01.08.2013
Tributes Paid to Former Dean of Christ Church Cathedral
The Very Revd Thomas Salmon, who had been Dean of Christ Church Cathedral for over 20 years, died on July 20 aged 101 at Brabazon House, Sandymount, where he had lived for a number of years. His Funeral Service, which was conducted by the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd Victor Stacey, took place in the Victorian Chapel of Mount Jerome Crematorium on Thursday July 25.
Paying tribute to his granduncle, Canon Ian Sherwood OBE said: “His peaceable life was almost entirely lived in a society that was shaped by the tumultuous events of the 20th century: the Great War, the Irish Civil War and Free State, the Cold War, the Second World War, national poverty, extremists in Ireland. Yet [Dean] Salmon maintained a quietness and confidence through decades of revolutionary change. In his sanctity, humour, and neighbourliness, many found a mentor who took them out of the peculiarities of our society to what ultimately mattered and to the eternal life into which we are baptized”.
Dean Thomas Noel Desmond Cornwall Salmon was born on February 5 1913 and educated at Trinity College Dublin. He was ordained a deacon in 1937 and a priest in 1938 in Down and Connor. He served curacies in Bangor (1937–40), St James’ in Belfast (1940–41) and Larne and Inver (1942–44). He was Clerical Vicar of Christ Church Cathedral in 1947 before serving as curate in Rathfarnham (1946–50). He went on to become rector of Tullow (1950–62), St Ann’s (1962–7) and became Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in 1967 where he remained until his retirement in 1988. He was also rector of the Christ Church Group of Parishes from 1977 to 1988. He was Examining Chaplain to the Archbishops of Dublin from 1949 to 1988.
A noted ecumenist, he took a lively interest in the work of ARCIC II and had a warm relationship with Archbishop Dermot Ryan. It was during Dean Salmon’s time that there was an increased interchange between Roman Catholics and the Church of Ireland encouraged by such civic occasions as the annual November Citizenship service or by celebrations of the life of Archbishop St Laurence O’Toole, patron saint of Dublin.