypt.
In 1987 he was awarded an MA in legal philosophy by NUI Galway.
For five years Mgr Courtney was the Vatican's special envoy to the Council
of Europe and allied institutions in
Strasbourg.
He was also a member of the governing board of the Council of Europe Development Bank in Paris.
On November 12th, 2000, in the Church of St Mary of the Rosary, Nenagh, he was ordained Archbishop of Eanach Dúin and appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi.
The ceremony was performed by Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, assisted by Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert and Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe. In attendance were the Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady,Cardinal Cahal Daly and the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith.
The Belgian Sabena airliner which brought Archbishop Courtney to Burundi on December 4th, 2000, was hit by small arms fire as it was preparing to land at Bujumbura airport.
No one was injured.
