THE personal archives of one of Ireland's best-known priests are being collated in the hope they will be kept for "future generations".
Thousands of items belonging to Fr Des Wilson have been gathered together with material relating to his clerical life and his heavy involvement in education and human rights among the items collected.
Tiarnán Ó Muilleoir, who is collating the documents and artefacts, said the archives have "enduring historical value" with hopes they will be digitalised and a website created.
Fr Wilson, who was originally from the Ormeau Road area of south Belfast, died on November 5 2019, aged 94.
Known as the People's Priest, he was regarded as an advocate for the disenfranchised and was well-known for setting up the Springhill Community House in Ballymurphy and educating young disadvantaged people.
In the 1970s, along with the late Fr Alec Reid, he acted as a facilitator to end conflicts between republicans. He also started a dialogue with loyalist paramilitaries.
But he also found himself in dispute with the Catholic Church.
Mr Ó Muilleoir said:"Fr Des Wilson was a priest in the Ballymurphy area for around 70 years and through that time he gathered large amounts of personal material and as well as that he was a bit of a hoarder," he said.
"Anything he came across along the way he would gather, so you can imagine the amount of material he had, there's tens of thousands."
As part of an 18-month Northern Ireland Lottery funded project, Mr Ó Muilleoir is cataloguing all the material, which just a few months ago went on display as part of the 50th anniversary of Springhill Community House.
"I'm around eight, nine months into it and getting through the material and rearranging it at present thematically, from education to human rights and liberation," said Mr Ó Muilleoir.
"It would be great that eventually it could be digitalised and that a permanent archival space could be established and that a website could be created.
"We have also come across audio recordings of Fr Des that he recorded at the height of the Troubles from 1969 to 1974, there are a number of infamous events in there to hear.
"It is important that we conserve all the material as it is a vital source of information for historians, researchers and future generations."
