Scariff priest built friendship with Mandela

AS Nelson Mandela remains in a stable but critical condition in hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, a Scariff woman this week recalled a family connection to the anti-apartheid icon – a man described as having a “very, very warm handshake”.

Fr Brendan Long, a Scariff native now deceased, struck up a friendship with Mr Mandela while he served as chaplain to Robben Island Prison for 25 years.

Fr Brendan’s sister, Patsy O’Brien, spoke to The Clare Champion about her brother’s connection with Mr Mandela, also referred to as Madiba, during his time in Cape Town, how they corresponded following his release and how the two met after Fr Brendan returned to Ireland.

Fr Brendan was born in Scariff in 1933 and attended St Flannan’s College and Mungret College in Limerick. He went on to study for the priesthood in All-Hallows College and following his ordination in 1959, the bishop asked him to serve the people of Cape Town, South Africa.

In a letter home, Fr Brendan recalled arriving in Cape Town for the first time.

“We arrived in Capetown at 6 o’clock in the morning and I remember feeling disappointed that Table Mountain, of which I had heard so much, was covered in cloud. I later discovered that this cloud was called the table cloth and the wind that blows down the mountain is called the Cape doctor because it carries out to sea the dust, smog and fog. Fortunately, I’d not long to wait before the clouds lifted and the great beauty of this fantastic mountain unfolded before me,” he said.

“As well as his usual duties, he was appointed Catholic chaplain to Robben Island Prison off the coast of Table Bay. It was a big security prison, housing people such as Walter Sisulu, Robert Sobukwe and Nelson Mandela,” Ms O’Brien said.

She read from a letter in which her brother had written about Mr Mandela.

“One of the prisoners I visited was the world-renowned Nelson Mandela. He was a long-term prisoner and we became great friends over the years. Although he was not a Catholic, he loved to read scripture and was always eager for any religious books he could get,” she said.

The journey to the prison took 40 minutes by ferry and when visiting with Mr Mandela, her brother told her it was always under the watchful eye of a warden.

Mr Mandela regularly attended services, together with the 15 other inmates in his block. On occasion, the island’s most prominent prisoner read passages from the scriptures aloud. He read with great pride a psalm entitled Let Every Creature Praise the Lord.

According to a friend of Fr Brendan who lives in the United States, the Scariff priest’s weekly trips from Robben Island usually ended with a joke about he and Mr Mandela getting together for a party in freedom, never thinking this would ever come about.

However, their friendship continued after Mr Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in 1982 and following his release from detention in 1990.

Fr Brendan returned to Ireland in 1996 due to ill health and he caught up with his old friend Mr Mandela in 2003, when he came to Ireland to receive an honorary doctorate by NUI Galway.

It was here that Fr Brendan last met the man who Ms O’Brien said he described as having a “very, very warm handshake”.

Ms O’Brien said although her brother didn’t talk regularly about Mr Mandela, he did phone him on occasion and she said he always talked of the work he did as chaplain at Robben Island as “very satisfying”.

“I visited many prisoners over the years, many of whom had huge social problems in their lives and came from so many different backgrounds.

“Many of these prisoners were not Catholics but always welcomed me and were happy for the spiritual healing that I could bring,” she read from another of Fr Brendan’s letters.