Columban missionary Fr. Desmond Morrison dies in Manila on Feast of Columbanus
Fr. Morrison, a member of the Missionary Society of St. Columban [St. Columbanus], died on November 23. He was 97.
His death occurred on the Feast of St. Columbanus – to whom Fr. Morrison had dedicated his life.
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Hide AdHe passed away at the Manila Doctors’ Hospital at 7.06pm on the Feast of the sixth century Irish missionary.
Born in Derry on February 28, 1925, Fr. Morrison was ordained in 1951. He travelled to South East Asia in 1956.
An engineer by profession Fr. Morrison designed several churches on the island of Mindanao, in the southern Philippines.
He has left a permanent legacy in his adopted homeland in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Ozamis City.
He was a true Derry man in that he loved music and song. A favourite of his repertoire was the Filipino folk song, ‘Baleleng’, which he was known to sing in Visayan.