“I am excited. I said Mass this morning again on the webcam looking down at all the empty benches, and I’m getting tired of it. From next week there will be people there. It will be great.”

“It is like Jesus who went out to where people were and he gave them an invitation. We are doing the same; we ask people would they like to live a holy Lent,” said Fr Paddy Mooney, PP.

The parish priest, who was devastated at the theft in 2013 of the oil paintings by the renowned artist Evie Hone, expressed his joy on hearing that they had been recovered.

Top US catholic university, Notre Dame, and Benedictine community open centre to advance shared spiritual, cultural and educational missions.

Fr Christopher Derwin at just 32 years old is the youngest diocesan priest in the archdiocese of Dublin while Fr Paul Glennon is 41.