Showing 1375 results

Name
Jesuit County Dublin

Thaly, Hugh, 1639-1711, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2180
  • Person
  • 10 November 1638-18 September 1711

Born: 10 November 1638, Kilmore, County Cavan
Entered: 20 September 1659, Nancy, France - Campaniae Province (CAMP)
Ordained: 12 March 1671, Pont-à-Mousson, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1677
Died: 18 September 1711, Irish College, Poitiers, France - Campaniae Province (CAMP)

Alias Johnson

1662-1664 At Pont-á-Mousson studying Logic and Physics
1664-1666 At Charlevile College teaching
1666-1667 At Langres College
1667-1668 At Dijon College teaching
1668-1672 At Pont-à-Mousson Studying Theology and then teaching and Prefect of Physicists, later Seminarians
1672 At Rheims College CAMP teaching Humanities and Rhetoric. Good teacher and fit for teaching and Mission
1699 Came to Poitiers and remained. Minister, Rector (1700-1705)
1708 Catalogue Strength good considering his age, but is wholly blind
In Convent OSF at Waterford there is a book with “Resid New Ross ex domo, Rev Hugionis Thalii”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
“Insignis juventutis instructor” up to his old age; Professor of Belles-lettres, Rhetoric and Philosophy for twenty-five years
Rector of Poitiers and Drogheda; Served two years in hospitals
1683 In Dublin
1686 In Drogheda
1708 In Poitiers
He was totally blind for the last eight years of his life; Twenty-four years in Ireland, and some years in Scotland; A holy man (cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan :
1661-1664 After First Vows was sent to Pont-à-Mousson for Philosophy.
1664-1648 He spent four years Regency at Charleville, Langres and Divonne.
1648-1671 He then returned to Pont-à-Mousson for Theology and was Ordained there 12 March 1671
1672-1673 Made Tertianship at Nancy
1673-1676 Sent to Ireland and Drogheda
1676-1677 He was then sent to France, to the newly founded Irish College of Poitiers, but seems to have quarrelled there with the Rector, Ignatius Browne over the administration of the College, and was recalled to Ireland by the Mission Superior William O’Rian the following year.
1677 Sent to work at Dublin Residence.
1678 During the Oates's Plot he was living outside Dublin. The General was not happy about Thaly remaining on the Mission and, on the suggestion of O’Rian, himself exiled in Poitiers, the General recalled him to France but Thaly managed to evade the order until the General's death, in spite of many expressed wished by the Mission Consultors. The cause of the difficulties are not clear, though it can be assumed that he was seen as something of a trouble maker, and that some of the difficulties in the early days at Poitiers had been attributed to him. It is thought that he was being sent to CAMP to have some time to reflect.
The new General left him undisturbed, after a suitable caution, and Thaly proved himself a resourceful organiser at the School and Residence of Drogheda, including managing to get a suitable building for an oratory.
During the short lived reign of James II, he began to dabble a little in politics. He got himself into trouble over the as one of the chief witnesses of the Chief Revenue Commissioner, Thomas Sheridan, who had been accused of corruption. Sheridan’s allies suggested that Thaly was merely a “job-hunter” for his own family and friends.
At the same time, he managed to get the General to appoint a French Jesuit as Chaplain to the Viceroy, and when he did not turn up, Thaly installed himself as Viceregal Chaplain in Dublin Castle. The General became very concerned by Thaly’s behaviour, especially his part in the Sheridan case,, and the Mission Superior was instructed that Thaly should never again be allowed to live in Dublin.
So he went to work in Drogheda, but served as a Chaplain at the Siege of Limerick. After the Williamite victory, he was forced to seek shelter in Dublin, where he exercised his ministry under the name “Johnson” until 1699, when he was captured and deported to France.
1700-1705 Rector at Irish College Poitiers. During his administration were sown the seeds of future disputes between the Irish Mission and the College over the funds which supported the College but in part belonged to the Mission. He died at Poitiers 18 September 1711

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Hugh Thaly 1638-1711
Fr Hugh Thaly was a great scholar and instructor of youth in Dublin and elsewhere, was born about 1638 and died at Poitiers on September 18th 1711.

He laboured on the Irish Mission for 24 years and for some time also in Scotland. During the last eight years of his life, like the good Tobias, he was totally blind, and exhibited, as he died, the most perfect patience and resignation.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
THALY,HUGH. This polite scholar and excellent instructor of youth, died in the Irish College of Poitiers, on the 18th of September, 1711, aet. 73. He had laboured in the Irish Mission for 24 years, and for some time had been employed in the vineyard of Scotland. For the last eight years of his life, God was pleased to visit him with total blindness; but, like another Tobias, he exhibited perfect patience and resignation.

Theobald, Vincent, d 1620, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2181
  • Person
  • d 12 September 1620

Died: 12 September 1620, Dublin or Gien, Lioret, France

◆ Catalogus Defuncti 1540-1640 has Vincentius Thebaud RIP 12 September 1620 Gien (Lioret) (Franc 11 118r (suppl) )

◆ CATSJ I-Y has “Thebaud”; RIP 12/09/1620 at ? Dublin

◆ In Old/15 (1) RIP 1620 and in pencil on one “Thebard” and Chronological Catalogue Sheet

Thompson, Robert J, 1918-1995, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/545
  • Person
  • 25 April 1918-09 September 1995

Born: 25 April 1918, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1952, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 09 September 1995, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare community at the time of death.

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1952 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fourth wave of Zambian Missioners
by 1962 at Loyola, Lusaka, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
‘He was radical, he had vision and he made things happen. He was single-minded and, not least, he was stubborn as a donkey’. These words were spoken by Mr P J Kirby, chairman of Clane Community Council at the graveside of Fr Thompson on 12 September 1995.

Fr Bob was born in Mallow, Co Cork in 1918, went to school with the Patrician Brothers and then on to Clongowes Wood College. He entered the Society at Emo Park in 1936 and after studies and ordination in 1949 and then tertianship, he straightaway went to Northern Rhodesia where he stayed for 12 years. While there at Chikuni, he was involved in general teaching, in teacher training, scouting and teaching of religion. He moved to Lusaka and was editor of a newspaper "The Leader" which advocated independence, was very pro-UNIP and was critical of the colonial government. With Fr Paddy Walsh he became friends with Dr Kenneth Kaunda and other leaders at the Interracial Club. This was all during Federation days. In fact, the then Federal Prime Minister Roy Welensky wrote to Fr Bob's brother who was a doctor in Rhodesia, ‘Tell that Jesuit brother of yours he is causing me a lot of trouble’. At Independence in 1964, Kaunda brought Fr Bob back from Ireland for the occasion.

Fr Bob was very intelligent, had plenty of ideas in a very active mind and would 'take up the cudgels' as it were, for worthy causes. Many did not see eye to eye with him and often it was mutual, yet he got things done and was never shy of speaking out.

When he returned to Ireland in 1963, he was on the Mission circuits for five years, traveling throughout Ireland and then stayed on retreat work at Rathfarnham and Tullabeg for seven years. In 1977, he was transferred to Clongowes Wood College and became assistant curate in the parish of Clane, a nearby village. For ten years he took part in the life of the parish and the local community: primary schools, the restoration of the old Abbey, renovation of Mainham cemetery, projects for tidy towns, negotiation for a site for a new business enterprise centre and a memorial to Fr John Sullivan S.J. ‘He made things happen’. After leaving Clane for Moycullen in Co Galway, he was called back for the unveiling of a plaque at the restored Abbey which read: “This plaque is erected to the tremendous contribution of life in the locality by Rev R Thompson S.J. during the years 1977 to 1987”.

Bob's remark about this tribute was that he was the first Irishman to have a plaque erected to him before he died. A business centre was built and opened in 1996 after Bob's death and is called the Thompson Business and Enterprise Centre.

In 1987 he retired to Moycullen, Co Galway, for the quiet life as assistant curate and a bit of fishing. The word 'retire' does not really apply to him as his active mind soon saw him involved with concern for the environment, the collapse of the sea trout stocks and the rod license dispute, being on the side of the fishermen. He helped in the Church and stayed there for four years up to 1991. He returned to Clongowes and Clane and four years later he died in Dublin on 9 of September 1995.

He was a man of big ideas he had ‘a remarkable ability of having a new idea every day’ yet he never praised himself for his achievements. He was a devoted confessor. There was nothing artificial in his dealings with parishioners and he was always so sympathetic to those going through hard times. He looked after poor people in a sensitive and low key way that protected their dignity. He had an abiding interest in encouraging young people to use their talents and had total confidence in their ability to improve on what the last generation had done. He motivated those around him, especially the young people. Nobody got preferential treatment, least of all those who believed they deserved it!

‘He was single-minded and tireless’.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 86 : July 1996

Obituary

Fr Robert (Bob) Thompson (1918-1995)

25th April 1918: Born at Mallow, Co. Cork
Education; Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept. 1936: Entered Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1938: First Vows at Emo
1938 - 1941: Rathfarnham, Arts at UCD
1941 - 1944: Tullabeg, Philosophy
1944 - 1946: Clongowes Wood College, Regency
1946 - 1950; Milltown Park, Theology
31st July 1949; Ordained Priest at Milltown Park
1950 - 1951: Tertianship, Rathfarnham
1951 - 1963: Zambia: Learning the language, Teaching in Chikuni Boarding School, Secretary to Bishops Conference, Teacher of Religion, Scouts Trainer, Minor Seminary teacher, Editor, “The Leader” magazine
2nd Feb. 1952: Final Vows, Chikuni College
1964 - 1969: Crescent College, Limerick, Teacher
1969 - 1970; Tullabeg - Missioner Rathfarnham - Assistant Director, Retreat House
1970 - 1976: Tullabeg - Director of Retreat House
1976 - 1977; Tullabeg - Superior
1977 - 1987: Clongowes - Assistant Curate, Clane Parish
1987 - 1991: Galway - Assistant Curate, Moycullen
1991 - 1995: Clongowes - Coordinator EC Leader Programme, Clane Community Council
9th Sept. 1995: Died unexpectedly at St. Vincent's Private Nursing Home

When leaving Clongowes in his last year Bob Thompson proved himself a very good all rounder, academically as well. Seldom if ever did he praise himself, for example, as a member of the Irish Mission staff doing the length and breadth of Ireland. He was never heard to criticise others on a mission or quietly hint that he was really the number one on the team.

In many ways he was lucky in having Fr. Donal O'Sullivan as Rector of Scholastics in Tullabeg. Bob had little time for piffling matters and could take a hard knock when it was just and due. As a Junior at UCD and Philosopher he had a good sense of humour and greatly benefited from a full house of scholastics. Having six men about the home in Mallow had its own advantage in growth points which no doubt was a definite help in his life.

His years as a young priest in Africa gave him a good deal of experience which he used with amazing courage and which sometimes might have benefited with just that touch of a little prudence and patience. He was always proud of Kenneth Kaunda, especially when Zambia came of age. On the occasion when the country was officially opened, Bob received an invitation here in Ireland to the real opening ceremony out in Zambia, so many miles away. It showed an appreciation and gratitude on the part of the New President of the time when Kaunda, his wife and eight children needed and received practical assistance while he waited in the wings in gaol for many a long day.

When Bob was sent to Tullabeg for a few years, he proved to be a man with big ideas, when finances were a serious matter for the running of retreats. He initiated an annual "Field Day" for Co. Offaly on such a gigantic scale, one wonders now at those vast undertakings. He had a huge army of backers, reminding us of things to come in Clane that was beyond ordinary Jesuit reckoning.

The ten years when Bob acted as assistant curate in Clane parish were blessed for him by having local priests who encouraged him and gave him his head. The seeds that started to grow in Africa now came into fruition due to his intellectual capacity. The next three qualities he had, are seldom seen in the one person, he was radical, he had vision and he made things happen. Not everyone grasped the deep compassion in his make up for those in trouble. They certainly saw how he motivated those around him and especially young people. We were all made aware at some stage that nobody got preferential treatment, least of all those who believed they deserved it! He was single-minded and tireless.

Today we see for ourselves the results of his achievements: the modern primary schools with their lovely run in to the village; the restored Abbey; a work of genuine artistic beauty obviously influenced by expert professional advice; the renovation of Mainham Cemetery, the various tidy town and amenity projects, the memorial to Fr. John Sullivan and finally the site for the new Enterprise Centre.

His health deteriorated for a year or so, prior to his sudden death. This was shown in his step slowing down and the energy slackening. He himself very wisely prepared to hand over to others what needed to be continued and often completed. This is a sign of a real leader who can pass on jobs to others that he would normally do himself. We Jesuits who lived with him admired the way the Lord blessed him with a magnificent base speaking voice, clear diction, so natural in delivery. He was a devoted confessor, nothing artificial in his dealings with parishioners and so sympathetic to those going through hard times. He had a big heart.

His sudden death came as a shock to his family, the Jesuits in Clongowes and to the people of Clane and neighbourhood. Seldom have we seen such a fitting farewell to any Jesuit. The last line was said at his graveside by Mr PJ Kirby in a truly wonderful oration. “The best tribute we can pay Fr. Bob is to try to emulate his example and continue the strong tradition of community and voluntary work. I know the people of Clane will not disappoint him!”

Kieran Hanley SJ

Oration at the graveside of Fr. Bob Thompson S.J. Delivered by Mr. P.J. Kirby, Chairman of Clane Community Council 12th September 1995.

Friends and neighbours,

May I thank Fr. Bob's family and the Jesuit community for providing this opportunity to the people of Clane to honour someone we loved.

I know that some of Fr. Bob's friends from Moycullen are also here today and I hope that what we want to say also reflects how the people of Galway felt about Fr Bob.

Today we are celebrating the life of someone who made an immense contribution to Clane as a priest and a community worker. This happened because Fr. Bob had a number of outstanding personal qualities:

  • He had an intellectual capacity second to none
  • He was radical
  • He had vision
  • He made things happen
  • He was compassionate
  • He motivated those around him
  • He was even-handed; nobody got preferential treatment least of all those who believed they deserved it
  • He was single-minded and tireless and, not least,
  • He was stubborn as a donkey!

These qualities enabled Fr. Bob to achieve things that we can see with our own eyes in Clane today:

  • The modern primary schools
  • The restored Abbey
  • The renovation of Mainham Cemetery
  • Various tidy town and amenity projects
  • The memorial to Fr. John Sullivan; (I will refer again to this later)
  • The site for the new Enterprise Centre

These are all tangible examples of the practical contribution Fr. Bob made to Clane. However, he also made other contributions that were less obvious but are probably of more value than we realise:

  1. He looked after poor people (this was done in a sensitive, low-key way that protected the dignity of the people concerned)

  2. He had an abiding interest in encouraging young people to use their talents and he had total confidence in their ability to improve on what the last generation had done.

  3. He left a legacy of committed community workers to carry on the work; the anticipation of his own departure is always the mark of a great leader.

Each of us will have our own special memories of Fr. Bob. On a personal note, he had a profound influence on my continuing adult education - you could not get this type of learning at any school or university. Some of the community projects I mentioned earlier were concocted late at night in Fr. Bob's house here in Clongowes, very often with spiritual help of the liquid kind.

He had particular insights into the creative and positive use of alcohol. For example, he did not agree with people giving up drink for Lent. I discovered this to my cost one day years ago when he took an abrupt turn in his Fiesta into Manzor's pub car park. The fact that I also came from the Blackwater valley in North Cork did not spare me from a stern lecture on the opportunity for doing good through buying a drink for a friend, a neighbour or a stranger.

I mentioned the memorial to Fr. John Sullivan earlier. Many people in Clane genuinely believe that history has repeated itself. It is remarkable, in the space of two generations, two people of the calibre of Fr. John Sullivan and Fr. Bob Thompson should emerge from the Jesuit order and contribute so much to the welfare of the people of Clane and the surrounding districts. It is a class double act that will be very hard to follow.

Now it's time to say farewell. Someone remarked at the week-end that the last time the people of Clane bid farewell to Fr, Bob he came back! Nothing should be ruled out and I'm sure that he is not gone far away.

The best tribute we can pay Fr. Bob is to try to emulate his example and continue the strong tradition of community and voluntary work. I know the people of Clane will not disappoint him.

◆ The Clongownian, 1996

Obituary

Father Robert Thompson SJ

Bob Thompson was born in Mallow in 1918. After school, he entered the Jesuits at Emo. Having completed his noviceship in 1938, he followed the conventional course of studies - a degree in Arts at UCD, philosophy in Tullabeg and theology in Milltown Park. Bob - spent two years as a scholastic between philosophy and theology - the period known as “regency” - in Clongowes. He was ordained on 31 July 1949 and when he had finished tertianship, back in Rathfarnham Castle, where he had studied for the BA, he was among the first Jesuits to go to what was then Northern Rhodesia in 1951.

Over the next twelve years he studied the language, taught in the boarding school at Chikuni, served as secretary to the Bishops' Conference, taught Religion, trained scouts, taught in the Minor Seminary and edited “The Leader”, a magazine advocating independent statehood for the country. He taught Kenneth Kaunda, later the first president of Zambia, and his influence was something President Kaunda never forgot. Although Bob was by then back in Ireland, the President invited him to attend the celebrations marking Zambian independence.

In 1963, a thorn in the side of the colonial authorities, Bob returned home. After a year in the Crescent as a teacher, he joined the mission staff based at Tullabeg and was responsible for giving parish missions and retreats around the country. He did this for five years.

Then it was back to Rathfarnham Castle once more as Assistant Director of the Retreat House. The following year he returned to Tullabeg to direct the Retreat House there. After six years in this role, and one further memorable year as Superior of the commu nity, he came to Clongowes in 1977.

This marked the beginning of ten very fruitful years, acting as Assistant Curate - and much more! - in Clane Parish. Bob had an enormous impact on the locality, blessed, as Fr Kieran Hanley has written, “by having local priests who encouraged him and gave him his head”. His pressure on the Department of Education to get the new primary schools built is now a matter of legend.

A fuller sense of what Bob achieved in Clane is conveyed by the tribute from Mr P.J. Kirby, printed below.

He took a four year “sabbatical” from Clane and Clongowes from 1987-91, during which he worked in Moycullen, Co. Galway, again as Assistant Curate. A friend, who shared his passion for fishing, wrote of how Bob's enjoyment of this pastime never allowed him to disregard the environment. He worried about the collapse of seatrout stocks in Connemara; “Anyone knowing Fr Bob can be certain that he has already made approaches to St Peter on these serious matters and he would want to know whạt St Peter proposed to do about the situation! Playing the harp would not be his idea of heavenly bliss....”

He returned to Clongowes and resumed his work with the local community, this time promoting the Clane Community Council and coordinating a European Union funded pro gramme in the local area. His death on 9 September 1995 in St Vincent's Hospital, where he had gone for a check-up, came as a complete shock and his dynamic, creative presence is missed by all who knew him.

The boys in Clongowes hardly knew Bob, although they would occasionally have heard his uncompromising sermons at Mass in the People's Church. They were probably surprised at the large numbers who turned out for his funeral and would have been deeply struck - as we all were, not least his Jesuit brethren - by the remarkable tribute paid to him by P.J. Kirby, chairman of the Clane Community.

Tighe, Patrick, 1866-1920, Jesuit, priest, chaplain and missionary

  • IE IJA J/2184
  • Person
  • 02 August 1866-05 April 1920

Born: 02 August 1866, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1891, St Stanisalus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1903, Naples, Italy
Final Vows: 02 February 1908, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 05 April 1920, St Mary’s, Miller St, Sydney, Australia

First World War chaplain

by 1895 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1901 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying
by 1905 at St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1913
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 15th Battalion, France

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After Ordination he was appointed Master of Novices for a short period, then he was transferred to Gardiner St.
Later he was appointed Rector of Mungret, but only stayed in this job for a short while due to health reasons.
He was then sent to Australia where he worked in one of the North Sydney Parishes.
He volunteered to be a Chaplain and came to Europe with Australian troops.
When he returned to Australia his health broke down and he had an operation for a malignant tumour. He died shortly after the operation 05 April 1920. He was much loved.
(there is also a long homily preached by Father Tighe at St Mary’s, Sydney, on the topic of Revolution and War)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Tighe was educated at Belvedere College, and graduated with a BA from the Royal University, Dublin. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1891, was a junior
preparing for public examinations at Milltown Park, 1893-94, and studied philosophy at Enghien, Champagne. He taught for a few years, 1896-1900, at Mungret, studied theology at Posillipo, Naples, 1900-04, and did tertianship at Mold, Wales, the following year.
He was a rural missioner, and involved in parish work in Limerick, 1905-10, except for a time as socius to the master of novices at Tullabeg, 1906-07. He gave retreats, stationed at Gardiner Street, Dublin, 1910-12, and for a short time was rector of Mungret, 1912-13. Because of ill health was sent to Australia.
He worked first at Lavender Bay, 1913-15, and then, 1915-17, was military chaplain at the No. 1 General Hospital, Heliopolis, and latter served with the 15th Battalion AIP in France and Belgium. He returned to Australia and to the parish of North Sydney after the war.
Tighe was a remarkable speaker, preacher and retreat-giver, but had a weak chest. The latter raised speculation as to how he was accepted into the military He had been suggested as master of novices in Australia, and probably performed the duties for the first few months in 1914, but because of ill health another Jesuit was chosen.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Patrick Tighe 1866-1920
Fr Patrick Tighe was born in Dublin of an old Catholic family. He received his early education at Belvedere and entered the Society in 1891.
His course complete, he was made Rector of Mungret, but he held this office only for a short period, owing to ill health. For the same reason he went to Australia where he worked in one of the Sydney parishes. On the outbreak of the First World War he came to Europe as a Chaplain to the Australian Forces. After his return to Australia, his health broke down completely, and he was operated on for a malignant tumour. `He died shortly after the operation on April 5th 1920. He had been Master of Novices in Australia for some time. He was a man who showed in all his exterior actions a spirit of deep recollection.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Patrick Tighe (1866-1920)

A native of Dublin, entered the Society in 1891. He made his higher studies at Enghien and Naples where he was ordained in 1903. He was appointed a member of the mission staff at the Crescent in 1905 and remained here until 1910. Father Tighe was later rector of Mungret for a brief period and served as chaplain with the Australian army in the first world war. His later years were spent on the Australian mission.

Timoney, Senan P, 1927-2013, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/806
  • Person
  • 01 May 1927-13 February 2013

Born: 01 May 1927, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1963, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 13 February 2013, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Peter Faber, Brookvale Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim community at the time of death.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-senan-timoney-rip/

Fr Senan Timoney RIP
Fr Senan Timoney died unexpectedly and quietly on Ash Wednesday. At the age of 85 he could look back on a life in four provinces, having quartered his years neatly between Galway, Limerick, Dublin and the North.
As he had covered Ireland in his residences, he covered many of the Province’s houses and ministries with distinction: formation (Minister of Juniors, Director of Tertians), teaching (of Irish, Maths, French, sociology, religion, rowing), headmastering in Mungret, administering (Rector, Socius to Provincial), spiritual direction, pastoral and retreat work, keeping the accounts for Brian Lennon’s chip shop in Portadown, and accompanying the brethren through it all, a good companion and sought after in every house.
He was a formidable golfer, neat and accurate, with a trim figure which in the last years was wasted to the point of emaciation. On Ash Wednesday five years ago they diagnosed the blood condition which required regular transfusions. He moved from Belfast to Cherryfield, where the staff remember his engagement with life, always interested, ready to talk about the TV programmes he had watched, alert to the sick and the suffering, welcoming his countless friends.
He consciously kept death – and any talk of death – at bay. In the end his family and several Jesuits were round him He was given the ashes, and was alert practically up to the moment when the Lord took him. May God be good to him.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 151 : Spring 2013

Obituary

Fr Senan Timoney (1927-2013)

1 May 1927: Born in Galway.
Early education in National School and St. Ignatius, Galway
7 September 1945: Entered Society at Emo
8 September 1947: First Vows at Emo
1947 - 1950: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - studied Philosophy
1953 - 1956: St. Ignatius College, Galway - Regency
1956 - 1960: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31 July 1959: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1960 - 1961: Rathfarnham: Tertianship
1961 - 1962: St. Ignatius College, Galway - Teacher; H. Dip. In Ed,
1962 - 1963: Emo - Socius to Novice Director; Minister
2 February 1963: Final Vows
1963 - 1967: Rathfarnham - Minister of Juniors
1967 - 1974: Mungret College
1967 - 1968: Prefect of Studies
1968 - 1969: Rector; Prefect of Studies
1969 - 1971: Rector
1971 - 1974: Headmaster
1974 - 1983: Crescent College, Dooradoyle – Vice-Superior; Teacher
1981 - 1987: Province Consultor
1983 - 1988: Loyola House:
1983 - 1987: Executive Socius; Superior
1987 - 1988: Sabbatical
1988 - 1992: Portadown - Superior
1992 - 1994: Manresa:
1992 - 1993: Directs Spiritual Exercises; Assistant to Director
1993 - 1994: Rector

1994-2013: Belfast
1994 - 1998: Superior: Tertian Director (1995: 1997-1998); Directed Spiritual Exercises; Spiritual Director; Pastoral Facilitator; Assistant Vicar for Religious in Diocese
1998 - 2000: Superior; Chair JINI; Directed Spiritual Exercises; Spiritual Director; Pastoral Facilitator, Assistant Vicar for Religious in Diocese
1999 - 2007: Province Consultor
2000 - 2003: Minister; Superior's Admonitor; Spiritual Director (SJ); Treasurer
2003 - 2007: Directed Spiritual Exercises; Pastoral Facilitator; Assistant Vicar for Religious in Diocese
2008 - 2011: Spiritual Director
2011 - 2013: Resident in Cherryfield Lodge

Senan died on Ash Wednesday morning. Around him were Caitriona, his niece, Mary Rickard, the Province Health Delegate and Liam O'Connell, Socius to the Provincial. Liam had said in succession prayers for the sick, for the dying and for the dead. Before he did that, Liam took the ashes and marked Senan's forehead with the sign of the cross. So ended Senan's earthly life; nearly 86 years since his birth in Galway and nearly 68 years since his joining the Society of Jesus in Emo, in September 1945.

Senan could look back on a life in four provinces, having quartered his years neatly between Galway, Limerick, Dublin and the North, As he had covered Ireland in his residences, he had covered many of the Province's houses and ministries with distinction: formation (Minister of Juniors, Director of Tertians), teaching (of Irish, Maths, French, sociology, religion, rowing), headmastering, administering (Rector, Socius to Provincial), spiritual direction and retreat work, keeping the accounts for Brian Lennon's chip shop in Portadown, and accompanying the brethren through it all, a good companion and sought after in every house, including his final assignment in Cherryfield. As a friend remarked: There wasn't a mean bone in his body.

Always trim, he was a formidable golfer, neat and accurate. Back in the forties such an omni-competent scholastic would have been marked out for the missions, especially Hong Kong. But in Senan's first year of noviciate the Lord sent him an unexplained fever, had him isolated briefly in Cork Street, and planted in Fr Tommy Byrne, the Novice-Master (Senan belonged to the year of Whole-Byrne novices), the illusion that here was a delicate young man who would not be able for the missions. This was Ireland's gain: Senan was never sick again until a heart attack in 1999 and red-corpuscle trouble ten years later, which necessitated the infusion of two units of blood every fortnight.

What, you may wonder, could raise the temperature of a man as equable and calm as Senan? He had known the Jesuits as a boy, had learned Mass-serving from Fr John Hyde, had seen the mainly Jesuit staff of Coláiste lognáid at close quarters, so he did not expect to be surprised when he joined up and went to Emo. But surprised he was, you might almost say appalled, by one feature of noviciate life. What was that? The discipline and chain? No. The isolation? No. The long hours of prayer? No. It was the silence that bugged him. People were not allowed to talk. “I could not get over it. It was unreal and made no sense to me”.

Senan had this gift of articulating what should have been obvious but was accepted as traditional. As Minister of Juniors in 1963 ("an awful job, like a ganger") he was baffled to find the fathers in Rathfarnham Castle herded into the large parlour at 1.45 after lunch, and tied there in stiff conversation till a nod from the Rector at 2.15. Senan made a move: “Let us go free at two oclock." The benign Fergal McGrath was appalled at the suggestion of such a break from tradition.

Freedom was an important value for a man so often burdened with administrative jobs. When he took over from Paddy Doyle as co instructor of tertians with Ron Darwen, Senan would not accept candidates who were assigned unwillingly to tertianship; they must want to come. His cordial relations with lay teachers were clouded by their union's (ASTI) refusal to admit Religious on the grounds that they would all vote the same way as their superior dictated. “We are not like that”, insisted Senan. “We can and do differ from one another while remaining friends”. And it was a feature of the Crescent Comprehensive where Senan taught for nine years, that Jesuits would, in good, amicable spirit, take opposing sides on issues of policy, to the astonishment of new teachers. He was active in staff meetings which would be held without the presence of the Headmaster, and would brief delegates to convey their motions to the Headmaster or the Board of Management.

One revealing episode showed the difficulty of maintaining this freedom. When Senan was secretary of the Catholic Headmasters' Association, ASTI were threatening to strike over a promise that the Government had made and reneged on. A meeting of the CHA voted to come out in sympathy with ASTI, and Senan passed this reassuring news back to his lay colleagues in Mungret. But no statement emerged from CHA, and Senan smelt a rat. He gathered the requisite ten signatures for calling an extraordinary general meeting, and demanded from the Chairman, his friend Sean Hughes, why no statement had been published. Sean admitted that after the CHA meeting and vote, he had consulted John Charles McQuaid, then Archbishop of Dublin, on the matter and was persuaded by JC to back off from a public pronouncement. The whole business smelled of the secretive and coercive character of the Irish church at its worst.

It would be wrong to picture Senan as a flag-waving revolutionary. Rather he used the existing structures intelligently to make his point without stirring up animosity. In Tullabeg, while enjoying the community life, he valued the stage shows as a way of voicing the frustrations of the brethren. In Crescent he supported the meetings of the staff to improve the school in dialogue with the Headmaster and the Board. In the CHA he used the mechanism of an extraordinary meeting to drag secretive machinations into daylight.

One of the most stressful periods of his life came from being vowed to secrecy. In November 1971, Senan and Paddy Cusack, then Headmaster and Rector of Mungret, were asked to meet in Nenagh for Sunday lunch with the Provincial, Cecil McGarry. Cecil came straight to the point: he was going to close Mungret. Then he stood the pair a good lunch (appropriate for people condemned to execution), and vowed them to secrecy about the plan. For four months Senan woke heavy-hearted to face this cloud, unable to discuss it with anyone. He had to make irrational decisions about the future: he watched the installation of new showers, knowing that in two years' time there would be nobody to use them. He cancelled the entrance exam for the following year for some invented reason. One day in March 1972, the Provincial summoned the staff at 2 p.m., and the school at 2.15, with the news of the planned closure. Despite the heavy hearts, the last two years of Mungret were good years, and those who graduated from the school then have remained exceptionally loyal to their friends and their old teachers. One striking example of this: among the crowds at Senan's funeral was a man whom he had expelled from Mungret. “Best thing ever happened to me. I preferred horses to Homer and was at the races when I should have been in class. Senan and my parents saw that schooling did not suit me. I've done fine without it”.

Senan remembered his next nine years, teaching in Crescent Comprehensive, with particular happiness. With four other teachers (of English, history, geography and science) he experimented in team teaching of first year classes. The team would focus on Lough Gur for three months, then on Ancient Limerick, then on the Burren and Aran Islands, taking the pupils through the history, geography, folklore, music and attractions of each topic. They were delighted to find pupils in turn taking their own families on guided tours of the places they had been immersed in.

After those productive years in education, it was a revelation to move north, first to Portadown, then to Belfast, though he had some of the North in his blood - his father was from Fermanagh. They were troubled years, the Good Friday Agreement still a long way off. When Senan went to Portadown, he found an open house, with neighbours popping in at all times of the day and night, chuffed that the Jesuits considered Churchill Park worth investing in. There were informal visits from staff of the Dublin Department of Foreign Affairs, anxious to suss out from the Jesuits how things were moving. He was appalled at the mistaken policy of sending in British army troops to police the North - they were trained to fight, not to keep the peace. He was impressed by the impact made there by Wee Paddy (Doyle), uhwhom he followed later to Belfast and as Instructor of Tertians.

That tertianship is still an unwritten piece of Province history, Senan was happy with the location of the tertians in small communities, in Derry, Coleraine, Belfast, and a meeting point in Maghera. A large tertianship house, with its own cook and institutional character, can foster dependence. But these tertians, living with two or three others, managing their own budget and diet, working things out for themselves, had a more realistic preparation for the probable shape of their future life as Jesuits.

So much for where Senan lived and what he did. A harder question: what made him the remarkable man he was? Here is Alan McGuckian's reflection:
I did the Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life with Senan a few years ago. I remember when we came to the meditation on the incarnation he said with great seriousness; this changes everything. Our faith that the eternal word of God became flesh in Jesus makes everything different, makes everything new.

Those who have known him over the years remember a certain quality of inner freshness and dynamism. Part of that was a gift of nature. Much of it, I maintain, came from his fascination and engagement with Jesus.

Senan's capacity to form relationships was extraordinary. They could be lifelong friendships that were transformative for people – or very short term encounters. In recent years he spent a lot of time around hospitals. He wouldn't be five minutes on a ward when he knew the names of all the nurses and the porters and the cleaners, where they were from and how many children they had and that their brother's mother in law was the sister of the Bishop of Elphin. (I made that up, but you know what I mean.) He loved to get the news about people because he was genuinely interested in them.
Caitriona said to me that one thing she remembered most vividly was that Senan was open and welcoming to everybody. He didn't distinguish between high and low, rich and poor, virtuous and unvirtuous. He took people as he found them. I think that is a gift of grace more than nature. Though it should be said that there were certain kinds of mean-spirited behaviour that he would describe as “lousy behaviour”. Individuals, specified or unspecified, who were guilty of such behaviour, would be termed “lousers”. To be designated as a “louser” was definitely not a good thing!

Senan clung to life with incredible tenacity - but, let it be said, with great patience and dignity. As I watched this I often asked “why?” What was it, I wondered, that he still had to do? What did he still have to learn? What did Senan still have to do? There is one thing that he did in these final months of suffering that means a lot to me personally and I will share it with you.

Over the past 20 years Senan had become a Belfast man. He was the son of an Ulsterman, so returning to the North was really a coming home to his roots. In Belfast he was utterly committed to the life of the community, and worked closely with people in all the churches. He was very committed to the life of the diocese of Down and Connor. There is now a new initiative of pastoral renewal in Down and Connor called The Living Church project, which I myself have the privilege to be involved in. Senan became so excited about the Living Church that he told me very solemnly one day more than a year ago that he had decided that he would offer up whatever he had to suffer for the Living Church. He announced this at a mass he celebrated when he came back for a one-day visit to Belfast.

Those of us who have watched him slowly decline in recent months know that the gradual, irreversible loss of control which was always fought so resolutely had to be a great suffering. One day a few weeks ago when I visited him in St Vincent's, Senan as always wanted to know the news. “How is everyone in Belfast? What about the work?” I told him that the Living Church project was moving forward slowly but surely. "Ah", he said, "I have had a fair bit of pain lately. When I was experiencing a lot of pain, I said to myself, “I know what that is for?” The only time he ever mentioned pain - and that without a trace of self-pity – was to say that he was offering it up, turning it to good use. That goes some way towards answering my question, “what did he still have to do?”

Perhaps that is why he shied away from any talk of death even in the last months, when his body was wasted to the point of emaciation. He came back from death's door so often that the devoted staff in Cherryfield called him Lazarus. He did not know the ground plan of the heavenly mansions, so he did not want to waste energy speculating about them. Instead he remained engaged in life, in his friends, in all the news, to the very end. He would have been delighted to go to the Lord with the ashes still fresh on his forehead. And happy that his prayer was answered: May I be alive when I die. His fellow-Jesuits feel a huge sense of loss for a man who was so central to our corporate life, and such a dearly loved companion.

Interfuse No 152 : Summer 2013

HOW TO FACE DEATH

Dr John Holien

3.3.2013: letter from Dr John Holien and the team in St Vincent's Hospital who looked after Senan Timoney during his last weeks of life; it was addressed to Senan's niece Mrs Hussey

Dear Mrs Hussey,
Firstly let me apologise for the long delay in writing to you to express my sincerest condolences to you and all the family and the Jesuit community on Senan's death. The team and I had become extremely fond of Fr Senan during his time with us, and the dignity, fortitude and patience he displayed right to the end was amazing - he was remarkably brave, determined and single-minded as he battled away, and these no doubt were traits he'd displayed all his life.

The team and I were aware just how hard the last few months had been for you and the members of his community as you all tried to come to terms with what had happened to Fr Senan. Having not had the pleasure of knowing him before he fell ill, I can only imagine what sort of man he was- the glimpses we had in Vincents made us realise we were caring for a person of enormous intellect, a man who'd dedicated his life to the betterment of others, a selfless man who was much loved by all who knew him. We were always struck by how determined he was even when the odds were against him, how hard he worked and never questioned or complained about what happened to him. He seemed to have this amazing gracefulness to just accept it, offer it up and get on with it, like a true Jesuit in every sense.

I can't tell you how sad we are to lose him - people come and go in Vincent's all the time, but Fr Senan was very special to us and we were devastated we could not make him better. The last few weeks in particular were so difficult as the amazing progress he'd made initially began to fade. I'm so sorry his final few days were not spent where we wanted them to be – at home amongst family and friends, reading the Irish Times and talking rugby.

I hope in the weeks and months ahead you can remember him as the man he was before his illness. It was an enormous privilege for us to have looked after him, I'm just so sorry we couldn't do more. I really mean it when I say Fr Senan made a lasting impression on us all, and I'm sure you have many wonderful memories of a very wonderful man to look back on.

With sincerest sympathies,

John Holien and team

Tomkin, James, 1866-1950, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/418
  • Person
  • 09 November 1866-07 August 1950

Born: 09 November 1866, Munny, County Wexford
Entered: 07 September 1897, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1906, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1914, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 07 August 1950, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Older brother of Joseph Tomkin (ORE) - RIP 1936; Younger brother of Nicholas A Tomkin - RIP 1923; Cousin of Nicholas J Tomkin - RIP 1942

by 1899 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Younger brother of Nicholas A Tomkin - RIP 1923; Cousin of Nicholas J Tomkin - RIP 1942

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 25th Year No 4 1950
Obituary
Fr. James Tomkin (1866-1897-1950)

Father James Tomkin died in the forenoon of Monday, 7th August, 1950, after an illness of some months. He was in his eighty-fifth year and had been a Jesuit for fifty-three years. His vocation was a late one. Born at Munny, Carnew, Co. Wexford, he forsook farming at the age of twenty-six to study for the priesthood. Even his Jesuit training did not obliterate all traces of his former calling. To the end he retained the slow caution, the shrewdness mingled with simplicity, the occasional quaint turn of speech so characteristic of the Irish farmer. Secondary studies, first at Patrician College, Mountrath, and then at Mungret, cannot have been easy for him, Yet he pursued them with the same dogged perseverance and reasonable degree of success which were remarked in his later Jesuit philosophical and theological courses.
James Tomkin's novice-master from 1897 to 1899 was Father James Murphy, for whom ever afterwards he entertained an admiration amounting to hero-worship. Fr. Murphy, for his part, thought highly of the novice and nine years later, when dying as Rector of Tullabeg, is said to have (uncanonically) appointed Fr, Tomkin his successor. In Stonyhurst, whither F'r. Tomkin went for philosophy after his noticeship, he took part in cricket matches played by the Community against extern teams and earned something of a reputation as a bowler. A year's teaching in Clongowes followed Stonyhurst and then four years' theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1906. It was here that Fr. Tomkin's friendship and reverence for Fr. John Sullivan began. He shared the same room on Villa as Fr. Sullivan and admired his companion's kindness and unselfish ways. The great pre-occupation of Fr. Tomkin's last years was to further the Cause of Beatification of his old friend. He gave evidence at the Tribunal in Gardiner Street and was tireless in spreading devotion to Fr. Sullivan and collecting evidence of possible miracles. In 1907 Fr. Tomkin went to Tullabeg as minister and socius to the master of novices, His kindness soon endeared him to the novices of that generation, while his sagacity as a consultant about vocation became something of a legend. After his tertianship in Tullabeg (1912-1913) he went to Mungret and remained there until 1919, being Moderator of the Apostolic School for most of that time. There followed a further period in Tullabeg (1919-1924) as operarius in the People's Church. In this position he became the trusted friend and spiritual counsellor of scores of young men who were fighting in Ireland's War of Independence and later in the Civil War. He was often sent-for to secret rendezvous in order to give absolution and spiritual consolation to those about to go into battle. The theme of his exhortations on such occasions was twofold : to avoid intoxicating drink, and not to run risk of death while in the state of sin. The succour he gave them in those dark days made Fr. Tomkin's name revered by veterans of the Troubled Times. They came in large numbers to his funeral and had to be dissuaded from firing a volley over his grave. This period in Tullabeg was followed by one in Clongowes as procurator (1924-1928) and a period in Galway as Operarius. In Galway he had charge of the Pioneers. This was a ministry very much to his liking. He was a lifelong advocate of total abstinence, having received his first pledge from the hands of Fr. James Cullen when the founder of the Pioneer's was still a secular priest. In addition to directing the Galway centre, Fr. Tomkin had printed a small pamphlet written by himself and intended to set forth unequivocally the obligations of Pioneers.
In 1937 Fr. Tomkin returned to Tullabeg, where he was destined to spend the remainder of his life. Never a hustler, he yet had a fund of quiet, tenacious energy, and a skill at enlisting the co-operation of suitable adjutants in his various enterprises. These qualities helped him in re-organising and re-vivifying the Men's Sodality at Tullabeg in accordance with Fr, General's and Fr, Provincial's wishes and instructions concerning sodalities. In many ways he was an ideal pastor for the rural congregation which frequents the People's Church. He understood country life and the country people. During his Sunday sermons, as he leaned back against the altar, joined his hands and fixed a steady eye on the congregation, there was profound silence and close attention. He seemed to have more fluency and coherence in his sermons than in his ordinary conversation and his occasional references to current political happenings were much appreciated. At this time he was greatly sought after as a conductor of nuns retreats and as their extraordinary confessor. I think it was his kindness and unhurried patience in the confessional which made him so successful in this ministry. A few years before his death he gave up all active apostolate and seemed to turn more and more to prayer and contemplation. He was a great admirer of St. John of the Cross, whose works he read slowly and meditatively and often quoted. Those who knew him at this time retain as their most abiding impression of him his immense kindness and deep humility. I have never known him say a harsh word to or about anyone. At table his attention to his neighbour's wants could become at times embarrassing. In recreation he came in for more than his share of banter and “leg-pulling”, but never did he display the slightest anger or ill-feeling. He would ward off the shafts with a chuckle or a hearty laugh, or take evasive action with those who sought to trap him into awkward admissions. He had an entertaining way of perpetrating malapropisms of a variety all his own, as when he seriously referred to the doings of disembowelled spirits or observed that there was a peculiar twang on the soup. Fr Tomkin's foibles (for, like all of us, he had his share) were of that happy kind which gave no reasonable cause for annoyance and much for entertainment. His care of his health was exquisite, showing itself in the multitude of ingenious devices and practices with which he strove to ward off the ills which threaten our mortal frame. He was a firm believer in ghosts and was quick to discern diabolical intervention in even the most ordinary happenings. But such little peculiarities are completely overshadowed by his sterling religious virtues, his vivid faith, his edifying observance of religious discipline, his amiable charity and meticulous poverty, above all by his prayer, which towards the close of his life appeared to be almost continuous. He made no secret of the fact that God had specially favoured him, though, like many another adept in the life of prayer, he could give no very coherent account of the divine visitation. Tullabeg will miss his tall, familiar figure, pacing up and down the Spiritual Meadow, well wrapped against the treacherous blasts, and absorbed not, I believe, in idle dreams or memories, but in communing with God and His Saints.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1951

Obituary

Father James Tomkin SJ

Father James Tomkin SJ an eminent spiritual director and Superior of the Apostolic School from 1913 to 1919, died at St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, on August 7th last after an illness of some months.

James Tomkin, born at Munny, Co. Wexford, in 1866, was already a practising farmier, and twenty-six years old when he first became conscious of his religious vocation. With the example of St Ignatius, however, to encourage him, he undertook at once secondary and university studies at the Patrician Brothers' School, Mountrath, and Mungret. He left an impression of unbending seriousness and deep maturity on his fellow students in the Lay-school at Mungret. On one occasion he had distinguished himself in a cricket match against the Past by scoring 71 runs. Quite unexcited, however, he retired to a clump of grass, and spent the time poring over Ueberweg's “History of Philosophy”, until it was time to take his place among the fielders. James was in his time Prefect of the Sodality, and played also on the Soccer XI. He obtained his BA degree in the Summer of 1897 (Mungret at that time prepared students for the examinations of the old Royal University). Having graduated successfully, James Tomkin, already thirty-one years old, entered the Jesuit Novitiate at St Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, after which he studied philosophy at Stonyhurst, taught for a year at Clongowes and then began theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained in 1906.

In 1912 Father Tomkin joined the staff of Mungret, succeeding Father Cahill, the following year, as Superior of the Apostolic School. Having held this responsible post till 1919, he went back again to the scenes of his noviceship; this time to take charge of the Public Church. During the years that followed (1919-24) he became the trusted friend and spiritual counsellor of many of the young men who were then fighting in Ireland's War of Independence and later in the Civil War. The help he gave them in those days made his name revered by veterans of the troubled times; they came in numbers to his funeral. From Tullabeg, Father Tomkin was changed to Clongowes, and from there to Galway. Finally, in 1937, he returned to Tullabeg, there to spend the remainder of his life. Once again he had charge of the Public Church with the direction of the Men's Sodality, and once again he established himself in the hearts of the people. At this time, also, he was widely sought after as a director of nuns' retreats and as their extraordinary confessor. A few years, however, before his death, being already in his eighties, he was forced to retire altogether from the active apostolate. He then devoted him self entirely to the life of prayer, and those who lived with him can testify abundantly to the simplicity and humility and evident holiness of all his ways. RIP

Tomkin, Nicholas A, 1863-1923, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2187
  • Person
  • 21 April 1863-10 April 1923

Born: 21 April 1863, Munny, County Wexford
Entered: 29 August 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1894
Final vows: 15 August 1900
Died 10 April 1923, St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin

Part of the Coláiste Iognáid, Galway community at the time of death

Older brother of James Tomkin - Ent RIP 1950; Joseph Tomkin (ORE) - Ent 03/11/1892; RIP 04/10/1936; Cousin of Nicholas J Tomkin - RIP 1942

by 1890 at St Joseph's Seminary, Mangalore, Karnataka, India (VEM)
by 1899 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Older brother of James Tomkin - RIP 1950; Cousin of Nicholas J Tomkin - RIP 1942

After his Novitiate he studied Philosophy an Milltown.
1885 He was sent as Prefect to Clongowes for Regency. He returned to Milltown for a year and then back to Clongowes.
1889 He was sent to teach at the Jesuit College in Mangalore, India (VEM). he spent seven years there until severe illness forced him to come home to Milltown for Theology.
1896 He was sent to Clongowes and the following years he was at Galway as Minister and spent some years there.
1899 He was sent to Drongen for Tertianship at the end of which he was back in Galway as Minister, and also as a Teacher and an excellent Operarius. He distinguished himself as a Preacher, always making great preparations for his sermons.
1909 He became an Assistant Editor of the Irish Messenger, and continued in this for many years.
He died at St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin 10 April 1923

Tomkin, Nicholas J, 1859-1942, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/417
  • Person
  • 18 February 1859-15 November 1942

Born: 18 February 1859, Rathmines, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 31 July 1892, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 15 November 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin

Cousin of Nicholas A Tomkin - RIP 1923; James Tomkin - RIP 1950; Joseph Tomkin (ORE) - RIP 1942

by 1897 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Cousin of Nicholas J Tomkin - RIP 1942 and James Tomkin - RIP 1950

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 18th Year No 1 1943
Obituary :
Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ
Fr Tomkin died at Milltown Park, at 8.30 on Sunday morning, the 15th November. He had been very poorly for some weeks previous to his death, and had been anointed again before the end came.
Born at Rathmines, on 18th February, 1859, he was educated at Belvedere College, and entered the Novitiate, on 7th September, 1877, at Milltown Park, where, alter a year's Juniorate, he pursued his philosophical studies. Before beginning theology he spent six years teaching mathematics and physics at Belvedere, Clongowes and Tullabeg, and was also mathematical tutor at University College one of those years. He was ordained priest on St. Ignatius Day 1892, at Gardiner Street Church, by the late Archbishop Walsh. On the completion of his fourth year of theology he became Minister at Milltowvn, a post he held till 1896, when, in company with Frs. G. O'Neill, and Gleeson, and the late Frs. James O’Dwyer and T Murphy, he made his third year's probation at Tronchiennes. The Next three years of his life he spent at Belvedere as Minister, then in 1900 he became Rector of that College, a post he held for eight years of very fruitful activity. Belveclerians of that period will recall with affection his genial and attractive personality. Widening the scope of school life, he encouraged College societies, debates, music theatricals and athletics, brought about a closer association of the boys parents with the life, both religious and social, of the College, and was instrumental in founding the Belvedere Union of past students of which he remained a life-long friend and adviser. For the next twelve years he was Rector at Mungret (1908-1912) and Clongowes (1912-1919), and organised and carried through with great distinction the Centenary Celebrations of the latter College in June, 1914, promoting also, with outstanding success, its financial status during the difficult years of the World War.
In the summer of 1919 his long and uninterrupted. tenure of office as Rector for nineteen years in the three largest Colleges of the Province came to a close. For the next five years he was Minister and Procurator of Milltown Park, till in May, 1924, he was appointed to the office of Socius to the Provincial, Fr. John Fahy. Though then a man of sixty-five, Fr. Tomkin brought to his new responsibilities his customary buoyancy of manner, good humour and capacity for hard sustained work. In addition to the usual routine of a Socius' life he had to cope with a large volume of business as revisor of the temporal administration of the Province and the Houses, and was in this capacity of great assistance to the Provincials under whom he served, especially during the period of visitation of the Province. For some time, too he had charge of retreats, and appears to have given every satisfaction in that most delicate of tasks.
Towards the close of 1934 Fr. Tomkin's health broke down, and for the eight years of life that still remained, and which he spent at Milltown Park, he retained the varied interests of his earlier days. He even explored new avenues of activity in the domain of carpet-making and book-binding, whose intricacies he found a boyish enthusiasm in mastering. Graced with a delightful charm of manner he leaves behind him the memory of a life of unremitting toil and selfless dedication in the cause of God.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Nicholas Tomkin 1859-1942
Fr Nicholas Tomkin was born in Rathmines Dublin on February 18th 1859. He was educated at Belvedere College and in 1877 he entered the novitiate at Milltown Park. After the usual course of studies, he was ordained in Gardiner Street Church by Archbishop Walsh.

In 1900 he became Rector of Belvedere for eight years, and his reign there will be long remembered as the Golden Age of Belvedere, when through his administrative ability and charming personality, he expanded the school in all its branches, both academic, cultural and social, and founded at this time the Union of Old Belvederians.

For the next 12 years he was successively Rector of Mungret and Clongowes. In n1924 he was appointed Socius to the Provincial Fr Fahy, though a man of 65 years of age.

He had a childlike cherubic countenance which did not reflect the keeness of mind behind it. But his childlike quality did display itself in a delight in striking a good bargain. Many jokes were told of this side of his character – for example, it was said that he offered to buy coffins on a large scale at a reduced price for quantity profit. However, such stories merely exaggerated a simple fondness for a bargain, which some folks took too seriously.

He died on May 15th 1942.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1943

Obituary

Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ
Belvedere (1873-77); Entered Society of Jesus (1877); Ordained Priest 1892; Minister, Belvedere (1897-1900;: Rector (1900-1908); Died, Milltown Park, 15th Nov., 1942.

I esteem it an honour to be allowed to pay a tribute to the memory of the late Father Nicholas Tomkin, a distinguished Rector of Belvedere, and, I believe, one of the greatest headmasters of any school of his day, I shall always remember his fine physical presence, his dominant personality, his dignity and power of command, and his rigid justice and discipline, with which his kindliness, humanity, and sense of humour were in no way incompatible.

Becoming Rector, as he did, at the turn of the century and when the world was only just emerging from the narrowness, tyranny, and stuffiness of the Victorian era, he was in many ways a quarter of a century ahead of his time. He at once envisaged clearly and put into operation principles of moral and material reform which even to-day are still being blindly sought after as the expression of a new age. Looking back, it would seem that he achieved the ideal, because he took from the past stern rules of discipline and a tendency to aspire for all standards of conduct, and on this he superimposed a conception of humanity and justice which had been lacking in that past.

His cardinal principle was that there is good in every boy and that if he is instructed with sympathy and understanding his own sense of propriety will prove a better taskmaster than any exterior rule. He did away with corporal punishment, taught that to play was legitimate but that to work was manly and honourable and not the mark of a milksop or a toady. He inculcated the idea that “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” could cover our games, our relaxations, and every activity of our lives, as well as a Latin exercise. He made Belvedere pre-eminent in gymnastics, introduced it to the Rugby Schools' Cup and Cricket competitions, made it the nursery of Irish Swimming, brought Theatrical productions to a pitch of intrinsic merit which has never been excelled, and even encouraged Dancing, Elocution and Manual Instruction. In study he deplored cramming or prize-hunting and aimed at encouraging the mediocre and backward, so that no boy of his time who was not a hopeless recalcitrant ever failed to realise the full potentialities that were in him. He restored and enhanced the historic beauties of Belvedere House, and into the School Buildings he introduced every modern amenity of sanitation and hygiene.. When the Old Boys' Union was. formed through the efforts of distinguished members of the Past, it was his dynamic personality and intense love of the School which made it not merely an Association of Old Boys, but a corporate union of the Past, taking a live interest in the Present, and the boys, sharing with pride in the notable achievements of the Past.

Truly there was nothing that he did not touch; there was nothing he touched that he did not adorn.

In his official capacity of Rector he could preserve a dignity and aloofness which made his authority most impressive, but outside school hours he remained a friend and charming companion, always easy of approach, always full of interesting information on a host of subjects dear to the heart of boys. He made Belvedere such an epitome of what life ought to be that, I think, most boys experienced, for years after they left, a kind of nostalgia which led them to revisit the school at frequent intervals, and in particular to seek to renew contact with Father Tomkin.

He has passed from our physical sight, but as long as boys of his time remain, his memory will linger and his spirit will continue to direct them in every problem of life.

V J O'HARE.

◆ The Clongownian, 1943

Obituary

Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ

Rector of Clongowes (1911-1919)

Though Fr Tomkin was not at school either here or in Tullabeg, he was associated with both places. He came here from Tullabeg, where he had been on the teaching staff, at the amalgamation, and taught mathematics and physics for three years before going to Milltown Park for his theological studies. In 1911 he came here as Rector in succession to Fr T V Nolan who had been appointed Provincial. It was during the period of his Rectorship, in 1914, that Clongowes celebrated the century of its existence as a school, and very much of the success of the three days of those celebrations was due to the energy and organising powers of the Rector. Almost immediately after these celebrations came the European war which called for qualities of another order: Again Fr Tomkin rose to the occasion, and, mainly as a result of more intensive farming, the conclusion of the war and of Fr Tomkin's Rectorship found the College practically self-supporting.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1943

Obituary

Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ

We regret we announce the death of Father Tomkin who was our Rector here from 1908-1912 and to whose energy the house owes much. He was in his prime during his period of office here and was active in every part of the life of the house - class-work, debates, plays, games, all were of interest to him and he attended and followed all appearances of the boys with great keenness. To him we owe the Communion rail in the chapel and the final decoration of the chapel. He equipped and opened the infirmary and appointed the first resident matron. As one might expect from his enquiring and scientific turn his day saw the end of oil lamps and gas plant here with his introduction of electric lighting. Old boys will remember him with affection and even very young old boys will recall his annual visit here as socius to Father Provincial.

All will pray for the happy repose of the soul of Father Tomkin.

Father Tomkin was born at Rathmines in 1859. Educated at Belvedere College, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1877, and a before pursuing his higher studies at Milltown Park, was mathematical tutor at University College, and taught physics and mathematics at Belvedere, Clongowes and Tullabeg. He was ordained priest in 1892 by the late Most Rev Dr Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin.

Father Tomkin's exceptional gifts of administration were fully tested by the posts of trust and responsibility he held for about forty years in the various Houses of the Order in Ireland, and notably at Milltown Park, and as Rector for twenty years of Belvedere, Mungret and Clongowes Wood. He was Assistant Provincial during the years 1925- 35.

Graced with a delightful charm of manner, he retained to the end the various interests of his earlier days amid the deepening affection of the many whom he helped or influenced during a long life of laborious service.

Toner, Patrick, 1910-1983, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/419
  • Person
  • 17 September 1910-21 January 1983

Born: 17 September 1910, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 08 January 1944, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 21 January 1983, Lisheen House, Rathcoole, County Dublin - Macau-Hong Kong Province (MAC-HK)

Part of the Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin community at the time of death.

Early education at Westland Row CBS Dublin, and Blackrock College, County Dublin

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966
by 1938 at Loyola, Hong Kong - studying
by 1941 at Pymble NSW, Australia - studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father Patrick Toner, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Patrick Toner, SJ, former Rector of Wah Yan College, Kowloon, died in Ireland on 21 January 1983, aged 72.

Father Toner was born in Belfast on 3 September 1910. His family was driven out of Belfast by the “pogroms” of the early 1920s and settled in Dublin, but in many ways he himself remained a Belfast-man, tenacious of any opinion or course of action that he had taken up.

In 1930 he interrupted his university studies to enter the Irish Jesuit novitiate, and he adhered firmly throughout his life to the lessons he learned as a novice. His closet friends used say that he arrived in the novitiate with a slight Belfast accent, but as the years passed this accent became stronger and stronger - more tenacity!

He arrived in Hong Kong as a Jesuit scholastic in 1937. In addition to regulation language study and teaching, he did a considerable amount of work for the refugees who poured into Hong Kong after the fall of Canton to the Japanese in later 1938, even spending a short period in much-troubled Canton.

In 1940 he went to start his theological studies in Australia, and was ordained there in 1943. Having finished his theological studies, he returned to Ireland to do his last year of Jesuit training, and to visit his family, to whom he was deeply devoted.

He returned to Hong Kong in 1946 and took up teaching in the Wah Yan Branch College under the headmastership of Mr. Lim Hoy Lam in Nelson Street, Kowloon.

In 1947, Mr. Lim retired from the administration of the school and Father Toner became headmaster. In 1951 the school moved to its new premises in Waterloo Road, dropping “Branch” from its title and becoming Wah Yan College, Kowloon. Father Toner as Rector and headmaster directed the move, and the great expansion of the school and the formation of its new traditions.

In 1964, having completed his period of rectorship, he transferred to Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, and taught there until 1976, taking charge also for some time of the Night School and of the Poor Boys Club.

This career of education, administration and pastoral work taught him much about meeting the problems that life presents, but it did not change his character. He arrived in the Jesuit novitiate 51 years ago as a cheerful, uncomplicated, deeply devoted young man. He died last month as a cheerful, uncomplicated, deeply devoted old man. May there be many like him!

As might have been expected, Father Toner did not take kindly to the changes that multiplied in the Church during and after Vatican Council II. This never caused any breach between him and those who eagerly followed new ways; it did lend a special flavour to his confabulation with those who thought like himself. He and his dear friend Father Carmel Orlando, PIME, came closer than ever together as they pondered in company the wisdom of The Wanderer and sighed energetically over the antics of extremists.

In 1976 Father Toner left for Ireland. Soon after his arrival his health began to decline. He retained his mental powers and his cheerful spirit unimpaired, but his bodily strength faded gradually, but inexorably under the strain of arteriosclerosis.

He suffered a stroke on 20 January and died early the following morning.

Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated this evening, 4 February, at 6 o’clock in the chapel of Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 4 February 1983

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 20th Year No 2 1945

Frs. J. Collins, D. Lawler and P. Toner, of the Hong Kong Mission, who finished theology at Pymble last January, were able to leave for Ireland some time ago, and are expected in Dublin after Easter.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 58th Year No 2 1983

Obituary

Fr Patrick Toner (1910-1930-1983) (Macau-Hong Kong)

Fr Paddy Toner was born in Belfast, 7th September 1910. The family was forced to leave Belfast during the 1922 pogroms in Northern Ireland. The Toners were publicans. Paddy remembered those times and one incident in particular: One evening on returning from school, he entered their premises to find his father being held at gun-point. There were two men holding revolvers to his head, one each side. Paddy, twelve years old, dashed for the counter and flung a heavy bottle-opener at the raiders. The gunmen tried to get him, but his father managed to escape. This incident gave Paddy, the eldest of four boys, a special place in his father's affection. It also shows the stuff that Paddy Toner, most gentle and lovable of men, was made of.
As a boy at Blackrock College, when the late Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid was President, Paddy made known to his mother his intention to go for the priesthood. We can understand his father being upset and totally opposed to this idea. No, Paddy would never leave him. He discussed the matter with the President of the College and on his advice, on leaving College, Paddy went to UCD - This would enable him to come to a more mature decision. His father hoped he would change his mind.
In one way he did change his mind: having finished First Arts, he applied for admission to the Society of Jesus and went to St Mary's, Emo, to begin his noviciate in 1930. In floods of tears, his brother told me, his father said goodbye to him just saying: “If this is what you want, my boy, you must have it”.
There were fifty of us in the novice ship that year, and I would say that to a man we would all agree that Paddy Toner was the life and soul of this large novitiate during those two years in the wilderness. He was heart and soul in everything we did - works, walks, recreations and, above all, football. When Pat donned his “shooters”, as he called the boots, one might look about for a pair of shin-guards.
He gained a year in Rathfarnham by going into Second Arts. We were together again for two years in “The Bog” and again he was always the bright ray of sunshine in the “L-o-n-el-y Life” that was ours - to use Fr B Byrne's description of it.
Then came the big break: In 1937 Paddy with three others set out for the Hong Kong Mission. For Paddy and for his family this was a traumatic sacrifice, but to China he went and he never looked back. To add to this, World War II broke out, and in 1940, instead of returning to Milltown Park for theology and ordination, he found himself bound for Australia. In 1945 he returned for tertianship in Rathfarnham. By this time Paddy Toner was Hong Kong to the core. Nothing would have held him back from the Mission. His work in Hong Kong will find space in this issue of Province News. His heart was there and remained there even after his retirement in 1977 through ill-health to join our Community at Rathfarnham Castle.
His last six years were a great blessing for us and for his family, but for Paddy they were years of gradual decline and patient suffering. He did not like Rathfarnham. In his failing health, it was too much for him. The small dining room especially was a trial on account of the noise, particularly on occasions when there was an invasion of visitors and people raised their voices - “Ear-bashers” he called them. He spoke little, but when, with a chuckle, he did mutter those few words, audible only to those very close to him, he said more than all the rest with all their shouting. Both in writing and in speaking, he had a most remarkable gift of brevity and crystal clarity.
Fortunately, during this time, he was well enough to be able to divide his time between Rathfarnham and Blackrock where his sister Maud lived. His brother Joe would call for him on Sunday afternoon and deliver him back on Thursday afternoon.. The only attraction Rathfarnham had for him was that he could say Mass there four days of the week.
His final year was spent in hospital, first at Elm Park and then for nine months at Lisheen Nursing Home, Rathcoole. His death occurred on Friday, 21st January. To the last he was peaceful and genuinely most grateful for every kindness. The Matron and staff at Lisheen House really loved him. His funeral Mass at Gardiner street with so many priests concelebrating was a fitting tribute and a source of great consolation to his family.
Paddy hears again from his heavenly Father welcoming him into his true home, the same words which his father said as he gave him to God. “If this is what you want, my son, you must have it”.

When Pat went in 1934 to philosophy, the Ricci Mission Unit was flourishing in Tullabeg and filling bags with used stamps turned Pat's thoughts to Hong Kong. He had not thought earlier of going to China.
He arrived in Hong Kong just after one of the severest typhoons to hit the place. That was in September 1937. A new language school had been opened at Loyola, Taai Lam Chung, in the New Territories and there he started his two years of language study. At that time Canton was taken by the Japanese and Fr Pat spent about a week there at relief work, working with Fr Sandy Cairns, MM, who was afterwards killed by the Japanese. He also visited the refugee centres opened at Fanling to receive the many thousands who fled from occupied China. In 1939 Fr Toner went to Wah Yan. Hong Kong, where in addition to his duties as a teacher, he became an air raid warden. The outbreak of World War Il prevented his return to Ireland, so in 1940 he went to Australia for theology.
He reached Australia in September 1940 and taught until the Theologate opened in January 1941. After three years he was ordained by Archbishop Gilroy of Sydney and during his fourth year of theology he did some parish work and helped in Fr Dunlea's Boys' Town, In February 1945 he left Australia and after a three months' voyage, under war conditions, he arrived in Ireland which he had left nine years earlier. After four months helping in St Francis Xavier’s Church, Gardiner street, he went to tertianship in Rathfarnham under the old veteran of the Hong Kong Mission, Fr John Neary.
In August 1946 once more he went East. With seven others he embarked on an aircraft carrier, the “SS Patroller” and arrived in Hong Kong on 13th September to begin work in Wah Yan, Kowloon. On 31st July 1947 he became Superior of the College which at that time had 531 students.
Fr Pat’s tasks in Hong Kong besides teaching included being for a time Minister, Rector, Spiritual Father. After completing his time as Rector in Wah Yan, Kowloon, he was changed to Wah Yan, Hong Kong, where in addition to his work as a teacher he was for a time director of the Night School.
Fr Toner was changed from Kowloon Wah Yan to Hong Kong Wah Yan in 1964, where he taught until he returned to Ireland in June 1976.
Fr Toner was always a very exemplary religious, prayerful, charitable, ear nest and very hard-working. He was Superior of Wah Yan, Kowloon, first in Nelson Street and during these early years the small community lived in a private house, 151 Waterloo road, close under Lion Rock. When the new Wah Yan building was opened in 1951, Fr Toner was its first Rector and continued in this position until 1957. In 1964 he was transferred to Wah Yan, Hong Kong, where in addition to his duties as a teacher he took charge for a time of the Boys' Club from 1966 and of the Night School from 1968.

Toole, Laurence, 1794-1864, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/2189
  • Person
  • 10 August 1794-25 May 1864

Born: 10 August 1794, County Wexford
Entered: 12 November 1825, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 25 May 1864, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His parents were good Catholics, and made many sacrifices for their faith in troubled times. He was very talented, and had he had better opportunities, he might have become a distinguished man of his day. It was said the he was brought up innocently and “free of the contagion of the world”. He was keen to become a religious, but his aged parents needed his help, and so he became a carpenter in order to support them. When they died, he sought admission as a postulant. He then Ent 12 November 1825 at Tullabeg.

He lived 40 years as a Jesuit, and always appeared the same no matter where he was asked to serve. Modesty, humility and fraternal charity were his favourite virtues. In advance aged he was released from responsibility, but continued to work. He had spent some few years at Clongowes, and a short time at the Dublin Residence. Most of his religious life was spent in Tullabeg, and this is where he died 25 May 1864. He is buried in the old Rahan Cemetery beside Brother Egan.

Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

Toomey, Charles, 1796-1858, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/2190
  • Person
  • 04 March 1796-19 July 1858

Born: 04 March 1796, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1843, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Died: 19 July 1858, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Tormey, James G, 1903-1981, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/420
  • Person
  • 13 June 1903-16 January 1981

Born: 13 June 1903, Mullagh, County Cavan
Entered: 04 October 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 16 January 1981, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - National Teacher before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947
Holland :
Fr. J. Tormey sends us the following news of Fr. C. Kock, who did his Theology at Milltown Park from 1938 to 1942 and his Tertianship in Rathfarnham from 1942-1943 :
“Fr. Kock is now finishing his first term at St. Ignatius College, 51 Hobbemakade, Amsterdam, a large school with about 1,000 boys. The country is recovering slowly from the effects of the war. Many things are still very scarce, and one hardly notices improvement, but it is there all the same..... Fr. Kock concludes his letter by asking for Irish stamps of the last two or three years, for which there is great demand in Holland”

Irish Province News 56th Year No 2 1981
Obituary
Fr James Tormey (1903-1932-1981)

He was born on 13th June 1903 in Mullagh, Co Cavan, and went to National School. Apparently the family moved to Dublin early in his life. He was the youngest of the Tormey Brothers, Auctioneers. In the Society he was known as Jim or James, but to his family he was Gerard. After training in St Patrick's, Drumcondra, he got a BA and taught in Milltown NS. It would seem that he was influenced by Fr Conal Murphy, and went to the novitiate in Emo on 4th October 1932. From there he went straight to Tullabeg for philosophy (1934-37) followed by a single year of regency in Belvedere, where he gained a HDip in Ed, theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1941, and tertianship in Rathfarnham (1942-43). In eleven years he had completed his formation. No doubt it was his degree and teaching experience before entry, together with his age (29 at the outset) which made this period up to five years shorter than that of his contemporaries.
After formation, the theatre of his activity for nearly thirty years (1943-72) was the junior school in the Crescent, Limerick, where as a qualified primary teacher he continued teaching young boys. For most of the time he was in charge of the junior school. When teachers questioned him about marking boys' examination papers, he would always say “Do your best for them”. That was what he himself did - his best. In 1972, when the junior school was nearly phased out (the senior school had already migrated to Dooradoyle and metamorphosed into Crescent Comprehensive) James moved to Manresa, where he did a five-year stint in the bursar's office. Failing health forced him to go easy: he gradually weakened, and finally departed this life on 15th January 1981.

Troddyn, Peter M, 1916-1982, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/421
  • Person
  • 23 May 1916-27 November 1982

Born: 23 May 1916, Rathgar, Dublin
Entered: 30 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 19 October 1947, Clonliffe College, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1951, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 27 November 1982, University Hall, Hatch Street Lower, Dublin

Older Brother of Billy Trodden - RIP 1984

by 1939 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ Irish Province News 58th Year No 2 1983 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1984

Obituary

Fr Peter M Troddyn (1916-1933-1982)

Peter was born in Dublin on 23rd May. 1916. He was the eldest of six children, five boys and one girl. His father, a civil servant, was a native of Maghera in Derry; his mother, née Walsh, was from near Ballina in Mayo. All Peter's uncles, his mother's brothers, were boys at Clongowes in the early years of this century. His initial schooling was under the direction of a Miss Haynes, a devout Church of Ireland teacher, and her two Catholic assistants. This little school was about one hundred yards from Peter's home in Rathgar. There he met, for the first time, one who was to be a fellow-Jesuit and life long friend, the late Fr Dick Ingram.
For a few years after leaving Miss Haynes's Academy Peter continued his education under the Irish Christian Brothers in their schools in Synge street, then a penny tram-ride from his home. In the autumn of 1929 his parents made a decision which was to affect his whole life. Peter and his two brothers, Billy and Gerald, entered Belvedere College.
Athair Diarmuid Ó Laoghaire writes of Peter as a boy at Belvedere:
“While he did not play games, he was a faithful member of the Cycling Club and an enthusiastic, talented photographer. He was active, too, in the Debating Society and in An Cumann Gaelach, of which he was a founding member. One memory of him is abiding: from his arrival in the school, he was an inveterate “asker of questions”. In this the child was father of the man; to the end Peter's keen intellectual curiosity was a noted characteristic: Over the years I myself have frequently witnessed his struggles with abstruse mathematical, Theological and even historical problems. He was all his life a seeker and searcher for truth.
In February 1933, Peter's father died. This proved to be a turning point in Peter's life. It was decided that he should sit for the Civil Service Examinations for Junior Executive Grade and at the same time complete his Leaving Certificate Course at Belvedere. Shortly after his , 17th birthday he passed both examinations with honours. However, during the Summer months which followed, he made up his mind to become a Jesuit and he entered our Novitiate at St Mary's, Emo, on 30th September 1933. He was one of seven Belvederians to do so in that year.
His noviceship came to an end on 1st October, 1935, when he made his first vows. He spent the three following years in the Juniorate at Rathfarnham Castle. He graduated from the National University, receiving his BA (Hons) in Maths/Maths Physics. He was one of three to do so in 1938; the late Fr Dick Ingram and Fr Ted Collins of Hong Kong made up that distinguished trio.
While in the judgement of his contemporaries he would have benefited from further studies at the University, it was decided that he should start his philosophy course at the French House in Jersey. Here he spent one golden year, a year he often spoke of with affectionate appreciation. Everything appealed to him, the stimulating lectures of the Professors, the congenial company of the French scholastics, the climate, the diet and the all-round liberating régime. Here too, was kindled his love for France and things French. In later years he would return to France to carry on, for over twenty years, a hidden apostolate in a Paris suburb.
The outbreak of the Second World War on 3rd September, 1939, brought about the recall of Peter and his four fellow Irish Scholastics to Tullabeg. Philosophy as an academic discipline appealed to him and he excelled in it. And, as in the he played a full and useful part in all the activities of his fellow philosophers', games apart.
For two years, from 1941, he taught mathematics in Belvedere, edited the Belvederian and presided over the Senior Debating Society. He also obtained his Higher Diploma in Education. Then he spent one year at the Crescent teaching and prefecting and refereeing rugby matches for the very young boys! In addition, he was in charge of the new school hall, where his practical knowledge of electricity was a decided asset! In both Colleges he won the hearts of many a youth by his patience and his kindly interest in their boyish affairs.
He arrived in Milltown Park in Autumn of 1944 to commence his studies. Here his health began to deteriorate. He was rushed to hospital and underwent major surgery on 29th July, the eve of the Ordination Day 1947. He recovered slowly and was ordained privately at Clonliffe College by the late Archbishop John C. McQuaid on 19th October, 1947. He offered his first Mass in the Convent Chapel attached to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross.
But illness dogged him. He was unable to complete his Theology and retired to do light work in 35, Lower Leeson Street, and to Clongowes in the summer term of 1949. In the autumn of . that year he began his Tertianship. This final year of formation proved a trial for him, but he persevered until ill health forced him to retire once more, this time to Milltown Park where he took his final examinations successfully just before Christmas 1950.
Fr Peter arrived as a member of the Community attached to St Francis Xavier's church, Gardiner Street, in January 1951. On 15th August of that year Peter, he made his final profession. During the next eleven years Peter held posts of varying importance. He was for a time Assistant to the Province Treasurer, he preached frequently in the Church and during the Novena of Grace and always to appreciative audiences. Fr Daniel Shields takes up the story: “I was in the St Francis Xavier Community during the years when Fr Peter was in charge of the building of the present St Francis Xavier Hall. He was faced with many problems, not least, the financial problem, How was he to raise the large sums required to meet not only the building costs, but also the cost of installing modern theatre and stage equipment, seating, etc. Fr Peter with the expertise of a Rothschild banker came to the rescue. He devised a system of weekly “draws” which were so attractive and so widely supported, that the money so raised financed the entire undertaking. When the Hall was completed, Fr Peter recruited a group of voluntary helpers. These included skilled carpenters, painters, engineers, light and or sound experts and even a tailor! Fr Peter became the friend and Father of each. They came to him with all their problems, not least their religious problems. It is unbelievable the trouble he took in finding real solutions to a wide variety of such problems.
Fr Peter then turned is attention to providing accommodation for the members of the Pioneer Club, who had formerly been housed in the original Fr Cullen's Pioneer Hall in Sherrard street. He purchased a fine Georgian house on the East side of Mountjoy Square and had the entire building renovated, decorated and equipped to a high standard, The proceeds of his Weekly Draws' helped to finance this project also. The St Francis Xavier Hall and the Pioneer Club - Fr Cullen House - stand today }s monuments to Peter's financial genius, to his foresight and above all to his loyalty to his fellow co-operators and friends.
An tAthair Proinsias 0 Fionnagáin re- calls another activity of Peter's which, as has been mentioned, started in 1951: 'He undertook annually pastoral work at Gonesse, a parish north of Paris. There he won the trust and the approval of the Curé who invited him back year after year down to 1969. For two years he continued his summer pilgrimage, first at Milly-la-Forêt and then in Brittany, whither the Curé, for reasons of health, had retired. For the next three years, Fr Peter was too occupied with editorial problems to undertake any trips abroad. During his own time in France, Fr Frank met some of Peter's former fellow philosophers from his Jersey days. They all spoke of his gifts of mind and heart.
On the Status, 1962, Fr Peter found himself transferred to Clongowes as a teacher of Maths. He was then in his forty-seventh year, had been out of the classroom for seventeen years and was in very indifferent health. It proved to be a mistake. After two years it was my pleasure to welcome him as a member of the Jesuit team then manning the young College of Industrial Relations. He stayed with us until the Spring of 1966 when at the request of his old friend, Fr R Burke-Savage, he joined the Leeson Street Community as “Collaborator in Studies”. Incidentally, his religious Superior was none other than his erst- while companion at Miss Haynes's Academy forty years before - the late Fr Dick Ingram.
An tAthair Proinsias resumes: On his appointment in 1967 to the editorship of Studies - it might have been thought that he had neither sufficient experience nor. qualifications for that important position. His Provincial, Fr Brendan Barry, how ever, judged him to be eminently qualified and how splendidly justified was Fr Barry's judgement!
Peter proved to be an editor to the manor born. His was a fastidious sense of good English. The Autumn issue of Studies, 1968, left no doubt as to the accuracy of his judgement concerning the changes taking place in Ireland in the euphoria of the prosperous 'sixties. “Post-Primary education, now and in the future - A Symposium” - proved a brilliant success. Over 5,000 copies of this issue were sold. On this occasion Fr Peter showed himself to be a peritus among the periti.
For six more years, Studies under Peter's editorship maintained the highest standards of readable scholarship. In deed, the very excellence of succeeding issues concealed the nagging financial problems and worries and the wretched health that continued to affect the conscientious Editor. He continued the unequal struggle until the Spring of 1974, when he felt obliged to lay down his pen and vacate the Editor's chair.
His association with University Hall and with its students, which had begun in the Spring of 1966, now continued, Fr Jack Brennan writes: ‘Peter was happy in the Hall ... Surprisingly, perhaps, in such a private person, he enjoyed time spent with the students. He was extremely patient in listening to them. His advice was sure and often took pragmatic turns that sprang from his wide knowledge of fields in which they were concerned. His tolerance was of a high degree, and, occasionally he would inter cede in a caring way on behalf of a student who was in 'hot water'. For him the faults or failings of another were never the whole story. His sense of loyalty - often involving a considerable amount of work on his part - towards the students as well as towards his family being able to share some of his good and friends was striking. Confidentiality was also a key quality of his.
One very close to him all his life writes: “A thing that always struck me about Peter was his kindness to the domestic staff in the Houses in which he lived. I used to notice this whenever I came to visit him. They would speak of him very appreciatively and tell me about the many good turns he did them”. Fr Shields concurs with this: “The staff of St Francis Xavier's Hall looked on Peter as their friend. And when he left the Hall, they were lonely and upset, Meeting me, they would say, ‘Father, when is Fr Troddyn coming back?’" Such touching appreciation needs no comment. Nor did this characteristic escape Fr Jack Brennan's observation; “The domestic staff at the Hall held Fr Peter in high regard; they were glad to be able to attend to his simple wants with real affection”
There is one virtue which this very private person could not conceal from those few who knew him intimately. Peter was a genuinely humble man - a man who, with St Paul “in labours, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth", showed himself a true Minister of God'. He had to carry the cross of poor health for most of his working life with the humiliations, misunderstandings and frustrations attached to it. His judgements and opinions did not always receive the consideration they deserved. Apart from St Francis Xavier's Hall and Fr Cullen House, his plans and dreams were seldom actualised. These apparent “failures' provided him with opportunities for the practice of humility and consequent self effacement. He was always more ready to blame himself than to question the wisdom of others.
Some final thoughts occur to me. Personal friendships meant a great deal to him, not for what he himself could get abut for the joy he felt at being able to share some of his good his advice or practical knowledge with someone, however lowly, in need. This must have helped him to a more correct appreciation of God's gifts to him self and of his duty as a Christian to help other members of the Body of Christ.
From his many serious illnesses, Peter grew in self knowledge and also in awareness of the care which the sick and convalescent needed. He demanded high standards of care for anyone ill and showed his concern and displeasure if he thought that those who were sick were neglected in even the smallest way. His genuine concern was shown clearly in daily visits, in all weathers, for three and a-half years until her death, to an aged aunt in Our Lady's Hospice. The staff and other patients admired his faithful kindness and concern for her welfare.
If I or other contributors to this obituary have said very little about Peter the Jesuit, it is because we have no reason to stress what was obvious to us all. As has been well said: “Peter was a Jesuit in the authentic lgnatian mould”. Ever an avid reader, he kept in touch with “Jesuitica” and like so many of his generation found it difficult to accept some manifestations of the new “pluralism”.
May the good Lord, who is gentle and lowly in heart, welcome Peter into the new home prepared with exquisite care for all who love and serve his heavenly Father.
Edmond Kent SJ

Troddyn, William, 1919-1984, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/422
  • Person
  • 21 August 1919-13 January 1984

Born: 21 August 1919, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Della Strada, Dooradoyle, Limerick
Died: 13 January 1984, Crescent College, Dooradoyle, Limerick

Younger Brother of Peter Troddyn - RIP 1982

◆ Irish Province News 59th Year No 2 1984 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1984

Obituary
Fr Billy Troddyn (1919-1929-1984)

After a long and painful illness Fr Billy Troddyn died peacefully on 13th January. The large number of past pupils and friends who came to see him while he was ill, and the thronged church at his Requiem Mass testified to the affection and esteem he had earned during the many years he had spent in devoted teaching - first in Mungret, then in the Crescent (O'Connell street), and finally in Dooradoyle.
This scribe lived with him for thirty- three years, and witnessed his total and selfless dedication to his classes in spite of much ill-health and a wretched appetite, for he suffered from a stomach ulcer for many years, continually dosing himself with painkillers in order to keep going where others would have taken to bed in self pity; teaching full hours, training teams, visiting the poor and the bereaved, and maintaining a lively interest in his past-pupils. This uncompromising determination in face of suffering may have had something to do with his North of Ireland origins.
His outlook was certainly nationalist and conservative: he was deeply disturbed by changes in the Church; departures from the priesthood, especially from the Society, which he loved - distressed him a lot; he was less than enthusiastic about non-clerical dress; was reluctant to concelebrate; did not altogether care for prayer-groups and community meetings; and had very radical solutions for muggers, as also for itinerants and their wandering marauding horses.
These latter irritated him intensely by their depredations into lawns and gardens, as he was ever a keen gardener and cultivated many varieties of flowers, shrubs and trees. He also had a keen interest in ornithology and was elected President of the North Munster Branch of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy association. Paradoxically, he was also an enthusiastic fowler; though in his later years as his interest in shooting waned, he sold his gun and bought a Flymo grass mower instead, as his love of gardening grew. Apart from this latter, his only concession to relaxation was his annual fishing holiday in Waterville, which he keenly looked forward to and enjoyed, and where he built up many close friendships over the years.
An enduring picture of Billy remains: an emaciated figure huddled in a wheel chair, supervising the transfer of two thousand daffodils from Mungret to Dooradoyle - in pouring rain. Right up to the end he was busy as ever: being wheeled to class; making telephone calls; receiving friends; dictating letters, as though determined that no segment of his life should be unproductive. May his incredible dedication be ever a stimulus to us who mourn him.

Tseng Shun-lin, Gerald, 1929-2022, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2387
  • Person
  • 22 October 1929-23 December 2022

Born: 22 October 1929, China
Entered: 13 December 1950, Manila, Philippines, )NEB for HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1966, St Ignatius, Singapore
Died: 23 December 2022, St Joseph’s Home, Singapore - Indonesiae Province (IDO)

part of the Kingsmead Hall, Singapore community at the time of death

Transcribed: HIB to HK; HK 03 December 1966

1960-1965 Milltown Park - studying Theology
1965-1966 St Mary’s, Strawberry Hill, London - studying Education
1966-1969 Wah Yan, Hong Kong - teaching
1969-197 St Francis Xavier, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia - University chaplain, working in church

Tuite, James, 1831-1891, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/432
  • Person
  • 26 May 1831-30 November 1891

Born: 26 May 1831, Mullingar, County Westmeath
Entered: 29 September 1849, Amiens, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 22 September 1861, St Beuno's, St Asaph, Wales
Final vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 30 November 1891, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, 31 July 1880-6 May 1883

by 1853 at St Marie, Toulouse (TOLO) for Regency
by 1861 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) studying Theology
by 1867 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Provincial 31 July 1880

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Studied for some years at Toulouse.
1854 Sent to Tullabeg for Regency.
1855-1859 Further Regency as a teacher in Clongowes.
1859 he was sent to Paderborn for Theology, but in failing health he came to England and did his studies at St Beuno’s, where he was Ordained by Dr Brown 22 September 1861.
After Ordination he was sent to Clongowes, and later to Limerick.
1866 He was sent to Drongen for Tertianship.
1867 He was appointed Vice-Rector at Galway.
He was then sent to Clongowes as Minister for two years, and then the same for two years at Limerick.
1873-1876 He was at Milltown.
1876-1877 He was Superior at UCD.
1878-1887 he was appointed Rector at Milltown January 1878, and continued living there when he came out of office in 1883.
1887 he was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius and lived there until he died after a very short illness 30 November 1891
He was a man of great literary culture, a good classical scholar and of a very retiring disposition.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father James Tuite (1831-1891)

Born at Mullingar and educated at Clongowes, was admitted into the Society in 1849. He pursued his higher studies at Toulouse, Paderborn and St Beuno's, Wales and was ordained in 1861. Father Tuite was master at the Crescent in the first decade of its foundation, 1864-66, and returned to the teaching staff in 1870. During the last year of his association with the Crescent he devoted himself entirely to church work, 1872-73. He was later rector of Milltown Park and appointed Provincial in 1880. His later years were spent in church work at Gardiner St, Dublin.

Tuite, Joseph, 1837-1909, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/715
  • Person
  • 11 November 1837-29 May 1909

Born: 11 November 1837, Mullingar, County Westmeath
Entered: 06 September 1859, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 22 September 1872, St Beuno's, St Asaph, Wales
Final vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 29 May 1909, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia

Part of the St Ignatius College, Riverview), Sydney Australia community at the time of death

2nd year Novitiate at Tullabeg;
by 1867 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1871 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1872 at Roehampton London (ANG) Studying
by 1876 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia with James O’Connor, George Buckeridge and sch John O’Neill 1886

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had as his Novice Master Thomas Tracy Clarke at Beaumont, England.
After First Vows he studied Philosophy at Laval and then Theology at St Beuno’s and Roehampton.
He was mainly involved as a Prefect at Clongowes, Tullabeg and then also as a Teacher at Belvedere.
1886 After many years of hard work in Ireland he was sent to Australia. There he became Minister at Kew College and then a Teacher at Riverview.
He worked in these Australian Colleges for up to twelve years and was exceedingly popular among the students.
He died at Loyola Sydney 29 May 1909 as a result of a heart affection which he had suffered over time.
He was beloved by everyone on account of his friendly and kind hearted nature.

Note from Patrick Hughes Entry :
He was then sent to Drongen for Tertianship. along with Joseph Tuite and Daniel Clancy.

Note from James O’Connor Entry :
1886 He was sent to Australia, and sailed with Joseph Tuite, George Buckeridge and Scholastic John O’Neill.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Joseph Tuite entered the Society at Beaumont Lodge, Windsor, England, 6 September 1859, and from 1865-66 taught grammar and arithmetic at Clongowes College, Ireland. He went to Laval, France, for philosophy studies, 1866-69, and returned to teach writing at Tullabeg College, Ireland, from 1869-70, where he was also prefect of discipline.
From 1870-74 he studied theology at St Beuno's and Roehampton, England, taught French and arithmetic at Belvedere College, Dublin, 1874-75, and did tertianship at Tronchiennes, 1875 . He returned to Belvedere College, 1879-86, teaching French, arithmetic and writing, and was in charge of the preparatory school, 1881-85.
Tuite arrived in Australia in 1886, teaching at both Xavier College and Riverview for a few years before returning to Xavier, 1888-93, where he was minister, and in charge of the study.
He was again sent to Riverview, 1893-1903, and except for a year, 1904, when he worked in the parish of Richmond, he remained teaching at Riverview until his death. His subject was French, and he was well known for his teaching of deportment and courtesy: As minister, he showed every consideration for the material welfare of the boys. He was a generous, kind-hearted man, and finally died of a heart condition.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Went for second year novitiate at Tullabeg for a change of air

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1909

Obituary

Father Joseph Tuite SJ

On Saturday, May 29, of the present year, Father Tuite died at Loyola, North Sydney, Boys of the later eighties will remember him, as he succeeded Father Morrogh as minister, and was afterwards in charge of the Study.

His last years were spent at Riverview, which he left only a few weeks before his death.

He was a pupil of Beaumont School, Windsor, England, and studied at Laval; in France, and in North Wales. After a few years in Clongowes and other Colleges in Ireland, he came to Australia in - 1886..

Father Tuite was a generous; kind-hearted man, dividing his cares latterly between the flowers - for gardens were his delight - and the little fellows.. He was seventy-two when he died, and he lies in the Gore Hill Cemetery, North Sydney. RIP

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1909

Obituary

Father Joseph Tuite SJ

On Saturday, May 29, at Loyola, the Jesuit Fathers' Mission House, Greenwich, the Rev. Father Joseph Tuite, who had been ailing from heart disease, passed peacefully away at the age of 72 years, fifty of which were spent in the Society of Jesus. Father Tuite, a few. weeks before his death, asked to be removed to Loyola. During his long illness he several times received the last Sacraments. His first years as a Jesuit were spent at Beaumont College, near London, and Milltown Park, Dublin. He made his philosophical studies at Laval, in France, and entered upon his theological course at St. Beuno's, Wales, where he was ordained priest, Clongowes Wood, St. Stanislaus' and Belvedere Colleges, were the scenes of his first labours.

About seventeen years ago Father Tuite came to Australia, and was Vice-President at Xavier College, Melbourne, and subsequently at St. Ignatius College, Riverview. In the latter institution he worked for upwards of twelve years, and was exceedingly popular amongst the students. For many years the flower garden here was the favourite hobby of Father Tuite, and to him it owes much of its present perfection. The remains of the deceased priest were brought from Loyola to Riverview on Sunday. May 30, and on Monday there was a Solemn Office and Requiem Mass-the first celebrated in the new chapel -attended by nearly all the Jesuits of New South Wales. The Rector of the College (the Very Rev Father Gartlan SJ) presided at the Office, and afterwards officiated at the gravesdie. The chanters were the Rev. Fathers C Delaney SJ, and F X O'Brien SJ, the lessons being read by the Rector of the College, the Rev. Fathers Fay SJ, and G Kelly SJ. The Rev. Father C Nulty SJ, sang the Mass. The senior pupils carried the coffin from the church to the hearse, and afterwards from the hearse to the Jesuits' grave in Gore Hill Cemetery, where the “Benedictus” was sung by the College choir. Mr T J Dalton KCSG (Vice-Consul for Spain), occupied a seat within the sanctuary during the Office and Requiem Mass, and accompanied the funeral procession, which was composed of the entire College staff and students. Dr P Clifford (President of the Old Boys' Union), Messrs J Lentaigne, H Rorke, F Hughes, and many other old boys were present at the grave side. A touching feature at the burial was the presence of the children from the St Joseph's Orphanagė, Gore Hill, who sang hymns as the grave was being filled in, and afterwards recited the Rosary. One of the ex-students, writing a letter of sympathy to the Rector of Riverview, made use of the following words, which faithfully represent the feelings of all who knew Father Tuite : “It was with much regret that I heard of the death of dear old Father Tuite, and I wish to express to you my deep sorrow at the passing away of one for whom I always held a very warm corner in my heart. Father Tuite had a kindly and genial disposition that won him the affection of all who came in contact with him. His jovial and sunny countenance will be Much missed by all old Riverviewers,” RIP

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Golden Jubilee 1880-1930

Riverview in the ‘Eighties - A McDonnell (OR 1866-1888)

Father Tuite used to teach French in the class in which I was, and the artful ones, very shortly after the opening of class, would entice him on to some side track of the subject, such as the correct pronunciation, and he would go into most elaborate explanations, phonetic and otherwise, and would give amusing instances, to illustrate the matter, having been much in France. The result was that the bell marking the end of the classzone hour - would sound before he had fairly opened the work. His surprise on such occasions was quite amusing, but he fell into the snares of the artful ones again, and again. In this respect he differed from Fr Leahy, who was too accomplished a student of human nature, as displayed in boys, to fall a victim. Fr Tuite was very careful to keep the boys up to a high standard of deportment, and anything in the shape of vulgarity of any kind was hateful to him. No boy opened or closed a door violently in his presence the second time, and in leaving a room in which a superior remained the boy faced the superior while he opened the door, and, practically backed out, closing the door softly after him. This may be considered “Frenchified” but it, at least, had this merit, as compared with the present customs, that it made life more pleasant for those other than the boy concerned, and he soon became accustomed to it. Woe betide the boy who went into the chapel, class rooms, study hall, or refectory, wearing his top coat (unless he were ill), and in a hundred other ways he imparted a good deportment, beginning where the drill sergeant left off. In those old days, a herb grew in the grounds, and especially in the bush at the rear of the boatshed, and this plant, and especially its leaves, when bruised or crushed gave off a most overpoweringly unpleasant smell. The boys used to smuggle this into the study hall, and drop small pieces of it in the passages, where it would be ground up by the boots of the boys passing over it. On a hot afternoon it soon made the place untenable, and even the veteran Sergt Hagney, who usually had the study in charge, was obliged to send for the Head Prefect. When Fr Tuite came in he did not notice the trouble complained of, and said he only noticed a close atmosphere. I was watching him as he advanced up the hall, when he suddenly halted, and al most staggered, as he reached “the danger zone”. He ordered the boys out into the playground for fresh air. This was just what they wanted, and they remained there until tea time. In the meantime, Fr Tuite had all the men employed about the place rummaging in a cellar at the end of the study hall, searching for dead rats. Fr Tuite took up the office of Minister of the House for the latter half of 1887, and he and the boys were quite satisfied with the condition resulting: He was said to be the best Minister of the House the college ever had. He always told us to report, if anything were not of the quality demanded, saying “We pay for the best, and I insist upon having it”.

Early in 1887 the two firework making firms Brock, and Pain, of London, came to Sydney, and for many months gave great displays in the best style of their art. For some time they had these displays in the Domain, and a small charge was made for admission. Later, some person protested against the Domain being used as a source of profit to individuals, and other arrangements had to be made. While the firing took place in the Domain, we of No. 2 dormitory, had a most perfect view. We hurried into bed as quickly as possible, so that “lights out” would come early. As soon as it was announced that Fr Tuite had left the building, we manned the three large windows which gave a south east view, and also the eastern window. The sills of these windows sloped in at an acute angle; but that did not discourage us, as we hung on like swallows on the side of a vertical wall. These windows were about three feet above the floor. Frosted glass extended up for another three feet, and above that the window swung on pivots, so that when open, this part of the window came to a horizontal position. We could, thus, look out of the windows without being observed from below, as the swinging position of the window placed us in shadow: From our perches we could see Fr Tuite pacing his “beat”, or wending his way to or from the cottage. One night our intelligence department failed us, for the signal was given that Fr Tuite had gone out, while he was actually in his room. At all events, he came into the dormitory, having heard our murmured applause. On hearing his footsteps there was a wild rush for “cover”. My brother rather overdid the business, and fell out of the other side of the bed, and Fr Tuite entered with a light at that instant, and saw him on the floor. He was invited to the Prefects' room; but an explanation satisfied Fr Tuite, who returned to the dormitory - and looked out at the eastern window. Shortly after, a flight of shells exploded, displaying the most magnificent green stars I have ever seen. This put Fr Tuite in good humour at once; he warned us of the danger of taking cold; but never after disturbed us, and the Domain displays ceased shortly after. The last time I saw Fr Tuite, he was again at Riverview; but his health was broken, and it was pathetic to see him creeping slowly about; whereas in earlier days, he was the personification of energy and celerity. He was suffering from heart trouble, and was subject to seizures of that agonizing condition, known as angina pectoris; but he was as bright and cheery as ever. He died not long after that. A long day's work well done

Tummolo, Raffaele, 1844-1934, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2193
  • Person
  • 19 October 1844-05 December 1934

Born: 19 October 1844, Naples, Italy
Entered: 26 September 1859, Naples, Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1872
Final vows: 02 February 1878
Died: 05 December 1934, Naples, Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 4 1932
At our College S. Luigi, Posillipo, Naples, there lives an old Jesuit who has had an interesting connection with the Irish. Province. Father Raffaele Tummolo was born in 1844, entered Society in 1859, and was one of the band of Neapolitan and Sicilian novices that were sent to Ireland in 1860. Father Sturzo and his Sicilians were the first to reach Ireland, and were soon joined by the Neapolitans. These latter travelled from the south of France to Dublin in safely, though not one of the party knew a word of English. As Milltown was not ready they went to Tullabeg, the boys being away on vacation. While there one of them gashed the billiard cloth with a cue, and this gave rise to a novitiate cyclone that still lives in the aged Father's memory.
When Milltown was ready they went there, and were joined by the Irish novices, some seven or eight in number, from England. Father Tummolo remembers well the “long table” on St. Stanislaus Day, 1860, to celebrate the erection of Ireland into a Province. The Fathers from Gardiner St. dined at Milltown, and the General's letter was solemnly read. Father Tummolo left Ireland in 1861, took his vows at Avignon, and returned to Naples in 1894, He has to his credit “Gury - Tummolo Compendium Theologiae-Moralis”.

Tunney, Hugh, 1850-1934, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/423
  • Person
  • 22 October 1850-03 March 1934

Born: 22 October 1850, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim
Entered: 27 June 1874, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 09 September 1888
Final Vows: 02 February 1892, Dublin
Died: 03 March 1934, Milltown Park, Dublin

Older Brother of Joseph Tunney - RIP 1923

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1877 at Roehampton, London (ANG) studying
by 1886 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1891 at Drongen (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 9th Year No 3 1934
Milltown Park :
Death took two of our number within a week -
Father Tunney died on the 5rd of March. His death was not unexpected. Some heart attacks in recent weeks had prepared us for it.
Father Healy's death came as a great shock, for though he had long been a sick man, he was optimistic of becoming stronger, and worked away quietly as director of Retreats in the province for most of this year, censoring, and reviewing books. Few suspected how near death was. He was at Father Tunney's office in Gardiner Street the 6th of March. He said Mass as usual on Friday the 9th. While sitting down to lunch about 12,30 he felt ill and was helped to a chair in the Fathers' library. There a slight haemorrhage occurred and he lost consciousness, not before receiving Absolution, He was anointed, then borne to his room where he died at about 1.15. The doctor arrived before he died, but nothing could be done. Father S. MacMahon writes an obituary notice on Father Healy in this number.

Irish Province News 9th Year No 3 1934

Obituary :

Father Hugh Tunney

Some time ago a Father of the New York Province died in America. In the account of his death given in the January number of “Woodstock Letters”' we find the following :
Father will be remembered in the Province for what he was rather than for what he did for us. He held no post of distinction among us , he was neither a great preacher, nor a scholar, he erected no buildings, nor was he successful in soliciting “free-will offerings” from the faithful.
These words describe to the letter Father Hugh Tunney's life in the Society. He has not left behind him the reputation of a brilliant preacher, of a learned scholar, or a successful superior, but he has left what is just as good, or it may be in the sight of God what is better the record of a steady, painstaking, conscientious workman. He was certainly one of those
good and faithful servants that won such high praise, and such glorious reward from the supreme Master and infallible judge of men.
For nineteen years he was prefect or master of elementary classes, for eight years Confessor to the poor who attended the people's chapels in Tullabeg or Clongowes, for thirteen “Conf. ad Jan.” at Milltown. He did his work, year in, year out, with a faithfulness, a constancy, a devotion that won for him the high place in heaven that, please God, he now enjoys.
He was as faithful to his own prayers, and to all the duties of religious life as he was to his unpretending but meritorious work for others.
At recreation he was a gay, and as cheerful as the best of his companions, well able to hold his own against all-comers and many is the story told of some eminent theologian or brilliant scholar coming off very much second best after a harmless, good humoured, bantering passage of arms with Father Hugh.
Father Tunney was born in Carrick on Shannon, 22nd October 1850, and educated at the Seminary, Longford. He began his noviceship at Milltown on 7th June, 1874, made his juniorate at Roehampton, (he was amongst the last of the Irish juniors who regularly went to Roehampton for the juniorate, Fathers Henry and Guinee were with him), philosophy at Milltown theology at Louvain, tertianship at Tronchiennes, the latter ended in 1891.
He did good work in nearly all the Irish houses of the Province. He was in Milltown for twenty-two years, Tullabeg eleven years Belvedere ten, Clongowes four, Mungret and Galway
one each.
For the last eight years of his life broken health compelled him to join the ranks of the “cur vals,” but even then he was not idle. A very short time before his death the infirmarian found him struggling through his breviary, and ventured to make a few friendly suggestions. A pitying smile was all he got, and the struggle continued. It is the man who perseveres to the end that will be saved. And so it was with Father Hugh Tunney. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1934

Obituary

Father Hugo Tunney SJ

Belvederians of thirty years ago will remember a white-haired priest who taught in the “Little House”, as we called it then. Fr Hugo Tunney, with his quiet, pleasant manner, was well liked by the boys, and was a favourite confessor in the old chapel. When he left Belvedere, he took charge of the public church attached to Tullabeg, where he spent several years in the service of the people of the neighbouring countryside. Milltown Park claimed him then, and proved to be his last resort, though the day of his death did not come for many a year, and in the interval he found many opportunities to exercise his zeal still as Confessor, for he was in great demand by the men of the district, who used to flock to Milltown. Park, where at that well-known “side door” they could always find Fr Tunney ready to exercise his ministry, for them.

He kept always a clear memory of the boys of Belvedere whom he had known in earlier years, and all of them will say a prayer for this kindly old man, that his soul may rest in peace.

Tunney, Joseph, 1856-1923, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2194
  • Person
  • 15 August 1856-31 January 1923

Born: 15 August 1856, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim
Entered: 08 September 1876, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1892
Final Vows: 02 February 1897, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin
Died: 31 January 1923, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Younger Brother of Hugh Tunney - RIP 1934

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg
by 1896 at Cheri Italy (TAUR) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Obituary Notice published
“The Jesuit Fathers in Ireland have sustained a serious loss in the death of Father Joseph Tunney SJ. He was born in Leitrim and Entered the Society in 1876. Even in his early days he gave promise of the erudition which characterised his later life. In the ancient Classics as well as Modern Literature, he was already deeply read. Within a year of two he had already perused throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, together with the greater of the orators and tragedians of ancient Greece. During his subsequent three years course of Philosophy and the Natural Sciences he was equally distinguished. Busy years of earnest and patient teaching in the Jesuit Colleges followed. In Clongowes his pupils won the highest distinctions in the Intermediate, one of them taking first place in the whole country in the Senior Grade, whilst in Mungret, his accurate and careful teaching of Philosophy won for the Apostolic students for the Priesthood the highest commendations at the Propaganda and in the Theological seminaries of Ireland and America in which they studied.
But it was in the Sacred Science of Theology itself that Father Tunney most excelled. Having completed his distinguished course in Theology, been Ordained and made Tertianship, as well as some preliminary courses of teaching, he was appointed Professor of Dogmatic Theology at Milltown. He continued to teach this for eleven years.
At the age of fifty five he entered on the continued work of sacred ministry. The last twelve years of his life were spent at Gardiner St, where, as an erudite Preacher, and especially as a Confessor, he won the respect and esteem of all classes of person. Many will miss the patient attention and wise and kindly advice which they so often received from this holy and learned Priest in the Confessional. The poor especially will miss him as he so often befriended them.
There are so many sides to his character. To an old world courtesy of manner he joined a very kindly, friendly and gentle disposition. Like the poet of old, he was a stranger to no human interest. His knowledge was encyclopaedic, and embraced with depth and accuracy not merely Philosophy and Theology, but Literature, Music, Art and nearly every field of human activity. In later years he had become keenly interested in the works of the Old Masters, copies of whose remarkable paintings he was at pains to procure for many convents and religious houses through the country. His knowledge of books was very extensive and led him to spend many a half hour rooting in second-hand bookshops for undiscovered treasures of the past.
Dr Edward Byrne, Archbishop of Dublin presided at the Requiem, and there were over 70 Priests in the choir. “

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Joseph Tunney 1856-1923
Fr Joseph Tunney was born in Leitrim on August 17th 1856 and entered the Society twenty years later.
Even in his early student days he gave promise of the erudition which characterised his later life. He was deeply versed in the ancient classics as well as modern literature. Within a year or two he had perused the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer together with the greater portion of the orators and tradegians of ancient Greece. He was equally distinguished in Sacred Sciences.

In Clongowes, his pupils won the highest distinctions in the Intermediate and one of them took first place in the Senior Grade. In Mungret College, his accurate teaching of philosophy won for the Apostolic students the highest commendations at the Propaganda and in the Seminaries of Ireland and America where they subsequently studied. He professed Theology at Milltown Park with great éclat for eleven years.

It was only at the age of 55 that Fr Joseph began direct work in ministry. The last twelve years of his life were spent in Gardiner Street, where as an erudite preacher and sympathetic confessor, he won the esteem of all classes.

He was a stranger to no human interest. His knowledge was encyclopaedic, embracing not merely literature, philosophy and Theology, but also music and art. In later years he had become keenly interested in the Old Masters, copies of whose paintings he was at pains to procure for many convents and religious houses throughout the country.

But first, and above all, Fr Tunney was a saintly and zealous priest and religious. His life may be summed up in three words, he was a gentleman, a scholar and a saint.

He died on January 31st 1923. Archbishop Byrne presided at his obsequies, and 70 priests attended in the choir.

◆ The Clongownian, 1924

Obituary

Father Joseph Tunney SJ

The late Father Joseph Tunney SJ, was born in Leitrim. Even as a Tullabeg boy he gave promise of the erudition which characterised his later life. In the ancient classics, as well as in modern literature, he was deeply read. Within a year or two he had perused throughout the Iliad and Odyssy of Homer, together with the greater portion of the orators and tragedians of ancient Greece. Busy years of earnest and patient teaching in the Jesuit Colleges followed. In Clongowes his pupils won the highest distinctions in the Intermediate, one of them taking first place in the whole country in the Senior Grade, whilst in Mungret College his accurate and careful teaching of Philosophy won for the Apostolic students for the priesthood the highest commendations at the Propaganda, and in the theological seminaries of Ireland and America in which they afterwards studied.

But it was in the sacred science of Theology itself that Father Tunney most excelled. Having completed his course with the highest distinction and been ordained, he spent a year in Italy, at the Tertianship, or third year of probation in which the Jesuit, after his long years of study and teaching, returns once more to the Novitiate to devote himself exclusively to the study and development of the interior spirit. On his return, after some preliminary years of further teaching, he was appointed Professor of Dogmatic Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin. This subject he continued to teach with distinguished ability for eleven years. It was only at the age of fifty-five that he entered, strictly speaking, on the continued work of the sacred ministry. The last twelve years of his life were spent at the residence of St Francis Xavier, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin, where, as an erudite preacher, and especially as a confessor, he won the respect and esteem of all classes of persons. Many will miss the patient attention and wise and kindly advice which they i so often received from this holv and learned priest in the sacred tribunal of penance? The poor, especially, will miss him, and many a prayer will go up from their lips for the kind-hearted pastor of souls who so often befriended them.

There were many sides to Father Tunney's character. To an old-world courtesy of manner he joined a very kindly, amiable, and gentle disposition. Like the poet of old, he was a stranger to no human interest. His knowledge was, in a manner, encyclopedic and embraced, with depth and accuracy, not merely Philosophy and Theology, but literature, music, and art, and nearly every field of human activity. In later years he had become keenly interested in the works of the Old Masters, copies of whose more remarkable paintings he was at pains to procure for many convents and religious houses throughout the country. His knowledge of books was very extensive and led him to spend many a half-hour “rooting” in secondhand book shops for undiscovered treasures of tne past.

But first, and above all, Father Tunney was a saintly and zealous priest and religious. His days were full of work for the Master, and his comparatively early death was largely the result of earnest, unremitting toil for God. In short, his life may be summed up in these three words: He was a gentleman, a scholar, and a saint.

Most Rev Dr Byme presided at the Solemn Requiem Office and Mass. RIP

Tuohy, David G, 1950-2020, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/860
  • Person
  • 10 February 1950-31 January 2020

Born: 10 February 1950, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1967, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 27 June 1981, Jesuit church, Sea Road, Galway
Final Vows: 03 December 1994, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 31 January 2020, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Ignatius, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

Raised Newcastle, County Galway
by 1981 at Fordham NY, USA (NYK) studying
by 1990 at St Joseph’s,Philadelphia PA, USA (MAR) teaching 1 semseter
by 1991 at Austin TX, USA (NOR) making Tertianship

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/an-authentic-jesuit-academic/

An authentic Jesuit academic
Gonzaga chapel was packed for the funeral Mass of David Tuohy SJ, which took place at 11 am on Monday 3 February 2020. David died peacefully, after a short illness, on the morning of Friday 31 January, just over a week before his 70th birthday. It was an occasion marked by hearty laughter, profound sadness, and deep prayer. David’s family, fellow Jesuits and many friends were joined by members of the Church of Ireland community including Archbishop Michael Jackson and the Reverend Anne Lodge. David had indicated some wishes for his funeral. He chose the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus as the gospel reading and his long-time Jesuit friend David Coghlan SJ as the main celebrant and homilist.
It was not the first time that David had asked his Jesuit friend to preach on the Emmaus gospel as David Coghlan explained. “In 1994 when he was taking his Final Vows as a Jesuit David asked me to preach on this gospel and what he wanted me to emphasise was how Jesus, by explaining what he was about, transformed the misguided vision of the two –“Our own hope had been”... In his work with educational leaders, he engaged with them very seriously on what their vision was, what their values were and how they would be actualized in their trust or school structures and educational processes.”
In his opening remarks of welcome, David Coghlan said that during the six months of his illness David spoke constantly in terms of an image from St Luke’s gospel, where the friends of a sick man climb on to a roof of a house and taking off the tiles, lower their friend, who is on a stretcher, down through the ceiling to place him in front of Jesus to be healed. “As David received cards, messages, and reports of love and prayers, he spoke of how he understood that those who were praying for him were holding the ropes and lowering him down to Jesus,” said David. “He was very moved by the prayers and support he was receiving from all over the world. Sometimes he’d apologise for being in bad form, especially when was feeling sick, and in my helplessness, I’d say that there was no need to apologise as I was merely holding the ropes.”
And anyone who spoke at both David’s removal and funeral, including the Jesuit Provincial Fr Leonard Moloney SJ, also attested to the fact that the prayers or presence of his fellow Jesuits, from at home or abroad, throughout his illness was a true source of comfort and support for David – in particular, his Jesuit contemporaries and the Leeson St community. Mary Rickard, Rachel O’Neill and all the staff of Cherryfield nursing home and St James’ hospital were also acknowledged for the wonderful care they gave him in his last months.
David Tuohy was a native of Galway and was schooled in Coláiste Iognáid SJ. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1967 at the age of 17 and was ordained in Galway in 1981. He did his primary degree in botany at UCD under Professor Johnny Moore SJ. He became a teacher, the first of many careers, and taught in Coláiste Iognáid and Belvedere College. He completed his doctorate in NUI Galway in 1993 and took a post lecturing in UCD, before moving to NUI Galway in 2000. He resigned from that post several years later and became an educational consultant. According to David Coghlan in his homily », David’s time in these universities was foundational and shaped the work he would subsequently go on to do with teachers, school principals, educationalists, and doctoral students.
“His energy and output were enormous,” said David, referencing “the consultancy work with individual schools, boards of management, religious congregations, educational trusts, of which his pioneering work with Le Chéile stands out, research for the Dept of Education, work in Africa with the Loreto sisters, with the Church of Ireland, The Marino Institute, school of nursing... The list is extensive.”

At the end of the Mass, Leonard Moloney SJ also mentioned David’s expertise at board meetings where he as Provincial needed support when complex issues would arise. “David had to give me the odd kick under the table at some of those meetings,” he quipped. David was also the author of numerous books, articles, and ground-breaking research and reports. His book on Denominational Education and Politics: Ireland in a European Context, published in 2013, was widely acclaimed. His work as an educationalist spanned the continents of Africa, Australia, America, and Europe. He was “an authentic Jesuit academic in the Jesuit intellectual tradition of education in his heart and in his practice,” according to David Coghlan, who added that the central theme of David’s whole apostolic enterprise was “values, leadership, and Catholic education.” In later years, around 2011 David began working with the Church of Ireland on a number of substantial projects that have borne fruit in the form of key initiatives for giving vigour to Church life in Ireland. He developed a deep friendship with Archbishop Michael Jackson and the Reverend Dr. Anne Lodge. On 1 October 2017, he was made an ecumenical canon in the Church of Ireland.

David Coghlan in his homily told a story that underlined the importance of this ecumenical work for his friend David. “Last week in his dying days when he was telling me again what he wanted me to say at this Mass, and from an apparent sleeping state, he opened his eyes, stretched out his arm and grabbed me to remind me to be sure to mention his ecumenical work.” In his address at the end of the Mass, Archbishop Michael Jackson certainly did not forget to do just that. In 2015 David was asked by Archbishop Jackson to take part in his Come&C project (“come and see”). This involved facilitating parishioners in Dublin and Glendalough who had taken part in a survey on mission, commissioned by the Archbishop. Over 80% of these parishioners had responded to the survey. They then came together to reflect on it and to plan for the future in terms of a commitment to discipleship in their local parishes, inspired by the gospel vision. David subsequently co-authored Growing in the Image and Likeness of God, with Maria Feeny which grew out of this work. The book explored discipleship and the five ‘marks of mission’ within the Anglican communion. Archbishop Michael Jackson spoke about this project in his address at the end of the funeral Mass. “We in the Church of Ireland dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough have so much for which to be thankful on this day of thanksgiving for the life of David Tuohy,” he said. “Because David transformed. He transformed our rather insufficient and inert understanding of our Anglican identity, in which we slumbered somewhat, by taking the five marks of mission of the Anglican communion and bedding them in our psyche and in our spirit.”

Noting that the power to simplify complex concepts was one of David’s key gifts he added, “Forevermore we in Dublin and Glendalough will remember the five marks of mission as the five ‘T’s, that came ready- made from the pen of Dr. Tuohy: Tell, Teach, Tend, Transform, Treasure. And so will the Archbishop of Canterbury, to whom he presented them!”
There was of course more to David than his impressive academic career, As David Coghlan pointed out, he had a wonderful, quirky sense of humour. He often accepted the offer of a gin and tonic by remarking, “I feel a bout of malaria coming on so I need the quinine!” He could turn his hand to anything, according to David, and that included cooking, writing biblical meditations, co-producing musicals, coaching rugby, rowing and show jumping. “And who remembers how he trained to be a soccer referee and was certified by the FAI and had the referees’ black outfit, whistle and notebook?”, David asked adding wisely, “As a player, I wouldn’t have dared give him any backchat!” David’s entire life was underpinned by a deep connection to his family, his sister Ann, his brother Paul and all the many nieces and nephews around the world with whom he made contact. Paul pointed out in his address at the end of the service that David had probably married or baptised all of the family gathered for his funeral Mass. Archbishop Michael Jackson finished his tribute to David by saying, “I will miss him terribly, and I have no doubt that many others will also,” a sentiment echoed in the closing words of David Coghlan’s homily. “When the pain and awfulness of today has transformed into the warm and lovely memory of someone beloved, then we may be hopeful, be appreciative of who David is for us and we may let into our hearts the transformative love that God offers us. But that may not happen easily today.”
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/discipleship-great-cathedral-creation/

Discipleship in ‘the great cathedral of creation’
David Tuohy SJ was the invited preacher at the ordination of four Church of Ireland Deacons, on Sunday 18 September, in Christ Church Cathedral. Archbishop Michael Jackson presided at the ordination of Deacons, Tom O’Brien (St Mary’s, Howth), Rebecca Guildea (Zion Parish, Rathgar), Stuart Moles (St. Patrick’s, Greystones) and Anne Lodge (Raheny Parish). David had conducted a two day retreat for the Deacons in September, in Manresa Jesuit Centre for Spirituality in Clontarf, Dublin, and is involved in ongoing accompaniment of participants in the Anglican Church’s Mission programme, Come and See.
In his homily, he said that the four ordinations challenged everyone present to reflect on their own call to discipleship and the journey it entails. “The first dimension of our journey is inwards, to the depth of our own being, to let God touch and transform our human weakness.” Referencing the first reading in the liturgy – the call of the prophet Isaiah – he continued, “Isaiah saw God in the glory of His heavenly kingdom. We see him in the great cathedral of His creation. Our familiarity with the word of scripture directs us to the drama of God’s presence in our world and our lives. Our discipleship seeks the wisdom that goes beyond the superficial to the drama of God loving and caring for us. We let God open up a sense of wonder that captures our minds and our hearts.”
We are never alone on the journey of discipleship and sharing with a community of believers, all with their differing gifts, marks the second dimension of discipleship, he continued. But this part of the journey can be fraught, with individualism and eogism threatening the harmony of unity. “Our world is characterised by different tyrannies,” he said. “The tyranny of majorities who demand conformity from others in order to preserve their own privilege; the tyranny of minorities who demand special treatment in a way that undermines others. We are flooded with media images that portray irreconcilable differences between communities and individuals caught up in a selfish pursuit of excess privilege,” he said. This being the case, true discipleship, following the example of Christ, “requires a language that speaks of hope, reconciliation, mutual understanding and community in a new and creative way.”
For the follower of Jesus, this language also entails action. And the action, as modelled by Jesus, is of compassionate service. As well as looking after the needs of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the prisoner, David said the disciple of Jesus is also called to challenge a life strangling and pervasive fundamentalism.”To-day, there is a need to engage with the fundamentalism of science, and to let the religious imagination engage with new discoveries in cosmology, medicine and the social sciences, where it will find a creative and loving God. There is the need to engage with the fundamentalism that values the human person only as an economic unit of production, giving rise to the exclusion of certain groups from sharing in a society’s wealth. There is a political fundamentalism that seeks to exclude all aspects of religion from public debate. The call of service is to open people’s minds to the way some philosophies and structures can oppress, impoverish and dis-empower both those who hold these philosophies and their victims, as well as reaching out and ministering to those victims.”
He concluded by acknowledging how the ordination of the four deacons was an encouragement to all present. “As they take on a new role of journeying with and serving the community, we are invited to pray for them. Above all, we are invited to give thanks for their generous response to God, and to give glory to the God who continues to call all of us to work with Him in building up his Kingdom.”
All four Deacons had taken part in the the Mission programme that David is involved in leading. Participants reflect on the Anglican Church’s five marks of Mission and seeing how they apply concretely today in the diocese of Dublin and Glendalough. Those marks are: Tell (Preach), Teach (Nurture friends and newcomers), Tend (Look after with loving care), Transform (the unjust structures), and Treasure (enable and look after God’s creation).
David says that as a Jesuit, being part of this journey with people exploring Mission in the Church of Ireland, has given him a new insight into different ways of organising Church and engaging with Church. “And I’ve found the female clergy and female lay participation with Synods very affirming of the faith of all the people and their lives in a Christian community.”

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/a-galway-farewell/

A Galway farewell
The Month’s Mind Mass for David Tuohy SJ took place in St Ignatius Church, Sea Road Galway (see photo) on Sunday 29 February 2020. David was a native of Galway who lectured for a time in Galway University, and a large crowd, including some of his fellow Jesuits from Dublin, came to mark his passing on Friday 31 January this year. After Mass, all were invited to the Jesuit Community house for tea and sandwiches. The celebrant and homilist was Martin Curry SJ, also from Galway and a life-long friend of David’s. He told the congregation that it was precisely in the neighbourhood in which they were gathered, right beside Coláiste Iognáid, that David realised he was called to be a Jesuit, and that he was ordained in that very church in June 1981.”Whatever thoughts David had when he joined about what he might do as a Jesuit,” said Fr Martin, “he certainly never imagined the fantastic achievements that he completed in his 53 years.”
Read the full homily below.
The Trumpet Shall Sound
It is very fitting that the Gospel today for Saturday of 1st week in Lent is the call of St Matthew by Jesus. Because it was in this neighbourhood of Coláiste Iognáid and Galway that David recognised his own call to become a Jesuit. He joined the novitiate in 1967, just after school. And he was in fact ordained in this Church by Bishop Eamonn Casey in June 1981.
Matthew was a tax collector for the Romans and as such was an enemy of the Jewish people of his time. David was an ordinary student at the Jes and took part in lots of activities in the school. He spent a lot of his life working in schools and became an expert in the management of schools and educational theory.
We remember his great work with very many groups in the country and in Africa, his time lecturing both in UCD and in NUIG, but perhaps one of his greatest achievements was the setting up of the Le Chéile Trust, where he brought together 11 congregations at first, later 14, and formed them into a legal trust to preserve their ethos and identity as the number of religious diminished to near zero. The patience and expertise needed to bring all those groups together was enormous. Recently David was trying to set up a similar trust for the Jesuit schools in Ireland, but he was taken from us before that could be finished. Whatever thoughts David had when he joined about what he might do as a Jesuit, he certainly never imagined the fantastic achievements that he completed in his 53 years. I won’t repeat his history – that was very adequately done by Fr. Coghlan at the funeral. I would like to remember the motivation underlying David’s work throughout his life. He was really in touch with God, particularly through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. He didn’t talk about it too much, but hearing him expound on his ideas and reflecting on his more recent work with the Church of Ireland you could begin to see the lively faith-base from which he worked. God was with him, and while we sometimes didn’t recognise it, we knew that David’s thinking and energy was coming from a really deep source, which was God’s friendship and grace. This was very eloquently recognised by Archbishop Michael Jackson in his words at David’s funeral. David’s incredible understanding of difficult concepts, whether in education, spirituality, legal issues, financial issues, or lots of other things, left most of his fellow Jesuits swimming in his wake. Sometimes he couldn’t understand why we were so slow, and it brought out a bit of his impatience, but that didn’t interfere with his friendship and his ability to continue to reach out.

He faced the prognosis of terminal cancer with great courage. They were words nobody wants to hear said to themselves by the consultant, but he didn’t avoid them. He looked the issues squarely in the face – although that was very very difficult – and he decided how to manage the time he had left. A few days before he died, I was with him and we talked about his funeral and the arrangements he wanted. I was reminded of an incident that happened here in the Jesuit community about March 1975. It was Saturday afternoon, and there was nothing major happening, as we were both in our rooms next door to each other on the top floor of the house. I had found a trumpet in Fr. Sean Mallin’s room and I spent about an hour trying to get a sound out of it. Suddenly, I got a clear blast from it, and there was a huge crash from next door! My door flew open and an amazed David stood there, having just fallen out of bed, laughingly asking what the hell was going on. I reminded him of that just before he died, and we said that now another trumpet was blowing – calling him to the next life. He smiled even through the pain of it all, but he didn’t try to avoid what was going to happen. It is a month now since his funeral, and the immediate sadness has diminished somewhat. David spent his life telling people about God and his goodness, and the promises he made to each of us – that we would reach eternal happiness with him when the time came. David’s time had come, and we now pray that the happiness promised him will be fulfilled.

We often hear people say that when they die, they hope that they leave the world a better place than it was when they came into it. We can certainly say that about David – we are all better for having known and having shared life with him. And so are thousands of other people as well. We pray that his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed will rest in the peace and joy of Christ forever.
Martin Curry SJ

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/lecture-david-tuohy-sj-jesuit-humanism-education/

Exploring Jesuit Humanism
Conscience, competence, compassion and commitment, not solely as conventionally understood, are the key characteristics of a Jesuit humanism for today, according to Jesuit educationalist Dr David Tuohy SJ.
David Tuohy was the keynote speaker at an education conference in St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin, on Thursday 22 January. It was organised by the Irish Jesuit 1814-2014 Restoration Committee as part of their ongoing activities marking the 200th anniversary of the Jesuit Restoration.
The event was chaired by historian and broadcaster Dr John Bowman. David’s talk, entitled ‘Learning to Love the World as God Loves It: Jesuit Humanism In Education’, was responded to by Dr Anne Lodge of the Church of Ireland College of Education, and Mr Gerard Foley, Headmaster of Belvedere College SJ. All of their talks feature in this podcast.
In his lecture and Powerpoint presentation, David explored the Renaissance foundations of Jesuit humanism, the impact of the enlightenment, suppression and restoration of the Jesuits, and the present modern-day challenges to this Jesuit humanism which underpins Jesuit education.
The lecture unfolded the richness and depth of a Jesuit humanism rooted in the Ignatian vision of each human being as created by God and invited to co-create the world with him. This entails an inward developing of the gifts and talents of the individual (the student) as well as an outward orientation of sharing the fruits of the flourishing talents in the love and service of God and others.
This vision has ramifications for the role of the teacher which cannot simply be that of imparting knowledge to a vacant vessel. Rather and analogous to a good Spiritual Director, the teacher shares knowledge and fosters the assimilation of that knowledge in each individual as food for their intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth and development. The teacher is a ‘compass’ for rather than a ‘dispenser to’ the student.
The historical vicissitudes of half a millennium exact their own pressures on any such vision. David explored this impact on the evolution of the vision right up to the present age. Geo-political alliances today are based almost entirely on economic considerations and the experience of authority has been well and truly superseded by the individual’s authority of experience. These challenges notwithstanding, Jesuit schools and colleges are thriving today. The Jesuit humanism based on Ignatius vision of God’s love for the world and its peoples is as necessary today as at any other time in its challenging history.
In her response Dr Anne Lodge, of the Church of Ireland College of Education, highlighted the importance of the way a Jesuit education really fostered the talents, worth and uniqueness of every single student. In terms of a philosophy of education this student-centred approach which values the goodness of each person was not always the dominant vision. She said that when the Jesuits were counter-cultural they were at their best and she noted that today’s culture often put a skewed emphasis on measurable outcomes for students simply summed up as points in the leaving. The counter cultural vision of Jesuit education was therefore much needed.
Gerard Foley, Headmaster of Belvedere College SJ, outlined some of the ways Belvedere students exemplified in practice the theory being talked about. He spoke about the students’ engagement with homeless people in the annual sleepout. He cited the story of one young student who was teaching English to a migrant as part of a joint project with the Jesuit Refugee Service. After a number of weeks he said he’d changed his whole perspective on economic migrants. Mr Foley told the story of the teacher who was sowing a roof-garden on top of the college. “Without ever mentioning God, he’s been teaching the students about the care of the earth, the power of the seed, the beauty of creation”.
In conclusion he referred to Jim Culliton SJ, a former deputy headmaster of Belvedere who used to stand in the corridor and say to the parents he met, “Celebrate the child you have, not the child you hoped to have”.

David Tuohy, SJ
1950-2020

David Gerard Tuohy was born in Dublin on 10th February 1950 to Matt Tuohy and Peg Power. He grew up in Galway and attended Colaiste Iognaid. He entered the Jesuits novitiate in Emo on 7th September 1967, completed a degree in botany in UCD in 1973 while living in Rathfarnham Castles (the province juniorate), studied philosophy in the Milltown Institute (1973-5), taught in Colaiste Iognaid (1975-77), where he attained the H. Dip. He studied theology in the Milltown Institute (1977-81). He was ordained deacon in the Jesuit church in Galway by the Bishop Eamon Casey, Bishop of Galway on 24th February 1980 and ordained priest, also by Bishop Casey, on 27th June 1981, after which he studied for aeducational administration in Fordham University New York. Over the next few years he taught in Belvedere College (1982-85), worked as a parish chaplain in a parish in Tallaght (1985), taught in Colaiste Iognaid (1985-90), lectured in NUI Galway (UCG as it was then, 1990) and in Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia (1990-1, 1991-2). In between the two periods in Philadelphia, he did his tertianship in Austin, Texas in 1991 under the direction of Joseph Tetlow. He pronounced his final vows on 3rd December 1994 at Loyola, Eglinton Road. Dublin. While a lecturer in UCG (1992-1993) he completed his doctorate in education in 1993 and took a post in UCD (1993-2000), from which he moved to NUI Galway in 2000. He resigned from that post in 2006 and became an educational consultant. During his tenure in UCD he lived in the Milltown Park community (1993-95), and with the foundation of the Dominic Collins community at 129 Morehampton Road in 1995 he was resident there until 2000. After his resignation from NUI Galway he returned to the Dominic Collins community (2006-2017). He spent a sabbatical (2010-11) in Boston College and in Jerusalem. With the immanent suppression of the Dominic Collins community he lived in SFX, Gardiner St (2017-9) and moved to St Ignatius, Leeson St in 2019. He was diagnosed with cancer in August 2019 and after a troubled five months died on 31st January 2020.

While his tenure in the Education Depts of UCD and NUI Galway were relatively short, they were the base from where he shaped generations of teachers and school principals, facilitated school staff days and supervised research dissertations. He taught courses in educational administration and led summer schools for school principals. His book, School Leadership and Strategic Planning (ASTI) went through two editions, the first edition being launched by the then Minister for Education in 1997.

It was after his retirement from his university post to become an educational consultant that he flourished. His energy and output were enormous. He engaged in consultancy work with individual schools, boards of management, religious congregations and educational trusts. His outstanding achievement in this regard was his pioneering work with Le Cheile. A group of small religious congregations each of which had one or two schools wished to form a common trust for their schools. Over several years David facilitated these congregations’ leadership to create a common vision and he led them through the multiple legal complexities of creating the trust as a company, framing a constitution, property ownership, decision making structures and so on. He became company secretary and organised board meetings and AGMs. To date Le Cheile comprises the schools of fifteen religious congregations and fifty-three schools.

He was a prolific writer. His books include, The Inner World of Teaching (Falmer Press, 1999, later translated into Polish), Youth 2K: Threat or promise to a religious culture? (2000, Marino Institute of Education), Leading Life to the Full: Scriptural Reflections on Leadership in Catholic Schools (Veritas, 2005), and his masterpiece, Denominational Education and Politics: Ireland in a European Context, published in 2013. He authored numerous commissioned research reports across a wide range of educational topics for: The Department of Education, The Loreto Education Office, The Marino Institute, The Church of Ireland Education Office, The Loreto sisters in Uganda, Alexandra College. The topics of these reports covered: new programmes at second level, of non-curricular school policies in a school development planning context, the applied Leaving Cert, teacher development, boarding schools, parental values, secondment and the provision of education for refugees in northern Uganda,. He published articles in educational journals: Studies, Irish Educational Studies, The Furrow, Educational Management and Administration and Oideas, and book chapters and delivered papers at conferences, in Ireland, UK, Finland and Australia. He reviewed books on education created podcasts.

He was hoping that if his illness was prolonged and not too debilitating, he would return to a book project on art and education on which he had been working. Before his illness he was working on the constitutions of an Irish Jesuit educational trust where he was bringing his knowledge of the philosophy of Jesuit education, framed as Jesuit humanism, and his experience of establishing educational trusts together.

His work with the Church of Ireland Education Office extended into work with the united dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and a friendship with Archbishop Michael Jackson. He led a project on developing discipleship in the diocese and co-authored its outcome, Come & C (Messenger Publications, 2019). He was appointed an ecumenical canon of Christchurch Cathedral and preached at the diaconate ordinations in Christchurch. Archbishop Jackson spoke warmly about David’s work in the archdiocese at David’s funeral and co-presided (with the provincial) at the prayers of commendation.

What of David Tuohy the Jesuit and man?
David was an authentic Jesuit academic in the Jesuit intellectual tradition of education in his heart and in his practice. Jesuit documents describe Jesuit scholars as apostles and that the intellectual life is apostolic even when it appears to be secular. The previous Superior General, Fr Nicolas, emphasised the need for Jesuits in the intellectual apostolate to be men of humility, abnegation and patience, free from desires for personal advancement and of competitive rivalry. He referred specifically to the ‘ministry of research’, which he said that Jesuits who teach in higher education should also be involved. He stated that ‘no field can be excluded a priori from the ministry of research: philosophy and theology, but also the sciences dealing with life, human and social science, physics etc’. It was out of this vision and his internalisation of the Jesuit educational tradition that David lived and worked. The central theme of his whole apostolic enterprise was values, leadership and Catholic education.

Underpinning all his work was an incredibly rapacious mind. His ability in maths and statistics was awesome. In his work with the Le Cheile Trust he grasped the legal complexities and was well able to take on the legal profession. Indeed he could challenge any professional. Woe betide a sloppy builder or workman or even a solicitor!

He could never resist a puzzle - sudoku, crossword, jigsaw. He could turn his hand to anything. He organised and supervised building construction, administered the practical running of communities, kept community accounts, mastered legal and insurance complexities and wrote biblical meditations. He co-produced musicals, coached rugby and rowing. He seemed to understand the complexities of every sport – rugby, soccer, baseball, cricket, gridiron. As a junior he trained to be a soccer referee and was certified by FAI and had the referees’ black outfit, whistle and notebook. He was an accomplished cook and he organised the menus and cooked the dinners at Jesuit gatherings.

As a person he was full of love, fun, making and keeping friends easily. He was deeply attached to his immediate and extended family across the world – being in regular contact, visiting them and officiating at their baptisms, weddings and funerals,. He researched his family’s history and constructed complex family trees. He enjoyed his pleasures: visiting art exhibitions, fishing with his cousin, playing golf, attending symphony concerts and Agatha Christie murder plays.

David’s journey was not always easy. He could get trapped easily into a cycle of anger and pessimism. Some working relationships were fractious, especially with some superiors. He could be very intolerant of what he perceived as incompetence, narrow thinking and people’s inability to understand structures and roles. Some special projects and work did not develop as he had hoped due to this.

The final few months of his life were very difficult as he fluctuated between periods living in the community with reasonable health and being in hospital with infections and in Cherryfield Lodge (the province nursing home). Over his dying few months since his cancer was diagnosed, he spoke constantly in terms of an image from St Luke’s gospel (5: 17-26). In this gospel story, a group of a sick man’s friends wanted Jesus to heal him, but because the house in which Jesus was speaking was so crowded, they climbed onto the roof, took off the tiles and lowered their friend down through the ceiling in front of Jesus. As David received cards, messages and reports of love and prayers for him, he spoke of how he understood that those who were praying for him were holding the ropes and lowering him down to Jesus. He was graced with a strong faith as his treatment stopped and he grew weaker. He died in Cherryfield Lodge 31st January 2020 a week before his 70th birthday.

David Coghlan SJ

Turner, Seán, 1909-1971, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/468
  • Person
  • 17 May 1909-21 December 1971

Born: 17 May 1909, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1945, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 21 December 1971, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Hong Kong Province (HK)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Early education at Belvedere College SJ

by 1936 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - Regency
by 1958 at Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Regency studying language

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father Turner
R.I.P.

Father John Turner, S.J., scholar and poet, died suddenly on Tuesday, 21 December 1971, at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, aged 62.

Father Turner first came to Hong Kong in 1935, already a ripe classical scholar. From the time of his arrival here he took the study of Chinese language and literature as his main task in life. Apart from two periods in Ireland, a couple of years as professor of English at Chung San University, Canton, and about a year in Taiwan, the last thirty-six years of his life were spent in Hong Kong. In recent years, bad health, crippling arthritis, and, most of all, ever-increasing immersion in Chinese studies cut him off from easy contact with the general public. Outside his own community, he was known chiefly to fellow poets and fellow Sinologues.

He will, nevertheless, be grievously missed by many who are neither Sinologues nor poets, including the editor of this paper.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 24 December 1971

Note from Alan Birmingham Entry
After returning to Hong Kong in February 1948, he was sent for some months to Canton (Guangzhou) where a Jesuit colleague, Father John Turner, was lecturing at Chung Shan University.

Note from Joe Shields Entry
How he had assisted in sorting Father Turner’s manuscript on Tang Dynasty poetry

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814

Note from Joseph Howatson Entry
He came to Hong Kong as Regent with Seán Turner who was a different personality and whose whole world was words and ideas. Travelling with them was Fr Cooney who was bringing the Markee telescope

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 47th Year No 1 1972

Obituary :

Fr Seán Turner SJ (1909-1971)

We are largely indebted to Fr. Alan Birmingham for the following appreciation:
“Your only chance of being remembered in a hundred years is that you may be mentioned in a footnote of Seán Turner”. That remark was made some years ago by a perceptive European Jesuit to a startled Superior of what was then the Mission of Hong Kong.
When Father John Turner - “Seán” to everyone - died suddenly on 21 December he had achieved no fame outside a small circle of students of Chinese; but he left a vast disarray of paper. Many expect that it will be possible to extract from these disordered literary remains at least one volume that will be treasured a century from now. For about two decades he had been translating Chinese poetry into English poetry. Only a few of his translations have appeared in print, but many of his friends have read large numbers of them in manuscript. Those who could judge them only as English poetry have been uniformly enthusiastic about them as English poetry; but a Chinese savant has told me that to him they are remarkable chiefly on account of their wonderful accuracy as translations. Every character, he said, is translated with scrupulous fidelity; the Chinese original has never been sacrificed to the exigencies of English prosody.
Seán was born in Dublin on 17 May, 1909. My own memories of him go back to Belvedere in the mid-1920s. He was a couple of years ahead of me and I did not know him, but there was an air of vitality about him that caught attention, and no one could ignore his mop of black curls with a startling white plume in the middle of them. Scholastic eminence was no way to fame in those days, but even his juniors knew that Seán Turner and his close friend Denis Devlin had won what glory there was to be won, including, I think, the first and second places in French and English in the Leaving Certificate.
While still young he enjoyed the friendship of Jack Yeats, probably the best painter in Ireland. Yeats recognised Seán's talent and stimulated his artistic energies. To the end of his life Seán regarded and spoke of this friendship as a cherished memory. His decision to offer himself for the Society probably bemused some of his teachers and still more his school friends, most of whom would have considered that his enthusiasms could hardly abide the disciplines of the religious life for long; they did abide it and at no time could it be asserted that he felt restless “under the yoke”; a delicate sense of humour, ever at hand, enabled him to triumph over the most trying contretemps.
He left the noviciate for Rathfarnham as I entered Tullabeg as a novice; during the next two years the tradition of Seán's passages formed part of the themes of the lighter side of life; streams he had fallen into, places he had been when he should have been elsewhere, his efforts to have riding breeches accepted as conventional noviceship wear; they seem trivial but indicate the humorous independence that accompanied him through life.
In Rathfarnham he devoted himself to his studies - no difficulty for him - with a like bonhomie; his cartoons in Broken Delf under the editorship of Terry Sheridan, illustrated critical situations with point. We suppose Fr Rector, Fr John Keane, had an occasional peep, though without external reaction.
He merited an extra year in the Castle which concluded with an honours MA degree in Classics.
The pattern of life at Rathfarnham was repeated at Philosophy; he did not always work to schedule.
Study went on perpetually, though there were changes of subject. For his first two and a half years of Philosophy, Irish was his passion, Then a few months before his De Universa Philosophia examination, he became a violent Suarezian and made a valiant but unsuccessful effort to convert Father E Coyne, professor of cosmology, to his new enthusiasm.
In 1935 he went to Hong Kong and his remaining 36 years were given to Chinese studies - the language itself, written and spoken, Chinese literature, a brief flirtation with Mandarin followed by dexterous advocacy of Cantonese as a fully developed medium for thought and expression, work on the preparation of a dictionary of Cantonese, and above all translation of major Chinese poems into English.
Constant application of his great gifts made him a savant, much admired by many of his fellow savants. He was for some years a member of a government examination board on Chinese studies. For several years he was in communication with the Oxford University Press about the publication of a representative anthology of his translations; but he could never be persuaded to hand in a complete manuscript; there was always some fine point to be added, always something to be polished. In the end the publisher broke off negotiations. With all his work, he had published little. Those who knew him best decided years ago that posthumous publication was all that could be hoped for. He himself would have been quite content: he valued the good opinion of the few whose judgment he respected, but he had little interest in public fame and seemed to believe that all that really mattered was to do first-class work and communicate it to the few that could appreciate it. To superiors who wanted to see him put his great talent to good use, this scholar's detachment was at times frustrating, though they usually showed understanding or resignation when faced with a man whom they themselves, or at least others whose judgement they could not ignore, recognised as a genius.
People did apply the word “genius” to Seán. I have never known it applied seriously to any other man I have met, Jesuit or non Jesuit. Genius does not always make life easy for the man who possesses it, or for those he lives with. It did not always make life easy for Seán. He seemed capable of attaining everything, except mediocracy. He could succeed gloriously or fail hideously, Mediocrity was out of his reach, yet a great deal of the ordinary enjoyment of life demands mediocrity. Seán could be the most brilliant and most entertaining of talkers; in his pedantic moods, he could be a crashing bore. Desultory conversation about nothing in particular makes up the greater part of most human talk, and often the most enjoyable part: Sean was incapable of it. He seemed conscious of this lack, and occasionally tried to overcome it. These attempts were embarrassing failures and would end in an outburst of strained dialectics or a lecture on some obscure point of esoteric learning, or a baffled departure for his room.
A few days after his death an unprejudiced questioner asked me if Seán had had any close friends. The answer was a decided Yes. Perhaps because of his knowledge that there were many who could not offer him easy friendship, he treasured those who could. He could exude pleasure on seeing one of them, and without a word of welcome make them conscious of being welcome. His friends were a motley group, including every variety of intelligence, social position, education and interests.
Though primarily a man of study, he carried on a direct apostolate that, like everything else about him, was highly characteristic. He had very little power of dealing with the ordinary men and women to whom any priest could minister, and his habit of forgetting all about time made him unsuitable for ordinary supplies and sermons. But with those with whom the ordinary priest was completely ineffective - the self-centred eccentric, the self-conscious intellectual, the drunken failed artist, the man with an obscure grievance, and the like - he had the touch that was needed. Both in Ireland and in Hong Kong, he brought the vision of the faith to many such people who would have laughed off more humdrum approaches.
In recent years, poor health and in particular the agonies of rheumatoid arthritis had hampered his contact with the outside world and even his most trivial movements; but he never allowed such inconveniences to damp his zest for knowledge and for life. Not long before his death I visited him in hospital. He was partly drugged and his talk was lethargic till he began to speak about the nurses and wardsmaids. He promptly threw off the effects of the drugs and was all animation as he explained that he was at least learning true Cantonese. Till then it had all been either scholar's Cantonese or labourer's Cantonese: at last he was learning how ordinary people spoke.
He died suddenly one night, without any preliminary period of exceptionally bad health. The striking diversity of the mourners at his funeral was a tribute to the scope of his friendship. The most noticeable figure was a rather leftish intellectual in Hong Kong - piously kneeling for perhaps the first time in his life. Seán would have been glad to know that this man would attend, but he would probably have cared more for the presence of some of the utterly undistinguished old ladies whose grief would have touched him deeply.
It may be that posthumous fame will come to him. It may be that in a mood of perfectionism he destroyed all his papers and was preparing to begin again. Time will tell. Meanwhile, there are many whose lament for his passing forms a tribute that he would have valued above anything that fame could have offered. RIP

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1939

The Past

Lastly, we have decided to fulfil a promise made last year and enable our readers to see for themselves how Seán Turner SJ, has evolved what appears to be a new aspect of a very old art. The four pictures we print will be unfamiliar, but grow upon the taste. They require, however, some study and knowledge to grasp, and we have no hesitation in printing the explanations of the scrolls which he vouchsafed to: send us in reply to a request for enlightenment

Dear Father Editor,

In the February of last year I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Lo Chan Waan, a distinguished artist from Canton, These four scrolls are the best of a series of studies which I did under his direction during the few months before I left China. The style of painting I learnt from him is that of the virile northern school under the Sung dynasty.

They are not entirely original. One, which show & boat being carried down-stream in a misty gorge at morning, is almost a copy of a scroll by Mr Lo. The others are, like musical exercises, elaborations of a slight theme. The picture of two litterati seated under willow trees is almost altogether my own, the theme being just a pair of willow-trees, and, unlike the rest, was uncorrected by Mr Lo.

To some these pictures may not seem characteristically Chineso. Yet my chief aim was to ape the Chinese manner, though how far I achieved it I cannot say. Incidentally, I wished to test by experiment my suspicion that “East is East, etc” is untrue in art as in other matters. Having examined the conventions of Chinese painting and wearied my teachers with questions on its underlying principles, I found that the latter are indeed not different from those of Western art, that often what I had taken for conventions were not such at all, but true representation of local phenomena, and that the most of the real conventions were determined by materials used. The tops of mountains clearer than their bases, dark specks for foliage on the summits, are strange until one begins to observe that mountains in China actually do look so. Lines more or less conventionalised, and shapes rather hinted at than portrayed, suggest affectation or indolence on the part of the painter, until by experience he learns that the very method of painting - with lamp-black ink on silk or porous paper spread flat - makes quick work imperative, ordinarily precludes painting from nature, and so compels one to draw from memory and to seize on what is essential. Other peculiarities, such as the zig-zag shading for mountain hollows and patterned opalescent rocks, are instances of a selection (of forms indeed discernible in nature) which is prompted by the aesthetic exigencies of Chinese brush-work,

This brush-work proves a stumbling block to strangers. For in China painting is a sister - or rather a daughter - art to calligraphy. The same materials, the same brush and ink handled in the same manner, are employed in each. It would be impossible to describe in brief the graces of Chinese writing. But the Chinese people appraise them keenly. Hence the inter-play of curving, angular, knobbed and rounded strokes is integral to their painting: and colouring, though long tradition has furnished an array of most harmonious pigments, tends to be subsidiary. For my part, if I had not already dabbled in Chinese brush-writing I would never have attempted painting.

Skill in brush-work and much more, the vivid expression of idea, or inspiration, or intelligence, by whatever name one may call that indefinable which the Chinese denoted by the phrase “spirit-rhythm-life movement”, these are the excellencies chiefly sought for. Because memory and speedy execution count for so much, the Chinese artists will be disposed to grapple with the soul or spirit (as they will tell you) of a subject. Therefore, apart from the calligraphic bias, I would say that they differ from the European, if at all, in their being more artistic, more spiritual. They discard the irrelevant and accidental and are intolerant of the yoke of actuality, and so will regard attention to such things as linear perspective as a pedantic foible, So, too, odd dispositions of light and shadow are infrequent in their work (they will hardly paint a reflexion in water unless to illustrate a story).

And yet by their well-worn traditional methods, provided that the demon inspiration is not too far away, they will often bring about a suggestion of reality more vivid than accurate imitation could create.

There is another quality, especially in the older tradition, a certain noble hardness or ruggedness in design, which the Chinese designate by the one word “strength”. There is nothing like it, I believe, in European painting, except in that of Spain, although Cubism might be called a travesty of it. It corresponds to the objectivity (stark and cynical, some would say) of Chinese classical poetry.

Springing from a Wordsworthian recollection and spurning what is material, being normally suffused with that light that never was on sea or land, naturally Chinese painting is poetical, or pointed with fine emotion. This is the sense of the old saying that a painter must travel ten thousand miles and read ten thousand books - not as though he should be of encyclopædic knowledge, but for the sake of range of choice and refinement of feeling. So usually a painter is also a poet and every scroll is capped by a line or two of verse.

I am ashamed to return now to my poor daubs. As you see, I have balked at the poetic lines Even if I could find some appropriate tag, I should fear to mar an indifferent picture with execrable brush character. Even in the simpler art of painting, easy control of the brush would be too much to expect. I think, however, that the subjects are in the right Chinese spirit. The gentleman swaying on the bridge might be a poet returning from a tavern. I was thinking of Lei Paak, the Shakespeare of China, who was drowned, so they say, as he tried to embrace the moon's reflection, his mind being “thunder-struck with wine”. Chinese love of contrast and of unity resulting from opposing stresses I tried to embody in the two men gossiping, the squat dogmatic and the thin supercilious, both alike complacent and pedantic, with the trees and mountains not minding at all. The picture of the old man and boy with the tall gnarled tree and the low green one, although ornamental, also shows a contrast and if it were well done, should make one reflect wistfully that beauty fades; it would improved if the boy were glancing at a kingfisher hurrying by.

Some obvious errors have been corrected by Mr Lo. Thus the picture of the jolly poet is touched up considerably. My pine tree on the left-hand side was much too geometrical, and was parallel to a tree on the other side. So both were blotted into respectability with rocks and foliage, which made the ravine look less perilous. The water swirling in the picture of the high-walled pass was too informal, so part of it was obscured and a new pattern completed with brushes. And of course there are other quite evident mistakes.

Seán Turner SJ

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1972

Obituary

Father Seán Turner SJ (’26)

After leaving Belvedere in 1926, Fr Turner entered the Society and went through the ordinary training until 1935 when he was assigned to the Hong Kong Mission. From then on most of his life was spent in the Far East. There was an interlude when he returned to Ireland for theology and had to prolong his stay until World War II came to an end.

Highly gifted intellectually and artistically Fr Seán was fascinated by the language, literature and culture of China and became proficient in Chinese calligraphy and painting. When editor of the Belvederian he reproduced in the magazine some very attractive examples of his art. But his main interest was the Chinese language on which he was an acknowledged expert. His circle of intellectual and literary friends was almost entirely Chinese and with them the constant subject of discussion was the translation and interpretation of the language.

Unfortunately he was mentally undisciplined and left behind him little written work. He blamed this on the Oxford University Press for whom he was for a long time engaged in producing a book of translations of Chinese poems which in the end they rejected.

Things were never dull in a community when Fr Seán was about. He loved to take up an impossible position and defend it against all comers, witness his translation of the word Gaedhealachas as boorishness to the intense indignation of Irish scholars.

For many years before his death he suffered from crippling arthritis which he bore in silence. The end came unexpectedly during his sleep on the morning of December 21st 1971. May he rest in peace.

Turner, Victor, 1905-1990, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2196
  • Person
  • 25 October 1905-29 December 1990

Born: 25 October 1905, North Adelaide, Australia
Entered: 07 September 1927, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1939
Died: 29 December 1990, St Joseph, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931
WWII Chaplain

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Victor Turner was educated to sub-intermediate level at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, NSW, 1915-20, before attending Business College for over a year. He spent five years as an insurance clerk Vacuum Oil Company, and during that time thought about being a diocesan priest, a Columban, a Dominican, or a Redemptorist before deciding to apply for the Jesuits. He entered the noviciate at Greenwich, 7 September 1927, and spent ten years in England and Ireland in the normal studies of the Society without doing regency.
Returning to Australia in 1939, he taught at Riverview as a successful prefect, teacher and counsellor. He took great interest in games, especially cricket and rowing. However, his stay was short, as, when World War II broke out in 1939, and there was an appeal for Army chaplains, Turner volunteered in November 1940, and the next year went to New Guinea with the 2/22nd battalion of the Eighth Division. He was well respected by the troops, joining them in the “beer mess”, and caring especially for the spiritual needs of those Catholics who were less than fervent.
On 25 February 1942 he was taken prisoner by the Japanese and was confined to local prison camps. In July of that year he was sent to prison camps in ]apart until the end of the war. During this time he was openly able to administer to the spiritual needs of other prisoners, even saying Mass most of the time. As the first camp, Zentsuji, in southern Japan, he also gave courses in English literature, philosophy and religion, and was considered a good teacher. Fellow prisoners appreciated him for his “practical and interesting” sermons, and for the human way he connected so well with people. In June 1945 he was transferred to a camp in Hokkaido, where the cold was intense and the conditions very poor. They were relieved to experience the end of the war in August, and the Americans air-dropped supplies of food and clothing on the camp. When released, Turner returned to Australia via Sapporo and Yokohama. When reflecting upon his experiences, he considered himself privileged to have ministered in such miserable prisoner-of-war camps. Fellow prisoners later expressed that his optimism had given them encouragement. As a result of his war experiences he received a total invalid pension from the Australian government.
After his return to Australia in 1946, he served at Sr Ignatius' Church, Richmond, before joining a 'mission staff' giving parish missions and retreats around the country. After three years at this work, because of the shortage of priests, this idea of “mission priests” was abandoned, and Turner was appointed to Belloc House from 1951, working hard to break communistic influence in the Trade Unions. He was also director of retreats in Victoria and South Australia, and showed particular interest in the newly arrived Asian students then enrolling at Australian universities.
During this time Turner had a coronary thrombosis, but made a good recovery However, he was given less strenuous work and sent to Werribee in 1958 to be instructor and counselor for the young seminarians. This work he performed successfully until he was transferred to Loyola College, Watsonia for ten years in 1963 to be spiritual director to the scholastics, a job he undertook with fidelity and dedication.
From 1974 Turner lived quietly at the Provincial House in Hawthorn for sixteen years. In his ill health he learnt to live within his strength and gave edification to those who encountered him. He was bright and cheerful in community, giving retreats and spiritual direction, and was available as a confessor.
In his spiritual life he struggled with human weaknesses, conscious of his need for divine help to be a more perfect religious.
During his many years of ill health, Turner stood and waited. He let the Lord be the master of the years. He was not an intellectual high flyer, but tirelessly interested in learning. He was enthusiastic and optimistic about life, and welcomed all with cheerfulness. With a smile he claimed that his secret for a long life was to do as little as possible. He was an enjoyable person to engage in conversation, especially about trains and ships.

Note from Paul O’Flanagan Entry
He later returned to Australia, working with Victor Turner, 1949-50, in the Australian Mission team.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 17th Year No 3 1942
Australia :
Writing on 21st February last, Rev. Fr. Meagher Provincial, reports Fr. Basil Loughnan has gone off to be a Chaplain. We have three men Chaplains now. Fr. Turner was in Rabaul when we last heard of him and it would seem we shall not hear from him again for some time to come. Fr. F. Burke was in Greece and I don’t quite know where at the moment.

Tyndall, Robert J, 1897-1989, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/424
  • Person
  • 05 September 1897-10 December 1988

Born: 05 September 1897, Monkstown, County Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 10 December 1988, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

Part of the St Ignatius, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin community at the time of death

by 1923 in Australia - Regency at Studley Hall, Kew
by 1930 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Robert Tyndall was educated by the Vincentians at Castlenock and entered the novitiate in 1914. Regency was at Xavier College, Burke Hall, 1921-25. He looked after boarders, taught classes, ran the library and even managed junior cadets, all with great success. Tyndall had considerable capacity for friendship, from Archbishop Mannix to his smallest students. Many of these friends maintained a lifelong correspondence with him.

Tyrrell, Michael, 1928-2001, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/618
  • Person
  • 27 May 1928-28 June 2001

Born: 27 May 1928, Cabra, Dublin
Entered: 06 September 1947, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1961, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 28 June 2001, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969; ZAM to HIB : 1978

by 1956 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) Regency
by 1970 at Bristol University (ANG) working
by 1971 at Glasgow, Scotland (ANG) working
by 1972 at London University, England (ANG) working
by 1984 at Berkeley CA, USA (CAL) Sabbatical

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Michael Tyrrell was a Dublin man and before entering the Jesuits in 1947 he worked for a short time for Guinness’ Brewery, becoming proficient at barrel rolling! After philosophy in Tullabeg, he came to Zambia, Africa, first as a scholastic in 1955 for three years and then again in 1964 when he came back as a priest. The first time, he learnt the language and taught in Canisius Secondary School. He returned to Ireland for theology and for ordination which took place in Milltown Park in 1961. Before returning to Zambia in 1964, he obtained his Master of Arts in History. When he came back he hoped to get into the newly opened university in Lusaka to lecture in history but unfortunately this was not to be. He was in Canisius again teaching the A-level course and he also got interested in sports. With Br Aungier and scholastic P Quinn, he helped train the Canisius athletic team which won the National Inter High School Sports at Matero Stadium in Lusaka (July 13 1966) at which a few records were broken. It was a proud day for the school.

He liked to walk and he liked to talk; he would laugh at jokes among the brethren even those against himself at times, with the oft repeated expletive 'James' Street'. Being a walker, he organized a walk from Chikuni to Chivuna, a journey of over 30 miles. When the walkers arrived, weary and footsore, they saw a large notice put up by the Sisters, “Blessed are the feet of those …..”

Michael was quite disappointed in not getting into the university even though he was a successful teacher at Canisius. He moved into parish ministry in the Monze diocese, at Kasiya and Civuna parishes.

His health deteriorated, a condition which was not helped by a failure by others to appreciate that he was genuinely ill and not just suffering from imagination. While on home leave, a doctor friend put him straight into hospital for surgery for a rather rare stomach condition which had not been previously detected. A second operation was deemed necessary, the doctor warning the family that Mick might not survive the night. However he did survive and was advised not to return to Zambia.

When he recovered, he entered the university chaplaincy in the British Province. As Mick had always hankered after the academic life, the twelve years spent in London University were perhaps the most fulfilling and satisfying period in his life. His specialty seems to have been working with post-graduate students, with whom he relished hours of discussion and stimulating conversation for which he was amply qualified.

In 1983 he went to Berkeley USA for a sabbatical year. On returning to Ireland he gave retreats and directed the Spiritual Exercises. In 1987 he was posted to Gardiner Street where he remained until his death in 2001. While there he was chaplain to Temple Street Hospital, assisted in Gardiner Street Church and was Province Archivist for three years.

Michael was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on 17 October 1998 with an unusual degenerative condition of the brain. He had a problem of mobility and in the last six months or so he was confined to a wheelchair. His condition was treated with. medication. In the last few weeks his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died peacefully at 9.30 a.m. on 28 June 2001, surrounded by his family and Jesuit colleagues’.

Note from Jean Indeku Entry
In 1955 he came to Northern Rhodesia with Fr. Tom O’Brien and scholastics Michael Kelly and Michael Tyrrell. They were among the first batch of missionaries to come by air and the journey from London took almost five days via Marseilles – Malta – Wadi Halfa (now under the Aswan Dam) – Mersa Matruh (north Egypt) – Nairobi – Ndola – and finally to Lusaka.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 112 : Special Edition 2002

Obituary
Fr Michael Tyrrell (1928-2001)

27th May 1928: Born in Dublin
Early education in St. Vincent's CBS School, Glasnevin and Mungret College.
Before entering, he worked for Guinness
6th Sept. 1947: Entered the Society at Emo Park
8th Sept. 1949: First Vows at Emo
1949 - 1952: Rathfarnham - studying Arts in UCD
1952 - 1955: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1955 - 1958: Zambia - language studies; teaching in Chikuni College
1958 - 1962: Milltown Park - studying Theology
31st July 1961: Ordained at Milltown Park
1962 - 1963: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
2nd Feb, 1964: Final Vows at Milltown Park
1963 - 1964: Milltown Park - Special studies
1964 - 1970: Zambia, Chikuni College - Teacher
1970 - 1971: Glasgow - University Chaplain
1971 - 1983: London - University Chaplain
1983 - 1984: Berkeley, USA - Sabbatical year
1984 - 1985: Austin House - Retreat Staff
1985 - 1987: University Hall - Chaplain, Pax Christi; Directs Spiritual Exercises
1987 - 2001: Gardiner Street
1987 - 1991: Chaplain Temple Street Hospital and Pax Christi
1991 - 1994: Province Archivist
1994 - 1995: Assisting in the Church; Chaplain in Temple Street Hospital
1995 - 1998: Assisting in the Church
1998 - 2001: Praying for the Church and the Society

Michael was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on 17th October 1998 with an unusual degenerative condition of the brain. He had a problem with mobility and in the last six months or so he was confined to a wheelchair. His condition was treated with medication. In the last few weeks his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died peacefully at 9.30 a.m. on 28th June, 2001, surrounded by his family and Jesuit colleagues

Frank Keenan writes...
In November 2001, the London University Chaplaincy in Gower Street, London, organised a memorial mass for Michael Tyrrell. The students to whom he ministered there have long since moved on to take up their professions, get married, begin families. It was a tremendous tribute to Michael's work among them to see the packed chapel to which so many returned that morning to express their appreciation and gratitude for what he had been for them in their student days. From those who could not be at the mass there were written tributes, including some from well-known names such as Baroness Helena Kennedy Q.C.

Listening to his former co-chaplains at the memorial Mass, it was striking how much he had been appreciated by them, not only for the services he offered the students, but also for the companionship and wit he had contributed to the community in Gower Street. There were those present also who had been touched by the wide-ranging retreat apostolate that Michael had developed in England. The Irish Province was represented by Jack Donovan, Parish Priest of Custom House London for the past twenty years, and myself from St. Beuno's in Wales.

Michael had always hankered after the academic life. After tertianship, he asked for and was given the opportunity to do an MA in the subject that was always his first love - History. On his return to Zambia he hoped he might find a place lecturing in the University, but this was not to be. He had had a successful record as a classroom teacher in Canisius College, Chikuni, but was not enthusiastic about resuming this career, possibly as a reaction to his disappointment at not getting the University appointment. He ventured into parish ministry in Monze Diocese, which was not really his charism, and so followed some rather unfulfilling years in Kasiya and Civuna parishes.

His health deteriorated, a condition which was not helped by a failure by others to appreciate that he was genuinely ill, and not just suffering from imagination. Providence came to his aid on the eve of his return to Zambia from home leave. A doctor friend was unhappy with Michael's state of health and asked him to visit his surgery the following day. As a result of this visit he put Michael straight into hospital for surgery for a rather rare stomach condition, which understandably had not been detected by the limited resources of the Zambian medical services. A second operation was found necessary, with a sobering warning - without this second operation Michael would die, since his digestive system had ceased to function; but, given that it would be a second operation so soon after the first, he would only have a fifty per cent chance of survival. Michael recalled lying in a coma after surgery and hearing the doctors advising members of his family to prepare for the worst, as the patient might not survive the night.

Michael was advised not to return to Zambia, where the medical facilities might not be available, should he have a recurrence of the problem. He entered the university chaplaincy service in the British Province, and there he seemed to have found his true niche. From what I observed when visiting him in London on my way to and from Zambia, he savoured at last being in the academic world. His speciality seems to have been working with post-graduate students, with whom he relished hours of discussion and stimulating conversation for which he was amply qualified.

I often wondered at the wisdom of his returning to Ireland, where he did not seem to have really been able to find the sort of satisfying and effective apostolate, which he had been enjoying in London. During the years when he was chaplain to Temple Street Childrens' Hospital he made himself totally available at all hours, although he must have found dealing with children much less rewarding than his post-graduates. Eventually he found the work too draining and accepted that he had to retire. The illness, which was to be final, must have begun to effect him at this time.

The deterioration in Michael's condition, which left him, finally, barely able to speak, had been going on over a number of years. At this period he struggled to master the computer under my, at times, less than sympathetic tutelage. It was only much later that I realised that when he said he could not remember the most basic instructions, this was a symptom of the illness that was causing deterioration in his brain cells. Michael tended to make light of the symptoms, and, consequently, was somewhat misunderstood during this period even by his friends.

There was a basic simplicity and a certain innocence about Michael which he never lost till the end. In Cherryfield, he would still respond to the old jokes, and although he could not contribute to the banter, he clearly enjoyed it as always. He once recounted an example of this simplicity, which revealed a similar unsuspected spirit of simplicity in the rather forbidding figure of J R McMahon, Rector of Milltown, Provincial and distinguished legalist. J R was provincial when Michael was being interviewed for entry to the Novitiate. On impulse, Michael invited J R to tea with his family, to which the latter agreed promptly. In due course J R turned up on his antique bicycle, joined the family for tea and charmed them all. We would cite this to Michael as an example of his trying to advance his career in the Society from an early age, which never failed to amuse him, since he always retained a freedom of spirit, which was the antithesis of any tendency to curry favour with the establishment for his own advantage. For me one of Michael's most endearing characteristics was his clear interest in and love for his family. He spoke to me often of his admiration for, and gratitude to, his parents in particular,

Among several photographs on display at the Memorial Mass was one of the young Michael walking in the Wicklow Mountains in the 1940s. He continued this passion right up to the time when he no longer had the capacity, even achieving his ambition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya. A walking companion has written the following poem in memory of the enjoyment Michael derived from showing others his beloved Wicklow Mountains.

In Memory (of Michael Tyrrell SJ)

Mullacor and Mullaghcleevaun,
Tonelegee and Lugnaquila,
These Wicklow Hills evoke memories of you:
I see you striding with ease across the heather,
Side-stepping the squelchy spagnum moss and feathery bog
cotton,
To disappear into the mists that swirl around their summits:
Or resting by the shores of mountain tarns,
Lough Ouler, Lough Tay, Lough Dan,
Art's Lake, where with Dunstan, we sipped cool wine
And wearied the sun with our talk:
Lough Bray, where you camped and prayed
Fighting the demon midgets with burning, smoking heather
sticks.
Your great spirit lives on in these hills
And hovers over the still, dark waters of these lakes.
There is freedom from dis-ease here.
Rest peacefully, Michael.

Elizabeth Mooney SHC), July 2001

Ussher, John, 1613-1698, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2198
  • Person
  • 14 October 1613-14 December 1698

Born: 14 October 1613, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 October 1632, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: c 1638, Bourges, France
Final Vows: 14 October 1652
Died: 14 December 1698, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin - Romanae Province

Alias Walterson
Granduncle of Stephen - RIP 1762
Grandnephew of Anglican Bishop Henry Ussher and second cousin of Anglican Primate James Ussher
(Coll HIB ROM XII 36); RIP 14 December 1698 Dublin
Parents William and Mary Kennedy (cf Memoirs of the Usher families” Rev William Wright, Dublin 1689)
Studied Grammar and Humanities in Dublin under Jesuits, and Philosophy at Douai
1636 At Bourges FRA studying Theology
1650 Catalogue Ent 1629 Taught Humanities and Philosophy. Age 37. Came to Mission in 1639 and now teaching Grammar
1655 At Irish College Seville (The Rector is Spanish). Master of Conferences
1666 Consult of Dublin Residence. Preaches often and administers the Sacraments. Imprisoned for 2 months. Exiled to Spain for 4 years. On Mission 27 years.
John Usher writes from Ossuna 09 May 1657 to Fr Young, Rector Irish College Rome and mentions Fr Quin’s imprisonment and desires to be remembered to Br Howyard, Richard Quin etc

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Cousin of Ignatius Gough and of James Ussher’s family
Early education was in Humanities and two years Philosophy before Ent, and then four years Theology in the Society.
Imprisoned and deported for the Catholic faith.
Taught Humanities for four years and Philosophy; Prefect of a Sodality and Prefect of Studies (HIB CATS - ARSI);
1649 At Kilkenny, aged 35 and 18 years in the Society,and was teaching Rhetoric (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
1666 Living at Dublin Residence and a Consultor there, engaged in Preaching and administering the Sacraments.
After two months imprisonment he was deported to Spain for four years (HIB CAT 1666 - ARSI)
Ignorant of Irish language, as were three others of the eleven native Dublin Jesuits of his day

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Walter and Mary née Kenedy. Granduncle of Stephen.
Had received classical education at the Jesuit School Dublin and then Philosophy at Douai before Ent 23 October 1632 Tournai
1634-1638 After First Vows he was sent to Bourges for Theology and was Ordained there c 1638
1638-1654 He was then sent to Ireland and Kilkenny where he taught Humanities. He became a member of a group who defended the “Supreme Council” against the “censures” issued by the Nuncio Rinuccini.
1654-1658 After the fall of Kilkenny he found his way back to Dublin but was arrested and deported, 1654, to Spain. With William Malone he found refuge at the Irish College, Seville where Malone was appointed Rector and Ussher himself, Prefect of Studies. On the death of Malone he was appointed Rector but the local Provincial refused to carry out the orders of the General and intruded a Spaniard in Ussher's place.
1658 Ussher sent back to Ireland and worked in Galway until Restoration, after which he came back to Dublin, and where he held various posts over a long period of time : Socius to the Mission Superior; Consultor of the Mission; Procurator of the Mission. He died in Dublin 07 December 1698 and was buried in St. Catherine's churchyard.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
USHER, JOHN. This Father was living in the early part of 1649, at Kilkenny : he was then 35 years old, of which he had spent 18 years in the Society. He was actually teaching Rhetoric. He was still living in the winter of 1663.

Ussher, Stephen, 1701-1762, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2199
  • Person
  • 22 June 1701-10 January 1762

Born: 22 June 1701, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 09 November 1718, Bordeaux, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)
Ordained: 1731, Poitiers, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1736, Dublin
Died: 10 January 1762, Irish College, Poitiers, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)

Alias Nevill

Grandnephew of John Ussher - RIP 1698

Family had provided two Bishops in Ireland : Anglican Bishop Henry Ussher and Anglican Primate James Ussher

1720 First Vows 11 November 1720 at Pau AQUIT
1720-1723 Philosophy and Theology in AQUIT
1727 At Luçon Seminary under the name of “Neville” teaching Grammar, Humanities and Rhetoric
1727-1732 At Irish College Poitiers studying Theology and in charge of Boarders
1732-1733 Tertianship at Marennes AQUIT
1734-1745 Stephe Neville (vere Usher) is on Irish Mission. Usher is mentioned in Richard Kirwan’s letters (1750-1754) as at Poitiers. He also metions F Reilly and F Cahill as connected with that house.
1745-1751 Rector at Irish College Poitiers
1752 Rector At Irish College Rome
1755-1762 Rector Irish College Poitiers with Thomas Brennan Minister, Thomas Gorman Operarius and William Nowlan Temp Coadjutor

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Three Entries (1&2) Stephen Ussher; (3) Stephen Nevill

(1&2) Stephen Ussher
DOB Ireland; Ent c 1739 Rome or AQUIT (in pen); RIP 1762

1752 In Rome having come 16 October 1751 (in pen)

“Arret de la Cour” says : “Etienne Ussher of the Irish College, Poitiers, died February 10, 1762”

(1) Stephen Nevill
DOB probably Cork; Ent c 1720 AQUIT;

1728 AT Irish College Poitiers in 2nd year Divinity. (CAT of Irish College Poitiers)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
DOB 22 June 1701 Dublin; Ent 09/11/1718 Bordeaux; Ord 1731 Poitiers; RIP 10/01/1762 Poitiers

Son of Patrick and Elizabeth née Creagh (or Nulty?), and grandnephew of John

He had a classical education at Irish College Poitiers before Ent 09 November 1718 Bordeaux

1720-1733 After First Vows he was sent for studies to Pau. He then was sent for four years Regency to AQUIT Colleges, after which he was sent to Grand Collège Poitiers for Theology, and he was Ordained there 1731.
1733-1746 He was sent to Ireland and the Dublin Residence, becoming the Superior there in 1736. During this time he also served as a Curate at Mary's Lane Chapel.
1746-1751 Sent as Rector to Irish College Poitiers
1751-1754 Rector of Irish College Rome being replaced 14 June 1754
1754 Sent back to Poitiers to act as Rector again. He died in Office a few weeks before the dispersal of the community due to the dissolving of the Society in France 10 January 1762

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
USHER, STEPHEN. With regret I have to admit that I have barely recovered his name.

Van Proöyen, Thomas, 1905-1955, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2202
  • Person
  • 05 March 1905-08 May 1955

Born: 05 March 1905, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 17 March 1924, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 24 August 1939, Leuven, Belgium
Final vows: 02 February 1924
Died: 08 May 1955, Mount Saint Evin’s Hospital, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death
Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931
by 1930 in Vals France (TOLO) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas Van Prooyen was educated at St Ignatius', Richmond, and CBC Parade, Melbourne, before he entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 17 March 1924. He was a junior at Rathfarnham, gaining a BA, 1926-29, and then studying philosophy at Vals, 1929-32. He was a regent and second prefect at Xavier College, 1932-36, and studied theology at Louvain, and Milltown Park, 1936-40. Tertianship was at Rathfarnham, 1940-41.
He returned to Australia and Xavier College, 1942-46, and was first prefect, 1943-45. Then he taught at St Patrick's College, 1947-52, and was also prefect of discipline, sports master, and an officer of cadets. He is remembered for his boundless energy and unflagging interest in the welfare of the boys, his loud booming voice and at times severe looking and aggressive mien. His final appointment was at Riverview, 1952-55, teaching Latin and history, and coaching athletics, rugby and cricket, as well as being involved in cadets.
Van Prooyen was actually a very pleasant person to be with, but some imagined him a somewhat bearish person in his younger years. He was a very hard worker, full of life and energy, and he had good success as second division prefect, even though he was thought of as over-severe in first division at Xavier College. He died from a very painful cancer that lasted some years. He gave much edification by his patience and courageous good humor. He went to Melbourne for his final illness, dying at St Evin's, and was buried from Xavier College.

Veale, Joseph, 1921-2002, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/584
  • Person
  • 07 March 1921-11 October 2002

Born: 07 March 1921, Drumcondra, Dublin / Ranelagh, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 December 1977, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 11 October 2002, St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, County Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death

by 1963 at Fordham NY, USA (NEB) studying

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Veale, Joseph (‘Joe’)
by Bobby McDonagh

Veale, Joseph (‘Joe’) (1921–2002), Jesuit priest and teacher, was born 7 March 1921 in Dublin, younger of two children and only son of William J. Veale, civil servant, and Mary Veale (née Mullholland), both of Dublin. After primary education at St Patrick's national school, Drumcondra, Dublin, and secondary education at CBS Synge St., Dublin, he entered the Society of Jesus 7 September 1938. He studied arts at UCD (1940–43), philosophy at Tullabeg (1943–6), and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin (1949–53), where he was ordained as a Jesuit priest on 31 July 1952, spending his tertianship at Rathfarnham (1953–4).

Veale taught at Belvedere College, Dublin (1946–9), and at Gonzaga College, Dublin (1954–72). As a teacher of English and religion, he was central to the conception and development of Gonzaga College as a school with exceptional academic standards, in which the emphasis, in practice as well as theory, was on education and expression rather than on examinations. He was the founder and inspiration of the school debating society, An Comhdháil. While working as a teacher, Joe Veale wrote several influential articles about education which were published in Studies, as well as a number of articles in the Irish Monthly including a number on literary criticism. His article ‘Men speechless’ (Studies, xlvi (autumn 1957)), which set out his philosophy and vision of education, was widely influential. During his years as a teacher he also made an important contribution to the recasting of the national English curriculum for secondary schools. However, his principal contribution as a teacher, and probably his most enduring significance, was where he would have wished it to be – in the classroom itself. A teacher of exceptional insight, ability, and dedication, he inspired in a generation of pupils a capacity for independent thought. His rare understanding of language, and his skill in using it, equipped a great many of his pupils with a greater ability than they could otherwise have had to analyse the spoken and written word, to evaluate ideas, and to express their thoughts effectively.

From 1972 to 2002 he was based at Milltown Park, where his activities included study, research, lecturing, and spiritual direction. He became an authority on the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius, which he directed in Ireland, Britain, and the United States. He lectured on spirituality at the Milltown Institute, gave retreats and conferences in many countries, and was widely regarded as an exceptional spiritual director. From 1976 to 1985, and again from 1986 to 1988, he was director of Jesuits in their tertianship. He spent extensive periods every year at Boston College in the United States.

While based at Milltown Park, he wrote extensively about Ignatian spirituality, including Saint Ignatius speaks about ‘Ignatian prayer’ (St Louis, 1996; published as part of Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits); contributions to three books on the subject; and numerous articles in The Way, Studies, Milltown Studies, Religious Life Review, and The Furrow. In an article (Catholic Herald, 24 Jan. 2003) Anthony Symondson wrote that Joe Veale ‘had a profound understanding of the exercises, went below the surface, and extracted the spirituality from a specific historical interpretation. He emancipated it from an encrusted tradition buried in the nineteenth century and allowed St Ignatius to re-emerge. He strongly resisted the tyranny of ideology.’

Joe Veale also wrote several articles for Interfuse, including ‘Eros’ (no. 102, summer/autumn 1999), and the penetrating and timely article ‘Meditations on abuse . . . ’ (Doctrine and Life (May/June 2000)). He died at Loughlinstown hospital, Co. Dublin, 11 October 2002. Joe Veale's integrity and commitment to seeking the truth in all its paradox and complexity obliged him to have an open mind and encouraged a similar aspiration in very many of those who knew him.

Sunday Independent, 10 Nov. 2002; information from Fr Noel Barber, SJ, rector of Milltown Park, Dublin; personal knowledge

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Fr Joseph (Joe) Veale (1921-2002)

7th March 1921: Born in Dublin
Early education in St. Patrick's, Drumcondra. and CBS Synge Street, Dublin
7th Sept. 1938: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1940: First Vows at Emo
1940 - 1943: Rathfarnham -Studied Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1946 - 1949: Belvedere - Teacher (Regency)
1949 - 1953: Milltown Park -Studied Theology
31" July 1952: Ordained at Milltown Park
1953 - 1954: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1954 - 1962: Gonzaga College - Teacher
1962 - 1963: Sabbatical year
1963 - 1972: Gonzaga - Teacher
1972 - 2002: Milltown Park
1972 - 1973: Assistant Director of Retreat House
1973 - 1976: Study / Research on Spiritual Exercises; Lecturer at Milltown Institute
1976 - 1985: Study / Research on Spiritual Exercises; giving Spiritual Exercises; Lecturer at Milltown; Tertian Instructor
1985 - 1986: Sabbatical - work in US and Africa
1986 - 1988: Tertianship Director
1988 - 2002: Writer; Visiting Lecturer in Milltown; Directed Spiritual Exercises in Ireland, Britain and the USA
11th October 2002: Died at St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin

Whilst visiting a friend in Brittas, Co. Wicklow on 27th August, Fr. Joe developed severe abdominal pains. He was brought to hospital, where he underwent an operation to remove adhesions.

He made slow progress after the operation. A week before his death, he suffered a stroke from which he did not recover.

Two reflections on the life of Joe have already appeared in Interfuse (Christmas 2002 and Easter 2003). The following is the homily preached at his Funeral Mass by Noel Barber.

Joe was born in Dublin 81 years ago. He was the younger of two children with a sister who predeceased him. He was brought up in Drumcondra and then in Ranelagh - prophetically, just outside the back gate of what was to become Gonzaga College. He had a lovely memory of his parents: of never seeming to have wanted anything for themselves, of never being elsewhere.

The family were devout, daily Mass-goers and attended the Lenten Sermons in this Church every year. He went to the Christian Brothers' School, Synge Street. He was happy there, performed well, made life long friends, and left with a high regard for the Brothers and for their teaching.

He entered the Jesuit novitiate in September 1938. When he spoke of his years as a Jesuit student, it was clear that they were not particularly happy. He was an introvert, shy, extremely sensitive and did not relish the rough and tumble of community life. He was never the easiest person to live or work with in the community. Be that as it may, throughout his life he obtained his social sustenance not from unselected colleagues but from his chosen friends. Academically, he was excellent. While some may have been superior in intellectual sharpness, in high seriousness he was without equal.

He taught in Belvedere from 1946 to 1949 and was a magnificent teacher. Even eleven year olds sensed something special about him. Those of us whom he then taught can now see that he was not just a teacher doing his task competently and diligently. It was important for him that we should write well, enjoy poetry, grapple with the demands of English grammar: for him these were not mere tasks for 11 year olds, they were the foundations of a humane life. The impact he made on us in those distant days is shown by the number that still kept contact with him. We all carry something of him with us. I still am unable to use the word “very” without a tremor of guilt and without hearing him say, “Very does not strengthen, it weakens the proposition”.

After his Ordination, he was sent to Gonzaga in 1954 where he taught for 18 years. The school was then considered by many, but not by Gonzaga itself, as Belvedere on the south side. It was young, small, perhaps, a little precious. It was a pioneering venture in Irish education, being relatively free from the exam system. As teacher of English and Religion, he honed his pedagogical skills, sharpened his vision and developed his philosophy of education. His commitment to excellence in thought and expression, his insistence on the highest standards, and the breadth and depth of his intellectual interests made him more than a memorable teacher; he was a profound educator. In those years he won many life-long admirers and friends. In the interest of honesty it must be said that his style alienated a few, and he left a casualty or two on the sideline. I had the good fortune to teach under him for three years. I deeply appreciate what he taught me, and have been ever grateful for his encouragement.

He founded and was in charge of the Gonzaga debating Society. The standard of debating was remarkably high. Participation in the society was an education in itself. On one occasion, I attended a debate against Belvedere on the right to join or not to join a trade union. The Gonzaga team was superb; the Belvedere team, unfortunately, did not approach the debate with Veale-like seriousness and was poor. However from the house there rose a young man who made a witty, irreverent and debunking speech that dragged the debate down to a Belvederian level and swung it in Belvedere's favour. Next morning I asked the great man himself what he thought of the debate. A pained look conveyed that my question was inappropriate. Then he said that the brat who had ruined the debate was going to become a Jesuit. The brat, Bruce Bradley, is concelebrating this Mass.

He exercised a national influence on the teaching of English and was largely responsible for reshaping the English curriculum in Secondary Schools. His widely influential article in Studies in 1957, Men Speechless was a masterpiece in which he made the moral case for Rhetoric and distilled his philosophy and vision of education.

In 1972 he left teaching to study Spirituality, seemingly trading agnostic-leaning adolescents for devout religious. He applied his ability, commitment and seriousness to spirituality as he applied them to his teaching. He became an authority on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Igantius, on the Constitutions of the Jesuits and Ignatian spirituality. He was a highly successful director of Jesuits in their Tertianship, gave conferences and retreats all over the world, was a treasured spiritual director and all the while producing learned articles, all beautifully written. He was a master wordsmith. On Friday, a French review landed on my desk containing a translation of one of his articles.

As a director and counsellor he so cultivated his talent for listening that, it became, with his teaching, his defining characteristic. Many found that listening enormously helpful. I received this letter from a Religious on the day of his death. “Fr. Veale's contribution to the Apostolate of the Spiritual Exercises within my own congregation was immense. His many articles and presentations to audiences around the world bear witness to his wisdom and insight. I am more than grateful than I can state for his friendship, perception, wisdom and encouragement over many years. His interest in the development of my own work in spirituality and theology was a great support. His belief in the work of the Spirit of God within was always life giving". I could quote similar tributes for a long time.

At 81 he was robust and active in writing and directing. I can think of at least two significant recent articles. His room bears witness to work in progress. A small thing, he was making out a new address book. The care that he took with this book was an indication of how much his friends meant to him; I always knew that he meant much to them but in the last weeks the manifestation of this has been overwhelming. The sense of loss expressed by so many underlines the depth of his friendships.

Six weeks ago he walked the strand at Brittas Bay on a beautiful morning with a friend from his Belvedere days, Gerry Donnelly. There is a photo of him taken about an hour before he collapsed. He looks splendid, so young for his years, no sign of the approaching attack. After his operation, there were times when a recovery seemed possible. On several occasions when I visited him, he assured me that he was completely at peace and asked for my blessing. Then came the stroke that swept him away in two days but not without a furious struggle. This was most distressing to observe on that final evening, but how much more distressing it must have been to experience. As so often, the end of life was not splendid, not at all consoling to contemplate. There was the enfeebled body, the confused agitation. These are brute facts but we have to place these facts in the light of Christ's death and resurrection. We believe that when Christ was weakest, most helpless and humiliated, he was at the point of entry into glory. So with Joe Veale; he has moved from his broken state into that place of peace and happiness that was prepared for him from before the foundation of the world. May the good Lord, whom he served so well and at some cost, bless him abundantly.

Interfuse No 114 : Summer 2002

REMEMBERING JOE VEALE

Ross Geoghegan

Ross Geoghegan is Professor of Mathematics at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Author's Note:
I knew Joe Veale and had regular contact with him from the time I was eleven, when he first walked into my classroom in 1954, until shortly before his death in 2002. I also knew his parents slightly as neighbours. In the latter years he would visit my home in Upstate New York - each year for a long weekend. The 2002 visit was to have begun on October 18. I wrote these impressions on the day he died, 11 October 2002. A much shorter version appeared as an appreciation in the Irish Times on November 4, 2002.

In a sense Joe Veale only arrived in the world at the age of 33. Son of a quiet civil servant and a strong mother, he had finished school at Synge Street, and had entered the Jesuits at seventeen. His degree at UCD was in English - he was a contemporary of Benedict Kiely - but as a clerical student in those days his contact with such young literati must have been limited. He taught for three years in the junior school at Belvedere and followed the usual Jesuit studies.

Joe's first assignment was to teach English and Religious Knowledge at Gonzaga, then a new school where the oldest boys were fourteen (a class was being added each year at the bottom as these "big boys" grew up.) Gonzaga was being touted as an experiment in education. It was to follow a modern version of the old Jesuit ratio studiorum. The school would emphasize Latin and Greek over science, and the boys would take the UCD matriculation in their Fifth Year, thus freeing them for more liberal studies in their Sixth. They would not sit for the Leaving Certificate. These were the general ideas of its very little in the way of an educational philosophy behind the plan. It fell largely to him to fill the vacuum.

In his view the main purpose of education was to make people think and ask questions, even dangerous questions, about why things are as they are, how things might be made better, who benefits from the present set-up and who does not. And along with this was the need to be articulate, so that education was also about learning to speak well and write well. Gonzaga was a relatively expensive school and many of the boys came from well-to-do families. While he did not usually challenge the culture and complacency of upper middle class Dublin explicitly, his encouragement of formal and informal debate challenged the boys to think about their own privileged place in society, He was in fact trying to instil broader ambitions than successful entry into professional clubby Dublin life. He wanted these boys to make a difference, to become leaders who would create a better and more just society. Thus he was seen by critics as a slightly subversive teacher. Not all parents liked what he was doing, especially when a few impressionable boys took his ideas overboard. And indeed not all boys liked it. But in that period Joe acquired a cadre of friends among the boys who would remain his friends for life.

Joe always claimed that he saw little difference between English class and Religious Knowledge class. The latter was interpreted broadly: besides the entirely orthodox official curriculum, he introduced sociology and philosophy at a level which was a challenge to teenagers. Since there were no textbooks for this he wrote his own on densely typed foolscap handouts. In English, he was stern, sometimes almost harsh, in his criticisms of the boys' school essays. He supplemented the official curriculum with authors he admired. In the late fifties he was introducing the older boys to Chaucer, Hopkins and T S Eliot, had them read Cardinal Newman on education, V S Pritchett and F R Leavis on style. At the onset of the Lemass period he believed that economics was THE subject to study. J. period he believed that economics was THE subject to study, J. K. Galbraith's The Affluent Society, had just come out and Joe was recommending it to any boys with the stamina to read it.

This had lasting effect in certain cases.

In those formative years Joe made only one foray into public life. An article entitled "Men Speechless" which he published in Studies in 1957 was influential in educational circles. Later he became a leading figure in the Association of English Teachers and he played a role in the reform of the Department of Education's English curriculum, but that was near the end of his teaching career.

By the early seventies he had burned out, and wanted to leave teaching. The system of university entrance was being changed and there would be no room for the liberal Sixth Year at Gonzaga any more. He moved to Milltown Park and found a new kind of work within the Jesuits as a serious student, eventually a scholar, of Ignatian spirituality. His admiration for what was called the caritas discreta of Ignatius was boundless. I remember him using that phrase in a conversation in 1964; it was clear his serious study of Ignatius had already begun by then. Within the specialized world of people - mostly clerics – willing and able to follow the Spiritual Exercises in their full thirty-day form Joe became a famous director. His articles on Ignatian thought were widely read in those circles, and he was in demand for direction, retreat-giving and panel participation in Britain, Africa and North America. For the rest of his life he was abroad for about half of each year. Indeed, in his last ten years Boston College became his second home and the place where he seemed happiest.

Many of those whose spiritual lives he directed were nuns, and he developed an acute sympathy, even anger, for the way these women had been treated by the Church. Eventually, this anger extended to the treatment of male religious as well. In the awful scandals of child-abusing priests Joe saw one silver lining: he hoped for the collapse of what he called the "Cardinal Cullen Church" (though he did not wish the collapse to be confined to Ireland). He longed for a different kind of Church - communities of faith rooted in the gospels, caring and alive, respectful of all. He wrote a passionate article in Doctrine and Life two years ago about what the experience of religious life was often like: bleak and loveless. He felt this might explain things which could not be excused, but he blamed the hierarchical, narrow-minded and philistine culture of the Church's leadership, both in Ireland and worldwide, for creating this religious hell. He wrote about “private pain ... loneliness ... isolation ... the desert in the heart ... self-hatred ... rage ... having no say in the disposition of one's own life ... the longing for human contact ... touch ... the ache for tenderness and gentleness”. It puzzled him that this article was received in near total silence - even by most of his fellow Jesuits.

At the core of Joe's later thinking was the importance of reflecting on one's own experience. To a layman this seems obvious but in a different time Joe had to find his way there. He often said that the spiritual training he received as a young man was focused on dogma and method; drawing lessons from one's own experience was considered spiritually dangerous and inadmissible in a man of prayer.

Joe's Catholicism appears to have been wholly centered on Christ and the Mass. Whatever his private prayer life may have been, I cannot remember his ever admitting to any "devotion" - not to a saint, not to the Virgin Mary. (His admiration for Ignatius was not a devotion in that pious sense.) Indeed, as Joe got older he became interested in meditation and spirituality, wherever they were to be found, outside as well as inside Christianity. He held Islam in high regard, especially admiring its public prayer. At a conference in America on the relationship between Christian and Buddhist meditation he argued the (unpopular?) view that the gulf between the West and the East was such that “we do not know whether what they are doing and what we are doing are the same or different”. But to Joe the fundamental divide in the world was between those who pray and those who do not. He gleefully described meeting an African Moslem at a party in New Delhi who somehow recognized Joe as another member of that tiny minority who pray - perhaps the only other one in the room.

In his later years Joe enjoyed the little luxuries of food and wine. He invented two cocktails - the Westminster Cathedral and the Westminster Abbey, the second a watered down version of the first. He once told this to Cardinal Hume who appeared either bemused or not amused. For Joe this reaction added to the fun of telling the story.

Joe Veale died at 81, but he never seemed old to his friends. There was always a new idea, a new discovery, a new journey, a new experience. There was so much more he wanted to do.

POSTSCRIPT:
This was not in the original article but, since I am writing for Joe's fellow Irish Jesuits, I have decided to include it. It's an extract from a letter I wrote to another of Joe's close friends - a contemporary of mine - in September 2000. I'll quote my letter precisely as I wrote it then:

An interesting and enjoyable weekend visit from Joe Veale. He's in great form and excellent health for a man who will be EIGHTY in early March. He was a little more forthcoming, though not much, about a memoir he is writing on what it was like to be a celibate cleric in Ireland :in the thirties and the forties and the fifties and the sixties and the sixties and the sixties and the seventies and the eighties and the nineties” (stet - that's exactly how he put it). Whether the world will get to see this memoir I don't know. He says he'll leave a copy with his Provincial when he dies. The P. can do with it what he likes. I think certain others may get a copy - perhaps one other... Last year I asked him if he would show it to me and was told most certainly not. This year he showed me a two-page extract. Everything with Joe is a bit breathless, and as you can imagine the extract wasn't as shocking as the billing had led me to expect. It was an interesting few paragraphs, not on celibacy itself but on the feeling of self-worthlessness that he experienced as a young man as a result of receiving no praise from his superiors for his efforts as a teacher. I'm talking about his Belvedere days. He admits he developed self-confidence during the years we were taught by him. His written description of what this was like is dignified but rather sad for what it said about the monstrously unloving male institutions of the time. It starts, “I have been asked what could be meant by ‘By the year 1954 when I was assigned to teach in Gonzaga College my feeling of unworth was almost complete’”.

Interfuse No 115 : Easter 2003

A MAN WHO EMBODIED THE SPIRIT OF ST IGNATIUS : Joe Veale

Anthony Symnondson

Anthony is a member of the British Province. He wrote this article originally for the Catholic Herald, January 24, 2003. It is reprinted here with permission.

Four of the happiest years of my life were spent in Dublin in 1991-5. I was sent to study at the Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Ranelagh and lived in the Jesuit community. Ireland was an entirely new and captivating experience. I regarded myself as a foreigner living overseas in a strange, unfamiliar land and made a resolution never to discuss politics, or jump to simplistic conclusions, and see as much of Ireland as possible.

This is a solipsistic start to a tribute to a valued friend, but Fr Joseph Veale SJ, would have appreciated a context and he did much to make me feel welcome. We occupied rooms on the same corridor and although he was shy and retiring and was rarely to be found sparkling at a haustus, we quickly came to know each other. He was insecure in large groups and sometimes found community life trying. Joe's hallmarks were an attractive and unforced holiness, discipline, humanity, and wide culture. He embodied the spirit of St Ignatius at its best and most authentic.

Joe came from a generation that usually entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus through Jesuit schools. He was born in Dublin in 1921 and was educated at the Christian Brothers' School in Synge Street. He joined the Society at the age of seventeen in 1938. When he taught as a scholastic at Belvedere College his pupils noticed how much kinder and more approachable he was than some others who had come through the system. This was a characteristic that never left him resulted in vocations.

Joe was an inspired schoolmaster and spent eighteen years teaching at Gonzaga College on the South Side of Dublin. He believed that expression was more important than exams, and approached his pupils with high seriousness ameliorated by an interest in the individual. Fr Noel Barber, the Rector of Milltown, who had himself been taught by him at Belvedere, said at his funeral: “As a teacher of English and Religion, he honed his pedagogical skills, sharpened his vision, and developed his philosophy of education. His commitment to excellence in thought and expression, his insistence on the highest standards, , and the breadth and depth of his intellectual interests made him more than a memorable teacher; he was a profound educator”.

Joe believed that the demands of English grammar were not mere tasks but the foundation of a humane life. He contributed to the reform of the Irish Department of Education's English curriculum. I owe him an unexpected debt. Although I had written for years, I was never much good at it. I had composed a dense article for the Irish Arts Review and, after it had been censored by Fr Fergus O'Donoghue, he suggested I showed it to Joe. When it was returned it was transformed, covered in corrections in red ink with helpful notes in the margin, and two pages of analysis showing where I had gone wrong and how it could be improved. It was turned from a tedious slab of detail into prose. I don't know how the spell worked, but from then onwards I realised that I had been taught to write.

In 1972 Joe moved to research and writing in the Spiritual Exercises and the Jesuit Constitutions and he lectured in spirituality at the Milltown Institute. This was not merely an academic exercise but came to embody some of the most valuable work of his life. Joe was a realist and would not undertake tasks that were beyond his powers. If he discovered that he had done so, his professionalism led him to put them aside. He had a profound understanding of the Exercises, went below the surface, and extracted the spirituality from a specific historical interpretation. He emancipated it from an encrusted tradition buried in the nineteenth century and allowed St Ignatius to re-emerge. He strongly resisted the tyranny of ideology. It is planned to found a lectureship in spirituality in the Institute and publish two volumes of selected works in spirituality and culture. They deserve a wide circulation.

Joe was much sought as a friend, confessor, spiritual director and retreat conductor, and he gave the Exercises all over the world. He was an encourager and had the rare gift of investing others with a sense of personal value. But he had few illusions, and wrote and directed with unusual honesty. In a penetrating article published in Doctrine and Life at the height of the abuse scandals in the Irish Church, he controversially lifted the curtain on some diminishing characteristics of the religious life that he had perceived and experienced in his own life and that of others. “Can we imagine, just imagine, what private pain may have been rooted in a complex of loneliness, of isolation, of having no human being to relate to, the desert in the heart, the language of self-denial that twisted into self abasement, the self-hatred, the conviction of worthlessness, the unattended guilt, the rage at being done to, the having no say in the disposition of one's own life, the indignities of impersonal rule, the comfort of dependency that could suddenly reverse into angry rebellion, the living environment that was Spartan, the lack of amenity, the walls denuded of beauty, the 'spiritual' assumptions that dehumanised? And the longing for human contact for touch, for talk, for being listened to, the unavailability of spiritual direction, the ache for tenderness or gentleness?” Only a man open to God could make such admissions. Joe's holiness was forged by the cross. It gave him empathy with others similarly afflicted, and offered hope.

None of this struggle showed outwardly. He enjoyed the theatre and the cinema and could draw metaphysical themes from the unlikeliest sources. He was a delightful companion on expeditions. He looked forward to his annual visits to Boston College where he was eagerly expected. At the end of his life he discovered Africa and India, and was, hopefully, inspired by their vigorous Catholic life. Joe did not grow old. Christ shone through him, and his influence is lasting.

Verdon, John, 1846-1918, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2205
  • Person
  • 18 July 1846-02 January 1918

Born: 18 July 1846, Drogheda, County Louth
Entered: 11 September 1865, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1879
Final vows: 02 February 1886
Died: 02 January 1918, St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

by 1868 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1873 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1872 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1875 at Antwerp Institute Belgium (BELG) Regency
by 1877 at Innsbruck Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1885 at Roehampton London (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After his Noviceship he made studies at Laval, did Regency teaching and Prefecting at Tullabeg and Clongowes, and taught English in Antwerp for two years.
1876 He was sent to Innsbruck for Theology.
1879-1884 He was sent as Prefect and Minister to Clongowes.
1886 He was sent to Gardiner St as Minister, and then at the urgent request of the then Rector of Clongowes, returned there as Minister. He returned to Gardiner as Minister and remained in that job for some years. Later he was sent to Galway, but returned again to Gardiner St as Minister. This time he was also a very useful Operarius and Prefect of the Church. He was a very forcible Preacher with a fine voice and presence.
1911 He had a stroke, and for six years led a most patient life, edifying everybody. He was very neat about his room and person.
He was one of the best known Jesuits in the Diocese, and greatly esteemed by the Archbishop and the clergy.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Verdon 1846-1918
Fr John Verdon was born at Drogheda on July 18th 1846. He received his early education in our College at Tullabeg. He entered the Society in 1865 at Milltown where he did his noviceship under Fr Sturzo.

His philosophical studies were carried out at Laval, after which he did his Colleges at Tullabeg and Clongowes, and also at Antwerp, where he taught English for some years. Having completed his Theological studies at Innsbruck, he was ordained in 1879.

After his return to Ireland he was a master at Clongowes and then at Gardiner Street. Except for a short spell at Galway, all his priestly life was spent at Gardiner Street, both as Minister and Operarius.

He was one of the best known and esteemed Jesuits of the Dublin diocese, beloved of the people and clergy, from the Archbishop down. As a preacher he was forcible with a fine voice and presence.

In 1911 he had a stroke, and for six years he led a most patient life of suffering, to the great edification of everybody. He died a most peaceful and happy death, surrounded by his brethren, on January 2nd 1918.

◆ The Clongownian, 1918

Obituary

Father John Verdon SJ

An Appreciation by Joseph I Donaghy

It was with feelings of the most poignant regret that old Clon gownians and particularly those of the Amalgamation period - read the announcement in the public press of the death of the late Father John Verdon SJ, at St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street.

This sentiment was not by any means confined to old Jesuit pupils, but was shared, not alone by the Catholic citizens of Dublin, but by everyone in any part of Ireland who had at any time come under the magnetic influ ence of the genial personality of the deceased clergyman.

Father Verdon might have been described as the living exponent of the doctrine of good. hearted cheerfulness. He carried this into everyday life, and won all hearts no less by his spontaneous kindness than by the un affected good humour and bonhomie that formed part of his nature.

Reference has been made to the Amalgamation in 1885-87 of the College of old St Stanislaus' with that of Clongowes Wood, For those who were acquainted with the special circumstances connected with the two colleges - the old time rivalry and the more than keen spirit of emulation or something more that existed between the respective alumni - the experiment was not devoid of anxiety nor unattended with a certain amount of risk.

Happily for all concerned the carrying of it into effect devolved upon a worthy Triumvirate than whom it would not have been possible to find any better suited in every way to the task.

With the late Father John S Conmee as Father Rector, Father H Fegan as Higher Line Prefect, and Father John Verdon as Minister, the success of the undertaking might well have been pronounced a foregone conclusion; and so, with God's blessing, it proved to be beyond the expectation of even the most sanguine.

How ably Father Conmee, of happy memory, discharged his onerous duties as Rector let those attest who still recall his eloquent and impressive sermons - each a literary treat - his genial manner, which added to rather than detracted from the dignity of his bearing, and the highly capable and efficient manner in which he administered the affairs of the College.

As for Father Fegan (whom God preserve), surely no more ideal Higher Line Prefect than he ever held the keys of office, and certainly none more deservedly beloved of his boys. Witness the address with which they presented him on the occasion of his ordination and his reply-in its way, a living classic.

But it is with the third member of this distinguished group that we are presently concerned. To say that Father Verdon was “a born Minister” was to express a truth that everyone realised who came within the radius of his gentle ministration. While he was seldom if ever called upon to “press his bashful charges to their food” (if the paraphrase may be pardoned), he certainly did enjoy “the luxury of doing good” to them in a thousand and one little ways that, highly appreciated as they were at the time, would now seem trivial in the enumeration.

Big-hearted and generous to a degree, he nobly upheld the high traditions of Clongowes hospitality. Anything small or petty was altogether foreign to his nature.

Ever considerate of the feelings of others, he avoided anything that could give offence tu the most susceptible. At the same time, when duty or principle required it, he could express himself in a manner that never failed to carry conviction to the minds of his hearers. Endowed with a keen sense of the ludicrous, his light and playful humour touched nothing which it did not embellish, and none of his sallies ever contained the slightest sting either for those of whom they were spoken or to whom they were uttered.

It is not to be wondered at that his fatherly solicitude for each individual boy made Clongowes in very truth “a home from home”, and gained for Father Verdon - not that he sought popularity - that affection and esteem in which he was universally held.

During the many subsequent years he resided at Gardiner Street he often used the influence he had acquired at Clongowes to bring back to the path of rectitude some wayward student in Dublin, or it might be some more advanced member of society who had fallen away from the teachings of the old Alma Mater. His wide experience of the ways of the world and his deep knowledge of human nature, com bined with his unfailing and resourceful tact, enabled him to heal many a domestic sore and put an end to many a long-standing feud.

In the pulpit he was convincing and eloquent. A master of his subject, he delivered his discourse with a zeal and earnestness and with a degree of histrionic ability that marked him out as a preacher of the first rank. His excellent qualities of head and heart, of intel lect and judgment, combined to make him what in fact he was-a distinguished member of a distinguished Order.

In such a brief sketch as this necessarily is ryuch must remain unisaid, and those who kaew and appreciated his many excellent qualities must each supply for himself what ever he finds missing.

It only remains for the writer to tender his most sincere thanks to the Editor of the “Clongownian” for having afforded him the treasured privilege of placing this humble chaplet of memories - rudely strung together though they be - on the grave of one who in his lifetime did so much to refine, to brighten, and to spiritualise the condition of his fellow men, and who, like a true son of Ignatius, made every word and action at all times and in all places subservient to the greater glory of God.

Wafer, Frank, 1934-2021, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/570
  • Person
  • 09 April 1934-17 September 2021

Born: 09 April 1934, Dalkey, County Dublin
Entered: 14 September 1951, St Mary’s Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1965, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, St Ignatius, Stamford Hill, London, England
Died: 17 September 2021, Coptic Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

Part of the Chula House, Lusaka community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM, 03 December 1969

1951-1953 St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1953-195 Rathfarnham Castle - Studying
1956-1959 St Stanislaus College Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1959-1962 Chivuna, Moinze - Regency studying language, then teaching at Canisius College, Chikuni
1962-1963 Innsbruck, Austria - studying Theology
1963-1966 Milltown Park - studying Theology
1966-1967 Rathfarnham Castle - Tertianship
1967-1971 St Ignatius College London - studying Education, then studying Music
1971-1980 Charles Lwanga, Monze, Zambia - teaching Music
1980-1991 Kizito Pastoral Centre, Monze, Zambia
1991-2017 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
2017-201 Chula House, Lusaka, Zambia

https://www.iji.ie/2021/08/24/maembo-the-one-who-sings/

Padraig Swan, Director of Faith and Service Programmes in Belvedere College, reflects on the life of Frank Wafer SJ, who worked with the Tonga people in Zambia to preserve their language and music.

This year, Frank Wafer SJ marks his 70th anniversary in the Society of Jesus, an incredible achievement and celebration of a lifelong vocation.

Frank was born in 1934 in Dublin and attended Christian Brothers’ schools in Dun Laoghaire and Monkstown. He joined the Jesuits in 1951 when he was just 17. He completed his Bachelors’ Degree in UCD before going to Tullybeg for Philosophy. He first went to Zambia in 1959 for his Regency, and spent the next two years in Chivuna and Chikuni. In 1961 he went to study theology in Innsbruck, Austria and he completed this part of his Jesuit education in Milltown, Dublin, where he was ordained in 1965.

He completed his Tertianship in 1966, obtaining an MA from the London University School of Oriental and African Studies. That year he also went back to Zambia as a missionary, following in the footsteps of many Irish Jesuits. It was the beginning of many years living and working in rural Chikuni in the diocese of Monze in Southern Zambia.

Preservation of Tonga Culture

Andrew Lesniara SJ, who worked with him in Chikuni spoke of his love of music and of the Tonga culture and described his work to preserve the heritage of the people who lived there.

“At the very beginning of his work in Zambia Fr Frank Wafer recognised the importance of music and dance in the life of the Tonga people. He was one of the first missionaries of inculturation that was not being talked about or addressed. He drove on his motorbike and recorded traditional music. Based on these tunes, he worked with a team of people who composed Catholic hymns in native Tonga for use at Mass and other occasions.

These became very popular and from them sprang activities of local composers who were given the green light to break tradition of singing Latin hymns and translating lyrics into Tonga. The music was recorded on reel-to-reel tape recorders and these recordings were used to teach hymns and songs to others in their native language. The collection is currently being digitised to preserve them, otherwise the unique and large collection will be lost. These audio archives will eventually be available online for researchers and cultural enthusiasts.”

In addition to writing and recording liturgical music – which is still in use today – Frank spent much of his priestly life writing dictionaries. He created the only Tonga-English dictionary available in the world. He also established the Mukanzubo Institute and Museum in Chikuni for the promotion of Tonga culture, music and dance for the next generation.

The One Who Sings

Frank is known as maembo in the Tonga language, meaning ‘the one who sings’. He recognised the importance of holding on to the traditions for the younger generations, and in particular the music. In June 2019, I travelled with a radio producer and professional photographer to Chikuni to start the work of preserving the many recordings made by Frank. In all there are 343 ‘reel to reel’ tapes and 201 cassette tapes of recordings. I had been visiting Chikuni and Mukanzubo for many years and responded to an ongoing request to help preserve the recordings that were stored in a metal filing cabinet and in danger of deteriorating giving a sense of urgency to the project.

The process of preserving the recordings was to first create a catalogue of what recordings were there and to index them with details such as numbering each tape, describing the box, writing a note of the description on the box, the condition of the tape, the size etc. Each tape and associated notes were also photographed. This process took several days and was facilitated by Yvonne Ndala and Mabel Chombe from the Mukanzubo Institute. The final result is most likely the only comprehensive record of all the recordings made by Frank.

Retirement in Lusaka

Since his retirement from Mukanzubo and Chikuni Frank has spent his time in John Chula House in Lusaka where he is cared for by the Jesuits and a medical team. We were delighted to see him look so well and to be able to share with him the news that work had begun on preserving the large archives of recordings he made, when we visited him in 2019. The news that his recordings would be kept for posterity brought him great joy.
As he marks his 70th anniversary in the Jesuits it is without doubt that he has already left a great legacy – to the Zambia Jesuit Province, to his own personal vocation as a missionary, and to the Tonga people. He has indeed served his mission for the Greater Glory of God. AMDG.

https://jesuitssouthern.africa/2021/09/17/fr-francis-wafer-sj-rip/
The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) mourns the loss of Fr Francis Wafer SJ.

After several years of declining health he passed away peacefully this afternoon, Friday 17 September 2021, the Feast of St Robert Bellarmine, at the Coptic Hospital in Lusaka. Fr Wafer will be remembered for his deep care for the Tonga people in Chikuni Mission, where he founded and directed the Mukanzubo Kalinda Institute.

We commend Fr Wafer to the Lord, knowing that he is now at peace.

https://www.mukanzubo.org

Fr Francis Wafer was born on 9 April 1934 in Dalkey, Ireland to William and Kathleen Wafer. After completing his schooling with the Christian Brothers in Monkstown, he entered the Novitiate of the Society on 14 September 1951 in Emo Park. He completed his Juniorate at Rathfarnham from 1953-1956 and then went on to do his Philosophy studies at Tullabeg (1956-1959). In 1960-1961 he was missioned to complete his Regency at Canisius Secondary School in Chikuni, Zambia. He did his Theology at Innsbruck and Milltown between 1962-1966, and was ordained 29 July 1965 in Dublin. He was soon sent on Tertianship at Rathfarnham between 1966-1967 and took Final Vows on 2 February 1968. He read for an MA at the University of London' School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), graduating in 1969, before moving to Zambia where he became a Lecturer at St Charles Lwanga College in Chikuni from 1970-1978. Some stints of pastoral work followed, in Kasiya in 1979, and Nakambala in 1980. He then returned to Chikuni and was Parish Priest at St Mary’s, Monze from 1981-1989 but fell ill. Between 1989-1990 he returned to Dublin to recover. He then returned to Chiknui and started the Mukanzubo Kalinda Institute from 1990-2007 where he worked as Director. He stepped down as Director but remained working there from 2007-2014, and from 2014-2015, with his failing health, he took a step back, only assisting when he could, but finally retired to Chula House in Lusaka in 2015 where he stayed until his death on the Feast of St Robert Bellarmine, 17 September 2021. He will be remembered for his formidable contributions in learning and conserving Tonga Culture and for his deep respect for and love of the local people.

Wallace, Martin, 1912-1973, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2215
  • Person
  • 12 November 1912-29 March 1973

Born: 12 November 1912, Carraroe, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Mary's Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 30 July 1947, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1950, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 29 March 1973, St Ignatius College, Athelstone, Adelaide, Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Martin Wallace was educated at local schools until he was sixteen, and was a teacher of Irish before entering the Society at St Mary's, Emo Park, 7 September 1938. He studied philosophy at Tullabeg, 1940-43, and did regency at Galway, 1943-44. Theology was at Milltown Park, 1944-48, and tertianship at Rathfarnham, 1948-49. He taught Irish, English, mathematics and religion at Galway, 1949-61, and was assistant prefect of studies for the preparatory school, 1954-60.
It is not clear why he came to Australia, but he taught religion, English, and history at St Ignatius' College, Norwood, 1962-66, and then moved to the new school at Athelstone in 1967. He had been offered job in Ireland to teach Irish, but he wanted to remain in Australia. In his earlier days in Australia he was well liked as a warm, cultured and sensitive man with a love of theology, history and the classics. He was a gifted conversationalist.
But he was also a conservative man, fearful of changes in the post~Vatican II Church and Society He was sensitive in personal relationships and not very tolerant of opinions differing from his own. However, the younger boys that he taught appreciated him, affectionately calling him “Skippy”. He had a lively wit, and was kind to his students. He suffered from insomnia for many years and would pass long nights reading the latest theological journals. He rarely left the community grounds, spending his spare time in the garden constructing an extraordinary series of rock gardens, paths and bridges along the creek that bordered the school property at Athelstone. He was at home with nature where he found peace and serenity.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 48th Year No 2 1973
Obituary :
An tAthair Máirtín de Bhailís (Martin Wallace)
Fadó, fadó, as the old tales tell, a young boy served Mass in his home parish of Cillín, An Cheathrú Rua, Conamara. He was one of the best and most reliable servers, so efficient was he, indeed, and so much at home at the altar that many of the local people predicted that he would one day be a priest. That boy was Máirtín de Bhailís or, as he was known to the neighbours, Máirtín Bheartla Tom Rua. In some parts of Ireland where there are many families of the same surname it is customary to identify an individual by adding to his own name the names of his father and grandfather.
Máirtín, was born on November 12th, 1912 and death deprived him of a mother's care at a very early age. His good father brought up the family on very slender resources and Máirtín had an abiding sense of gratitude to him for his fortitude and devotion to duty. His teacher in the primary school, Micheál Ó Nualláin, considered Máirtín to be one of the brightest lads he had ever had in his school. Educational facilities beyond the primary level were non-existent in An Cheathrú Rua at that time; how he would have benefited from the magnificent post-primary schools there today! Máirtin went into Galway to do a commercial course at the Technical School there. He became secretary of the city branch of Conradh na Gaeilge. Fr Andy O’Farrell, who had known Máirtín from the many vacations which he spent in the Gaeltacht, was President of the branch. He invited Máirtín to become a member of the teaching staff of Coláiste Ignaád. It was a wise and fortunate choice, for he proved to be a born teacher. All who were his pupils have nothing but the highest praise for him. A great friend of Máirtín in those days and for the rest of his life was Mgr. Eric Mac Fhinn, still happily with us.
When Máirtín began to think of the priesthood, An tAth, Eric coached him in Latin for Matriculation. Before he entered the Noviceship at Emo on September 7th, 1938, this good friend took him with him on a trip to Rome. This was one of the great joys of his life. After his noviceship, Máirtín went to Tullabeg for Philosophy in 1940. The 1943 Status posted him back to Coláiste lognáid where he taught for one more year before going on to Milltown for Theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 30th, 1947 and said his first Mass at St Andrew’s, Westland Row. On the hill tops round his home parish bonfires blazed a welcome for An t-Ath Máirtín, who was the first priest from the parish within living memory. It was a memorable experience for him and for his family. After Tertianship in Rathfarnham, he was once more posted to Galway as Doc. There he was to remain for over a dozen years until he set sail for Australia.
It was during these years that Máirtín began the work at which he particularly excelled and which gave him immense pleasure translating into Irish selections of the writings of the Fathers. He was a perfectionist and a most painstaking worker in this field. This was well illustrated in a book of his, “Moladh na Maighdine”, which was published by FÁS in 1961 and which proved to be a best seller; it is long since out of print. The work is divided into two main sections. The first, entitled “Moladh na Naomh”, is described by the author as “Tiontú ar na startha is taitneamhaí san Breviarium Romanum i dtaobhi Mháthair Dé”. The second section is called “Moladh Sinsear”, and the author says of this, “Chuir mó a raibh soláimhsithe dtár bprós agus dár bhfilíocht féin i dtaobh Mháthair Dé i dtaca an aistriúcháin”. By doing this, he wished to show how our ancestors thoughts on Our Lady corresponded to those of the saints and theologians of the universal church, Máirtín was working on a translation of the Confessions of St Augustine and had completed a good deal of it when bo found that An tAth Pádraig Ó Fiannachta of Maynooth was doing a similar work. He very generously loaned his version to An tAth Pádraig. The latter states in the foreword of his book, “Mise Agaistin”' that Máirtín's version as of great help to him.
Those who were privileged to know Máirtín de Bhailís will remember him as a man of immense good humour and warm humanity, an excellent companion. It was a delight to hear him speak in the lovely Irish of Cois Fharraige. One felt regret that he had not been assigned to University studies, for he had a great talent for scholarship and would undoubtedly have distnguished himself in this field. It was a great loss to the Province when, in 1961, he set sail for far-off Australia. Due to the onset of a form of arthritis, his medical adviser urged him to seek a drier climate where the condition could be arrested.
For information of Fr Máirtin’s years down under' we are indebted to his Rector at St Ignatius College, Athelstone. Adelaide, Fr P D Hosking. From his arrival in Australia in 1962 until 1966, Máirtín taught at Norwood, Adelaide, and then moved to Athelstone when St Ignatius College transferred its senior school there. He taught at St Ignatius from that time until his death which occurred in an interval between classes on the morning of March 29th. About a year previously he had had a very serious illness and this, no doubt, had taken its toll on the heart. One feels that, had it been left to his own choice, this how he would have wished to go to God-in harness, so to speak.
In the course of a very moving panegyric at the Requiem Mass for Fr Máirtín, The Rector had this to say: “He was essentially a simple man and a gentle man, but with a roguish Irish humour. It is because of such qualities that he won universal love and affection. When he was very ill last year many of the boys showed great concern and frequently asked about his health, There would be few, if any, of his past pupils who would not remember his quick wit, his deep human understanding and his genuine concern for their well-being. He was a man who had won the undivided loyalty and respect of the young
As a simple man he had a great love for nature, and especially for his garden along the banks of the creek at Athelstone. But at the same time he was widely read, and had delved into numerous books on Spirituality, on history and on literature. He revealed this depth of learning by the scope of his conversation. There were few topics about which he could not rightly claim to have genuine knowledge though he did always say that he was no mathematician!
Above all else he was a priest, a spiritual man, a man who loved God deeply and showed this by every aspect of his life. He He had particular devotion to Our Blessed Lady, he wrote one book about her in his native Gaelic, and translated another one .... We pray for Fr Martin today, that God may receive this gentle soul gently and mercifully. We are grateful for the example and for the memory of such a man who meant so much in our lives at St Ignatius College. The whole school family says goodbye to him today with heavy hearts, but knowing that our part of the world is a better place for his having been in it and lived with us”
Solas na bhFlaitheas dá anam uasal!

Wallace, William, 1863-1922, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/434
  • Person
  • 02 March 1863-14 November 1922

Born: 02 March 1863, Ballybrack, County Dublin
Entered: 15 February 1898, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG) for Belgicae Province (BELG))
Ordained: 1905, Kurseong, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
Final vows: 02 February 1909
Died: 14 November 1922, Kurseong, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India - Belgicae Province (BELG)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace_(Jesuit)#:~:text=William%20Wallace%20(2%20March%201863,Jesus%20(Jesuits)%20and%20Indologist.

William Wallace (Jesuit)

William Wallace (2 March 1863 in Battibrack, Dublin – 14 November 1922 in Kurseong, West Bengal) was an Anglican priest who later became a Roman Catholic priest, member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Indologist.

Life
William Wallace was personally tutored by his father, an Evangelical minister. He attended Trinity College Dublin in 1882, received a degree in divinity, and sought ordination in the Anglican tradition at the age of 24. He took up parish work in the Midlands in England, but, after an illness, returned to Ireland to recuperate. Two years later, he decided to become a missionary with the Church Missionary Society, and was appointed to Krishnagar, West Bengal, in 1889. Disillusioned with the Christianity practiced by his fellow Anglicans, he left the Mission quarters and took up residence in a little hut in Krishnagar where he devoted himself to the study of Bengali and Gaudiya Vaisnavism. His life of simplicity and seeking endeared him to his Indian neighbours. His contact with Bengali Hindus led him to the opinion that Protestant spiritualty was inadequate to meet the needs of his deeply spiritual Vaisnava friends.

After serving seven years in Bengal, he returned to Ireland on home leave. There he made a study of Catholic theology and spirituality, and became convinced that only Catholicism could provide him with the means of dialoguing with his Hindu associates, and that only Catholic spirituality was worth preaching to the Bengalis. Having been rejected by the Mill Hill Fathers, he requested admission to the Jesuit Order whose members were active in Bengal. He was accepted by the Belgian provincial and entered the novitiate on the 15 February 1898. Upon finishing the two years spiritual training in England, he arrived in Calcutta on 13 December 1901.

He engaged in further studies in philosophy and theology at Shembaganur and St Mary's, Kurseong before being appointed as a lecturer in English literature at St Xavier's College, Calcutta. He was later sent to Darjeeling as lecturer and parish priest among the Anglo-Indians. It was at this time that he composed his autobiography, From Evangelical to Catholic by Way of the East, and also several works on Hindu philosophy and yoga. He wanted to make use of Indian philosophy to make an acceptable presentation of Christianity to the Hindus. With his health beginning to fail, he was transferred back to St Mary's, Kurseong, in 1921. He died on 14 November 1922.[1]

Significance
Wallace's significance rests on the influence he exerted upon his contemporaries and on younger Jesuits about the way mission was done in Bengal. He helped shift the mentality toward Indian spirituality among the Jesuits and influence the spiritual formation of the novices who were preparing for service in India. He entreated his superiors in Belgium to send their most talented scholastics to engage in the deep study of Hindu texts. Pierre Johanns and Georges Dandoy were fruits of this vision of Wallace. These St Xavier's Jesuits “produced a durable synthesis of Catholicism and Hinduism.... The ‘Bengal School,’ which these came to be clubbed under, was the lasting contribution to India of Father William Wallace.”[2] The 'Bengal School' is also known as the 'Calcutta School of Indology'.

Wallace was inspired by the efforts of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay and Animananda. With them he felt that Christianity had to be Indianized if it had to gain a successful hearing in Bengal. He had read Upadhyay’s articles in Sophia and had been impressed by his basic motivations. In his own writings, he reiterated Upadhyay’s approach regarding the suitability of Indian philosophy as a natural foundation for supernatural religion.[3]

Bibliography

Primary bibliography
From Evangelical to Catholic by Way of the East. The Light of the East Series, no. 35. Calcutta: Catholic Orphan Press, 1923.
Introduction to Hindoo Clairvoyance. Kurseong, 1920. Typescript, unpublished. MS at Goethals Library, St Xavier’s College, Calcutta.
A Bengali Commentary on the Yoga Philosophy. 1923. Polycopied, unpublished. MS at Goethals Library, St Xavier’s College, Calcutta.
The Everlasting Religion of the Hindoo Sages in Relation to the Catholic Religion of the Christian Fathers. Typescript, unpublished. Varia of Wallace, Goethals Library, St Xavier’s College, Calcutta.

Secondary bibliography
Doyle, Sean. Synthesizing the Veda: The Theology of Pierre Johanns, S.J. Bern: Peter Lang, 2006. 123-126.
Hosten, Henry. “In Memoriam: William Wallace, 1863-1922.” The Catholic Herald of India 5 (22 November 1922) 803–4.
Namboodiry, Udayan. St Xavier’s: The Making of a Calcutta Institution. New Delhi: Viking/Penguin Books India, 1995.
Francis X. Clooney, SJ, “Alienation, Xenophilia, And Coming Home: William Wallace, SJ’s From Evangelical to Catholic by Way of the East,” Common Knowledge 24.2 (2018), 280-290

Walsh, James, 1646-1695, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2220
  • Person
  • 19 March 1646-02 January 1695

Born: 19 March 1646, County Dublin
Entered: 07 January 1671, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: Salamanca - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1682
Died: 02 January 1695, Bilbao, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)

Had studied 3 years Philosophy before Ent
1675 At Compostella teaching Grammar and Philosophy - talented teacher
1678 At Monreal “ing-opt”
1681-1685 At Pamplona - a talent for teaching Theology. Has taught Grammar, Philosophy and Theology (Moral and Scholastic). Progress in preaching.
1690 Was Rector at Salamanca and taught Theology

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Patrick and Isabel née Russel
He had made Priestly studies and Santiago and Salamanca and was ordained at Salamanca before Ent 07 January 1671 Villagarcía
1673-1677 After First Vows he was sent to teach Philosophy at Irish College Santiago
1677-1678 Sent to teach Philosophy for a year at Monterey
1679-1686 Sent to teach Dogmatic Theology at Pamplona
1686-1692 Rector Irish College Salamanca, and held Office for six years until his health determined he should relinquish it.
1692 Sent to Bilbao to teach Moral Theology and he died there 02 January 1695

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WALSH, JAMES Another Father of this name was living at Compostella, in 1686.

Walsh, Nicholas, 1826-1912, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/446
  • Person
  • 22 June 1826-18 October 1912

Born: 22 June 1826, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 21 February 1858, St Andrea, Rome, Italy (ROM)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 02 February 1870
Died: 18 October 1912, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 20 April 1870-17 March 1877

by 1859 at Roman College Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1870 at Rome Italy (ROM) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was already Ordained a Priest for the Ferns Diocese before Ent. It was said he would have become a Bishop there had he not joined the Society. He had studied under Cardinal Johannes Baptist Franzelin, the Austrian Jesuit Theologian, and whose life he wrote in later years.

He did his Regency at Tullabeg (1861-1863), Galway (1864-1865) Clongowes, being Minister there as well (1866-1869).
1869-1870 Tertianship in Rome
1870-1877 After Tertianship in Rome he was sent to HIB as Provincial.
1877-1883/4 He went to Gardiner St as Superior
1884-1889 Operarius at Gardiner St
1889-1895 He was appointed Rector of the newly opened Milltown Theologate.
He suffered from a lingering illness and died in Gardiner St 18 October 1912

Henry Lynch SJ writes of him :
“Nicholas Walsh did not get the Obituary notice his memory deserved. This was ‘our’ fault, of course. Had he died 10 or 15 years earlier, the papers would have been full of him, but he lived too long and was forgotten. In his day, however, he was really one of our great men in the public eye, though he was never popular with “Ours”, especially in the days of his authority. A certain natural pomposity and autocratic manner accounts for this, though he really was quite simple and good-natured at heart. But in his day he was in the very first rank of Preachers and the Bishops and Priests held him in great estimation. He Preached at the Consecration of Sligo Cathedral in 1874, and at the installation of Dr William Walshe as Archbishop of Dublin. His retreats and Lectures were very fine, impressive and solid, and were very much sought after and appreciated. His speech a the Maynooth Centenary (1896) was said t have been one of the best delivered on that historic occasion. He was a favourite Confessor with men, and even in his declining years heard many in the parlour.
He mellowed much in old age and “Ours” came to know and like him better and even poke fun at him which he took very well. He had many influential friends who helped him in his good works.
When Superior of Gardiner St, he put up those four magnificent pictures of Ignatius in the transept of the Church. When Rector at Milltown he built the fine Collegiate Church there. When he ceased to preach, like Matthew Russell, he took to writing books, and published four - “Life of Franzelin”; “Old and New”; “The Saved and the Lost” and “Woman”. In these four books he gathered and published all the matter of his many famous retreats, Sermons, Lectures, and domestic exhortations. The books had poor sales.
All through his life he enjoyed splendid health and rarely had a pain or ache, not even in his last days. He died of senile decay. During the last 10 years of his life he lived in complete retirement at Gardiner St, except for just one year at Clongowes as Spiritual Father. For the last three or four years he was confined to his room altogether and there were signs of dementia towards the end.
He was a man who always upheld a very high standard of piety and conduct to all, and was, himself, most devout. He died in the end room of Bannon’s corridor, and the Provincial William Delaney and Minister Joseph Wrafter were with him at the end.”

Note from John Bannon Entry :
On the evening of his death the Telegraphy published an article on him headed “A Famous Irish Jesuit - Chaplain in American War” : “The Community of the Jesuit Fathers in Gardiner St have lost within a comparatively short time some of their best known and most distinguished members. They had to deplore the deaths of Nicholas Walsh, John Naughton, John Hughes and Matthew Russell, four men of great eminence and distinction, each in his own sphere, who added lustre to their Order, and whose services to the Church and their country in their varied lines of apostolic activity cannot son be forgotten. And now another name as illustrious is added to the list. The Rev John Bannon....

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Nicholas Walsh 1826-1912
Fr Nicholas Walsh was born in Wexford on June 22nd 1826. He joined the Society as a priest in 1858.

He studied under Cardinal Franzelin whose life he wrote in later years. From his tertianship in Rome he was sent back to Ireland as Provincial, a post he filled for seven years.

He was a magnificent preacher and lecturer, His speech at the Maynooth Centenary in 1896, was adjudged the best delivered on that occasion.

When Rector of Milltown Park in 1889, when that house was opened as a Theologate, he was responsible for the building of the fine collegiate chapel there.

In his retirement in Gardiner Street, he took to his pen and published four books : “The Life of Cardinal Franzelin”; “Old and New”; “The Saved and the Lost” and “Woman”.

He died of a lingering illness in Gardiner Street on October 18th 1912.

Walsh, Patrick J, 1911-1975, Jesuit priest and missioner

  • IE IJA J/436
  • Person
  • 17 February 1911-02 May 1975

Born: 17 February 1911, Rosmuc, County Galway
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1946, Broken Hill, Southern Rhodesia
Died: 02 May 1975, Vatican Embassy, Pretoria, South Africa - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

Early education at Mungret College SJ; Tertianship at Rathfarnham

by 1937 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - Regency
by 1939 at St Aloysius, Sydney, Australia - health
by 1940 in Hong Kong - Regency
by 1946 at Lusaka, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - First Zambian Missioners with Patrick JT O’Brien
by 1947 at Brokenhill, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working
by 1962 at Loyola, Lusaka, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) Sec to Bishop of Lusaka

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
In 1926 and 1927, a team of three boys from Mungret College at Feis Luimnighe (Limerick Festival) swept away the first prizes for Irish conversation and debate. The three boys were native Irish speakers. They were Seamus Thornton from Spiddal who became a Jesuit in California and later suffered imprisonment at the hands of the Chinese communists, Tadhg Manning who became Archbishop of Los Angeles and Paddy Walsh from Rosmuc who joined the Irish Province Jesuits in 1928.

Fr Paddy was born in the heart of Connemara, an Irish speaking part of Ireland and grew up in that Irish traditional way of life, a nationalist, whose house often welcomed Padraic Pearse, the Irish nationalist who gave his life in the final struggle for Irish independence. Fr Paddy came to Northern Rhodesia in 1946 and felt an immediate sympathy with the aspirations of the younger and more educated African nationalists.

For regency, he went to Hong Kong, China, but a spot on his lung sent him to Australia where he recovered in the good climate of the Blue Mountains. Back in Ireland for theology and ordination in 1943, he once again volunteered for the missions, this time to Northern Rhodesia where he came in 1946.

His first assignment was Kabwe as superior and education secretary. Chikuni saw him for two years, 1950 and 1951, and then he went north to Kabwata, Lusaka as parish priest where he constructed its first church. From 1958 to 1969 he was parish priest at Kabwata, secretary to Archbishop Adam, chaplain to the African hospital and part-time secretary to the Papal Nuncio. He became involved in the problems of race relations, an obvious source of prejudice, and he had a hand in setting up an inter-racial club in Lusaka where the rising generation of both Africans and Whites could meet on an equal footing. His own nationalist background led him to participate in their struggle which he embraced with enthusiasm. When many of the leaders were arrested and sent to prison, Fr Paddy was a constant source of strength and encouragement, especially for their bereft families. He administered funds for their support which in large part came from the Labour Party in England. He was a friend of Kenneth Kaunda and looked after his family and drove his wife to Salisbury to visit Kaunda in prison. Within six weeks of Independence, Fr Paddy had his Zambian citizenship and at the first annual awards and decorations, the new President Kaunda conferred on him Officer of the Companion Order of Freedom.

In 1969 Fr Paddy had a heart attack and it was decided that he return to Ireland. As a mark of respect and appreciation, the President and some of the ministers carried the stretcher onto the plane.

Fr Paddy recovered somewhat and returned to Roma parish in 1970 but his health did not improve and it was felt that a lower altitude might improve things, so he went back to Ireland and Gibraltar to work there. The Papal Nuncio in South Africa, Archbishop Polodrini who had been in Lusaka, invited Fr Paddy to be his secretary in Pretoria. He accepted the offer in 1973. 0n 2 May 1975 Fr Paddy died in Pretoria of a heart attack and was buried there, a far cry from Rosmuc.

Fr Paddy was completely dedicated to whatever he did, especially in the African hospital where he ministered and he bitterly complained to the colonial powers about the conditions there. He had a great sense of loyalty to people, to a cause, to the Lusaka mission, to the Archbishop himself and to the welfare of the Zambian people and the country.

At the funeral Mass in Lusaka, attended by President Kaunda and his wife, the Secretary General, the Prime Minister and some Cabinet Ministers, Kaunda spoke movingly of his friend Fr Paddy. He said that he had had a long letter from Fr Paddy saying ‘he was disappointed with me, the Party, Government and people of Zambia because we were allowing classes to spring up within our society. Please, Fr Walsh, trust me as you know me, I will not allow the rich to grow richer and the strong to grow stronger’.

Archbishop Adam wrote about Fr Paddy who had worked as his secretary for eleven years: ‘It was not very easy to know and to understand Fr Walsh well. Only gradually I think I succeeded – sometimes in quite a painful way. But the more I knew him the greater was my affection for him, and the respect for his character and qualities. Apart from his total dedication, I admired his total disregard for himself, his feeling for the underprivileged and his deep feeling for justice’.

Note from Maurice Dowling Entry
After the war, when the Jesuits in Northern Rhodesia were looking for men, two Irish Jesuits volunteered in 1946 (Fr Paddy Walsh and Fr Paddy O'Brien) to be followed by two more in 1947, Maurice and Fr Joe Gill. They came to Chikuni.

Note from Bob Thompson Entry
With Fr Paddy Walsh he became friends with Dr Kenneth Kaunda and other leaders at the Interracial Club. This was all during Federation days.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland :

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-truth-without-fear-or-favour/

A hundred years ago, Paddy Walsh was born in Rosmuc to an Irish-speaking family that frequently welcomed Padraic Pearse as a visitor. Paddy was the first Irish Jesuit missionary to “Northern Rhodesia”. He felt a natural sympathy with the leaders of the struggle for independence. When Kenneth Kaunda (pictured here) was imprisoned by the Colonials, Paddy drove his wife and family 300 miles to visit him in Salisbury gaol. As a citizen of the new Zambia, Paddy was trusted by Kaunda. He upbraided the President for permitting abortion, and for doing too little for the poor. Kaunda revered him, insisted on personally carrying the stretcher when Paddy had to fly to Dublin for a heart operation, and wept as he eulogised Paddy after his death: “This was the one man who would always tell me the truth without fear or favour.”

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Frs. O'Brien and Walsh left Dublin on January 4th on their long journey to North Rhodesia (Brokenhill Mission of the Polish Province Minor). They hope to leave by the "Empress of Scotland" for Durban very soon.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 2 1946

From Rhodesia.
Frs. O'Brien and Walsh reached Rhodesia on February 21st. They were given a great welcome by Mgr. Wolnik. He has his residence at Lusaka and is alone except for one priest, Fr. Stefaniszyn who did his theology at Milltown Park. Lusaka is the capital of Northern Rhodesia and is a small town of the size of Roundwood or Enniskerry.
Fr. O'Brien goes to Chikuni, which is a mission station with a training school for native teachers. Fr. Walsh is appointed to Broken Hill. where he will work with another father. ADDRESSES : Fr. Walsh, P.O. Box 87, Broken Hill, N. Rhodesia; Fr. O'Brien, Chikuni P.O., Chisekesi Siding. N. Rhodesia

Fr. Walsh, Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia, 16-2-46 :
Fr. O'Brien and I arrived in Durban on February 6th, having come via Port Said and the Suez Canal. The voyage was a tiresome one, as the ship was overcrowded - in our cabin, a two-berth one in normal times, we had thirteen, so you can imagine what it was like coming down through the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa. We had a large contingent of British soldiers as far as Port Said. They got off there to go to Palestine. We had also about six hundred civilians, demobilised service-men, their wives and children. We had ten Christian Brothers, two Salesian priests, two military chaplains (both White Fathers), six Franciscan Missionary Sisters going to a leper colony quite near Bioken Hill, four Assumption Sisters, and two Holy Family Sisters, so we had quite a big Religious community.
Our first stop was Port Said where we got ashore for a few hours. We moved on from there to Suez and anchored in the Bitter Lakes for a day and a half. There we took on three thousand African (native) troops, most of them Basutos. The Basuto soldiers were most edifying. There were several hundred of them at Mass every morning, very many of whom came to Holy Comnunion. They took a very active part in the Mass too - recited the Creed and many other prayers in common, and sang hymns in their native language, and all this on their own initiative. They are certainly a credit to whatever Missionaries brought them the Faith.
Our next stop was Mombasa, Kenya, then on to Durban. The rainy season was in and it rained all the time we were there. We arrived in Joannesburg on Saturday night, February 9th. We broke our journey there, because we were very tired, I had a heavy cold, and there was no chance of saying Mass on the train on Sunday. We were very hospitably received by the Oblate Fathers, as we had been also in Durban. I could not praise their hospitality and kindness to us too highly. Many of them are Irish, some American and South African. We remained in Jo'burg until Monday evening and went on from there to Bulawayo. We had a few hours delay there and went to the Dominican Convent where we were again most kindly received - the Mother Prioress was a Claddagh woman. We were unable to see any of the English Province Jesuits. Salisbury, where Fr. Beisly resides, would have been three hundred miles out of our way. Here at Livingstone we visited the Irish Capuchians. We were both very tired, so we decided to have a few days' rest. We have visited Victoria Falls - they are truly wonderful. The Capuchians have been most kind to us and have brought us around to see all the sights. It is wonderful to see giraffes, zebras and monkeys roaming around. Recently one of the Brothers in our mission was taken off by a lion. We expect to come to Broken Hill on Wednesday night. Most of our luggage has gone on before us in bond. We were able to say Mass nearly every day on the boat, except for a few days when I was laid up with flu. I think we are destined for the ‘Bush’ and not for the towns on the railway. It is very hot here, but a different heat from Hong Kong, very dry and not so oppressive. On the way up here we could have been travelling anywhere in Ireland, but they all say ‘wait till the rainy season is over’.”

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

Rhodesia :
Fr. P. Walsh, P.O. Box 87, Broken Hill, N. Rhodesia, 15-8-46 :
“On the day of my final vows I ought to try to find time to send you a few lines. My heart missed a few boats while I glanced down the Status to see if there was anyone for Rhodesia. Fr. O'Brien and I are very well and both very happy. I met Fr. O'Brien twice since I came out, once when he came to Broken Hill, and again last month when I went to Chikuni to give a retreat to the Notre Dame Sisters who are attached to our mission there. Chikuni is a beautiful mission. The school buildings there are a monument to the hard work done by our lay brothers. The brothers whom I have met out here have struck me immensely. They can do anything, and are ready to do any work. Yet they are wonderfully humble men and all deeply religious. I am well settled in to my work now, You may have heard that I have been appointed Superior of Broken Hill. I am blessed in the small number of my subjects. My main work continues to be parish work among the white population. As well as that I am Principal of a boarding school situated about eight miles outside Broken Hill. We follow the ordinary school curriculum for African schools, and we also have a training-school for vernacular teachers. Most of the work is done by native teachers. I go there about three times a week and teach Religion, English and History One lay-brother lives permanently at the school. He is seventy two years of age but still works on the farm all day. The farm is supposed to produce enough food to support the boys in the school (and sometimes their wives), The hot season is just starting now. It has been very cold for the last month. L. have worn as much clothes here in July and August as ever I wore in the depth of winter at home. Although we do not get any rain during the cold season, still the cold is very penetrating. It will be hot from now till November or December, when the rains come. We were to have Fr. Brown of the English Province here as a Visitor. (He was formerly Mgr. Brown of S. Rhodesia). He had visited a few of our missions and was on his way to Broken Hill when he got a stroke of some kind. He is at present in hospital. One leg is paralysed completely and the other partially. He is 69 years of age, so he will hardly make much of a recovery. It is difficult to find time for letter writing. I seem to be kept going all day, and when night-time comes there is not much energy left”.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 50th Year No 2 1975

Obituary :

Fr Patrick Walsh (1911-1975)

In 1926 and 1927 a team of three boys representing Mungret at Feis Luimnighe swept away first prizes for Irish conversation and debate. Small wonder, since they were all native speakers. All three of them became missionary priests. Séamus Thornton, SJ suffered imprisonment at the hands of Chinese communists; Tadhg Manning is now Archbishop of Los Angeles, and Paddy Walsh was one of the six boys three “lay” and three “apostolic” - who joined the Irish Province from Mungret on the 1st of September, 1928.
The transfer of the novitiate from Tullabeg to Emo took place about a month before his first vows, Juniorate at Rathfarnham and UCD, and Philosophy in Tullabeg followed the normal pattern, but for regency Paddy went to Hong Kong. Before long, a spot was discovered on his lung and he was sent to the Blue Mountains in Australia, where he felt his isolation from the Society, but where he was cured. Ordination in Milltown (1943) and Tertianship in Rathfarnham completed his course and then, in 1945, an urgent cry for help came from the Polish Province Mission to Northern Rhodesia. Paddy O'Brien and Paddy Walsh were the first two Irish Jesuits to answer. There are about seventy three languages and dialects in that country, so they had to learn the one used by the Tonga people who inhabit the southerly region in which Canisius College, Chikuni, is situated. It was, however, after his transfer to the capital, Lusaka, that the main work of his life began. It entailed learning another language, Nyanja, and plunged him into pastoral work. As Parish Priest of Regiment Church, so called because it lay near a military barracks, and Chaplain to the hospital, he laboured untiringly for the spiritual and temporal well-being of his flock, with whom he identified himself. They were poor, sick and sometimes leprous. Father Paddy’s letters to the Press, exposing their misery and calling for action, made him unpopular with some of the Colonial administrators, but enthroned him in the hearts of his African people.
Their aspiration to political freedom found a ready sympathiser in one whose boyhood home in Rosmuc had frequently received Padraic Pearse as a welcome visitor: Leaders of the Nationalist movement, Harry Nkumbula, Simon Kapapwe and Kenneth Kaunda, were emerging: They trusted Paddy and he stood by them in face of opposition from Colonials. When they were imprisoned, Paddy administered the fund - largely subscribed by the British Labour Party - for the support of their wives and children. It was Paddy who drove Kenneth Kaunda’s wife and family the three hundred miles to visit him in Salisbury gaol.
When independence was won in 1964, Paddy took citizenship in the new Republic of Zambia (named after the Zambezi River) and its first President Kenneth Kaunda conferred the highest civil honour upon him, Commander of the Order of Companions of Freedom. With the destiny of their country in their own hands now, the new rulers of Zambia faced the enormous problems of mass illiteracy, malnutrition and poverty. Using their wealth of copper to enlist aid from abroad and finance huge development plans, they have made gigantic progress.
Paddy continued his priestly work in Lusaka until a heart attack struck him down in 1969. Though the air-journey would be risky, it was necessary to send him home for surgery. President Kaunda and Cabinet Ministers carried the stretcher that bore him to the aeroplane. BOAC had heart specialists ready at Heathrow Airport, who authorised the last stage of the journey to Dublin, Paddy FitzGerald inserted a plastic valve in the heart, with such success that Father Paddy's recovery seemed almost miraculous.
He returned to Zambia, but felt that more could be done for his beloved poor. He was very disappointed, too, by the passing of a law permitting abortion. Maybe, he had a dream of a Zambian utopia, and could not bear to think that it had not been realised. He returned to Ireland; worked for a very short time in Gibraltar, and, finally, went to Pretoria as Secretary to the Papal Nuncio in 1973. There he died suddenly on the 2nd of May, 1975.
It was as impossible for Paddy to dissemble or compromise as it was to spare himself in the pursuit of his ideal. The driving force of his life and of his work for Zambia was his love of Christ. In the retreat that Fr John Sullivan gave us before our first vows in Emo, he said: “Any friend of the poor is a friend of Christ. It is the nature of the case”. Paddy both learned and lived that lesson. An dheis Dé go raibh a anam

Irish Province News 51st Year No 3 1976

Obituary :

Fr Patrick Walsh (1928-1975)

“Fr Paddy Walsh was amazingly and touchingly honoured by the nation when President Kaunda preached a eulogy of him at a funeral Mass on 13th May 1975. The huge Christian love that ‘KK’ displayed in his talk was wonderful to hear. There were few dry eyes in the Church”. (So runs a letter from Fr Lou Haven, S.J., Zambia.)
A Zambian newspaper article (by Times reporter') featuring the event says:
President Kaunda has vowed that he would fight tooth and nail to ensure that the rich did not grow richer and the strong stronger in Zambia. Dr Kaunda broke down and wept when he made the pledge before more than 400 people who packed Lusaka’s Roma cathedral to pay their last respects to missionary Fr Patrick Walsh who died in South Africa. He revealed that Fr Walsh, an old friend of his, had decided to leave Zambia because “we had failed in our efforts to build a classless society”. In an emotion-charged voice, Dr Kaunda told the hushed congregation: “Fr Walsh revealed to me in a long letter that he was disappointed with me, the Party, Government and people of Zambia. He had gone in protest because we were allowing classes to spring up in our society”.
The President, who several times lapsed into long silences, said: “Please, Fr Walsh, trust me as you know me. I will not allow the rich to grow richer and the strong to grow stronger”.
To the Kaundas, Fr Walsh meant “something”. He came to help when the President was in trouble because of his political beliefs. “Fr Walsh looked after my family when I was away from home for long periods due to the nature of my work ... What can I say about such a man? He drove Mrs Kaunda to Salisbury to see mę while I was in prison ... What can I say about such a man?” ... he asked, In 1966, Dr Kaunda decorated him with the rank of Officer of the Companion Order of Freedom. He was a Zambian citizen.
Fr Lou Haven adds: “Paddy had been the support of the President's family when many of his friends deserted him during the struggle for independence. Dr Kaunda often had to be away from his family for long stretches during that time, rousing the people hundreds of miles away to a desire for independence, and sitting in jail, Fr Walsh was father to his whole family for years.'

Fr Walsh arrived in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) in 1946, as one of the first two Irish Jesuits sent out here, the second being Fr PJT O'Brien.
An ardent Irishman, deeply steeped in Irish history and culture, he nevertheless wholeheartedly answered the Lord's call to leave his beloved Ireland and to go to the ends of the earth’ to serve his less fortunate brethren. First, as a scholastic, he was sent to China, but because of his poor health there seemed to be little hope of him every becoming a missionary. He was sent to Australia to recuperate his health, then back to Ireland. There he heard the appeal for help in Zambia, where the mission confided to the Polish Jesuits was in great difficulties as a result of the war and then of the post-war situation in Poland. He offered himself immediately, and was accepted. Arriving here in February, 1946, he gave his all to his newly-found mission, firstly in what was the apostolic prefecture, then the vicariate, and finally the archdiocese of Lusaka. He was appointed superior, first in Kabwe (then Broken Hill), then, after four years, in Chikuni. Finally, he was transferred to Lusaka as parish priest in St Francis Xavier's (“Regiment”, today St Charles Lwanga) church, where he re-roofed the old church and built the first parish-house. In 1958 he became my secretary, acting at the same time as chaplain to what was then called the African hospital, and as parish priest in Kabwata, where he built the first church.
It was not very easy to know and to understand Fr Walsh well. Only gradually I think that I succeeded sometimes in quite a painful way. But the more I knew him, the greater was my affection for him, and the respect for his character and qualities. Apart from his total dedication and the efficiency with which he applied himself to whatever duties were imposed on him, I admired his total disregard for himself. This became so evident to me when I had to supply for him in the hospital during his absence. Only when trying to do what he was doing day after day, week after week, did I realise what a hard task he took on himself as a “part time” occupation. For years he used to get up shortly after 4 a.m. to bring our Lord to the sick and to comfort the suffering. Every evening, once again he used to go to the hospital, to find out new cases and to hear confessions. He took particular care in baptising every child in danger of death.
The second quality which I admired so much in him was his feeling for the underprivileged. On seeing one who was poor or downtrodden, he automatically stood by him, and would not only show his sympathy openly, but would do everything in his power to assist him. It was not just sentiment that made him take such a stand, but a deep feeling for justice, on which he was absolutely uncompromising. I know of one case when, in spite of his sympathy towards the “liberation movements”, he completely broke off relations with one of them: he was convinced that they had committed an act of grave injustice against those whom they were fighting
I think that St Ignatius, who had such a great sense of loyalty, found a worthy son in Fr Walsh. Once he had given his loyalty to people or to a cause, he remained 100 per cent loyal. He gave his loyalty to Zambia and her people: he was absolutely, 100 per cent, loyal to them: some might have reason to say 105 per cent. I think this was typically Irish, in the best sense of the word. He gave his loyalty to the Lusaka mission - he remained absolutely loyal to it. On a more personal level, he gave his loyalty to me as his archbishop, and he was 100 per cent loyal - probably 105 per cent. I must mention yet another of his loyalties: he came here to help the Polish Jesuits in their need, and he was and remained absolutely loyal to them. Being a Polish Jesuit, I can never forget this.
I came to bid farewell to him before his departure from Zambia in 1973. I could not stay until his actual departure from the airport, because it was a Saturday, and I had to be back to say Mass in Mumbwa. He accompanied me to my car, then suddenly took me by the hand. All he could say was a whisper: “Pray for me"...and he nearly ran back to his room.
God called him since to Himself, I lost a loyal friend, and Zambia lost a very loyal son,

  • Adam Kozlowiecki, SJ, Chingombe, written on the first anniversary of Paddy's death

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1951

A Letter from Northern Rhodesia

Father Paddy Walsh SJ

My Dear Boys,

As I write these lines, my thoughts go back to my last year in Mungret when I first thought of devoting my life to the work of the African Missions. That was in 1928. But my wish to become a missionary in Africa was not fulfilled for many years afterwards and it was only in February, 1946, that I finally arrived in N Rhodesia. Eighteen years was a long time to have to wait, but I found on my arrival that there was plenty of work still to be done, and that even if God spared me for twenty or thirty years of missionary work, there would still be a lot to be done by those who came after me.

Northern Rhodesia is very much part of the “Dark Continent”. Comparatively few of its one and a half million people are Christians. Our mission covers an area of 65,000 square miles, or twice the size of Ireland. It extends from the great Zambesi river in the south to the borders of the Belgian Congo in the North. The African population numbers about 400,000 souls, and of these scarcely 6 per cent. have neen washed by the cleansing waters of Baptism.

The people of Northern Rhodesia are of the Bantu race, but while they may be classified as one race, they are divided into many distinct tribes, and each tribe has a distinct language of its own. There is, for example, the great Bemba tribe in the North; the language of the Bemba is Ci-Bemba. Then in the south there in the Tonga tribe who speak Ci-Tonga. The diversity of tribes and consequently of languages adds to the Northern Rhodesian Missionaries' difficulties. When he arrives on the mission for the first time he may find himself posted to a mission station among the Bemba, and so he sets himself to learn to the Bemba language. After a few years he may find him self transferred to another district - perhaps among the Tonga people, so once again he has to start to acquire another language,

The Tonga are a large tribe in the Southern Province of N Rhodesia, and it is among them that I am at present working. They are an agricultural people, racy of the soil, attached to their homes, and, unlike many other tribes, they like to remain in their villages, cultivate a littie plot of maize, and rear their cattle. The Ba-Tonga number about 125,000 and of these there are about 12,000 catholics. To preach the Gospel to this number of people, to attend to our 12,000 Christians, to travel over this large extent of country, we have only twelve priests! True it is that here as in most mission fields; “the harvest is great but the labourers are few”.

A large part of our missionary work is done through our village schools. These are staffed by African teachers who are trained at our own Teacher Training School. They teach the children the catechism and prepare them for baptism. When the missionary finds a group of children whom he considers sufficiently instructed, he brings them in to his mission-station and there gives them a few weeks final preparation for the sacrament of baptism. Then comes the inevitable examination, and each child has to be examined separately. We wish to baptise only those who show good promise of persevering as good solid Christians and who will be the foundation of the Catholic Church in N Rhodesia. So there are bound to be some who fail to pass the test, and it requires a hard heart to turn them away and tell them they must come again in a year's time. Many of these boys and girls may have walked a distance of forty miles to come to the mission for instruction and baptism. But I am glad to say that the numbers we have to send away unbaptised are few; the great majority are well instructed by their teachers, and to them we owe a great debt of gratitude for the part they play in helping us to do our missionary work.

The last group we had in here for baptims numbered about three hundred and the majority of them returned to their distant villages as children of God and heirs to the kingdom of heaven. When those children return to their villages they have to try to live a Christian life in the midst of pagan surroundings, live in the same house with fathers and mothers who are pagans, play with children who are pagans, and they are deprived of many of the helps and graces that are the heritage of every Irish boy and girl. For the greater part, in spite of such difficulties they persevere and remain true to their faith, The hope of the future Church of N. Rhodesia lies with them.

Next week I expect a group of boys and girls to come in for instruction and Baptism. They will come from the Zambesi valley, and will be the first group for Baptism from this area . . ... and so the work goes on-founding little Christian groups throughout the part of God's mission field entrusted to us.

Dear Boys, pray that these little groups will grow and flourish, so that before long the whole of this Pagan country may become part of the great Kingdom of Christ.

My special regards to all old Mungret men, and especially to those of the years 1924 1928.

I remain

Yours sincerely in Our Lord,

P J WALSH SJ

Walsh, Thomas Anthony, 1877-1952, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2225
  • Person
  • 25 July 1877-28 January1952

Born: 25 July 1877, South Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 07 September 1897, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 30 July 1911, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1913, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 28 January 1952, Mater Hospital Sydney - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Mary’s, Miller St, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1902 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1904

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Universally known as 'Tommy', Thomas Anthony Walsh was educated at Loreto Convent, Albert Park, Xavier College, and Clongowes, 1884-96. He entered the Society at Tullamore, 7 August, 1897, was a junior there and studied one year of philosophy at Louvain, 1901-02, before teaching at Xavier College in 1902. He went to Riverview, 1903-08, teaching and directing the choir. He was at various times second and third prefect and directed junior debating. He also produced Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Theology was studied at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1908-11, and tertianship at Tullabeg, 1911-12.
Walsh returned to Australia, spending a short time in the parish of Hawthorn and Richmond, and teaching at Riverview, St Patrick's College, and St Aloysius' College. However, he finally settled down and spent many years in the parish of North Sydney, 1920-51, were he was sometime minister. From 1943 he was also professor of sacred eloquence at the theologate, Canisius College, Pymble.
He always had a very beautiful singing voice, which he later trained into being a very mature and fine adult speaking voice. He was a very good amateur actor, and was a master of the art of elocution. His theatrical performances at Riverview gave him a fine reputation for dramatic directing. He loved Gilbert and Sullivan operas. However, he was not a good teacher.
His best years were in parish work, and he was much loved by the parishioners of North Sydney He was an excellent public speaker and much in demand as a preacher and a lecturer on Shakespeare. He was vice-president of the Shakespearean society. His sermons were solid, brief and clear. He had a one command of language, but would never use two words where one was sufficient. Microphones were not available to him, but he did not need them. He could fill a large hall with his voice, and yet seem to be speaking effortlessly.
Fellow Jesuits particularly valued him for his humor. When he was in company, laughter was never far away The slightly theatrical manner which he cultivated set off his wit, and he could tell a good story, not in itself very funny, but told in such a way as to convulse his hearers. On one occasion he cut his hand rather badly, and his narration of the doctor's ministrations and his reactions to them was worthy of Wodehouse. He could certainly turn the little misfortunes of life into occasions of laughter. When he died a spring of joy was taken from the Society.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 27th Year No 2 1952
Obituary :
Father Thomas Anthony Walsh (Australian Province)
Died January 28th, 1952
Fr. Thomas Anthony Walsh was born of Irish parents in South Melbourne, Australia, in 1877. His school days were spent at Xavier College, Kew, and at Clongowes Wood College. It was during his long vacations in Ireland that he was first introduced to the artistic, music and theatre-loving world of Dublin. The sparkling fun and merriment of those days he was never to lose. At the age of 20 he entered the Novitiate at Tullabeg, where he spent four years before going to Louvain to study philosophy. In 1902 he returned to Australia where he taught for five years at Riverview. In 1908 he came to Milltown Park for Theology and was ordained there in 1911. Returning to Australia in 1912 he worked for some years in Melbourne and in Sydney, until he went to North Sydney in 1921, where he remained until his death.
Fr. Walsh was one of the most distinguished preachers in Australia. He brought to his sermons a practical common-sense, a lightness of touch, the fruits of his travels, his great experience of men and women. and his wide reading.
There was one gift, however, that outshone all his talents and made him welcome everywhere, and that was his sense of humour and his ready wit. No one could be sad or sorry long while in his company. Humour lightened his sermons, yet brought home their lessons more vividly. His fund of stories for after-dinner or for public appeals was always at hand to draw upon, when conversation lagged or meetings were becoming dull.
It is no wonder then that Fr. Walsh during the long years of his apostolic ministry was invited to every corner of Australia to preach or to give retreats. Priests' retreats especially had he given in every diocese from Perth to Northern Queensland; and his occasional sermons were distinguished by magnificent elocution and choice of language modelled on the great preachers of his youth, Fr. Tom Burke, O.P., and Fr. Bernard Vaughan, S.J.
Fr. Walsh died at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, North Sydney, on January 28th, after an illness of but a few days, in his 75th year. For 30 years he had been attached to the Jesuit parish of St. Mary's, North Sydney, where rich and poor, saint and sinner, respected and loved him as a great priest and a wise friend.

◆ The Clongownian, 1948

Jubilee

Father Thomas A Walsh SJ

Those whose memories can travel back over fifty years to schoolboy associations with “Tommy” Walsh may conjure up an image suggested by Goldsmith's line “Twas only when off the stage he was acting”, and recall the stern frown of Fr James Daly, whose only theatre was the Intermediate Examination hall. Prefects of Studies may sometimes err, and the stage may, at times, be more effectively listed for the service of God than the paradigm of Greek verbs. The life of Fr Walsh is a good illustration.

Born in Australia, but born of Irish parents, the double strain of Irish geniality and “Advance Australia” was happily mingled in his blood. Early education in Xavier College, Melbourne, fostered the one : later years in Clongowes, and theological studies in Ireland enriched the other.

After matriculation in 1897 he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Tullamore. Almost from the very start various exercises in sermon practice give some inkling of a novice's possibilities in a pulpit. In the case of Tommy Walsh there could be no doubt : his powers of acting promised a preacher and lecturer of no mean calibre. In his priestly life he has richly fulfilled the promise.

In Jesuit land, however, the road leading to the pulpit is a long one. It may have detours pointing in other directions. Here much depends on the individual; he may keep in view a fixed goal, which will shape the issue of scholastic activities. Father Walsh did so. “Go teach all nations”, AMDG was the fingerpost for him. He followed ti conscientiously with the labour - and there is labour - entailed.

He read Philosophy at Louvain, in Belgium and on the completion of these studies, he returned to Australia, where he served his time as Lower Line Prefect, in Riverview, Sydney. He made full use of the opportunity to exercise his talent for the culture of the boys whom he guided, introducing them to Shakespeare and to Gilbert and Sullivan. He was the first to popularise Gilbert and Sullivan in Australia. For both audience and actors is staging of the plays was an object lesson.

After his ordination in Milltown Park, in 1911, when his mother presented as a memento the stained glass window over the Clongowes High Altar, Fr Walsh returned to Australia, in 1913. He laboured in Richmond, Melbourne; but for the past twenty-eight years he has worked in St Mary's parish, N Sydney. He has been a prominent preacher, lecturer, Radio broadcaster. By many he is regarded the foremost authority on Shakespeare in Australia. He has given many Retreats to Clergy, Religious, Laymen. All have been marked with the success merited by the diligent cultivation of a talent great for a Priest of God, when wholeheartedly used for God's glory. His old Clongowes friends wish him aany more years in this harvest field,

G B

◆ The Clongownian, 1952

Obituary

Father Thomas Anthony Walsh SJ

Father Thomas Walsh died last January. He was one of the most distinguished priests in the Southern Hemisphere, and a most loyal son of Clongowes, always interested in all that concerned her. The stained glass windows over the High. Altar of the Boys' Chapel were a gift to the school from his mother on the occasion of his ordination to the priesthood. His sudden death caused great sorrow among his innumerable friends all over Australia and at his obsequies the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop O'Brien, and over two hundred priests were present. We print below a notice by Father Richard Murphy, and an impression kindly communicated to us by Father Bodki.

I

On Monday, January 28th at five o'clock in the afternoon death came suddenly to Father T A Walsh - Father Tommy Walsh to so many. He had been ill for some days. The doctor had sent him to hospital on the previous Thursday. During the following days he seemed to be doing well and no one expected the coronary occlusion which took him from us with such tragic suddenness. On Monday his condition did not cause anxiety. He chatted cheerfully with two of his Jesuit colleagues who visited him during the forenoon. About five o'clock his tea was brought to him and he partook of it. A few minutes after his tea a nurse entered and noticed a change in him. She at once called a senior nurse. It was now evident that he was dying. The matron was hurriedly sent for and a priest who was at hand anointed him, By then it was all over. Father Walsh had gone to God.

Father Walsh was born in Melbourne on January 27th, 1877. His first schooling took place at the Kindergarten School belonging to the Loreto Nuns at Albert Park, South Melbourne. When old enough he was sent to Xavier College, Kew. He was noted in those early days for a very beautiful singing voice to be developed in the years to come into that wonderful speaking voice which held spellbound his hearers throughout all parts of Australia.

From Xavier College he was sent to Ireland and entered at Clongowes Wood College the leading Jesuit College in that country.

Having completed his studies at Clongowes he returned for a short visit to Australia. He had already made up his mind to join the Society of Jesus. He returned to Ireland and entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on 7th September, 1899. Having finished his noviceship and his university course he came back to Australia where he joined the staff at St Ignatius College, Riverview. His years there are still remembered for the excellent productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas under the direction of Father Walsh.

From his early years Father Walsh had a noted love for both Shakespeare and for Gilbert and Sullivan. He had attained a wonderful knowledge of Shakespeare and became one of the best interpreters of the great poet in this country. He was vice president of the Shakespearean Society at the time of his death.

After five years work at Riverview he returned to Europe. He did his higher studies partly at Louvain and partly at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained in 1911.

Back in Australia after ordination he was stationed for a short time at Riverview. He was transferred from there to the Parish of St Ignatius, Melbourne. Already he was marked out as a preacher gifted above the ordinary.

In January, 1920, he was appointed to St Mary's, North Sydney. This proved to be his last appointment. Except to give retreats, lectures or occasional sermons, Father Walsh never left North Sydney till God called him thirty-two years later.

And how he endeared himself to aļl during those years and what a tower of strength he was to St Mary's! Older members of the parish can recall the great nights when Manresa Hall was packed to hear Father Walsh on Joan of Arc, or Irish wit and humour, or some other subject,

Many more will recall the spontaneous outburst of regard and affection with which the parishioners greeted Father Walsh in the same hall on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee a few years ago.

How greatly he edified the people of this parish and how deeply they loved him was borne out by the universal sorrow and sense of loss felt by everyone when the news of his death became public.

Father Walsh was a holy Jesuit, a devoted priest and an outstanding preacher. He was also a staunch friend. Always bright, cheerful and often humourous he had a kindly greeting for everyone and never held back the helping hand when appealed to. Many there are who could bear witness to acts of kindness done in secret and to a friendship that was as : sincere as it was unostentatious.

Father Walsh died beloved of all and his years were full of labours for God and the souls of men. We have no doubt he heard the welcome of Christ His Master when his eyes closed upon this world at the Mater Hospital on January 28th. R.I.P.

R J Murphy SJ

II

Whatever the Calendar said, Father Tommy Walsh was not an old man when the writer of these words first met him in Australia six or seven years ago. Rather short of stature he had nevertheless so handsome and vital an expression, the snowy white hair lent such dignity to a fresh complexion, that he had beyond question a commanding presence. One was not surprised to hear from the very highest authority that he was considered the best preacher on the continent. But it was rather his genial and kindly welcome that the stranger will remember. However long it was since Fr Tommy Walsh had left our shores he had in his blood something of that quality which has won us the title Ireland of the welcomes. All Australians are hospitable. Fr Walsh was as it were hospitable in double measure.

Born an Australian and remaining a perfect type of that friendly people Fr Tommy Walsh had parents so strongly Irish that though they acknowledged that Australia had excellent schools they preferred to sent their small son half round the world to make him a Clongownian.

A Clongownian he certainly became for he succeeded without effort in combining that loyalty to the home land and the country of his birth which is the pride of Irishmen of the diaspora. That very day of our meeting he took me, with two good cigars for the big occasion, to the balcony of the Jesuit house of St Mary's, North Sydney and settled down contentedly to hear the news of old friends, Fr Frank Browne, Fr O'Connor, Fr Jimmie McCann. It delighted him that as a boy I had met his heroes Fr Willie Delaney, Fr John Conmee, Fr Tom Nolan, and of course before all names Fr “Tim” Fegan's was in honour. When we had chatted for a bit he left the veranda and returned with a precious possession, the diary he had kept as a schoolboy in Clongowes. The stranger, but how friendly a one, among us had been keeping notes. It was not to be expected that the schoolboy's pages would adumbrate the wit and culture of the mature man. Rather he ruffled its pages to excite his memory with name and date. It was clear the memories were all happy ones. He closed it reluctantly. He was a very busy man, To all the work that fell on his shoulders as one of a small group of priests who staffed the lovely church of St Mary's he added many services to the archdiocese of Sydney and beyond.

He was then a well-known man. But I think he was even more a well-loved one. Partly it was his wit, we should like to say his Irish wit, that quality it is so hard to catch on paper. It stayed with him even in the pulpit. Denouncing one day the silliness of Catholics who forgot the saints and named their daughters for jewels and fiowers and the calendar, the silver-haired orator paused for a devastating rhetorical question. “Pearl, Ruby, April, June”, he said with rising contempt, “how do you think I should feel if my mother had called me October Walsh?”

It is hard to believe he is gone, he was so full of life and vitality. I can remember that as we parted at the little wicket gate of the presbytery garden, I drew myself up and saluted him naval fashion, and with twinkling eyes he returned the salute as smartly as any rear-admiral. I only wish as a Clongownian to salute once more in these pages a very noble and kindly priest and a very loyal son of Clongowes,

MB

Walshe, Charles, 1824-1901, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/447
  • Person
  • 31 October 1824-20 October 1901

Born: 31 October 1824, Naas, County Kildare
Entered: 26 October 1847, Toulouse, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 1859
Final Vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 20 October 1901, Mungret College, County Limerick

by 1857 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) Studying Theology
by 1859 at Vals, France (TOLO) Studying Theology
by 1864 at Tournai, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1865 in East Hardwick, Yorkshire, England - St Michael’s Leeds (ANG)
by 1866 at Church of the Assumption, Chesterfield, England - Mount St Mary’s (ANG)
by 1872 at St Ignatius, Bournemouth (ANG) working
by 1873 at Skipton, Yorkshire - St Michaels (ANG) studying
by 1875 at St Beuno’s Wales, Rhyl Parish (ANG) working
by 1882 at Beaumont (ANG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he was sent to Clongowes for Regency as Prefect of Discipline. He seems to have been a great success. He was a strong man, and was both liked and feared.
1856 He was sent to the South of France.
1857 He did First year Theology at St Beuno’s, 2nd at Nth Frederick St Dublin, and his 3rd at Vals. He told many funny stories about his living experiences in Dublin and Vals.
After Ordination he was sent to teach at Clongowes.
1862-1864 He was sent to teach at Belvedere, and then made his Tertianship the following year.
1865-1867 He was sent on the Scottish Mission, and also on the Preston Mission.
1867-1872 He was sent as Minister to Tullabeg.
1872 He was sent back on the English Mission, first to Skipton, Yorks, and then to Rhyl in Wales, where he took charge of a Jesuit Church and Parish for 10 years (1873-1883). He did a good job in Rhyl, and was engaged with Catholics and Protestants alike there, with a genial and cheerful disposition.
1883 The latter years of his life were spent at Tullabeg, Dromore, Gardiner St and finally Mungret until his death there 20 October 1901. Though only a short time confined to bed, he seemed convinced of his impending death. he suffered a lot in his final hours, bot bore it with great patience. The night before he died he said “Do you know, I am not a bit afraid of death”. In his last hours, though in pain, he prayed continuously. After he received the Last Rites on the morning of 20/10, he immediately became unconscious, and the he died peacefully.
Those who knew “Charlie” never forgot the sudden “flashes of merriment” that would have any gathering in fits of laughter. “He possessed the keenest good humour and greatest good nature”. Even at his last, his humour did not fail him, even as he lay suffering. I translating the old French Ballad “Griselidis et Sire Gaultier”, critics considered the far-famed Father Prout. He was an accomplished French Scholar, with an almost perfect accent, drawing praise from no less a French Jesuit Preacher Père Gustave Delacroix de Ravignan. he was also considered to have an old world charm which complemented his sense of humour.

Underneath the sophistication, he was a simple man of deep piety, who suffered at times from little depressive bouts.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Charles Walshe 1826-1901
On October 20th 1901 died Fr Charles Walshe, aged 75 and having lived 54 years in the Society. Born in 1826 he was educated at Clongowes, and entered the Society in 1847.

His early years as a Jesuit were spent in Clongowes, both as a Prefect and Master. He was one of those who studied Theology at the short-lived House of Studies in North Frederick Street Dublin.

He spent many years on the missions in Scotland and England, in Preston, Skipton and Rhyl. He spent the closing years of his life in Mungret.

“He possessed” writes one who knew him well “the keenest humour and the greatest good nature”. His taste in literary matters was most refined. His translation of the old French ballad “Griselidis at Sire Gaultier” not merely rivalled, but surpassed in beauty and elegance of diction, that of the far-famed “Father Prout”. He was an accomplished French scholar and was congratulated on his perfect pronunciation in that language by the famous preacher Père de Ravignan.

The hours immediately preceding his death were hours of intense pain, which he bore with patient fortitude and resignation. The night before he died, speaking to one of the Fathers, he remarked “Do you know, I do not feel a bit afraid of death”. Having received the Extreme Unction, he became unconscious, and shortly afterwards passed peacefully to his eternal rest, having spent his last hours in close and fervent union with God.

◆ The Clongownian, 1902

Obituary

On October 20th, at Mungret College, Limerick, the holy and happy death of Father Charles Walshe SJ, took place. He had just completed his Seventy-fifth year, and had spent fifty-four years in religion.

Fr Walshe vas the son of an army surgeon, who, when he retired from the service, enjoyed a large practice at Naas, and became one of the most popular and best known men in the County Kildare. At the age of fourteen Father Walshe came to Clongowes as a boy, and in 1847, when he had completed his course of studies, he entered the Society. Before his Theological studies, which he went through in the south of France, and at St Bueno's in Wales, he had been Prefect and Master in his Alma Mater. After his ordination he again returned to Clongowes, but does not appear to have been stationed long there as in 1862 he was on the staff at Belvedere College, and in 1865 and 1866 he was on the missions in England. The next year he returned to Ireland and was appointed Minister at Tullabeg.

For ten years (1873-83) Father Walshe was in charge of the church and residence of the Society at Rhyl, North Wales, where he did much good work. His genial disposition and kindly good nature won for him a host of friends, and enabled him to exercise an influence for good over the somewhat floating population of the town, both Catholic and Protestant, that few could hope to have attained. He was subsequently stationed at Tullabeg, Dromore and Limerick, and in 1894 he went to .Mungret, where he spent the closing years of his career. God tried him towards the end with many sufferings that served, no doubt, to purify his soul and prepare him for the happy, holy death, that put the seal upon a life of fifty-four years spent in the Society.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1901

Obituary

Fr Charles Walshe SJ

On the 20th October the holy and happy death of Fr Charles Walshe took place. He had just completed the seventy-fifth year of his age and the fifty-fourth of his religious life; having been born, been received into the Society, and died in the month of October. Though he was for only a comparatively short time confined to his bed before his death, he seems to have been convinced of his approaching end. The hours immediately preceding it were hours of great, pain which he bore with patient fortitude and resignation. The night before he died, speaking to one of the fathers, he remarked, “Do you know, I do not feel a bit afraid of death”. As the hours of darkness wore slowly on, and the intensity of his pain increased, he prayed continually, in a manner, that, says one who was present, “was most touching and edifying”, repeating the Sacred Names with a continuity, and an intensity of feeling, that bespoke the fervour of the heart within. In the early grey of the October morning he received the Extreme Unction, and almost immediately became unconscious. A little afterwards he passed calmly and peacefully to his eternal rest, having spent his last hours in close and fervent union with God.

In Father Walshe, or “Father Charlie”, as we loved to call him, we have lost as kindly, and as genial a spirit as ever lived. Who is there that knew him, that can ever forget what Shakespeare calls the sudden “flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table in a roar”? To few indeed, may Hamlet's description more justly be applied, He was, in truth, a man of “infinite wit, of most excellent fancy”. “He possessed", writes one who knew him well, “the keenest humour, and the greatest good nature”. Even to the last his fund of humour never failed him, Despite the grim approach of death, and the grievous sufferings that so sorely tried him, the witty word would drop at times, one would almost say. unwittingly, from his lips.

Yet, underneath it all there was the simple, child-like piety, and the solid virtue deeply seated in the heart, that marks the genuine son of St Ignatius. For many years before his death he was, like most men of remarkably keen humour, a victim to occasional depression of spirits, and this, together with the physical suffering arising from extremely feeble health, afforded him no trifling occasion of practising patience and amassing merit.

Father Walshe was born on the 13th Oct., 1826. His father, who had been an army Surgeon, settled later on in Naas, in the County Kildare, where he had a large practice, and was one of the most popular and best known men in the county, On leaving Clongowes, where he was educated, young Charles Walshe entered the Society in October, 1847, at the age of twenty-one.

Shortly after finishing his novitiate he was, in 1851, appointed Prefect of Discipline in his Alma Mater. As Prefect he seems to have been a great success. He was pre-eminently a strong man, and the boys liked as well as feared him. The year 1856 he spent in the South of France. His Theological studies seem to have been rather interrupted. The first year (1857) was spent at St Beuno's in North Wales, the second in the House of Studies at Frederick Street, Dublin, and the rest in Vals. Many were the witty anecdotes and laughable adventures that he had to tell about his residence in these two latter places.

On the completion of his Theology, Father Walshe went, first as Prefect and then as Master, to Clongowes. In the summer of 1862 he was transferred to Belvedere, where he remained as Professor till his Tertianship. The years 1865 and 1866, following his years of Third Probation, found him on the mission in Scotland, and then in Preston. In 1867 he was Minister in Tullabeg. In 1872 he returned to the English missions, first in Skipton, and then the following year in Rhyl, where he remained in charge of the handsome little church and residence of the Jesuit Fathers of the English Province for the next ten years (1873-'83). In Rhyl Father Walshe did excellent work. His genial disposition and kindly good nature won for him a host of friends, and enabled him to exercise an influence for good over the somewhat floating population of the town, both Catholic and Protestant, that few could hope to have attained. The latter years of his life were spent between Tullabeg, Dromore, and Gardiner Street, till finally he came to Mungret in the year 1894. Here, as has been seen, he spent the closing years of his career. God tried him towards the end with many sufferings, that served, no doubt, to purify his soul and prepare him for the happy, holy death that put the seal upon a life of fifty-four years spent in the Society.

Father Walshe possessed intellectual qualifications of a high order. His taste in literary matters was most refined. His translation of the old French Ballad of “Griselidis et Sir Gaultier”, not merely rivalled, but, in the opinion of competent critics, much surpassed in beauty and elegance of diction that of the far-famed “Father Prout”. He was an accomplished French scholar, and was congratulated on his perfect pronunciation of that language by a critic no less exacting than the famous Jesuit preacher, Père de Ravignan. To refinement of intellect he added in a rather remarkable degree refinement and elegance of manner. The old world courtesy of manner, that adds such a charm to social life, sat so naturally upon him that it seemed inherent in his nature. With “Father Charlie” has passed away one of the few survivors of another age, and of another order of ideas, whose lives are as a precious link between us : and the past. May he rest in everlasting peace!

J McD

Walshe, James Gerald, 1841-1913, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/435
  • Person
  • 11 November 1841-22 April 1913

Born: 11 November 1841, Ballinakill, County Laois
Entered: 15 October 1862, Roehampton, London (Anglia Province for Misouriana Province (ANG for MIS))
Ordained: 1873, Woodstock, Maryland, USA
Final Vows: 15 August 1876
Died: 22 April 1913, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin - Misouriana Province (MIS)

by 1886 came to Milltown (HIB) as Minister, Procurator and in charge of Church

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Carlow College and he went from there to Roehampton.

He went to work in the Missouri Province where he taught successfully in the Colleges and he was Ordained at Woodstock.
After Ordination he continued teaching in the Colleges, and was then appointed Rector of Detroit College.
1883 He visited Father General, and a year or two later came to Ireland.
He was first appointed as Minister for a year at Milltown.
He was finally sent to Gardiner St, where he remained until his death there 22 April 1913. His death came with great sadness. he had been actively engaged in his duties until 18/04, when symptoms of pneumonia developed, and he died very peacefully on 22 April.
He was a most assiduous and earnest worker. He was devoted to the Confessional and the Men’s Sodality. He also had charge of the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, and was beloved by all classes, especially the working men. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was his dearest work. He also took charge of the Apostleship of Prayer and faithfully preached to its members every First Friday.
During twenty-eight years at Gardiner St he constantly urged daily Communion, and as the people declared, he was ahead of the Pope in promoting this. I addition to all this work he was a great worker for charity, and was largely responsible for instituting the famous “Penny Dinners”. Week after week he went round the houses looking after any absent members of his Sodality.
Some 500 men gave up half a day of pay to attend his funeral, at which they marched four deep. When the grave was closed the choir of the Men’s Confraternity and the Benedictus. Indeed one of the chief singers in that group caught a chill there and died the following week.

The following telegram was received from Patrick Brady MP at the House of Commons, who was one of his Penitents :
“Heartfelt sympathy with you and your community on the death of my loved friend Father Walshe. - Patrick Brady.”

Note from James Fottrell Entry :
He also succeeded James Walshe as Manager of the Penny Dinners.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father James G Walshe SJ 1841-1913
Fr James G Walshe was born in County Laois on November 11th 1841. He received his early education at Carlow College, whence he passed to Roehampton in 1862. He joined the Missouri Province of the Society where he ultimately became Rector of Detroit College.

He visited Fr General in 1883, and a year or so later, he came to the Irish Province. His life in Ireland was spent in Gardiner Street. There, his great work was the propagation of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, directing the Apostleship of Prayer and giving the Holy Hour on the 1st Fridays. During 28 years he spent in Gardiner Street he constantly urged daily Communion, long before the practice was promulgated by St Pius X.

Besides all these works, he was an ardent worker for charity, and was largely responsible for the establishment of that admirable institution “The Penny Dinners”. Week after week he went the round of the houses looking for absent members of his great Sodality.

He fell sick on April 18th, developed pneumonia and died peacefully on April 22nd 1913. Some 500 men gave up their half-day’s pay to attend his funeral, at which they marched four deep.

Walshe, James, 1617-1650, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2226
  • Person
  • 31 August 1617-04 June 1650

Born: 31 August 1617, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 16 May 1639, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 05 April 1645, Douai, France
Died: 04 June 1650, County Waterford - described as a Martyr of Charity

Parents John and Isabelle (Esmay) Browne.
Studied Grammar and Humanities 6 years, Philosophy 2 years under Jesuits (Have Cavell was his Prof)
Admitted to Soc by Fr Nugent (Provincial of Ireland) 1636
1639 At Theology in Belgium 15 May 1639
1642 At Lille Repeats
1645 Ordained and in 3rd year Theology at Douai
1649 Not in Catalogue

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1649 In Waterford ; “Valde ingeniosus et animi valde candidi”. Mercure Verdier, Visitor to the Irish Mission, in his Report to the General on the Irish Mission 1641-1650, describes him as being aged 33, of good abilities, perfect candour, and a lover of religious discipline.
1650 He died a "Martyr of Charity’, attending the plague-stricken in Waterford, where the pestilence was raging. (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS). His fellow labourer, George Dillon survived him but two months.
“Of great holiness, learning and ability; converted many heretics to the faith; was very dear to the citizens of Waterford” (Father Yong and Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of John and Ismaele née Browne
Had studied Humanities with the Jesuits in Dublin, and then Philosophy with Henry MacCavell before Ent 16 May 1639 Tournai
1641-1646 After First Vows he completed his Philosophy at Lille and then was sent to Douai for Theology where he was Ordained 05 April 1645
1646 Sent to Ireland and Waterford where he was teaching. Mercure Verdier, in his 1649 Report to the General described him as a man of exemplary religious observance. He died at Waterford 04 June 1650, a martyr of charity in the service of the plague-stricken

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WALSH, JAMES, was living at Waterford in 1649. Pere Verdier describes him as being 33 years of age, of good abilities, of perfect candour, and a lover of Religious Discipline. On the 3rd of June, 1659, this Apostolic Father fell a victim of charity in attending persons infected with the plague, when pestilence ravaged that City.

Walshe, John D, 1847-1930, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2227
  • Person
  • 18 March 1847-21 October 1930

Born: 18 March 1847, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow
Entered: 13 April 1873, Milltown Park, Dublin (HIB for TAUR) - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Ordained 28 August 1886, Woodstock College MD, USA
Final vows: 02 February 1891
Died: 21 October 1930, San José, CA USA - Californiae Province (CAL)

Transcribed HIB to TAUR: 1874; TAUR to CAL: 1909

Ward, Eugene A, 1906-1976, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/437
  • Person
  • 15 November 1906-20 January 1976

Born: 15 November 1906, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 November 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 20 January 1976, Our Lady of Victories, Floral Park, New York NY, USA

Unlce of Séamus - RIP 2011

Early education at O’Connell’s School, Dublin and completed 1st Arts in Commerce at UCD before entry

by 1933 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1973 at Hoylake MA, USA (NEN) working
by 1976 at Floral Park NY, USA (NEB) working

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Eugene Ward, S.J.
R.I.P.

Who taught in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, in the early 1930s, died recently in the U.S.A., aged 69. Even after four decades, some elderly gentlemen will remember the energy and personal interest with which he overwhelmed them long ago.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 13 February 1976

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 51st Year No 2 1976

Obituary :

Fr Eugene Ward (1906-1976)

Eugene Ward will always be remembered by his contemporaries and friends as a man of tremendous energy and of boundless zeal for souls. He was a born organiser. He was one of the group of scholastics who were the last to study Philosophy in Milltown Park before the transfer of the Philosophate to Tullabeg in 1930. During that year in Milltown Eugene was treasurer of the Ricci Mission Unit founded a year or so before by Frs C Daly, N Roche and Dick Harris. Needless to say the Unit proved a marvellous springboard for Eugene's organising activities. When our coming departure for Tullabeg was officially announced, the problem of transposing the Ricci Mission Unit and its effects arose. Eugene, of course, had a master plan. I, the secretary, was sent into Gardiner Street to see Fr Provincial to ask leave to go by car (a most unusual and unheard of thing in those days), in two stages, first to Roscrea monastery on Saturday; stop the night there and proceed to Tullabeg on Sunday, I remember well Fr Fahy’s beetling eyebrows moving up and down as he said to me, “You may go, but only on one condition - that you do not stop there”.
Then followed two happy years in the Bog (Tullabeg). Grim according to modern standards but happy, with our sketches on Feast Days and plays at Christmas; great villa days on Thursdays, out in the boats on the canal and rivers, to Pollagh, Three Rivers, Shannon Harbour and further.
At the conclusion of the Philosophical Course, Eugene put his zeal into practice and departed to our foreign mission in Hong Kong, where he had full outlet for his missionary spirit but for reasons of health (he was plagued all his life with stomach trouble though physically of great vigour), he never returned to the mission after his tertianship in Rathfarnham, For the rest of his hard-working life he was assigned to pastoral work, Retreats and Missions. His spell in Rathfarnham as Director of Retreats easily compared with that of Fr Barrett, the founder. He built up into a very effective organisation the Knights of Loyola, a lay group dedicated to help the Retreat House.
For five years he was operarius in St. Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, where he lived up to his reputation for work and drive as preacher, confessor and director of Sodalities. His talents as Retreat House Director were again called upon in Manresa Retreat House, where he refurbished the old stables and made them into rooms, and thereby increased the accommodation for Retreatants. After Manresa he spent the rest of his life on the Retreat Staff, with special attention to the Apostleship of Prayer, Our Lady's Sodality and the Blessed Sacrament Crusade, the latter which he worked up very effectively in colleges, schools and institutions throughout the country. During these years of ceaseless work, he had at various times serious illnesses sometimes involving surgery, but they never seemed to sap his energy, though in appearance he grew rather gaunt and emaciated. Finally, in 1971 he went to the United States to fill a need of the diocese of Springfield, Mass. He served at the Church of Our Lady of Victory, Long Island, and also teaching Philosophy at the College of Our Lady of the Elms, Holyoke, Mass. Before Christmas he grew mortally ill and died on January 20th, 1976. He was 50 years in the Society and 37 years a priest.
Eugene was first, last and foremost an apostolic priest who spent his life working for souls. It is no mere pious cliché to say of him that he passed to his Maker, a Jesuit full of merit leaving behind him in Ireland, England, Hong Kong and the States very very many who thank God for his help and ministrations.
“Euge, euge, serve bone et fidelis, intra in gaudium Domini tui”.

Ward, John, 1704-1775, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2229
  • Person
  • 02 February 1704-12 October 1775

Born: 02 February 1704, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 28 October 1725, Madrid, Spain - Toletanae Province (TOLE)
Ordained: 1734, Murcia, Spain
Final Vows: 24 February 1742, Clonmel
Died: 12 October 1775, Dublin City, County Dublin

Superior of Mission 1760-1773

1768-1770 Superior of Ireland (Arch Ir Coll Rom XIX 97,102)
“Method” (ie of conversing with God) translated by Fr Ward SJ was published again by P Wogan 1799 at Dublin, and an irish version of it in Maynooth (Vol 97) “Mod labartha le Dia, Aistrighe ón Fraincis le PW do choimthinól Iosa”. Clodbualite le P Vhogán a m-Ath Cliatrh 1799. Iar n-a chur Ó Saxbeurla a nGaoildelg le Micheál Ó Longain is an mbliain 1834 (p815 Foley)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1736/8 Sent to Ireland
1752/5 Superior of Dublin Residence and Preacher
1768-1773 Superior of Irish Mission. He received Fr Betagh’s Final Vows. With General Ricci’s permission, he sent a considerable sum of money to relieve the Italian Fathers at the Suppression. Cardinal Marefoschi tried in vain to arrest him and obtain his money, which he had held for Irish ex-Jesuits. (cf Father Bracken’s MS. Hist., and Thorpe’s Letters)
Probably the author of “Method of Conversing with God” Translated from the French by John Ward.
Writer; Superior of Mission; Taught Philosophy in Dublin for two years

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied Humanities at the Dublin Jesuit School before Ent 28 October 1725 Madrid
1727-1734 After First Vows he was sent for studies to Murcia where he was Ordained 1734
1734-1738 After a year of Tertianship he taught Philosophy at Palencia
1738 Sent to Ireland and Dublin where he taught at the Jesuit School and gave classes in Philosophy after the death of Canon John Harold
He succeeded Stephen Ussher as Superior of the Dublin Residence and was Consultor of the Mission for many years.
1760 Superior of Irish Mission. It was the time when the enemies of the Society were uniting their forces to procure its extinction. His advice to his companions was “God tries his elect, as gold in the furnace, and in this manner finds them worthy of Himself”. He was the last Superior of the Irish Mission when the Society was suppressed, and was one of the signatories of the acceptance of the Papal Bull of Suppression 07 February 1774.
Like many other Jesuits of the day, they were convinced of the innocence of the Society, and also that it would some day be restored. During the remainder of his life he was trustee of the ex-Jesuit funds which were carefully administered in the hope that they might help the Mission when restored at some future date.
He died at Dublin 12 October 1775

◆ Fr Joseph McDonnell SJ Past and Present Notes :
16th February 1811 At the advance ages of 73, Father Betagh, PP of the St Michael Rosemary Lane Parish Dublin, Vicar General of the Dublin Archdiocese died. His death was looked upon as almost a national calamity. Shops and businesses were closed on the day of his funeral. His name and qualities were on the lips of everyone. He was an ex-Jesuit, the link between the Old and New Society in Ireland.

Among his many works was the foundation of two schools for boys : one a Classical school in Sall’s Court, the other a Night School in Skinner’s Row. One pupil received particular care - Peter Kenney - as he believed there might be great things to come from him in the future. “I have not long to be with you, but never fear, I’m rearing up a cock that will crow louder and sweeter for yopu than I ever did” he told his parishioners. Peter Kenney was to be “founder” of the restored Society in Ireland.

There were seventeen Jesuits in Ireland at the Suppression : John Ward, Clement Kelly, Edward Keating, John St Leger, Nicholas Barron, John Austin, Peter Berrill, James Moroney, Michael Cawood, Michael Fitzgerald, John Fullam, Paul Power, John Barron, Joseph O’Halloran, James Mulcaile, Richard O’Callaghan and Thomas Betagh. These men believed in the future restoration, and they husbanded their resources and succeeded in handing down to their successors a considerable sum of money, which had been saved by them.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962

John Ward (1760-1774)

John Ward was born at Dublin on 2nd February, 1704. Having studied humanities at the Society's College of Dublin, he went to Spain, and entered the Novitiate of Madrid on 28th October, 1725. In 1727 he was sent to the College of Murcia, where he made his simple vows as a scholastic on 1st November, 1727, and spent the next eight years of his life at philosophy and theology and his tertianship. He was Professor of Philosophy in the College of Plasencia from 1735 to 1730, when he returned to Ireland. He was stationed in Dublin, and engaged in teaching Latin and philosophy in our college in that city. On 24th February, 1742, he made his solemn profession of four vows in the Jesuit church at Clonmel. He was Superior of the Dublin Residence and Consultor of the Mission for many years. He was appointed Superior of the Mission about the beginning of the year 1760. It was a time when the enemies of the Society were uniting their forces to procure its extinction. Fr Ward's advice to his subjects was: “God tries his elect, as gold in the furnace, and in this manner finds then worthy of Himself”. He was still Superior of the Mission when the blow fell, and he submitted himself to the Papal Brief, and subscribed a document, signed on 7th February, 1774, by the members of the Society in Dublin, accepting the Pope's decision. Conscious of the innocence of the Society, Fr Ward and the other Irish Fathers were convinced that the Society would one day be restored, and in that hope they resolved to save what they could until such time as the Holy See would re-incorporate them. Fr Ward was appointed trustee by his companions, but he did not survive long, for he died at Dublin on 12th October, 1775.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father John Ward 1704-1775
Fr John Ward was the last Superior of the Mission before the Suppression of the Society, ending a line which began with Fr Christopher Holywood, and numbering 32 Superiors, some holding office for a second time.

He was educated at our College in Dublin, where he was born in 1704. His studies were completed in Spain, where he entered the Society at Madrid in 1725.

Returning to Ireland in 1738, he taught Latin and Philosophy in our Dublin school. After being Superior of the Dublin Residence for many years, he was made Superior of the Mission in 1760, a post which he held for fourteen years.

Convinced that the Society would be restored, he, together with the remaining Irish Fathers, resolved to save whatever possessions they had. Fr Ward was appointed Trustee, but he died soon after in Dublin, on October 12th 1775.

To him is attribute the translation of a work in French, entitled “A Method of Conversing with God”.

◆ MacErlean Cat Miss HIB SJ 1670-1770
Loose Note : John Ward Mission Superior
Those marked with
were working in Dublin when on 07 February 1774 they subscribed their submission to the Brief of Suppression
John Ward was unavoidably absent and subscribed later
Michael Fitzgerald, John St Leger and Paul Power were stationed at Waterford
Nicholas Barron and Joseph Morony were stationed at Cork
Edward Keating was then PP in Wexford

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WARD, JOHN, born in the County of Dublin, in 1705; at the age of 19, and on the 18th of October, 1724, entered the Society in the Province of Toulouse; was admitted to the solemn Profession of his Order, on the 24th of February, 1742. I find by the catalogue of 1755, that he had been on the Mission then for the last seventeen years, and was Superior of his Brethren in Dublin. Obit 12th of October, 1775.

Ward, Kieran J, 1893-1972, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/274
  • Person
  • 02 September 1893-12 June 1972

Born: 02 September 1893, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 2 February 1929. Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 12 June 1972, Galway Regional Hospital, Galway

Part of the Coláiste Iognáid, Galway community at the time of death

by 1917 at St Aloysius, Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1928 at St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 47th Year No 3 1972

St Ignatius College, Galway
News has just come of Father Ward's death, after a very short illness, in the Regional Hospital, on the morning of June 12th. He was on the threshold of celebrating his 60th year in the Society.
The Concelebrated Requiem Mass on 14th June was in Irish. Fr O'Shea (nephew) was the First Concelebrant, assisted by Fr Provincial and Fr Rector, Fourteen priests took part in the Concelebrated Mass, many of them old friends of Fr Ward from other houses. Ar láimh dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Obituary :
Fr Ciarán Mac an Bháird SJ (1893-1972)
Fr Ward died in Galway Regional Hospital after a brief illness on Monday, the 12th June, in his 79th year.
His father, Timothy, was a Galway man, but Fr Ward was born in Belfast, where he attended St. Patrick's Christian Brothers School. He completed his secondary education at Belvedere College, Dublin, and entered the Noviceship in Rahan, Tullamore, just sixty years ago in the 7th September, 1912.
After his studies in Rathfarnham he went to Jersey for Philosophy. Owing to the war and danger of conscription he was transferred to Milltown Park to complete the last year of Philosophy, after which he taught in Clongowes from 1919 to 1923. He then returned to Milltown Park for theology and was ordained in 1926. He finished his studies in St Beuno's College, North Wales, and then returned to Clongowes to teach there for three years.
In 1931 he was transferred to the Sacred Heart College, Limerick. He proved himself a very efficient teacher especially in Irish, French and Latin. In addition to this he was Assistant Prefect of Studies, Master of Ceremonies and Minister. As Master of Ceremonies he had charge of the Mass Servers whom he trained with very special care and attention. Many of the congregation commented on the devotion and reverence of the boys under his care.
He was also keenly interested in Drama and produced operettas each year in Irish for Prize Day. He had a special gift of being able to communicate his own personal talent as an actor to the boys he chose for his plays. In addition to all this work he organised each summer groups of boys to spend Irish-speaking holidays in the Kerry Gaeltacht at Ballyferriter and Baile na nGall. In all these activities Fr E Andrews was his ever faithful associate as later in Galway where they again combined energies.
He came to Galway in September 1941 and for 21 years, in addition to full teaching work, he was Adj Pref Studies and Master of Ceremonies in the Church. In this latter work he maintained the high standard of training of Mass Servers which he had reached in the Crescent.
He also continued his former interest in Musical Drama and produced Operettas in Irish each year for prize day. His Drama Groups won many first places at the Féile Drámaíochta in the Taibhdhearc. Many of those dramas he translated from French into Irish.
He carried on Fr Ó Brolcháin's work of training the boys in Irish dancing and his groups won prizes for their four-hand reels,
He was marked down in the Catalogue as “Doc an. 48” and all these years he was completely dedicated to this work. With his great gifts he was a man of singular reserve and self-effacement.
His special interest in promoting the use of Irish as a spoken language in the College had remarkable results and an Inspector from the Department commented on this as a remarkable achievement.
Fr Ward, despite the reserve alluded to, was a very pleasant companion and excellent Community man; a ripe sense of humour enabled him to enter into the cajolery of recreation and with such company as Fr C Perrott, Fr A O'Reilly, Fr Fitzgibbon and Fr Cashman the time passed regularly in even an hilarious fashion. This same bonhomie entered into his dealings with the boys, pupils and altar-servers. He gained their confidence and would recount on occasions quiz-questions and stories he had picked up in their company. He was devoted to his work and could not suffer it to be scamped but even then he would have a laughable encounter to tell about, something he had wormed out of an uncommunicative culprit who was awed by the mock-severity of his teacher's approach.
During the last few years of his life he suffered much from arthritis, but he bore it all in heroic fashion without complaint. Such was his devotion to his work that he won the admiration of parents and boys, who will remember for many years his unselfish devotion to their interests.
The Mayor and Corporation of Galway sent a letter of sympathy to Fr Rector and Community on his death. Ar dheis Dé go raibh & anam.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1972

Obituary

Father Kyran Ward SJ :

The death occured in Galway in mid-June of Father Kyran Ward, S.J., after a short illness,

Father Ward, who was 78, had been a member of the teaching staff of Coláiste Iognáid since 1941 and had continued to teach there right up to his last illness. He was a talented and devoted teacher of Latin and French. In all, he had been teaching for 48 years, at Clongowes Wood College, Cresent College, Limerick, and Galway,

In Limerick and Galway he produced many school operattas and plays. His drama groups carried off many prizes at the Féile Dramaíochta at the Taibhdhearc in Galway. Several plays had been translated into Irish from the French by himself.

Fr Ward had been in Belfast, where he attended St Patrick's Christian Brother School. The family having moved to Dublin, he came to Belvedere, finishing here in 1912. In September of that year he entered the Jesuits at St Stanislaus' College, Rahan, He studies at Rathfarnham Castle from 1914 till 1916 before travelling to Jersey to study philosophy. On completing his course of philosophy at Milltown Park, he taught at Clongowes from 1919 till 1923. He then returned to Milltown Park for theology and was ordained there in 1926. Fr Ward finished his studies at St Beuno's College, North Wales.

He returned to Clongowes to teach there for three years before being appointed in 1931 to Crescent College, Limerick, where he was Vice-Rector. He remained at the Crescent for ten years before his final appointment to Galway

To his sister, Mrs J B O'Shea; his neice, Mrs Tony Byrne; and his nephew, Fr Maurice O'Shea CC, Artane, Dublin, we offer our sincere sympathy.

Ward, Séamus, 1935-2011, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/799
  • Person
  • 31 May 1935-22 February 2011

Born: 31 May 1935, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1953, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 10 July 1968, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1975, St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street
Died: 22 February 2011, St Mary Star of the Sea, Key West, Florida, USA

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death

Nephew of Eugene - RIP 1976

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1971 at USF San Francisco, USA (CAL) studying
by 1972 at St Michael’s Bronx NY, USA (NEB) studying

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/seamus-ward-rip/

Seamus Ward RIP
Seamus Ward SJ passed away in Florida yesterday, 22 February. He was staying at St. Mary, Star of The Sea Church, Florida. Earlier, he had had a fall away from the house on 18th February and broken his femur. He was badly shaken and was hospitalised. The doctors advised that he was unlikely to recover. He needed a breathing machine. Fr Conall O’Cuinn, Rector of Milltown Park, and Eoghan, a nephew of Seamus, travelled to the USA on Tuesday 22nd and were met at the airport and taken straight to the hospital. They were waiting for them before removing the breathing machine. There was time for prayers and singing Ag Criost an Siol and Soul of My Saviour. Seamus died very quietly and peacefully about 15 minutes later. May he rest in Christ’s Peace!

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/burying-seamie-2/

Burying Seamie
There was something astonishing about the obsequies of Fr Seamus Ward, whose death was reported in the last AMDG Express. Within the Irish Province he had a low profile,
partly because of his wretched health. He had taught in Bolton Street DIT, and served the Jesuit Refugee Service in Africa. Fr Tom Layden wrote of his “pioneering spirit, inquiring mind and independence of outlook”: a kind man, with an attitude of welcome and encouragement for those around him. He worked out of weakness, a real pastoral asset with which people could identify. His two funerals, one in Florida where he served a parish, the other in Gonzaga chapel, were memorable events, crowded with his kith and kin and friends who loved him and grieved deeply. In death as in life Seamus could spring a surprise.

◆ Interfuse No 145 : Summer 2011 & ◆ The Clongownian, 2011

Obituary

Fr Séamus (Seamie) Ward (1935-2011)

31st May 1935: Born in Dublin
Early education at Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept. 1953: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1955: First Vows at Emo
1955 - 1958: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1958 - 1961: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1961 - 1964: Belvedere College - Teacher
1964 - 1968: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
10th July 1968: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1968 - 1969: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1969 - 1970: Rathfarnham - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
1970 - 1972: Fordham, USA-Studied Sociology; Assisted in Holy Family Parish, NY
1972 - 1974: Rathfarnham - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
1974 - 1978: John Austin House - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
2nd February 1975: Final Vows
1978 - 1979: Campion House - Chaplain in DIT
1979 - 1982: Rathfarnham - Curate in Wicklow parish
1982 - 1985: Dolphin's Barn - Parish Curate
1985 - 1986: Clongowes - Sabbatical year
1986 - 1988: Clongowes - Assistant Librarian
1988 - 1989: Ethiopia - Jesuit Refugee Service
1989 - 1991: Belvedere College - Refugee work: Cairo, JRS Rome and Ethiopia
1991 - 1992: Working with refugees in Sierra Leone and Somalila
1992 - 1994: Working with refugees in Mali
1994 - 2005: Belvedere College - Pastoral care of refugees.
2005 - 2011: Milltown Park - Parish Chaplaincy, USA
22nd February 2011: Died in Florida USA

Fr Seamus was at St. Mary, Star of The Sea Church, Florida. He had a fall away from the house on 18th February and broke his femur. He was badly shaken and was hospitalised. The doctors advised that he was unlikely to recover. He needed a breathing machine. Fr Conall O Cuinn, Rector of Milltown Park, and a nephew of Seamus’, Eoghan, travelled to the USA on Tuesday 22nd and were met at the airport and taken straight to the hospital. They were waiting for them before removing the breathing machine. There was time for prayers and singing Ag Críost an Siol and Soul of My Saviour. Seamus died very quietly and peacefully about 15 minutes later. May he rest in the Peace of Christ.

Obituary by Brendan Duddy and Noel Barber
Seamie Ward was one of 8 children. He had 5 brothers and 2 sisters who were at the heart of his life. He had a marvellous relationship with his siblings and with their children. I got to know him during our time in UCD. When I arrived in Rathfarnham, he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. The regime was tight and he found the rules of the house somewhat oppressive but he did not take them too seriously. We all felt that we did not have enough time for study; most of us accepted this state of affairs but he did not. He would put his umbrella over his bedside lamp and read through Troilus and Cressida into the night. Serious would have been his fate had he been caught. While others dutifully made off on bikes on special free days, he usually had other ideas, bringing me on one occasion to the Shelbourne Hotel where his father awaited us and ordered toast in a magnificent silver bowl and coffee laced with brandy.

In days when it was presumed that one had to avoid any reading of material that was not 'wholesome', he had the nerve to borrow Joyce's Ulysses in the ritual brown paper bag which the kind librarian passed surreptitiously under the counter, On more regular lines he introduced me to O'Casey's plays and to Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon. He took a good degree in English, enjoyed the literary delights that were on offer and ignored what was not to his taste. There was an iconoclastic side to him which to some looked as if he saw all authority as authoritarian. There was a shyness which he concealed with a brusqueness that could be disconcerting but he was true gold as a friend. Philosophy in Tullabeg followed where the isolated life did not entirely suit him and literature rather than philosophy captured his interest but doing what was necessary he got through without much effort albeit with little joy but used his time to indulge his literary tastes and to make many excursions, licit and illicit. I then went to Zambia and he to Belvedere where an observer noted that he showed remarkable administrative talents as an assistant to the Prefect of Studies, the formidable Jack Leonard, whose approval and fulsome praise he won. He proved to be a severe disciplinarian and an exacting task master who exercised his authority with a firm hand. However, he won the admiration of the pupils if not their lasting affection. It was noticeable that a number of middle aged men turned up to his funeral – his former pupils from his Belvedere days; they remembered him with something approaching reverence.

His years in Theology were not entirely happy and a contemporary of his considered that his attitude towards authority hardened and he ended up asking to have his ordination postponed to the end of his fourth year. Following his Tertianship in 1968-69 he spent one year in the Dublin Institute of Theology, Bolton Street, before going to Fordham where he took an MA in Sociology. He then returned to Bolton Street where he remained until 1979. I worked with him there and once again he was my mentor and guide. He introduced me to all sorts of people: porters, sweepers, electricians, cooks, his friends in Sean Mc Dermot Street where I became life-long friends with his friends. With these people he was Newman's Perfect Gentleman at ease with all and generous with his time and energy to a fault. He took particular care of foreign students helping them to find their feet. He then spent 3 years (1979-82) as a curate in Wicklow. There he was wonderful with the children, the old folks and with pre-marriage couples. For recreation he took to the joys of sailing, most often with his brother. He moved to Dolphin's Barn in 1982 where he had three not very happy years. He became somewhat restless and spent a few years in Clongowes during which he was unfocused and dispirited.

Then he opened up a new life for himself with the Jesuit Refugee Service from 1988 to 1994. He served in Cairo, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Mali. A person who knew him well in his JRS days commented on his remarkable ability to live in the most austere circumstances, and to accept the hardship and isolation of his assignments without complaint, his great love and devotion to the poor and the weak and the excessive physical demands he made on himself. On the other hand it was noted that for one of his ability and sterling work he lacked self-confidence to a surprising degree and showed that below the surface there could be strong anger which would occasionally flare.

In 1994 he returned to live in Belvedere as a sick man in the grip of severe emphysema but he found a modus vivendi. To avoid the wet, cold Irish winter he began to do supply parish work in California and then Florida where he flourished as he did in Wicklow years before. He devoted himself to the poor and the weak; he gave of his time and people took the chance to pour out their hearts to him and he listened, gave sound advice and became the wise old man.

In the midst of his successful apostolate, he had a fall, went into hospital where, because of his underlying condition, an operation was out of the question. Inevitably he took a bad turn and died quietly and peacefully. As a Jesuit, he was not prominent and was never well known in the Province but despite his difficult middle years and the poor health of his later years he achieved a great deal at the frontiers.

Waters, George F, 1853-1888, Jesuit scholastic

  • IE IJA J/438
  • Person
  • 03 October 1853-12 November 1888

Born: 03 October 1853, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1884, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Died: 12 November 1888, Canary Islands, Spain

Part of the Leuven Belgium community at the time of death

by 1888 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Son of Judge Waters.

He studied Rhetoric at Milltown and Philosophy at Louvain.
His health was failing, so he was sent to the Canary Islands, where he died 12 November 1888.

Watson, Michael J, 1845-1931, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/439
  • Person
  • 11 February 1845-02 July 1931

Born: 11 February 1845, Athlone, County Westmeath
Entered: 02 November 1867, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 10 September 1871, Liège, Belgium
Final vows: 21 November 1881
Died: 02 July 1931, St Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia

Part of the St Patrick’s College, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

by 1870 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1872 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
Early Australian Missioner 1872

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Note from William Hughes Entry :
1872 He set out for Melbourne in the company of Christopher Nulty and Michael Watson

Note from Thomas Leahy Entry :
Early education at College of Immaculate Conception, Summerhill, Athlone. Here he had as fellow students, Michael Watson SJ, Sir Anthony MacDonnell who became Under-Secretary for Ireland and Mr TP O’Connor, later editor of “MAP” and other Journals.

Note from Francis Atchison Entry :
1901-1909 He was sent to St Patrick’s Melbourne, again as Assistant Director to Michael Watson of the “Messenger”, Reader in the Refectory and assisting in the community.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Watson was educated at Athlone and at Maynooth, where he spent five years and was ordained sub-deacon the year he entered the Society, 2 November 1867. After his two year noviceship he studied two years of theology at Louvain and was ordained, 10 September 1871.
Watson arrived in Australia, 10 April 1873, and was assigned to St Patrick's College, East Melbourne. Here he taught, was founder-director of the men's Sodality of Our Lady from 1874, and in 1880 taught theology In 1877 he founded and edited the “St Patrick’s College Gazette”.
He spent a few years at Xavier College, 1880-81 and 1882-88, as minister and teaching Christian doctrine. However, he returned to St Patrick's College in 1888 and remained there for the rest of his life. He began editing the “Messenger” in January 1887, assisted with the Apostleship of Prayer and did pastoral work. He gave a talk to the boys every Wednesday, and celebrated benediction of feast days. He was a popular confessor. He was minister, 1888-91, and edited the “Madonna” from 1898. During this period he was for many years director of retreats in Victoria and South Australia. He ceased to be editor of the “Messenger” in 1919 and of the “Madonna” in 1923.
Watson was a very sound theologian: he was also very widely read in literature, and corresponded with such literary figures as Sir Aubrey de Vere. In his youth he was valued as a preacher and retreat-giver, but became totally deaf about 1885. For the greater part of his life, therefore, he had to work mainly through the written word. He was also the author of some pious books and pamphlets, and verses, which had quite a wide circulation. He contributed articles to the local Catholic newspaper, the “Advocate. Those who lived with him at St Patrick's College and those who knew him thought of him quite simply as a saint.

Note from John Ryan Entry
Finally, he had an eye to history, leaving excellent diaries and notes, encouraging Michael Watson to write a history of the mission.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Made his First Vows at Leuven, Belgium 13 November 1869

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 6th Year No 4 1931
Obituary :
Fr Michael Watson
The Vice-Province of Australia (as well as the Irish Province) lost its oldest member when Fr. Watson died at Melbourne last July at the age of 86 years.

He was born 11 Feb. 1845, spent some time at Maynooth, where he read theology, and entered the novitiate at Milltown 2 Nov. 1867. When the noviceship was over he went to Louvain where. in three years he finished his theology, and immediately set sail for Australia in the year 1872.
He was stationed at “Melbourne College SJ” (St. Patrick's) from 1873 to 1878 as Master and Operarius. In 1879, still belonging to the College, he is described in the Catalogue “Doc. theol. dogm. in Sem., Oper”. Next year we find him Minister at Xavier, which had just been opened, a year at Richmond Residence followed, then Minister and Operarius once more at Xavier until 1888. In that year he went to St. Patrick's and never changed residence until his death in 1931. During that long period he was for 30 years Moderator of the Apostleship of prayer, and for 9 more Assistant Moderator. He edited the Messenger for 32 years, the Madonna for 27, adding on 9 additional as Sub-Editor. More remarkable still, perhaps, he was “Caller” for 22 years. The last time that “Excit.”appears after his name was in the year 1923 when he was 78 years old. He was also correspondent to the the, “Civilta Cattolica”, and in acknowledgment of the work he did for The Roman paper he was honoured by an autograph letter from the Holy Father.
“Cur val” does not after Fr. Watson's name until the very last year of his long life.

Irish Province News 7th Year No 1 1932
Obituary :
Fr Michael Watson (continued)
When Fr. Watson entered the hospital at Melbourne, 16 June, he was asked by a lay friend “Have you any premonition as to the day on which you will die?” He replied, “No, but it will be soon”. The friend again asked him “Is there any special day you would choose for your death?”. Fr. Watson took the calendar in his hands, and looked down the list stopping when he came to 2 July, the feast of the Visitation. “If God wills it, this is the day that I choose. Pray with me that Our Lady may come for me on her Feast Day”. Later he renewed this prayer, and got others to join with him. His request was granted. At 9.25 in the evening of the Feast of the Visitation he passed away.
For more than 45 years Fr. Watson was stone deaf. However he had a wonderful spirit of resignation to the will of God, and he did not allow his infirmity to interfere in the least with his activities. He had no hesitation in speaking in public, or in visiting very important persons, and he readily entered into conversation with casual acquaintances, varying from Anglican Bishops to swagmen, frequently failing to remind them that he did not hear a word of what they were saying. He radiated a genial holiness. He had the simplicity of a child, was rightly regarded as a saint, and was always ready to give his co-operation to any charitable movement, especially to the Foreign Missions, for which he did a great deal of useful work.
Besides editing the Australian Messenger and Madonna he wrote a number of books and ever so many pamphlets. Within the last two years the Holy Father himself sent a special letter to Fr. Watson to thank him for the contributions that he had been sending for 50 years to an Italian publication.
Most of the above has been taken from the Australian Madonna.
Fr. Watson was one of the most light-hearted men I have ever met. If a messenger from heaven revealed to me that Fr. Watson was the happiest man in Australia for the past 50 years, the news in itself would not surprise me. I should say, that's what I always thought. He was like a care-free child, abounding in mirth, and apparently living in perpetual sunshine
(Fr. Boylan, S. J.)
A lady friend resolved to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes for the cure of Fr. Watson's deafness. He heard of it and wrote “My dear friend. I thank you sincerely for your charity but beg of you to offer your pilgrimage for something else,I neither ask for nor desire any alleviation. God willing, I prefer to remain as I am. The graces I receive from my privation are so
great that I don't want any cure. So please do not offer your pilgrimage for the restoration of my hearing”.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1931

Obituary

Father Michael Watson SJ

On 16th June, Father Watson went into St Vincent's Hospital, as he needed more attention than we were able to give him at his own headquarters. A little over a fortnight later, on the 2nd July, he passed away.

On the day he entered the hospital (16th June) he was asked by a lay friend who has visited him practically every day for a year, “Have you any premonition as to the day on which you will die?” He replied, “No, but it will be soon”. The friend again asked him, “Is there any special day you would choose for your deatlı”? Father Watson took the calendar in his hands and looked down the list, stopping when he came to July 2nd, the Feast of the Visitation. “If God will it” he said, “this is the day that I choose. Pray with me that Our Lady may come for me on her Feast Day”. Later on he renewed this prayer and got others to join with him. His request was granted. At 0.25 in the evening of the Feast of the Visitation he passed away, the friend of whom I have spoken being with him during the last half-hour of his life. He was in his 86th year.

Father Watson was born at Athlone in Ireland on 11th February, 1845, and received his early education there, having as schoolmates T P O'Connor, who later became famous as a journalist and as the doyen of the House of Commons; and also Anthony McDonnell, afterwards - Sir Anthony, Chief Secretary of Ireland, and distinguished in other Imperial posts. He entered the seminary of Maynooth for Rhetoric in 1862; was ordained sub deacon at the end of the second year's Divinity, 1867; entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Dublin on 2nd November, 1867, and was ordained priest at Liege, Belgium, on 10th September, 1871. He set out for Melbourne on 16th December, 1872, in a sailing ship, and began an apostolate in Australia which ended 59 years later. He founded the Sodality of Our Lady in St Patrick's College in 1874, the first Sodalist to be received being John Norton, the late Bishop of Port Augusta and a sincere friend of Father Watson's to the end. The branch of the Sodality for adults became very famous and is still fiourishing, the actual president being Mr. Benjanin Hoare, an old and dear friend of Father Watson's, and now in his 89th year. Mr Benjamin Hoare is one of the Most distinguished journalists of Australia, being leader writer of the Melbourne “Age” for more than 30 years. He is still a daily Communicant and has not missed the annual Retreat of the Sodality for 44 years.

The “Australian Messenger of the Sacred Heart” was founded on 1st January 1887, by Father John Ryan, with Father Watson as first Editor. He occupied the editorial chair for 30 years and saw his beloved magazine attain to a wonderful degree of popularity in Australia and New Zealand. He founded the “Madonna” as a quarterly in 1897, and continued to edit it for more than 30 years. He celebrated the Golden Jubilee of his life in religion in 1917, and next year resigned the editorship of the “Messenger” to the present editor, but continued to edit the “Madonna”, which was issued as a monthly in 1920.

The year 1921 was the joyous occasion of Father Watson's Golden Jubilee of Priesthood, and he received a great amount of congratulations. At the time of his Golden Jubilee of Priesthood, Fr Watson was 76 years of age and enjoyed remarkably poor health. He was full of vitality, full of good humour, and always as busy as a bee. He wrote, preached, gave numerous religious conferences, in convents especially, and gave an occasional retreat; but three years ago, when in his 83rd year, he showed the first signs of breaking up. He partly recovered and seemed to have regained a fair measure of his energy, but last June twelve months, having said Mass one Sunday at the Carmelite Convent, he very rashly tried to walk back to the College, a distance of three miles, the effort proving too much for him. He had another break-down the following day and from that time slowly but surely faded away.

Father Watson spent five years at Maynooth. After his entrance into the Society of Jesus he studied at Louvain, in Belgium, and then, as already mentioned, worked for 50 years in Australia.

For more than 45 years Father Watson was stone deaf, being cut off from even the faintest perception of sound, and living in a world of absolute silence. This must have been a great trial for a man of his extremely sociable disposition. However, he had enormous strength of mind and a wonderful spirit of resignation to the Will of God, and through his vigorous resolution he did not allow his infirmity to interfere in the least with his activities. He was a very busy man, of extremely cheerful disposition, and occupied himself continually with writing, lecturing and preaching He was of an exceptionally social disposition, extremely popular, and became a very well-known figure in Melbourne religious life. For a brief period he was Minister at Xavier College, but most of his time was spent at St Patrick's.

He is the author of the following books: “For Christ and His Kingdom” (a volume of sonnets and lyrics), “Within the Soul”, “The Story of Burke and Wills” (a volume of historical sketches and literary essays), “Pearls from Holy Scripture for Our Little Ones” (a series of scriptural essays), “Lyrics of Innocence”, as well as many pamphlets, articles and poems.

Father Watson was entirely free from shyness. In the discharge of his duties he had no hesitation in speaking in public or in visiting important persons such as tire Postmaster-General, or the Commissioner of Railways, or Managers of banks, and he readily entered into conversation with casual acquaintances, varying from Anglican Bishops to swagmen. He chatted with everyone, frequently failing to remind them that he did not hear a word they were saying. Despite his complete deafness he made a very good impression on everyone he met. He radiated a genial holiness. He had the simplicity of a child, was rightly regarded as a saint, was entirely devoid of fear, and was always ready to give his co-operation to any charitable movement, paying special attention to the needs of the Foreign Missions, for which lie did a great deal of useful work.

The Requiem Mass and Office took place at the Church of St Ignatius, Richmond his first residence in Australia. His Grace, Dr Mannix, was present, and afterwards assisted at the graveside. I will conclude with the words with which his Grace ended a touching address on the life of Father Watson: “For over forty years Father Watson had been completely cut off from all the pleasures of sound. He is now listening to the joyous songs of the Angels”.

Eustace Boylan SJ

Watters, Malachy, 1574-1646, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2233
  • Person
  • 27 March 1574-24 October 1646

Born: 27 March 1574, County Meath
Entered: 14 August 1611, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: Douai, France - pre Entry
Died: 24 October 1646, County Meath

Alias MacConuisce

Mother Jane Alpine
Studied Philosophy 2 years at Douai
1611 BELG Catalogue Mr D Malachy (Mac an Uisce) a priest who in August will have finished Philosophy is not very talented, but comes from Ulster a part of Ireland where the help of our Fathers is much needed. Would be useful in Ireland or Scotland
1615 at St Omer College studying Moral Theology
1621 Catalogue On the Mission 6 years; middling health; talent, judgement and prudence mediocre; has made profession; choleric; Confessor
1622 Catalogue Fitz Valter or Fitzwalter or Walter in Dublin district
1626 Catalogue in Ireland
1637 Catalogue Mediocre in all things

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Two Entries : Malachy Young (1); Malcahy Fitzwalter (2)
Malachy Young - DOB 1578 Meath; Ent 1609; RIP 1646-1649
Malcahy Fitzwalter - DOB 1578 Uster; Ent 1611; RIP 1626-1636 Ireland

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Patrick and Joan née Alpine
His early education was in Ireland, and he studied Rhetoric under the Jesuits at Tournai, Antwerp and Lille. He then studied Philosophy under the Jesuits at Douai, and then Theology at the Irish College there and was Ordained before Ent 14 August 1611 Tournai
1613-1617 After First Vows he was sent for studies to St Omer
1615 Early in 1715 Fr Holywood asked the General to have him sent to the Irish Mission, but it would appear that he did not arrive until 1617
1617 Sent to Ireland and mainly to Meath and to the Dublin Residence, and he taught Humanities in the city.
With other Jesuits of Old Irish stock he seems never to have enjoyed the confidence of the Superior and Consultors who easily found fault with Jesuits of old-Irish stock. In the 1630s a determined effort was made to send him back to Belgium, because he had allegedly struck an Anglo-Irish nobleman, but this effort did not succeed. He seems to have still been at the Dublin Residence in 1641 in indifferent health, and after that it is assumed, that following the occupation of Dublin by the Parliamentarians, that he ministered in his native Meath where he died 24 October 1646, not yet having taken Final Vows
1622 Irish College Douai “Aquatici”
1621,1622, 1637 & 1646 HIB Catalogues “Fitzwalter” (1621) and “Walter” (1622) and “Yong” (1637 and “Yonghe” (1646)
His own declaration on Ent at Tournai “Ego Malachias Macanuake Medensis vel aliter Walter Ibernus”

Weafer, Michael, 1851-1922, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2234
  • Person
  • 16 August 1851-26 March 1922

Born: 16 August 1851, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 06 September 1866, Milltown Park
Ordained: 1883
Final Vows: 22 February 1887
Died: 26 March 1922, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

by 1869 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1870 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying
by 1871 at Maria Laach College Germany (GER) Studying
by 1881 at Oña Spain (ARA) studying
by 1886 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He made his Noviceship at Milltown under Luigi Sturso.
After his Novitiate he was sent to France for Rhetoric and Rome for Philosophy.
He had to leave Rome due to political troubles and finished his Philosophy at Maria Laach.
He was sent first to Clongowes and then as Prefect to Tullabeg for Regency.
He was sent to Oña for Theology.
After Ordination he was sent teaching for several years at Crescent and Galway. He was rector for three years in Galway and then joined the Missionary Staff.
1904 He was sent to Gardiner St and lived there until his happy death 26 March 1922. He was six years Superior there 1912-1919.
He was a very fluent and ready speaker with good knowledge of French, Italian, German and Spanish. He was very kind to the sick and dying

Note from James Redmond Entry :
He studied Rhetoric at St Acheul, Amiens with Michael Weafer, Thomas Finlay and Peter Finlay, Robert Kane and Vincent Byrne, among others.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Michael Weafer 1861-1922
Fr Michael Weafer was born in Galway on August 29th 1861, and he was educated at St Ignatius Galway. He was one of those who made their noviceship under Fr Sturzo at Milltown Park in 1866.

He was present in Rome studying Philosophy during the Revolution of 1870, and with Fr Patrick Keating had to finish his studied at Maria-Laach.
Fr Weafer was Rector of Galway from 1901-1904. The rest of his life was spent mainly in Gardiner Street, of which he was Superior from 1912-1919.
He was a very fluent and ready speaker, with a good knowledge of French, Italian, German and Spanish. He was renowned for his kindness to the sick and dying.
He died on March 25th 1922.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Michael Weafer (1851-1922)

Was born in Galway and entered the Society in 1866. His first association with the Crescent was during his regency, 1878-80. He spent two more year on the teaching staff after his ordination and later completed his higher studies in Belgium. In 1889, the annua mirabilis of the Crescent in the last century, Father Weafer returned as prefect of studies and remained on the Crescent staff until 1900, when he was appointed rector of St Ignatius, Galway. At the end of his rectorship at St Ignatius, Father Weafer was transferred to Gardiner St., Dublin, where he laboured at the church until his death. He was superior of the Gardiner St community from 1912 to 1919.a

Weldon, Thomas, 1714-1776, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2235
  • Person
  • 18 March 1714-15 February 1776

Born: 18 March 1714, Drogheda, County Louth
Entered: 05 March 1732, Toulouse, France - Tolosanae Province (TOLO)
Ordained: 1744, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Final Vows: 15 August 1749
Died: 15 February 1776, Bryn, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

1742-1746 Studied Theology;
1746-1747 At Aurillac TOLO
1748-1749 Not in Catalogue
1749 At Carcassone teaching Philosophy TOLO
In Ireland 1740 onward (Corcoran)
On his tombstone at Windleshaw Abbey near St Helen’s he is called “Rev Thomas Weldon of Scholes, RIP 26/04/1786 Age 75

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Three Entries : (1) Thomas Weldon; (2) Thomas Welton; (3) John Weldon
(1)Thomas Weldon
DOB 18 March or 20 December 1714 Drogheda; Ent 12 July 1732 or 08 March 1731 Toulouse; FV 15 August 1749; RIP 15 February 1776 Bryn, Lancashire (now part of Wigan)
(His death is incorrectly stated to have been at Scholes, Lancashire on 26 April 1786 in “Records SJ” Vol v, p 399 - this is actually a reference to another Thomas Weldon, of Northumberland)
Taught Humanities in France for seven years and Philosophy for four.
1750 Sent to Ireland and soon after assigned to ANG, where he served the Lancashire Mission at Scholes (in Wigan) for many years, and died at Bryn (in Wigan) 15 February 1776.
(2)Thomas Welton
DOB 03 August 1714 Ireland; Ent 08 March 1731; FV 02 February 1748; RIP post 1771 (CF ANG Catalogues 1761, 1763, 1771)
(2)John Welton
Ent c 1732
The Weldon’s are on the Irish Rolls since Richard II; Christopher was in the King’s Irish Regiment in 1690

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1734-1735 After First Vows he was sent for Philosophy at Toulouse
1735-1742 Regency at various TOLO Colleges
1742-1746 Sent to study Theology at Clermont-Ferrand and then Tournon where he was Ordained 1744
1746-1750 After a year of Tertianship he taught Philosophy at Aurillac
1750 Sent to Ireland, but spent only one year at Dublin before he joined the ANG Province, where he worked until his death on the Lancashire Mission 15 February 1776

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WELDON, THOMAS, born at Drogheda, according to one account, the 18th March, but, according to another, the 20th of December, 1714. He was admitted into the Society at Toulouse, on the 8th of March, 1731, or rather the 12th of July, 1732; made the Profession of the four Vows, on the 15th of August, 1749; taught Humanities in France for seven years, and Philosophy for four years. He came to the Irish Mission in 1750, but soon after passed over to England, and for many years resided in Lancashire. He died at Brin, in that County, on the 15th of February, 1776.

Wheeler, Thomas, 1848-1913, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/440
  • Person
  • 17 January 1848-28 October 1913

Born: 17 January 1848, Mullingar, County Westmeath
Entered: 07 September 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1883, Tortosa, Spain
Final Vows: 02 February 1888
Died: 28 October 1913, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

by 1869 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1870 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1872 at Toulouse College (TOLO) health
by 1877 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1880 at Aix-en-Provence, France (LUGD) studying
by 1881 at Dertusanum College Spain (ARA) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Account from Freeman’s Journal of 29 October 1913 "
“The hand of death has been severely felt of late within the ranks of the Society of Jesus in Dublin. During a period of slightly over twelve months a number of the best known and most distinguished members of that body have passed to their reward after long service in the sacred cause of religion and Christian charity. The list includes such revered names as Matt Russell, Nicholas Walsh, James Walshe, and more recently John Bannon and Henry Lynch. It is now our duty to record the death of another well-known member of the Order in the person of Rev Thomas Wheeler SJ, who died after a long and tedious illness at Gardiner St.
He was born in Mullingar 17 January 1848. His elder brother, Rev James Wheeler, was PP of Stamullen. His younger brother was the lamented Dominican Joseph Wheeler, who predeceased him some years. His uncle was the Most Rev Dr James Carbery OP, at one time Bishop of Hamilton, Canada. His cousin Most Rev Dr James Murray OSA, is the present Bishop of Cookstown, Australia.
Educated at Mullingar and Tullabeg, he entered the Society at a young age. his higher studies were carried on in France - Philosophy at Louvain, and Theology at Tortosa in Spain. he completed his studies in Belgium. On returning to Ireland he was put to the field of education, and taught the higher classes at Clongowes, Tullabeg, Belvedere and Crescent. During these years he was rector of Belvedere, and Vice-President of UCD. In addition to his marked qualities as an educator, he had a facile pen, and gave many valuable contributions to the literature of his day. When Matt Russell died, he was chosen to succeed him as Editor of the “Irish Monthly” - a publication dear to the heart of its founder and to a circle of close personal friends and literary admirers. Under Thomas’ guidance it continued to fulfill worthily the aims and ideas for the propagation of which it was started, and continued to be in the fullest sense a high-class, well-written periodical full of information on subjects of deep interest to Irish Catholic readers.
Latterly, however, Father Wheeler’s health had begun to give way, and during the last few months he had been suffering from a rather severe breakdown.”

Note from Charles O’Connell Sr Entry
William E Kelly, Superior at Hawthorn, says in a letter 09 April 1912 to Thomas Wheeler “Poor Father Charlie was on his way from his room to say the 8 o’clock Mass, when a few yards from his room he felt faint and had a chair brought to him. Thomas Claffey, who had just returned from saying Mass at the Convent gave him Extreme Unction. Thomas Gartlan and I arrived, and within twenty minutes he had died without a struggle. The evening before he had been seeing some sick people, and we have since learned complained of some heart pain. Up to the last he did his usual work, taking everything in his turn, two Masses on Sundays, sermons etc, as the rest of us. We shall miss him very much as he was a charming community man.

Note from Henry M Lynch Entry
Note his obituary of Henry M Lynch in that Entry. Henry Lynch accompanied Thomas Wheeler when the latter was going for a severe operation to Leeds. When he returned before Thomas, he became unwell himself.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Thomas Wheeler SJ 1848-1913
Fr Thomas Wheeler was born near Mullingar on 17th January 1848.

He came of a very distinguished ecclesiastical family. His older brother was a Parish priest in Stamullen, a younger brother was a Dominican, an uncle was Dr Carbery, Bishop of Hamilton, Canada, while his cousin was Dr Murphy, Bishop of Cookstown Australia.

Fr Thomas entered the Society at an early age and taught the higher classes in Clongowes, Tullabeg, Belvedere and Limerick. He was rector of Belvedere and Vice-President of University College, St Stephen’s Green.

Having done some of his early studies in Spain, he was a good Spanish scholar, and was appointed Spanish examiner in the Royal University. He succeeded Fr Matt Russell as editor of “The Irish Monthly”. Under his guidance it continued to fulfil the aims and ideas for which it was founded.

He died after a long and tedious illness, cheerfully borne, on October 29th 1913.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1914

Obituary

Father Thomas Wheeler SJ

It is our painful duty to record the death of the Rev Thomas Wlieeler, which took place at the Presbytery, Upper Gardiner Street, some time ago.

The deceased was born near Mullingar in 1848, and joined the Society of Jesus at an early age. His course of studies was a long one, during which he travelled much in France, Belgium, and Spain. A man of marked ability, a distinguished scholar, an able linguist, he taught the higher classes in Clongowes, Tullabeg and Limerick. He was at one time Rector of Belvedere, and for many years Vice-President of University College, St. Stephen's Green. Notwithstanding his poor health during the last twelve months of his life, he continued to devote himself to his confessional, and was always eager to help and befriend others. A convincing preacher, he also had a facile pen, and succeeded Fr Father Russell as editor of The Irish Monthly. RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1914

Obituary

Father Thomas Wheeler SJ

It is our painful duty to record the death of another well-known member of the Society Jesus in the person of the Rev Thoma Wheeler, who died yesterday (October 28th) after a long and tedious illness, at the Presbytery, Upper Gardiner Street. Father Wheeler was born near Mullingar, Co Westmeath, the 17th January, 1848. His elder broth Very Rev James Wheeler, was PP of Stamullen; his younger brother was the lamented Father Joseph Wheeler, of the Order of Preachers, who predeceased him some years ago. His uncle was the Most Rev Dr Carbery OP, at one time Bishop of Hamilton, Canada. His cousin, Most Rev Dr Murray OSA, is the present Bishop of Cooktown, Australia.

Educated at Mullingar and at Tullabeg College, he entered the Society of Jesus at an early age. His higher studies were carried on in France - his Philosophy course being studied at Louvain, and his course in Theology at Tortosa, in Spain. He completed his training in the House of the Order in Belgium, at the close of a brilliant scholastic career. On his return to his native land he was, by direction his Superiors, almost at once placed in close touch with the educational interests which the members of the Society of Jesus are known to have so much at heart in Ireland, as in the other countries where their Missions flourish. In pursuance of his duties in his new sphere of activity Father Wheeler taught for any years the higher classes in Clongowes, in Tullabeg, in Belvedere, and in Limerick Colleges, filling during that period of his career many important offices--amongst them, those of Rector of Belvedere College, and Vice-President of University College, St Stephen's Green. In addition to his marked qualities as an educationalist he had a facile pen, and gave many valuable contributions to the literature of his day.

When Father : Matt Russell died, Father Wheeler was chosen to succeed him in the editorship of the “Irish Monthly” - a publication which was dear to the heart of its sainted founder and long time editor, as it was also to the hearts of a wide circle of close personal friends and literary admirers. Under the guidance of Father Wheeler the “Irish Monthly” continued to fulfil worthily the aims and ideas for the propagation of what it was started, and continued to be in the fullest sense a high-class, well-written periodical full of informative matter on subjects of deep interest to Irish Catholic readers.

Latterly, however, Father Wheeler's health had begun to give way, and during the last few months he had been suffering from a rather severe breakdown.

“Freeman's Journal”, Oct. 29th, 1913.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Thomas Wheeler (1848-1913)

A native of Mullingar, was educated at Tullabeg College and entered the Society in 1866. He pursued all his higher studies abroad: in France, Belgium and Spain, in which latter country he was ordained. Father Wheeler was one of the Irish Province's most gifted masters of the last century, but his association with the Crescent was limited to the years 1887-88 and 1894-95. He was sometime rector of Belvedere College and vice-rector of UCD. He was also widely known in literary circles and succeeded Father Matthew Russell in the editorship of the “Irish Monthly”.

Whitaker, James, 1865-1952, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/441
  • Person
  • 12 May 1865-13 August 1952

Born: 12 May 1865, Mooresfort, County Tipperary
Entered: 24 October 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 02 August 1896, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows:15 August 1901
Died: 13 August 1952, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1900 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 27th Year No 4 1952
Obituary :
Father James Whitaker (1865-1952)

Clongowes suffered a great loss in the death, on August 13th, of Fr. Whitaker. R.I.P.
Born at Mooresfort, Co. Tipperary, on May 12th, 1865, he was baptised in Lattin Chapel two days later, received the Sacrament of Confirmation in Galbally Chapel in June, 1874, and made his First Holy Communion in October, 1877. This reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation before making one's first Holy Communion seems to have been the regular procedere in those days. He was a pupil of Galbally National School from September, 1874 to September, 1878, when he went to Tullabeg. Here he spent the four happiest years of his life, memories of which he frequently loved to recall and, in October, 1882, he entered the Society. He did one year's juniorate (1884-85) and three year's Philosophy (1885-88) in Milltown Park, and was then sent to the Crescent, where he spent five years on the teaching staff. From the Crescent be returned in 1893, to Milltown Park where he followed the Long Course in Theology, and was ordained Priest in 1896. Before going to his Tertianship, he spent two years (1897-99) on the teaching staff of Mungret, did his Tertianship at Tronchiennes and took the four Vows of the Professed on August 15th, 1901. The years 1900-13 were spent in Belvedere. For eleven of those years he was engaged in teaching the Matriculation class, he was Minister for one year, and spent one year giving retreats. In 1913 he went to Clongowes and was an active member of the teaching staff until 1943, when he retired on pension. Though severely handicapped in his power of movement by arthritis, he continued to say daily Mass up to the end of March, 1947. From that date until he met with the unfortunate accident in May, 1951, he attended daily Mass in the Domestic Chapel and was able to go to the Community Refectory and Library, to be present at Litanies, Domestic Exhortations and other public Community duties.
During the last fourteen months of his life he was confined to his room in the N.W. tower of the Castle, a room in which he had spent 39 long years, a room which, to those who know Clongowes, is so constructed that it was possible for him to attend Mass, offered daily up to the very end, in the “Ante-room” (as it is commonly called). In that room, though no longer able to be present at the Community duties, he still observed the routine of Common Life. He would allow no exceptions to be made for him in the hour or quality of his meals. They must be what the rest of the Community were enjoying or condemned to. He heard Mass, made his meditation and Examens and şaid his Divine office daily up to the end, and so with perfect peace and thanking his Maker that he had been spared all physical suffering he went to his reward.
The internment took place in the College cemetery on Saturday, August 16th, following Solemn Requiem Mass in the Boys' Chapel, at which Right Rev. Monsignor Kissane, President Maynooth College, presided.
The Celebrant of the Mass was Fr. McGlade; Deacon, Fr. Dennehy; Sub-deacon, Fr. Meagher; M.O., Rev. J. Foley, Milltown Park. The sacred music was very beautifully rendered by the choir of Milltown Park, The prayers at the graveside were recited by Very Rev. Fr. Provincial.
As will be seen from the sketch of his life given above, Fr. Whitaker's priestly Office brought him very little into contact with the outer world, Apart from the one year spent in giving retreats, and apart from those retreats (one hundred in number) which he gave during school vacations, his whole life was spent in the classroom and among his own Community, and so his virtues were chiefly the characteristic virtues of charity and good-fellowship which are so essential to the smooth and harmonious working together of a limited group of men who are thrown into daily contact with one another, year in, year out. I remember the late Fr. Charlie Barrett remarking to me one evening as we were leaving the Library after recreation “Would not Fr. Whit. be a great loss to the Community if he were to be taken from us?” I readily agreed. For on that particular evening he had been at his best. The time passed swiftly and enjoyably as he carried the conversation with a general fund of information and anecdote that held us all. In general he simply flooded the room with an exuberance and zest of good nature and wit that made the ordinary raconteur seem a trifle pallid in comparison. He had a prodigious memory for persons and places and incidents a faculty which he preserved to the very end. As one listened to him one became convinced that he knew everything about everything in the Province and that he had been everywhere in Ireland. Younger men going for the first time to some seaside resort, or to some convent to give a retreat, would consult Fr. Whitaker beforehand as to the principal attractions or drawbacks of the locality. He would then produce one of the many sectional maps of the country which he possessed, and would launch forth into vivid detail of what must be avoided and what must not be missed.
This faculty of minute observation of men and things was fostered and kept alive by the habit which he had long cultivated of keeping a diary. There is much in the diary, it is true, of little interest to any but himself, and it is to be regretted that he wrote so impersonally. His judgment was sound, his foresight keen, One felt, when one consulted him on any problem, that his decision would be correct, human and intelligent.
For one who had been so regular all his life in punctual attendance at every Community duty and festivity, the tedium and loneliness of the last two years of his life must have often been hard to bear. Yet he never complained. He derived great pleasure from even a short visit of one of the Community, and spoke very feelingly and generously of the kindness and efficiency of the Br. Infirmarian and of the servants who saw to his wants.
To Saint John Berchmans is attributed the saying: “Mea maxima mortificatio est vita communis”, and for that very reason Berchmans was canonised. His canonisation was a canonisation of the Rule Book. So, well may we imagine Fr. Whitaker saying, not in any sense of boastfulness but in sheer literal truth: “Mea maxima delectatio est vita communis” and that, we feel certain, is sufficient reason for believing that his lot is with the saints. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1953

Obituary

Father James Whitaker SJ

Father Whitaker was born at Mooresfort, Co Tipperary on May 12, 1865, was baptised in Lattin Chapel two days afterwards, received the Sacrament of Confirmation in June 1874, and made his first Holy Communion in 1877. This reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation before making one's first Holy Communion seems to have been the regular procedure in those days. He was a pupil of Galbally National School from 1874 to 1878, when he went to Tullabeg. Here he spent the four happiest years of his life, memories of which he frequently loved to recall and, in October 1882, he entered the Society. After the usual course of studies in humanities and philosophy at Milltown Park, he was a member of the teaching staff at the Sacred Heart College, Limerick, from 1888 to 1893. He then returned to Miltown Park for his theological studies and was ordained priest in 1896. His studies completed, he took the Solemn Vows of Profession on August 15th, 1901. The years 1900-13 were spent in Belvedere College. For eleven of those years he was engaged in teaching the Matriculation class; he was Minister for one year, and spent one year giving retreats. In 1913 he went to Clongowes and was an active member of the teaching staff until 1943, when he retired from the classroom. Though severely handicapped by arthritis, he continued to say daily Mass up to the end of March 1947. From that date until he met with the unfortunate accident in 1951, he attended daily Mass and other community duties. During the last fourteen months of his life he was confined to his room in the NW tower of the Castle, a room in which he had spent 39 long years, and from which he passed painlessly and peacefully to his Maker on August 13th, 1952.

As will be seen from the sketch of his life given above, Fr Whitaker's priestly duties brought him very little into contact with the outside world. Apart from the one year spent in giving retreats, and apart from those retreats - one hundred in number - which he gave during School Vacations, his whole life was spent in the Colleges and among his own community. Many old Clongownians will remember him with gratitude for all he did for them in the class room and out of it during those thirty continuous years. In the classroom nothing was taken for granted or left to chance. The prescribed course was gone into thoroughly and most methodically. A very definite scheme was care fully prepared so that each section of the course received due attention, and for any luckless candidate who found himself on the eve of Examination without a thorough knowledge of his texts, Fr Whitaker had scant sympathy. Indeed I have sometimes heard it said that he was too methodical to be a really great teacher. Outside the class room he spent much valuable time catering for the amusements and recreation of the boys. To him was assigned the task of choosing a suitable motion picture for Play-day evenings. Many an hour was spent in a preview of these films, and during thie actual presentation of the picture some of the comments overheard coming from the operator's box were more amusing than what was actually taking place on the screen. He had good taste in music and drama and fostered a love for these among his pupils. Gifted with a keen sense of humour and a retentive memory, and being an unusually shrewd observer of men and things, he was a brilliant story-teller and on many an occasion kept his listeners entranced.

In conclusion we may say that his was it singularly happy, peaceful life, with no great ambitions, no great enthusiasms, simply contented to fulfil with utmost fidelity the duties to which he was called. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father James Whitaker (1865-1952)

A native of Mooresfort, Co Tipperary and educated at Tullabeg College, entered the Society in 1882. He spent his regency at the Crescent, 1888-1893. With the exception of a short period at Belvedere College, Father Whitaker's long teaching career after his ordination was spent at Clongowes. (Cf The Clongownian, 1953, “An Old Tipperary Family”.)

White, Alfred, 1829-1887, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2240
  • Person
  • 01 June 1829-22 December 1887

Born: 01 June 1829, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1848, Hodder, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained:
Final Vows: 02 February 1863
Died: 22 December 1887, St Michael’s College, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)G)

White, Esmonde, 1875-1957, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/442
  • Person
  • 15 March 1875-28 April 1957

Born: 15 March 1875, Madras, India
Entered: 07 September 1892, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1908, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1910, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 28 April 1957, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

Part of the Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin community at the time of death

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1896 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
Came to Australia for Regency, 1898
by 1909 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Though born in India, Esmonde White was educated in Ireland. For regency he went to Riverview .There he stayed a relatively brief time, teaching and being assistant prefect of discipline, before departing in the autumn of 1901 for the same position at Xavier until 1905, when he returned to Ireland. From 1909 he was involved in the school ministry in Ireland.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 32nd Year No 3 1957
Obituary :
Fr Esmonde White (1875-1957)
Within a period of twelve months, Rathfarnham has lost four of its older men. Perhaps none of them has left so big a gap as “the quiet man”, Fr. White. Yet so it is; for, shrouded though he was in an almost fantastic silence, Fr. White was always there. Religious duties, meals, recreation, from none of these did he ever absent himself. He could be called bi-lingual inasmuch as his chief contribution to recreation was the statement, in Irish or English, “No doubt at all about it?” Perhaps he was on more familiar terms with the birds, whose calls, especially that of the cuckoo, he could faithfully reproduce. Certain it is that he never said an unkind word. No one who knew Fr. White would infer that this was merely the negative virtue of a very silent man. In the first place, it is certain that he had not always been so silent. In his student days at Valkenburg he had acquired so good a mastery of the language as to merit, in later years, the emphatic comment of a German Jesuit : “That man speaks German well”. Moreover his genial charity showed itself very positively in action, for he loved to see people happy. One who was with him in the colleges remarked: “He was always doing odd jobs for others and made so little compliment about them that, in Belvedere for example, if anyone wanted something in Woolworths, he had only to ask Fr. White, and off he went!”
Fr. White was born on 15th March, 1875 in Madras, India. Educated in Clongowes, he gained his place in the three-quarters on the Senior Cup team, played a useful game of Soccer, and bowled on the Cricket eleven. To the end of his life he bowled, left-arm, silently, at invisible wickets - one of his most characteristic gestures. He entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1892, studied philosophy at Valkenburg, and spent the seven following years in Australia, teaching at Xavier and at Riverview. He was ordained at Milltown Park in 1908, did his Tertianship at Tronchienues and spent the remainder of his long life in the class room. All told, he taught for thirty-eight years. He taught at the Crescent from 1910 to 1914, being Prefect of Studies for the two latter years, He was at Belvedere 1915-19, and again from 1923 to 1937, having been in the meantime Minister and Socius at Tullabeg and Prefect of Studies at Galway. Then after a year at Emo and two years at Rathfarnham, as Spiritual Father, he went back to Belvedere, 1941-47, as Sub-Minister. After one year at Milltown Park he came in 1948 to Rathfarnham, where he remained until his death.
With the drawbridge of his interior castle perpetually up, he seemed very happy within, as he tunefully hummed and whistled, to the edification of the brethren without. He loved Belvedere College and when, after a stay of two years in Rathfarnham, he saw his name again on the Belvedere status, he literally danced with joy, at the sober age of sixty-five! While Prefect of Studies in Belvedere Junior House, he combined gentleness with severity in such perfect measure that a past pupil recalls: “He hit very hard with the pandy bat but obviously felt every bit as miserable about it as the unfortunate victim!” The same pupil added, and none of us could deny the tribute: “He was one of Nature's gentlemen!” Those of us who lived with him would suggest that Grace played a bigger part than Nature in making Fr. White one of the kindest of men.
His last illness was short. Some six weeks after leaving Rathfarnham for the Nursing Home, his condition suddenly worsened and he died in the Hospice on 28th April, Before leaving Rathfarnham, he made an interrogation of unusual length: “Two questions are puzzling me”, he said to the indefatigable infirmarian. “First of all, who are you?” When Brother Keogh had identified himself, Fr. White went on: “Secondly, who am I?” With sincerity and truth we can all answer the second question : “One white man!” May he rest in peace!

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Esmonde White SJ 1875-1957
To those who lived in community with him, Fr Esmonde White seemed to be almost shrouded in an fantastic silence. He certainly was a perfect man, according to St James, for he never offended with the tongue, his remarks being confined to “No doubt at all about it”, said either in English or Irish.

Born in Madras, India, in 1975, he was educated at Clongowes, where he acquired a reputation as a left-hand bowler, whence, no doubt, he developed a gesture common with him to the end of his life, bowling left-handed at invisible wickets.

His life as a Jesuit was spent mainly in the Colleges and the classroom, a ministry of 40 years at least. He was mathematical in his observance, never absent from a duty, ever easy to oblige others, the quintessence of kindness, A model of motivated observance, close to God always, he yielded up his spotless soul to God on April 27th 1957. In the words of his obituary “He was a white man”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1957

Obituary

Father Esmonde White SJ

Fr White was born on 15th March, 1875, in Madras, India. Educated in Clongowes, he gained his place as a three-quarter on the Senior Cup team, played a useful game of Soccer, and bowled on the cricket eleven. And anyone who knew him or was taught by him will know that to the very end of his life he was to be seen as he walked along, occasionally bowling, left-arm, an invisible ball at an invisible wicket.

He entered the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg in 1892, studied Philosophy at Valkenburg, and spent the seven following years in Australia. He was ordained at Milltown Park in 1908, He taught at the Crescent, Limerick, from 1910 to 1914, being Prefect of Studies for the two latter years. He was. at Belvedere 1915-1919, and again from 1923 to 1937, having been in the meantime Minister and Assistant to the Master of Novices at Tullabeg and Prefect of Studies at St Ignatius College, Galway, Then, after a year at Emo and two years at Rathfarnham as Spiritual Father, he went back to Belvedere from 1941–1947. From then until his death he was at Rathfarnham.

He loved Belvedere and when after a stay at Rathfarnham, he once again was changed to Belvedere we are told that he literally danced for joy, and that at the very sober age of sixty-five! He was Prefect of Studies in the Preparatory School for a period and for all his perpetually good humour knew well how to wield his sceptre of office. His most outstanding characteristic was his fantastic power of silence; he wasted no words. But it was a good-humoured silence, which missed little enough of what was going on and certain it is that his thoughts were always kindly since he never said an unkind word. Those of us who lived with him would suggest that Grace played a bigger part than Nature in making Fr White one of the kindest of men.

◆ The Clongownian, 1957

Obituary

Father Esmonde White SJ

Father Esmonde White was born in Madras, India, eighty-two years ago. Having left Clongowes, he joined the Novitiate at Tullabeg in 1892. He studied philosophy at Valkenburg in Holland and was then sent to the Australian Mission where he was Prefect and Master for six years, first in Kew College, Melbourne, and then at Riverview, Sydney.

He returned to Ireland in 1905 and completed his theological studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained in 1908. He also studied at Tronchiennes, Belgium. He was Master and Prefect of Studies at the Sacred Heart College, Limerick, from 1910 to 1914, and at Belvedere College, Dublin, from 1915 until 1919, when he was appointed Minister and Assistant Master of Novices at Tullabeg.

He was later in charge of studies at St Ignatius' College, Galway. In 1923 he returned to Belvedere, and remained there until 1937, when he was transferred to Rathfarnham Castle. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Esmonde White (1875-1957)

Born at Madras, India and educated at Clongowes, entered the Society in 1892. He pursued his higher studies in Valkenburg, Milltown Park and Belgium. He was ordained in 1908. Father White was a member of the Crescent community from 1909 to 1914 during which time he was prefect of studies. Most of his teaching career was spent at Belvedere College.

White, Henry, 1825-1855, Jesuit scholastic

  • IE IJA J/2245
  • Person
  • 05 May 1825-08 October 1855

Born: 05 May 1825, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1844, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 08 October 1855, Valletta, Malta - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied Humanities at Stonyhurst before Ent.

After First Vows he studied Philosophy at Namur in Belgium.
Sent to the English College in Malta for Regency, and died there 08 October 1855 aged 30

White, John Michael, 1724-1755, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2247
  • Person
  • 01 July 1724-18 February 1755

Born: 01 July 1724, County Meath and Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 March 1746, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 21 September 1751, Royal College Salamanca, Spain
Died: 18 February 1755, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” : :
1750 Was in Dublin

His letters 1740-1753 are at the Irish College Salamanca

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
A Meath family but probably brought up in Dublin as he received his early classical education at the Dublin Jesuit School under Milo O’Byrne and John Ward. He also made some Priestly studies at Santiago and Salamanca before Ent 24 March 1746 Villagarcía

1748-1752 After First Vows he was sent to Royal College Salamanca and was Ordained there 21 September 1751
1752 He was sent to Ireland immediately after Tertianship and sent to a parish in Dunboyne (temporary or permanent is uncertain). he was already in poor health and he died in Dublin Residence 18 February 1755

(A long interesting letter describing his return journey from Spain and his first experiences in Ireland, has survived in the Salamanca papers).

White, John, 1597-1621, Jesuit scholastic

  • IE IJA J/2248
  • Person
  • 24 June 1597-17 November 1621

Born: 24 June 1597, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 24 September 1619, Tournai, Belgium (BELG) - Belgicae province (BELG)
Died: 17 November 1621, Dublin City, County Dublin

His mother was Elizabeth Badlow or Bellew.
Studied Humanities in Ireland and Tournai, Philosophy at Douai
1621 As he suffered from Phtis laborans - Consumption, he returns home and died at the house of his parents in same year

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ
Son of Thomas and Elizabeth née Bedlowe
He had previously studied Classics under the Jesuits at Tournai and Philosophy at Douai before Ent 24 September 1619 Tournai
By First Vows he was suffering from consumption and so was sent to Dublin, in the hope that he might recuperate in the care of his parents. He died in Dublin 17 November 1621

White, Stephen, 1575-1647, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2255
  • Person
  • 1575-23 April 1647

Born: 1575, Clonmel, County Tipperary
Entered: 13 October 1596, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: c 1601, Salamanca, Spain
Final Vows: 06 January 1613, Dilingen, Germany
Died: 23 April 1647, Galway Residence, Galway City, County Galway

Younger Brother of Thomas - RIP 1622; Uncle of Peter White - RIP 1678; Thomas White - Ent 30/09/1612, LEFT 12/11/1618; Cousin of William White - RIP 1625

His name appears on a list of 8 who got a BA from Salamanca University in 1595 and then entered
1597 At Villagarcía College Age 22 Soc 6. Already a BA and studying Theology
1600 At Salamanca studying Theology Age 25 Soc 3
1603 Age 29 Soc 7. Professor of Arts at Salamanca University
1605 Came from CAST to GER SUP
1606-1609 At Ingolstadt lecturing in Theology. Age 32 Soc 10 and a Doctor of Divinity. Confessor and “Oreses Religiosorum in Convictu”
1610-1323 At Dilingen teaching Sacred Scripture “vires mediocres”
1612 Professor of Scholastic Theology at Dillingen and Pres of Casus. Confessor
1623-1627 Went to Pont-á-Mousson (CAMP) - Confessor and Spiritual Father to Germans
1628-1630 At Metz Confessor, Spiritual Father and Prefect of Cases
1630 Came to Irish Mission
Usher praised White in his Collectanea 1621 Tom V & VI)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica”:
c1617 he was in Bavaria
1634 Distinguished Professor of Theology (IER)
The Protestant Archbishop Ussher in “Primordia” p 400 calls him a man of exquisite knowledge in the antiquities, not only of Ireland, but also of other nations.
Robert Nugent, Superior of Irish Mission in a letter from Kilkenny 10 January 1646 to Charles Sangri, speaks of his works which he had sent to censors for examination.
Professor of Theology at Dillingen, Ingolstadt and Pont-à-Mousson etc.; Writer; Antiquarian;
Called a “Polyhistor” by Raderus, Colgan and others on account of his extraordinary learning.
(cf Oliver Stonyhurts MSS; Dean Reeves “Memoir of Stephen White”; de Backer “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ”; De Buck “Archéologie Irlandaise”)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had already graduated with a BA in Arts and in Theology abroad before Ent 13 October 1596 Villagarcía
1598-1601 After First Vows he was sent to Royal College Salamanca for studies and was Ordained there c 1601
1601-1605 Taught Philosophy at Irish College Salamanca
1605-1609 To the disappointment of his Spanish Superiors he was withdrawn by the General from CAST and appointed to a Chair of Theology at the College of Ingolstadt in the Upper German Province (GER SUP). At the end of two years here he was reported to the General as having departed from the ratio studiorum in his teaching. His lectures were represented to the General as “partly temerarious, partly dangerous and in great part to be retracted”,
1609 In September 1609 General ordered that Stephen be dismissed from his post and sent back to Ireland. But his health was never robust and his physician decided against the return journey to the Irish Mission. Later the General was to learn that White had not been so unorthodox, he had merely been expounding the opinions of Vasquez and was not the only Jesuit who approved of that scholar's teaching.
1610-1622 He was sent to the College of Dilingen, and he was not reinstated as a professor of Theology for the next two years. But this temporary disgrace incurred at Ingolstadt proved to be providential. The two years of freedom from the lecture-hall were not spent idly by Stephen. From this time dates his interest in the rich manuscript materials for Irish history and hagiography buried away in German monastic libraries. By Autumn, 1612, he had composed a work on the lives of Irish Saints but the General ordered that the book be submitted to rigid censorship in case it might cause offence to people of other countries. That same Autumn, he resumed his theology lectures in Dilingen, and was congratulated by the General who warned him, however, not to deflect from the 'sententia ordinaria". During these years he was professor, for a time, of Sacred Scripture. He remained in Dilingen as professor of dogmatic theology until 1622
1622-1627 Ever since 1620 White was anxious to leave the Upper German province and in 1622 was allowed to pass to CAMP where he was assigned to the University of Pont-à-Mousson. Although he had been advised in advance that he could not expect a Chair in that University, he taught Theology in fact there over the next three years, although his status might be better described, perhaps, as coach and not professor. But the five years, 1622/27, spent by him at Pont-à-Mousson were mostly taken up with historical research. For within a year of his arrival, 1623, he had ready for the press his celebrated “Apologia pro Hibernia”. But the General stopped the printing of this work at Antwerp.
1627-1630 He was transferred to Metz but held no teaching post there.
1630-1644 The General in response to requests from the Irish Mission allowed White to return to Ireland. Very little is known with certainty about his career on the Irish Mission. There is no mention of his name again in the sources until 1637 when the CATS simply recapitulated his past career but gave no hint of his address or occupation that year. It also said that his was in poor health. That Winter he wrote to the General asking that the Will which he had made at Dilingen before his final profession should be implemented to the benefit of the Irish Mission. His well-known letter to John Colgan O.F.M., 31 January 1640, implies that he had been engaged in research work ever since his return to Ireland and that he had spent the previous decade for the most part at Dublin where he had access to the library or Archbishop James Ussher.
1640 His later years, after the Puritan occupation of Dublin were spent in Galway. Correspondence of 1644 and 1646 indicates that he had a work approved for publication. He died sometime in or after 1646. Stephen White was one of the most remarkable Irish scholars of his time. His ability as philosopher and theologian was widely acknowledged in Spain, Germany and France. But his enduring fame rests upon his pioneering work in unearthing the manuscript treasures that preserved so much of the story of Ireland's past. He transcribed manuscripts for the Bollandists, for John Colgan, for James Ussher. Both the latter acknowledged their indebtedness to him. His magnum opus, the “Apologia pro Hibernia”, did not see the light until two centuries after his death but Lynch had a precis of the work before him when he was writing his “Cambrensis Eversus”.
White was the first Irish writer to voice the national tradition which rejected as spurious the grant of Ireland by Pope Adrian IV to Henry II of England. Though his troubles at Ingolstadt gave him the heaven-sent opportunity of turning to historical research, it is to be noted that his contemporary Irish fellow- Jesuits seem to have had no appreciation whatever of his contributions to Irish historical scholarship. Indeed there is plenty of evidence to hand that he was plagued by members of the Irish Mission with invitations to return during his years at Ingolstadt, Dilingen and Pont-à-Mousson. When he returned to Ireland in 1630 he had very probably little facility in speaking either Irish or English after his forty years abroad. The mission itself was unable to furnish him with the library facilities needed for his research work. Yet taking into account all the successes, misunderstandings and disappointments that mark his career, he will always be regarded as the most eminent Irish Jesuit produced in the Old Society. He died at Galway 23 April 1647.

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
White, Stephen
by Terry Clavin

White, Stephen (1574?–1646/7), Jesuit priest, academic, and antiquary, was born in Clonmel, the son of Pierce White. His was a remarkable family, two of his brothers also being priests: James was vicar apostolic of Waterford and Lismore and Thomas White (qv), a Jesuit, was the founder of the first Irish college on the continent. Another brother was deposed as mayor of Clonmel in 1606 for refusing to take the oath of supremacy. He was probably educated in the catholic school at Clonmel before travelling to study at the Irish college at Salamanca founded by his brother about 1590. After graduating BA, he entered the Society of Jesus on 13 October 1596 at Villagarcia. He remained at Salamanca, continuing his studies in theology, and obtained a doctorate of divinity about 1605.

In 1602 he taught a one-year course in humanities at Salamanca, marking the start of a distinguished academic career, and followed this up with a three-year course in mental philosophy. Such was his reputation that he was appointed to the chair of scholastic theology in the University of Ingoldstadt, one of the most distinguished universities in Germany, inaugurating his lectureship on 7 January 1606. In 1609 he went to lecture in the University of Dilingen on the Danube, being first professor of scholastic theology, and librarian of the university, and by 1612 confessor of the religious orders. He remained there for fourteen years, becoming one of the most accomplished theologians in Germany. After departing Dilingen he retired from academic life, being confessor to the Germans at Pont-à-Mousson, Champagne (1623–7), and spiritual father at the college of Metz (1627–9).

After 1611 two factors led him towards the study of Irish history. First, there had been little contact between Ireland and continental Europe since the early middle ages; the little that was known about Ireland tended to be from invariably hostile English sources. Second, Scottish antiquarians, capitalising on the fact that prior to the late middle ages the inhabitants of Ireland had been called Scots, claimed the Irish scholars and missionaries, who were a ubiquitous presence across the continent in the early medieval period, as their own. This opportunistic attempt to deprive Ireland of its saints and scholars, and of its best case for being a civilised Christian nation, did not go unchallenged, not least from White. He was aided in his scholarly labours by his academic contacts. Dilingen received students from abbeys and monasteries all over Germany and beyond, facilitating his access to vast reservoirs of ancient manuscripts relating to Ireland.

White wrote his Apologia pro Hibernia adversus Cambri calumnias between 1611 and 1613, declaring ‘The sole purpose of my writing is to defend the injured reputation of the old Irish whom I, and my fathers, for four hundred years have shared a common fatherland.’ He refuted the allegations of the twelfth-century Welsh author Gerald (qv) of Wales whose Expugnatio Hibernica justified the Norman conquest of Ireland through portraying the natives as barbaric and semi-pagan. The Apologia demolished such allegations but was marred slightly by his highly personalised attacks on Gerald. Although White was of Norman ancestry, he identified with the Gaelic Irish. During his career he wrote many works glorifying Ireland's past and refuting the Scots’ claims. He also transcribed a number of manuscripts on the lives of early Irish saints. However, none of his works was published during his lifetime, partly because of a lack of funds but also because of the politically sensitive nature of the material. A generous scholar, he freely shared his writings and discoveries with his contemporaries; others prospered from his unselfish spadework while he remained in comparative obscurity. His knowledge was such that he was accorded the title of ‘polyhistor’, or walking library.

The Irish Jesuits had frequently requested his transfer to Ireland, and in late 1628 he returned to his homeland, after an absence of thirty-eight years, to teach in a Jesuit college just established in Dublin. However, in January 1629 it was suppressed by the government. He returned to his native diocese of Waterford and Lismore, where the teacher who had lectured in some of Europe's most renowned academic institutions spent his autumn years teaching street children. During the late 1630s he was based in Dublin, and at this time embarked on his most celebrated and remarkable antiquarian collaboration. He several times met James Ussher (qv), Church of Ireland primate of Ireland and one of the most brilliant scholars of his age, who shared White's passion for Irish history. Ussher showed him his library and praised his learning. In return White gave Ussher his manuscripts on the lives of the early Irish saints.

After the start of the 1641 rebellion he fled Dublin to settle in Galway city. By then he was too infirm to carry out any more work or to become involved in the turbulent events of the 1640s. While in Galway he met John Lynch (qv), whose Cambrensis eversus was based on White's Apologia. His most likely date of death is shortly after January 1646 but some accounts have him alive in April 1647.

Burgundian Library, Brussels, xxi, nos. 7658–61; The whole works of Sir James Ware concerning Ireland, ed. and trans. W. Harris (1745–6), ii, 103; John Lynch, Cambrensis eversus, ed. Matthew Kelly (Dublin Celtic Society, 1848–52), ii, 394; Stephen White, Apologia pro Hibernia adversus Cambri calumnias, ed. Matthew Kelly (1849); William Reeves, ‘Memoir of Stephen White’, RIA Proc., xiii (1861); DNB; Edmund Hogan, ‘Worthies of Waterford and Tipperary’, Waterford ASJ, iii (1897), 119–34; William Burke, History of Clonmel (1983), 457–64

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Stephen White 1576-1646
In the estimation of historians and antiquarians, both Catholic and Protestant, Irish and continental, Fr Stephen White was a scholar of the first order. He was a nan of encyclopaedic knowledge, with a bent for antiquities. His contribution to the Annals of the Four Masters and their invaluable help in their compilation is attested warmly and generously by Michael Colgan, the greatest of them.

Born in Clonmel of a family which gave many illustrious sons to the Jesuits, he joined the Society at Villagarcia in 1596, and having pursued a brilliant course in the various continental colleges, professed Philosophy and Theology for many years in Germany and France.

A long wished for project in education, an Irish University, was started in Back Lane Dublin in 1629. Fr Stephen was sent home to profess in it. Its life span was short. For the next ten years Fr White spent most of his time teaching young boys in Waterford.

On the outbreak of the Confederate War he went to Galway, where he died an old man of 72 in 1646.

His works include : “Apologia pro Hibernia’, “Geste Dei”, “De Sanctis et Antiquitate Hiberniae” together with numerous philosophical and theological tracts. A great deal of these works are lost, indeed were never published through fear of exacerbating the English authorities.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WHITE, STEPHEN. This Irish Father deserves a fuller eulogium than I am able to supply. He was the author of some historical pieces relating to Ireland, in confutation of the assertions of Giraldus Cambrensis. The Rev. John Lynch, who had the custody of this valuable MS mentions it in Chapter I and XIV of his “Cambrensis Evcrsus”, printed in 1662, and expresses his deep regret that a considerable part of it was lost during the Civil Wars. Archbishop Usher, an excellent judge of these matters, in p. 400 of his Primordia, gives F. White the character of being “a man of exquisite knowledge in the Antiquities, not only of Ireland, but also of other nations”. In a letter of F. Robert Nugent, Superior of his brethren in Ireland, and addressed from Kilkenny, the 10th of January, 1646, to F. Charles Sangri, I read what follows.
“I have given the commission to four of our Fathers diligently to examine the works of F. Stephen White, and to forward their judgment to your paternity, conformably to the directions you have recently sent us. His works are various, and as our Fathers live in places very distant from each other, and notwithstanding the most Reverend Bishops, (who are ready to defray the expenses of the printing), as also the supreme Council very earnestly insist, that a certain work of his, “De sanctis et Antiqititate Ibcrniae” be instantly sent to the Press, I find it difficult and next to impossible to resist their reasonable demand, since the Manuscript itself has been perused by several them, and has been pronounced not only worthy of being printed, but highly necessary for the credit and advantage of this Kingdom. Therefore I have written again to the Examiners, that each would privately report their opinion on this work as soon as possible to your Paternity; though all in their letters to me greatly extol it, and declare it most worthy to issue from the Press. But 1 am unwilling to allow any work to be printed that can give just cause of offence to any person : and yet there is less cause of apprehension in this case, as this book merely treats on the Saints and Antiquity of the Kingdom of Ireland”.

White, William, 1912-1988, Jesuit priest, teacher and counsellor

  • IE IJA J/14
  • Person
  • 02 December 1912-13 July 1988

Born: 02 December 1912, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 13 July 1988, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin community at the time of death

Early education at Christian Brothers School (Carrick-on-Suir) and Mungret College SJ

by 1972 at Manhassett NY, USA (NEB) studying marriage

Prefect of Studies at Gonzaga, College SJ, Dublin: 1950 -1965
Rector of Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin: 1965 - 1971
Director of Marriage Encounter: 1974 - 1982
Superior of Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin: 1985 - 1988

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 63rd Year No 4 1988 (Final Edition)

Obituary
Fr William White (1912-1930-1988)
Fr William White, SJ, who died on July 13 1988, was a native of Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary. Born in 1912, he was educated by the Christian Brothers in the town of his birth and by the Jesuits at Mungret College, Limerick. Known as “Willie” to his family, he was “Bill” to the Jesuits, whom he joined in 1930. After the customary course of studies, interrupted by a teaching spell at Belvedere College, Dublin, he was ordained priest at Milltown Park, Dublin, in 1944.
When Fr Bill was sent back to Belvedere College in 1946, with responsibility for the preparatory school there, he expected to spend many years on the staff, so he was very surprised when the Provincial chose him as one of the four priests who, in 1949, founded Gonzaga College. Fr Bill was Prefect of Studies at Gonzaga from 1950 until 1965, when he became Rector of the college. He had to cope with all the demands of founding and building up a new school, but he never lost his sense of humour, nor his sense of fairness and never forgot any of the boys whom he had taught.
A new career began for him in 1971, when he went to Manhasset, New York, to study marriage counselling and he became one of the pioneers of Marriage Encounter in Ireland, being its director from 1974 until 1982. Apart from his formal involvement, Fr Bill was a counsellor and friend to many troubled people, always ready to give his whole attention to others and with a marvellously warm smile. Many couples, individuals (including many priests and religious) and whole families benefitted from his advice, his prayers and his friendship. His closeness to his own family was an important part of his life and he was an asset to every Jesuit house in which he lived.
Fr White's final assignment was as superior to the Jesuit Order's nursing unit at Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park, where he took up office in 1985. In recent months, it was obvious that his health was failing and he was in St Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, for tests when he suffered a stroke, In the days between the stroke and his death, Fr Bill was serene, in no pain and with no worries. Even in the last hours of his life, his main concern was the well-being of others.
(Catholic Standard, 22nd July 1988).

In the quartet of Jesuits who founded Gonzaga, Fr Bill White was surprisingly identified as the Brawn, harnessing the energies of Blood (the O'Conor Don), Beauty (blond Fr John Murphy) and Brains (Fr Tim Hamilton, the only survivor). In Bill it was the brawn of the jockey rather than the ploughman. He walked like a horseman, out of his element with nothing between his legs, with a slightly limping shuffle. Though I never saw him on horseback, he seemed to belong there. He mounted his old bicycle like a hunter and rode it habitually between canter and gallop round the steeplechase of Dublin streets. He had a jockey's sense of the final furlong, hurling himself up the Gonzaga avenue just in time for dinner, or on other public occasions keeping the grandstand on its toes until the last moment. Two minutes before the house exams, which were treated with considerable solemnity, teachers, boys and desks would be in chaos until at the last moment Bill would slip into the hall, bundles of papers under his arms, restoring order just in time.
Though he founded the most urban and urbane of schools, Bill brought to it a countryman's sense of reality. He was sensitive to the moods of flesh and blood, a student of form, whether equine or human. In a school that had the reputation of being heady, he was the least heady of men. Do you remember his style of greeting? In a warm and characteristic way it was very physical. Moving towards you with a smile that was always slightly lop-sided, his hands never far from his body so that he came close enough to sense you, almost smell you, he would eye your skin, your colour, the lie of your muscles, the lift or droop of your mouth, so that when he asked “How are you?” it was with the concern of a friend who already surmised your world from the outside and was eager to know how you experienced it from the inside. At that moment, nobody else existed for him, and it is no wonder that so many found him unforgettable. The sense of loss at his funeral was tinged with intensity and often indignation. It seemed that hundreds were feeling: How could the Lord take a man who was so important to me - and to whom I was so important? At the ripe age of three score and fifteen, it still seemed grossly premature.
Bill is said to have been appalled at his appointment to Gonzaga in 1950. His old guru, Fr Rupert Coyle, had trained him to run the Junior School in Belvedere, and fingered him to succeed in the Senior School. He felt himself ill-equipped to launch, albeit in distinguished company, a pioneering educational experiment. He was reflective, wise and supportive, but not an originator - he left that to his talented staff, who always sensed his ungrudging support.
From the beginning he liked to teach the youngest class in the school, to get the measure of them from the start. While his staff gradually shaped a new style and curriculum, Bill was the one who knew the individual pupil, knew the dynamics of his family, sensed where his promise and his limits were. When I wrote school reports with him in the late sixties, I marvelled at his sense of how our words could impinge on the family, to build up or to destroy; how they would affect the depression of a mother, the driving ambition of a father, the vitality of a boy. The document finally put into the envelope was not just an objective assessment, but a communication to a family that was known, with a clear sense of how it would be used.
He ran a tight ship, and wielded the biffer in the fashion of the time, but with a fairness that is still remembered. Two small boys were heard discussing which teacher they liked best. “I like Fr White best” said Peter. “But he biffs you!” protested his friend. “Yes, but that's his duty” said young Sutherland, with that sense of order that makes him a formidable European Commissioner. In fact it was often the wayward who sensed most vividly the largeness of Bill's heart. More than once he stood under the great copper beech on the front lawn calling young X, a fugitive from the classroom, to come down out of that - and X has now joined the forces of law as a thriving solicitor.
To those who have, more will be given, says the Gospel, ironically, and Gonzaga's early pupils were manifestly blessed in the Dublin of their time. Fr White succeeded in saving these fortunate ones from an enervating sense of privilege. He challenged the clever to be more than clever: to be good. It is the task of every teacher, to build up children without pandering to narcissistic illusions, to confront their selfishness without destroying or depressing them, to forge an alliance with the good in them. This was a central theme in Bill's work with boys: to reach the truth in them, and not allow them to take their blessings for granted.
Every school principal knows the four am feeling that there is a serious chink in his armour, some point where the dyke can be breached and chaos break out. Bill's chink lay in the formalities of administration. He ran his files on what we called the deep litter system, then a popular method of poultry farming. Bill dropped letters, application forms, telephone messages, reports, departmental documents to form a carpet, sometimes ankle-deep, on the ample floor of his room. He was confident that he knew where things were, and we marvelled to find that this was sometimes true. But at a time when paper-work was multiplying, and applications for a place in the school were often made from the nursing-home as soon as the baby was identified as a boy, it was inevitable that the deep litter system sometimes let him down, with often painful consequences. In general he was ill at ease with the administrative aids that are now taken for granted: secretaries (he never had one), typewriters, cars, files, computers, VDUs, all the paraphernalia of yuppiedom, that shield one person from another. For him the only essential 20th century appliance (apart from the bicy cle--but his machine was more redolent of the nineteenth century) was the telephone.
If Fr White is ever portrayed or sculpted, it must be with a telephone to his ear, listening, murmuring, reassuring, cheering, and as the minutes lengthen saying: “Goodbye ... goodbye again” (even on one occasion “Goodbye at last”). It was an instrument he could not resist. His car was attuned to pick up a phone's ring from quite a distance, and he would move automatically towards it. It was a symbol of his accessibility that he laid himself open to. In the community we were jealous of his attention, and often saw him exhausted by his unwillingness to protect himself. One remembers him slipping through the Gonzaga hall, summoned to the first parlour by one lady, to the second parlour by another, and to the telephone by a waiting caller - all on the way to dinner, or on another occasion reaching the community house for six o'clock dinner after a working day that began at six a.m., to be grabbed by a parent with the pretty ruthless remark: “I knew I would catch you now; Father”. Others might fume, but not Bill, his face would light up to the visitor and he was listening again.
Not merely listening, but containing. He took bad news on board in a way that metabolised it, made it easier to bear. He could listen to tidings of hopelessness, depression, sickness, estrangement, and by sharing the bitterness, heal some of the pain, though he knew that no practical solution was in sight. When someone remarked on his gift of empathy, he traced it to his father, who he said was much better than he: old Mr White was known in Carrick-on-Suir as the man to contact in the aftermath of some particularly cruel tragedy, a man who would not shrink from the pain but could place himself alongside the sufferers, sharing their cross. As the years passed, Bill moved more and more into work (in Marriage Encounter, and with sick Jesuits in Cherryfield) that engaged his extraordinary gift of compassion.
A dear friend who revered Bill used to speak of the “other dimension” that he revealed: the BMW cruising down the avenue through the February rain gets a wave and smile from Bill White cycling up from a hospital visit or, as Rector, carrying across hot coffee to the staff room for the teachers break; among us as one who serves. His life would not make sense if God did not exist.
His faith sustained him to the end, with a manifestly aching body, but a face that became more radiant and transparent as his health declined. He had resolved as a young Jesuit that if ever there was an apparent conflict between the religious rule and the Gospel, he would opt for the Gospel, which for him was summed up in one or two truths: “I have loved you with an everlasting love” - his favourite phrase from Scripture; and the need to cast out fear, which he saw as the most damaging and pernicious effect of original sin.
We will not run out of administrators, or teachers, or priests. Fr Bill White was more; he was a healer, and the gap he left is still felt with pain by hundreds of friends.
(By courtesy of the Gonzaga Record).

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1988

Obituary

Father Bill White SJ

Fr. White was not a past pupil of Belvedere but those who were here in the 40s and 50s will remember him as a scholastic (1939-41) and, in the latter period, as Prefect of Studies in the Junior House (1946-50). He was a man of very unusual goodness and personal quality.

The following appreciation appeared in The Catholic Standard (July 22nd 1988):

Fr William White SJ, who died on July 13 1988, was a native of Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. Born in 1912, he was educated by the Christian Brothers in the town of his birth and by the Jesuits at Mungret College, Limerick, Known as “Willie” to his family, he was “Bill” to the Jesuits, whom he joined in 1930. After the customary course of studies, interrupted by a teaching spell at Belvedere College, Dublin he was ordained priest at Milltown Park, Dublin, in 1944.

When Fr Bill was sent back to Belvedere College in 1946, with responsibility for the preparatory school there, he expected to spend many years on the staff, so he was very surprised when the Provincial chose him as one of the four priests who, in 1949, founded Gonzaga College. Fr Bill was Prefect of Stud Gonzaga from 1950 until 1965, when he became Rector of the college. He had to cope with a demands of founding and building up a new school but he never lost his sense of humour, nor his sense of fairness and never forgot any of the boys whom he had taught.

A new career began for him in 1971, when he went to Manhasset, New York, to study marriage counsellling and he became one of the pioneers of Marriage Encounter in Ireland, being its director from 1974 until 1982. Apart from his formal involvement Fr Bill was a counsellor and friend to many troubled people, always ready to give his whole attention to others and with a marvellously warm smile. Many couples, individuals (including many priests and religious) and whole families benefitted from his advice his prayers and his friendship. His closeness to his own family was an important part of his life and he was an asset to every Jesuit house in which he lived.

Fr White's final assignment was as superior Jesuit Order's nursing unit at Cherryfield Lodge Milltown Park, where he took up office in 1985. In recent months, it was obvious that his health was failing and he was in St Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, for tests when he suffered a stroke. In the days between the stroke and his death, Fr Bill was serene, in no pain and with no worries, Even in the last hours of his life, his main concern was the well being of others.

At his funeral in Gardiner St Church, Fr Senan Timoney SJ said in his homily:

“He was a great Christian, a great human being. His humanity never suffered because he was Christ like. He was wise and yet not solemn. You can all recall his infectious laugh. He was authentic - there was nothing spurious, nothing artificial about him. He was fully himself. He was that elusive thing a man of God whose scale of values were those of Christ. A graced person, he was gentle. He had time for you. When he was talking to you no one else counted - this whether it was on the telephone or in the parlour. A man of immense compassion and at the same time a shrewd judge of any situation, He was in the words of Fr Pedro Arrupe ‘a man for others’. One phrase I can recall his using quite often - especially if you enquired after his well-being - ‘And now, tell me how are you?'’ He was selfless”.

One of those who cared for him in his last days said: “It was a joy to look after him. He died as he lived - a man for others”.

◆ The Gonzaga Record 1988

Obituary

William White SJ

In the quartet of Jesuits who founded Gonzaga, Fr Bill White was surprisingly identified as the Brawn, harnessing the energies of Blood (the O'Conor Don), Beauty (blond Fr John Murphy) and Brains (Fr Tim Hamilton, the only survivor). In Bill it was the brawn of the jockey rather than the ploughman. He walked like a horseman, out of his element with nothing between his legs, with a slightly limping shuffle. Though I never saw him on horseback, he seemed to belong there. He mounted his old bicycle like a hunter and rode it habitually between canter and gallop round the steeplechase of Dublin streets. He had a jockey's sense of the final furlong, hurling himself up the Gonzaga avenue just in time for dinner, or on other public occasions keeping the grandstand on its toes until the last moment. Two minutes before the house exams, which were treated with considerable solemnity, teachers, boys and desks would be in chaos until, at the last moment, Bill would slip into the hall, bundles of papers under his arms, restoring order just in time.

Though he founded the most urban and urbane of schools, Bill brought to it a countryman's sense of reality. He was sensitive to the moods of flesh and blood, a student of form, whether equine or human. In a school that had the reputation of being heady, he was the least heady of men. Do you remember his style of greeting? In a warm and characteristic way it was very physical. Moving towards you with a smile that was always slightly lop-sided, his hands never far from his body so that he came close enough to sense you, almost smell you, he would eye your skin, your colour, the lie of your muscles, the lift or droop of your mouth, so that when he asked 'How are you?' it was with the concern of a friend who already surmised your world from the outside and was eager to know how you experienced it from the inside. At that moment, nobody else existed for him, and it is no wonder that so many found him unforgettable. The sense of loss at his funeral was tinged with intensity and often indignation. It seemed that hundreds were feeling: how could the Lord take a man who was so important to me -- and to whom I was so important? At the ripe age of three score and fifteen, it still seemed grossly premature.

Bill is said to have been appalled at his appointment to Gonzaga in 1950. His old guru, Fr Rupert Coyle, had trained him to run the Junior School in Belvedere, and fingered him to succeed in the Senior School. He felt himself ill-equipped to launch, albeit in distinguished company, a pioneering educational experiment. He was reflective, wise and supportive, but not an originator — he left that to his talented staff, who always sensed his ungrudging support. From the beginning he liked to teach the youngest class in the school, to get the measure of them from the start. While his staff gradually shaped a new style and curriculum, Bill was the one who knew the individual pupil, knew the dynamics of his family, sensed where his promise and his limits were. When I wrote school reports with him in the late sixties, I marvelled at his sense of how our words could impinge on the family, to build up or to destroy; how. they would affect the depression of a mother, the driving ambition of a father, the vitality of a boy. The document finally put into the envelope was not just an objective assessment, but a communication to a family that was known, with a clear sense of how it would be used.

He ran a tight ship, and wielded the biffer in the fashion of the time, but with a fairness that is still remembered. Two small boys were heard discussing which teacher they liked best. 'I like Fr White besť said Peter. ‘But he biffs you!' protested his friend. 'Yes, but that's his duty said young Sutherland, with that sense of order that makes him a formidable European Commissioner. In fact it was often the wayward who sensed most vividly the largeness of Bill's heart. More than once he stood under the great copper beech on the front lawn calling young X, a fugitive from the classroom, to come down out of that - and X has now joined the forces of law as a thriving solicitor.

To those who have, more will be given, says the Gospel, ironically, and Gonzaga's early pupils were manifestly blessed in the Dublin of their time. Fr White succeeded in saving these fortunate ones from an enervating sense of privilege. He challenged the clever to be more than clever: to be good. It is the task for every teacher, to build up children without pandering to narcissistic illusions, to confront their selfishness without destroying or depressing them, to forge an alliance with the good in them. This was a central theme in Bill's work with boys: to reach the truth in them, and not allow them to take their blessings for granted.

Every school principal knows the four a.m. feeling that there is a serious chink in his armour, some point where the dyke can be breached and chaos break out. Bill's chink lay in the formalities of administration. He ran his files on what we called the deep litter system, then a popular method of poultry farming. Bill dropped letters, application forms, telephone messages, reports, departmental documents to form a carpet, sometimes ankle-deep, on the ample floor of his room. He was confident that he knew where things were, and we marvelled to find that this was sometimes true. But at a time when paper-work was multiplying and applications for a place in the school were often made from the nursing home as soon as the baby was identified as a boy, it was inevitable that the deep litter system sometimes let him down, with often painful consequences. In general he was ill at ease with the administrative aids that are now taken for granted: secretaries (he never had one), typewriters, cars, files, computers, VDUs, all the paraphernalia of yuppiedom, that shield one person from another. For him the only essential 20th-century appliance (apart from the bicycle — but his machine was more redolent of the nineteenth century) was the telephone.

If Fr White is ever portrayed or sculpted, it must be with a telephone to his ear, listening, murmuring, reassuring, cheering, and as the minutes lengthen saying 'Goodbye....goodbye again' (even on one occasion, 'Goodbye at last). It was an instrument he could not resist. His ear was attuned to pick up a phone's ring from quite a distance, and he would move automatically towards it. It was a symbol of his accessibility that he laid himself open to. In the community we were jealous of his attention, and often saw him exhausted by his unwillingness to protect himself. One remembers him slipping through the Gonzaga hall, summoned to the first parlour by one lady, to the second parlour by another, and to the telephone by a waiting caller - all on the way to dinner; or on another occasion reaching the community house for six o'clock dinner after a working day that began at six a.m., to be grabbed by a parent with the pretty ruthless remark: 'I knew I would catch you now, Father'. Others might fume, but not Bill; his face would light up to the visitor and he was listening again.

Not merely listening, but containing. He took bad news on board in a way that metabolised it, made it easier to bear. He could listen to tidings of hopelessness, depression, sickness, estrangement, and by sharing the bitterness, heal some of the pain, though he knew that no practical solution was in sight. When someone remarked on his gift of empathy, he traced it to his father, who he said was much better than he: old Mr White was known in Carrick-on-Suir as the man to contact in the aftermath of some particularly cruel tragedy, a man who would not shrink from the pain but could place himself alongside the sufferers, sharing their cross. As the years passed, Bill moved more and more into work (in Marriage Encounter, and with sick Jesuits in Cherryfield) that engaged his extraordinary gift of compassion.

A dear friend who revered Bill used to speak of the other dimension' that he revealed: the BMW cruising down the avenue through the February rain gets a wave and smile from Bill White cycling up from a hospital visit: or, as Rector, carrying across hot coffee to the staff-room for the teachers' break; among us as one who serves. His life would not make sense if God did not exist.

His faith sustained him to the end, with a manifestly aching body, but a face that became more radiant and transparent as his health declined. He had resolved as a young Jesuit that if ever there was an apparent conflict between the religious rule and the Gospel, he would opt for the Gospel, which for him was summed up in one or two truths: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love' — his favourite phrase from Scripture; and the need to cast out fear, which he saw as the most damaging and pernicious effect of original sin.

We will not run out of administrators, or teachers, or priests. Fr Bill White was more; he was a healer, and the gap he left is still felt with pain by hundreds of friends.

Paul Andrews SJ

Remembering Father White

In 1976, to stimulate interest in the activities of the past pupils' union, a 'Gonzaga Dinner' was advertised in The Irish Times and attracted 100 guests, the largest number that could be accommodated in the dining room of the University Club. There were rumours that an Alternative Gonzaga Dinner had to be convened around the corner in Captain America's for the late applicants. If so, the latecomers missed what for the participants in the real Gonzaga Dinner was the high point of the evening: the few words spoken by Fr White.

Fr White spoke that evening about freedom. I seem to remember some remarks about how much freedom the boys could use!. I seem to remember too that Fr White said that looking back, he could see ways in which it might have been safe to allow a little more freedom in the school than had been the case. But it was not primarily his words that made Fr White's appearance that evening so memorable. It was the sudden explosion of applause that greeted him as he rose to speak. It was heartfelt applause, deliberately prolonged. It had overtones of shared triumph. Fr White, in his person, seemed to represent the contribution of so many teachers, pupils, and parents to the decades of endeavour in Gonzaga. He represented the sense of belonging that each of us seemed to enjoy.

What was the secret of Fr White's enduring rapport with all the boys, and all the families, who were part of Gonzaga? As someone who came to Gonzaga only after Fr White became Rector, and who therefore had direct dealings with him only on a few occasions, I can speak on this subject as a member of the rank-and-file. Even at that distance, it was always clear that Fr White was someone who paid attention to individuals. He knew people by name and he knew what was important in their lives. He was a man with a heart, who by thinking things mattered made them matter. The school's concerns were Fr White's concerns. It was an example of joyful service that like other gentle features of our youthful landscape, we noticed too little.

One personal memory that I do have of Fr White is of the time I sat the entrance examination for Oxford in one of the two sitting rooms on the left off the hallway of the priests' house. Fr White himself was my supervisor. Each morning of the exam he brought me tea and biscuits on a tray, an impish smile of complicity conveying the support of the school - once again one finds it easy to identify Fr White with the school.

The supportive community which Fr White laboured to create in Gonzaga made the school the complement of a good home atmosphere. The certainty of being known and valued, the stability and predictability of school routine, the very high standard of dedication of the staff, were easy to take for granted, as was the absence of bullying and conflict among the pupils themselves. The consistent success of the school in these seemingly small things are a reminder of the truth of William Blake's dictum that he who would do good to another must do so in minute particulars'.

If Gonzaga had a particular intellectual stamp, it was a belief in the value of open discussion. In Fr Joe Veale's English class, we gave our own reactions to the works under study and were warned off potted summaries or appreciations. John Wilson, teaching Spanish, tolerated lengthy excursuses on the bullfight or the Spanish Civil War. In fifth year, in Religious Knowledge class, Fr Cull ran a sort of open forum on the question of whether God existed, with the result that the young university student a year or two later had an acquired immunity to some of the ruder challenges he faced. Whatever else one could say about the doubts of the Gonzaga past pupils on matters of faith, those doubts would never be the mere product of a “generation gap, or a young person's means of escape from a too-rigid authority.

In this sense, the spirit of the school ran counter to the tendency in many parts of Irish life to accept reality as one might accept the absentee landlord: as a force to be obeyed, cajoled, or evaded, but never tackled directly with argument, much less brought to account. It was a great blessing in Gonzaga that we felt free to delve into the truth and that we never felt, as perhaps so many have felt, that probing the causes of things is like tinkering with an unexploded bomb. Gonzaga, like Fr White, was always ready to listen.

I am told by a reliable source within the Jesuit Community that in his years as Rector, Fr White permitted himself only one concession to the flesh. My source discovered what this weakness was one Thursday afternoon in March. The Rector had failed to answer on any of the usual telephone extensions and was located by a search party in front of the television, engrossed in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. That was in 1967.

It is only one of the many memories of Fr White that have surfaced this summer wherever Gonzaga people have been together. Everyone has his own story to tell and yet each story blends perfectly with the next and each conversation has a lightness that is surprising considering that the topic of discussion is a death, a departure. Fr White's presence, like the presence in nature that ‘veins violets and tall trees makes more and more', seems still with us.

A few years ago, I was back in Ireland after nine years abroad and found myself confessing to a colleague that gaps and discontinuities had emerged in my relationships with my friends. “The truth is”, my colleague said, “that you never come home”. As we spoke, I realised that there is an exception to that rule, if it is a rule. On each of my Gonzaga friends I could lean as heavily as before, discover the same easygoing acceptance communicated with the same humorous certainty as before. Fr White would have wished it so. Perhaps that is what Thucydides meant when he wrote of good men, that the whole world is their memorial.

Philip McDonagh

An Appreciation

Father White was, in my opinion, the single most important figure in the history of Gonzaga. He was Prefect of Studies for fifteen years from the School's foundation and Rector for six years after that. He and Father Charlie O'Connor, our first Rector, were a perfect team. Fr O'Connor was a stickler for administrative detail and had a real feel for the development of the School. But he was a distant, slightly aloof figure.

Fr White, on the other hand, was hopeless about records and correspondence and other office work; he was a man for the here and now and had a genius with people. He was good-humoured, buoyant and had immense powers of sympathy. The other teachers found him supportive, especially those who were wilting under the strain.

With the boys he had a robust, slightly hectoring way and would not take too much nonsense. “You're only deceivin' yourself, he would say through clenched teeth, simulating exasperation. But he was too sensible to get really annoyed. He had the uncongenial task of dispensing corporal punishment but this did not diminish his popularity among the boys by whom he was known affectionately as ‘Walley'. To not a few of them he became an invaluable counsellor to whom they looked for advice and support long after they had left the school.

He was the kind of man who turned up when he was most needed, generally on his old bicycle which he mounted as if it were a steed. To meet him was always a happy experience. When you were with him, you were all that mattered. But there was more. Beneath the bustle he had the tranquil contentment that goes with deep faith. That was very impressive. He had immense insight into his fellow humans and he used this to serve them. He gave of himself totally and never thought of the cost, let alone count it.

I last met him in Gonzaga at the Mass for Fr O'Connor when he rendered a superb appreciation. Recalling small but significant episodes from those early days he re-captured his subject to perfection. I remember that he concluded by expressing the wish that Gonzaga boys would regard their education as a privilege to be shared, not a property to be defended. It was a characteristically generous thought. He himself had contributed mightily to making it such a privilege. He has left with us the challenge of proving worthy of it and an inspiration and example for applying ourselves to that task.

Charles Lysaght

Whitely, F Xavier, 1899-1989, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2259
  • Person
  • 09 June 1899-23 December 1989

Born: 09 June 1899, Fremantle, Western Australia
Entered: 24 January 1915, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1929, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1932
Died: 23 December 1989, McQuoin Park Infirmary, Hornsby, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1920 in Australia - Regency
by 1924 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Francis Xavier Whitely was the first Western Australian to join the Jesuits. He entered the Society 24 January 1915, a few days after he had heard that he had gained second place and an exhibition in the State's public examinations. His Jesuit studies were in Belgium, Ireland, France and Wales, but it was during his tertianship year at Paray-le-Monial that he embraced the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which became a passion during his long life.
His First appointment after tertianship was to Xavier College, Melbourne, 1932-39, as teacher and division prefect. With only one year, 1940, at St Aloysius' College, he developed a lifelong love of this school.
Then he joined the Bombay Province in India, 1940-68. He had a large shed mission in Bandra, when 700 poor immigrants came to the large city for work. These people built a church/school with what little finance they could obtain. He remained in India for 25 years, also translating some Indian works into English.
As a result of his Indian experience he developed a considerable ill-ease with Indians. It was decided that he should return to Australia, and his first appointment was to the parish of Norwood, SA, 1969-70. He returned to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1971-79.
He mixed happily with the junior boys, teaching religion and directing the Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament. He took charge of the cleanliness and order of the yard in Wyalla. He built a special tree house for the boys, which delighted them, but amazed all others. He did not like people using the yard in Wyalla for any purpose, especially for parking cars, and so would frequently change the locks, much to the annoyance of all, including the rector. It was said that he had three pet aversions, Indians, nuns and cars, and when all three in one turned up one day at the gates of Wyalla, they were not warmly welcomed.
He loved sport, especially cricket, and was a regular visitor to watch the college games, usually riding his bicycle, even along the busy Pacific Highway. He exhibited great personal poverty, and wrote many letters to the provincial concerning the difficulties he had at St Aloysius', such as the destruction of the old chapel and being removed from chaplain duties in the junior school. He was against concelebrations, community Mass and prayer, and meetings. He loved the old Church and Society.
As he grew older, he was retired to Canisius College, Pymble, but his great energy enabled him to attend the cricket and football matches played by the boys of St Aloysius' College. He wrote an autobiography, “Faces Beloved”, which was censored, but it showed much of his confusions in life. He held a family reunion of 600 cousins in Perth at Murdoch University on 27 January 1985. A picture of him in Jesuit gown racing across a paddock trying to bless animals was a feature of the daily newspaper. Finally, he was sent to a retirement village at Hornsby where he died.
Whitely had many eccentricities, which often clouded the impact of some of his wise comments on life. He was not a man that could be ignored in any community in which he lived.

Whyte, Edward, 1827-1904, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2260
  • Person
  • 20 November 1827-26 January 1904

Born: 20 November 1827, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1844, Hodder, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained:
Final Vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 26 January 1904, Stamford Hill, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Whyte, Richard, 1824-1891, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2261
  • Person
  • 17 November 1824-14 July 1891

Born: 17 November 1824, Dunbell, County Kilkenny
Entered: 25 January 1855, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Ordained: 1862
Final Vows:15 August 1875
Died: 14 July 1891, Xavier College, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Came to HIB in 1869 to 1871 at Milltown Park and Clongowes

Williams, Andrew, 1935-1992, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/543
  • Person
  • 15 June 1935-10 August 1992

Born: 15 June 1935, Crumlin, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 January 1956, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Professed: 15 august 1966, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 10 August 1992, Milltown Park, Dublin

Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary
Br Andrew (Andy) Williams (1935-1992)

15th June 1935; Born, Dublin
Early Education; Christian Brothers Schools, Crumlin
Pre-entry: He studied crafts and was an assistant mechanic
15th Jan. 1956: Entered the Society at Emo
1958 - 1966: Emo
1966 - 1969: Tullabeg
1969 - 1970: Crescent College, Limerick
1970 - 1985: Rathfarnham, held various posts: Sub Min.; Praef fam.,Adj dir Dom Exerc., and Minister
1985 - 1989: Tabor House, Minister, Bursar
1986 1990 : Caretaker of Villa House in Rocky Valley
1989 - 1992: Milltown Park
10th Aug. 1992: Died in grounds of Milltown Park

Ni aitheantas go haontigheas it is said - if you want to know me come and live with me. As far as I can make out I never lived with Andy Williams unless it was for a year in Emo 1962-3, but still I believe I knew him quite well. Listening to Fergus O'Donoghue's homily at his funeral the pietas - or devotion - of the man came flooding back to me. Andy was a real Jesuit.

I remember his prowess as a nippy soccer forward but especially I remember his qualities as a golfer. Like all true golfers he had an abiding optimism which he shared notably with Tony Mc Shera. No matter how today's round went - and Andy had many a good round - the next round was going to approach perfection. At every outing of Saint Mary's Andy was present not only as a successful competitor also as captain for several years and unfailingly the man, along with Mattie Meade, who checked the score cards of all participants with an eagle eye. As a marathon runner he competed at home and abroad and ran a marathon in Finland not long before his death - a Jesuit first?

But there was far more to Andy than the football player, the golfer, the runner. He was a committed, available Jesuit, whether as a tailor, as a valued member of the Rathfarnham Retreat House team and in his later years in Tabor Retreat House. He was also in charge of Rocky Valley for a number of years. When Rathfarnham Castle came to be disposed of in the mid 80's I appreciated Andy's worth. The dismantling of the house, and the preparation of the contents for auction was no small feat and Andy was the man responsible for this as he lived there alone in its final year.

He knew how to handle crises without fuss, he was no fool and knew when unfair demands were being made on him by lay person or Jesuit. Above everything else, Andy was utterly reliable. The Gospel speaks of faithfulness. That was he.

In 1992 an expedition set out one May day to visit Youghal, Dominic Collins' hometown, and Andy was with us, but when the beatification journey to Rome took place in September Andy had exchanged a close-up seat at the ceremony for something far better. He had run the good race.

Frank Sammon

Williams, John, 1906-1981, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2264
  • Person
  • 21 October 1906-21 May 1981

Born: 21 October 1906, Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1944
Died: 21 May 1981, St Louis School, Claremont, Perth, Australia- Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Williams had a sad childhood. His Irish mother and Welsh father died leaving five small children, three boys and two girls. He was looked after by a relative of his, Father Patrick McCurtin, and was a boarder at Mungret.
Williams entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 September 1928, did his university studies in Ireland, and priestly studies at Louvain, arriving in Australia in 1942, two years after his ordination. He taught at Riverview and Campion Hall, Point Piper, Sydney In 1949 he went to Perth as prefect of studies at St Louis School where he remained for the rest of his life.
For fifteen years he was prefect of studies, and completed his tasks with the greatest exactitude and precision. He was a severe disciplinarian, keeping his distance from his students, which he regretted in his latter days. However, he was a good educator, teaching religion, history and economics. The public examination results of his students were most respectable. He gave himself completely to his tasks. He stayed on in Perth even when St Louis ceased to be a Jesuit school, helping with confessions of the junior students. He symbolised the long-standing Jesuit view that education was worth the discipline and effort of achievement.
He was a fastidious man, elegant in dress, and correct in style and presentation of his person. He was complex and cultivated, at heart a very simple priest, at home with academics as well as ordinary people. He had an irreverent sense of humour that balanced a deep loyalty to the Pope and to the Church. He was a man of tradition. In later life he was courteous and gentle. At the same time he was a prayerful man, with special concern for the Holy Souls, and devotion to Our Lady.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 56th Year No 4 1981

Obituary

Fr John Williams (1906-1928-1981) (Australia)

Many of us, who knew Fr John Williams well and held vivid memories of him, were shocked by his sudden death (21st May 1981). We were contemporaries or near-contemporaries of his in the juniorate (1930-34) here in Rathfarnham.
John was the eldest of twenty-one novices who arrived in Tullabeg on 1st September 1928. At 22 he was above the normal school-leaving age. He appeared to be delicate and highly- strung, yet he was a model of hard work, both academic and physical. One of the strictest religious observance, in all things he was a perfectionist. Games were not in his line, but he found an outlet for his energy in pushing the lawn- mower. The condition in which he maintained the grounds all around the lake was surpassed only by the immaculate condition of his bicycle, his script - the acme of neatness — and the order of his academic work. As a novice he was very severe on himself, but was good-humoured and a delightful companion at recreation.
John Williams received his early Jesuit training at Mungret Apostolic School, now long closed. Fr Patrick McCurtin, rector of the Crescent, Limerick, had a special interest in John, and invited him to stay over the summer in the Crescent and assist Br James Priest in the Sacred Heart church. It was from Br Priest that he learned the art of decorating altars, John had flair for sacristy work, and on “doubles of the first class” used to transform the altar of the old domestic chapel in Tullabeg. (That chapel now forms the ground and middle floors of the retreat house wing).
John was a slogger: slow but sure, and afraid of nothing. He did a year in the “home juniorate”, but it was in theology, especially moral, that he blossomed. There was not a definition in the two volumes of Génicot that he had not at the tip of his tongue. With the thoroughness characteristic of him, he knew those twelve hundred pages literally inside out. He could moreover apply them: well had he learned from Fr Cyril Power to ask “What's the principle?” - and find it. John was gentle in character and generous in nature. May he rest in peace.
J A MacSeumais

Here follow some extracts from the homily given at Fr John’s requiem Mass. The speaker was Fr Daven Day SJ, himself a past student under Fr Williams at St Louis, Claremontm Perth. WA (Source: Jesuit Life circulated in the Australian Province).
To understand Fr John Williams you need to know that he was partly Irish and partly Welsh, and as he used to say after nearly forty years in Australia, he was also largely Australian. Tragically, his Irish mother Margaret and his Welsh father George died young and left five small children, three boys and two girls.
John had a sad childhood which in later years he often spoke about. It was fortunate that a relative of his, Fr P McCurtin, was teaching at Mungret, where John was sent to board. Fr McCurtin took him under his wing and for this John remembered him with life long affection.
After studies in Ireland and Louvain, two years after his ordination, John arrived in Australia in 1942, and in his first seven years taught in Riverview and Campion Hall, Point Piper. Then in 1949 he came to Perth as Prefect of Studies at St Louis, and here he has been ever since.
For fifteen years Fr Williams was Prefect of Studies at St Louis, and it is probably in this role of priest-educator that he is best remembered. Along with Frs Austin Kelly and Tom Perrott, the founders of St Louis, Fr John Williams formed a trio.
Fr Williams was by training and temperament an educator. Increasingly the institution meant less to him and the boys more. It was a privilege to see him move from being the formator to being the guide, then to the new stage of being a listener. He gave himself completely to the school, but it showed the calibre of the man that he was able to face up to the possible death of the school with equanimity, When the Jesuits were being posted elsewhere at the end of 1972, he asked to stay, and was appointed superior of the small Jesuit community which remained.
A man of God, he had a deep prayer life, an unaffected love of our Lady and a special devotion to the Holy Souls. All his priestly life he was involved in giving retreats and spiritual direction of sisters.

Fr Day mentioned that “Right up to his last weekend he was at Karrakatta (cemetery) on his weekly round of blessing the graves”. It is there that he lies buried, along with Fr Tom Perrott and three other Jesuits. Here are some extracts from a tribute paid by another former student, John K Overman, a school principal:
My first contact with Fr Williams came, as it did for so many of the boys at St Louis, Claremont, at the end of a strap. He had a marvellous facility for appearing on the scene of schoolboys’ evil-doing. To my horror, he appeared at the door of the classroom just as I was enjoying a run across some desk tops!
To the boys at St Louis through the Fifties, “Bill” was all but synonymous with Jesuit education. We never learnt his christian name, but we knew it began with because his signature appeared so much. Parents' notes excusing failure to do homework had to be presented to him and the small white card given in return and signed by Fr Williams in his neat, regular, meticulous hand.
The office of the Prefect of Studies was a tiny cell of a room and boys lined up, sweaty of hand and palpitating of heart, waiting their turn. Fr Williams was a tall, elegant man with light, wavy, brushed back hair that was impressive for its grooming and rhythmic evenness. His speech was clear, accurate and beautifully articulated. He smoked a cigarette in a very long holder and he would care fully lodge it in the slots of his ashtray as a boy came in and waited.
His severity was reserved for us boys. Years later when my wife and I were married in the St Louis chapel, Fr Williams prepared the altar for us, and we considered it a great honour that he should bother. He was a charming man who loved cultivated conversation, spiked with incisive comments and humour. His memory for historical and economic information and for the quotation of phrases from the Latin and English classics was encyclopaedic.
During the last few years Fr Williams’ health deteriorated but he remained optimistic and courteous. Last year he began a letter to me: “It was very kind of you to write ...” He lived the Jesuit motto, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam. I will thank God all my days that He permitted me to know and be influenced by: this remarkable Jesuit. May he rest in peace.

Winder, Percy J, 1931-2003, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/619
  • Person
  • 29 March 1931-23 May 2003

Born: 29 March 1931, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1949, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 23 May 2003, Saint Brigid's Hospice, The Curragh, County Kildare

Part of the Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare community at the time of death.

Older Brother of Adrian B Winder - Ent 07/09/1953; LEFT 19/09/1964

by 1985 at Rome, Italy (DIR) Sabbatical Biblical Inst
by 1991 at Frankley Beeches, Birmingham, England (BRI) working
by 1994 at Worcester England (BRI) working

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Fr Perrcy Winder (1931-2003)

29th March 1931: Born in Dublin
Early education at Muckross Convent, CBS Westland Row and Belvedere College
7th Sept. 1949: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1951: First Vows at Emo
1951 - 1954: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1954 - 1957: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1957 - 1960: Mungret College - Regency (Teacher)
1960 - 1964: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1963: Ordained at Milltown Park
1964 - 1965: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1965 - 1990: Clongowes -
1965 - 1976: Teacher; Spiritual Father
1976 - 1984: Teacher; Prefect
1984 - 1985: Sabbatical Year
1985 - 1990: Teacher;Prefect; Spiritual Father
1990 - 1993: Birmingham - Parish Curate.
1993 - 1998: Besford Court, Worcs. - Hospital & School Chaplain; Ministry to elderly, bereaved, mentally ill and housebound people
1998 - 2000: Birmingham - Parish Curate
2000 - 2003: Clongowes - Minister; Guestmaster; Ministered in People's Church
23rd May 2003: Died at St. Brigid's Hospice Unit, Curragh, Co Kildare.

Percy was in remission from prostate cancer for the past seven years, in early January his condition deteriorated. He accepted news of his terminal illness with great faith and kept saying that he wanted to “fly like a butterfly as he was tired of walking like a caterpillar”. His condition deteriorated seriously after Easter, culminating in his transfer to St. Brigid's, where he received 24 hour care for his last two weeks and died peacefully on the evening of Friday 23rd May 2003

Frank Doyle writes:
That Rhetoric 1 (6th Year) class of 1949 in Belvedere was probably unusual even for those days. Out of it came five Jesuits, two Opus Dei priests and a candidate for Clonliffe. The Clonliffe seminarian opted for the married life and the responsibilities of the family business. He was Peter Dunn, younger brother of the later to be famous Fr Joe. Of the Opus Dei priests, one has left us and the other is a nephew of the late Gen. Richard Mulcahy. Of the five Jesuits, four entered together on the same day – Harry Brennan, Frank Doyle, Denis Flannery and Percy Winder. The fifth – Donal Doyle – stayed in Belvedere for the Seventh Year and then, if I am not mistaken, did a year of pre-med before going to Emo. In the course of time, Harry also felt called to be a different kind of father.

I had known Percy, however, all during my secondary school days in Belvedere. I would not say we were very close in those days. Outside of class, our extracurricular interests were somewhat different. Percy, like his older brother Frank before him, was a great supporter of the school's Field Club. I, together with Denis, gravitated to Fr Charlie Scantlebury's Camera Club. I ended up in the school opera; Percy never made any claims to any musical talent.

Percy, Denis, Harry and myself all arrived in Emo on 7th September, 1949. As fellow-novices, Percy and I were thrown more together and got to know each other better. When Percy was made the last Beadle of our second year, I was his Sub beadle. Our term of office coincided with Major Villa, and, with the Novice Master away, there were some (perfectly harmless, I hasten to add) high jinks which Fr Donal was not pleased with when they were brought to his notice on his return. We thought they were great fun - and they were. (If only Denis Flannery were still around to remind us of the details!)

It would have been difficult not to have some fun when Percy was around. His conversation was peppered with a never ending chuckle. I never saw him depressed but that is not to say life always went smoothly. He was afflicted with a particularly distressing migraine, which came on at regular intervals. Then he would have to retire to his room and remain in darkness until it eased off. But he never complained or felt sorry for himself.

After Emo, we were in Rathfarnham together for three years though not doing the same subjects. That was the time when I was probably closest to him. Many is the time we walked together around the “track” in deep conversation. Along one side of the track there was a wire fence. Behind this was a row of evergreen trees and behind them part of the golf course. Percy regularly kept an eye out for golf balls that had been driven into the trees where it was difficult for the player to retrieve them. These Percy picked up and passed on to Fr Dick Ingram, who was a keen golfer, and who, as a result, never had to buy a golf ball.

Both in Rathfarnham and Tullabeg, Percy kept up his interest in nature, particularly in birds and butterflies. There were a lot more butterflies to be seen in those days.) At the end of philosophy, our ways parted and we seldom met during the ensuing years. He went to regency and I went to Hong Kong. We were together for one more year in Milltown for theology, and then I left to continue in the Philippines.

It must be for others to describe Percy's long and fruitful time in Clongowes. During that time he was Lower Line Prefect for 8 years before taking a sabbatical in the Holy Land. After many years as chaplain to the students, he felt it was time for a career change. I understand he had been going to Birmingham for many years to do a summer supply. It was obvious that a more permanent form of service would have been more than welcomed by the bishop, whom he knew well. Obviously, it was a great way to spend his “troisieme age”.

On one of my furloughs back from Asia (in 1990), I went to St. Beuno's in North Wales to do the “3M” course as part of a sabbatical. During the three months, there was a break when we could get away for about a week. Percy invited me to join him in Birmingham, where I was able to see first hand some of the work he was doing. He was mainly acting as chaplain to a number of institutions for the sick and elderly and also helping out in the local parish. In fact, due to the tragic death of the parish priest about that time, Percy was acting pastor. One could see how marvellously he related with the parishioners, especially the ladies, and how much they loved him. It was not surprising; he was an extremely lovable person. I suppose because he gave out so much enthusiastic love himself.

I believe that it was while in Birmingham that he got the first warnings of cancer. This eventually led him to return to his beloved Clongowes and the less strenuous responsibility of the People's Church. Here again his gift of winning friends and influencing people shone out and made a wonderful conclusion to a life of bringing hope and cheer into people's lives. He was also minister to the community.

Perhaps this very inadequate memoir is best concluded by some words from the homily given by his superior, Michael Sheil, at the funeral Mass. Michael had accompanied Percy on his final journey and was with him when he finally slipped away. Percy had written his own eulogy in touching letters he wrote to friends when he learnt that his condition was terminal and Michael quoted from these.

"Strangely”, Percy wrote, “the news didn't upset me at all. There comes a time - especially when God has given us the gift of deep and strong faith – when it is easy and exciting to accept the Good News that our destined life journey from God to God is coming to a close and that soon we'll be home. At Mass every day before Communion we ask God to keep us in peace “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ”. Why ever should we dread the destiny for which God so lovingly created us? I feel so happy as I look back on such a happy life walking with friends and trying my best to be helpful - happy to be close at last to even greater and more unimaginable love. God is Love - and I value His embrace. As journey's end appears over the horizon, I'm happy and excited to be going home. I've no fears and no regrets - just hoping to have the strength, to using my remaining time, sharing my happiness with those I love. For the moment, I'm content to take and enjoy each day as it comes.

God does not make mistakes – nor does He make junk. We are NOT mistakes - God is moulding us into His masterpiece, delighting in His creation. So, no tears for me please -- only a song of thanksgiving that at last God is putting the final touches to that masterpiece. As St Paul says: 'We are God's work of art!

If you choose to pray for me, ask that I may have a reasonably comfortable dying and that I won't be too much of a burden. Of course, I've no more idea than you as to what heavenly life might be like. I'm content to wait and see. For me, what St Paul says is good enough: “What eye has not seen nor ear heard - these are the things that God has prepared for those who love Him”. So this is not a final Good-bye - far from it!”

Au revoir, Percy. It is not easy to say Good-bye to Percy. Two days ago someone asked me for some information and I was about to say: Well, I'll ask Percy about that! He was so much part of our lives for the past three years – he was the Homemaker of the Community -- that my reflexes had not yet attuned to the fact that he was no longer of this world. His metaphor of the caterpillar and the butterfly is well known by now - and I think that he would approve of St Paul's image that “when the tent that we live in on earth is folded up, there is a house built by God for us .... in the heavens”.

When we received Percy's Remains back home here in Clongowes on Saturday evening, I shared with you the – still fresh - memory of one of the very privileged moments of my life, as I sat at his bedside the previous evening at exactly 18.18. I was the intimate witness of two realities – one, the loss of a dear Companion in the Lord and the other, the fulfilment of Percy's dream-in-faith that God would be faithful to His promise that where I am, you also may be.

I summed up the past 5 months as Percy's living the dream - when his failing health seemed only to serve to strengthen his faith. On Friday evening as I sat beside his sick, frail, stricken and diseased body, I could only reflect on and marvel at the spirit enclosed therein, as he sank slowly and without resistance towards the destiny of us all. No struggle, no stress, simply low regular breathing......, until I had occasionally to check to ensure that he was still alive - before that unforgettable moment when I realized that, without a sound, just like his butterfly taking off, his spirit slipped away from the prison of corruptible mortality to enter into the glory of an everlasting home not made by human hands, in the heavens.

It is not easy to try to do justice to the person Percy was in the few short lines of a homily. But I am fortunate in having in my possession two letters of his from some months ago - when he was informed that his illness was terminal – letters in which he wrote to his friends of how he felt. This, surely, is Percy's act of faith - his legacy as he speaks to us this morning - the proclamation to all the world that God is faithful and near to him. So this is not a final Good-bye - far from it! For Percy's heart was not troubled – for he believed in Jesus' promise: I am going to prepare a place for you -- and I shall return to take you with Me so that where I am you may be too.....

Percy was a very active, apostolic Jesuit and priest, who, while in good health, brought God's love into the lives of many. And in the lengthening twilight of his terminal illness, God continued to use him to bring about yet another miracle of His love, as He drew from those who looked after him in the Hospice service a quite extraordinary concern for someone in need of so much medical care. Their lives have been graced by the generosity of their giving - and on behalf of us all I want to say how much their loving care for him meant to us, to whom Percy meant so much himself.

How we would have liked him to be cured and remain on with us. We made a novena in honour of Fr John Sullivan. Percy was too ill to start it off for us – but he came down on the last morning to thank us for our efforts on his behalf. At that time he said he was willing to hang around for a while longer (If it will give Fr John a leg-up!, he said) - but he had just received good news and would be quite happy to go. Perhaps to-day, he is in a better position to give the most distinguished of his predecessors, as Spiritual Father and Minister of the People's Church, that leg-up towards canonization!

Our thanks to Percy, too, for the legacy of his life of love – and of his written testament of faith. We thank God for His gifts to him - and for the gift of him to us. In his own words - This is not a final Good-bye ....... far from it. So often in life we say Good-bye ........... it comes from the ancient wish or prayer: May God be with you [Dominus vobiscum) ........... and to-day we say it to Percy at this, his last Mass.

And so we pray:
May Christ enfold you in His love - and bring you to eternal life. May God and Mary be with you. We will pray for you, Percy - may you also pray for us.

◆ The Clongownian, 2003

Obituary

Father Percy Winder SJ

Fr Percy Winder, who died at St Brigid's Hospice Unit, Curragh, Co Kildare on 23rd May 2003, was in remission from prostate cancer for the past seven years. In early January his condition deteriorated. He accepted the news of his terminal illness with great faith and kept saying that he wanted to “fly like a butterfly as he was tired of walking like a caterpillar”. His condition deteriorated seriously after Easter, culminating in his transfer to St Brigid's, where he died.

The Rhetoric class of 1949 in Belvedere was probably unusual even for those days. Out of it came five Jesuits, two Opus Dei priests and a candidate for Clonliffe. Of the five Jesuits, four entered together on the same day - Harry Brennan, Frank Doyle, Denis Flannery and Percy Winder. The fifth, Donal Doyle stayed in Belvedere for the Seventh Year before going to Emo. Percy, Denis, Harry and myself all arrived in Emo on 7th September 1949. As fellow-novices, Percy and I were thrown more together and got to know each other better. When Percy was made the last Beadle of our second year, I was his Sub-beadle. Our term of office coincided with Major Villa, and, with the Novice Master away, there were some high jinks, which Fr Donal was not pleased with when they were brought to his notice on his return.

It would have been difficult not to have some fun when Percy was around. His conversation was peppered with a never-ending chuckle. I never saw him depressed but that is not to say life always went smoothly. He was afflicted with a particularly distressing migraine, which came on at regular intervals. Then he would have to retire to his room and remain in darkness until it eased off. But he never complained or felt sorry for himself.

After Emo, we were in Rathfarnham together for three years though not doing the same subjects, That was the time when I was probably closest to him. Many is the time we walked together around the track in deep conversation. Along one side of the track there was a wire fence. Behind this was a row of evergreen trees and behind them part of the golf course. Percy regularly kept an eye out for golf balls that had been driven into the trees where it was difficult for the player to retrieve them. These Percy picked up and passed on to Fr Dick Ingram, who was a keen golfer, and who, as a result, never had to buy a golf ball.

Both in Rathfarnham and Tullabeg, Percy kept up his interest in nature, particularly in birds and butterflies. (There were a lot more butterflies to be seen in those days.) At the end of philosophy, our ways patted and we seldom met during the ensuing years. He went to regency and I went to Hong Kong. We were together for one more year in Milltown for theology, and then I left to continue in the Philippines. Percy spent a long and fruitful time in Clongowes during which time he was Lower Line Prefect for eight years before taking a sabbatical in The Holy Land.

After many years as chaplain to the students, he felt it was time for a career change. He had been going to Birmingham for many years to do a summer supply. It was obvious that the bishop, whom he knew well, would have more than welcomed a more permanent form of service. It was a great way to spend his “troisieme age”. On one of my furloughs back from Asia (in 1990), I went to St. Beuno's in North Wales to do the '3M' course as part of a sabbatical. During the three months, there was a break when we could get away for about a week. Percy invited me to join him in Birmingham, where I was able to see first hand some of the work he was doing. He was mainly acting as chaplain to a number of institutions for the sick and elderly and also helping out in the local parish. In fact, due to the tragic death of the parish priest about that time, Percy was acting pastor. One could see how marvelously he related with the parishioners, especially the ladies, and how much they loved him. It was not surprising; he was an extremely lovable person. I suppose because he gave out so much enthusiastic love himself.

It seems that it was while in Birmingham he got the first warnings of cancer. This eventually led him to return to his beloved Clongowes and the less strenuous responsibility of the People's Church. Here again his gift of winning friends and influencing people shone out and made a wonderful conclusion to a life of bringing hope and cheer into people's lives. He was also minister to the community.

Woda, Francis, 1926-2016, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/525
  • Person
  • 28 February 1926 - 19 December 2016

Born: 28 February 1926 in Mokrzyska, Poland
Entered: 4 February 1950 in Santuaria di Galloro, Arricia, Rome, Italy (Pol Mi)
Ordained: 29 July 1965 in Milltown Park, Dublin, Ireland
Final Vows: 5 November 1977 in Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 19 December 2016 at John Chula House, Lusaka, Zambia

Apostolic Life
1956-1957, Katondwe, Kasisi, teaching, regency
1960-1962, Dublin, Belvedere, teaching
1966-1967, Karenda/Mumbwa, pastoral work
1967- Chelston, pastoral work
1968-1974, Kabwe, Mpima Minor Seminary, teaching sciences
1974-2001, Chikuni, Canisius, teaching sciences
1988-2000, school bursar
2002-2004, Choma, Mukasa, teaching, translating archive documents
2004-2005, Dublin, Poland, recovering health.
2005-2009. Choma, Mukasa, teaching science
2009-2010, Dublin, taking care of health, sabbatical
2010-2013, Chikuni, Canisius, teaching science
2013-2014, Dublin, Gardiner St., taking care of health, sabbatical
2014-2016, Lusaka, Chula House, assisting in archives, praying for Church and Society

by 1958 came to Rathfarnham (HIB) studying 1957-1961
by 1962 came to Belvedere (HIB) for Regency 1961-1963
by 1964 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1963-1966

Father Francis Woda (Lesser Polish Province) was born on February 28th. 1926, in Mokrzyska, Krakow, Poland. He is a son of Mr and Mrs Francis Woda. In 1950 he entered the Society and after noviceship and philosophy he spent two years on the Polish Mission in Zambia. Later he came to Ireland where he graduated in Science in UCD. Before coming to Milltown Park for his theology he taught for two years at Belvedere College.

Wolfe, David, 1528-1578, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2267
  • Person
  • 1528-28 June 1578

Born:1528, Limerick, County Limerick
Entered: c 1550, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Died: 28 June 1578, County Clare

Left Society of Jesus: 1578??

◆ Rev. Edmund Hogan SJ : “Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century” - London : Burns and Oates, Limited, New York, Cincinnati : Chicago, Benzinger Brothers, 1894 : Quarterly Series : Volume Ninety

Father David Woulfe

It is universally acknowledged that “in the sixth and seventh centuries Ireland reached a high degree of learning and culture which were diffused by her innumerable missionaries throughout all Europe”. (1) But only those who are acquainted with the byways of Irish history are aware that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ireland produced very many remarkable men of world-wide reputation. Perhaps, few Irishmen of our times know even the name of Father Richard Fleming, S.J., who was Chancellor of the University of Pont à-Mousson, and for his extraordinary ability was selected by the Society to replace the celebrated Maldonatus, as professor of theology in the College of Clermont at Paris. Fewer still have heard of the four Waddings of Waterford, all men of distinction of the same period, of the same family and of the same Order, one of whom, Peter, was Chancellor of two German Universities at one and the same time. How many, save the erudite Bishop Reeves and Cardinal Moran, know anything of Stephen White, S.J., so much praised by Ussher and many other competent judges, and styled “Polyhistor”, on account of the vastness of his erudition? It is time to put before our readers, on both sides of the Atlantic, sketches of these and other long forgotten worthies, who by their talent, labours, and virtues shed lustre on the land of their birth. I propose first of all to write of the members of the Society of Jesus; afterwards I shall give biographies of laymen, learned bishops, priests, and members of religious orders, of one of which the Bollandist De Buck significantly says: “The Order of St. Francis has produced a great number of savants and historians ; but has it produced historians more erudite than Wadding, Ward, Fleming, Colgan, and O'Sherrin, all of them Irish Franciscans?” (2)

One of the kindly influences under which Irish intellect and talent were allowed to develope them selves in the sixteenth century was the Apostolic charity of St. Ignatius of Loyola. In the year 1555 he wrote to Cardinal Pole: “There is in the German College one Englishman of good natural ability, and in our Roman College one Irishman of great promise. If your Eminence should think proper to send from those islands some talented youths to either of these Colleges, I entertain a hope that they could soon return home well equipped with learning and virtue, and with a supreme veneration for the Holy See. We have thought it our duty to make this proposal under the impulse of a great desire to be of service to the souls of those kingdoms-a desire which the Divine and Sovereign Charity has communicated to our heart”. On the feast of St. Patrick, 1604, St. Ignatius' successor, Father General Aquaviva, expressed his wish, that “by all means Irishmen should be admitted into the Society, as they seem formed for our Institute by their humility, obedience, charity, and learning, in all which, according to the testimonies that come from all quarters, the Irish very much excel”. Finally, in the year 1652, all the Fathers of the tenth General Congregation assembled at Rome unanimously decreed on the feast of St. Patrick, that every Province of the Society should undertake to have always one Irish Jesuit in training at its own expense for the distinguished Mission of Ireland. (3)

It is remarkable that the year, in which this kindlier influence radiated from the heart of St. Ignatius, was that in which war was first waged against the education of Irishmen. Father FitzSimon, S.J., in his Preface to his Treatise on the Mass, writes in the year 1611: “From about the year 1555, as is well known, these late heresies by force, never by voluntary allowance, oppressed religion in our country, banished teachers, extinguished learning, exiled to foreign countries all instruction, and forced our youth either at home to be ignorant, or abroad in poverty rather to glean ears of learning than with leisure to reap any abundance thereof. Yet such as travelled to foreign countries, notwithstanding all difficulties often attained to singular perfection and reputation of learning in sundry sciences, to principal titles of universities, to high prelacies, of whom some are yet living, some departed in peace. Seventeen years ago, Christopher Cusacke, a man of honourable descent and alliance with the noblest ranks, of great virtue, zeal, and singular sincerity, yet inexperienced in foreign countries, meanly languaged, and meanly furnished for a building to reach this height, began to assemble and maintain our young students in this place of Douay, wherein at this instant I am resident. It cannot be imagined how much since that time the obscurity of our nation's renown hath been diminished, and the glory thereof increased; how much the name of Ireland has become venerable, nay, admirable for peculiar towardness to learning, forwardness to virtue, modesty of conversation, facility to be governed, consent among themselves, and prompt ness to all that might be exacted, yea, or in reason expected, of any of most complete and conform able education or condition. Let none think that any partial affection has had place in this attestation, considering such to be the public and private letters patent and testimonies of princes, prelates, universities, cities and colleges, extant to all men's view ; so that little may rather seem affirmed than their desert duly declared. I omit to speak of other Irish seminaries in Spain of no less commendation, increase and account”. In another book Father FitzSimon thus addresses his Father General, Aquaviva : “I proclaim that I am greatly indebted to you for the immense services rendered to myself and to my country. To us you have been not only a Father General, as you are to all the members of our Society, but you have wished to be our Father Assistant by the special care you have taken of us. With what solicitude have you not rescued us from the greatest difficulties! What shelter and comfort did you not afford us when we were abandoned on every side! With what an open heart you have admitted our candidates; at what expense have you not nursed our sick and infirm, with what wholesome advice you have cheered us while we were fighting the good fight! Under your auspices, in spite of a thousand obstacles, we possess in Spain alone three seminaries, from which the waters of the faith in cessantly flow over to our kingdom and the neigh bouring islands”. (4)

I shall now proceed to lay before the reader some sketches of Irish Jesuits, who distinguished themselves in the first century of the Society of Jesus.

David Woulfe was received into the Society by its holy founder some time between the years 1541 änd 1551. He was born in Limerick, about the year 1520, in which city men of his name held the office of mayor in the sixteenth century, and from which, in 1594, “a hundred tall men went to ye North under the leadinge of David Woulfe, captaine”, to fight for Elizabeth against the formidable O'Neills. Under the leading of David Woulfe, S.J., Ireland successfully resisted the inroads of the heresy of which Elizabeth was the head. He was, says Cardinal Moran, “one of the most remarkable men who, during the first years of Elizabeth's, reign, laboured in our Irish Church to gather together the scattered stones of the sanctuary”. (5) He spent seven years in Rome, where he became a professed Father. What work he was engaged in there I have not been able to ascertain; but before the year 1560 he had been long and much employed in “evangelical expeditions”. In 1557 he was Rector of the College of Modena; in 1559 he was sent to the Valtelline to found a college there, and to perform other duties of the ministry. In 1560, Cardinal Morone, founder of the College of Modena, and Protector of Ireland, seeing that Elizabeth had declared herself in favour of the new heresy, thought it necessary that a pious and prudent man should be sent to Ireland to examine into the state of religion, to confirm laymen and ecclesiastics in the practice of piety and in obedience to the Holy See, and to preserve the Irish people in the profession of the true faith of their fathers. Father Woulfe was considered most fit for such a difficult task; he had all the necessary qualities, he knew his country and countrymen well, and had long practice and much experience in evangelical expeditions.(6) He had already settled the affairs confided to him in the Valtelline, and with Father Possevino was engaged in useful labours at Fossano, when he was called to Rome. The Pope wished to consecrate him a bishop, and send him home with the full powers of an Apostolic Nuncio. But the General, Father Laynez, requested that as a member of the Society he should not be made a bishop, and he suggested that he could thus work more freely, and would give less umbrage to the enemies of the Catholic faith. The Pope consented, but gave him plenary powers, commissioned him to examine what sees were vacant, and to recommend to His Holiness proper persons to fill them. His Superiors charged him to visit the chief Catholics of the kingdom, and specially the four principal Princes, or Lords; to visit all the bishops and the parish priests; and even to risk his life, if necessary, in the discharge of his duties for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He left Rome on the 11th of August, 1560, with another Irish Jesuit named Edmund.. At Nantes he was taken for a Lutheran, and imprisoned and otherwise harassed for four days; at St. Malo, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his companion, he put his luggage on board a vessel, and journeyed on foot to Bordeaux, and thus his life was spared for the good of his country, as the ship with its crew and cargo was lost. Though dreadful storms were raging at that time and had wrecked many goodly vessels, in spite of the warnings of his friends he sailed from Bordeaux, and reached Cork on January 21, 1561, having been four months on his journey from Rome. When he had secretly made known the object of his mission, crowds of men and women came from all parts, even from a distance of sixty miles, to get his blessing and settle the affairs of their consciences. In accordance with the earnest wish of St. Ignatius, he selected and sent many Irish youths to Rome. In compliance with the mandate of the Pope, he sought out and recommended learned and pious priests to fill the vacant sees; and the names of Richard Creagh of Armagh, Donall MacCongail of Raphoe, Owen O’Hairt of Achonry, Morogh MacBriain of Emly, Conor O’Cervallain, and Nicholas Landes, not to mention others, are a guarantee of the fidelity with which he carried out the orders of the Holy See. He resided for the most part in his native diocese, yet visited Tirone, and Shân the Proud, Prince of Ulster, and traversed the various regions of Ulster and Connacht; but on account of the “wars” and the many dangers of falling into the hands of English agents and spies, he could not enter the precincts of the Pale, and accordingly, in 1561, he delegated his jurisdiction to Father Newman, of the archdiocese of Dublin.

In that very year, Father Woulfe's mission was mentioned by Elizabeth to the Pope's Ambassador as one of her reasons for not sending representatives to the Council of Trent. Her Majesty's priest hunters were on his track, yet he managed to visit the great Irish lords, to ascertain whether the bishops resided in their dioceses and instructed their flocks, to see how the clergy administered the sacraments, to guard the faithful against the contagion of heresy, and to bring heretical ministers back to the fold. He had been charged by the Pope to establish grammar schools, provide Catholic masters for them, and urge parents to send their children to be instructed in literature, and in the knowledge of the saving truths of faith; he was also, if possible, to establish monasteries, hospitals, and places of refuge for the poor, and he was ordered to acquaint the Holy See with the real state of the Irish Church. As Cardinal Moran writes, “the course traced out in these instructions was exactly pursued by Father Woulfe, and his letters clearly demonstrate how indefatigable he was in his labours, and how unceasingly he struggled to restore the Irish Church to its primitive comeliness and fervour”.

The monastic schools had been swept away, and no mere Irishman or Catholic could, without risking liberty or life, teach the rudiments of literature or religion. To meet this want of intellectual culture, the Holy Father, in 1564, empowered Primate Creagh and David Woulfe to erect colleges throughout the kingdom, and to found a University like those of Paris. and Louvain. For this purpose Dr. Creagh had petitioned the Holy See to send Jesuit Fathers into Ireland. (7) However, the Primate and Nuncio were not able to carry out the commands of the Pope, as the agents of England were in sharp pursuit of them. A priest hunter, named Bird, wrote to Lord Burghley: “If the surprising of Creagh and some other Romish Legates of the Irishíry, with some English Jesuits (8) lately arrived, may be an inducement to Her Majesty's gracious favours, I shall, shorten the number of these importunate members, by whom others of their sort may be disordered in England, passing and repassing to and fro”. The Primate and Father Woulfe were captured and imprisoned in Dublin Castle in the year 1567. On the 13th of March of the following year, St. Pius the Fifth wrote to his Nuncio at Madrid : “We have been informed that Our venerable brother, the Archbishop of Armagh, who, as you are aware, is Primate of Ireland, has been cast into prison in the Tower of London, and that Our beloved son David, of the Society of Jesus, is also closely confined in the City of Dublin, and that both of them are treated with the utmost severity. Their sufferings overwhelm Us with affliction, on account of their singular merit and their zeal for the Catholic faith. . . . You will therefore use every endeavour with His Catholic Majesty, and urge and request and solicit in Our name letters from him to his Ambassador and to the Queen, to obtain the liberation of these prisoners”.

The mediation of the King of Spain was without effect, as Dr. Creagh remained a prisoner for life, and Father Woulfe was confined in Dublin Castle for five years. A good deal has been said of the horrors of prison life in modern times; but what are they to life in the cells in which Dr. Creagh and Father Woulfe were buried? Father Houling S.J., in his history of the Irish martyrs of his own time, says that Dr. Creagh was kept in a very dark underground cell of Dublin Castle, into which the light of the sun never penetrated, and in which he was not allowed the light of a candle. In a letter written by Dr. Creagh from the Tower “to the Right Honourable the Lords and others of the Queen's Majesty's Privy Council”,' he thus explains why he made his escape from the Dublin prison : “Which my going away I think no man would wonder that should know well how I was dealt therein withal; first in a hole, where without candle there was no light in the world, and with candle (when I had it) it was so filled with the smoke thereof (chiefly in summer), that, had there not been a little hole in ye next door to draw in breath with my mouth set upon it, I had been soon undone. My dwelling in this Tower the first time for more than a month's space might may-chance make a strong man to wish liberty, if for his life he could ... but foregoing further rehearsal of bearing almost these eight years irons, with one of my legs (as the beholders can judge) lost by the same, of my manifold sickness, colics, ... loss of all my big teeth, save two, and daily sore rheumes and many other like miseries”....

We are not aware that Father Woulfe suffered so much in health as his friend the Primate; but that his cell was not very comfortable we may gather from the fact, that when Bishop Thomas (Leverous of Kildare) had gained access to him, he could not stand the horrible stench of the place, and went away without being able to transact any business. We learn this from a letter written from prison by David Woulfe, a copy of which was discovered by the learned Brother Foley, S.J., among the Roman transcripts of the Public Record Office. (9) Here are a few extracts from this interesting document : “James Fitzmaurice, of the House of Desmond, remains in this country and governs Munster in the fear of God. He is young, a good Catholic, and a valiant captain. He was desirous to enter a religious order, but was prevailed on to remain at home for the good of his native land. Donail Aenoc Senez (O'Connor Sligo?), a great friend of Father Woulfe, was received with much honour by the English Queen, and has returned to Dublin with great power, and has promised to use his influence with the Viceroy to procure Father Woulfe's liberation from prison. This Father has been visited in his cell by Bishop Thomas (Leverous of Kildare); but his lordship, not being able to bear the horrid stench of the place, was obliged to go away without transacting any business. The Primate is kept in irons in an underground, dark, and horrible prison, where no one is allowed to speak to him or to see him except his keeper. He has many sores on his body, and, although not over forty-four years of age, has lost all his teeth. He has been many times brought before the magistrates, but in spite of threats, torrents, and promises of great honours and dignities, he ‘looks on all things as filth, that he may gain Jesus Christ’. All men, and, most of all, his enemies, are much amazed at his extraordinary fortitude and constancy in the Catholic faith. From his boyhood he has despised the pleasures of this world, and has treated his body with great penitential severity. Many things could be said of the integrity and holy life of this great man, but it is not convenient to write them at present : they will be told in their own place and time, as they cannot be concealed, since the Lord has manifested to the world a servant of His who possesses such eminent qualities. This holy prelate, in the presence of Father Woulfe and other persons, foretold to Shân O’Neill the circumstances of his death, specifying the year, month, place, and persons. O'Neill turned the nobles of Tirone against himself by his tyrannous conduct; he was defeated at Cumloch, where he lost six hundred men; on May 9, 1561, he was again vanquished by Hugh O”Donnell, while passing a river near Fearsidmor, where he lost eight thousand men and seventy-four of the noblest and bravest men of Tirone. He then took refuge among the heretics of Scotland, and was barbarously murdered by them. O'Donnell has ravaged the country of O'Connor Sligo, to punish him, whom he claims to be his vassal, for having gone over to the Court of the English Queen”.
Father Woulfe escaped from his loathsome prison in the month of October, 1572, and, accompanied by Sir Rice Corbally and the son of James Fitzmaurice, took refuge in Spain; but before his departure he received the Protestant Bishop of Limerick into the true Church, as appears from a State Paper published some years ago by Lord Emly; it was discovered by Mr. Froude, and transcribed by Dr. Maziere Brady. It runs thus : “I, William Cahessy, priest, some time named Bishop of the diocese of Limerick, yet nothing canonically consecrated, but by the schismatical authority of Edward, King of England, schismatically preferred to the bishopric of Limerick aforesaid, wherein I confess to have offended my Creator. I renounce also, if I might have the same, the bishopric of Limerick, and the charge and administration of the said cure; also other benefits and privileges received from the said Edward, or other heretics and schismatics. And I draw unto the said Holy and Universal Church, and do bow myself unto her laws, and I embrace the Reverend Lord David Woulfe, appointed the Apostolic Messenger for all Ireland from the Most Holy Lord the Pope. And I pray and beseech that, as a lost child, he receive me again into the bosom of the holy mother the Church, and that he will absolve mne from all ecclesiastical sentences, censures, punishments, heresies, rules, and every blot, dispense with me and reconcile me again to the unity of the same Church”.

According to a letter of the filibuster, Sir Peter Carew, to the Privy Council, and another letter in the State Paper Office, “Sir Davy Wolf, an arrant traitor, fled from Dublin, is gone to Spain, and carried with him the son of James Fitzmaurice, accompanied by Sir Rice Corbally”. However, he soon returned to the former field of his labours, landed at Tarbert, and in 1575 was once more engaged in visiting and consoling the Catholics of Ireland. In that year his fellow-citizen and brother Jesuit, Edmund O'Donnell, was hanged, drawn, and quartered for the Faith. Father Woulfe was denied that great happiness, and from that year he begins to fade away from our view. He was in Ireland in 1575, 1576, 1577, and 1578, in which year also he was at Lisbon and at Paris, and seems to have returned to his native land again, as Dr. Lynch, the author of Camorensis Eversus, (10) says, “I have heard that Father Woulfe was a man of extraordinary piety, who fearlessly denounced crime whenever and wherever committed. When the whole country was embroiled in war, he took refuge in the Castle of Clonoan, on the borders of Clare and Galway; but when he heard that its occupants lived by plunder, he scrupled to take any nourishment from them, and soon after grew sick and died”. He died, probably, at the end of 1578 or the beginning of 1579, as he is not mentioned in the detailed correspondence of 1579 or afterwards, during the eventful period of the second Desmond war. The last years of the life of this extraordinary man are involved in an obscurity which I tried to penetrate a quarter of a century ago, by consulting the original documents in Rome. I failed to get at them, on account of circumstances over which neither I nor any one else had control. What a chequered life was that of this most distinguished, perhaps, of all the citizens of Limerick! He first comes into view as Rector of the Jesuit College of Modena, he establishes a College in the Valtelline, declines the dignity of Bishop, and the pomp and circumstance of a nunziatura (11) and through perils on sea and land, journeying through woods and bogs, in a loathsome prison, “through good and ill he was Ireland's still”, and amidst the distracting political issues that tore Ireland piecemeal, he sought nothing but the good of his country, provided her with prelates of the most distinguished merit, and instructed and comforted her faithful people. His is a name of which the citizens of Limerick should be proud, and which the sea-divided Gael would not willingly let die. By Stanihurst, his contemporary, he is called a distinguished divine, and is by him classed among “the learned men and authors of Ireland”. Of the Limerick Woulfes', who now “all, all are gone”, one was bailiff of that city the year Father David went to reside there as Nuncio (as he is always styled by his friend, Primate Creagh); another was mayor in the year of Father David's death; a third, “David Wolfe, gentleman, black hair, middle stature”, was transplanted by the Cromwellians in 1563; and another member of that stock was the famous General Wolfe, who died in the moment of victory at Quebec.

https://www.dib.ie/biography/wolfe-david-a9107

DICTIONARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHY

Contributed by
Barry, Judy

Wolfe, David (1528–c.1578), leader of the second Jesuit mission to Ireland, was born in Limerick. His command of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese strongly suggests that he was educated on the Continent, but he is first recorded as dean of the diocesan chapter in Limerick. He was received into the Society of Jesus in Rome in 1554 and resigned the deanery in June 1555. On 30 April 1558 Ignatius Loyola appointed him rector of the College of Modena. On 2 August 1560 an effort to revive the morale and discipline of the catholic church in Ireland was initiated with the appointment of Wolfe as papal commissary (the title of nuncio being withheld at the request of his superior, Diego Lainez) with instructions to establish schools, hospitals and places of refuge for the poor where possible, to reform monasteries, and to recommend suitable candidates for bishoprics and deaneries; as a corollary, Irishmen seeking preferment were prohibited from travelling to Rome without his approval. Wolfe arrived in Cork on 20 January 1561 on his way to Limerick, where he intended to establish his base, but was forced into hiding when he learned that the government had ordered his arrest. His initial report of his reception by the laity was optimistic, noting that he had dealt with over a thousand marriage dispensations in the first six months.

The clergy, however, were less responsive. A number of the bishops countered his order to abandon their concubines by challenging his authority as papal commissary and refusing him the right of visitation to their churches. His sole right to sanction visits to Rome in search of promotion was particularly resented, and as early as 12 October 1561 he found it necessary to warn Cardinal Morone (the protector of Ireland in the curia) against Irish clerics who claimed to have no knowledge of Wolfe or his authority in Ireland. Wolfe's powers of recommendation were central to the success of his mission, and the appointments of O'Crean (qv) (Elphin), O'Harte (qv) (Achonry) and MacGongail (Raphoe), all on 28 January 1562, began the process of bringing the church hierarchy in Ireland into the mainstream of Tridentine reform. In the same year, Wolfe sent his reluctant fellow townsman, Richard Creagh (qv) to Rome from which he was to return two years later as archbishop of Armagh with faculties which extended the scope of what now became their joint mission. In the meantime, Wolfe had both recruited seven new candidates for the Jesuits and sent them to various houses on the Continent and, in 1563, drawn up a religious rule of life for a group of Limerick women, who became known as ‘Menabochta' (mna bochta, poor women) and gave rise to scandalous rumours assiduously spread by his episcopal opponents.

Wolfe asked to be recalled in 1563, but the new faculties issued by Pope Paul IV in 1564 prevented Lainez from dealing with his request. Later in the year, however, Wolfe's authority lapsed as a result of the pope's death and it was decided to recall him. It is not known when news of this decision reached Wolfe, but it is clear that he was not in a position to act upon it. In October 1565, the assize judges issued a warrant for his arrest and a reward of £100 was offered for information leading to his capture. He fled across the Shannon and led the life of a penniless fugitive in the neighbourhood of Limerick, his difficulties aggravated by his reluctance to leave Ireland without repaying the substantial debts that he had incurred.

Hearing that Richard Creagh had returned to Ireland after his escape from the Tower of London, Wolfe made his way to Armagh where they met on 6 January 1567. Since Wolfe was no longer a papal commissary, Creagh made him his vicar general and commissioned him to conduct a visitation of the metropolitan sees. At a meeting of the northern bishops, Creagh also secured a condemnation of the rumours concerning Wolfe and the house for women in Limerick. Wolfe's financial circumstances and the restraints on his freedom of movement made it difficult for him to carry out his duties and he decided to ease his position by suing for a pardon from the viceroy.

Using Hugh O'Donnell (qv) as an intermediary he arranged to see the lord deputy, Sir Henry Sidney (qv), at Carrickfergus. The meeting was friendly and Sidney promised that if Wolfe came to Dublin he would arrange for a pardon to be issued. When Sidney put the matter to the Irish council in Dublin, however, the protestant bishops demanded that before a pardon was granted Wolfe should declare the pope an Antichrist and submit to the queen as supreme head of the church. Wolfe refused these terms and was committed to Dublin castle in October 1567. For a while he attended to the spiritual needs of the other prisoners, but when it became obvious to the authorities that he would not change his views he was put in solitary confinement in an underground cell.

Wolfe escaped in 1572, but it was not till September 1573 that he set sail for Portugal, accompanied, significantly, by the 7-year old son of the rebel James fitz Maurice Fitzgerald (qv), who had submitted earlier in the year. His departure was facilitated by an Irish merchant who agreed to pay his debts on condition of immediate repayment on reaching Lisbon. Lisbon proved to be a troubled refuge. The Jesuit house was unable to provide the large sum required and the Dublin merchant complained publicly of the order's bad faith. More serious were accusations by an Irish student at the University of Coimbra that Wolfe had fathered a child in Ireland, taken bribes, and secured his release from prison by swearing to obey the queen's laws. Most serious was the intervention of the Jesuit general who blocked the payment of the debt, partly to allow the student's charges to be investigated, but largely because he was made aware of the possibility that the money was to be used to buy munitions. It is likely that this was suggested by Wolfe's frame of mind, but it was grounded on the facts that he was known to be writing a book in which he intended to show the king of Spain how to conquer Ireland and that he had met the Spanish ambassador, Juan Borgia, on several occasions with a view to persuading Philip II to support fitz Maurice's son at the Jesuit college in Lisbon.

Wolfe was formally warned by the procurator for the mission in Lisbon that he must not bring disrepute to the society by involving himself in matters of war. Nonetheless, in October 1574 he left Lisbon for Madrid, hoping to persuade Philip II and the papal nuncio to advance money for fitz Maurice's projected invasion of Ireland. He returned in March 1575 to the Jesuit house at Evora, Portugal, where his openly declared intention of collecting arms for fitz Maurice was seen as wholly inappropriate for a priest. The Portuguese provincial ordered that he should be confined to the house, but with the influence of both King Philip and the pope behind him Wolfe was able to free himself and he joined fitz Maurice in Saint-Malo in the summer of 1575. He subsequently visited Spain and went on to Rome, which he left in the company of fitz Maurice in February 1577.

He is said to have left the Jesuits during this period, but as late as June 1578 the general of the order wrote that he would be ‘glad of any employment for old David Wolfe' (CSPI, 1574–85, 136). It is likely that Wolfe died shortly afterwards. He was not among those who accompanied fitz Maurice to Ireland in June 1579 and nothing further is recorded of him.

Sources
Irish Jesuit archives (Leeson St., Dublin), MacErlean transcripts; CSPI, 1509–82; CSP Rome, 1572–8; DNB; Memorials of the Irish province, S.J., i, no. 6 (1903); Proinsias Ó Fionnagáin, SJ, The Jesuit missions to Ireland in the sixteenth century (c.1970; privately published); C. Lennon, An Irish prisoner of conscience (2000); Brendan Bradshaw (ed.), ‘Father Wolfe's description of Limerick city, 1574', North Munster Antiquarian Journal (1975), 47–53

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WOULFE, DAVID, had been Chaplain to James Maurice Desmond de Giraldinis, as I find from that nobleman’s letter, dated from St. Malo, the 31st of January, 1576. The Father had returned to Ireland.

◆ Edmund Hogan SJ, CatChrn
Rector of Modena College;
Nuncio to Ireland;
Prisoner;
Writer;

Classed by Stanihurst among “the learned men and authors of Ireland and as a distinguished divine”.

A man of great reputation for austered sincerity

Had been Chaplain to James Fitzmaurice, of Desmond de Geraldinis, as appears by a letter from that nobleman, dated St Malo 31/01/1576, expressing his gratitude to the Society for having given him the letters of aggregation to the prayers and good works of the Order, through the petition and recomendation of Fr William Good. The Father had returned to Ireland. (Oliver from Stonyhurst MSS)

Examination of Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, prisoner in the Tower of London, printed in Shirley’s original leters and papers respecting the Church in Ireland - London, Rivington, 1851 p171 :
“Touching him whome he calleth the Pope’s Nuncio, doth answer that the said Nuncio came from Rome about four years since August last past (the date is March 16th 1564/5) and hath made his continual abode all the said time in Ireland, called by name David Wolfe, born in Limerick where the examinate also was born. And further he saith that the said David Wolfe hath been about seven years abiding in Rome, and was a Jesuite there professed, and sent from the Pope by obedience into ireland, by commission to see what Bishops did their duties there, and wgat sees were void and ... having asked where the Nuncio doth commonly keep in Ireland, he saith that he doth secretly come to Limerick, and hath been this last summer in Tyrone with Shane O’Neill as he heard, and the letters that he received were delivered unto him in Limerick, in the presence of a Priest called Sir Thomas Molam”.

◆ Henry Foley - Records of the English province of The Society of Jesus Vol VII
WOLFE, or WOULFE, DAVID, Father, of Limerick (Irish); entered the Society about 1550, and died after 1578. (Hogan's list and eulogia Ibernia Ignatiana. He had been Chaplain to James Fitzmaurice, of Desmond de Geraldinis, as appears by a letter from that nobleman, dated St. Malo, January 31, 1576, expressing his gratitude to the Society for having given him letters of aggrega tion to the prayers and good works of the Order, through the petition and recommendation of Father William Good. The Father had returned to Ireland, (Oliver, from Stonyhurst M53:) Examination of Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, prisoner in the Tower, printed in Shirley's original letters and papers respecting the Church in Ireland, London, Rivington, 1851, p. 171. "Touching him whom he calleth the Pope's Nuncio, doth answer that the said Nuncio came from Rome about four years since August last past (the datc is March 16, 1564-5), and hath made his continual abode all the said time in Ireland, called by name David Wolle, born in Limerick, where the examinate also was born. And further he saith that the said David Wolfe hath been about seven years abiding in Rome, and was a Jcsuite there professed, and sent from the Pope by obedience into Ireland, by commission to see what Bishops did their duties there, and what sees were void; and ... having asked where the Nuncio doth commonly keep in Ireland, he saith that he doth secretly come to Limerick, and hath been this last summer in Tyrone with Shanç O'Ncil as he heard, and the letters that he received were delivered unto him in Limerick, in the presence of a Priest called Sir Thomas Molam.' At p. 128 of the same book are faculties granted to Father Newman, Priest, of Dublin, dated Limerick, December 7, 1563, beginning, "David Wolfe, Priest $.j., and Commissarius of Our Most Holy Lord Pius Papa IV., to the most illustrious Princes and the whole Kingdom of Ireland." He had been Rector of the College at Modena, and was once in prison. (Father Hogan's list).

◆ Memorials of the Irish Province SJ June 1902 1.6

A Brief Memoir of Father Alfred Murphy SJ - by Matthew Russell SJ

Father David Wolfe SJ

Seemingly on the Continent, about the end of the year 1578 or beginning of 1579, died Father David Wolfe, a native of Limerick. He may be looked upon as the pioneer Jesuit of the Irish Mission, having been the first member of the Society, after Fathers Brouet and Salmeron, to labour in Ireland. After having spent seven years in Rome, and been Rector of the College of Modena, he was at the instance of Pope Paul IV., who made him Apostolic Nuncio, sent by Father Lainez to Ireland, where he landed at Cork on the 20th January, 1561. On hearing of his arrival vast numbers flocked from places as much as sixty miles distant to receive his ministrations, Cardinal Moran speaks of him as “one of the most remarkable men who, during the first years of Elizabeth's reign, laboured in the Irish Church to gather together the scattered stones of the Sanctuary”. He came to Ireland with plenary powers from the Pope to examine what sees were vacant, and to recommend fitting persons to fill them. Moreover, he was charged to visit the chief Catholics of the kingdom, especially the four principal princes or lords, to visit the bishops and parish priests, to establish grammar schools, provide teachers, found, if possible, monasteries, hospitals, and places of refuge for the poor, and to inform the Holy See of the real condition of the Irish Church. He was also empowered to establish an Irish University in conjunction with the Primate. In 1567 the Primate and Father Wolfe were captured and imprisoned in the Castle of Dublin. In the following year Pope St. Pius V. wrote to his Nuncio in Madrid: “We have been informed that our venerable, brother the Archbishop of Armagh has been cast into prison .... and that our beloved son, David, of the Society of Jesus, is also closely confined in the city of Dublin, and that both of them are treated with the utmost severity. Their sufferings overwhelm us : with affliction, on account of their singular merit, and their zeal for the Catholic faith”. Father Wolfe endured the sufferings of a loathsome prison for five years, after which he made his escape to Spain, accompanied by Sir Rice Corbally. In 1575 he again returned to Ireland, where, for the three following years he laboured among his afflicted countrymen. His portrait is preserved in the Irish College at Salamanca. Father Hogan asserts that he died in the county of Clare in Ireland.

Woodlock, Francis, 1871-1940, Jesuit priest and chaplain

  • Person
  • 1871-1940

Fr Francis Woodlock SJ was born in Monkstown, County Dublin and was schooled at Beaumont. He entered the English Province in 1889 and served as a chaplain in the British Army during the First World War.

Woodlock, Joseph M, 1880-1949, Jesuit priest and chaplain

  • IE IJA J/2352
  • Person
  • 01 February 1880-06 January 1949

Born: 01 February 1880, Bray, County Wicklow
Entered: 06 March 1899, Roehampton London - Angliae province (ANG)
Ordained: 1914
Final Vows: 02 February 1917
Died: 06 January 1949, Heythrop, Oxfordshire, England - Angliae province (ANG)

by 1912 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1911-1915
by 1916 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Woods, Brendan, 1924-2014, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/848
  • Person
  • 03 October 1924-28 May 2014

Born: 03 October 1924, Armagh, County Armagh
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 28 May 2014, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

by 1973 at New York NY, USA (NEB) studying

◆ Interfuse No 157 : Autumn 2014 & ◆ The Clongownian, 2015

Obituary

Fr Brendan Woods (1924-2014)

3 October 1924: Born in Keady, Co. Armagh.
Early education in CBS, Armagh and St. Patrick's College, Armagh
7 September 1942: Entered the Society at Emo
8 September 1944: First Vows at Emo
1944 - 1947: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1947 - 1950: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1950 - 1952: Clongowes – Teacher
1952 - 1953: Mungret College - Teacher
1953 - 1957: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1956: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1957 - 1958: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1958 - 1972: Clongowes – Teacher
1972 - 1973: New York - Pastoral Studies
1973 - 1989: Milltown Park; Promoting “Marriage Encounter”; Teaching at Gonzaga; Teaching at Belvedere
5 November 1977: Final Vows
1985 - 1989: Director SpExx; Assistant Librarian
1989 - 1995: Campion House - Director SpExx; Assistant Librarian Milltown Park and Manresa
1995 - 1996: Leeson Street - Librarian, Assistant Librarian at Milltown Park; Director SpExx
1996 - 2002: Milltown Park - Assistant Librarian Milltown Park & Manresa
2002 - 2010: Manresa House - Assistant Librarian Milltown Park and Assistant Comm.
2011 - 2014: Milltown Park - Assistant Comm. Librarian; Director SpExx
2011: Resident in Cherryfield Lodge. Praying for the Church and the Society

Brendan settled well into Cherryfield and appeared happy and content. His condition has been deteriorating for some time. He died peacefully on 28th May 2014. May he rest in the Peace of Christ.

Brendan Woods was an Ulsterman, who spent his Jesuit life in the South; he was a man attracted to solitude, but he entered an apostolic religious order, and thereby guaranteed himself the constant presence of others for nearly seventy-two years. Brendan's Northern accent was not strong, but his upbringing in Northern Ireland, under triumphant and intolerant Unionism, left a deep impression. Very occasionally, Brendan spoke about “What we had to put up with” and he had no sympathy with some Jesuits when, towards the end of the Troubles, they empathised with the fears of Unionists, of whom Brendan said: “They had it all their own way for a long time; they won't anymore; they'll have to get used to it”.

Brendan did not talk about his family, and it was almost by accident that some of us discovered that his sister is a Carmelite nun. He had three brothers, one of whom died the day before Brendan's own death. His friendships were many, including one with a laicised priest working in Dublin as the caretaker of a block of flats. Brendan offered friendship and moral support to a number of 'lost souls', but he never spoke about them; he really did 'do good by stealth.

Community life was never easy for Brendan, and he could seem remote, but in reality, he was warm, witty and quietly supportive. Being so intensely private, he was comfortable expressing his feelings through humour, rather than directly. He could be very perceptive. When Brendan said, of a particular Jesuit, that “He goes around giving retreats to well bred nuns”, he spoke in the light of a major shift in his own life, one that took place after he left teaching at Clongowes in 1972; he had lost interest in any apostolate to the privileged and preferred to work with those who had less money and less security.

Brendan gave many guided retreats at Manresa House, but his greatest satisfaction came from the weeks of guided prayer, usually given as part of a team in many outlying parishes in Dublin. Brendan never learned to drive, so those guided prayer weeks meant long bus journeys, and waits for buses, in all weathers. The effort meant little to him in the light of the reaction of so many ordinary people, as they had their first experience of praying with Scripture and asked “Why did nobody tell us about this before now?” This invigorated and encouraged him, but Brendan, not always a patient man, had no patience at all with one aspect of post-Conciliar religious life: the emphasis on self-improvement. He was impatient with techniques, had no time for the Myers-Briggs Table and regarded the Enneagram as pernicious, being convinced that it was Sufism diluted for Western consumption.

Brendan set very high standards for himself, and never felt that he had met them. He was an excellent teacher at Clongowes and a hardworking assistant librarian at Milltown Park. In neither job did he accept praise, nor feel that he had done well. In even the coldest weather, with only a small radiator for comfort, Brendan worked on the top floor of the Milltown Jesuit Library, cataloguing the collection of books about Ireland, discovering rare pamphlets and taking a special interest in Irish Catholic printers. Being over-cautious, he kept duplicate and even triplicate copies of books, which packed the shelves.

Having had some experiences of book theft, Brendan was a bit paranoid about library security. His love of books, however, meant that even the most tedious library work never seemed to be a chore. When a Jesuit house closed and its library was being cleared, Brendan had a remarkable ability to notice precisely what was lacking in Milltown.

With his a deep appreciation of what it meant to be both Irish and Catholic, Brendan concentrated on the essentials. He had no interest in the disputes about clothes that were so common in Irish Jesuit life in the 1960s and 1970s. Brendan was quick to abandon clerical clothing, and it is doubtful if, latterly, he even owned a Roman collar, but, somehow, there was an indefinable quality about him, so he always looked priestly. Being blessed with a fine head of white hair, Brendan cut a striking figure.

Brendan was quick to appreciate other countries and cultures. He read a vast number of travel books and had a balanced, even sardonic, appreciation of the United States. American crime fiction (to which Americans themselves give the more euphemistic title 'Mystery') was his secret passion and he read many authors long before their fame spread west across the Atlantic.

Marriage Encounter gave him, for thirteen years, a strong link with the United States and had him working closely with Bill White SJ, who was as committed to the work, but was utterly unlike him. Brendan was the organizer, Bill was the inspirer; as in many unexpected pairings, they were a very successful team. Some years before the onset of his own prolonged final illness. Brendan gave up attending Jesuit funerals, because the homily had been replaced by a eulogy, so he had difficulty reconciling what was being said with the reality of the man he had known. His feelings, whether positive or negative, about everything and everybody were strong, but his shyness often made him seem remote or indifferent and was a barrier for many who might have become closer to him. Those who persevered, or who worked with him regularly, discovered his warmth and his compassion.

Brendan's stories were many. Some were based on experience in retreat direction: “If a person on a retreat says that they'd like to meet you after the retreat, for further spiritual direction, you can be assured that you'll never hear from them again!”, in parish supply work, such as the Italian-American parish in New York, where terrified black teenagers returned the chalices stolen on the previous day, because their fence told them that the silverware bore the names of local Mafia families. But was there really an English Jesuit who, in his own retreat talks, used to refer, in his examples for edification, to “a humble Irish lay sister”?

Brendan rose early and prayed often. One year, his entire annual retreat was centered on the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”). Any hints about his own prayer were revealed inadvertently.

As Brendan's memory began to weaken, his brow settled into a permanent frown, which was very distressing for his friends. Everything seemed to worry him, but he was able to sustain a conversation by focusing on the person speaking to him, never on himself. He was not aware that he had celebrated yet another Jubilee in the Society, which was just as well, because he would have striven, with all his might, to avoid it!

Brendan has earned his rest.

Wrafter, Joseph, 1865-1934, Jesuit priest and chaplain

  • IE IJA J/705
  • Person
  • 09 August 1865-05 September 1934

Born: 09 August 1865, Rosenallis, Co Laois
Entered: 03 November 1883, Milltown Park, Dublin/Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 30 July 1899, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1902
Died: 05 September 1934, St Vincent’s Hospital

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

Chaplain in the First World War.

by 1894 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1901 at Sartirana, Merate, Como, Italy (VEN) making Tertianship
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 8th Royal Munster Fusiliers, France
by 1918 Military Chaplain : 7th Leinster Regiment, BEF France
by 1919 Military Chaplain : Chaplain to the Forces, Schveningen, Netherlands

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Note from Nicholas Walsh Entry :
He died in the end room of Bannon’s corridor, and the Provincial William Delaney and Minister Joseph Wrafter were with him at the end.”

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/damien-burke/a-sparrow-to-fall/

A sparrow to fall
Damien Burke
A BBC Northern Ireland documentary, Voices 16 – Somme (BBC 1 NI on Wednesday 29th June,
9pm) explores the events of 1916 through the testimony of the people who witnessed it and their families. Documentary makers and relatives of Jesuit chaplain Willie Doyle were shown his letters, postcards and personal possessions kept here at the Irish Jesuit Archives. In the 1920s, Alfred O’Rahilly used some of these letters in his biography of Fr Willie Doyle SJ. Afterwards they were given to Willie’s brother, Charles, and were stored for safekeeping in the basement of St Francis Xavier’s church, Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin in 1949. In 2011, they were accessioned into the archives.
Fr Willie Doyle SJ was one of ten Irish Jesuits who served as chaplains at the battle of the Somme (1 July- 18 November 1916): seven with the British forces; three with the Australian. Their letters, diaries and photographs witness their presence to the horror of war.

Fr Joseph Wrafter SJ, 8th Royal Munster Fusiliers (06 July 1916):
It is a very terrible thing where a show is on & no one I know wants any more of it than he has seen if he has been in it at all. But of course all have to see it through & the men are really splendid...Between killed & wounded we lost in that period quite a fourth of our Battalions & the Leinsters nearly as many. But they did good work & the enemy got a good deal more than they gave. It is dreadful to see the way the poor fellows are broken & mangled sometimes out of all recognition.

https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/damien-burke/jesuits-and-the-influenza-1918-19/

Jesuits and the influenza, 1918-19
Damien Burke
The influenza pandemic that raged worldwide in 1918-19 (misnamed the Spanish flu, as during the First World War, neutral Spain reported on the influenza) killed approximately 100 million people.

The influenza was widely referenced by Irish Jesuit chaplains in the First World War. And Fr Joseph Wrafter SJ writing in December 1918: “the influenza is raging here and all over Holland as everywhere”.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 9th Year No 4 1934
Obituary :
Father Joseph Wrafter

Father Wrafter died at St. Vincent's Hospital on Wednesday 5th September, 1934. For a considerable time he had been in very poor health, even before he left Clongowes in 1932, he had suffered a good deal. He was an invalid for nearly the two years he spent in Gardiner St., yet, with his usual courage, he did very fully all the work he was allowed to do. At last he was compelled to go to St. Vincent’s, where for some three weeks before his death he was very often quite unconscious.
In next number, we shall give a short sketch of his life in the Society.

Irish Province News 10th Year No 1 1935
Father Joseph Wrafter Continued
Father Wrafter was born near Rosenallis in Leix on the 9th August, 1865. He went with his two elder brothers, William and Thomas, to Tullabeg in 1877, where he remained until

  1. On November 3rd of that year he entered the Novitiate which was then at Milltown Park, but was transferred the following year to Dromore, Co. Down. He next spent a year
    as a Junior in Milltown, and had just begun his Philosophy there, when in November, 1886, the year of the amalgamation (Tullabeg and Clongowes) he was sent to Clongowes. He was Third Line and Gallery Prefect there for three years, and from 1889 to 1891 had charge of the Large Study. In the former of these years he utilised his great histrionic powers in getting up “The Tempest” which was an unqualified success. In 1891 he was appointed Higher Line Prefect although he had not yet done his Philosophy, and was the youngest man on the prefectorial staff. But his strength of character and sense of justice made up for these drawbacks. In 1893, after seven years' work as a scholastic in Clongowes, he went to Louvain for Philosophy, and in 1896 to Milltown Park for Theology, joining the Long Course.
    In the early summer of 1899 he went down to Clongowes to stay for about a month, in order to take the place of Father Fegan who had left to undergo a serious operation. However Father Wrafter remained in Clongowes the following year as Prefect of the Small Study, and next year saw him a Tertian in the Province of Venice.
    From 1900 to 1903 he was stationed in University College St, Stephen's Green, as Minister. After a year on the Mission Staff, with headquarters at the Crescent, Limerick, he renewed
    his connection With Clongowes, this time as Minister, remaining there until 1908, when he went to Gardiner St. and, in addition to the ordinary work, got charge of the Police Sodality. The next year he was appointed Minister and held that position until 1942, with the exception of a break of three years (1916-1919), when he was Military Chaplain in France and Holland. While at the front he distinguished himself by his great coolness and bravery. He was awarded the MC, but an officer who himself won the V.C., said that “every day, Father Wrafter did things that deserved the VC”.
    In 1924 he became Minister in Leeson St., and had charge of University Hall. Next year he again took up work in Clongowes as Minister and held the position for ten years. It was during these years that the new building was erected in Clongowes, in which Father Wrafter took a very great interest. 1934 saw him once more in Gardiner St, but incapable of much active work. However, as long as he possibly could, he said Mass and attended to his Confessional to which he had always been most devoted.
    He celebrated his Golden jubilee in the Society in November 1933, but did not long survive the event. The malady to which he had long been subject - phlebitis - had poisoned his system and after some weeks in hospital he died on 5th September 1934.
    The most remarkable thing about Father Wrafter's life in the Society was his long term of office as Minister in all twenty six years, thirteen in Clongowes, ten in Gardiner Stand ten in the University. He possessed in a high degree the qualities required for that office. He was a fine organiser quickly saw what was wanted, and then had the power to descend to details. He was extremely just and patient and was moreover the very soul of generosity, loving to see and to make others happy. To the poor also he was very kind. Many of the beggars and tramps who came to Clongowes made it a point to ask for Father Wrafter, they almost seemed to be personal friends of his so familiarly did he chat with them.
    What struck one most in Father Wrafter was his strong will and his great sense of duty Whatever he took in hand he saw through, and whatever was his duty would be done thoroughly. During his last few years as Minister in Clongowes he suffered from phlebitis which caused his legs to become very much swollen and painful, but unless absolutely forbidden by the doctor, he was sure to go down to the refectory to preside at the boys' meals. He was indefatigable in his care of and kindness to the sick, frequently visiting them in the infirmary during the night. This did not prevent him from being the first to rise in the morning. He always said the 6 o'clock Mass. Indeed it was wonderful how he contrived to do with so little sleep. In his last illness this strength of character was most noticeable, for though he suffered very much he never complained, but always made as little as possible of his sufferings. The nurses who attended him marvelled, and were much edified at his patience and resignation.
    How much his kindness and help to so many were appreciated was shown by the number of people, many of them in humble circumstances who called at the hospital to enquire for him during his last illness. R.I.P

◆ The Clongownian, 1935

Obituary
Father Joseph Wrafter SJ

There is something of the lacrimae rerum in the ending of the notice in last year's “Clongownian” of Father Wrafter's Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit, The words were, ad multos annos. That was in June, and the 5th of September brought the sad news that he was dead, So the words must now change to ad annos aeternos.

Fifty years, of which twenty were in and for Clongowes. How true it is to say for : Clongowes. Though he never forgot his old school Tullabeg, yet it had for his practical mind been merged in the sister College.

Loyalty seems, to one who knew him well, to have been the note of his character. Of the three loyalties, Loyalty to the Jesuit Order, Loyalty to Clongowes, Loyalty to his friends, the first two naturally became one, fused into one, the second becoming the practical expression of the former.

There is hardly a corner in the House where one who knows will fail to find traces of his watchful care. Under him the Infirmary became the highly efficient department it is. The great Well was a matter of real need, not merely of convenience. The College Grounds and the Garden were a concern of his, run with an eye to efficiency as well as to beauty, as if they had been his only care. As to the New Building : it had been a thought of his for thirty years in plan, and one need not say that the interest never flagged. Perhaps a practically minded Old Clongownian would say that the 'Boys' Refectory is the spot most associated with his genial presence and ceaseless care. One such, not of the immediate Past, said to me the other day: “The two men who resumed Clongowes life for us fellows were Father Wrafter and Father John Sullivan”. It sounds strange at first hearing, but on reflection one is more and more convinced of its truth. They were very unlike in what was obvious, but very like in what most caught the House : they both loved the boys.

His friends were legion and they were very true, for they knew by experience how unfalteringly they could rely on his interest and honest advice, One felt, said one of them, that you could tell him anything and be sure of his sympathy. This was strikingly true during the last year of his life, when he was a constant sufferer. He would drag himself to the parlour to see a friend, they never suspecting at what cost.

The elements were so mixed in him that he remained human and strong. It is easy to find a man in which one or the other predominates. The result is poor. In Father Wrafter they worked to a unity that won love in the best sense of the word.

To his sister, Mrs. Murray, we offer our sincerest sympathy. We use the words in the strictest sense, knowing how united the brother and sister were. On her yearly visit to him one saw renewed the finale of George Eliot's great novel Now many of us will join with her in murmuring :

But for the touch of a vanish'd hand
And the sound of a voice that is stilled.

-oOo-

Father “Joey” Wrafter : A Memory

It must be well over half a century ago that I, a small boy, first met “Joey” Wrafter, when I found myself a Third Liner at Clongowes. After such a long time it is not perhaps, surprising that the order in which events occurred has become rather mixed, and I must confess that I don't remember what exact position he held when first found myself an inmate of the school. I rather think that Father (then Mr) Gleeson was Third Line Prefect. My memories of Mr Wrafter are very clear, indeed, as they should be, for no small boy had ever a better kinder friend than I found in him. He indeed kind to all boys. It was part and parcel of his make-up, and as a result was liked and trusted by them.

Looking back over the fifty odd years, I recognise that this was the salient point of his character; kindness, understanding and sympathy with all boys, and in particular, with small boys. I never knew him to be hard or ungenerous to one of them, not was he prone to punish where punishment could be avoided,

Naturally, some of us knew him better than others, and were looked on by him as special friends. I am very proud to think that I could count myself as one of this group. Amongst others of this group I remember Geoff Esmond, Jim Clarke and Dominic Kelly, to mention only a few. Those who remember Father Wrafter in after years will, I am sure, wish to get some idea what he was like as a young man. Well, he was very slim and upright, handsome of face in an aquiline way, with the cheeriest of smiles. He was always very trim and neat, had small and well-made hands and feet, and was very graceful in all his movements. He was a delightfully light and fast runner, and kept himself extremely fit. He, at that time, could not have weighed more than about 10 stone.

Can you think of a fencer standing slim, butt muscular, head up, with a keen, clear cut face ready for a bout with the foils? Well, that is exactly the picture I get when I look back and remember Joey Wrafter in the late 80's and early 90's of last century.

Though not posing as a great book man, he was keen-witted, a good talker, and in some things exceptionally clever.

Though he played football and cricket, he did not seem to be very interested in games, but during my time at Clongowes he proved himself a master of the art of producing plays. This was his hobby, and he took the keenest delight in staging all sort of shows from farces and pantomime to Shakespeare.

I took part in most of the plays produced by him during my time, and remember amongst many others a farce called “Bombastes Furioso”, also a pantomime, “Alladin”, in which I starred as the Widow Twanky, and Shakespeare's “Tempest”, in which I took the part of Trinculo.

Well the years move on and we with there. Father Wrafter has left us, but I for one can say with truth that the memory of him and his great goodness and kindness to one small boy lives on and will not be forgotten till I also go the way we all must go, and not even then I hope.

When I was a boy at Clongowes “Joey” Wrafter was one of the very best. RIP

JGG

-oOo-

Father Wrafter as Army Chaplain

In November of 1915, the 8th Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers, with the other units of the 6th (Irish) Division, after a year's training at Kilworth, were awaiting orders at Blackburn for the move to France. A few days before the unit entrained, an orderly informed me that the Colonel, known amongst his friends as “Mike”, wanted to see me urgently in the mess.

“Read this wire”, said he, as I entered. Mike was one of the hard-living, hard swearing type of old soldiers. “They are sending us a priest. What the blazes shall I do with him? Should I offer him a drink when he comes?”

When I came again to the mess, a few hours later, I found the Colonel and priest swopping yarns over the fire and a whiskey and soda. And so began a strange friendship which lasted without end between “Mike”, a Protestant, if he had any religion at all, with no control over his language even before a priest-and Father Wrafter, a devout Jesuit with much knowledge of the world and great understanding. Years after, when Mike knew his end was coming and the Protestant clergyman was announced, - his only words were : “Tell him to go to the devil, the only person I want near me is Father Wrafter”.

Practically all the men in the regiment were Catholics, and when the unit arrived at the front, Father Wrafter's worth was soon recognised. His influence amongst them was on a par with the Colonel's, and more than once Mike asked the Padre to give the men a good talk at Mass about something that they should have done or something they should not have done and did. The effect was excellent.

For the four battalions in the Brigade there were two Catholic chaplains, and Father Wrafter looked after the welfare of the 7th Leinsters as well as the 8th Munsters. Of the two battalions, one was usually in the front line and one in reserve trenches, or in billets behind. In this way it often fell to the Padre to do three or four tours : in succession with the regiments in the front line, where his splendid help was most needed. On one occasion he spent a month on end in the front trenches. Yet, during these days of static warfare, I never knew him to miss saying daily Mass, sometimes in an open trench with a box as his altar, sometimes in a little dugout, where there was room only for himself and his servant, one Thunder, known in the regiment as “Lightning”, on account of his extreme slowness of movement.

For two years Father Wrafter served with the 8th Munsters in France. He was a well-known figure in the Irish Division ; there were few officers from the General downwards who did not know him personally. In the line he worked day and night attending the sick and wounded and burying the dead. Woe betide the Colonel if the Padre was not informed immediately any casualties occurred; and it was wonderful what confidence he gave the men, who knew he could be there as soon as anything happened. When it came to going over the top, Father Wrafter was always somewhere near the front line, even when the Colonel cursed him for leaving battalion headquarters. He was then a man fifty and portly, leading what was for him a strange life, yet he took the knocks and the kicks with a smile which was good see and did no end of good in the regiment.

On one occasion, in 1916, when the Brigade was in reserve at Les Mines, the Germans sent over gas at night and the masks of the men in the front. trenches proved ineffective against it. The casualties were heavy the Germans had followed up the gas by a night attack-and next night the Munsters were sent up to the front line on relief, The trenches were a veritable shambles. Corpses, with their bodies and faces distorted in their death agony, were piled in the trenches and littered the ground near them. For four nights, from dusk to dawn (the MS has from dawn to dusk) the Padre worked with his men, burying the dead as best he could. More often than not, shell holes formed the ready-made graves. A mournful sight it was this burial gang working under fire by the pale light of the moon.

Yet, nothing daunted the chaplain's spirits, and he was ready to crack a joke with all and sundry. Just before this gas attack, the General came to inspect the 8th Munsters, He stepped out of his car opposite the quarter-guard and questioned the sentry about his duties. The sentry, well coached, repeated them all, ending with the usual, “in the event of any unusual occurrence report to the guard commander”. “And what would you call an unusual occurrence, my man?” asked the General. “Well, sur, if I saw the sintry box markin' time”. A cloud collected on the General's brow; then he looked at the Padre and moved on quickly.

In 1917, Father Wrafter won the Military Cross, a reward he richly deserved, though he himself was the last to acknowledge this, His rectitude was such that the things he did seemed to him to be nothing but his ordinary duty. His real reward was the way that the men of his regiment maintained and practised their religion--the number of men who approached the altar rails, when the battalion had an opportunity of attending Mass behind the lines, surprised the local inhabitants.

In late 1917, the 6th Irish Division was reorganised and the 8th Munsters, or what was left of them after two years' fighting, were drafted to another battalion of the regiment. Father Wrafter was then offered an appointment as Senior Chaplain at one of the bases in France - a “soft job”, - with two assistants. This offer he stoutly refused to accept and continued to serve as regimental Chaplain to the Munsters until the end of the War. Later he went to Holland, as Chaplain to a prisoners of war camp. In November of 1917 I sailed for India and temporarily lost touch with him.

Next time I met him was in 1924 as his guest at Clongowes, where he was then Minister. The Jesuit robe had taken the place of the military uniform, which was the only garb the men of the 8th Munsters had seen him in, but the man was unchanged. He was the same strong, genial Padre, whose courage and cheerfulness had been an inspiration to all who had met him during the terrible years of the War.

JO'B.

-oOo-
1929-32 - “The Minister”

It was not till Father Wrafter had left us for Gardiner Street that we fully realised what a place he had won for himself in the life of the boys here. It is not an easy thing to win that place and it is harder still to keep it, but of him both were true. When you were well, you felt how much you depended on him for the creature comforts of the Refectory. When you were ill, his genial visits in the Infirmary were things to look forward to.

He was in truth a hard man to replace, so that his visit of a few days on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee had a quality unlike that of the coming of anyone else, The boys loved to gather round him and one could notice how newcomers to whom he was a stranger looked with envy at such gay gatherings.

One could notice too, how the older trades men about the College seemed as glad to meet him as we did.

The writer of these notes well remembers his first official contact with Father Wrafter. It was my first night at Clongowes and having got from my Line Prefect to “follow the crowd”, I found myself in the Refectory for tea, an extremely subdued unit in an extremely boisterous throng. Suddenly a bell went and in the midst of a profound silence a massive figure rose with infinite dignity to say Grace. This said, he sank down again slowly and gazed with the broadest of smiles all round the Refectory. After a few moments he came down from the box and began a triumphal procession through the Refectory, pausing at each table to shake hands with the “old boys” and to discover among the “new” the son or nephew or young brother of old friends,

Afterwards when the days had grown to weeks and weeks to months, an extremely insignificant member of Rudiments decided to go for his first sleep (having, I am afraid, very little the matter with him). I well recall the mingled hope and fear with which I awaited my turn. At last it came and the climb up the three steps seemed endless, to be confronted with the huge figure of the Minister. One quick glance to assure himself that it was nothing very serious and then he learnt back good-humouredly to listen to my plea of a headache. A few seconds of doubt and uncertainty and then my name went down in the notebook and I go off with the world a much brighter place. One of the most characteristic things about him was the tolerance with which he would listen to the malingerers at the foot of the steps as they arranged their complaints and yet would hear them afterwards in the best humoured manner possible. Suddenly he would come down from the box and make his way to the Infirmary with the Third Liners whom he had refused clinging to the wings of his gown and clustering round him - looking for all the world like some great liner surrounded by her tugs. But there was one thing about him that lays bare his character better than twenty pages of “The Clongownian” : if ever he had occasion to send anyone “up” for any misdeed in the Refectory or outside it, the offender had only to ask for a sleep that night and he was sure to get it.

Kindliness was, to my mind, the outstanding trait that made him universally beloved here among us.

P Meenan

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Joseph Wrafter (1865-1934)

Born at Rosenalis, Leix, and educated at Tullabeg College, entered the Society in 1883. He pursued his higher studies at Louvain and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1899. His association with the Crescent was short, 1903-04 when he was a member of the mission staff. With the exception of the period of the first world war. Father Wrafter's life was spent between Dublin and Clongowes. He was a member of the church staff, Gardiner St at the time of his death.

Yeomans, William, 1925-1989, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2274
  • Person
  • 10 May 1925-08 January 1989

Born: 10 May 1925, Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Entered: 07 September 1942, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1956
Final Vows: 02 February 1960
Died: 08 January 1989, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1948 came to Tulllabeg (HIB) studying 1947-1950
by 1973 came to work at Veritas Communications Centre in Booterstown (HIB)

Young, Charles, 1798-1896, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/448
  • Person
  • 21 December 1798-16 January 1896

Born: 21 December 1798, Bridge Street, Dublin
Entered: 02 September 1832, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England (ANG)
Ordained: by 1844
Final Vows: 15 August 1852
Died: 16 January 1896, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

by 1839 in Namur studying Physics
by 1852 in Rome studying
by 1854 at Malta College teaching (ANG)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had two brothers Priests of the Dublin Diocese, William and Henry - Henry was buried in the vaults of the Pro-Cathedral.
He had been a merchant who purchased Belvedere House for the Jesuits before Ent.
He had travelled much during his life, especially in Spain.

He studied in Rome and spent some time in Malta.
He was in the Dublin Residence for a short time.
He was Spiritual Father for long periods in Clongowes and Tullabeg.

Note from John MacDonald Entry :
He was attended there in his last hours by the saintly Charles Young.

Note from Patrick Rickaby Entry :
He also had a wonderful gift of taking care of the sick. This he did at Tullabeg, where he watched over the venerable Charles Young who died in his 98th year.

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
from :
Young, Charles (1798–1896), found in Young, Charles (1746–1825)
by C. J. Woods

The youngest brother (son), Charles Young (1798–1896), born 21 December 1798, was educated at Oscott and lived for some years in Spain, becoming proficient in the Spanish language and literature. He assisted in the family business before joining the Society of Jesus (1832); he spent some years as a military chaplain in Malta but returned to Ireland (1840), divided his time between the Jesuit colleges at Tullabeg and Clongowes, and died 16 January 1896 at Tullabeg.

◆ The Clongownian, 1896

Obituary

Father Charles Young SJ

Midway through the first month of this year, one of the longest lives recorded in the domestic annals of the Society of Jesus in Ireland came to a happy end. Father Young was born on the 21st of December, 1798, and died on the 16th of January, 1896. He had thus completed his ninety-seventh year - the nearest to the full century that we know of except the holy lay brother, John Ginivan, who was only eight days short of a hundred years when he died at St Francis Xavier's, Dublin, on the 30th of January, 1893. But Father Young's ninety-seven years leave far behind all the Jesuit Fathers who were his contemporaries : Father Lentaigne and Father Grene passed away, at 80 years of age, Father Callan and Father Haly at 87, Father Molony at 90, and Father Curtis at 91. These patriarchs lacked at any rate one proof of the Divine partiality which is put forward in a famous Greek saying and in a famous passage of the Book of Wisdom.

Charles Young's father, from whom he inherited both Christian name and surname, was a wealthy Dublin merchant, residing in Bridge Street. Mr Young's brother was Bishop of Limerick. The pious Catholic spirit of the Young household may fairly be conjectured from the vocations of the children. One of the daughters became a Poor Clare at Harold's Cross, Dublin, and two entered the Ursuline Convent at Blackrock, near Cork. One of these composed the “Ursuline. Manual”, a more enduring and effective work than her “History of England”. Of Mr Young's six sons four became priests. William and James were both very zealous and holy priests, worthy of being the brothers of the celebrated Father Henry Young, whose saintly life has been chronicled by the sympathetic pen of Lady Georgiana Fullerton.

The youngest brother of this remarkable family resisted for a considerable time the blessed contagion of such example: He was educated at Oscott and intended for secular pursuits. During some years after leaving school he lived in the South of Spain, and many a good story he used to tell about Cadiz and Seville, and about the Spaniards and their ways. He had unbounded love and adıniration for everything Spanish. Those who knew him can easily recall the graphic descriptions of persons, scenes, and manners, to which his great charm of manner, voice, and expression lent such attractiveness. At Tullabeg, when he was well beyond 70 years of age, many can well remember the interest he took in teaching the language of “The Cid” to some boys from South America, who wished to keep the knowledge of it fresh. But nel mezzo del cammino, at the mature age of thirty-four, he retired from the world and entered as a novice into the Society of Jesus. His life-journey was not yet in reality half over, however it may have seemed at the time. There still remained to him that full span which, counting from the cradle, is called the grand climacteric - sixty-three years: These years except a few at first on the Continent and a brief residence in St Francis Xavier's, Dublin - were divided between the colleges of Clongowes and St Stanislaus, Tullabeg. The latter was the scene of his final labours, of his cheerful term of waiting when labour was over for ever, and at last of his happy death.

Through his long life Father Charles Young was loved and revered by all with whom he came in contact, and most by those who knew him best, his religious brethren. He was remarkable for his cheerful, unaffected piety, his simple gaiety of heart, and the delightful union of solid and amiable qualities which lent such a charm to the intimacy of community life.

Not a single boy who was at Clongowes in the Sixties, or at Tullabeg from 1870 to 1886, can fail to have any but the sweetest, recollections of the holy old man, who had for everyone he met the kind word, kind look, and, kind act.

They will remember distinctly the grace of manner and elegance of bearing which reminded us of the days of the Grand Monarque. May he rest in peace!

Zarnitz, Clemens, 1851-1928, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2278
  • Person
  • 04 February 1851-17 May 1928

Born: 04 February 1851, Beverungen, Westfalen, Germany
Entered: 30 September 1869, Friedrichsburg Germany - Germaniae Province (GER)
Ordained: 1882
Final Vows: 15 August 1887
Died: 17 May 1928, Dortmund, Westfalen, Germany - Germaniae Province (GER)

by 1885 came to Milltown (HIB) to lecture 1884-1886

Zenti, Francesco, 1814-1851, Jesuit brother

  • IE IJA J/2279
  • Person
  • 21 July 1814-16 February 1851

Born: 21 July 1814, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy
Entered: 06 September 1840, Chieri Italy - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Final Vows:
Died: 16 February 1851, Hartfield House, Drumcondra, Dublin - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Part of the St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales community at the time of deat

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
On the dispersion of the TAUR Province in the Revolution of 1848, he was sent to England and lived at St Beuno’s College.
His mind became affected and he was sent to Hartfield House, Drumcondra, Dublin for treatment.
He had a few days clarity and was able to go to Confession and Communion, but a few days later he suffered a haemorrhage, died and is buried at Glasnevin

Results 1301 to 1375 of 1375