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Born: 25 December 1605, Yorkshire or Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1627, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1632, Belgium
Final Vows: 05 August 1641, College of St Omer, France
Died: 11 April 1649, English College, Rome, Italy - Angliae Province (ANG)

Alias Corbington

Youngest brother of Robert RIP - 1637; Ralph RIP - 1644
Son of Gerard RIP - 1627

There are 4 “Corby” entries
Ambrose Ent 1627
Gerard Ent 1627 (Father of Robert, Ralph and Ambrose)
Robert Ent 1628
Ralf DOB 1598; Ent 1624; RIP 1644 at Tyburn (martyr)
Another Son/Brother Richard, died at St Omer College
Two daughters/sisters, Mary and Catherine, became Benedictine nuns, as did Isabella in 1533 (she died 25/12/1652 a centenarian)
Gerard married to Isabella Richardson, and they moved to Dublin, where his sons were born, and eventually Belgium. He became a Jesuit Brother when he and his wife decided to separate and consecrate themselves to God. All three sons were born in Dublin

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Father Gerard and brothers Robert and Ralph became Jesuits. His mother Isabella and sisters Mary and Catherine became Benedictine nuns.
Sent by his father to St Omer for Humanities
1622 Went to English College Rome for studies 11 October 1622. He won the praises of all there and received Minor Orders.
He was then sent to Belgium, where his father was now living in exile, for health reasons, and Ent 07 September 1627
1645 Minister at Ghent
1649 Was Minister at English College Rome when he died
He wrote and interesting biography about his father Gerard, who in his old age became a Brother of the Society
He taught the “belles lettres” for some years at St Omer, was highly accomplished in Greek and Latin literature, and was distinguished for great modesty, humility, patience and charity towards others, and piety towards God.
Nothing to do with HIB or Irish Mission
(cf “Records SJ” Vol iii p 97 and another volume p 299; de Backer “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ”)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CORBIE, AMBROSE, born near Durham, on Thursday, 7th December,1604, O.S. as I find in a memorandum. In the Diary of the minister of the English College at Rome, he is recorded to have defended Logic 20th August, 1623 “con honore”. Four years later he embraced “the pious Institute” of the Society, at Watten : was ordained Priest at St. Omer, 20th September, 1633, and raised to the rank of a Professed Father 5th August, 1641; was Confessarius to the English College at Rome, 11th April, 1649. From the classic pen of this young Jesuit, we have “Certamen Triplex, or the Life and Martyrdom of his Brethren Ralph Corbie, of F. T. Holland, and of F. Hen. Morse”, all of S. J., 12mo. Antwerp, 1645, pp. 144, with portraits. This Latin book is in great requisition among collectors.

Born: 25 March 1598, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 1625 - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: pre 1625, Valladolid, Spain
Final Vows: 01 May 1640, Durham, England
Died: 17 September 1644, Tyburn, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Martyr

Middle brother of Robert RIP - 1637; Ambrose RIP - 1649
Son of Gerard RIP - 1627

There are 4 “Corby” entries
Ambrose Ent 1627
Gerard Ent 1627 (Father of Robert, Ralph and Ambrose)
Robert Ent 1628
Another Son/Brother Richard, died at St Omer College
Two daughters/sisters, Mary and Catherine, became Benedictine nuns, as did Isabella in 1533 (she died 25 December 1652 a centenarian)
Gerard married to Isabella Richardson, and they moved to Dublin, where his sons were born, and eventually to Belgium. He became a Jesuit Brother when he and his wife decided to separate and consecrate themselves to God. All three sons were born in Dublin
1628 at Liège studying Theology - in CAT 1628-1636

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Father Gerard and brothers Robert and Ralph became Jesuits. His mother Isabella and sisters Mary and Catherine became Benedictine nuns.
Sent by his father to St Omer for Humanities aged 15
Went to English College Rome then Seville and Valladolid where he was Ordained. He then Ent 1627.
1631 Sent to English Mission. He worked in Durham mostly.
1644 Seized by the Parliamentarian rebels at Hampsterley, while vesting for Mass 18 July 1644, and then committed to Newgate Prison at London 22 July 1644 in the company of his friend John Duckett. They were tried and condemned at the Old Bailey 14 September 1644 (Feast of Exaltation), and sent to the gallows at Tyburn 17 September 1644
His Brother Ambrose wrote and interesting biography about his father Gerard.
He taught the “belles lettres” for some years at St Omer, was highly accomplished in Greek and Latin literature, and was distinguished for great modesty, humility, patience and charity towards others, and piety towards God.
Nothing to do with HIB or Irish Mission
(cf “Records SJ” Vol iii pp 68 seq)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CORBIE, RALPH. This blessed martyr was actually born in Ireland, whither his father was suddenly compelled to fly to escape prosecution at home. Ralph in 1626, united himself to the Society : five years later began his missionary career at Durham and its neighbourhood, and laboured with all the spirit and zeal of the Apostles, until he fell into the snares of his enemies at Horpserley, 8th July, 1644. Put on board a Sunderland vessel for London, he was thrown into Newgate, 22d July, whence he was dragged to Tyburn, 7th September following, O. S., to receive that abundant reward in Heaven, which Christ has insured to those who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness.

Born: 1596, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: September 1626, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: by 1629
Died: 17 April 1637, St Ignatius, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Alias Corbington

Eldest brother of Ralph RIP - 1644; Ambrose RIP -1649
Son of Gerard RIP -1627

There are 4 “Corby” entries
Ambrose Ent 1627
Gerard Ent 1627 (Father of Robert, Ralph and Ambrose)
Robert Ent 1628
Ralf DOB 1598; Ent 1624; RIP 1644 at Tyburn (martyr)
Another Son/Brother Richard, died at St Omer College
Two daughters/sisters, Mary and Catherine, became Benedictine nuns, as did Isabella in 1533 (she died 25 December 1652 a centenarian)
Gerard married to Isabella Richardson, and they moved to Dublin, where his sons were born, and eventually Belgium. He became a Jesuit Brother when he and his wife decided to separate and consecrate themselves to God. All three sons were born in Dublin

Procurator and penitentiary at Loreto and Rome (Necrology ANG ARSI)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Procurator and penitentiary at Loreto and Rome (Necrology ANG ARSI) :
Father Gerard and brothers Ambrose and Ralph became Jesuits. His mother Isabella and sisters Mary and Catherine became Benedictine nuns.
Sent by his father to St Omer for Humanities
He was for some time Procurator and also Penitentiary at Rome and Loreto. A good linguist, he heard confessions in Dutch, Italian, Spanish, French and other languages.
On one of the pillars in the nave of the church of Loreto is an inscription i Scottish-English, giving an account “The Wondrous Flittinge of the Halie House, by Father Robert Corbington”. At the foot is “Translated by Robert Corbington, Preust of the Socyete of Jesus, by order of Cardinal Morone. His Brother Ambrose wrote and interesting biography about his father Gerard. Nothing to do with HIB or Irish Mission [Pillars is in Old Welsh]

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CORBIE, ROBERT, brother to FF. Ambrose and Ralph before-mentioned, died in the English mission on Good Friday, 17th April, 1637. He was considered as a respectable linguist, and heard confessions in Dutch, Italian, Spanish, French and other languages.

Born: 24 April 1874, Roscrea, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 October 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1904, Petworth, Sussex, England
Final Vows: 02 February 1915, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 14 May 1940, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger Brother of Timothy Corcoran - RIP 1943

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1895 at St Aloysius, Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1903 at Petworth, Sussex (ANG) health
by 1904 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying
by 1905 at Petworth, Sussex (ANG) health
Came to Australia 1905

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His parents were Irish, and whilst they left Australia to return to Ireland, he later joined the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg.

His studies were in Dublin and Jersey, Channel Islands, and then he was sent to teach mathematics at Mungret College Limerick and Belvedere College Dublin. He then became ill and was sent to Petworth, Sussex, England where he made Theology studies. He was Ordained there in 1904 and then sent to Australia.
1904-1906 He arrived in Australia and was sent to the Norwood Parish
1906-1913 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview
1913-1914 He returned to Ireland and St Stanislaus College Tullabeg to make his Tertianship.
1915-1919 He came back to Australia and Riverview
1919-1940 He was appointed Novice Master and remained in that position at Xavier College Kew until his death in 1940. He was highly regarded by the Jesuits whom he trained.

When he was at Riverview he was given the task of Minister and so had responsibility for the wellbeing of the boarders. He was considered very adept in catching any boy who returned later after leave in the city, or in posting or receiving letters in an unorthodox way. He was known as the “Hawk”, but this name was given with the utmost respect for him, as the boys experienced him as a most charming man who went about his duties very quietly and thoroughly. They also liked his sermons.

His Novices appreciated his thirty days Retreat. He addressed them four times a day, sometimes speaking for an hour without the Novices losing interest. He spoke with considerable eloquence and feeling, slowly, pausing between sentences, and from time to time emphasising something dramatically. While Novice Master he hardly ever left the house. He lived for the Novices. His life was quietly and regularly ascetic. He went to bed around midnight at rose at 5.25am. He loved the garden, especially his dahlias.

His companionableness was memorable. The Novices enjoyed his company on their walks. He was unobtrusive and yet part of it, a most welcome presence. He was an unforgettable person, a wise and gentle director of souls. He taught a personal love of Jesus and was deeply loyal to the Society. he considered the rules for modesty to be among the great treasures of the Society, and gave the Novices true freedom of heart to make wise decisions.

He was a cheerful man, optimistic in outlook and easy to approach. People at once felt at home with him. He was experienced as a striking personality, a kind man with a sense of fun who spoke little about himself.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 15th Year No 3 1940
Obituary :
Father John Corcoran
1874 Born 24th, near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary Educated Clongowes
1891 Entered. Tullabeg 7th October
1892 Tullabeg, Novice
1893 Milltown, Junior
1894-1896 Jersey, Philosophy
1897-1900 Mungret, Doc
1901 Belvedere. Doc
1902 Petworth. Cur. Val
1903 Naples, Thel.
1904 Petworth, Cur. Val. Ordained 1904
1905 Norwood (Australia) Cur. Val
1906-1907 Riverview, Adj, proc, Doc. Stud. theol. mor.
1908-1912 Riverview, Minister, Adj. proc., etc.
1913 Tullabeg, Tertian
1914 Richmond (Australia), Oper
1915-1918 Riverview, Minister &c.; Doc. 17 an. mag
1919-1940 Mag. Nov. First at Loyola, Sydney; then at Victoria. For a time he was. in addition. Lect phil. in Univ., and for a great many years Cons. Miss. Sydney, as well as lending a hand in many other ways.

Fr Bernard O'Brien, one of Fr Corcoran's novices, kindly sent us the following :
Half the members of the Australian Vice-Province have done their noviceship under Fr Corcoran, and it seems strange to think that the noviceship is no longer under his kindly care.
His health was always weak, and his heart gave him trouble, he used to chuckle as he recalled how his ordination had been hastened for fear that he might die at any moment.
He could be extremely stern. He had no patience with deliberate wrong-doing, with irreverence or contempt of holy things. The novices sometimes' received electric shocks, as when after retreat points on sin that grew more and more heated he turned back from the door and burst out “There is no omnibus marked Jesuit for heaven”.
He kept himself, however, remarkably under control. Though at times the blood would rush to his face, he would say nothing at the moment, but sleep on the matter before acting, a practice he frequently recommended to his novices. Often nothing came of it at all, but the dead silence and the suspense of anticipation was a punishment severe enough to sober any culprit.
He became more and more kindly and sympathetic as time went on. “Gently Brother!” was a favourite remark of his.
He came to rely less and less on external regulations and reproofs, and to form his novices by personal contact and encouragement. In his first years he used to check all trace of slang, but later it became common to hear a novice who had received an order leave him with a cheery “Good-O Father!”
He gave and aroused great personal affection. The timid first probationer, whatever his age, was at once called by his Christian name and adopted among his “babies”. As the noviceship was usually small, he could give each novice individual attention. Even the candidates who left remained strongly attached to the Society.
Fr Corcoran was a man of strong emotion and imagination. He disliked giving the more abstract exercises of the long retreat, and was happiest when he came to the early life of Our Lord. He had made a thorough study of historical Palestine and one heard much about the Vale of Esdraelon and Little Hermon. Some of the other Fathers in the house were shocked to see coloured pictures of camels crossing the sandy desert appear at this time on the novices' notice board.
United with this imagination and emotion went a deep spiritual life. He may not have supplied very clear notions of Church and Society legislation, but he gave his novices strong draughts of the true Jesuit spirit : devotion to Our Lord, constant striving to give God greater glory and better service, love of the Passion and zeal for souls.
One Christmas he gave a remarkable series of points for meditation. He took as subjects the crib, the straw, the cave, the star and so on. The points began with homely remarks and simple reflections, but almost imperceptibly the objects described became symbols and we were on a high level of contemplation.
In his deep and gentle affection, his preference for the concrete and his high spirituality there was much to remind one of St. John, whose name he bore.

◆ The Clongownian, 1940

Obituary

Father John Corcoran SJ

Father Corcoran was born near Roscrea, in Tipperary, on the 24th of April, 1874. In October, 1891, soon after leaving Clongowes, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Tullabeg, where he had been preceded by his brother, Rev T Corcoran SJ, whose fame as an educationalist is world-wide. Ill-health. limited Father John's literary studies at Milltown Park to a single year, and from 1894 until 1897 he studied philosophy with the French Fathers at Jersey. The next five years were spent in teaching-four at Mungret, and one at Belvedere. His great understanding of boys, and his bright, genial sympathy made him a great favourite with all.

It was now time to study Theology (1902). His health had been seriously impaired by tuberculosis, which was to give rise to grave fears for a number of years, and Theology requires hard work and strength. But, to quote a phrase which Father Corcoran loved to repeat in later years, “difficulties are things to be overcome”, and at Petworth, in England, and at Naples, he overcame them sufficiently to be ordained priest in September, 1904.

The following year he was sent to Australia, and under its sunny skies he regained the health and strength required for his future work. After recuperating for a year at Norwood, he spent the years 1906-1913 on the staff of Riverview College.

In 1913 he returned to Tullabeg for his Tertianship; and twelve months later said a last good-bye to his native land, whose green fields and limpid streams lingered in his memory, and gave him “heartaches”, as he put it, even during his last years. After a year at Richmond, he once more became the Father Minister at Riverview, in 1915. In May, 1919, he was given the responsible position of Master of Novices at Loyola, Sydney, a position which he filled for the remaining twenty-one years of his life. Henceforth all his energies were to be devoted unsparingly to the religious formation of Jesuits. He used laughingly to speak of his novices as his “babes”, and he was in truth the spiritual father of the whole generation of post-war Jesuits in Australia.

His genial simplicity and kindness won the veneration and deep affection of all with whom he had to deal. He had the happy gift of making people feel at once at home with him; but perhaps his strong influence over others came mainly from his intense but child-like spirit of faith, which made him converse as familiarly with the Holy Family as with his novices, and which transformed the world for him into a temple of God. He was an enthusiastic gardener who loved weeding his flower beds, and tending his dahlias - but a gardener who could describe the garden as one of the best teachers of the spiritual life. It is often said that Christ's life was full of sorrow from the beginning; but, for Father Corcoran, “the rafters of the Holy House must often have rung with the sweet laughter of the Boy Christ” characteristic illustration of the joyful spontaneity of his own character and outlook.

He could be stern when occasion required; but those he trained treasure the memory of his remarkable gentleness - a trait which became more and more pronounced during the last years of his life. A prominent Jesuit remarked of him that he was an outstanding example of the transforming power of the Jesuit rule when it is lived and sincerely loved in all its fullness; and those who knew him during the latter part of his life were astonished at the constant mellowing of his sanctity. The Society of Jesus in Australia has suffered a great loss by his death, but he himself has surely passed to the happy state which he delighted to think of as “home”.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1939

Obituary

Father John Corcoran SJ

As we go to press a cablegram from Australia announces the death of Father Corcoran at the age of sixty six. Of these years forty-eight had been spent as a Jesuit. For the last twenty-two years he fulfilled the important office of Master of Novices and had given retreats to the clergy both in Australia and New Zealand. Father Corcoran's connection with Mungret was not very long - 1897-1901 - but the boys of these years never forgot the kindly scholastic who played with them and who prayed with them and who always found time to give them a word of encouragement in their trials. He was always ready to smooth out their difficulties and to lighten their load. He treasured to the end of his life, a kindly message from Florida that reached him through the “Annual” in 1907. It was as follows:

“If Father John Corcoran is still in this vale of tears, let him rest assured that the lads of 1900 loved him. In him we ever found a sincere sympathiser in our little troubles and I could not restrain my tears when I grasped his hand for the last time at Naples in 1902”.

Father Corcoran said that since the day of his ordination he never forgot these “boys” in his daily Mass. They are now priests and we ask them and indeed all Mungret priests, to pray for the repose of the kindly soul of Father John Corcoran. May he rest in peace,

Born: 27 July 1932, Brookline, MA, USA
Entered: 30 July 1950, Shadowbrook MA, USA - Novae Angliae Province (NEN)
Ordained: 15 June 1963, Weston College, Weston MA, USA
Final vows: 06 November 1970, Boston College High School, Boston, USA
Died: 06 January 2019, Weston MA, USA - Novae Angliae Province (NEN)

by 1978 came to Belvedere (HIB) teaching

◆ The Jesuits of Canada and the US https://jesuits.org/profile-detail/Lawrence-Corcoran

Corcoran, Lawrence E
Jesuit Father Lawrence E. Corcoran died on Jan. 6, 2019, at Campion Health Center, in Weston, Massachusetts. He was 86 years old. Fr. Corcoran was born on July 27, 1932, in Brookline, Massachusetts, entered the Society of Jesus at Shadowbrook, Lenox, Massachusetts, on July 30, 1950, and was ordained on June 15, 1963, at Weston College in Weston. He pronounced his final vows at Loyola Chapel, Boston College High School, Boston, on Nov. 6, 1970.

Born: 14 December 1862, London, England
Entered: 29 November 1884, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 1897, Tortosa, Spain
Final vows: 15 August 1901
Died: 08 January 1951, Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

by 1896 at Deusto Bilbao, Spain (ARA) studying
by 1900 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1901

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He was born in England and received his early education from the Benedictines at St Augustine’s Abbey, Ramsgate, Kent. In spite of this, he Entered the Society in the Irish Province at Dromore, County Down.

1886-1890 After First Vows he made a Juniorate at Milltown Park Dublin and St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, and then did a year of Philosophy at Milltown Park.
1890-1893 He was sent for Regency to Clongowes Wood College
1893-1895 He continued his regency at Mungret College Limerick.
1895 He began his Theology studies at Milltown Park, and was then sent to Tortosa in Spain, in the Aragon Province, and was Ordained there after two years, receiving a special dispensation due to health.
1897-1899 He was sent to Mungret teaching
1899-1900 He made tertianship at Drongen.
1900-1902 He was sent teaching to Belvedere College Dublin, where he was also Minister and Prefect of the Church.
1902-1908 He arrived in November and was sent to teach at Xavier College Kew, where he also served as Minister.
1908-1913 He was sent to the Lavender Bay Parish
1913-1918 and 1922-1923 He was sent to St Mary’s Parish in North Sydney, where he was also Superior for a while.
1918-1922 He was sent to the Hawthorn Parish
1923-1931 He was sent to the Norwood Parish where he was also Superior for a time.
1931-1934 He returned to St Mary’s in North Sydney. While there he turned a former factory into Manresa Hall
1934-1940 He returned to the Hawthorn Parish. Hawthorn parishioners spoke of his kindness and fine social gifts.
1940-1948 He was sent to Canisius College Pymble as Spiritual Father and examiner of candidates. Whilst here he also gave a monthly day of recollection to Cardinal Gilroy
1948 His final mission was to Loyola Watsonia, for care and prayer.

His early ill health accounts for the sporadic nature of his studies in Philosophy and Theology. In Australia no one would have thought that he had suffered from ill health. He was a most zealous man, a whirlwind of activity, throwing himself heart and soul into any work that he was given to do, and doing it very well.

He was a kind and charitable man always willing to give a helping hand to others. As a Superior he probably did not allow the men enough scope and was inclined to very fixed views, and he struggled when dealing with others who had equally fixed but opposing views. he did great work especially at North Sydney and Norwood. He had a fine old gentlemanly manner,

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926
Residence. SS. CORDIS, SYDNEY :

In 1878 Archbishop Vaughan handed over the Parish of North Shore to the Society. The church was exceedingly small, had very little church furniture and the Fathers were obliged to hire a Presbytery at 16s. a week. The Residence S.S. Cordis completed by Fr D Connell in 1923. The parish now numbers some 3,000 souls. It has two splendid primary schools, with an attendance of about 740 children. These schools. the Brothers' residence and the hall capable of holding 1,000 people, owe their existence to the energy of Fr Corish. In 1924 there were 45,000 Confessions heard, and about 50,000 Communions given. Attached to the church are two Sodalities, a Catholic club, a debating club, an athletic club a tennis club, and a branch of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Born: 11 April 1658, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 13 November 1673 - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)
Final Vows: 02 February 1691
Died: 15 November 1721, Bordeaux, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)

1675 First Vows 17 November 1675
1687-91 Missioner in Siam

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
First Vows 17 November 1675 AQUIT

Born: 02 December 1875, County Cork
Entered: 13 August 1892, St Stanisalus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 July 1907, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1909, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 26 July 1941, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1897 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1899 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1899
by 1908 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1918 Military Chaplain : APO to BEF France

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
1894-1896 After First Vows he did a Juniorate at at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg and Milltown Park Dublin
1896-1899 He was sent for Philosophy to St Aloysius College, Jersey and Enghien, France
1899-1900 and 1904 He was sent for Regency to Australia and firstly to Xavier College, Kew - and he returned here to finish seven years of Regency
1900-1901 He continued his Regency at St Aloysius College Sydney
1902-1903 He then did two further years regency at St Patrick’s College, Melbourne
1904-1907 He returned to Ireland and Milltown Park for Theology
1907-1908 He made Tertianship at Drongen
1908-1917 He was sent to Clongowes Wood College to teach Latin, French and English. He also edited the “Clongownian” and was Junior Debating Master.
1917-1919 He was a Military Chaplain at Dunkirk
1919-1923 He was sent back to Australia and firstly to the Richmond Parish
1923-1925 & 1927-1933 He was sent to Norwood Parish
1925-1926 & 1934-1941 He was sent to St Aloysius Church Sevenhill

He was a sensitive and gentle person who spoke with a very refined accent. He was artistic, painted and gave lectures on religious Art.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : 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. In October 1918, Fr Gerard Corr SJ comments that: “[I have] a heavy cold...of the Spanish variety, which has been so prevalent everywhere and in many places so fatal”.

https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/damien-burke/the-last-parting-jesuits-and-armistice/

The last parting: Jesuits and Armistice
At the end of the First World War, Irish Jesuits serving as chaplains had to deal with two main issues: their demobilisation and influenza. Some chaplains asked immediately to be demobbed back to Ireland; others wanted to continue as chaplains. Of the thirty-two Jesuits chaplains in the war, five had died, while sixteen were still serving.
Fr Gerard Corr SJ wrote from France in late 1918 that he has: “a heavy cold...of the Spanish variety, which has been so prevalent everywhere and in many places so fatal”,

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 6th Year No 3 1931
Australia :
Fr Gerald Corr, exhibited a number of landscape; painted by himself at an exhibition of South Australian art. They were much admired, and were sold for considerable sums.

Irish Province News 17th Year No 1 1942

Obituary :
Father Gerald Corr
In the evening of Saturday, July 26, God called to Himself the Rev. Father Gerald Corr, SJ., who came to labour in Norwood with Father Corish in 1923, and since then has been alternately at Sevenhill and Norwood. For the last seven years he has been Father Minister at Sevenhill.
Early in the year the late Fr. Corr’s health, which was never robust, gave him more trouble than usual, and he spent some time in Calvary Hospital under observation. He was given an extended holiday as far as Brisbane. When he came back to South Australia, it was thought he might manage to keep out of hospital and even say Mass regularly, but he was compelled to re-enter hospital almost at once, where dropsical condition rapidly set, in and he gently answered the final call.
Fr. Corr was born in Cork, though he went with his family when quite young, to reside at St. John's Wood, London. That explained his keen interest in the visits of the English team to Australia and why some kind friends saw to it that he was a member of the S.A.C.A. He had been in Australia as a scholastic teaching in Sydney and Melbourne, Ordained Priest 34 years ago he taught in his old Alma, Mater. Clongowes Wood College, Kildare, till he became a Royal Air Force Chaplain stationed at Dunkirk as a base. Since the R.A.F. then was an arm of the Royal Navy, he met many distinguished naval officers and travelled in destroyers to and from England. At the conclusion of that war he came to Australia, where he was to spend the last 22 years of his life, eighteen of which were spent in S.A.
He was an enthusiastic painter in water colors, and his works received commendation from the critics and many homes in Adelaide have copies of his work. For the last seven years he had been stationed at Sevenhill as Father Minister, and, although he was a martyr to headaches, he never shirked his two Masses every Sunday. Fr. Corr was stationed at St. Ignatius', Norwood, for some years, and administered the districts of Ellangowan and Dunwich. He was the Priest in charge of Dulwich when it was made a distinct parish in 1934.
Fr. Corr was always the “little gentleman”, meticulous of the conveyances of life. He was always ready to help on works of that nature. Recently he read a paper at the Loreto Reading Circle. Hewas essentially a cultured type. This led him to take a keen interest in good literature and classical music. Yet, withal, like a true Priest of God, he used all this to influence unto good the friends he made through these interests.
He received the verdict of the doctors on the serious nature of his illness with complete resignation to God's will and quietly prepared himself to meet the Master he served so well. Everything humanly possible was done for him by the devoted Sisters in Calvary Hospital and by his doctors, and, when the call came at 9.15 p.m. on July 26 he gently answered it. Prayers were all he asked for and his many friends will surely heed this his last request. May his gentle soul rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1942

Obituary

Father Gerald F Corr SJ

The late Fr Corr had a special claim upon “The Clongownian” as he was for several years its Editor. He produced the splendid number of 1914, the Centenary Year, and ever since then took a great interest in the magazine, constantly sending items of news about past “Clongownians”.

Fr Corr, though born in Cork, spent most of his early life in London. After spending four years in Clongowes he entered the Society of Jesus in 1892, and was just 49 years in the Order when he died. As a Scholastic he taught in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. He was ordained in Milltown Park, Dublin, in 1907 and was on the teaching staff in Clongowes for several years. During the last war he was a Chaplain, chiefly with the Royal Air Force, and was stationed for some time at Dunkirk, often travelling in destroyers to and from England. At the conclusion of the war he returned to Australia where he was to spend the last 22 years of his life, chiefly in South Australia. During the last seven of these he was Minister in Sevenhills, Adelaide. He was an enthusiastic painter in water colours, and took a keen interest in good literature and classical music. A very large number of priests attended his obsequies, at which His Grace, the Most Rev Dr Beovich, Archbishop of Adelaide, presided. In his address to the clergy and congregation the Archbishop paid an eloquent tribute to the character and work of Fr. Corr :

“I visited him many times”, said His Grace, “during his last illness. He was completely resigned to God's will, and all he wished for was for his friends to pray with him and to promise him prayers for his great and final journey. The kindly, gentle priest has made that journey which we must all make one day, and he has gone before God laden with the good works of his zealous and devoted life. He will be remernbered for his great priestly qualities, his kindness and his gentleness. Of late years he suffered much from severe headaches and general ill-health, but he never shirked his work to the end, and he struggled to say his two Masses every Sunday in widely separated churches of the Sevenhill parish.

He was a man of letters and was one of the original priest-members of the executive of the Catholic Guild of Social Studies. He had charge of the parish study circle almost up to the day of his last fatal illness.

In the death of Fr. Corr”, concluded His Grace, “the Archdiocese of Adelaide and the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus have suffered a severe loss. May God have mercy on the gentle soul of Father Gerald Corr, and grant him refreshment, light and peace”. RIP

Born: 05 August 1879, Stratford-on-Slaney, County Wicklow
Entered: 07 September 1902, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1915, Milltown Park, Dublin
Professed: 02 February 1919
Died: 09 December 1971, Preston, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1917 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship.

Joseph Carr (father ex R.I.C.) entered Mungret Apostolic School, September 1897 and left September 1902, to enter the English Province for the Magalore Mission, India.

Born: 25 November 1928, Philadelphia PA, USA
Entered: 14 August 1948, Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 19 June 1960
Professed: 08 September 1977
Died: 29 October 2004, Philadelphia PA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

by 1980 came to Belvedere (HIB) working

Born: 18 May 1905, County Galway
Entered: 31 August 1921, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1935, Milltown Park, Dublin
Professed: 03 December 1977
Died: 18 December 1987, McQuoin Park Infirmary, Hornsby, NSW, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Francis Xavier, Lavender Bay, North Sydney community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1924 at Lyon France (LUGD) studying
by 1930 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
His early education was at Cloáiste Iognáid, Galway for ten years.

After First Vows his Jesuit studies were in Ireland and France (Lyon)
1928-1932 He was sent to Australia for Regency at Burke Hall Melbourne
1932-1935 He returned to Ireland and Milltown Park Dublin for Theology and was Ordained there in 1935
1935-1936 He made tertianship at St Beuno’s, Wales
1936-1940 He then returned to Australia and initially taught at St Ignatius College Riverview and Kostka Hall Melbourne
1940-1952 He was appointed Rector of Xavier College Kew aged 33
1952-1954 He was made Rector at Sevenhill
1954-1960 He was appointed Rector of St Ignatius College Norwood
1960-1962 He was appointed Parish Priest at Lavender Bay Sydney
1962-1971 He was appointed Parish priest at St Mary’s North Sydney
1971 He returned to Lavender Bay and remained there until his death in 1987

He had reputed gifts in administration and finance and lay people appreciated his short sermons during Mass. His leadership position in the Province lasted nearly 50 years.

He was recognised as a skilful financial manager and handled the debt problem at Xavier College well. He sold land and removed the debt and the College never looked back. He began a massive building programme called the “Rigg Wing”, completed the Chapel sanctuary with a striking marble altar and he also reorgainsed the grounds. Similarly, he removed all debts in the Norwood Parish and School. At St Mary’s North Sydney he remodelled the sanctuary of the Church and built the Marist Brothers School.

Jesuits remember him as a community man, rarely away from the house. He loved company and a good story, had a sharp wit and enjoyed gossip.

Born: 1596, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 14 November 1619, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1625, Pont-à-Mousson, France
Died: 10 June 1627, Dublin

1622-1625 Theology at Pont-á-Mousson - came from Rome
1625 4th year Theology in CAMP
1626 In Ireland (Coyleaus) - sent from Pont-á-Mousson having finished Theology

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1626 A priest in Ireland

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had begun his Priestly studies at Douai before Ent 14 November 1619 Rome
1621-1625 After First Vows and due to health issues he was sent to Pont-à-Mousson for Theology
1625 It was thought that his health issues should prevent him from Ordination, but that was changed and he became a priest in 1625. He was then sent to Ireland and was probably sent to Dublin, where he died 10 June 1627

Born: 15 July 1848, Dalysgrove, County Galway
Entered: 12 November 1870, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1886
Final Vows: 03 February 1890, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 19 October 1907, St Mary’s, Rhyl, Wales

Part of St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin at time of his death.

Youngest brother of Hubert - RIP 1918; Oliver - RIP 1916; James - RIP 1930 Oliver was the first of the Daly brothers to Enter.

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1873 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) studying
by 1874 at Roehampton, London (ANG) studying
by 1875 at Laval, France (FRA) studying
by 1877 at Poitiers, France (FRA) Regency
by 1884 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1886 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1902 at Holy Name, Manchester (ANG) Missions

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Third brother of Hubert - RIP 1918; Oliver - RIP 1916; James - RIP 1930 Oliver was the first of the Daly brothers to Enter. They were a very old Catholic family who resided in the Elphin Diocese. Oliver joined earlier than the others in Rome and was allotted to the Irish Province.

After First Vows he studied Philosophy in France and Theology in jersey.
He taught for many years at Belvedere, Clongowes, and Mungret.
He also served on the Mission Staff in Ireland for a short time, and then he went to Manchester as a Missioner.
He received permission to go to Rhyl for a rest, had a stroke there and never recovered consciousness.
Some Fathers from St Beuno’s assisted at the requiem Mass in St Mary’s Rhyl. He was then buried at Pantasaph, North Wales.

Appreciation by Vincent Naish preached at the Church of the Holy Name Manchester :
“...it is my duty, my dear brethren, to ask your prayers on behalf of the soul of my dear old friend and fellow-worker, Francis Daly. It so happens that it is given to me, by chance, to say a few words in support of my plea. I have had the privilege and pleasure of knowing Father Daly well. Forty three years ago we were boys together at school, and during those years of unbroken friendship I never knew a soul more full of zeal for God’s glory, more possessed with simple faith, and more devoted, in his own sweet way, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Blessed Mother.
Of the family - a grand old Irish Catholic family - five were boys and three girls; he was the youngest of the boys, who became members of the Society of Jesus, of whom all the three elder survive him. One sister joined a religious Order. That family was known throughout the length and breadth of Ireland for its spotless life and perfect devotion, which seemed to unite all the members in the beauty and piety of the family life. There was a family private chapel in the house, and father, mother, boys and girls all joined together each day at God’s altar.”
He continues saying that the four brothers worked in different parts of the world - in Ireland, England, Scotland and Australia. They in the Holy Name Parish who knew of the devotion and zeal of Father Daly were fortunate, because to very few men was it granted in their time to know a more hard-working Priest, devoted to the spiritual welfare of Catholics in this country of Ireland. Hundreds of hopeless fallen cases of human nature he was ever eager to attend to, and by the very simplicity of his faith, and his transparent earnest manner, he often succeeded where others were afraid or shrank from.
He then asked that as many as possible would attend the requiem Mass the following day, and to offer their Communion for the good, holy, zealous Priest who had gone to his reward. At the end of Mass the organist played the “Dead March” from Saul, and the people stood.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Francis Daly 1848-1907
Fr Francis Daly, who died at Rhyl North Wales on October 19th 1907, was the author of “The Child of Mary before Jesus Abandoned in the Tabernacle”. In 1953, this book had entered on its 38th edition, enjoys to this day a steady sale of 582,000 copies. He was on the staff of Mungret College when he compiled this prayer book. At his request, the profits accruing were expended on the furnishing and establishment of the sacristy of the Boy’s Chapel.

Francis was the youngest of five sons, four of whom became Jesuits, the others being Oliver, James and Hubert. Born in Ahascragh County Galway in 1848, he entered the Society at Milltown Park in 1870.

He taught for many years in Belvedere, Clongowes and Mungret. After some years on the Mission Staff he went to Manchester as a missionary.

While resting at Rhyl in 1907 he had an apoplectic stroke, cause by over exertion in his labours, from which he never recovered. He is buried at Pantasaph, North Wales.

◆ The Clongownian, 1908

Obituary

Father Francis Daly SJ

The Rev Francis H Daly SJ, who was the fourth son of the late Mr Peter Paul Daly, of Dalysgrove, Co. Galway, Ireland, was born on July 15th, 1848. He came of a deeply religious and pious family. There were five boys and three girls. Of the former, four became Jesuits, and of the latter one entered a religious Order. On his mother's side the deceased priest was a cousin of the late Father Peter Gallwey SJ, and also of Fathers Grehan and Sherlock, other well known Jesuits. His brothers, all in the Society of Jesus - Fathers Oliver, James, and Hubert survive him: the first-named is at present in Glasgow, whilst Father James has for over thirty years been Prefect of Studies of Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, Father Hubert Daly SJ, is in Australia.

The deceased received his early education by private tuition, and subsequently at St Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, King's County. Later on he was sent to Mount St Mary's College, near Chesterfield, and afterwards to Namur, in Belgium. His theological and philosophical studies were made on the Continent, and about twenty-five years ago he was ordained priest in the Channel Islands. During his priestly career the late Father Daly SJ, worked with unremitting zeal and energy in many districts, his missionary work in various parts of England, north and south, being well-known and appreciated. With the Irish people in this country he was especially at home, and to them quite naturally was always a welcome visitor. He was most kind and charitable, and many acts, ungrudgingly done, have been related since his death in several quarters. Many a prayer has during the past week ascended to Heaven for the repose of the soul of the dear, good, kind priest.

A Notable Work
The late Father Daly SJ, was the author of the little book known as “The Child of Mary Before Jesus Abandoned in the Tabernacle”. This useful work was intended for the members of the Confraternity of the Children of Mary, and its circulation has run into many thousands, Only this year the tenth edition was published. Its spiritual reading has done incalculable good amongst those for whom it was intended.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1908

Obituary

Father Francis Daly SJ

Two special friends of Mungret have been, during the past year, called to their reward. These were Rev Francis Daly SJ, who died at Rhyl, N Wales, 17th October, 1907; and Rev Jas Murphy SJ, who died at Tuliabeg, Ireland, March, 1908.

Father Francis Daly had been Professor in Mungret College, 1891-1897. It was during those years that he compiled “The Child of Mary” and “The Ignatian Album”, both of which we have reviewed in the “Mungret Annual” on the appearance of new editions. “The Child of Mary” is still used almost universally by the pupils. On Father Daly's initiative the profits on the sale of some of the editions of this little book were allocated to the purpose of furnishing and decorating the sacristy of the college chapel, and this work, carried out under Father Daly's own direction, remains as a monument of his taste and skill. Aster leaving Mungret in '97 he worked for several years on the missionary staff in Ireland and afterwards in England. He never lost interest in Mungret, and remained to the last a steadfast and zealous friend of the college. When he visited Mungret a short year ago he seemed to be as vigorous and cheery as ever, and we were little prepared for the news of his fatal illness which reached us towards the end of September. The apopleclic stroke by which he was prostrated seems to have been hastened, if not caused, by excessive exertion in his missionary labours. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Francis Daly (1848-1870)

A brother of Father James Daly (infra) came to the Crescent teaching staff for one year only, 1887-88. On finishing his tertianship in Belgium, he was engaged in teaching in the Irish Jesuit College, when he joined the mission staff. In 1902 he was loaned to the English Province where he engaged in mission work until his death.

Born: 16 October 1894, Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 01 February 1915, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1930, St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 07 April 1969, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy - Australiae province (ASL)

Part of the Kostka Hall, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1919 in Australia - Regency
by 1923 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1929 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
His early education was at CBC St Kilda and later at St Aloysius College Milsons Point.

1917-1918 After First Vows he did a Juniorate At Loyola Greenwich
1918-1921 He was sent for Regency at St Ignatius College Riverview where he was Third Prefect and in charge of Music.
1921-1924 He was sent first to Milltown Park Dublin, and then St Aloysius College Jersey for Philosophy
1924-1928 He returned to Milltown Park for theology. he was Ordained by “war privilege” after two years
1928-1929 he made tertianship at St Beuno’s Wales
1929 & 1932 He was sent teaching at St Aloysius College Sydney
1930-1932 He was at St Ignatius College Riverview teaching
1935-1936 He was sent as Minister to the Toowong Parish Brisbane, but became unwell and was sent to Sevenhill (1935-1936)
1939-1969 He was sent to Kostka Hall at Xavier College Kew where he taught Latin and French, did some Prefecting and helped with accounts. His teaching style was very traditional, and involved methodical repetition.

In later years, after a road accident, a heart attack and a stroke, he became less effective. Yet he was closely associated with the building of a new Chapel, which opened in 1967, and for which he was most particular about various fittings.

His final illness was brief and he died at St Vincent’s Hospital.

Born: 1594, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 27 February 1670, Limerick
Ordained: Limerick - pre Entry
Died: 28 February 1670, Limerick City, County Limerick (“in articulo mortis”)

Alias Creevy

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Had the General’s permission to enter “in articulo mortis” (cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Ordained before Ent 1628 Back Lane Dublin
In the Winter 1626-1627 he asked to be received into the Society. The General wrote a letter to the Provincial of Flanders on 24 April 1627 instructing him to receive Fr Creagh into the Novitiate at Mechelen, and he Entered there the following year (1628). During his Noviceship he was advised that the Society was not suitable for him, and so he LEFT on good terms with the Society.
He then returned to Limerick and remained a staunch friend of the Society over the succeeding years.
In 1663 he asked the Superior of the Mission if he could be received into the Society again “in articulo mortis” and the General agreed to his request. Seven years later, the Mission Superior Richard Bourke (de Burgo), while on a visit to Limerick, received him into the Society on 27 February 1670, and he died there the following day 28 February 1670.
He may well be the young priest mentioned as working with Thomas Bourke in Limerick of 1621, and described as an “aspirant” to the Society.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CREEVY, ROBERT. He is thus mentioned in F. Richard Burke s letter, dated Galway, the 4th of April, 1670, - “Mr. Robert Creevy, Priest, aged 57, with your permission was admitted at Limerick to the simple vows of the Society, on the 27th of February, and died on the day following

Born: 26 March 1653, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 26 November 1673, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1685, Rome, Italy
Died: 24 March 1690, Drogheda Residence, Drogheda, Co Louth

1675 In the Novitiate at St Andrea
1678 In Roman College studying Philosophy for 2 or 3 years
1681 At Sezze College
1685 In 3rd Year Theology at Roman College

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Was educated at the Jesuit School in Tournai before Ent 26 November 1673 in Rome
After First Vows and a course of Philosophy at the Roman College he spent three years Regency at the Colleges of Sezze and Fermo.
1682-1686 Sent to the Roman College for Theology and was Ordained there in 1685
1686-1688 After a short Tertianship he was sent to Irish College Poitiers as Prefect
1688 Returned to Ireland and sent to Drogheda, but died there 24 March 1690

Born: 11 November 1873, Listowel, County Kerry
Entered: 07 September 1892, Macon GA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Ordained: 26 July 1908, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1913
Died: 09 December 1939, Mercy Hospital, New Orleans, LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

part of the Jesuit High School, New Orleans LA, USA community at the time of death

Brother of Michael J Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1962 and Patrick Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1951
First Cousin of Daniel M Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1957; Timothy A Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1939; Michael F Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1936

by 1906 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1905-1907

Born: 21 February 1847, Loughrea, County Galway
Entered: 04 November 1864, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1879
Final vows: 25 March 1885
Died: 27 January 1930, Twyford Abbey, London, England

Part of the Clongowes Wood, College SJ, Naas, County Kildare community at the time of his death.
Buried at St Mary's Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kendal Green, London, 30 January 1930, grave number 24NE.

Fr James Daly SJ punished Stephen Dedalus unjustly in James Joyce's, 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'.

Third brother of Hubert - RIP 1918; Oliver - RIP 1916; Francis H - RIP 1907

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

by 1867 at Roehampton, London (ANG) studying
by 1868 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1875 at St Bueno’s, Wales (ANG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Third brother of Hubert - RIP 1918; Oliver - RIP 1916; Francis H - RIP 1907 . Oliver was the first of the Daly brothers to Enter. They were a very old Catholic family who resided in the Elphin Diocese. Oliver joined earlier than the others in Rome and was allotted to the Irish Province.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 5th Year No 3 1930
Obituary :
Fr James Daly

Fr, James Daly died at Twyford Abbey on Monday, Jan. 27th 1930.

He was born in Co. Galway on th e21st Feb. 1847, educated at Tullabeg and in Belgium, and entered the Society at Milltown Park on the 4th, Nov. 1864. Fr. Joseph Lentaigne was his Master of Novices. A year's rhetoric at Roehampton was followed by two years' philosophy at Stonyhurst, after which, in 1869, he was sent to Clongowes. Here, according to the good old fashion of those days, he brought his class from Rudiments to Poetry inclusive. Next came the third year's philosophy at Stonyhurst, and four years theology at St. Beuno's. Ordination in 1878. The following year found him at Belvedere teaching , and there ho remained for four years, adding in the fourth year, to his other activities, the duties of Spiritual Father. In 1883, he began his tertianship at Milltown, and, in addition, helped the Master of Novices as Socius. Tertianship over,he was sent to the Crescent to teach . The following year he became Prefect of Studies, and at the next examinations the Crescent took a spring towards the top of the list of Irish schools. The real Daly was discovered!
When the Status appeared it was seen that Fr. T. Brown, Provincial, had named him Prefect of Studies in the recently amalgamated Colleges of Clongowes and Tullabeg. Despite the Limerick success, this occasioned some astonishment and a little criticism, but his marvelous success abundantly proved the wisdom of the Provincial's action. Fr. Daly shot up Clongowes to a high, sometimes the highest place in the Intermediate results list, and kept it there during the twenty-nine years he was Prefect of Studies.
About 1917, his health began to fail, and he was changed, to see what effect the bracing air of Galway would have. It did not produce the much desired result, and Fr, Daly remained an invalid to his holy death in 1930.
Fr. James Daly has certainly left his mark on the Irish Province. What Fr. Peter Finlay did for it in the lecture hall, Fr.Robert Kane in the pulpit, that Fr. Daly did in the classroom where boys were being prepared for the Intermediate Examinations. (All three died between the 21 st Oct, and the 27th of the following January). To say that he was utterly devoted to his work is really, in his case, a “damning with faint praise”. He was absorbed in that work. He seemed to think of nothing else. He actually did what Hamlet said he was going to do : “Yea, from the tablet of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there, And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmix'd with baser matter”.
And then, the terrific energy he put into that work. Had a scientist cared to make a study of perpetual motion he had only to visit Clongowes during class hours on any of these days when Fr. Daly was speeding on the studies. Scarcely had the boys assembled in their class rooms at 9.30 in the morning than Fr.Daly was at the door of one of them, and before that door was half opened he had commenced a speech. His speeches were distinctly peculiar, quite characteristic of the man. They were even calculated now and then to produce a smile, but who dared, under the circumstances, to indulge in such a luxury? When the speech was over, if there was a slacker present he was invited to a private interview. There he learned how wicked a thing was idleness, how it endangered the bright future that lay before him if he worked, what a bad return it was to his good father who was paying a high pension for his education, etc, etc. All this punctuated, driven home, by loud-resounding strokes of the pandy-bat,not administered one after another quickly, but at regular intervals.
Then off at full speed to another class, and to another, and another until the bell rang at 3.15 for the end of school. At once, again a peculiarity of the man, he disappeared. Like the witches' “The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them. Whither are they vanished”.
However, he was hovering some place about, for coming up to 8.45 he materialised again, took charge of late night studies, and then of “voluntaries”, that, under his too vigorous regime, did not end until 11pm.
Such was the life Fr. Daly led in Clongowes during the 29 years he was Prefect of Studies. He was not a man of high intellectual attainments, nor was he a cultured scholar. His wonderful success must be attributed to other qualities : to his deadly concentration on the work in hand, to his intense energy in carrying that work to a successful issue, and to the large measure of shrewd common sense with which nature endowed him. He certainly had the gift of inspiring masters and boys with an enthusiasm that nothing would satisfy except the very highest places at the end of the year.
But it is a strange fact that he himself was not a good master, yet he knew a good master when he met him, and he certainly got the most out of him. He met good masters, and masters not so good, but he never desponded. He did what was possible with the material at his disposal, and it is not on record that he ever failed to secure success.
If Fr. Daly had to stand an examination in the theory and practice of education, it is probable that our educational experts would feel compelled to give him very low marks indeed. His success did not come from reducing to practice the theories of others however wise these theories might be. When he got a free hand, within the law, he was great. Had he been hedged in by rules and regulations, the chances are that he would have been less than ordinary.
Fr. Daly spent the declining days of his life under the kind care of the Alexian Brothers at Twyford Abbey, near London, where he closed a holy and hard-working life by a very happy death.
The Chaplain who attended him wrote: “It has been a valued privilege to me to help Fr. Daly during his last days. He was so genuinely pious. When I gave him Exterme Unction he was so reconciled, and tried to answer the responses himself, Later when I gave him the Viaticum, he was so devout, and made his thanksgiving and Act of Faith, and renewed his vows very sincerely. He soon became semiconscious, but always tried to make the sign of the Cross when I prayed with him. Yesterday I gave the last blessing and Absolution, and said the prayers for the dying”.
During these last days, Fr. Daly was constantly visited by our Fathers from Farm St, For their kindness they richly deserve,and are heartily given the best thanks of the Irish Province.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father James Daly SJ 1847-1930
What Fr Peter Finlay was as a theologian, and Fr Robert Kane as preacher, Fr James Daly was as a Prefect of Studies, outstanding in such an eminent degree as to become identified with their respective achievements.

For twenty-nine years Fr Daly held the office of Prefect of Studies in Clongowes, during which period he kept the College in the first rank of scholastic success in Ireland.

Born in Galway on February 1st 1847, he made his mark first as a Prefect of Studies in the Crescent Limerick. Then on the amalgamation of Tullabeg and Clongowes he took charge of the studies at Clongowes, and devoted the rest of his life to that duty. He was not a great scholar, of any outstanding intellectual ability, but he had the gift of detailed organisation, which enabled him to inspire both masters and pupils to the highest attainments. His motto was “Keep the boys writing”.

His last days were truly edifying, being spent at Twyford Abbey, near Lonfon, under the care of the Alexian Brothers. He died on January 27th 1930.

◆ The Clongownian, 1930

Obituary

Father James Daly SJ

Some years prior to 1893 I knew Fr Daly well by reputation. I had brothers in Clongowes since '86 and during their vacations they entertained and frightened the younger members of the family by the recital of blood-curdling yarns about Fr Daly - what he said and most of all - what he did. Since September, 1893, I have been personally acquainted with him; for the first five years of this period as a boy in his classes; later on as a Master working under him, and finally as his assistant in the closing stages of his work in Clongowes, where he took me into his confidence and went to great pains to explain to me his principles, methods of procedure and ideals in the matter of education.

When I arrived for the first time in Clongowes the Retreat was in progress and, being small and young, I was put with those judged incapable of making it. Each day we had class, but not of a serious character, and contrary to my expectations, Fr Daly put in no appearance. On the day the Retreat ended I remember asking an elder brother of mine “When shall we see Fr Daly?” and receiving the answer “Oh, Golly, you'll see him time enough!” I saw him next day. It was in the second class in the wooden building - II Preparatory in those days. Class had not been long in progress when a heavy step was heard on the corridor, in a moment the door was fung open and Father Daly burst into the room. His appearance filled me with apprehension. As he stood before the class he seemed the very embodiment of strength, energy and determination. Though not then as stout as he afterwards became, he looked decidedly big and, as he paced up and down, puffing, expanding his chest and issuing instructions, he decidedly left one under the impression that it would be more prudent to carry them out. His hair, which he wore very tightly cropped, was then turning grey; a beard showed over his Roman collar and gave him a weird appearance; but it was the penetrating and uneasy glance of his small grey eyes which most of all inspired fear in those meeting him for the first time I was to learn later that beneath that awe-inspiring exterior there beat a most kindly and sympathetic heart.

At the time of which I speak, Father Daly had been Prefect of Studies for six years. The resentment and surprise caused by the changes he introduced, by his utter disregard for institutions and customs which generations of Clongownians held in reverence, and, most of all, by his insistence upon hard work and his summary method of administering justice to offenders, had died down, and he and his ways were taken for granted. In later years he often referred to the struggle he sustained at the beginning in introducing the changes which he considered essential and establishing in the College the spirit and atmosphere in which he believed. That it was a struggle those acquainted with the conservatism of Clongowes will readily believe. But the new Prefect of Studies brought with him to the task a combination of qualities which are rarely found united in one man. Physically, he was a man of great strength, upon whom long and continuous periods of labour produced little effect; in addition, his energy, determination of will and capacity for taking pains, were altogether unusual. Nothing was left to chance; he thought out carefully beforehand ways and means and no detail was too small to escape the consideration and attention of his perspicacious mind. Moreover, he was tactful and prudent in dealing with others, dexterous in keeping them in good humour, conciliatory, considerate of their health and comfort and, though intolerant at times of views differing from his own, careful not to offend by openly avowing his true convictions. His knowledge of human nature acted as a curb upon his impetuosity and caused him to temper energy and zeal with prudence and to stop short when further pressure on his part would have resulted in discontent or even revolt. Nevertheless, I believe that notwithstanding these gifts, Father Daly would have failed but for the extraordinary sense of humour which was his, and for the element of comicality which was present in most of what he said and did, and which almost always succeeded in converting anger and resentment into fun and amusement. If I were asked to state from my knowledge of Fr Daly what I believe to have been the mainspring of his activity, I should answer: first, absolute belief in, and enthusiasm for, the educational ideals which were his; secondly, a desire to do something big for God while the opportunity offered, and, lastly, love, enthusiastic love for Clongowes and Clongowes boys.

His methods were vigorous and manly; he had a horror of slacking or half-measures of any kind; he was not harsh or severe, much less cruel, in the ordinary acceptation of those terms. True, Fr Daly was ubiquitous; he was there to catch you no matter with what care your plans were laid; his voice was raised every day in expostulation and warning and encouragement; his old clumsy pandy bat was seen and heard and felt at frequent intervals - and did all this terrorise us and make us unhappy? Not in the least. It made life interesting, lending to it an elment of adventure; and, as time advances, it furnished us with memories which we recall, not with resentment, but with pleasure and affection. No word he spoke in rebuke, not even his pandy bat, caused a pang which endured for more than five minutes. Had they even done so, it would assuredly have been in the case of H F, for if ever Fr. Daly had a bête noir it was he. Both his heart and his hands remained respectively unaffected by the frequent assaults made upon them by his eloquence and his pandy-bat. In pathetic language, Fr Daly appealed to him “to think of his good parents, toiling and working while he, etc, etc”. But in vain. Again, adopting different tactics, he warned him of the “awful future” which lay before him: “Misery-starvation-the poor-house; and last, most dreadful of all, death on the scaffold!” But H went his smiling way until in the end Fr Daly seemed to abandon him to his fate! And now, looking back over the years at these incidents, what are his feelings in their regard? Could anyone imagine for a moment that they are for him anything but happy and amusing memories? And that they are such he very clearly told us in that delightful speech he delivered on the occasion of the dinner of Munster Old Clongownians held in Cork last February, when, with so much humour, affection and gratitude, he recalled the figure of the old man with whose warnings and threats and pandy-bat he was quite familiar as a boy.

On returning to Clongowes in September, 1905, after an absence of seven years, I found Fr Daly and his ways in all essential features the same, though modified in certain minor particulars. Increasing age had produced its mellowing effect upon his character; he was now more paternal, more approachable and more considerate. The atmosphere of mystery in which he lived and the attitude of aloofness he adopted in dealing with boys were less pronounced, though by no means gone. He now greeted a favoured few on their return after the holidays; he invited boys occasionally to let him know if they wished to speak to or consult him, but on the whole the invitation was rarely accepted and for good reason - if one were not certain that one's record was perfect it was dangerous to go too near him. It was at this period that I came to know Fr Daly intimately, not merely from without, as when a boy, but from within. Now for the first time I realised how completely he had devoted himself, his energy and whatever gifts God had given him, to the work in which he was engaged in Clongowes. I realised, too, what a price he was paying in labour, and worry for the success he was winning for the College, year after year. Ways and means of helping the studies and urging boys on to greater effort were constantly the subject of his thoughts, and their reflection bore fruit in the shape of all those devices with which generations of Clongownians are quite familiar, including the famous “Secret of Success”, the appearance of which each year before the Intermediate caused a sensation. He laid great store upon keeping in touch with the work of the House by constantly visiting the classes, and was a firm believer in the power of his eloquence to keep both masters and pupils at concert pitch and urge them on to greater efforts. Those famous speeches of his! So earnest, so rambling and so comical! And yet the substance of them and sometimes, partially at least, the form were carefully prepared beforehand. It was exceedingly hard at times to keep serious during the course of these speeches. I have seen boys at times almost in convulsions in their endeavours to suppress an explosion of laughter; for, in Fr Daly's eyes, to smile or “to grin” on such a solemn occasion was a capital offence. How could one listen with a straight face to a discourse such as this which I once heard Fr. Daly deliver to a class just before the Intermediate : “Listen to me now for a few moments. There is a question I want to ask - a solemn question - (to a boy not attending) - look at me, sir, while I'm speaking a solemn question, and it is this: What will happen to a boy who laughs on the eve of a great crisis? Well?” (looking round the room as though waiting for an answer). “Well, I shall tell you take it down now everybody. First, he will be flogged, not once but several times; Secondly, he will be deprived of the great privilege of sitting for the Examination; and, thirdly, he will get a report - Ah, boys, this is where the sorrow comes in - (in most pathetic and tearful tones) a Report which will make his good parents weep. (Shouting) Think of this selfishness, this ingratitude! Land where will the course of the bounder and the mountebank end? Ah, dear boys (pathetically), his career can be summarised in one expressive Italian word : (spelling) F I A S C O, fiasco!!!”

At the opening of the school year 1916-17 - his thirtieth in the office of Prefect of Studies - Fr Daly's health showed definite signs of failure, and it was clear that his days of active service were drawing to a close. Nevertheless, he tried to carry on as of old in the classroom and study hall, struggling under the weight both of years, and of ill-health. He realised perfectly himself that the great work of his life was over. He grieved most of all at the idea of his coming separation from the boys for whom he had been working so long, and whom, though they little suspected it, ħe sincerely loved. I remember one night at this period his turning to me as I helped him to his room after the late study - which he had himself inaugurated thirty years before - and remarking : “The presence of those good boys keeps me on my feet, when they disappear I collapse”.

After Christmas his health broke down completely and by the doctor's orders he went to England for a change and rest. In May he returned to Clongowes, but was unable to resume work. I was absent in July of that year, giving retreats, and on the morning of the 31st received a letter from him informing me that he was no longer Prefect of Studies and was about to leave Clongowes for good. The letter was a pathetic one, and ended : “J A D Last Day, 1887-1917”. When I returned to Clongowes he was packing his few belongings and preparing for his departure. It was clear he felt leaving intensely, but like a true son of St Ignatius, disguised his feelings and even affected gaiety. On the eve of his departure I asked him at what time I should see him in the morning. “Of course”, he replied, “any time at all you like”. I knew perfectly what he meant - there was to be no good bye, he would slip off unobserved. Next morning he rose early and said Mass; then descending to the corridor he went out by the III Line door, and passing along by the bicycle house, made the circuit of the garden and finally reached the bridge over the Gollymocky on the Sallins road, where a car, by previous arrangement of his own, was in waiting to bring him to the station. Such was his exit from the scene in which for thirty years he played such a prominent and successful part. Fr Daly never saw Clongowes again. Within a few months of his leaving ill-health forced him into complete retirement, where, for the remaining twelve years of his life, he busied himself in preparing to meet in Judgment the Master, Whom, throughout life, he served with so much loyalty and devotion. May he rest ini peace.

L J Kieran SJ

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father James Daly (1847-1930)

Born at Daly's Grove, Co Galway and educated at Tullabeg and in Belgium, entered the Society in 1864. Apart from his fluency in the French language, he seemed, in his formative years in the Society, to be a man of ordinary ability. Ordained in 1878, he was sent to teach at Belvedere. In 1884, he came as master to the Crescent. The following year he was appointed prefect of studies. He had at last discovered his real metier. The remarkable success of the Crescent boys in the Intermediate examinations at once showed that a prefect of studies can achieve genius in his calling. For the next two years, the profession of idling was at an end amongst the boys. The Crescent was making history in the number of its academic successes. Unfortunately, in 1887, Father Daly was taken away to Clongowes where for the next thirty years he kept his school in the forefront of Irish educational institutions. By 1917, however, Father Daly's health was visibly failing and he was transferred to St Ignatius' College, Galway, to teach French. But in the course of the year, he suffered a complete nervous breakdown from which he never fully recovered. His last years were spent in the more benign climate of the south of England. Just a year or two before his death he wrote, at the request of the then Rector of the Crescent, some of his reminiscences of his golden days in Limerick.

Born: 21 January 1871, Derrindaff, Duagh, County Kerry
Entered: 02 December 1890, Macon GA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Ordained: 02 August 1903, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1905
Died: 31 October 1936, New Orleans LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

First Cousin of Michael J Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1962 and Patrick Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1951
Brother of Daniel M Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1957; Timothy A Cronin (NOR) - RIP 1939;

by 1903 came to Milltown (HIB) studying

Born: 04 September 1864, Carlow Town, County Carlow
Entered: 07 September 1899, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1909
Died: 27 February 1909, Mater Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Crescent College, Limerick community at the time of death

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Before Entry he had been working at a butcher’s in Thomas St, Dublin, and had been a member of John Bannon’s Sodality in Gardiner St.

He made his Novitiate at Tullabeg, and was then sent as Buyer and Cook to Crescent.
1909 He had a bad heart attack due to overwork and strain. He was sent to the Mater Hospital in Dublin, and died there to the surprise and great regret of his community 27/02/1909.
A good, holy, patient, good-humoured and hardworking Brother.

Born: 02 October 1878, Mountjoy Square, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1897, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 27 July 1913, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1916, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 09 December 1935, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1902 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) 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
He came from a well known County Wicklow family. Mass was said in their private Oratory at home for the family and those who lived nearby by priests from Milltown Park.

1899-1901 After First Vows he continued at St Stanislaus Tullabeg for a Juniorate
1901-1903 He was sent to Chieri Italy for Philosophy.
1904-1905 He was sent to Australia for Regency, and firstly to St Aloysius College Milsons Point
1905-1910 He was then sent to continue his Regency at St Ignatius College Riverview, where he was Third Prefect and orgainised junior Debating
1910-1914 He returned to Ireland for Theology at Milltown Park and then made tertianship at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg (1913-1914)
1915-1920 He was sent teaching at Coláiste Iognáid Galway
1920-1921 He was sent teaching at Mungret College Limerick
1922-1931 He was sent back to Australia and firstly to St Ignatius Church Richmond, caring especially for the Church of St James
1931-1935 He was sent to the Norwood Parish and he was not in good health at this time.

He was a gentle and amiable man.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 11th Year No 2 1936

Obituary :
Father Charles Cuffe
Father Charles Cuffe was born 2nd October, 1878, at Mountjoy Square, Dublin. In 1889 he went to Mungret lay school, remained there a short time. and continued his education at Ushaw College, Durham. In 1895 he returned to Mungret. He began his noviceship at Tullabeg, 7th September, 1897.
He made two years juniorate at Tullabeg, three years philosophy at Chieri, and in 1904 we fid him in Australia, Praef. Mor. at St Aloysius College, Sydney. Next year he was transferred to Riverview, where he remained, Praef. Mor., etc., until 1910, when he began his theology at Milltown Park. Tertianship at Tullabeg followed. After Tertianship he went to Galway, where he taught, and worked Sodalities up to 1920, when he became Assistant Moderator of the Apostolic School at Mungret. The following year saw him once more in Australia amongst the “recently arrived”.
For about the next ten years he was stationed at St. James' Presbytery, Somerset Street, as Minister, and Director of a vast number of Parish works. At the end of that period his health began to fail, and, according to the Australian Catalogue of 1932, he was stationed at Norwood (Adelaide) with the ominous “Cur Val”, appended to his name. However, he did not give in. He remained at Norwood, getting through no small amount of work to the end. He died on Monday, 9th December, 1935. R.I.P.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1936

Obituary

Father Charles Cuffe SJ

To those who knew Fr, Cuffe in youth his death at the relatively early age of 57 may appear surprising, as nobody could have seemed more destined than he to reach a ripe and even venerable old age. But already in the year 1931 he had a heart seizure of a serious kind, from which he rallied, indeed, but never quite recovered. Hence for his friends the end was not unexpected.

It was not, however, on that account the less mournful for it was impossible to know him and not to grow attached to him. He had the qualities that conciliate affection the natural qualities of kindliness, helpfulness, generosity and seren ity of soul, the supernatural quality of solid virtue and piety.

Born in Dublin, Oct 2, 1878, he was educated at Mungret College, Limerick, 1888-89 and 1895-97. He entered the Novitiate, Tuliabeg in Sept. 1897 and took his first vows in 1899. In 1901 he went to Chieri in Italy to study Philosophy. In 1904 he made his first acquaintance with Australia where he taught and acted as Prefect (principally at Riverview) till 1909. In 1910 he commenced the study of Theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained priest in 1913. In 1915-16 he returned to Tullabeg for his Tertianship. From 1916 to 1920 he was on the staff of St Ignatius College, Galway. In 1921 he became Assistant Moderator in the Apostolic School, Mungret. The following year he took a last farewell of Ireland to find in Australia the final theatre of his activity and the place of his resurrection. He worked in St James' parish, Melbourne till the parish was relinquished to the diocesan clergy in 1931. He then went to Norwood. Shortly after arriving, he suffered that breakdown in health which the doctors thought must mean death within six months, but in point of fact took four years to complete its work.

Such is the dry-as-dust chronicle of events. It gives us little clue to the animating spirit of the life. Character and personality escape the chronicler of dates and occupations, yet it is just character and personality we would like to recapture and retain. The outstanding feature of his life as I remember it was a quiet cheerfulness which was proof against any trials; a steady dedication to the tasks of the day without any of that peevish fretfulness which dissipates energy and wears out the forces of soul and body; an extraordinary readiness to lend a helping hand to those about him. These characteristics seemed natural - an inheritance as it were or the result of early training. He was one of those rare beings who seem to have escaped the effects of the Primal Fall. No one could imagine him making an enemy or even losing a friend. He walked the quiet ways of life, doing good unobtrusively and winning affection unostentatiously. He was ideally suited to the parish work in which his last years of activity were spent.

The Melbourne Advocate in its obituary notice, Dec. 12, 1935, writes:

Fr, Cuffe needs no monument in stone to recall his fruitful labour for souls. He leaves an abiding memory in the hearts of all with whom he came in contact. For he was a most kindly and lovable priest, generous and deeply esteemed”.

I think it was Dr Johnson who said : “No man is on his oath in a lapidary inscription”. I suppose it is the same in obituary notices. But no one who ever knew Fr Cuffe will need an oath to accept this tribute. Every word of it rings sincere and true. It is the least, and not the most, that could be said of him. He was a good priest, a good religious, a good friend; and he will be remembered by all who had the privilege of his acquaintance till they too pass from the transitory to the eternal. May he rest in peace.

Born: 22 October 1852, County Kilkenny
Entered: 21 December 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 26 December 1874, Santa Clara College, Santa Clara, CA USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Transcribed HIB to TAUR : 1873

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Went to Novitiate at (Santa) Monica and died there shortly afterwards

Born: 08 June 1881, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 18 January 1900, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1916, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1918, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 16 June 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Came to Australia for Regency 1903
by 1912 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1914 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After his Noviceship and owing to very delicate health, he was sent to Australia for Regency and did excellent work at Xavier College, Kew. He also spent a little while caring for his health at Sevenhill.
He returned to Ireland and carried on his studies including Theology at Naples, coming back to Ireland after three years and being Ordained here.
After Ordination he spent some years as an Assistant Missioner at Tullabeg in the Public Church. He was loved there by the people, especially by the young men. He had charge of their Sodality and increased its membership. He started a library for them, increased athletic sports, and pushed himself to help them in every way spiritual and temporal. He was very talented with very winning ways.
The end came unexpectedly. he was found dead, having suffered a hemorrhage of the lungs. He died 16 June 1919 only 38 years of age.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William Cullen entered the Society on 18 January 1900. From 1903-09 he taught at Xavier College, Kew, and was a prefect to the junior boarders. At the end of this time his health declined, and he spent 1910-11 at Sevenhill recuperating. His health recovered sufficiently for him to complete his studies, and he was ordained in 1916. He worked at Tullabeg after tertianship in 1917 in the house and school, but his health quietly deteriorated.

Born: 16 November 1842, Ahascragh, County Galway
Entered: 13 June 1862, Milltown Park, Dublin / Rome, Italy
Ordained: 1873
Final vows: 02 February 1880
Died: 02 February 1918, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

Eldest brother of Oliver - RIP 1916; James - RIP 1930; Francis H - RIP 1907. Oliver was the first of the Daly brothers to Enter.

by 1865 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying
by 1867 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1868 at St Joseph’s Glasgow Scotland (ANG) Regency
by 1871 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1872 at Roehampton London (ANG) Studying
by 1873 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1875 at St Wilfred’s Preston and Clitheroe (ANG) working
by 1876 at Glasgow Scotland (ANG) working
by 1877 at Holy Name Manchester - Bedford, Leigh (ANG) studying
by 1878 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) making Tertianship
Early Australian Missioner 1879

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Eldest brother of Oliver - RIP 1916; James - RIP 1930; Francis H - RIP 1907. Oliver was the first of the Daly brothers to Enter. They were a very old Catholic family who resided in the Elphin Diocese. Oliver joined earlier than the others in Rome and was allotted to the Irish Province.

After his Noviceship he studied Rhetoric at Roehampton, and then sent for Regency to Clongowes teaching.
1866 He was sent to Louvain for Philosophy.
1868 He was back at Clongowes teaching, and then in 1869 a Prefect at Tullabeg.
1871 He was sent for Theology to St Beuno’s and Roehampton.
After ordination he worked in the Parishes of Clitheroe, Glasgow and Bedford, Leigh.
He was then sent to Paray le Monial for Tertianship.
1878 He sailed for Australia with John O’Flynn and Charles O’Connell Sr.
While in Australia he was on the teaching staff at St Patrick’s Melbourne for a number of years.
1902 he was sent to Sevenhill where he worked quietly until his death there 07 February 1918

Note from Charles O’Connell Sr Entry :
1879 He was sent to Louvain for further Theological studies - Ad Grad. He was then sent to Australia in the company of Hubert Daly and John O’Flynn.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He was one of four brothers to become Jesuits, the others being James, Oliver and Francis.

1865-1866 After First Vows he was sent to Clongowes Wood College to teach Rudiments and Arithmetic.
1866-1867 He was sent to Leuven for a year of Philosophy.
1869-1870 He was sent to St Stanislaus College Tullabeg teaching Writing and Arithmetic
1878-1881 He arrived in Australia 09 November 1878 and went to Xavier College Kew
1881-1888 He was sent teaching to St Patrick’s College Melbourne
1888-1893 He was sent back teaching at Xavier College Kew
1893-1901 He was back teaching at St Patrick’s College where he also directed the Choir and boys Sodality. He also taught to boys how to shoot.
1902 He was sent to the St Aloysius Parish at Sevenhill

His own main form of recreation was music.

Born: 20 November 1888, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1907, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 24 August 1921
Final Vows: 02 February 1925
Died: 09 May 1969, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1924 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 24 February 1906, Taieri, Otago, New Zealand
Entered: 04 March 1924, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 12 August 1934
Final Vows: 10 March 1942
Died: 03 September 1959, St Patrick’s Mission, Barrow (Utqiagvik), Alaska, USA - Oregonensis Province (ORE)

Transcribed HIB to CAL : 1929; CAL to ORE

by 1928 at Eegenhoven, 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
His grandfather was deported from Ireland to Australia for some act of patriotism. His secondary education was with the Christian Brothers at Dunedin, New Zealand before he Entered the Society in Australia at Loyola Greenwich, 1924.

1926-1927 He was sent to Rathfarnham Castle Dublin for a Juniorate
1927-1930 He was sent for Philosophy to Eegenhoven Belgium and Spokane Washington, USA. During his third year of Philosophy he was transcribed to the Oregon Province (ORE) having volunteered for the Alaska Mission. At Spokane he was known as a quiet and hardworking student with a fine mind, who never seemed to get tired. He was fiercely competitive at sports and the best soccer player among the scholastics.
1930-1931 He was sent to Kashunak School, Holy Cross, Alaska for Regency
1931-1934 He went to Montreal Quebec, Canada for Theology
1934-1935 He made Tertianship at Mont-Laurier Quebec, Canada
1935-1936 He began his missionary work at Nome Alaska
1936-1944 He was sent to work at Little Diomede Island Alaska. He became a US citizen 01 October 1941.
1944-1946 He was a Military Chaplain with the US Army, during which time he visited Australia and the Pacific region, which included New Caledonia, Manila, Honolulu, Guam and Japan. He even spent four months in Korea in 1946
1946-1947 After the war he returned to Little Diomede Island
1947-1950 He was sent to work with the Eskimos at King Island Alaska. Here he taught school at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as catechising, visiting the sick and sharing in village life. This included joining the local men hunting.
1950-1952 He became a Chaplain with the Air Force, spending much of his time teaching Arctic survival to servicemen.
1952-1953 He spent a year as a missionary at Kotzebue (Qikiqtaġruk) Alaska
1953 He moved further north in Alaska to Point Barrow (Nuvuk). Using this as a base, he went on long dog-sled journeys across the world’s last frontier, seeking Eskimo souls for Christ and working with white Catholics in Point Barrow (Nuvuk), construction workers, military personnel, people connected with the school, the hospital, the US Weather Bureau and the Civil Aeronautics Administration. He also ministered to the men working on the “Distant Early Warning” radar sites.

His life in Alaska was a saga of heroic deeds. he once saved a village from starving by personally conducting a hunt on the Arctic Ocean during very severe weather. His trained eye picked out the ice floe that was to be the home of scientists and airmen for eighteen months during the “International Geophysical Year” of 1957. This project was known as “Operation Ice Skate” and was completed under the guidance of Thomas Cunningham.

His “Parish” had been the 150,000 cold square miles of Alaska above the Arctic Circle. His parishioners were anyone he met. For a quarter of a century he laughed at Arctic dangers, survived pneumonia - which he caught while cruising the icy Bering Sea in a leaky sealskin boat. He leapt down an icy cliff and jumped to safety from ice cake to floating ice cake as Soviet officials sought to take him captive when his boat had been blown into Big Diomede Island (Gvozdev) during an Arctic storm. He mushed through winter blizzards that had kept even the Eskimos indoors, travelling on one missionary journey for 2,500 miles behind dogs.

His deeds in the Arctic became legendary and were told and retold wherever Eskimo or white men gathered along the Arctic coast or north of the glacier-packed Brooks Mountain range.

He learned the Eskimo language during his early Alaskan years, and spoke it with a fluency that amazed the natives. He was a scholar, who compiled an Eskimo dictionary of over 7,000 words and their English equivalents. He could look at an ice flow and tell the age of the ice, and accurately guess its depth and longevity. He knew more of the traditions, legends and anthropological lore of the Eskimo than anyone else in the north. He held a Major’s commission in the Air Force and had received a commendation-of-merit ribbon from the Secretary of the US Air Force.

He was a very cheerful person, very pro Irish and anti British, and a marvellous raconteur. He was small in stature, but very strong. He said he chose the Alaskan Mission because it was cold like his native place in New Zealand. He died in his Rectory cabin at Point Barrow (Nuvuk) from a heart attack. The US Air Force flew his body from there to Fairbanks, and he was buried there with full military honours and a 15-gun salute.

He was a remarkable Jesuit, described by a fellow missionary as “one of the most loved, versatile and dynamic missionaries ever to serve the Alaska Missions”. He was recorded in the “Congressional Records” as “a noble and gallant figure, a devoted servant of God and his fellow men”. Both “Time” and “Newsweek” magazines noted his passing.

cf “Memoirs of a Yukon Priest”Segundo Llorente SJ, Georgetown University Press, Washington DC 1990 - ISBN 10: 0878403615

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 6th Year No 2 1931
Alaska :
Mr Tom Cunningham has already been doing excellent work in Alaska. He will be most likely prefect and principal of a school next year.
Irish Province News 8th Year No 2 1933
Montreal
A great many of us remember Mr. Tom Cunningham, an Australian, who finished his juniorate at Rathfarnharn in 1927. He volunteered for the Alaskan mission, and at the end of philosophy was sent to the far north. He is now doing 2nd Year Theol. at the “Immaculate” Montreal. He sends an interesting letter :
It will be no time 'till I find myself back in Alaska for a life sentence, and the moment cannot come too quickly for me. It is true that life in Alaska is hard. You are lonely and cold, the food is of the crudest kind, the silence of the Arctic winter nearly drives you crazy, and you begin to wonder sometimes if you will ever see the sun again, or get a letter from home.
But it has its compensations. There is a sort of mysterious something about the Yukon that gets a grip on you, and makes you wish to be there rather than any place else. It must be the grace of God. I know that I wouldn't stay in Alaska one day if it were not for a supernatural motive.

Irish Province News 12th Year No 2 1937
ALASKA :
The following letter is from Father T. Cunningham who was a Junior at Rathfarnham in the year 1926-27. Shortly afterwards he joined the California Province in the hope of being sent to the Alaska mission. He now belongs to the Oregon Province, and when his theology at the Immaculate Conception, Montreal, was finished his hopes were realized, and he was sent to Alaska, the land his heart desired. Our regret is that limited space prevents our giving the entire letter, but the parts we are enabled to give are decidedly interesting. The letter is an answer to one received from a Jesuit friend.
“When your letter arrived the spirit was low. I don't mean low in the wrong sense of the word, but that lowness that comes from a long, miserable, cold winter, with always a couple more months to go, and a lowness that is increased by had grub, hard work and loneliness.
Much to my astonishment I was assigned on my return to Alaska to Nome. (Father Cunningham had spent some time in Alaska before his theology.) Nome has a reputation of wrecking havoc in the minds and bodies of the clergy. Of my predecessors one went completely mad, one froze to death, three lasted a year and then had to leave through ill health. I have been here since September, 1935, alone, and believe me it's no picnic. I have been to confession once since then when I went fifty miles out of my way to call on my neighbor in Kotzebue 200 miles north of here.
When I saw what I was up against I drew up a schedule to be followed as closely as possible here and when travelling. The day was divided from 5 a.rm. to 10.30 p.m. between prayer, study teaching catechism and manual labor, in such a way that I didn't have time to sit down and feel sorry for myself.
Outside of Nome the work was fine. My territory stretches as far north as the Noatak River, well within the Arctic Circle, and as far west as Cape Prince of Wales, the most westerly point on the Continent. I got over the whole district twice and my procedure was always the same, study of the various changes of dialect in each village, and teaching catechism to the children in the afternoon and to the adults at night. In between times, when I had the dishes washed, dogs fed, and the wood chopped against the next morning, I would do what I could towards easing the various bodily ailments to which the Eskimo is prone. I relied as often as not on the grace of God as on my own medical knowledge. Anyhow I produced some surprising results, and didn't kill anyone.
The winter was moderate. The coldest around here was 70 below zero, but only for a day or so. There was a seven weeks spell of minus 50 during March and April. The coldest I experienced when travelling was 58 below zero. That was too cold to travel but I didn't want to spend the night in the open. I came through the winter with only feet frozen twice, and frost-bitten hands and nose every other week, nothing serious, only inconvenient. It is really hard to describe the cold and the famous north Wind which makes it much worse.
Now we are enjoying what is rightly called Little Winter or that period of two months or so between the end and beginning of the Big Winter. We had five beautiful days early this month (July), but most of the time it's a cold damp atmosphere with an occasional frost and snow flurry. It did clear up enough to see the Midnight Sun on two occasions.
I have made satisfactory progress in the language, and can preach, hear confessions, teach catechism without much difficulty, and I hope to know it as well as possible in two more years. There are no books on the subject, and most of all I know I had to find out just by asking around.
The language has one big rule turn everything possible into a verb. Thus, “I didn't eat all day” is “I dayed without eating” - “Oubluzunga herrinanga”. They have no generic words, for the six kinds of foxes, they have six different words.
The method of counting is queer but logical. They count to twenty, as that is as far as the fingers and toes go. Then they multiply and add till they reach a hundred. 67 would be 20 by 3 plus 7.
Now, my status for next year. I have been billed to found a new mission on Little Diomede Island, in the Bering Sea, near Siberia. I shall be the first priest to winter there, and, as far as I know, the only white man. I go there in September (1936), and will have no communication with the mainland from October till the following July, when the ice begins to break up. Someone has to go there as it is a good place in case we can ever work on the Eskimos in Russia. The address will be : Ignalit - Diomede Island, via Nome. Alaska.
I would take it as a favour if you gave this letter to the Editor of the Province News, as I like to think that all my old Irish friends have not completely deserted me simply because I turned Eskimo.
We haven't enough men here. We cannot do half enough. I have at least six native villages to attend to outside Nome, and a fellow can be only in one place at a time, and dogs go only an average of six miles an hour, and that's good going. I was lucky to get all around twice.
Give my regards to all my old co-juniors,
Sincerely,
TOM CUNNINGHAM, SJ”

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948
Letter from Fr. Tom Cunningham, King Island, Alaska :
“... A plane flew over this island last week and dropped some mail - a most pleasant surprise. This mail had been accumulating at Nome since last September and it contained two 1947 copies of the Irish Province News. Though it is a long time since 1929, the names of the older members of the Province are still very fresh in the memory.
If you know of any budding missionaries who wish to come out here, tell them from me that they need only one quality above other missionary requirements, viz. the desire and the ability to learn the Eskimo language, which I am convinced is the hardest language imaginable. I don't know though - a few years ago I came across a tribe in Liberia, who were Eskimo in every respect except language. Their language was very simple and after less than a month's association with them, I could get along fairly well. If a future missionary can grasp a language, he has overcome the most difficult part of the Alaska Missions. The weather, travel, terrain, etc. can be handled easily.
If you don't mind, let me bring you up to date on my personal activities. I was on Diomede Island from 1936 to 1940, when I then went to tertianship. Back again on Diomede till 1942 when the war had upset everything. There were soldiers all over Alaska except on these remote islands. I worked with the army quite a lot as adviser on Arctic conditions and spent some time training Arctic Search and Rescue Crews on the Alaska Liberia Wing of the Ferrying Command. Thousands of planes went through Alaska to the European Front. Americans would fly them to Alaska and the Russian pilots would take over there.
In 1944 I was commissioned in the Chaplain's Corps and sent to the S. W. Pacific, being on Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Manila and eventually Tokyo and Korea. I was released from the army and went to Lewis Washington in September, 1946 and arrived back at Nome two weeks later. I spent last winter between two Missions on the mainland and from January to June, I was on Diomede Island,
Last summer, Fr. Lafortune, the priest who built the Mission on this island died, and King Island was added to the territory which I already had. My Present Parish is composed of King Island and Diomede Island in the Baring Straits and Teller and the village of Igloo on the Mainland. The latter three are accessible during the winter, but once on the island you must stay put till the ice goes.
My plans now are to alternate between one winter here and one divided between Diomede, Teller and Igloo. The population here is 198, all Catholics. Diomede has 94 of whom 86 are Catholics. Teller has 35 Catholics out of 150 and Iglo has 48 people, all Catholics. The distances between are considerable : Teller to Igloo 50 miles, Teller to Diomede 98 miles and Teller to here 40 miles. Teller is a sort of Headquarters. There are two stores there. I built the Chapels at Diomede, Teller and Igloo. This island and its buildings, I have inherited so to speak; a fine Church, nice living quarters and the most fervent congregation I have ever come across. There are at least 25 Communions daily and over 100 on Sundays.
I have been assigned considerable territory as you see, but except for Igloo it's much the same language and I happen to be the only one who knows it. The language will be necessary for at least two more generations. Here I am the only White, so the White population always sees eye to eye in Religion, recreation, politics and is a staunch follower of De Valera.
I have a Radio and get good reception on an average of once a week, so I don't know much about the outside. The programme except for the excellent News broadcasts are poor. The only station I can hear is an Army station at Los Angeles. Even the news, the odd time I hear it, is not very reassuring.
Life here is tranquil. The island is about one mile and a half in circumference, rising abruptly out of the ice. The village is an in credibly steep rocky slope, at least a 60° incline. It is quite an art to manoeuvre around the village. The only way that I can make it when taking Holy Communion to the sick on dark mornings is to tie a rope. around one of the Church supports and hang on. The Eskimos pick out the darndest places to live.
The living is made entirely off the ice and it takes rugged characters to survive. The weather is not too severe. Our coldest day so far was 44 degrees below zero, with a wind of 45 miles per hour.
My day starts at 5 am. and goes on till 10.30 p.m. There are four Catechism classes per day for the children and one in the evening for adults. On Wednesday and Saturday, I hunt in the afternoons, as I. need to eat too. All hunting is done on moving ice and it is sometimes dangerous and always cold and miserable. I take care of my own cooking, washing and house-keeping, so I really have not time to feel sorry for myself. Still, the hardest chore for me is making altar-breads. The iron must be hot, but not too hot and not too cold, and the dough not too thick and not too thin. A sort of equation with four unknowns. All in all it's a busy and I hope, a useful life.
St. Patrick's Day is coming and I have a sermon all ready for Benediction on Wednesday night. Can't help thinking of the days at Eegenhoven when March 17th was the big day and the Belgians and the Englishmen envied us. I understand our old home was pretty well blown up. I wonder what happened to all the friends we had there.
While in Korea, I had hopes of going as far as Hong Kong but I didn't get beyond Shanghai and I was there for only one night. There was an Irish Sister from Roscommon in Seoul, Korea in charge of an Orphanage and every other American soldier was helping her with stuff for her fold. While in Tokyo I heard that Fr. M. Bodkin was chaplain on a British aircraft carrier but I just couldn't visit him.....”

Irish Province News 35th Year No 1 1960
Obituary :
Fr Thomas Cunningham (1906-1959)
(From the Oregon- Jesuit, October 1959)

The frozen frontier of the Alaska Mission lost its restless “Father Tom” on 3rd September, 1959, when Rev. Thomas Patrick Cunningham, S.J. died of a heart attack in his rectory cabin at Point Barrow, Alaska.
His parish had been the 150,000 cold square miles of Alaska that lie above the Arctic Circle. His parishioners were anyone he met.
For a quarter of a century Fr. Tom had laughed at Arctic dangers. He had survived pneumonia, caught while cruising the icy Bering Sea in a leaky sealskin boat. He had leaped down an icy cliff and jumped to safety from ice cake to floating ice cake, as Soviet officials sought to take him captive, when his boat had been blown in to Big Diomede Island during an Arctic storm. He had mushed safely through winter blizzards that had kept even the Eskimos indoors, travelling on one missionary journey 2,500 miles behind his dogs. His deeds in the Arctic had become legend and were told and retold wherever Eskimo or white man gathered along the Arctic coast or north of the glacier-packed Brooks mountain range. His death was as Fr. Tom would have chosen, a quiet going to eternal sleep as he began another exhausting day.
When Fr. Thomas P. Cunningham joined our philosophy classes at Mount St. Michael's, Spokane, WA., in 1929, we knew him as a quiet, hard-working student with a brilliant mind, who never seemed to get tired. He was fiercely competitive in sports and the best soccer player any of us had ever faced. He had grown up in New Zealand where, on 24th February, 1906, he had been born on a farm near Taieri. He talked little of himself, but in defending some political figure in Ireland, he once said that his grandfather had been deported by England to Australia for some act of Irish patriotism.
Fr. Cunningham travelled a roundabout route to his Alaska mission, High school was spent with the Christian Brothers at Dunedin, New Zealand. He entered the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus at Sydney, Australia, 24th March, 1924. He spent his Juniorate at Rathfarnham, Ireland, his philosophy years at Louvain, Belgium, and Mt. St. Michael's, Spokane. He taught school at Holy Cross, Alaska, 1930-31, before entering theology studies at Montreal, Canada. He was ordained 12th August, 1934, at Loyola College, Montreal, and made his tertianship at Mount Laurier, Quebec, Canada. In 1935 he began his missionary work at Nome, Alaska, and the following year went to Diomede Island for a three-year stay.
Giving a chronological account of Fr. Cunningham's work in Alaska tells so little of what he did. Except for his year out for tertianship, he was at Diomede Island from 1936-44. From 1944-46 he was chaplain with the U.S. army. After another year at Diomede Island, he spent three years as missioner to the Eskimos at King Island. From 1950-52 he was chaplain with the air-force, spending much of his time teaching Arctic survival to service-men. After a year as missionary to Kotzbue, he moved north to Point Barrow, Alaska's northernmost tip and, from there, went on long dog-sled missionary journeys across the world's last frontier, seeking Eskimo souls for Christ.

Many Acts of Heroism
Fr. Cunningham's life in Alaska was a saga of heroic deeds. He once saved a village from starving by personally conducting a hunt on the Arctic Ocean during very severe weather. His trained eye picked out the ice floe which was to be the home of scientists and airmen for 18 months during the Geophysical Year. The project, known as “Operation Ice Skate”, was completed under his guidance. He was first ashore on the ice island and last to leave when it broke up. He foretold that the ice island would break twice during their stay and guessed within a week of when each break-up would occur. No life was ever lost in any of the air-force or scientific operations which he supervised.

A Skilled Scientist
Fr. Cunningham learned the Eskimo language in his early Alaskan years and spoke it with a fluency that amazed the natives. He was a scholar who compiled an Eskimo dictionary of over 7,000 words and their English equivalents. He could look at an ice floe and tell the age of the ice and accurately guess its depth and longevity. He knew more of the traditions, legends and anthropological lore of the Eskimo than anyone else in the north. He held a Major's Commission in the Air Force Reserve and had received a commendation-of-merit from the Secretary of the U.S. Air Force.
Fr. Cunningham's body was flown by the U.S. Air Force from Point Barrow to Fairbanks and buried there on 8th September with full military honours and a fifteen-gun salute by the Air Force of Ladd Field. Bishop Francis D. Gleeson, S.J. said the Mass in the presence of twenty missionaries from all over Alaska and innumerable friends from the military, civilians and Fr. Tom's beloved Eskimos.
Erwin J. Toner, S.J.

Born: 02 July 1845, Ahascragh, County Galway
Entered: 27 April 1861, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1873
Final vows: 22 April 1878
Died: 11 January 1916, St Ignatius College (Coláiste Iognáid), Galway City

Second brother of Hubert - RIP 1918; Francis - RIP 1907; James - RIP 1930 Oliver was the first of the Daly brothers to Enter.

by 1869 at Maria Laach College Germany (GER) Studying
by 1871 at Pressburg Austria (ASR) studying
by 1872 at Innsbruck Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1877 at Lyon France (CAMP) making Tertianship
Early Australian Missioner 1877
by 1906 at St Joseph’s Glasgow Scotland (ANG) working

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Second brother of Hubert - RIP 1918; James - RIP 1930; Francis H - RIP 1907. He was the first of the Daly brothers to Enter. They were a very old Catholic family who resided in the Elphin Diocese. Three of his brothers Entered the Society. Oliver joined earlier than the others in Rome and was allotted to the Irish Province.

1858-1859 He first appears in HIB as a Teacher at the newly opened Crescent day school.
he then studied the long course in Theology at Innsbruck, and at the end of his fourth year acted as Minister at Tullabeg.
1876 He was sent on Tertianship (Laudunensis, CAMP)
1877 He sailed to Australia with Daniel Clancy, James Kennedy and Thomas McEnroe.
He was in Australia for about twenty years, including being Superior at Hawthorn, and he returned in charge of Father John O’Neill who had become deranged.
He then spent some time in Glasgow and Milltown.
1907 He was sent to Galway, and remained there until his death 11 January 1916

Note from Thomas McEnroe Entry
1877 He set sail for Melbourne with Daniel Clancy, Oliver Daly and James Kennedy

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He was the first of four brothers to become Jesuits, the others being Hubert, Oliver and Francis.

His early education was at Crescent College Limerick

1864-1868 After First Vows and his Juniorate he was sent for Regency to Crescent College teaching Rudiments, Writing, French and Arithmetic.
1868-1871 He went to Maria Laach College in Germany for Philosophy
1871-1876 He was sent to Innsbruck for Theology
1876-1877 He made Tertianship at Lyon in France
1877-1880 He arrived in Australia on 12 December 1877 and went to Xavier College Kew, where he was one of the first staff at the College
1880-1881 He was sent to St Patrick’s College Melbourne as Minister and Prefect of Studies, where he also directed the Sodality and did some pastoral work
1881-1882 He went to St Kilda’s House in Sydney as Minister and Teacher
1882-1886 He was sent to Hawthorn and was appointed first Superior and Parish Priest (1883-1886)
1886-1889 He became involved in rural missionary work
1890-1893 He was sent as Superior and Parish Priest of St Mary’s North Sydney
1893-1897 He was sent as Superior and Parish Priest of St Ignatius Richmond
He was subsequently at St Mary’s Parish, North Sydney and Loyola Greenwich for a few years each
1902 He returned to Ireland on 18 December 1902, and he worked in Glasgow Scotland, Milltown Park Dublin and finally at Coláiste Iognáid Galway as a rural missioner.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Oliver Daly (1845-1916)

Brother of the two preceding, (Francis and James) was a scholastic here in the first decade of the existence of the Crescent, 1864-1868. He was many years on the Australian mission but returned to Ireland some ten years before his death.

Born: 26 December 1864, Crossboyne, County Mayo
Entered: 24 March 1890, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 15 August 1900
Died: 12 November 1916, Milltown Park, Dublin - Angliae Province (ANG)

Member of the Manresa, Roehampton, London community at the time of death

Died in HIB but member of ANG

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
A member of the ANG Province. He had been in poor health and was sent to Ireland for a change of air in his native surroundings.
On his return journey he stayed at Milltown and died there after a short illness 12 November 1916.

Born: 23 December 1837, County Meath
Entered: 12 November 1868, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1879
Died: 06 August 1893, Dunbrody, South Africa - Zambesi Mission

Part of the St Aidan’s College, Grahamstown, South Africa community at the time of death

by 1883 at at Zambesi Mission

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was in the Metropolitan Police before Ent

His twenty five years in the Society was spent mostly at Gardiner St and a short time as “Villicar” in Clongowes.
On the occasion of Father Wild’s visit to HIB looking for volunteers for the Zambesi Mission, Thomas volunteered and was accepted. He was sent to Dunbrody on the Eastern Cape, where he cared for an ostrich farm. He died there five months after his companion Thomas Manning 06 August 1893.

Born: 07 April 1852, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 26 May 1875, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 29 September 1893, University College, Dublin, St Stephen's Green, Dublin

Remained a Scholastic and was not ordained fr medical reasons

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1877-1882 He was sent to Clongowes for regency teaching Mathematics.
1882 He began his Philosophy, but had to stop due to headaches.
1883 He was made a Fellow of the Royal University and taught at UCD, where he remained until his death 29 September 1893. During the latter years of his life he had been suffering fits, to the point where he was not allowed by his Superiors to be Ordained. He had gone to bed as usual 28/09, and he was found dead in his bed the following morning. The doctor said he appeared to have had a fit during the night and suffocated. He was a very brilliant Mathematician and had won numerous academic awards at University. He was said to be one of the most amiable and genial of men. he made a fast friend of everyone with whom he made contact, and was a particular favourite with the students. His simple life and great learning impressed them greatly.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - At TCD before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 9th Year No 1 1934
Leeson St :
Monday, November 20th, was a red-letter day in the history of Leeson street, for it witnessed the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the House's foundation. In November, 1833. the Community came into being at 86 St Stephen's Green, where it remained until 1909, when the building was handed over to the newly constituted National University. The Community, however, survived intact and migrated to a nearby house in Lesson Street, where it renewed its youth in intimate relationship with the Dublin College of the University.
Its history falls this into two almost equal periods, different, indeed, in many ways, yet essentially one, since the energies of the Community during each period have been devoted to the same purpose, the furtherance of Catholic University Education in Ireland.
A precious link between the two eras is Father Tom Finlay, who was a member of the Community in 1883, and ever since has maintained his connection with it. His presence on Monday evening, restored to his old health after a severe illness was a source of particular pleasure to the whole gathering. It was also gratifying to see among the visitors Father Henry Browne, who had crossed from England at much personal inconvenience to take part in the celebration. Not only was Father Browne a valued member of the Community for over thirty years, but he acquired additional merit by putting on record, in collaboration with Father McKenna, in that bulky volume with the modest title " A Page of Irish History," the work achieved by the House during the first heroic age of its existence. It was a pleasure, too, to see hale and well among those present Father Joseph Darlington, guide, philosopher and friend to so many students during the two periods. Father George O'Neill, who for many years was a distinguished member of the Community, could not, alas. be expected to make the long journey from his newer field of fruitful labor in Werribee, Australia.
Father Superior, in an exceptionally happy speech, described the part played by the Community, especially in its earlier days of struggle, in the intellectual life of the country. The venerable Fathers who toiled so unselfishly in the old house in St. Stephens Green had exalted the prestige of the Society throughout Ireland. Father Finlay, in reply, recalled the names of the giants of those early days, Father Delany, Father Gerald Hopkins, Mr. Curtis and others. Father Darlington stressed the abiding influence of Newman, felt not merely in the schools of art and science, but in the famous Cecilia Street Medial School. Father Henry Browne spoke movingly of the faith, courage and vision displayed by the leaders of the Province in 1883, when they took on their shoulders such a heavy burden. It was a far cry from that day in 1883, when the Province had next to no resources, to our own day, when some sixty of our juniors are to be found, as a matter of course preparing for degrees in a National University. The progress of the Province during these fifty years excited feelings of
admiration and of profound gratitude , and much of that progress was perhaps due to the decision, valiantly taken in 1883 1883, which had raised the work of the Province to a higher plane.

Born: 1579, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 19 September 1605, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1610, Antwerp Belgium
Final Vows: 31 March 1624
Died: 02 November 1647, Dublin City, County Dublin

Studied in Ireland and Douai becoming Master of Arts. Studied 3 years Moral Theology at Antwerp
1609 Teacher of Grammar
1610 was a Priest
1611 In 3rd year Theology; Came to Ireland
1622 was in Belgium
1629 Rector in Dublin
1611 Catalogue BELG Moderate abilities, tenacious in own opinion. Does not know Irish but would be useful on Irish Mission. Agreeable manner would make a good Minister or Procurator
1621 Catalogue On Irish Mission with good health, talent and judgement. Always calm, sermons are praised. Would be a good Superior

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Henry and Mary née Brandon
Studied Humanities for six years partly at Antwerp and partly at Douai, graduating there MA.
Admitted to Society by Father Manoereus, Provincial of Belgium (Tournay Diary p 617, No 1016)
He is named in the letter of Father Lawndry (Holiwood) to the Superior of the Irish Mission 04/11/1611, by which stage he was continuing studies. (IER April 1874, p 292)
Professor of Greek; A good Preacher; Rector in Dublin 1629
(cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Henry and Margaret née Brandon
Had studied at Antwerp and later at Douai where he graduated MA before Ent 19 September 1605 Tournai
After First Vows he was sent to Antwerp for studies and was Ordained there in 1610
1611 Sent to Ireland and the Dublin Residence, but returned to Belgium to complete his studies at Louvain 1621-1622
1622 Came to Dublin and was initially Rector at the College in Back Lane. Though this College did not last long, he remained in Dublin all of his further life up to his death, and indeed stayed in the city during the mass expulsions of 1641-1642. He died in Dublin 02/11/1647
While in Dublin he offered strenuous opposition to the mischief-making priest Paul Harris and the former Jesuit Michael Cantwell, who were determined to cause a rift between the secular and regular clergy.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CUSACK, HENRY. His services for the Irish Mission were required in February,1622

Born: 16 December 1916, Pomeroy, County Tyrone
Entered: 07 September 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 22 June 1939, Barnageary, Skerries, County Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 14th Year No 4 1939
Obituary

Mr Peter Cush
1916 Born
1935 Entered Emo, 7th September
1936 Emo. Novice
1937-38 Rathfarnham, Junior

Mr. Peter Cush was drowned at Barnageary, between Balbriggan and Skerries, on Thursday, 22nd of June, 1939. Mr, Cush's death was sad, not only because his robust health and strength gave promise of a long life of useful work in the Society, but also because it occurred on the second day of his Major Villa, a time set apart for rest and relaxation in preparation for the coming year. Mr Cush's companions did all they could to save him, even going into danger themselves, but the unusually high sea that was running made all their efforts useless.

Mr. Cush was born in Pomeroy, Co. Tyrone, in the year 1916. He was educated at the College, Armagh. On the 7th September 1935, he entered the noviceship at Emo. During his noviceship he was conspicuous for his simple and generous piety, and in particular for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The patent sincerity and generosity of his soul gave promise of a holy and useful life as a Jesuit. He pronounced his Vows on the 8th September, 1937. In Rathfarnharn he settled down to his studies at the University, in which he succeeded very well. He had just finished his second year course in Latin, English and Greek when he met his sudden death. Solemn High Mass was offered for the repose of his soul in Pomeroy, by his uncle, Father Cush , representatives of Rathfarnham Castle assisted at the Mass. Father Provincial, and a great gathering of our Fathers and Scholastics, as well as Carmelite Scholastics who were Mr. Cush's colleagues in the University attended the Mass in the Ignatian Chapel, Gardiner Street. The following appeared in the papers :
“The parents and brothers of the late Mr. Cush, S,.J., of Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, wish to return sincere thanks to all those who sympathised with them in their recent sorrow, especially to those students who risked their lives to save him, and to the Jesuit Fathers for their kindness.” To those who lived with him, Mr. Cush was always associated with child-like simplicity and great innocence, and the fun and laughter that went with them. His death has taken from the Society one who, without doubt, would have been eminent for his apostolic zeal, and from his own community a cheerful, engaging and lovable companion. R.I.P. (J. KELLY, S.J.)

Born: 04 May 1826, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 25 April 1845, St Acheul, Amiens, France (FRA)
Ordained: 1860
Final Vows: 15 August 1866
Died: 21 August1907, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

by 1859 in Laval France (FRA) studying Theology
by 1860 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theology

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a younger bother of the celebrated Joseph - RIP 1905

After First Vows he made his studies on the Continent.
He spent much of his life as a Teacher in Clongowes and Belvedere.
He died at Gardiner St 21 August 1907

◆ The Clongownian, 1908

Obituary

Father James Dalton SJ

Father James Dalton was one of the oldest Clongownians. He was at school at Clongowes early in the forties. He will be regretted by all who knew him as master there, for he had a great facility for making friends. We have published several of his poems in “The Clongownian” already, and we publish yet another in this number. We owe this to the kindness of T E Redmond, MP, an old pupil and friend of Fr Dalton.

The following brief account of his career gives the main facts of his life Father Dalton was born at Waterford on May 4, 1826; when 19 years old he entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus, in which his brother Joseph preceded him by nine years, as he had exactly the same start of him in life itself. About the same time two sisters out of this pious family became nuns in the Presentation Convent of Maynooth. For twenty years Father James Dalton was a devoted and beloved master at Clongowės and Belvedere, forming friendships with his pupils which lasted through life. For more than twenty years he laboured zealously at St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin, the house in which he has just died. For some years, indeed, his work had almost been confined to patient suffering. He bore his tedious martyrdom with great courage and cheerfulness, trying to help till the end those who continually appealed to his charity, knowing of old the tenderness of his heart and his eagerness to aid those in trouble. He was a man of very refined taste, and a singularly faithful and devoted friend; and his memory will long be cherished tenderly by all who had the privilege of knowing him intimately.

Born: 11 March 1881, Orange, NSW, Australia
Entered: 12 February 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1917, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1921, St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, Sydney, Australia
Died: 16 January 1952, Loyola Watsonia, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1907 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1909
by 1919 at Manresa House, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He came from a well known and wealthy Catholic family from Duntryleague, Orange, NSW, and he was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview for his education. He then went on to study Medicine for four years at Sydney University before entering the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, Ireland.

1906-1909 After First Vows he was sent to Stonyhurst, England for Philosophy
1910-1914 He returned to Australia for Regency at St Ignatius College Riverview
1914-1917 He was back in Ireland at Milltown Park Dublin for Theology. He didn’t finish his Theology there as he returned to Australia to see his father, who was in poor health.
1917-1919 He finished his Theology and made Tertianship in Ranchi, India
1920-1926 He returned to Australia and was sent to St Aloysius College Sydney as a Teacher, Minister, Prefect of Discipline, Assistant Prefect of Studies and Editor of the “Aloysian”. He also gave lectures at St John’s College in University of Sydney.
1926-1932 He was sent to teach at Riverview, and was Spiritual Father to the boys, in charge of Senior Debating and the Senior Sodality and was for a time the Editor of “Our Alma Mater”. he also continued with his lectures at St John’s. In 1931 he examined the quinquennials.
1932-1951 He was then sent to Sevenhill, where he spent much of his time writing and arranging the early archives of the Province. His work on the archives of St Aloysius College is the only archival source available. He translated many of the early German documents, such as the letters of Father Kranewitter and the diary of Brother Pölzl. He also gave very valuable help to the Archpriest Carroll of Hay ( a Limerick born Priest, PP of Hay, NSW, who translated the “Mysteries of Faith” by Maurice de la Taille SJ in three volumes).

He became well known and appreciated by the people of Clare SA, Sevenhill and Mintaro for his kindness, his quaint sense of humour and for his extraordinary knowledge of history, art and science.
He was a scholar and linguist of considerable attainment. He was not a good disciplinarian and so is value as a teacher of boys was somewhat diminished.

Towards the end of his life he was transferred to Loyola Watsonia. The notes he made for his exhortations as Spiritual Father at Sevenhill show him to have been a man of deep and solid piety.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 27th Year No 2 1952
Obituary :
Died January 16th, 1952
Fr. Patrick Dalton was born on March 11th, 1881, at Orange, N.S.W., Australia, and educated at St. Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney. For a few years after leaving school he studied Medicine, but in 1904 came to Ireland and entered the Society at Tullabeg. He studied philosophy at St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, and did his colleges in Australia and theology at Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1917. As a priest he taught for several years in the colleges in Australia, and for the last two decades of his life devoted himself to the study of the records of the Society in the archives of the old College of Sevenhill, S.A. There Fr. Dalton's knowledge of German and his keen historical sense enabled him to translate and preserve for future historians of the Society in Australia the many documents of interest left by the Austrian Fathers and Brothers, who founded the Society's work in that country.
Fr. Dalton also collaborated with the Ven. Archdeacon Carroll, P.P., Hay, N.S.W., in his translation and publication of Fr. De la Taille's Mysterium Fidei.
He died on January 10th, 1952, at the Novitiate, Loyola, Watsonia, whither he had retired a few months previously, when failing health prevented his continuing his work at Sevenhill.

Born: 25 October 1895, Terenure, Dublin
Entered: 07 December 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1927, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 19 July 1929, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

1921-1923 - Regency at Xavier College, Kew, Australia
1923-1924 - Regency at St Aloysius College Sydney

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at the Bower in Athlone and Clongowes.

After his Novitiate he remained at Tullabeg for his Juniorate.
1918 He was sent to Milltown for Philosophy.
1921 He was sent to Australia for Regency and he spent three years there at Xavier College Kew, and St Aloysius Sydney.
1924 He returned to Milltown for Theology. he worked hard there and was ordained there, but had begun to suffer from pains in his head and eyes.
After his ordination, and before he had finished his Theology, he was sent to Mungret, in the hope that the change of work would ease his difficulties. He was very popular at Mungret, and a very able Teacher and Prefect.
1928 He returned to Milltown to complete his Theology, and early on he was diagnosed with Sarcoma. He grew weaker and had to go to St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, where he lingered for eight months until he died there 19 July 1929.

The day before he died, a Jesuit who went to see him met a Nun who was caring for him, and said how edified she was by his obedient patience, and how trustful he was of them and of Our Lady’s protection, and how grateful he was for prayers.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Kevin Daly entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 December 1914, and after the juniorate he moved to Milltown Park for philosophy. He was sent to the Australian Mission in the later part of 1921, initially at Xavier. After approximately three years teaching at St Aloysius' College, 1922-24, Daly returned a sick man to Milltown Park for theology.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 4th Year No 4 1929
Obituary :
Fr Kevin Daly
On Friday, 19th July a welcome release came to Fr. Kevin Daly after 8 months on his death bed. His disease was diagnosed as incurable last autumn, and he entered St Vincent's private hospital in November to die. He new the truth and faced it with bright and easy courage.

About Christmas a novena to B. Robert Beilarmine was begun at Milltown, and for some time he grasped again at hope. By degrees that last hope faded, and he came to see that his death was but a matter of a few months. He was dying by inches. He was unable to move or do anything for himself, and his voice had sunk to a whisper. He never lost courage or
patience. The day before he died one of Ours, who had been in to bid him good-bye, met the nun who had charge of him, and heard, from her how edifying he had been, how patient and obedient, how be let them do with him what they thought best, how trustful in Our Lady's protection, how grateful for prayers. His greatest grief was not for himself but for his mother. She had been in to see him every day, and clung to the hope of his recovery long after he had given it up. On the night of Wednesday, 17th July he get a bad turn. On Thursday he was dying, and asked for Extreme Unction. He died that night. Father Kevin was born in 1895. As as mall boy he was sent to the Bower Convent, Athlone. It cheered him on his death bed when told that his former teachers were praying for him. After several years at Clongowes he entered Tullabeg on 7th December 1914, where he did his noviceship and juniorate. In 1918 he went to Milltown for philosophy, and in 1921 to Australia. His three years there were spent at Xavier, and St. Aloysius. He returned to Milltown for theology in 1924. Fr Kevin was not clever and found theology and philosophy difficult. He worked very hard at them, and began to suffer from pains in the head and eyes. After his ordination, but before his theology was finished, he was sent to Mungret in the hope that he would get stronger by this change of work. In Mungret he was very popular, and proved himself a most capable and efficient prefect. Towards the end of the year he had to undergo a serious operation and was a long time convalescing. In August 1928 he returned to Milltown to complete his theology, but it was soon clearly diagnosed. that he was suffering from Sarcoma. He bravely kept the knowledge from his father and mother, and when meeting them was so bright and cheerful that they had no suspicions. But he gradually grew weaker, and in November had to go to St. Vincent's. The rest of his story has been already told.
Fr. Kevin's career was not so much cut short as never begun. He had given his life to God in the Society of His Son, and God had taken the will of a full apostolic career for the deed. Indeed we may well say that Fr Kevin gave the deed also. We may well believe, and we trust that his generous response to his vocation, his earnestness, his charity, his struggles at his studies, above all the heroic courage, the splendid resignation which he showed when face to lace with a lingering death, gave God all the glory He looked for from Fr Kevin's stay on earth. And certainly his career, brief in years but rich in virtue, has not been without its influence all all who knew him. To his father, and very specially to his mother, who watched him dying for so many months, we offer our most sincere sympathy. RIP.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Kevin Daly 1895-1929
The death of Fr Kevin Daly at the early age of 34 was regarded as a tragedy by his contemporaries.

Born in 1895, he received his early education at the Bower Athlone and Clongowes.

During his theologate at Milltown he began to feel pains in his head and eyes. Immediately after ordination he went to Mungret asFirst Prefect, in the hope that the change would benefit his health. Here he proved immensely popular with both Community and boys, while being at the same time efficient as a Prefect, a rare combination.

Returning in 1928 to complete his Theology, his pains continued until finally his condition was diagnosed as Sarcoma. He lingered on in St Vincent’s Hospital for eight months till his happy release on July 19th 1929.

There is always something of a tragedy in the death of the young, but in the case of Fr Kevin this note was heightened by his lovable winning disposition and the promise of great work for God to come.

“Consummatus est in brevi, explevit tempora multis” words used of St Aloysius and St John Berchmans have an application to Fr Kevin Daly.

Born : 02 April 1876, County Kilkenny
Entered : 23 October 1897, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 26 July 1910, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1912
Died: 20 October 1945, Mount St Mary’s, Spinkhill, Derbyshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1908 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1907-1909

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1922

Our Past

Father Patrick Daly SJ

To the kindness of Fr J O'Connell SJ ('95-'98), of the Zambesi Mission, we owe a cutting from the “Rhodesia Herald”, giving an account of the welcome extended to Fr Patrick Daly SJ ('91-'97); in Salisbury, on his becoming parish priest of that town. Fr. Daly was greeted by the representative of the Catholic community as a true type of Irish gentleman, and of happy and fortunate temperament. After a reference to his education at Mungret and elsewhere “so that it was given him to get the best of five great nations it was also mentioned that he taught for five years at St Aidan's College, Grahamstown, and for another five at Bulawayo, at both of which places he was held in high regard by all”. In a reply which was interspersed with laughter and applause, Fr Daly concluded by the assurance that he would like to share in the life of the community as a citizen of Salisbury, because he held that the better the Catholic the better the citizen.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1946

Obituary

Father Patrick Daly SJ

Father Patrick Daly died at Mount St. Mary's College after a prolonged and painful illness. Father Daly came to Mungret in 1891 and passed up the various classes obtaining his BA degree. He joined the Jesuit Novitiate at Roehampton in 1897 and did his philosophy at Jersey, where he was a zealous helper in teaching catechismn and visiting the sick at St Mary's and St Peter's Church. He was ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin, on July 26th, 1910, and then a year after went out to South Africa. He taught at St Aidan's College, Grahamstown, from 1911-17, and then served the missions of Bulawayo and Salisbury, SA. Owing to ill-health he was compelled to return to England for a short time in 1924, but was soon back again in South Africa where he laboured on the native mission of Empandeni for two years. There his health broke down badly, and he had to return to England, where he ministered in the Jesuit parishes of Wakefield, Liverpool, Leigh, St. Helen's and Preston. He was noted for his gentleness and kindness as a pastor.

Born: 20 April 1900, Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 20 February 1921, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 14 June 1932, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1935
Died: 19 August 1967, St Joseph, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1927 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
Affectionately known as “Lou”. His early education was at Richmond and St Patrick’s College Melbourne, where he was a Prefect and a member of the First XVIII, though academics was not his forte.

1923-1926 After First Vows, he was sent to Rathfarnham Castle Dublin and University College Dublin
1926-1929 He was then sent to St Aloysius College Jersey, Channel Islands for Philosophy.
1929-1933 He was sent back to Ireland and Milltown Park for Theology
1933-1934 He made Tertianship at St Beuno’s Wales
1934-1936 He returned to Australia and was sent teaching at St Patrick’s College, where he was also Editor of the “Patrician”.
1936-1948 He began a long association with parish work beginning at St Ignatius Richmond
1948-1953 He was appointed Superior and Parish priest at St Ignatius Norwood. Here he remodelled and extended the Church of St Ignatius.
1953-1955 He went to St Francis Xavier Lavender Bay.
1955-1967 His final work was as National Director of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association which was based at the Provincial Residence, 130 Power Street, Hawthorn, Melbourne. This was a perfect appointment for him given his large personality and style. He travelled much in this work, even to New Guinea.

He was a very cheerful, generous, simple and popular man, good in any company and a great tonic for anyone who was a bit depressed. He endeared himself to many people, helping, consoling and guiding. His service to the Society was entire and unsparing. He was lavish in finance which didn’t please everyone. In his later years he was a much appreciated Villa Master for the Melbourne Scholastics at Barwon Heads, Victoria.

His suffering from heart disease in his later years - which eventually killed him - did not make any difference to his attitude to work or life. He died as he lived - full of joy.

Note from Edward Carlile Entry
His high form of adulation was describing one as a “character”, and he was most certainly one himself. The highest was that of “prince” though he only conferred that on Rolland Boylen, Lou Dando and Tom O’Donovan.

Note from Patrick Doherty Entry
He handed over the management of the Australian PTAA to Lou Dando, who drew other Jesuits into the task of spreading the word and the organisation.

Born: 22 November 1904, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1935, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1938, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 27 December 1983, Loyola House, Eglinton Road, Dublin

Eldest brother of Dan - RIP 2007; Herbert - RIP 1993

Great grandnephew of Daniel Murray, 1768-1852, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1937 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News 59th Year No 2 1984 & ◆ The Clongownian, 1985

Obituary

Fr William Dargan (1904-1922-1983)

When Fr Bill Dargan died somewhat suddenly in Eglinton road just after Christmas (27th December) having been laid up for only one day, it might have been said that his death was unexpected. Yet, on reflection, the real surprise should be, not that he died as he did, but that for so long and with such poor physical reserves, he had with vigour and determination lived out his life to the very end, often planning months in advance events which he suspected he might never see. His interest in and appetite for life must have been part of the secret power which kept him going when many another would have given up. Although, for many months, and even longer, he had reminded us he might not be here next year, his very efforts to live and be alive, belied his assertions that his time was short. On Christmas day, he went out as was his custom, to visit his relatives; he returned and dined with the Community. He retired early, and the following day stayed in bed, with what seemed not much more than one of the periodic chest conditions he occasionally contracted. The doctor was uncertain. It might be serious. Within twenty-four hours, Bill took his leave, quietly and unexpectedly.
The vigour and determination with which Bill lived out his life in the Society was paralleled by strength and vigour in other areas, in his deep faith and inner strength, combined with a great simplicity. Perhaps the fact that at his bedside, when he died, was a recently published Irish Messenger booklet on Advent, illustrates these admirable qualities. The booklet which had provided the matter for his morning prayer over the previous weeks had a marker placed in it for Christmas Day.
When Bill died, he had spent over sixty-one years in the Society. Fifteen years had been given to his own studies and formation, ten to Clongowes as Rector and Prefect of Studies, two to Galway as Rector and Treasurer, and the remainder of his years (34 in all) to the work of the Province Treasurer's office, whether as Treasurer or as assistant. While the enumeration of years and offices by no means says every thing, it does convey something of the qualities and characteristics of Bill Dargan (”Billy” to his relatives). As was apparent through his life, Bill was a person in whom the Society put a great deal of responsibility and trust. Most of the writer's knowledge of those earlier years derives either from hearsay, or from Bill's own reminiscences. But even without these aids, it is clear that Bill was a success as Prefect of Studies – he was to be made Rector after four years. It would not have been in character if he were not painstaking, efficient, far sighted (these were World War II years), companionable, and generous; often amusing and entertaining in company. With the boys, his manner was some times stern and even forbidding. In later years, he felt he had been too severe in those years, and, yet, one knows he would never have been in any way unjust.
After the end of his term in Clongowes, Bill took up a similar role in Galway as Rector, with the additional chore of Treasurer, in his first year. This, according to himself, was to give him something to do! When, in his second year, apostolic, social and other commitments increased, he returned the ledgers to Fr Joseph O'Connor. Little did he suspect at the time that this one year as Treasurer was to be his only preparation in bookkeeping and accountancy for the job that was to occupy him, in one way or another, for the next thirty years.
Fr Charlie Doyle, aged 79, was seriously ill. Before the end of his second year in Galway, Bill was summoned to Gardiner street; he was to visit Fr Doyle in hospital and learn what he could about Province finances, and immediately take over as Treasurer. Needless to say, the dying man was unable to communicate a great deal. So, with only meagre gleanings, Bill returned to Gardiner Street to unravel the mysteries of finance. Fr Tommy Byrne is known to have set great store by good judgment. He showed his own in his selection of Bill to fill a job without any previous training or expertise, but endowed with an abundance of common sense, practicality and commitment.
As those who knew Bill would expect, he entered his new office with vigour and with the perceptiveness that helped him to decide quickly where the problems lay, and to take action on procedures which were to structure the Province finances for many years to come. Conscious of the unsatisfactory circumstances in which he found himself, of having to take on a job quite uninitiated and without satisfactory records, he compiled in his early years a small compendium of the duties of the Province Treasurer. He also set up a completely new and revamped ledger system. Apart from a visit or two to his opposite number in Farm street, he implemented the new system without any special professional assistance, a testimony to his painstaking competence and thoroughness. For Province investments, he sought and obtained the type of professional advice which helped him, during his time as Treasurer, to see the resources under his care increase many times. This made possible the much greater outlays necessitated in a world increasingly more affluent and costly. Over the years, he always remained open and generous in meeting requirements, whether of communities, apostolates or of individuals.
No man is completely absorbed or epitomised by his office, and this was absolutely true of William Dargan. His range of interests extended far beyond his work. It was he who, in the first place, introduced Evie Hone to the Society when he commissioned her to undertake the installation of her stained glass in the Boys' Chapel in Clongowes. He always had an interest in art, music, and literature. To the end, he remained a member of the Royal Dublin Society, and kept two or three biographies or novels by his bedside. The advent of tape recorders and cassettes added a new dimension to his musical interests, and he spent many hours taping and listening to the classics. When the Financial Times was no longer of great interest to him, he still was keen to rescue old copies in order to complete the crosswords. To the end Bill, who looked so frail and thin, by some mysterious alchemy and will power, sustained his own energy and maintained an active interest in events around him. He remained remarkably open to change - whether it was in the Church, in the Society, in the Province or in his Community. This openness to the Spirit and to change may well be attributed to his deep faith, his ready obedience and alertness to what the Church, the Society and Superiors were saying.
Bill had the gift of being able to enjoy himself. Those who were his holiday companions in his later years were often thirty years younger than himself, and it speaks volumes for Bill that they were happy and indeed honoured to accompany him. One of them who holidayed with him for the last ten years of his life remarked on the singlemindedness with which Bill could focus on the planning of the holiday. He would secure the brochures, make the arrangements himself, once the initial scruples about cost were overcome with the help of a kind push from a succession of Provincials, who were only too glad to have him enjoy what he could of life, given his precarious health. He would bring guide-books and dictionaries and books of crossword puzzles, tapes, and maps. He was known to write ahead with a little bribe, to persuade the concierge to hold a room facing the sun for the Padres Irlandeses. He supervised the packing of rations, and had various stratagems to avoid being accused of overweight baggage. On arrival at the apartamiento, he would win the hearts of the house staff with smiles and Spanish phrases. He supervised kitchen operations, and was easy to please in matters culinary, but made sure that the younger men got all they wanted. He dictated the order of time with a simple sense of his primacy, which occasionally infuriated the party. Tours, shopping, trips to the beach, were all planned with meticulous care, and with never a hitch. A favourite image is of Bill: thin, tanned body dressed in shorts and ancient straw hat, sitting on the balcony with the blue Mediterranean sparkling below, sipping a cooling beverage, and engrossed in a crossword, or possible savouring a morsel of food and holding forth on music, or humbly asking for light on abstruse theological points, or telling funny stories with delight and wit. Or again, emerging from the sea (somewhat like Venus) with a beam of sheer delight, and avowing that the sea was never so warm. Towards the end, he lived for his holiday, and as each one came to an end, he toasted what had been given to him. and tried to resign himself to the possibility that there might be no more. His holiday companion writes: 'Dignity, patience and graciousness characterised his acceptance of life and of his growing enfeeblement. We often chatted about matters eschatological, and of the joys of things unseen and yet to be; he would always end our speculations with the simple hope that God would be kind and merciful to him at the end. I have no doubt that He was, and that Bill was overwhelmed on the 27th December with the best of company, the open companionship of friends both human and divine, for he loved such company above all else while he was among us. I miss him very much, and I look forward to picking up our friendship anon,'
As time progressed, while Bill's interests remained alive and active, his ambit of activity narrowed. His Sunday Mass in St Anthony's was too much, as also was his weekly game of bridge. To the very end, however, he would visit his relatives. He was very attached to his sister, Ena. For Dan and Herbert he retained a great affection and was always anxious for them to call on him. Each Thursday he visited his aged cousin, and on Sunday his sister-in-law and nieces. These visits were never omitted. They were the palpable sign of his love and affection for his own. With them all, a word of sympathy in their loss of a true and constant friend, cousin, uncle, brother.
In conclusion it is not out of place to quote a tribute from one of Bill's professional advisers on hearing of his death:
“On behalf of all of us.,. I am writing to express our deepest sympathies on the death of Fr Dargan. It is comforting to know that his passing was so peaceful and, that at the end of a long, full, and creative life, he could still make good use of his exceptional faculties.
"He was a man of considerable talents who combined his religious calling with a perspicacity in financial affairs which
commanded our strongest respect. Indeed, in the almost daily enjoyable and stimulating conversations ... we used to hold with him over so many years, he always contributed greatly to the interpretation of events and the formulation of successful investment policy.
'His depth of understanding was, however, much greater than the purely rational analysis in which he excelled. He was, above all, a loyal friend. We grieve at his passing, for which we are all the poorer, and regretfully have to accept the end of an era which brought so much richness to our lives”.

Born: 04 October 1626, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 May 1650, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 1656,
Final Vows: 19 April 1661
Died: 03 March 1702, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)

1665 at Pontevedra College
1690 Taught Gramnar for 34 years at Pontevedra

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied Philosophy and begun Theology before Ent 12 May 1650 Villagarcía
After First Vows he did a brief Regency at Ávila and then completed his Theology being Ordained c 1656
1656-1702 Taught Humanities at Pontevedra College for twenty six years, and the last six years of his life was an Operarius in the Church and he died there 03 March 1702
The Superior of the Irish Mission, Francis White, asked the General to have him sent back to Ireland from Spain but his plea proved unsuccessful, or at least sent to the office of the Irish Mission Procurator at Madrid. This came to nothing, and his Spanish Superiors fought hard to keep him, as they recognised his real quality as a teacher and were also chaired by his agreeable character.

Born: 28 January 1668, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1685, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 1692, Salamanca, Spain
Final Vows: 02 February 1702
Died: 19 October 1728, Irish College, Salamanca, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)

Was Rector of Irish Seminary Salamanca
His portrait is at Salamanca - represented holding a pen

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
The De La Mers or De La Mares were a well known family of Westmeath.
Writer;
Stationed at Coruña before 1708
1708-1728 Second Founder and Rector of Salamanca (cf Foley’s Collectanea, where he is incorrectly called Delawer)
1709 He presented a petition to the King of Spain and narrates the following fruits of the College :
“ Almost all the students in this College have complied with their obligations - the exceptions indeed are very few - of going to the Missions in Ireland, and have supplied their own Island, and even England and Scotland with eminent prelates , missioners and martyrs, as is well known to the natives of those kingdoms, to the number 510. Among those were men illustrious for their virtue, learning and apostolic preaching, learned writers, controversialists etc, who often shed their blood for their faith. More than 130 others became conspicuous members of different religious orders in your Majesty’s dominions, as for instance 3 OSB, one of whom became General; 12 of the Cistercian Order; 17 OP; 1 Trinitarian; 26 OsF; 20 OSA; and more than 50 of the Society of Jesus. Each are more famous than another for their piety and their valuable writings. I pass over in silence 12 more Provincials it has given to these Orders, and to the Secular branch of Ireland, 4 Archbishops, 1 Primate, 5 Bishops, 2 Protonotaries Apostolic, 5 Vicars General, 18 graduates of Theology in the most celebrated Universities of Europe, and finally more than 30 Masters of Theology and Sacred Scripture, famed as Professors in those great theatres of learning.”
He may be called the “founder” of the College, having completely rebuilt it and largely increased its revenues. He died there 09/10/1728

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
After First Vows he studied at the Royal College Salamanca and was Ordained there 1693
1694-1708 After Tertianship he was sent to teach at the College of León for a year and then to the College La Caruña, where as well as teaching he was also at times Minister and Procurator.
1708-1728 Appointed Rector of Irish College Salamanca 20th May and he was to die in office twenty years later 19 October 1728. His Rectorship was was the longest in the history of that College. He laboured zealously at Salamanca for the temporal and spiritual well-being of the students, and it owed him an immense debt of gratitude for pushing to make the College worthy of its purpose : a training ground for learned and zealous priests to work in the dark days of the Penal times in Ireland.
The eulogy composed after his death rightly stated “justamente se le llame restaurador del seminario”

Born: 15 December 1867, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 14 December 1885, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 27 July 1902, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, Sydney, Australia
Died: 04 July 1949, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL: 05 April 1931

Came to Australia for Regency 1892
by 1904 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1905 returned to Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He Entered the Society at Loyola, Dromore and Milltown Park.

1888-1889 He was sent to St Stanislaus College Tullabeg for his Juniorate.
1889-1892 He returned to Milltown Park for Philosophy
1892-1893 He was sent to Australia and St Patrick’s College Melbourne for Regency
1893-1896 He continued his Regency at St Ignatius College Riverview
1896-1900 He continued his long Regency with four years at St Aloysius College, Bourke Street, Sydney.
1900-1904 He was back in Ireland and Milltown Park studying Theology.
1904-1905 He made tertianship at Drongen
1905-1915 Apart from some short periods during these years at Riverview and St Patrick’s College Melbourne, he spent this time at St Aloysius, variously as Prefect of Studies, Prefect of the Church and responsible for the Choir
1915-1949 During these years he did Parish work at Richmond, Hawthorn and Norwood.

He was a small but very robust man, full of energy and vitality. He had a love of melodrama and a deep love for the beautiful. He was interested in music and drama and was very successful directing school plays. A bright and vivacious character he also loved performing all Church ceremonies.

Born: 13 November 1918, Cleveland OH, USA
Entered: 01 September 1938, Milford OH, USA - Chicagensis Province (CHG)
Ordained: 13 June 1951
Final vows: 02 February 1956
Died: 14 May 2000, Clarkston MI, USA - Detroitensis Province (DET)

by 1971 came to Leeson St (HIB) working

Born: 27 January 1850, Trim, County Meath
Entered: 07 September 1870, Milltown Park, Dublin / Lons-le-Saulnier, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 29 August 1885, Woodstock College MD, USA
Professed: 03 February 1890
Died: 17 December 1921, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

Transcribed :
HIB to LUGD 1871; LUGD to NOR 1881

Born: 17 February 1912, Shipley, Yorkshire, England
Entered: 25 February 1928, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 26 July 1942, Heythrop, Oxford, England
Final vows: 02 February 1945
Died: 15 September 1992, St Joseph. Hawthorn, Melbourne, 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 :
Brother of Charles - RIP 1993

At age seven his family of two brothers and two sisters emigrated from England to Australia. His early education was at Footscray and Ascot Vale, and then at St Patrick’s College, Melbounre, where his father was a music teacher

He joined the Society in 1928 and after First Vows his studies took him to Ireland where he gained a BA at University College Dublin, then Philosophy at Chieri Italy and then England where he was Ordianed. General Ledochowski described Chieri as the most austere house in the Society, and Frank agreed but said it did not upset him as much as some other Australians.

1946-1953 He was sent to teach English, History, Economics and religion at St Ignatius College Riverview, and he was also in charge of debating and the Choir. His keen interest in History resulted in his publishing a textbook “Europe a History” which revealed his conviction that the Church had nothing to fear from a dispassionate examination of the facts of its history.
1954-1965 He taught English at St Patrick’s College Melbourne, and was also Prefect of Studies (1962-1965). He edited the “Patrician”, and his editorials were always full of wisdom, wit and grace.
1966-1967 He was sent teaching at St Ignatius Riverview
1968-1970 He was sent teaching St Ignatius College Athelstone, but his primary mission here was to look after his health.
1971-1973 He was sent to Canisius College Pymble, again paying attention to his health and caring for the grounds.
1974 He was appointed province Archivist and moved to the Provincial Residence in Melbourne

All during his long life he was a very faithful man and at peace with himself and the world round him doing the most humble of tasks. At the same time he was a scholar and well versed in Jesuit Spirituality, and this was demonstrated when he gave the Spiritual Exercises and in his writings, which were always clear, precise and informative. His memory for detail added richness to the narrative. For example, when writing on devotion to the Sacred Heart at a tie when it was becoming neglected he was able to capture it with a modern freshness of style and expression enkindling a greater devotion among younger Jesuits and understanding of this traditional Jesuit devotion. He also wrote “The Spiritual Exercises in Australia”, poems and historical articles. His eye for historical detail was meticulous and his knowledge and memory were prodigious.

He enjoyed the work as a Province Archivist, as it gave scope to his historical scholarship and precision. He was helpful to research scholars. His knowledge of the contents of the archives was also prodigious, as was his memory of the people and events of his own lifetime. With the assistance of Austin Ryan he compiled a short biography of every Jesuit who had lived and worked in Australia. His comments on each man were precise and accurate, frequently dispelling oral myths. His last major task was to catalogue the Archives so that others would be easily able to find material in the future.

It would be difficult to find anyone more regular in his life than Frank Dennett. He worked in the basement of the Provincial Residence seven days a week during three sessions, morning, afternoon and evening, broken only by an irregular outside visit to a bookshop,. He died at his desk.

He was a man with a strong sense of the frailty of the human condition and compassion for people. He bore his long illness with enormous courage and patience. He was a quiet retiring man, whose interests varied from the most serious intellectual subjects to sport. He was close to his family and corresponded fairly regularly with his siblings, especially his Jesuit brother Charles. His tasks as a Jesuit Teacher, Historian and Archivist, Cook and Administrator were accomplished with a great sense of obligation and responsibility, and each was performed as perfectly as possible. In his younger years the scholastics admired the way in which he sung the Easter ceremonies at Newman College Chapel, a task he performed most exactly and with obvious enjoyment. He had a fine singing voice.

He was a man who thought very little of himself and served the Society with great thoroughness.

Born: 24 January 1877, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 11 September 1894, Barrô, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)
Ordained: 26 July 1910, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 23 August 1946, Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil - Brasiliensis Septrionalis Province (BRA S)

by 1910 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1909-1912

Born: 02 February 1598, County Roscommon
Entered: 09 October 1618, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1624, Douai France
Final Vows: 1636
Died: 04 August 1650, Waterford City, County Waterford - Described as "Martyr of Charity"

Superior of Irish Mission January 18 April 1646 & 1650-04 August 1650

Dispute over date of death 04/08/1650 or 03/06/1650
Catalogus Defuncti 1641-1740 says 03/06/1650

Parents were Earl of Roscommon and Eleanor Barnewall
Studied Humanities in Ireland. Studied Humanities in Tournai and 2 years Philosophy at Douai. Not in Belgium in 1622
1622 At Douai in 2nd year Theology
1625-1628 Teaching Philosophy and Mathematics at Douai

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Earl of Roscommon
Distinguished for both virtue and learning. He died a victim of charity, exhausted by daily and nightly attendance upon thee plague-stricken in Waterford, surviving his fellow Martyr James Walshe by two months. Eulogised in the Report to Fr General Nickell on the Irish Mission (1641-1650) by the Visitor Mercure Verdier - a copy of which from the Archives of the English College Rome, is now in the collection of Roman Transcripts in the Library of Public Record Office, London (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of James, First Earl of Roscommon and Eleanor née Barnewall
After First Vows he studied Theology at Douai and was Ordained there c 1624
1624-1629 Taught Philosophy and Mathematics at Douai, and then made his Tertianship at Gemaert (Gevaert?).
1629 Sent to Ireland and to the Dublin Residence where he became Superior 1635
1639 Returned to Belgium in an unsuccessful attempt to establish an Irish Seminary at Douai which came to nothing
1641-1646 On the surrender of Dublin he left and became Superior of the Galway Residence
1646 Appointed Superior of the Mission. However, he could not assume office because new directions came from the Holy See saying that a position of authority could not be held successively without interruption.
1647 Back in Belgium on business with the inter-Nuncio.
He seems to have steered clear of political entanglements during the Rinuccini mission in Ireland. According tom the Mercure Verdier 1649 Report to the General on the Irish Mission he had declared that if he were appointed Superior of the Mission he would admit to the Society no one of old Irish origin without the gravest reasons. He was not alone in this view.
1650 Owing to the death of the General, Verdier’s concerns were not acted on, and so he succeeded William Malone as Superior of the Mission in January 1650 sometime during the year he went to Waterford which was plague stricken after the Cromwellian war, and there he displayed huge courage in his ministrations to the sick, but died a martyr of charity of this plague himself 03 June 1650

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962

George Dillon (1646)

George Dillon, son of James Dillon, Earl of Roscommon, and Eleonora Barnewall, was born in the diocese of Meath on 2nd February, 1596. Having obtained his degree of Master of Arts at Douay, he entered the Novitiate of Tournay immediately after, on 9th October, 1616. He studied theology at Douay for four years, and spent another four years teaching philosophy and mathematics there, until 1629, when he returned to Ireland, and was stationed in North Leinster. He made his solemn profession of four Vows in 1636, and published a controversial work on the Reasons and Motives of the Catholic Faith. He was Superior of the Galway Residence from 1641 to 1646. On 18th April, 1646, he was appointed Superior of the Mission, but this arrangement had to be cancelled on 11th August of the same year, on account of a decree issued by Pope Innocent X (1st January, 1646), which limited the term of office of religious Superiors to three years, and forbade the appointment to a new Superiorship of anyone who had already been a Superior until he had passed a year and a half in the ranks as an ordinary subject.

George Dillon (1650)

The first appointment of Fr George Dillon in 1646 had been rendered inoperative by the decree of Pope Innocent X. on triennial government, and now this second appointment was to be rendered almost equally ineffective by death. The Cromwellian war brought pestilence in its wake. Several of the Fathers died in the service of the plague-stricken. When Fr James Walsh was carried off by the disease at Waterford (4th June, 1650), Fr George Dillon continued his ministrations. On the feast of St Ignatius he attended the Mayor of Waterford, who had caught the infection, heard his confession, and gave him Holy Communion. The next two days he exhausted himself hearing the confessions of the terrified people who thronged to him, and was stricken down himself. He died, a martyr of charity, fortified by the rites of the Church and invoking the name of Jesus, on 4th August, 1650.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father George Dillon 1596-1650
The honourable Fr George Dillon, son of Jame Dillon, Earl of Roscommon, was born on February 2nd 1596. At Tournai in 1618 he entered the Society.

On his return to Ireland in 1629, he was stationed in North Leinster. He became Superior of the Galway Residence 1641-1646. In that year, Fr General appointed him Superior of the Mission, but the appointment had to be cancelled, owing to a decree by Pope Innocent X, which required a year and a half in the ranks between two Superiorships. However, in 1650 Fr Dillon eventually became Superior of the Mission, only a short time before his death as a martyr of charity.

The Cromwellian War brought pestilence in its wake. When Fr James Walsh succumbed to the disease in Waterford, Fr Dillon took his place. On the Feast of St Ignatius he attended the Mayor who had contracted the infection. Shortly afterwards, on August 1st, Fr Dillon himself died of the plague, invoking the Holy Name of Jesus.

It is related, that in the same year as him, his brother James Dillon fell down twelve steps of stairs in Limerick, and he died four days afterwards. In the presence of death, he renounced Protestantism and received the Last Sacraments. This great grace was attributed to the prayers of his saintly brother.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DILLON, GEORGE, son of the Earl of Roscommon : illustrious by birth, he was still more illustrious by his virtues. As a missionary he was a pattern of the inward spirit, full of zeal, meekness and charity. He used to insist amongst his Brethren on the necessity of unwearied labour, whilst the Almighty blessed them with health and bodily vigour, as old age was rather a period of suffering than of active exertion. Exhausted with the duty of daily and nightly attendance on the sick at Waterford, when the plague raged in that city, he at length was numbered on the 4th of August, 1650, amongst its fatal victims. He died most piously, invoking with his last breath the sweet name of Jesus.

Born: 1609, County Meath
Entered: 09 November 1628, Back Lane, Dublin
Ordained: 1636/7, Douai, France
Died: 07 February 1652, Athlone, County Westmeath

1630 at Tournai
1633 At Douai in 2nd year Philosophy
1636 In 3rd year Theology at Douai
1639 Teaching Humanities at Douai
1639 On the Mission
1650 Catalogue Taught Humanities and Philosophy. Procurator for 2 years. Confessor and Preacher

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Had studied Humanities and two years Philosophy before Ent - Knew Irish, English, Latin and French
He taught Humanities for four years and Philosophy for two; Confessor, Preacher, Procurator of Residence for two years.
1639 Came to Ireland (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI)
1649 Living at Kilkenny (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
he had a great many cousins in the Supreme Council and was an active supporter of Dr Rothe

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ:
After First Vows he was sent to Douai for further studies - though his name cannot be traced until 1632 - and he was Ordained there 1636/7
1639 He was sent to Ireland, where his career cannot be traced until at least from 1643 where he was teaching at Kilkenny, and was there for the next six years teaching Humanities and Philosophy.
He was one of the six Jesuit signatories to the declaration that the reply of the Supreme Council to Rinuccini contained nothing against faith and morals. This action resulted in the sending of Mercure Verdier to the on a Visitation of the Irish Mission by the General. In Verdier’s 1649 Report, he stated that William Dillon and John Ussher were the foremost in circulating this reply to the Nuncio.
1650 During or after the siege of Kilkenny he escaped to Athlone with some others from the Kilkenny Community. He died there 07 February 1652.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DILLON, WILLIAM. This Father was born in 1609, and at the age of twenty united himself to the Society. He was living at Kilkenny in 1649

Born: 15 February 1938, Limerick and Dublin
Entered: 23 September 1972, Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 18 July 1973, Wicklow Town, County Wicklow

Part of Manresa community, Dollymount, Dublin at time of his death.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 48th Year No 4 1973

Obituary :

Mr Brian Delaney (1938-1973)

Brian was what would be called nowadays “a delayed vocation”, entering the novitiate at Manresa at the age of thirty-four. He was born 15th February, 1938, and entered 23rd September 1973. His first contact with the Society was as a small boy at the Crescent. His memories of those days in Limerick were hazy as he left with the family for Dublin when he was nine. He received his secondary education at Marino, O’Connell Schools and CUS.
Equipped with Leaving Cert. and Matric he went into Esso Petroleum Company and spent thirteen years with the firm, the last seven as a representative, In 1961 he obtained the Diploma in Public Administration. From 1969 he ran his own very successful service station,
While in Esso Brian became associated with Manresa Retreat House as a promoter and continued the good work even after he had left the company. During the retreat in January 1972 he came to the present writer for a chat. The burden of his remarks, of which he often spoke afterwards was that he was great for about a month after each retreat and up for early Mass, etc. but that then the effects wore off. In his complete sincerity this worried him so it was arranged that if he did not get in touch after a month he was to be “looked up”.
He was back in a month and all was well; some weeks later, back again to say that his business while prosperous was appearing to lose interest for him and that he would like to be a priest. The next time, with no prompting, he expressed a wish, diffidently but earnestly, to enter the Society. From that time until he was accepted formally his one anxiety was that he may be deemed unsuitable.
As a novice he was happy as never before. He said after several months that he was always wondering when the “let down” would come. Perhaps the only real problem for him was the effort to give up smoking - not surprising since he had contracted a habit of very heavy consumption of cigarettes; he mastered the weakness to the extent that he could accept a cigarette on the community occasions they were available without trepidation of a relapse.
The Irish and English novices had their villa arranged for Wicklow - a reciprocation of last year's villa in the Isle of Wight. On the afternoon of this fifth day of the holiday, July 18th, Fr M P Gallagher who was in charge went golfing in company with Brian and one of the English novices, Stuart Agnew. Brian was an expert and the others merely beginners. He however did not appear to be on his game. Coming up the hill at the fifth hole he got a pain in the chest and had to rest. He thought it a recurrence of an ulcer complaint from which he had suffered formerly. The pain seemed to pass and they decided to continue the game. Not for long, alas, for with the second hole he seemed to stagger and admitted it had come again; they decided to return to the club house, playing a hole going that direction any way. When Fr Gallagher looked towards him he saw him lying on the ground : it was serious. Stuart went for a doctor while the priest gave absolution; the matron of the local hospital was on the links at the next green, and came endeavouring to render artificial respiration but in vain - a coronary attack of a massive type had intervened.
The doctor arrived within ten minutes but too late.
Fr Gallagher continues : “the novices assembled in the improvised chapel where Brian had received Holy Communion that morning seemed possessed with a common recognition that Brian had found the Lord, ‘in the middle of life's span’, in a manner that provided for him great happiness and preparedness to enter into His presence”. RIP

Born: 10 June 1778, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1805, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Final vows: 27 September 1832
Died: 24 May 1836, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare

In Clongowes 1817

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied at Stonyhurst and Palermo, where he was Ordained.
For some years he was an assistant to a PP in Dublin.
He was eventually appointed Procurator at Clongowes where he died.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was very remarkable for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, for his love of the Society and his care for the poor. His death was a source of wonder and edification to all on account of the heroic fortitude he had displayed during his illness. On one occasion, holding out his hands all swollen with dropsy, he said to someone “Look at these hands, how unsightly and shapeless they are! But what does it matter, seeing that I am going to God”.

◆ 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.

A letter from the Acting General Father Thaddeus Brezozowski, dated St Petersburg 14/06/1806 was addressed to the only two survivors, Betagh and O’Callaghan. He thanked them for their work and their union with those in Russia, and suggested that the restoration was close at hand.

A letter from Nicholas Sewell, dated Stonyhurst 07/07/1809 to Betagh gives details of Irishmen being sent to Sicily for studies : Bartholomew Esmonde, Paul Ferley, Charles Aylmer, Robert St Leger, Edmund Cogan and James Butler. Peter Kenney and Matthew Gahan had preceded them. These were the foundation stones of the Restored Society.

Returning to Ireland, Kenney, Gahan and John Ryan took residence at No3 George’s Hill. Two years later, with the monies saved for them, Kenney bought Clongowes as a College for boys and a House of Studies for Jesuits. From a diary fragment of Aylmer, we learn that Kenney was Superior of the Irish Mission and Prefect of Studies, Aylmer was Minister, Claude Jautard, a survivor of the old Society in France was Spiritual Father, Butler was Professor of Moral and Dogmatic Theology, Ferley was professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Esmonde was Superior of Scholastics and they were joined by St Leger and William Dinan. Gahan was described as a Missioner at Francis St Dublin and Confessor to the Poor Clares and irish Sisters of Charity at Harold’s Cross and Summerhill. Ryan was a Missioner in St Paul’s, Arran Quay, Dublin. Among the Scholastics, Brothers and Masters were : Brothers Fraser, Levins, Connor, Bracken, Sherlock, Moran, Mullen and McGlade.

Trouble was not long coming. Protestants were upset that the Jesuits were in Ireland and sent a petition was sent to Parliament, suggesting that the Vow of Obedience to the Pope meant they could not have an Oath of Allegiance to the King. In addition, the expulsion of Jesuits from all of Europe had been a good thing. Kenney’s influence and diplomatic skills resulted in gaining support from Protestants in the locality of Clongowes, and a counter petition was presented by the Duke of Leinster on behalf of the Jesuits. This moment passed, but anto Jesuit feelings were mounting, such as in the Orange faction, and they managed to get an enquiry into the Jesuits and Peter Kenney and they appeared before the Irish Chief Secretary and Provy Council. Peter Kenney’s persuasive and oratorical skills won the day and the enquiry group said they were satisfied and impressed.

Over the years the Mission grew into a Province with Joseph Lentaigne as first Provincial in 1860. In 1885 the first outward undertaking was the setting up of an Irish Mission to Australia by Lentaigne and William Kelly, and this Mission grew exponentially from very humble beginnings.

Later the performance of the Jesuits in managing UCD with little or no money, and then outperforming what were known as the “Queen’s Colleges” forced the issue of injustice against Catholics in Ireland in the matter of University education. It is William Delaney who headed up the effort and create the National University of Ireland under endowment from the Government.from the Government.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father William Dinan 1778-1836
At Clongowes Wood College on May 11th 1836 died Fr William Dinan. Born in Waterford in 1778, he entered the Society in 1805, making his studies first at Stonyhurst, then in Palermo, where he was ordained.

On his return to Ireland he worked for some years at St Michan’s parish in Dublin. He then became Oeconomus in Clongowes, a post he held for a long time.

He was remarkable for his love of the Blessed Virgin, for his love of the Society and for the poor.

His death was a source of great edification to all on account of the heroic fortitude he displayed during his last illness. On one occasions, holding out his hands all swollen with dropsy, he said “Look a these poor hands, how unsightly and shapeless they are. But what does it matter, srring as I am going to God”.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DINAN, WILLIAM, was born at Waterford on the 10th of June, 1778, and joined the Society with several others at Hodder, in 1805. He commenced his Theological studies at Stonyhurst, and finished them at Palermo in Sicily, where he was ordained Priest. On his return to Ireland, he was for several years Assistant to a Parish Priest in Dublin; but eventually was employed as Procurator at Clongowes Wood College, near Dublin, and during a lengthened period discharged the duties of that office with exemplary zeal and punctuality. He breathed his last at Clongowes on the 24th May, 1836, with the greatest calmness and resignation, Prof. 4.

Born: 09 May 1839, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1858, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 19 September 1874, Laval, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1879
Died: 11 May 1919, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

by 1867 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1872 at Laval France (FRA) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had two brothers Priests in the Dublin Diocese, one the PP of Dunlavin and another PP of Celbridge. Both predeceased Edmund.

Early education was at Belvedere College SJ.

After his Noviceship he studied Philosophy and Theology at Laval, finishing his Theology at Milltown.
He spent many years in Tullabeg, Clongowes and Galway.
1886 He went from Tullabeg to Galway, and remained there until his death 11 May 1919.

The following appreciation appeared for Edmund in a local paper after his death :
“Father Donovan entered the Society of Jesus on 07 September 1858 and made his Noviceship at Roehampton, under that distinguished Spiritual Director Father Tracey Clarke SJ. He made his Philosophical and Theological studies in France and was Ordained at Laval, and Final Vows 02 February 1879.
His life as a Priest in the Society of Jesus was mostly spent in the seclusion of the classroom and Church. The results of these long years of useful and self-effacing labour are written in the Book of Life and in the hearts and minds of his many pupils. In the year 1883 we find him Vice-Rector at his old Alma Mater, Belvedere.
For the last thirty four years of his life he worked in Galway. Father Donovan is too well known to the residents of Galway to need any eulogies to raise him in their affection and esteem. The sympathetic crowd of all conditions that attended his Solemn Requiem Mass on Tuesday last testify to that. The members of the Sodality of Our Blessed Lady formed a guard of honour at the funeral, and vied with each other for the privilege of bearing his remains to the grave. The poor, whom, as a true Priest, he loved while he lived, also showed that they had not forgotten him in death.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Guardians, a vote of condolence was passed with the Jesuit Fathers on the death of Father Donovan, the proposer remarking that in both religion and amongst laymen, the deceased was one of the most respected clergymen in the city.”

Note from Patrick Hughes Entry :
He was then sent to Laval for Theology, and in the company of Edmund Donovan, was Ordained there.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Edmund Donovan 1839-1919
Fr Edmund Donovan was born in Dublin on May 9th 1839. He had two brothers priests in the Diocese, one was Parish Priest of Dunlavin, the other of Celbridge.

Fr Donovan’s life as a Jesuit was spent in the seclusion of the classroom and the Church. The results of these long years of useful and self-effacing labour are written in the Book of Life and in the hearts of his many pupils, but they deserve to be recorded here, if only as typical of the lives of many of Ours in the Province, especially those who toil in the classroom.

In 1883 Fr Donovan was Vice-Rector of his old Alma Mater, Belvedere, but the main years of his life, 34 years in all, were spent in Galway.

He died in Galway on May 11th 1919 at the age of 80. The huge crowd, rich and poor, which attended his funeral testify to the esteem and affection in which he was held in Galway. The members of Our Lady’s Sodality formed a guard of honour at the funeral, and vied with one another for the privilege of bearing his remains to the grave. The poor, whom, as true priest, he had loved in his lifetime, showed that they had not forgotten him in death.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1920

Obituary

Father Edmund Donovan SJ

Owing to going so early to press last year we were unable to record the death of Fr Donovan at St. Ignatius' College, Galway, on the 11th of May. He was one of our oldest pupils, having entered Belvedere in 1852. We have before us as we write a faded pink programme which records how “at the Christmas Exams. 1855, of the College of St Francis Xavier, the following young gentlemen particularly distinguished themselves”. Then follow the names of these distinguished alumni, and amongst them we see in the “Class of Humanity” Edmund Donovan, figuring as first in Classics and German, and second in English and French.

This promis ing beginning was followed by a long life of successful work in the Society of Jesus. As a master in Tullabeg, Galway, Limerick, Clongowes, as Vice-Rector of Belvedere in 1883, and as a zealous Church worker in Galway for the last thirty four years of his life, Fr Donovan ever played the part of a zealous, unostentatious, sincere worker in the vineyard of the Lord. RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1919

Obituary

Father Edmund Donovan SJ

On the 11th of May, at the age of 80, Father Donovan passed away at St Ignatius College, Galway. His School career belongs rather to Belvedere than to Clongowes for he had been five years at Belvedere before coming to us for the last year of his school life. A few months after leaving Clongowes he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in England. That was in 1858, so that ten years ago he had the happiness of celebrating the Golden Jubilee of his Jesuit life. And that life was one of uninterrupted usefulness and self-effacing labour. He taught in Tullabeg, Limerick, Galway, Clongowes, and Belvedere. Of the last-named, his Alma Mater, he was made Vice-Rector in 1883. “During the time”, says the Belvederian, “he guided her destinies not only did the number of her students increase, but the spirit of work and the general efficiency that marked his reign will bear favourable comparison with the best periods in her long history”.
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For the last thirty-four years of his life Father Donovan worked in Galway. Up to the last he took his full share in the work of the Church - sermons, late Masses, direction of sodalities, the confessional. His rôle was unostentatious and unassuming, but the sick and the poor will not soon forget his charity, nor his penitents the kindliness and patience of their director.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Edmund Donovan (1839-1919)

A native of Dublin, entered the Society in 1858. He was prefect of studies at the Crescent from 1883-1885. After a year in Tullabeg, he was transferred to St Ignatius' College, Galway where he was at different times, prefect of studies, master, minister and member of the church staff until his death.

Born: 28 November 1807, Tralee, County Kerry
Entered: 22 September 1840, Tournoi, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1847
Died: 27 September 1848, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Most likely that he received his early education at Stonyhurst before Ent at age 33.

1843-1846 Prefect and Master at Clongowes
1846-1847 Studying Theology at Clongowes and teaching Irish.
He died comparatively young, being in his 41st year and 8th in the Society.

Born: 08 July 1913, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 04 October 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1948, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows 02 February 1951, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 20 January 1994, Beechfield Manor, Dublin

Part of Belvedere College SJ community at time of death.

by 1979 at Coventry England (ANG) working.

◆ Interfuse No 82 : September 1995 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1995

Obituary

Fr Edmond (Eddie) Murphy (1913-1994)

8th July 1913; Born in Limerick
Secondary studies: C.B.S., Sexton Street, Limerick. Taught at primary level for two and a half years.
4th Oct. 1937: Entered the Society at Emo
5th Oct. 1939: First Vows at Emo
1939 - 1941: Lived at Rathfarnham while studying Arts at UCD.
1941 - 1944: Philosophy at Tullabeg
1944 - 1945: Regency in Belvedere College
1945 - 1949: Theology at Milltown Park
28th July 1948: Ordained a priest in Milltown Park by Bishop J.C. McQuaid
1949 - 1950: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1950 - 1965: Belvedere College, Prefect of Studies, Junior School
1965 - 1967: Gonzaga College, Prefect of Studies
1967 - 1978: Belvedere College, Teacher
1978 - 1980: Coventry, England, working in a Parish
1980 - 1984: Belvedere College, Teacher
1984 - 1985: Loyola House, Province Secretary
1985 - 1994: Belvedere College
1985 - 1991: Writer and Confessor to the Boys
1991 - 1994: Praying for the Society and the Church
20th Jan. 1994: Died at Beechfield Nursing Home, Shankill, Co. Dublin

To the believing Christian the words of St. Paul (from our first reading) “Our homeland is in heaven” give meaning to the gift of life - to our passage through life - and, finally, to our passage from life. As we celebrate this Mass in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. Eddie Murphy, we rejoice in his passing from this world in spite of the sorrow that his death occasions in each of us. Such is the paradox of the Christian Faith - such is the gift of that Hope in which we live out our lives - and such are the thoughts which our love for him bring to our hearts this morning.

The life of Fr. Eddie Murphy can be traced in the footsteps of His Master and Teacher. From early childhood - and numerous are the instances recounted by his family! - by word and example he taught his younger brothers and sisters the path of rectitude and right living. After leaving school in his native Limerick, he became a Primary School Teacher, and at the age of 24, joined the Jesuits in 1937. He received the B.A. degree in English, Latin and Irish, and, apart from the period of formation, spent nearly all of his life in the classroom, most of it in Belvedere College.

He is remembered as a person with a deep love of the vocation of Teaching - with high and strict standards set and demanded - yet he is recalled as a person with a deep interest in the individual student, which extended far beyond the confines of the classroom. He is also fondly remembered for the help and advice given to many young teachers starting out on their career. For 15 years - from 1950 to 1965 - Eddie was a much respected Headmaster of the Junior School in Belvedere. He brought to his mastery of the classroom techniques a great love of music - he was an enthusiastic listener, player and even composer - witness his STRING QUARTET in E MINOR of 1982!

That, in a few short lines, is the resume of the life of this teacher, faithful both to that profession and to his Jesuit vocation. After his retirement from teaching, he spent two years in parochial work in Coventry (during which time he undertook the challenging task of translating into English the Memorial of one of the founding companions of the Society of Jesus, B1, Peter Fabre). Unfortunately, he did not live to see his work in print. He also wrote short lives of Jesuits Blessed and Saints. At the end of 1980 he returned to his beloved Belvedere to live out the last 15 years of his life.

Apart from two years spent under his guidance in regency in Gonzaga College in the 60's, it was during these last years that I knew him best. His urbane deportment and interest in all things intellectual failed to hide a quite delicious and often mischievous sense of humour, of which the brethren in the community have been recalling the most outrageous examples during these past two days.

Just over 5 years ago, Fr, Eddie suffered the first of many minor strokes, which gradually slowed him down, and eventually led him along a path which, known only to God, seemed such a mysterious vocation for one who had been gifted with such an outstanding interest in the things of the mind.

The words of Christ in St. John's Gospel in this Mass summarise very well the diptych which has been his life. When young and in his prime, Fr. Eddie enjoyed God's gifts to the full - and he shared the fruits of them with others........ but, in the evening of his life, he followed St. Peter: “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will bind you and take you where you don't want to go”.

I think that it is in this latter living out of his vocation that Eddie made his greatest offering to God. It is not for us to pass judgement on the ways in which God deals with another, yet there were times when we were tempted to ask why the Lord did not call him home, as his bodily strength failed, as his contemporaries passed on and as he faded into silence. But we can always bear witness to the ways in which God speaks to us through others.....and it is in this faith-context that we can thank God for the gift of Eddie Murphy, the patient.

One of the pillars of the Foundation of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises is the unconditional and complete offering of ourselves to God - in such a way that, “as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honour to dishonour, a long life to a short life”. Over 50 years ago, Eddie made that offering when he pronounced his First Vows in the Society of Jesus, and how well was that young man's commitment honoured in these last years of life, unheralded and unsung in the eyes of the world, yet as precious and fruitful as any years spent in his active ministry. Of what use, the world may ask, was this life of helpless existence? Only to the eyes of Faith can the answer be apparent - for I deeply believe that Eddie was asked to “hang on”, as it were, so that God could show forth the strength of love and draw out from others the extraordinary outpouring of living care and concern of which Eddie was the recipient from those whose vocation it is to look after the sick and helpless. I can only record my unbounded admiration for the nursing and caring Staff who showed their love for an old and feeble man in such a deeply Christian way. As I welcome you here, I hope that, when you think of Fr. Eddie Murphy, you will do so with pride in your work and with a deep sense of gratitude to God for having given you the grace to love him so well! In shouldering his needs, you have shouldered the yoke of Christ - you have learned from Eddie as well - and you have been gentle and very loving in heart - and you brought him rest for body and soul. Thanks to you, he could find Christ's yoke easy and His burden light.

Eddie waited so long for the coming of Our Saviour to call him home - but now his old enfeebled body (St. Paul speaks of "these wretched bodies of ours") will be transfigured into a copy of Christ's glorious body.

Fr Eddie's passing reminds us of the gift of life and the mystery of death - of God's forgiveness and our hope in Him - of our need to count on His word and to wait for Him.

To those of you who have joined us this morning to say farewell to Eddie, we, his Family and his Brother-Jesuits, thank you for the gift of your friendship and love for him.......and we pray that God, who spoke to you through him, will reward you for your love of him, “in full measure, pressed down and overflowing”.

We cannot but rejoice with and for Eddie - even in the midst of our sadness at this parting. But, when our sorrow has eased with the passage of time, may we be able to look back and recall what we shared together - and laugh at the fun-times - and in our laughter, may we give thanks.

As we celebrate this Eucharist, we reaffirm our Faith that “our homeland is in heaven”. As we pray for Eddie, we ask God to grant us the grace to be reunited with him in that heavenly home. As we say farewell, we say may you be with God, Eddie. And we say may God be-with-you, GOOD-BYE!

Michael Sheil

◆ The Gonzaga Record 1994

Obituary

Edmond Murphy SJ

Prefect of Studies 1965-7

If only to jog the memories of those past pupils who knew Fr Eddie I shall begin my small tribute by putting him into his proper context in Gonzaga history.

He came to Gonzaga in the August of 1965 to assume the role of Prefect of Studies (the title 'Headmaster' had not yet arrived) in succession to Fr Bill White who was kicked upstairs to be the Rector in place of Fr John Hughes. He came to us after fifteen very successful years as Prefect of Studies of the Junior School in Belvedere and, when he departed again in 1967, he was sucked back once more into the life of that college, where he remained a superb teacher of English and French until the years caught up on him. He was succeeded in Gonzaga by Fr Paul Andrews.
His two years among us were significant in many ways. Apart from his own substantial contribution to the academic life of the college, these were years when the lay staff included such notable personalities as Cathal O'Gara, Ray Kearns, John Wilson, Tom O'Dea and Edmundo Volpi, while among the Jesuits on active service in the classroom were Fr Joe Veale, Fr Joe Kavanagh, Fr Bill Lee, Fr Diarmuid O’Laoghaire, Fr John O'Leary, the two Fr Redmonds (Stephen and John), Fr Fred Cull, Fr (then ‘Mr') Michael Sheil, and myself.

His arrival in Gonzaga coincided with the erection of the great steel frame that was the skeleton of the present Boys' Chapel. 1966 was also the year when a large group of our senior boys marched in the 1916 Anniversary Schools' Procession to Croke Park, proudly carrying the tricolour and the school pennant, and the Proclamation was solemnly unveiled in the school theatre by Cathal Brugha, grandson of the 1916 leader, and read aloud by the captain, James O'Rourke. It was in this year too that Barry Bresnihan got his first call-up as centre-three-quarter against England at Twickenham.

Fr Eddie Murphy was a man of many parts. Limerick-born, he received his early education at the CBS in Sexton St, but did not enter the Society of Jesus immediately after his secondary schooling. Indeed, he had already attained the ripe age of 24 and had some two-and-a-half years' teaching in a national school behind him before he appeared on the steps of Emo Park to begin his noviceship. He then followed the normal course of Jesuit formation - two years' noviciate, three years attending UCD from Rathfarnham Castle and equipping himself with his BA and HDip in Ed, three years' philosophy in Tullabeg, a year's regency (i.e. teaching) in Belvedere, and four years' theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained priest on 28 July 1948. Then began his long association with Belvedere, interrupted only by his short stint at Gonzaga.

A man of many parts, I said. Yes, a man who gave his full commitment to the task in hand and while with us he generously shared his gift for organisation, his pedagogical experience, his aptitude for making friends, his rich vein of humour, his understanding of youth, his wise counselling and encouragement, and all his other many talents. I have spoken to a number of past pupils who were in Gonzaga between 1965 and 1967 and I have found that they all remember him with affection, recognising a person who was efficient, helpful, kind and very fair. In his dealings with boys, especially seniors, there were no 'scenes’, no tirades. His own mature handling of situations seemed to call forth a reciprocal maturity. One past pupil reminded me of how he would visit a classroom and, having made whatever pronouncement the occasion required, he would move towards the door, but then, as if an afterthought, deliver himself of an exit line in the form of an apt quotation, not infrequently in Latin.

Thinking of Fr Eddie there comes naturally to my mind the passage from Goldsmith's The Deserted Village:

A man severe he was, and stern to view;
I knew him well, and every truant new;
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frowned;
Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault.

Yes, he was, perhaps, a trifle ‘stern to view'. His fiery top contributed somewhat to this image, and I recall now the remark of a colleague who one day caught him in a pensive mood, in a pose that had him glaring at his fingernails “as if he were daring his fingers to answer back'. In memory's eye I see him with those same fingers poised menacingly over the keyboard of a piano, an instrument he always played fortissimo and, at times, agitato: I see him with his head thrust forward like a turtle's, his nose almost pressed against the sheet of music because of his short-sightedness. He was no mean musician and among his compositions is a String Quartet which had its premiere in Belvedere.

But then, I suppose, anyone who takes on the job of Prefect of Studies must make an effort to look a bit severe, and his pupils may see only one aspect of him. As one who shared his student days and had him as a friend and colleague in Gonzaga, I can assure all who served under him that Fr Eddie was a man of infinite wit, with a loud and infectious laugh, and he was a great swopper of stories - 'for many a joke had he'.

Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore for learning was in fault.

Fr Eddie was a learned man with a deep love of learning. Most of his time in Belvedere he taught English and some French, but also spoke Irish fluently. In any language he was a purist and perfectionist and was steeped in semantics. As a former Classics teacher I like to think that this derived from his profound knowledge of Latin, and here I might add that among his works was a translation of the Memoriale of Br Peter Faber SJ commissioned by the Jesuit Resources Institute in the USA. For many a year he accompanied a group of Belvedere boys to Stratford-on-Avon, and so became known to many Gonzagians who shared this experience with the sister college.

While in Gonzaga he gave no evidence of athletic prowess; he was far more at home with dusty volumes than muddy fields. Yet I remember him as a faithful follower of this College's fortunes when the Cup matches got under way. One picture I relish of him was the occasion when he had been persuaded to take bat in hand for some cricket match - it may have been Staff versus Boys, I don't rightly remember. Anyway I see him now, caparisoned in minuscule pads, standing uncertainly at the wicket and peering suspiciously towards the other end as if there was a Curtly Ambrose lurking to deliver a lethal ball.

As he neared his four-score years his health collapsed and the dimming of an already weak sight must have been a great frustration to one for whom books and learning were such nourishment. His final period on earth was spent in a nursing home where he gradually loosened his grip on this world and began to breathe the airs of eternity. He passed away quietly on 20 January 1994, aged eighty-one.

May his gentle soul rest contentedly today in the happiness of God's home.

Edmund Keane SJ

Born: 27 August 1899, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 31 August 1917, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 14 June 1932, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1935, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 30 April 1982, St Joseph's Nursing Home, Kilcroney, County Wicklow

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

by 1924 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1934 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 57th Year No 3 1982

Obituary

Fr Vincent Dennehy (1899-1917-1982)

My first glimpse of Vincent Dennehy was on 1st September 1919; he was a Junior preparing himself for the University; the place was Tullabeg. His singular carriage of his head and his red face singled him out from the others.
Ten years later in the theologate at Milltown Park we really got to know each other. He was a most helpful and thoughtful person. He was keen that all in the house should share in all that went on. When we revived the Gilbert and Sullivan operas at Christmas time he arranged to have a short play or sketch put before the G & S musical. This was done in order that those who were not singers might have a medium in which to entertain their fellow-students and guests.
He was ordained in Congress year, on 14th June 1932. The ordinations were early that year so that we might exercise the ministry to celebrate the bringing of the Gospel to Ireland by St Patrick.
Once the Congress got under way there followed a gruelling beginning to the priestly life in the Dublin churches; midnight often saw us returning from a day spent hearing confessions. It was an immediate and satisfying beginning to our priestly life.
A year later we were together in St Beuno's, North Wales, for our tertianship. This time of renewal was well spent in many acts of sharing and good-fellow- ship. Fr Vincent stood out in this respect and was always in good humour, so that despondent persons found in him a very rational and down-to-earth remedy for their worries.
He was always a man of principle and indeed his favourite argument in favour was always “the principle of the thing”.

A good human Jesuit of those days, untiring in doing good for others, and loyal to the Ignatian way.
At the Crescent, Limerick (1939-949), with Fr Bill Saul (d. 1976), he was involved in the revival of the Cecilian Musical Society in the 1940s. The daughter of the regiment was one of the shows staged by the CMS in those days.

From the time he was assigned to the duty of promoting the cause of Fr John Sullivan, Fr Vincent found a renewal of energy and a stimulating purpose. He really rejoiced in his close association with Fr John and during the many years of his apostolate of promotion he gained the co-operation and affection of a large number of persons. Vincent’s zeal for the work was infectious – so much so that he could and did enlist the help of a number of car owners; from them he formed a panel of drivers, each one pledged to call for him at 6.15 pm on the day of the week agreed upon. From that hour until 10 pm or later he was brought to hospitals and private houses to bless with Fr John's crucifix all who had been listed for that particular day. At a late snack between 10.30 and 11 one could be sure of meeting a very tired but happy Fr Vincent.
North of the Border there is widespread devotion to Fr John, and Vincent travelled there whenever he was wanted. He was in Belfast very shortly after the attempted murder of Bernadette McAliskey (née Devlin) and was delighted to have been called to bless the still unconscious young woman. That she recovered was, no doubt, due to Fr John's intercession, Vincent was so unsparing of himself and so utterly dedicated to his apostolate that he could be quite testy with anyone who seemed to impede or belittle the work. Nor would he allow Fr John to be second fiddle to anyone else however renowned for sanctity. If a patient had on display a picture of someone such as Padre Pio, Fr Vincent passed by! When Vincent's long suffering ended in death I am sure Fr John was at the gate to welcome his confrère and friend.

Born: 05 January 1716, Edgeworthstown, County Longford
Entered: 26 July 1732, Lisbon, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)
Ordained: 1747/8, Coimbra, Portugal
Died: 17 April 1758, Dublin, County Dublin - described as Martyr

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Taught Grammar, Humanities and Rhetoric in Lisbon.
1750-1758 In Dublin
In the 1755 HIB Catalogue is the date “17/04/1758” by a different hand, which is presumed to be the RIP date.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1734-1737 After First Vows studied Philosophy at Coimbra
1737-1742 Sent on Regency at Lisbon teaching Rhetoric
1742-1749 Sent for Theology at Coimbra and Ordained there 1747/48
1749-1750 After Tertianship at Coimbra, he was sent as Minister at Irish College Lisbon
1750 Sent to Ireland working as an Operarius in Dublin, but was already in poor health, and he died there 17 April 1758

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DORAN, EDMUND, of Leinster. He was born on the 5th of January, 1716, and entered the Society at Lisbon on the 26th of July, 1732. This Professed Father came to the Irish Mission in 1750; he was naturally of a weak constitution. Dublin was his usual residence, where it seems he died on the 17th of April, 1758.

Born: 1612, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 19 March 1633, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1638, Douai, France
Died: 09 August 1650, New Ross Residence, Nerw Ross, County Wexford - described as a “Martyr of Charity”

1633 Is at Douai
1638 Studying Theology at Douai
1650 Died in service of and stricken by the plague

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1640 Came to Irish Mission
He died a Martyr of Charity in his service to the plague stricken of New Ross.
He was the only Priest left in New Ross when it was taken by Cromwellian (Parliamentary) Rebels. He went in many disguises and was a holy and humble man. Five others had remained in Waterford, two of whom were Priests - George Dillon and James Walshe. (Report of Irish Mission 1641-1650, by Mercure Verdier, Visitor, to Fr General - a copy at English College Rome) (cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had already completed Philosophy at Douai before Ent 19 March 1633 Rome
1635-1639 After First Vows he was sent back to Douai for Theology due to ill health and was Ordained there in 1638
1640 Sent to Ireland and to New Ross. He was Minister at the Residence at the time of Mercure Verdier’s Visitation, and he reported favourably on him in his Report of 1649 to the General.
1649 At the capture of New Ross by the Puritans Gregory was the only Priest left in the town, and he spent his time bringing consolation to the plague-stricken up to his death there 09 August 1650
He is described as a “Martyr of Charity”

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Gregory Dowdall 1614-1650
At New Ross on August 9th 1650 died Fr Gregory Dowdall, a victim of charity in the service of the sick. During the siege of the city by Cromwell, he was a source of great comfort and strength to the citizens. When the city was finally captured, he was the only priest left at his post, ensuring the ravages of the plague which inevitably followed, he devoted himself single-handedly to the sick and the dying. Disguised as a gardener selling fruit and vegetables, he eluded the vigilance of the Puritans, and thus was enabled to minister to the Catholics.

He himself was struck down by the plague, and assisted by a fellow Jesuit, Fr Stephen Gelous who had been sent from Waterford, he died at the early age of 36, having lived 18 years in the Society.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DOWDALL, GREGORY. This Father, the model of zeal, humility, and self-denial, during the Siege of Ross, Co. Wexford, was like an angel of comfort to its inhabitants. When the town was taken by the Parliamentary troops, he was the only Priest that remained at his post; and during the ravages of the plague, devoted himself to the service of the sick and infected. Overcome with exertion, he at length took the infection, and fell a victim of charity on the 9th of August, 1650. As soon as the Superior, F. Malone, heard of his illness, he sent F. Stephen Gelosse to his assistance from Waterford, and from his hands the dying Father received all the consolations of Religion and all the attentions of friendship.

Born: 26 June 1854, Nenagh, County Tipperary
Entered: 11 May 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 29 July 1887
Final Vows: 03 February 1890, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died 04 July 1932, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death
Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ
by 1885 at Oña Spain (CAST) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 3 1932
Milltown Park :
Father Devitt celebrated his 60 years in the Society, I2th May. The day before, Mr. Sologran, class beadle, read an address in Latin, offering him the congratulations of his class. The theologians gave him a spiritual bouquet of Masses, Communions, prayers. Forty-five visitors came to dinner, Archbishop Goodier SJ, Father Provincial, and Fathers from all the houses were there. Father Rector spoke first, recalling Father Devitt's long connection with Milltown, and his life's greatest work, the teaching of moral to almost all the priests of our province, and to many others. Father Provincial read a letter from Father General, who sent his congratulations, and applied 60 Masses “ut Deus uberrime benedicat eum”. He spoke of Father Devitt's gifts of head and heart, and of the debt of gratitude owed him by many within and without the Society for help and guidance. In a charming speech Father Michael Egan told of his early meetings with Father Devitt as Rector Clongowes, how his genial kindness won the love and respect of all. In the Society he found him beloved by his Community. As a theologian in Father Devitt's class he still remembers what Father Rector referred to as “the Saturday morning trepidation,” and still remembers the unfailing politeness which somehow failed (and fails) to calm it. Mr, Bustos, senior of the moral class, read a Latin poem in honour of the Jubilarian.
Father Devitt replied in a strong clear voice. He thanked those present and those who had written assuring him of their prayers and congratulations. It was hard not to feel deeply moved by the kindness shown him, “to resist sombre reflections as I gaze round and see the snow-flakes of time settling on the now venerable brows of those I taught.” He wished everyone the long life and happiness which he himself enjoyed and still enjoys, in the Society”.

Irish Province News 7th Year No 4 1932

Obituary :
Fr Matthew Devitt
On 6th July, with a prevailing sense of loss, the Irish Province consigned to their last resting place the remains of her steadfast loyal son, Father Matthew Devitt.

Born at Nenagh 26th June, 1854, and educated at Clongowes, Father Devitt began his noviceship at Milltown Park,11th May 1872. After a short juniorate he was sent to Clongowes, then to Tullabeg, and in 1880 began philosophy at Milltown. A year's teaching at Clongowes followed, after which he went to Oña for theology. He had as fellow students the twin-brothers John and James Murphy, and Father Luke Murphy still teaching vigorously, in his 77th year.
Father Devitt made his tertianship at Tronchiennes, and at its conclusion, 1889, was appointed V. Rector and Procurator at Belvedere. Next year he became Rector, held the position
for one year and was then transferred to Clongowes as its Rector. In this same year he was named Consultor of the Province From 1891 to 1900 he was Rector of Clongowes, Procurator most of the time. In 1900 he took possession of the Chair of Moral Theology at Milltown. Here, with the exception of one year, he remained almost to the day of his death in 1932. From 1908 to 1915 he taught Canon Law as well. The interruption was caused by the Rector of Clongowes, Father V. Byrne breaking down in health. In all he was one year V. Rector, ten years Rector, seventeen Consultor of the Province, twenty-three Consultor of the House, thirty-one Professor of Moral, and seven years Professor of Canon Law. This brief record shows in what confidence and esteem Father Devitt was held by his Superiors, And I think I may say with truth that every man in the Province who knew him will gladly admit that he was eminently worthy of every post he held, The judgment of his Superiors was ratified by a wider circle. Two Provincial Congregations chose him as delegate to the last two General Congregations, and he was sent (I do not know how often) to represent the Irish Province at the triennial Congregations of Procurators.
His success as a Professor of Moral Theology has to be determined on a franchise indefinitely extended. If we except a few veteran Fathers, nearly all the priests of the Irish Province
learned their Moral from Father Devitt. And not only these. To collect all the votes one would have to visit Australia America, and almost every Jesuit Province in Europe, If any one could make such a tour and collect the votes of all who studied Moral under him I am sure the report would be “Omne tulit punctum”, and there would not be a dissentient voter.
His lectures were not at all spectacular, but he impressed on the minds of the scholastics the great moral principles, how far they could be applied in the solution of cases, and where
they fell short of application. He got a scholastic to repeat the work of the week every Saturday. According to the testimony of all who know, the repetition was so searching as to be a test of nerve and brain, Not that Father Devitt would lose his temper or indulge in peevish comment. He was above all that. It was his silences, whenever a scholastic dried up in theological narrative, that were so disconcerting. During the longest pause Father Devitt spoke no articulate words at all, but only the semi-articulate words peculiar to him eked
out, with an occasional pinch of snuff. Worst of all, he would end the longest silence with “Nunc, quid ad questionem?” - A query little calculated to restore tranquility. And yet the
scholastics never resented the protracted probing. They realised that Father Devitt was utterly incapable of anything unworthy, and that the probing was simply the manifestation
of his resolve that the Moral must be known.
If his lectures were not spectacular, they were solid to the last degree, and he seems to have been unsurpassed in the solving of difficulties. One who had been Father Devitt's Minister
when he was Rector of Clongowes, once said to the writer of these notes : “You never knew Father Devitt's reserved power until a big difficulty arose”. His pupils say precisely the same of him as professor of Moral Theology, that it was only in face of big theological difficulties that he showed his great grasp of principles, and their application to particular cases. The scholastics who passed under him had complete confidence in him both as a professor and as a man.
His reading was not limited by matters theological. He read widely. To the end of his life he used to read the ancient classics. Those capable of judging bear witness to his knowledge of archaeology and history, especially of post-Reformation Irish and English history.
Of Father Devitt's social side it is not easy to write accurately. He was a man of much reserve, and led a life very much apart. But, in a small way, it is possible to draw aside the curtain that sheltered him from publicity. For years he was a victim to arthritis, and went every summer to Lisdoonvarna to be treated for it. There he was a prime favourite with the visitors both priests and laymen , always accessible, always courteous, a man of abounding common sense, and well informed , one who, without ever thrusting himself forward or dominatingthe conversation, could talk well on whatever subject happened to come up for discussion.Even at such times he always kept up a certain reserve , but it was always the reserve proper to one of his calling and profession, and was free from the least touch of conscious superiority. In consequence all admired and respected him, and many of the annual visitors have said since his death “Lisdoonvarna will not be Lisdoonvarna without Father Devitt”.
He did not wear his religion on his sleeve, but he was, and was acknowledged to be, a deeply religious man , most punctual in the discharge of his religious duties , and, in his judgment every work which obedience marked out was a religious duty. His charity was something quite remarkable. He had wonderful and constant guard on his tongue. It is not merely that he was free from censorius, uncharitable comment. he had no time for more tittle-tattle. He had a genius for keeping inviolate the smallest secret committed to him.To this wonderfully prudent silence was due, in large measure, the confidence which all placed in him.
Father Devitt died in St, Vincent's Private Hospital on 4th July. After the Office and Requiem Mass, celebrated in St Francis Xavier Church, 6th July. He was buried in Glasnevin
May God give him eternal rest. The Irish Province mourns his loss, and yet, in reality, he is not lost to the Province. heaven he will remember the Province which he served so faithfully, and will plead with God for all its necessities. We owe the above appreciation to the kindness of Father Edward Masterson

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Matthew Devitt 1854-1932
On July 4th 1932 died Fr Matthew Devitt, the outstanding Moral Theologian of the Province, having held that chair at Milltown for 31 years. He was born in Nenagh in 1854.

In the Society his work was not confined to moral theology. He was also a great administrator and Superior. Hardly had he finished his tertianship in Drongen, when he became rector of Belvedere and then of Clongowes. Two Provincial Congregations chose him as Delegate to General Congregations, and he was several times rep[representative of the Irish province to the triennial Congregations of Procurators.

He was a full man, not a man of one book or one branch of knowledge. To the end of his life he used read the classics, he was well versed in archaeology and history, especially in Post-Reformation Irish and English History.

But first and foremost he was a deeply religious man, whose life was regulated in all the details by religious motive. His name and fame however, will rest on his ability as a moral theologian.

His death was felt as a loss by many an ecclesiastic throughout Ireland, and all of us who did our theology in Milltown in his time as Professor felt it a privilege to have so competent a master.

Nephew of General Sir Thomas Kelly-Kenny, GCB, GCVO (27 February 1840 – 26 December 1914), a British Army general who served in the Second Boer War.

◆ The Clongownian, 1933

Obituary

Father Matthew Devitt SJ

Father Matthew Devitt SJ died on July 4th of last year of heart failure, after a short illness, at the age of seventy-eight. His health had given cause for anxiety for some years, but his vigorous constitution, aided by his calm courage, had brought him through several crises. Not mnany weeks before his death his brethren had assembled at Milltown Park to celebrate the completion of his sixtieth year in the Society, and though he was far from well he made a speech on that occasion which will remain long in the memory of those who heard it.

Matthew Devitt came to Clongowes in 1865, at the age of eleven. He left in 1869, taking with him, among other things, the elements of sound Classical scholarship and a great love for his old school. His love of the Classics and of Clongowes remained with him and grew stronger all his life. He began the study of medicine in Trinity College, but his true vocation was not long in asserting itself, and, in 1872, just before the end of his eighteenth year, he entered the novitiate of the Society at Milltown Park.

After the usual round of novitiate, humanities, philosophy, he was sent to Tullabeg as a master. Here his fine intellect and his strength and sincerity of character made themselves felt, and superiors marked him out for positions of responsibility. When he had finished his Theology in Spain and been ordained priest, he was made Rector of Belvedere in 1889, and of Clongowes in 1891.

The Clongownians of that period did not at first appreciate their new Rector at his full worth. He succeeded Father Conmee, a prince among men, all kindliness and courtesy and with an exquisite literary gift that made his conversation a delight even to schoolboys. Father Devitt seemed to us by comparison cold and hard, though from the beginning we respected his evident strength and his entire fairness. He was very far indeed from being as cold as we thought him to be. He was genuinely kind-hearted and sympathetic, but two things helped to mask his kindness. One was his shyness, the great shyness of a strong and self-contained character, an invincible reluctance to wear his heart on his sleeve. The other was his natural hatred of sentimentality, and his consequent distrust of emotion,

Not many years after leaving Clongowes as a boy, I returned there as a Jesuit, and was astonished to find that the Rector who had seemed so cold and unapproachable (like “an Englishman”, I had thought, though he was really the most Irish of men), was idolised by his community. They were not only quite at home with him in Clongowes, but were genuinely grieved whenever he was not able to go with them on vacation. Another surprise was to learn of the warm and constant friendship, interrupted only by death, between him and Father Conmee. These two men, poles apart to a superficial observer, were really kindred spirits. The qualities that won all hearts in Father Conmee were buried more deeply in his friend, and revealed only to his intimates - and to the poor, who all loved “poor Father Devitt”. Both were generous, hospitable, lovers of letters and of scholarship, sincerely and deeply religious. One could hardly imagine either of them doing an unkind thing or saying an un charitable thing. The artistic side of Father Conmee's nature was far more developed; the qualities that stood out in Father Devitt were strength and clearness of judgment, and a great and quiet courage. I have never known anybody who could make up his mind so quickly and with so sure a judgment, or who could be more confidently relied on to stand by his word in the face of difficulties of whatever sort. His reckless daring on horseback was almost legendary, and his moral and intellectual courage were no less remarkable, though they were tempered by a discretion which he left behind when he mounted a horse,

In 1900 he left Clongowes to become Professor of Moral Theology at Milltown Park, and he held this post, with an interval of two years, until he died. It was a position of great responsibility; from him the young priests of the Society imbibed the principles they were to use whenever their counsel was asked for in or out of the confessional. His fearlessness in facing a difficulty, his power of getting straight to the principles involved and following them to their logical conclusion, his sympathetic realisation of human nature, made him a peerless guide. He was con stantly being consulted by priests engaged in missionary or pastoral work, by his own past pupils as a matter of course, and by others also in large numbers. His promptitude in dealing with his large correspondence was wonderful. If one wrote to him, even about a technical point requiring the consultation of documents, one could generally count on an answer by return post, frequently a post card with six words that settled everything,

He returned to Clongowes in 1907 as Rector for the second time. He built the Chapel, a worthy memorial of him, His health was this time not good, and the government of the College weighed heavy upon him, so that he was glad to be allowed to return in 1908 to his congenial work in Milltown Park, and to remain at it till death claimed him last July.

He was a completely simple man, as unlike as possible to the Jesuit of legend. And yet he was a Jesuit through and through; he had the most intense love for the Society, he was saturated with its spirit, and he was intimately acquainted with it in all its workings. Over and over again he was sent to Rome as the chosen delegate of the Irish Province to headquarters, and he always carried with him the absolute confidence of his brethren.

His piety matched his character; it was simple, sincere, unsentimental, but charged with deep feeling. The penitents in the Magdalen Asylum at Donnybrook, good judges of reality in spiritual things, liked him best of all the priests who came to preach to them on Sundays. “What does he speak to you about?” asked someone who was rather surprised to hear this; for Father Devitt was not an orator, though he could speak with clearness and force. “About the love of God”, was the answer. God rest his good soul !

MFE

Born: 04 September 1856, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 11 November 1873, Milltown, Dublin (HIB for Taurensis Province TAUR)
Died: 02 May 1876, Milltown Park, Dublin - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Part of the Manresa, Roehampton, England Community at the time of death.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He died of decline at Milltown the year after First Vows.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Died having returned from Roehampton in consumption

Born: 1796, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 1819, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare
Died: 27 January 1822, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother Doyle was most useful. he kept God ever present to his mind by the constant use of mental prayer. From this fountain his other virtues were derived as from their source, and all his virtues seemed to tend towards the development of his interior spirit. He was remarkable for his humility, being never known to utter a word in his own praise, and he was most diligent and faithful in his observance of the virtue of obedience. It was his delight to speak of the advantages and blessings that flow from the cultivation of this virtue. So modest was he that, even in a passing way he studiously avoided making any mention of the opposite sex. In short, in the faithful and exact discharge of every duty, and in the perfect performance of his spiritual exercises, he was a remarkable and edifying example to his religious brethren.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DOYLE, JOHN : a very exemplary lay brother, who died at Clongowes 27th of January, 1822, Soc.2.

Born: 11 November 1809, County Kildare
Entered: 02 February 1843, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 25 March 1859
Died: 19 February 1880, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He did not join the Society until his 36th year, having spent years before this as a Postulant at Clongowes.
He was one of the most remarkable of the Irish brothers, as he was a most saintly religious. He worked as a carpenter in any place where a Church or House was being erected.
The closing years of his life were spent at Gardiner St, where he gave great edification to all who came to the Church, through his spirit of piety and work. He constantly recommended a devotion to St Joseph. His death at Gardiner St was like his life, truly edifying, and he died 19 February 1880

Born: 14 April 1716, Dunsoghly, County Dublin
Entered: 15 March 1735, Nancy, France - Campaniae Province (CAMP)
Ordained: 22 September 1747, Rheims, France
Final Vows: 15 August 1752
Died: 15 January 1785, Cowley Hill, St Helens, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Transcribed to ANG 1771

Cousin of John Austin - RIP 1784
Ordained with John Austin (his cousin) at Rheims 22/09/1747 by Bishop Joppensi

1740 Teaching Humanities at Lyon College
1743-1746 Teaching Humanities at Rheims College and Studying Theology
1749 Is a Priest at Poitiers
1754 Is in Ireland
1758 At Autun College (AQUIT) as Missioner and Minister
1761 At Rheims, a Master of Arts, Missioner and Preacher; Also at College of Colmar
1762 At College of Strasbourg
1763 At Pont-à-Mousson
1764 At Residence of Saint-Michiel (CAMP)
1766 At Probation House Nancy

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
The CAMP Catalogue of 1766 gives the dates DOB 14 April 1717, and Ent 15 March 1735, and places him in Tertianship in Nancy in 1766 (perhaps there were two? - cf Foley’s Collectanea)
Taught Humanities; Prefect at Poitiers for one year
1750-1755 On the Dublin Mission as assistant PP
Subsequently transcribed to ANG
1771 At St Aloysius College in the Lancashire District

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
After First Vows he was sent for Philosophy and graduated MA at Pont-á-Mousson
He then spent time on regency in CAMP Colleges until 1744
1744 Studied Theology at Rheims and was Ordained there 22/09/1747
1747-1749 Two years as Prefect at Irish College Poitiers, and completing his studies at Grand Collège
1749-1750 Sent to Marennes for Tertianship
1750-1755 Sent to Ireland and was worked as an Assistant Priest in Dublin
1755-1757 Sent as Prefect at the Irish College Poitiers
1757-1768 Recalled to CAMP and worked as a Missioner for eleven years at Autun, Rheims, Strasbourg and Saint-Michel
1768 Most likely Transcribed to ANG working in the Lancashire Mission certainly by 1771 and remained there working around the Cowley Hill district, near St Helen’s until he died 15/01/1785

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DOYLE, WILLIAM, of Dublin was born on the 30th of May, 1717, and entered the Society in Champagne 12th of July, 1734. After teaching Humanities for five years, and filling the office of Prefect in the Seminary at Poitiers for one year, he came to the Mission at the age of 33, and for several years was assistant to a Parish Priest in Dublin. I find him labouring in the Lancashire Mission in 1771. This Rev. Father died at Cowley hill, near St. Helen s, on the 15th of January, 1785, and was buried at Windleshaw,

Born: 29 September 1883, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 29 June 1905, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 08 September 1918, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 31 July 1952, Mater Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 27th Year No 4 1952
St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin :
Br. Dineen :
After a very short illness Br. Dineen died in the Mater hospital on St. Ignatius Day. On July 29th he was, as usual with his unfailing punctuality, at his post in the refectory at 10 p.m. On the 30th he was moved to the Mater hospital, where he received the Last Sacraments and died peacefully at 6 p.m. on the 31st. R.I.P.

Obituary :
Brother Michael Dineen

Br. Dineen's death on St. Ignatius' Day came rather unexpectedly. He had been ailing a few days previously at Gardiner Street. Early in July he had made the community retreat at Rathfarnham, and then spent a few days in his native city of Limerick. On his return he appeared to be in his usual good spirits, but on Tuesday, the 29th he had a sudden heart attack and was removed to the Mater Hospital where he received the Last Sacraments. It had not been previously known that he was suffering as well from diabetes in an advanced state, so that the insulin treatment he was given failed in its effect. He fell into a coma and, as the Angelus bell was ringing on the evening of the 31st he breathed his last.
Br. Dineen was born in Nicholas Street, Limerick on September 29th, 1883. Son of Patrick Dineen and Kate McDonnell, he was educated by the Christian Brothers. He served his full time as an apprentice to the bakery trade at Kiely's, Patrick Street and then worked as a baker at Tubridy's baking establishment, Limerick.
He entered the novitiate on June 29th, 1905 and had Fr. James Murphy as novice-master. After his first vows he remained on at Tullabeg as cook and dispenser till 1912 when he was transferred to Milltown Park. This office of cook he was to hold for an unbroken period of thirty three years in the various houses of the Province, from which fact we can judge of his high competence in the culinary art. He was cook and dispenser at Milltown from 1912 to 1913, in Rathfarnham from 1914 to 1918, in Belvedere College from 1919 to 1926, in Clongowes from 1927 to 1929, in Belvedere again from 1930 to 1933, in Tullabeg from 1934 to 1937, and finally at Mungret from 1938 to 1940.
After this record of service, not often surpassed in our Province, Br. Dineen's energy lessened, due to a decline in health of which, however, he never complained. At Milltown, to which he went when he ceased to be cook, he was occupied in the work of book-binding, under Br. Rogers, and helped also as infirmarian to the late Fr. Vincent Byrne. A familiar picture in those days was that of the good Brother wheeling Fr. Vincent in the grounds of the theologate and listening good humouredly to the nonagenarian as he declaimed with animation extracts from Shakespeare or perhaps Dante, in the original, or as he drew from the ready stores of a well-stocked memory.
From 1924 to 1944, when he was transferred to Gardiner Street, Br. Michael acted as assistant infirmarian in Clongowes. At Gardiner Street he appeared to take on a new lease of life and proved himself efficient and devoted to his tasks as dispenser and infirmarian. He also acted as collector at the church door on Sundays and Holidays and became a familiar figure to the crowds that thronged the Masses.
Br. Dineen never seems to have given a thought to his health and fought shy of doctors, with the result that he did not realise, nor did Superiors, how much his health had deteriorated with the lapse of years. When finally he was moved to hospital on his collapse, he gave great edification to all by the calm resignation with which he faced death. Ever interested in the Province and its activities at home and abroad, Br. Dineen served it himself faithfully and well.
May he rest in peace.

Born: 22 March 1860, Branxton, NSW, Australia
Entered: 07 July 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1892, Sydney
Died: 13 December 1895, Branxton, NSW, Australia

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

by 1886 at St Ignatius Richmond Australia - caring for health

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was Ordained by Cardinal Moran in Sydney.

An exemplary Jesuit, he became ill not long after his Entry and was unable to do much work during his brief religious life. He died a victim of consumption in his father’s house at Branxton 13 December 1895.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, NSW before he Entered in 1882 at Milltown Park Dublin, and he finished his Noviciate and Juniorate at Richmond, Australia 1884-1886. It seems that he developed consumption while in Ireland and the Society accepted responsibility for his illness.

1886-1887 Due to his poor health he was sent for a kind of Regency to St Aloysius College Bourke St, where he taught, studied Theology and was in charge of the hall.
1892 He received early Ordination from Cardinal Moran in Sydney
1893-1895 He did some teaching at St Ignatius College Riverview. His Superiors were impressed by his learning and virtue.

When he became very ill he returned to his fathers house at Branxton where he finally died.

Born: 21 November 1916, Elmhurst, Queens NY, USA
Entered: 30 July 1934, St Andrew on Hudson NY - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Ordained: 22 June 1947
Final Vows: 15 August 1950
Died: 30 March 2000, Bronx NY, USA - Neo-Eboracensis Province (NEB)

by 1979 came to Milltown (HIB) working in CLC

Born: 1657, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 18 April 1693, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 08 October 1696, Monterey, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Already a Priest when Ent March 1693 Villagarcía
1695 After First Vows he was sent to teach at Monterey College and died there after a short illness 08 October 1696
His Obit noted a priest of remarkable zeal and religious fervour.

Born: 08 September 1848, Rahan, County Offaly
Entered: 06 September 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 27 December 1872, New Orleans, LA, USA

Part of the St Joseph’s College, Springhill, AL, USA community at the time of death

by 1869 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1870 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1871 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1872 at Spring Hill College AL, USA (LUGD) teaching

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had a brother who was a Priest and distinguished Preacher in the Meath diocese.

After First Vows he was sent to Amiens for Rhetoric, then Philosophy at Louvain and Stonyhurst.
1870/1 He was sent to New Orleans for Regency, and he died of a fever there 27 December 1872.
William Butler had been his companion in New Orleans Mission.

Born: 24 May 1804, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 28 February 1848, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1855
Died: 20 December 1871, Westminster, London

Part of the St Michael’s College, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England community at the time of death

Older brother of Patrick Duffy - RIP 1901

by 1853 at Vals France (TOLO)
by 1854 in Rome Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1865 in St Jospeh’s Glasgow, Scotland (ANG)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After his Noviceship he studied Philosophy at Toulouse, and then Theology and Tertianship in Rome.
At first he was a Master in Tullabeg and Galway, and then went on the ANG Mission to St Michael’s College, Wakefield. he spent a little time on the Scottish Mission as well.
He died 20 December 1871 at Westminster

Born: 07 July 1879, Fearavolla, County Kildare
Entered: 07 September 1901, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Professed: 02 February 1921
Die:d 25 August 1960, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1920 came to Milltown (HIB) studying

First World War chaplain

Born: 26 November 1905, Manchester, Lancashire, England / Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 25 September 1957, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

Early education at O’Connell’s school Dublin and Mungret College SJ
Tertianship at Rathfarnham

by 1930 in Vals France (TOLO) studying
by 1952 in Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Doherty came to Australia in 1951 to give the priests of Melbourne archdiocese their annual retreat, and to use the retreat to introduce them to the Pioneers Total Abstinence Association. Archbishop Mannix seems at that time to have been keen to get the PTAA established. When he first approached Mannix it is reputed that the Archbishop said that the PTAA was a very good idea, and perhaps Doherty should start with his own brethren.
Doherty came to Australia with a considerable reputation as a successful leader of the PTAA, who had renewed and modernised it, and also as a sought-after retreat director. He was an excellent speaker, engaging and witty He seemed to connect well with the diocesan clergy. He was a man of vivacity and charm and was much liked. He lived at Richmond when he wasn't on the retreat circuit. When he was not giving priests' retreats, he spent quite some time travelling around Australia. visiting Jesuit ministries especially - setting up branches of the PTAA.
He spent part of that year giving retreats to other religious orders. By the time Doherty left Australia, the PTAA was established and reasonably well known in quite a few parts of Australia. He handed over the management of the Australian PTAA to Lou Dando, who drew other Jesuits into the task of spreading the word and the organisation.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 33rd Year No 1 1958

Obituary :

Fr Patrick Doherty

Not long after his ordination, Fr. Doherty confided to a friend: “When I stand at the altar during my Mass I am so overwhelmed by the thought of what is happening that I feel inclined almost to look down and see if my feet are touching the ground!”
This same spirit of faith developed with the years and reached its climax in his last illness. To visit him and pray with him was a spiritual tonic “as good as a retreat”. He was radiantly happy at the thought of the near approach of eternity. “I am interested in nothing only the growth of divine life in my soul. Never think it is hard to die. Often when giving retreats I used to wish I could only do myself what I was telling others to do. At the stage I have now reached God treats you as if you had done it”. Told of a doctor who had some remarkable successes with cancer patients, his comment was : “Thank God he didn't try his treatment on me!”
He described for the writer the plans for his funeral with the same ease as if he was speaking of someone else. Seeing this, I ventured, to hint that I had been asked to do his Obituary. He seized my hand : “Tell them I am the greatest proof of the mercy of God you ever came across”.
He was the edification of doctors and nurses who declared he was dying like a saint. “He is giving the most effective retreat [ ] gave” was the verdict of his Rector. Nor did his sense of humour ever forsake him. After a severe vomiting or a violent spasm of pain he would at once brighten up and show himself eager to continue a conversation. His poor body was wasted away till be weighed only four stone, but his mind was alert right up to the end. When his aged mother came to see him he twitted her : “Mother, what are you fretting for? Sure you'll probably be on the next old bus anyhow, and I'm only going on ahead to open the gate for you!” Later he wrote her a letter of more than three pages, to console her, “in my best handwriting”.
The effort called for something not far from heroism.
Indeed, he “opened the gate” for many a soul. Tributes flowed from all sides to the selfless devotion with which he gave himself to “talks” and the confessional during the many retreats he conducted. He continued this arduous apostolate when those of us who were near him realised that the work was draining every ounce of energy from him. But “he was too concerned for others to be interested in himself” - to quote from his review of The First Jesuit. The words are descriptive, not of our Father Ignatius only, but of this son of his who wrote them. The secret of his success was, in large measure, his gift of sympathy. He really entered into the trials and difficulties of others and suffered them as if they were his own.
That review evoked high encomiums from the censors and a strong recommendation that he should write more. His “Centre Survey” in the Pioneer magazine, where he had a field for poking fun, which never lost sight of the seriousness of his message, ranks with the very popular “Colum's Corner" in another magazine. Had God spared him he could have wielded a doughty pen in the service of souls.
Mention of The Pioneer reminds us that no account would be complete without at least an attempt to tell what he accomplished for the Association. For many years he was Spiritual Director of the Garda Branch. Before me lies a letter from a member, written in 1955, expressing the deep affection he won from the men, and their grief on learning that he had been transferred to other work. He led a group in pilgrimage to Fatima and “we will never forget the thousand and one things he did for us, and, above all, the cheerful manner in which they were done. It was with pardonable pride that we heard his name announced to give the Holy Hour for all the English-speaking pilgrims”.
In 1948 Fr. Doherty represented the Association at Lucerne and it was as a direct result of his presence and influence there that the Pioneer Movement began on the continent. Later he went to Melbourne where he organised the work, and the best comment on his efforts is that today there are eighty centres in Australia. During that year, too, he gave several retreats, including one to the Melbourne priests with many of whom he formed lasting friendships.
Another instance of his mischievous spirit recurs here. A Father had been asked to address his Garda Centre. A week or so before the address, he received a letter from Fr. Doherty, explaining that the men were keenly disappointed to learn that it was not he himself who was coming, and suggesting that perhaps a last-minute switch could be made! For quite a while that Father was completely taken in.
In many ways he always retained in his make-up some elements of the enfant terrible. A picture of him comes to mind in the early days of theology, in which, with many groans of mock grief, he bemoaned the fact that he was like a dog on & chain! He was a great favourite with the older Fathers and would often speak of his affection for them, His youthful ways endeared him to young people inside and outside the Society. No one escaped his sallies at recreation. He was quick at repartee and told a funny story well, obviously enjoying the telling. He had a keen sense of justice and would quickly flare up where he considered wrong was done, nor did he lack eloquence and vigour in defending a difference of opinion.
He would be the last man in the world to wish that these human. traits should be glossed over here.
Fr. Doherty has gone from us, having given “in his whole life and much more in death” an inspiring example of that “living faith and hope and love of those eternal good things which Christ Our Lord has merited and acquired for us”. No one who knew him but will be glad to meet him again. Our consolation is the hope that he is only gone on ahead to open the gate for us.
He was born in Manchester in 1905, went as a boy to O'Connell Schools and to Mungret; entered the Society in 1924 and followed the. usual curriculum University, Philosophy in France, Colleges in Belvedere, and Theology in Milltown. He was ordained by Bishop Wall in 1938; did Tertianship under Fr. Henry Keane at Rathfarnham, after which he taught in Belvedere till 1943 when he was appointed to the Pioneer Association. He died in Dublin on September 25th, 1957. May he rest in peace!

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick Doherty 1905-1957
“Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it” could be aptly applied to Fr Patrick Doherty. It is no exaggeration to say that for many years past, no Jesuit of this Province died so happy and so edifying a death. One might almost envy him the joy, happiness and peace he radiated, while at the same time he was racked with pain, which even drugs had failed to stem. People came from far and near to see him and have a few last words with him. “Now I realise what I have so often spoken of in Retreats, the great happiness which God has reserved for us”. Of each member of his family, he asked what they most urgently needed from God, and he promised to get their request. Each one got his petition, and one of these certainly was a near miracle.

He was a great talker in the pulpit, at the conference table, on the stage and in the community. This gift he used to great advantage as Assistant Director of the Pioneer Association. At the request of Archbishop Mannix, he went to Australia to found the Pioneer Movement there. He was also a writer of no mean merit, as the columns of the Pioneer Magazine prove.

At the early age of 52, he died of rapid cancer on September 25th 1957.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1953

A College of the Church Universal : Australian Experiences

Father Patrick Doherty SJ

“It won’t be so cold as this in Melbourne!” exclaimed the priest who was escorting me to the London plane at Collinstown. The gentleman immediately in front of us wheeled round. “Who's going to Melbourne?” he asked in surprised tone. “I am”, I said eagerly; “are you coming too?” “I have just returned from there”, replied this young doctor, a past pupil of Crescent College; “I hope to go back again soon”. On the way to London he gave me his impressions of Australia. “Once you settle down”, he said, “you will grow to love the Australians”. As the following year unfolded itself, I found myself in full agreement with all his favourable opinions of the “Land of sunshine”. Little did I expect, however, on that evening of December 5th, 1950, that my adieu to Melbourne, some fifteen months later, would be one of the hardest farewells of my life.

Since my return many people have expressed surprise at my admiration for Australia. “They don't all like it”, I am told. Oddly enough, some of these criticisms can be traced to articles in cross-Channel newspapers. England is not always the most affectionate of mothers! Of Irishmen in Australia I met only two who judged harshly the land of their adoption. I met hundreds of Irishmen, and many of other European nationality, whose longing for the home land was strictly limited to a desire “to see the old country before I die”.

No one in Australia was more hospitable, helpful and encouraging to me than Fr. Jim English. I was sitting in his presbytery in Mordialloc, outside Melbourne, drinking his health - in Pepsi Cola of course - on his birthday, when the phone. rang. It was a call from his, home in Tipperary town, to wish him many happy returns. I called in to his people in Tipperary since my return, but I did not like to suggest that we put a call through to Melbourne. Two great pioneer priests who stood by me all the way were Father Eddie Durcan and his brother. Father Eddie still has the same Pioneer badge that he received as a boy in Mungret.

I had many delightful meetings with Mungret priests in the course of my travels. Although everyone of them, without exception, spoke affectionately of the College, I think they all preferred Australia!! When I went from Melbourne to Parkes, to give the retreat to the priests of Wilcania-Forbes, I got out at Tocumwal, New South Wales, first stop in the 800-mile flight, to stretch my limbs. Three priests, on their way to make the retreat, were awaiting the plane. Irishmen all, two of them were educated in Mungret. That night, shortly before the first lecture of the retreat, the last group arrived - another party of three - and they were Mungret men all! They had covered 400 miles by car since morning. First to emerge from the car was Dean Sexton, whose Vincentian nephew, Father Kevin Cronin of Strawberry Hill fame, and whose Jesuit nephew, Father Fergus Cronin of Hong Kong, I knew well. The Dean was very thrilled to learn that I had visited his late sister, in a Dublin hospital, shortly before her saintly death. After the Dean came Father Treacy, a fine man, built on generous lines, and hailing from County Galway. The third man was my old friend of Mungret days, Father John Boylan from “the wee County”. He is the same gentle, soft-spoken John, beloved of the people of his vast Bush parish. I began to realise that Mungret belongs very literally to the Church universal!

Among the audience at a retreat to the Melbourne priests, it took me some time to pick out Father Albert Gilhooly. After all, I had not laid eyes on this mature-looking parish priest, whose hair is beginning to recede from the temples, since he was a youngster in Junior Grade in 1924! Some time later I spent a wonderful week with Father Albert in his country parish of Trentham, Victoria, before his promotion to the Melbourne suburbs. We kept very late hours that week, re-living schooldays separated from the present by a gap of thirty years.

“They gave us a great character training”, Father Albert said of the Apostolic School directors. “Don't ever allow yourself to do things in order to be admired by others”, was one of Father Jerry Kelly's famous sayings that burned themselves into our minds. And Father Gilhooly is one of many who paid remark able tribute to the gentle and refining influence of the late Father Freddy Cuffe SJ.

Many of Mungret's past pupils are Jesuits in the Australian Province. First to greet me, when I reached the land of the sun, was Father Tom Barden, Rector of the Jesuit College in Perth. I reminded Father Tom of the day in Septem ber, 1922, when we both left Dublin, via Athenry, on a roundabout first journey to Mungret during the disturbed days of the Civil War. When, at long last, we had arrived at the gates of Mungret, we felt like travelled men who had seen a bit of life! For both of us it was but the first of many long and roundabout journeys. At the gates of St Louis College, Perth, stood the portly. figure of Father John Williams, Gone indeed are the ascetic lines and emaciated appearance that I had always associated with John! But the welcoming smile is more genial than ever and, when I had my farewell chat with him, just twelve months ago, I found myself talking to the same grand person whom I sat beside for the Junior Apostolics' photo in 1924 and whom, thank God, no passage of time could change.

In Richmond, Victoria, I spent a year under the same roof with Father Michael Morrison. Between army and Australian experiences, Mick has seen quite a lot of life in the past decade, and has been in close contact with death too. He was the first chaplain to enter Belsen concentration camp towards the end of the war. From Father Morrison's room in the Richmond presbytery, one can see the dome of the chapel of Xavier College. At Xavier, Father Michael O'Mahony is now a familiar - I had al most dared to say a “venerable”! figure, for he laboured there as a scholastic in the pre-war years and has been there ever since his return to Australia in 1946. With him is Father Dan Fitzpatrick who is quite an expert at teaching chemistry and does a good deal of preaching in his spare time. With these two men I had a glorious fortnight's holiday along the Victorian seaside shortly after my arrival in Australia. I shall always remember the unremitting feud that went on, day and night, be tween Father O'Mahony and the mosquitoes ! Another great Mungret. man, whom I saw, alas! only too rarely, was Father Con Finn who has made a great name in university circles in Adelaide.

I could chatter on endlessly about these and other Irishmen who came and saw and were conquered by Australia. I might as well end this ramble near its starting point - at Tilbury Docks, in fact. I was not long on board the SS Himalaya, on the way down the English Channel, when I was greeted by a very charming young priest - another Mungret man, Father Dan Boylan of Portlaoighse and Ballarat Cathedral. Father Dan was returning to base after a holiday at home. An ideal companion for a long sea journey, he painted a colourful and very impressive picture of Australia as he had known it for some twelve years. Yet not even the masterpiece of an artist could portray the full splendour of the masterpiece of Divine artistry which I was to see with my own eyes for fifteen wonderful months.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1958

Obituary

Father Patrick Doherty SJ

Fr Doherty whose death took place in Dublin on September 25th was born in Manchester. Educated at O'Connell Schools and Mungret College. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1924. After completing his studies in various houses of the Society, he was ordained in 1938.

After Ordination he taught in Belvedere College from 1940 till 1943. In that year he was appointed Assistant Director of the Pioneer Association, in which he was to do so much work. During the succeeding years he visited nearly every town in Ireland lecturing on, and enrolling members in, the Pioneer Association. He was for seven years Spiritual Director to the Pioneer Centre at the Garda Depot, where he made many close friends.

In 1948 he represented the Pioneer Association at the Temperance Congress in Lucerne. It was a direct result of his presence there that the First Pioneer Centres were established on the Continent. In 1951, at the Invitation of Archbishop Mannix he went to Australia. Here he spent a year organising Pioneer Centres in inany Dioceses. While there he also gave many Priests Retreats.

In 1955 he joined the Retreat staff at Rathfarnham Castle, and until shortly before his death was engaged in giving retreats around the country.

He had a strong spirit of Faith, and knew well he was going to die. However it was an event he looked forward to, and calmly discussed plans for his funeral with a friend beforehand. All through his life he possessed a strong sense of humour. Of him it might be truly said as was said of another Jesuit, that he was merry in God. RIP

Born: 21 February 1841, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1859, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 18 May 1860, Dublin City, County Dublin

Part of the Beaumont Lodge, England Novitiate community at the time of death

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Failing in health as a Novice, he was recalled to Dublin, and died there 18 May 1860 barely nine months after Entry,

Born: 29 June 1844, Loughtown, County Kildare
Entered: 12 November 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1888, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 07 November 1913, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he remained at Milltown for some years and was then sent to Gardiner St. Later on he was sent to Mungret, and shortly before his death to Tullabeg.

During the thirty-six years he spent in the Society, he was engaged chiefly in farm work, except during his stay at Gardiner St. One always felt confident that whatever he had charge of was sure to be discharged faithfully. He was a very humble man, never sparing himself and always ready to oblige. Ever fond of a harmless joke and a quiet laugh - he had many friends, especially amongst our scholastics, who enjoyed his quaint wit.
During the last year of his life he suffered much from rheumatism and was compelled to withdraw himself for active occupation. His piety was in keeping with his character - simple. He loved his Rosary and the hearing of Holy Mass.
He has left a memory of a hard worker, ready to assist everyone, and also a man of great faith and deep piety.

Born: 17 August 1913, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1932, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained:12 September 1946
Final Vows: 19 December 1978
Died: 23 July 1989, Boscombe, Hampshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1937 came to Tullabeg (HIB) studying 1936-1939

Born: 13 March 1907, Clontarf, Dublin
Entered: 18 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1942
Died: 06 January 1982, Methodist Hospital, Epworth, Richmond, Victoria, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Burke Hall, Kew, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Older brother of Dermot - RIP 1980

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at CBS Synge Street, Dublin before he Entered at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, 1925.

1927-1929 After First Vows he went to Rathfarnham Castle for his Juniorate
1929-1932 He studied Philosophy at Milltown Park Dublin and Tullabeg
1932-1936 He was sent to Australia and Burke Hall at Xavier College Kew for Regency.
1936-1940 He returned to Ireland and Milltown Park for Theology
1940-1941 He made Tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle
1941-1942 While awaiting a passage to Australia he worked at the Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon, England
1942 He arrived in Australia on the Columbia Star and his next 40 years was spent Teaching and Prefecting junior boys.
1943-1950 He was back at Burke Hall and was Headmaster for six years
1950-1956 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview
1963-1966 He was twice at St Louis School Perth, having been there in 1949, and he was given responsibility for supervising the school that never was at Attadale. He furnished and set up Campion College Kew in its earliest days as a house for the university scholastics, mostly living at Burke Hall and teaching junior Religion.
In his later years he became a frequent visitor of the sick at Caritas Christi.

He was a great storyteller : The saga of the trip from England to Australia in 1942 avoiding German submarines; The calling of a gynaecologist Dr Quinlan when he had a heart attack; Many stories of how he uncovered crimes in the Boarding School. He loved an audience and there seemed always to be a time for a story. Being Minister at the house for Scholastics in studies was not quite his scene, but he was at times a source of entertainment for the younger men, and at other time a little frustrating. He was a humble, charitable and generous man. It was ironic that he, who had served the sick so well in a Catholic hospital was taken to the Methodist Epworth hospital in his final sickness, and it was there he died.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 57th Year No 2 1982

Obituary

Fr Desmond Durnin (1907-1925-1982)

Fr Desmond Durnin, an elder brother of Fr Dermot – who predeceased him by a year and a month – was born in Clontarf, Dublin, on 13th March 1907. He began his early education with the Sisters of Mercy before his family moved to England. He went to St Michael’s College, Leeds, and on his family’s return to Dublin, to O'Connell Schools, Des Durnin entered the Jesuit noviceship in Tullabeg (September 1925). He was a quiet, gentle person, always cheerful and unassuming. Noviceship completed, he did not attend university, but with a number of others did a “home juniorate” in Rathfarnham under Fr Hugh Kelly (1927-'9). Next stop was Milltown, for philosophy, but only for a year. In 1930 Tullabeg was opened for philosophy, as the novices by then had been shifted to Emo, so with the rest of his year Des returned to Tullabeg.
One memory of Des in Tullabeg dates 1930-31, perhaps October or November. The philosophers were playing soccer one day in the wet, so the football became wet and heavy. Des took a header at the flying ball, hurt himself badly and was in great pain. His cries could be heard all round the kitchen courtyard. The philosophers found this somewhat unnerving as it reminded them of someone else. Michael Hegarty, a "late vocation” and a wonderfully holy man after a rushed philosophy course in Heythrop had returned to Rathfarnham to take charge of an “Irish month” and had gone out of his mind. The Juniors took turns to watch his bedside in his delirium. Seán McCarron was one of the stalwarts who carried out this trying task. Michael died without recovering from his madness: Des Durnin recovered from his head injury.
His four-year regency Des spent in Australia, to which Vice Province he was henceforth to belong. While there he was Burke Hall Preparatory School at Kew, Melbourne. In 1936 he returned to Ireland for theology and ordination, completed tertianship in 1941 during the world war, and awaited his return passage to Australia. During the war years shipping was scarce and submarines were active in all waters. Eventually however he found transport and was back in Burke Hall in 1942.
The 1940s were difficult and trying years for schools. Teaching staff and domestic help were hard to find, and after a couple of years his health gave way under the strain. There followed two years in Perth and four in Riverview, where he was an assistant prefect of discipline. He was recalled to Melbourne (1957) to supervise the opening of Campion College, which had been purchased for the Juniors attending Melbourne University. Four years later he was back in Burke Hall, where he was on the teaching staff till three years before his death, when Providence stepped in.
He described his change of life-style in a letter to a friend (1979): “Last year I had two heart attacks, the second one rather serious, and I was in intensive care for ten days. I got as far as the pearly gates, but St Peter said that they were too busy at the time arranging for Popes to get into heaven and that I would have to wait. However, the doctor told me that he did not want me to go into the classroom any more.
'The Lord is good, and I spend a good deal of my time in a hospital just across the road from us - a terminal hospital [Caritas Christi Home] for the very sick and dying. So far this month a patient has died each day, so it gives me an opportunity of praying and consoling the dying. Last year I received eight people into the Church, and all but one have already been called 'home'. Fr Austin Kelly died there last year: I had visited him there for 4.5 years”.
It would be impossible to recall all the good things Fr Durnin did in his life assigned to time. As a teacher and headmaster in Burke Hall he was most devoted to his work, and few men would have equalled or excelled him in efficiency, kindness and charity. The boys of Burke Hall were fortunate to have such a self sacrificing priest to look after them. A week before he died he had a serious heart attack and was taken to Epworth hospital in Richmond. There he struggled on bravely for a week, but eventually he answered the Master’s call and died very peacefully on 6th January 1982, The Carmelites of Kew, who are neighbours of the Jesuits, wrote:
“...just before 3 pm ... the Magi came quietly along, and took him in their train to the true and eternal vision of the Lord of life.
“Dear Fr Durnin was so closely associated with our monastery while at Burke Hall and later at Campion College, which are both our immediate neighbours at the back of our property here. He was a most faithful and kind chaplain and friend. In his regard we feel how truly St Teresa spoke when she said that the loss of a good priest was certainly a loss for the Church on earth”. [Further light on Fr Desmond Durnin is expected when Jesuit life (Australia) arrives.]

Born: 02 March 1924, Tubercurry, County Sligo/Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 06 September 1941, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1955, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1959, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Died: 16 December 1978, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Hong Kongensis Province (HK)

Transcribed : HIB to HK 03/12/1966

by 1951 at Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Martin Cryan, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Martin Cryan, SJ, of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, died suddenly at Wah Yan on 16 December 1978, aged 54. The Hong Kong Jesuits have lost an inspiring and original thinker, a teacher of force and lucidity, a dedicated priest and a very good companion.

An outline of his life suggests placid academic devotion - Birth in Tubercurry, Co. Sligo, Ireland, in 1924: education at St. Ignatius’s Galway: Jesuit novitiate, 1941: Hong Kong, 1949-52, for study of Chinese and teaching in the Wah Yan Hong Kong afternoon school: Ireland, 1952-57, for theology and ordination: 1957, Hong Kong, teaching first in Wah Yan, Kowloon, and then in Wah Yan, Hong Kong, broken only by a year of special study of biology in the Ateneo. Manila, after which he concentrated chiefly on teaching biology.

Placidity was, however, the last thing his friends associated with Father Cryan. His life was one long adventure. He seized on every idea that caught his interest, Squeezed all that he could from it, and then thrust eagerly forward to put the idea into practice, without regard to hampering conventions. This made him an agreeably unpredictable companion. His last passion was for astronomy. Again and again he passed his nights in a sleeping-bag on a hillside so that he might see his well-loved stars at their brightest.

He will be much and lastingly missed.

He was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley, on 18 December, after Mass at St. Margaret’s. The Bishop led the concelebrating and officiated at the graveside.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 22 December 1978

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
His early education was at Coláiste Iognáid in Galway.

After his Novitiate he studied at UCD, graduating with a BA in History, he then went on to study Philosophy at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, and later Theology at Milltown Park.

He taught Biology at Wah Yan Colleges in Hong Kong and Kowloon, even though History and Theology were his interests.

he was interested in broad educational matters and was a founding member of the Educators’ Social Action Council (ESAC). In fact, at the time of his death, he was helping to compile a handbook for ESAC on Counselling Services in Hong Kong.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 56th Year No 3 1981

Obituary

Fr Martin Cryan (1924-1941-1978)

Mairt Cryan died suddenly at 6 pm on Saturday, 16th December 1978. He was in his room getting ready to concelebrate Mass with Donal Lawler, when he called Derek Reid and Dick McCarthy to tell them he was not feeling well. They contacted Ruttonjee hospital, run by the Columban sisters, but Mairt was dead by the time help arrived. He had never been to hospital, and had very rarely visited a doctor. True, he had seen Sr Aquinas only a week or so earlier about his hypertension.
He was considered one of the strongest and most robust of the “younger” men of the province. In recent years particularly, he took long walks at the weekends and in the early mornings, and not infrequently camped out on his own overnight. On his last home vacation in 1977, he camped out for a few weeks on the island of Crete, and walked, cycled and camped over much of his native West of Ireland. However, he did have some inkling of his high blood pressure, and privately often expressed a desire to die while still in fuil possession of his faculties, quickly and without troubling anyone, and relatively young.
Born at Tubbercurry, co. Sligo, he later moved with his family to Galway, where he studied at St Ignatius College. After joining the Society at Emo in 1941, he took a good degree in history at UCD before his philosophy at Tullabeg. In 1949 he went to Hongkong, and after studying Cantonese taught in the after- noon school at Wah Yan, Robinson road. Returning to Ireland for theology, he was ordained in Milltown Park in 1955. After tertianship he returned in 1957 to Hongkong and spent the rest of his life in the classrooms. The subject of his special study was biology, and for this he went for a year to the Ateneo, Manila, in the 1960s.
He gave enormous energy and devotion to his classroom teaching, demanding high standards and a strict discipline of his students, coupled with a real concern for their full development and warm encouragement for their growing interests whether in biology or in other school or “life” subjects. (V-PL) He had some unorthodox teaching methods. He was one of the first to research and introduce scientific multiple-choice testing methods in his own subject. Educational matters held a deep interest for him. He was a founder member and active contributor in the Educators' Social Action Council. He saw himself as a Jesuit priest educator. His colleagues did not always find him the easiest of men to deal with - he was sometimes exasperating in his ways - but they always nonetheless regarded him with esteem and affection.
Theology and history remained two of Mairt's particular interests, though he was well-read in many fields. He was a simple, humble, modest and private person, behind the external excitableness and occasional bluster: at heart, a very kind and gentle man. One of his community wrote about him for the daily press. The following is an excerpt from the appreciation:
“He had the command ing personality, tinged with agreeable eccentricity, that makes a schoolmaster vibrate in the memory of those he taught. He was interested in many things and pursued his interests with what may be described as intellectual and practical ferocity”.
An engaging eccentric, whose eccentricity was rarely difficult for others, he could be oblivious to the consequences of his noisy habits. He invariably saw things from an original angle, but always with absolute honesty. He was a shy man who liked people. He was first a priest and religious, next a teacher, and when he had fulfilled his obligations to these métiers, he had time to think over the problems of the world around him: he was extremely concerned about others, His witness to poverty was very clear, as anything he had was always old, well worn and practical. He was an excellent teacher, going to great pains to prepare his classes, and he had the art of being able to explain the most complicated matters with great clarity and force.
Harold Naylor

Born: Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: Bordeaux, France, in Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT);
Transcribed to Aragon Province (ARA);
Died: 12 January 1706, Valencia, Spain - Aragon Province (ARA)

Born: 27 March 1850, County Tipperary
Entered: 03 September 1870, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 9 August 1875, St Louis, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Part of the Woodstock College, Maryland, USA community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to MIS : 1872

Brother of William D’Arcy RIP 1884, a scholastic, and also of John D’Arcy a priest RIP 1884 - within four months of each other

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Involved with Father De Smet from 1872

Born: 23 September 1848, Kilkenny City, County Kilkenny
Entered: 28 September 1867, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1883
Died: 04 June 1884, Cannes, Alpes-Maritime, France

Brother of Ambrose D’Arcy (MIS) RIP 1875, (a scholastic), and six months after another brother William who died a Scholastic 1884.

by 1870 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1871 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1873 at Antwerp Institute Belgium (BELG) Regency
by 1882 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of William D’Arcy RIP 1884, a scholastic, six months after him. Brother also of Ambrose D’Arcy who Entered at Milltown and then joined MIS, and he died at St Louis MO 1875 also a scholastic.
He was sent to be a Teacher at Tullabeg and a Prefect at Clongowes for Regency.
He studied Rhetoric at Amiens, and then Philosophy and Theology both at Louvain.
He died of rapid consumption at Nice, France.

Born: 25 July 1847, County Tipperary
Entered: 09 October 1871, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 15 February 1884, Milltown Park, Dublin

Brother of Ambrose D’Arcy (MIS) RIP 1875, (a scholastic) and six months before, another brother John who died a Priest 1884.

by 1874 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying
by 1875 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of John D’Arcy RIP 1884 six months before him as Priest. Brother also of Ambrose D’Arcy who Ent at Milltown and then joined MIS, and he died at St Louis MO 1875 also a scholastic.

He had studied Rhetoric at Roehampton and Philosophy at Louvain.
He was then sent to Regency teaching at Clongowes for some years.
Then he spent some time caring for his health at Tullabeg. He then retired to Milltown, where he died after much suffering of decline 15 February 1884.

Born: 11 October 1867, Kilternan, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1899, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 02 February 1911
Died: 21 June 1954, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway City

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 24th Year No 4 1949
Coláiste Iognáid, Galway :

Out of Brother Donoghue's fifty years in religion, thirty-seven were spent in Galway. After a year at the Crescent, Limerick, he first came to Galway from 1905 to 1915. Then came seven years at Clongowes, after which he returned to Galway, and has been with us since. During all his years in the Society, Brother Donoghue has acted in the combined functions of sacristan and tailor. He has also the distinction of having acted as reader in the Refectory for thirty-five years, and is justly proud of the fact that our present Fr. General, on hearing of this remarkable record from the late Fr. Hannon, a fellow-novice of Brother Donoghue, sent him a special message of congratulation. Apart from his regular duties, Brother Donoghue has been noted for his kindly interest in the poor of Galway. He has cheered the souls of many generations of the Community by his poems on subjects both religious and secular, and his most intimate friends would find this notice incomplete without a reference to the instrumental recitals to which, in former days, he treated them on favoured occasions.
Among other tributes, Brother Donoghue received the following lines from Senator Helena Concannon :

Dear Brother James, your jubilee
Is like a Golden Cup,
In which the fruits of fifty years
Are fitly gathered up.

Upon Our Lady's Natal Day
You" sought Ignatius' fold ;
And oh! what precious birthday gifts
Your young hands then did hold.

And since that day, in joy or woe,
You gave her service meet,
And prayer and work filled all the years
You now lay at her feet.

And gladly will she stoop to lift
The Golden Cup you bring,
And set it lovingly before
The Throne of Christ the King.

To mark the occasion, the Men's Sodality presented a set of vestments to Brother Donoghue, for use in the church.

Irish Province News 29th Year No 4 1954

Obituary :

The late Brother Donoghue was born in Dublin in 1867 and was a master tailor. In September, 1899 be entered the Society of Jesus and spent the first five years of his religious life in St. Stanislaus College, Tullamore. In 1904 he went to the Crescent College, Limerick as sacristan and tailor. In the following year he came to St. Ignatius in the same capacity, and spent the rest of his life in Galway, except during the period 1915-1922, when he was in Clongowes Wood College. Until 1936 Brother Donoghue was Sacristan, in charge of church collections until 1953, and followed his craft of tailoring until his illness began last March.
If ever an “Institution” passed away with the death of a man, an “Institution” of the Jesuit Church, Galway, and indeed of Galway itself, passed away with the death of Br. Donoghue, R.I.P.; and if ever there was a striking example of the individuality produced by the Jesuit Rule and the Jesuit ways of prayer it was the same Br. Donoghue. His Rule and his prayer, worked out in his life with that diamond-hard-and-bright Faith so characteristic of the Dublin Catholic working man, gave us the humble, cheerful, humorous sanctity which endeared him to all classes of people. The humorous glint in the eye as he held out the collection plate in some strategic position that said “You are getting more here than you'll ever give”.... The day's adventurous routine for this octogenarian . . . “The Way of the Cross” the minute he reached the church ... to point the way for himself. The running from church to domestic chapel and back again to church to catch each Consecration - and if That is the Heartbeat of God dying for love of man, who would not condone interruptions not always noiseless? The cheery professional business query, “How's the ward-robe?” as he sought material for his tailoring - a very finished work it was, until in the end, we had Dante's “old tailor peering through the eye of a needle” - and failing with the thread and even misplacing the button.
But most of all we recall his life-long real apostolate for the sick and the poor, his special favourites. In the days of his musicianship with the mouth organ he was known to have played many a difficult hospital case into the right frame of mind and soul for the Harmonies of Heaven.
And the poor! God alone knows how many he fed and clothed - in that line any object that looked unclaimed or about which the owner couldn't be “rationabiliter invitus” was treasure-trove and so the property of the King, Ri na mBocht, as the Irish has it ... and thereby hangs many a tale at which the Angels laugh.
We shall miss the spare figure with the springy walk as every evening without top-coat, in the worst weather he went to Benediction at the Poor Clares . . . and his cheery Dublin “Up the Jes!” to the boys whether they won or lost a match ... and the wavering notes of “My Old Kentucky Home”, when the sun did not “shine bright”, and “My Lady” the weather refused to “weep no more” in the long-sustained Galway rain.
In the end there was a kind of patient impatience in his hurry to be taken from being a worry to others, and to be with the Mother of God and the Sacred Heart , , . and so when the Novena to the Sacred Heart was filling the church, the welcome home came from that Sacred Heart in the words by which He will test all “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me”.
May we be as ready for that test as Br. Donoghue.

Born: 10 December 1875, Santry, Dublin
Entered: 7 September 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 01 August 1909, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Coláister Iognáid, Galway
Died: 19 November 1938, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1897 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1911 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 :
He Entered the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, in 1893.

1895-1896 He remained at Tullabeg for his Juniorate.
1896-1899 He was sent to Enghien, France for Philosophy.
1900-1905 He was sent for Regency to Mungret College Limerick.
1905-1909 He was sent for Theology to Milltown Park Dublin
1909-1910 He made Tertianship at Drongen Belgium
1910-1914 He was sent teaching to Coláiste Iognáid Galway
1914-1916 He was sent teaching to Crescent College Limerick
1916-1919 He was sent to Australia and St Aloysius College Sydney
1919-1923 He was sent teaching to Xavier College Kew
1923-1938 He did his main work in Australia at the Richmond Parish where he was much appreciated for his wit and interesting sermons.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 14th Year No 1 1939
Obituary
Father John Egan
1875 Born, 10th December, at Santry, Co. Dublin. Educated Belvedere.
1893 Entered Tullabeg, 7th September
1894-95 Tullabeg, Novice, junior
1896-98 Enghein, Philosophy
1899-1900 Clongowes, Doc
1901-1904 Mungret, Doc,, charge of “Mungret Annual”
1905 Crescent, Doc. an. 7 mag
1906-09 Milltown, Theol
1910 Tronchiennes Tertian
1911-13 Galway, Doc. Oper
1914-15 Crescent, Praef. Stud.. Cons. dom
1916 Australia, Milson's Point. Doc. an. 13
1917-18 Milson's Point, Praef. Stud. Cons. dom., An 14 mag
1919-22 Xavier Coll, Doc. an. 19 mag, Praef. Spir. Mod. Apost, Orat etc
1923-38 Richmond, (Melbourne), Praef Spir, Cons dom 6, etc. etc. Min for 2 years

Father Egan died in Melbourne, Saturday, November 19th 1938. RIP

Father Garahy (fellow-Novice of Father Egan) kindly sent the following :
Those who knew Father Egan during the years that he lived and worked in Ireland were shocked to hear of his unexpected death in the last days of November. He taught successfully as a scholastic in Clongowes, Mungret and Crescent College, and after his Tertianship he was attached to Galway College for three years In 1914 we find him Prefect of Studies in the Crescent College. In 1916 he was appointed to the Australian mission as it then was From that year till 1919 he filled the post of Prefect of Studies in St. Aloysius College, Sydney, and from 1919 till 1923 worked as a Master in Xavier College, Melbourne. Since then until his death he was employed as Operarius in Richmond parish, Melbourne.
Although many years have passed since his departure for Australia, Mr. John Egan is still well remembered by his Irish Brethren as a forceful and energetic teacher in the College. Mentally alert and keenly interested in his work, his pupils respected him for his thoroughness and clarity of exposition, and few were the slackers to be found in Mr. Egan's class.
The writer, a fellow Novice, remembers him in those Noviceship days as an edifying religious, with a keen sense of humour and an uncanny faculty for repartee. Years afterwards in the Tertianship, when the acquaintance was renewed, Father Egan had lost nothing of his geniality and good spirits. He went through that period of formation none the less, with the same spirit of earnestness and piety that he had shown as a novice in Tullabeg.
To his Brethren in Australia we offer our sincere sympathy.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1938

Obituary

Father John Egan SJ

Few members of the Jesuit. Order in Melbourne enjoyed wider popularity than Rev John Egan, whose sudden and unexpected death on Saturday morning caused poignant regret in Richmond, where he had been stationed for the past twelve years. He was loved by young and old, and his death is a severe loss to his Order.

Rev Fr Egan, who was born in Dublin in December, 1875, was only 18 years of age when he entered the Society of Jesus, and he was educated in Belvedere College, Dublin. For several years he taught in Jesuit colleges in Ireland, and thirty years ago he came to Australia, where the remainder of. his life was spent. He was a professor in colleges of his Order in Sydney and Melbourne, where his thorough work won the admiration of the staff associated with him and the students, and twelve years ago he became attached to the parish of St Ignatius', Richmond, where by his geniality and happy disposition he entrenched himself in the hearts of the parishioners. For some time he had not been feeling very well, but he continued doing his parish work until death intervened. Throughout Richmond and in other parts the passing of Fr Egan is very keenly mourned, He gave his best to the sacred ministry, and he worked zealously and devotedly to the end. May his soul rest in peace.

“The Advocate”

◆ Mungret Annual, 1937

Obituary

Father John Egan SJ

Father Egan was born in Dublin in December, 1875, and entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 18. As a novice he was an edifying religious with a keen sense of humour, and an uncanny faculty for repartee. When he came to Mungret, in 1902, he threw himself heart and soul into the work of the College. He was a forceful and energetic teacher, and many of the boys in his higher classes will remember his thoroughness, and clarity of expression; and at the same time will recall in what high respect they held him, for few were the slackers to be found in his class. The whole burden of running the College plays, and erecting the stage, lay on his shoulders - this was no easy task, for in those days plays were held in the Apostolics' dormitory, and the stage had to be put up and taken down within twenty four hours. In addition, in some mysterious way, he found time to edit the :Mungret Annual”. The “Annual” of these years were full of local and topical interest, for Mr Egan was an outstanding editor.

After ordination, he taught in Galway and in the Crescent College, Limerick. In 1916 he was appointed to the Australian mission, as it then was, and was for some years in St. Aloysius College, Sydney, and Xavier College, Melbourne. In 1923 he was attached to the parish of St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, and laboured, there till his death. Speaking at the Requiem High Mass, His Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne paid high tribute to the memory of Father Egan :

“If ever there was one man amongst the clergy, diocesan and regular, who gave an example in his own life of what a good shepherd ought to be, that one was Father Egan. He was not one to appear much in the public eye, and he was not one to attract, or much less seek, notoriety of popularity of any kind, but he was always about his Master's work. He knew how to do it because he moulded himself on the Master, and he did it well. The people of Richmond, and especially the poor, will miss him for many days. I had many opportunities of coming in contact with him, and I know the interest that he took in the people, and his sympathy with the poor and the tact with which he was able to deal with all. I never came in contact with Father Egan without being edified; he was indeed a genuine and loyal priest. His work was done, and it was done well, and the time had come for his Master to call him to his eternal reward. Let us pray for him”.

RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father John Egan (1875-1938)

A native of Santry, Co. Dublin, was educated at Belvedere College and entered the Society in 1893. He was at the Crescent for one year of his regency, 1905-06. The period of his higher studies was spent in Belgium and Dublin where he was ordained in 1909. On his return he was appointed prefect of studies, but after two years, 1914-16, was sent out to Australia where he continued his work in the colleges. The last fifteen years of his life was spent in church work at Melbourne.

Born: 08 July 1872, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 01 February 1888, Xavier Melbourne, Australia
Ordained: 1903
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 09 July 1941, St. Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL: 05 April 1931

by 1898 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1905 at St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA) making Tertianship
by 1906 returned to Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at St Patrick’s College Melbourne and finally at Xavier College Kew, where he gained honours in Classics at the matriculation exam. he then entered the Society at Xavier College in 1888.

1890-1891 He was a Junior at Loyola College Greenwich.
1891-1897 He was sent to St Aloysius College Sydney and Xavier College Kew for Regency
1897-1900 He was sent to Leuven Belgium for Philosophy
1900-1904 He was sent to Milltown Park Dublin for Theology
1904-1905 He made Tertianship at St David’s Mold, Wales.
1905-1921 he returned to Australia and was sent to Xavier College, teaching senior classes and was also Prefect of Studies (1906-1907)
1921-1927 He was sent teaching to St Patrick’s College Melbourne
1927-1935 He was sent to Corpus Christi College Werrribe, teaching Philosophy, Greek, Geology and Sociology. He was also Spiritual Father here and in 1932 was examiner of quadrennials, edited the “Jesuit Directory”, was a Consultor of the Vice-Province. In 1933 he was also the book censor for the Vice-Province.
1936-1941 In his final years at Loyola Watsonia and the Hawthorn Parish he was in ailing health, but he still gave Retreats, examined Ours, and became secretary to the Provincial and Archivist for the Vice-Province. He also assisted the editor of the “Messenger”, writing a series of articles on social questions.

He was a man of encyclopaedic knowledge and extraordinary ability, and he used these gifts to the full in the service of others. Utterly unselfish, he never seemed to give a thought to his own comfort or entertainment. His recreation was his work. He was a non-smoker and total abstainer. He was also kindness itself, and was greatly loved by all who came into contact with him. During his last three years he lived a hard life, as he was suffering from cancer that required many operations. He was never heard to complain about his illness.

He was one of the most brilliant and learned Jesuits to have worked in Australia, He was particularly well versed in the Classics and in Philosophy and made himself an authority in Sociology at a time when the subject was not a passport to fame or fortune. He wrote many articles on the social apostolate, especially during 1917-1919, making special contributions to the short-lived periodical “Australia : A Review of the Month”. His articles focused on social and economic issues, but also, in his “Notes and queries”, he responded to various questions arising from contemporary life. His articled included :
International Socialism; Wages?; Cooperation?; Religion and Progress; Catholic Action; Race, Culture and Morality; Miracles and Law; Sex Education; Social Study in Schools; Private Judgement; The New Democracy; Faith and Knowledge; Religion and Spiritism; Catholics and Public Life; The Church and the Bible; Unjust Methods of Profits.

He was a deeply spiritual man and it is noteworthy that in every house he served after his ordination, he was made Spiritual Father. His great gifts were somewhat marred by a painful shyness, which made it very difficult for him to take part in public meetings or discussions, and therefore somewhat reduced his potential impact. Those who did know him rated him very highly, but he was not as well known as he might have been.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 17th Year No 1 1942
Obituary :
Father Matt Egan

After a long and trying illness, borne with the greatest fortitude Rev. Matthew Egan, SJ., passed to his eternal reward on Wednesday night, July 9, at St. Vincent's Hospital. An outstanding member of the Jesuits in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, he has left a fine record of faithful service in the various institutes to which he was attached. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues, who held him in the highest regard, and by the hundreds of students who came to love him in the classroom.
Born in 1872 Fr Egan was educated at St. Patrick's College East Melbourne, and Xavier College, Kew, and at both schools he stood out as a, student of exceptional ability. He studied philosophy and science for three years in Louvain, Belgium, and theology in Dublin, where he was ordained to the priesthood. Two years after his ordination, he returned to Australia, where he spent the greater part of his remaining life on the staff of Xavier College and St Patrick’s College, with periods at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and the Jesuit Novitiate, Watsonia, and latterly in the Immaculate Conception Parish, Hawthorn.
He had an insatiable appetite for work, and even when he was suffering great pain he wished to continue. He made a close study of social questions, and his expositions, which revealed him as a deep thinker and a wide reader, were much appreciated by his colleagues and students. He was indeed. a distinct ornament to the Society. His memory will be long cherished by those who were fortunate enough to have been closely associated with him. Of a retiring disposition and very charitable, he never refused a request for a service that was in his power to render, no matter how troublesome it might be to himself. His recreation was his work. He never darkened the door of a picture theatre or other place of entertainment, and he never went to a cricket or football match, or ever looked for a holiday. In addition, he was a total abstainer and a nonsmoker.
During the last three years, Fr. Egan lived the life of a martyr, and underwent several surgical operations. He bore his sufferings with inflexible patience and courage, and was never known to murmur.
Solemn Office and Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of Fr Egan were celebrated in the Church of the Immaculate Conception Hawthorn, on Friday morning. There was a large and representative congregation, including members of religious teaching; Orders, Ladies of the Grail, college prefects, and pupils of St. John's School, Hawthorn, and representatives of the Old Xaverians' and Patrician Associations and various parish organisations.
His Grace Archbishop Mannie presided at the Requiem Mass. Preaching the panegyric, his Grace the Archbishop said “The prayers of the priests and people are most earnestly requested for the repose of the soul of Fr. Matthew Egan, S.J. I am not surprised that there should be a large gathering of the faithful and clergy to pay this last tribute to Fr. Egan. Like me, I think you are confident you are farewelling one who undoubtedly is a saint. If there be anybody for whom we can confidently say that his awakening was with Christ and his repose in peace, we can say it of Fr. Egan.
We have come, of course, to show sympathy with his relatives and with the Order to which he belonged, and of which he was such an ornament. But while we sympathise with them very warmly, I think we all feel that it is a relief as it were, and almost a joy that Fr. Egan’s long purgatory in this world should come to an end. Only for the skilful care of his medical attendants and the unremitting attention of the Sisters and nurses at the hospital, Fr. Egan would have long since gone to his reward. Many times during his illness I saw him and never once did he give the smallest indication that he had the least suffering. Other people talk of their illness and their symptoms, but with Fr. Egan everything seemed to be taken from the hand of God with absolute resignation and with almost a joy that to me seemed to be preternatural or supernatural. I have never known anybody in my experience, at all events, who suffered so much and suffered always without complaint. Fr. Egan has had a comparatively long life. He was one of those who, in spite of indifferent health, at all times never spared himself. Indeed, he was at the beck and call of anybody who needed his assistance. Whoever came to Fr. Egan looking for help, which he could well give, he always threw himself into whatever he was asked to do with a thoroughness that left no misgivings, and one could be sure that he had put his best into any work that was given him to do. When he had given a solution to any problem that had been placed before him, one could rely upon getting a sound and impartial judgment. He was a man of great parts, of wide learning and wide reading, and he had sound judgment, on which anybody could with confidence rely. I am sure that the students who studied under him will be amongst those who will regret his passing. But yet, like us all, they will feel that Fr. Egan had done his work, and that he had through his sufferings, so heroically borne, atoned for any faults in his own life,, and that also, by his sufferings, he had helped to bring mercy upon those whom he assisted. He helped his own Order and the hospital in which he was so tenderly nursed, and he helped us all by his prayers that were constantly on his lips and heart, and by the sufferings which he went through for many months and years. The Jesuit Fathers have lost one of their brightest ornaments. He was one, I suppose, amongst the pioneers of Australian apostolates for the Jesuit Order, and he certainly gave an example which all those who come after him may well follow. He is a loss to the teaching staff of the Jesuit Order, for which he gave great service in Corpus Christi College and other places. However, his work is done. and he has gone to the place where we hope one day we will meet him once again”.

Born: c 1560, Castlemartin, County Kildare
Entered: c 1585, Bruges, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BEL)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 03 November 1588, Dublin (Martyr)

Old/19 has “Martyr”

(possibly “Martinus Eustatius” Hybernus Tournay Album - CAT CHRON 107)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He is no doubt the “Maurice Eustace, student of divinite, one that nothwithstanding he were borne to a faire living, yet did wholly sequester himself from the world” (Stanihurst’s “Description of Ireland, ed 1586)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Maurice Eustace 1560-1588
While the Spanish Armada was already sailing up the English Channel, ex-Jesuit novice, but Jesuit in desire, suffered a glorious martyrdom in Dublin on June 9th 1588.

He was born of an illustrious family at Castle Martin in Kildare and was already a Master of Arts when he entered the Jesuit Noviceship at Bruges in Flanders. He incurred the displeasure of his father by taking this step, and in deference to the protestation of his father, Maurice was sent home to his family. Maurice returned to Bruges again, and again it was thought wiser to send him home to his father.

Whilst at home in Ireland, Maurice took orders as a priest secretly, but when his father found out he had him committed to prison. Shortly after his father died, whereupon Maurice’s younger brother, in order to gain inheritance, denounced him to the authorities as a Jesuit and a priest. Adam Loftus, then Chancellor, offered Maurice his freedom and his daughter in marriage if only he would recant. Maurice remained firm and was condemned to death. He was drawn by horse’s tail to the place of execution.

On the scaffold he cried out “For Jesus Christ’s sake I have come here, ready to suffer ignominy and pain and shed my blood. I will not abandon Christ for an heretical wife, for an uncertain life and for my liberty, and as He died on a Cross, I desire and hope to died for him on the scaffold”.

Born: 24 February 1605, Wexford Town, County Wexford
Entered: 24 November 1627, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1634, Liège, Belgium
Final Vows: 31 May 1654
Died: 12 November 1671, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

1633 In 3rd year Theology at Liège
1650 CAT ROM Went to Mission 1635, Prof 4 Vows; Superior at Waterford for 8 years and New Ross 1 year. Preacher, Confessor and Director of Sodalities

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
A relative of Dr Walsh Archbishop of Cashel; possible a relative of Oliver Eustace MP for Carlow in 1639;
Studied Humanities and two years Philosophy before Entry, and three years Theology afterwards. He knew Irish, English and Latin. (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI)
A good Preacher; Superior at Wexford for nine years (pre 1649) and of great influence there as Preacher and Confessor; a good religious and “vir vere optimus”
1634/5 Came to Ireland
1651 Deported to France/Spain, but returned on the restoration of Charles II
1661 In Ireland again
1663 Named in ANG Catalogue as in Third year Theology at Liège
1665 At College of the Holy Apostles in Suffolk, aged c 60, infirm (Foley’s Collectanea, where by a misprint he says that he was alive in 1684)
1671 Died in Dublin “well deserving of the Society, whether as missioner or otherwise” (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied at Douai before Ent 24 November 1627 Rome
After First Vows he was sent back to Belgium at Liège for Philosophy (1) and Theology (4) studies and was Ordained there c 1634
1634 Sent to Ireland and to Wexford. He worked there until the fall of Wexford to Cromwell 1651/1652 and was Superior of the Wexford Residence before 1649
1651/52-1660 Deported to France, first to Paris and then to Quimper where he conducted Missions among the Irish diaspora at western French and even into Spanish ports
1660 For a while he was stationed with a small Irish community in Brittany but eventually crossed to England and was well received by the ANG Provincial. He spent some time in London district and later in Suffolk.
1666 In poor health he was sent to Ireland living at the Dublin Residence where he eventually died 12 November 1671

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
EUSTACE, OLIVER, was Superior of his Brethren at Wexford in 1649, and is reported then to be “vir vere optimus”. Shortly after he went to Spain; but just before the restoration of Charles the II he returned to his native Country : bad health however, induced him to pass some time in England. I find from the Annual Letters that he died at Dublin in the course of the year 1671, “in Missione et alibi de Societate bene meritus”.

Born: 18 October 1898, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 30 September 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1929, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1936, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Died: 12 June 1975, Vinayalaya Novitiate, Mumbai, India

Part of the Campion School, Mumbai, Marharashtra, India community at the time of death

Older brother of D Leo Donnelly - RIP 1999

Educated at Belvedere College SJ

by 1922 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1927 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1932 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1933 at Hong Kong
by 1934 at Catholic Mission, Ngau-Pei-Lan, Shiuhing (Zhaoqing), Guandong, China (LUS) - Language
by 1935 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - working
by 1946 at St Mary’s, Kurseong, Darjeeling & Himalaya Railway (DH Ry), Darjeeling, West Bengal, India - teaching
by 1944 at Xavier, Park St, Kolkata, West Bengal, India (BEL M)
by 1951 at St Stanislaus, Bandra, Mumbai, India (TARR) teaching
by 1957 at St Xavier’s Mumbai, India (BOM) teaching
by 1963 at St Mary’s High School, Mumbai, India (BOM) teaching
by 1964 at De Nobili Pune (PUN) teaching
by 1968 at St Xavier’s, Mumbai, India (BOM) teaching
by 1973 at Campion School Mumbai, India (BOM)

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :

Note from Joseph TaiYu-kuk Entry
He was a teenager in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded in December 1941. He had joined a group of a dozen Catholics who, it was hoped, might one day become priests, under the charge of Father Dan Donnelly SJ.

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
In his early years he had a brilliant academic career in the Sciences, and he produced a theory in ballistics which engineer’s used refer to as “Donnelly’s Theory”. he later lost interest in Science, but he did retain a fantastic memory for the pedigree of horses, and in India he became a national expert in field hockey.

Always unpredictable, he was remembered with affection by many in the Province for his engaging - if at time exasperating - eccentricities. He originally came to Hong Kong in 1932 as one of the early pioneers of the Irish Province’s new Mission, having already spent a year in Rome as sub-Secretary for Missions. After two years in Shiuhing studying Chinese and doing some teaching there, he was sent to Wah Yan College Hong Kong in 1935, and he was Prefect of Studies there until 1939. In 1940 he began a small Jesuit Apostolic School at Tai Lam Chung which was intended to encourage vocations to the Society.

He spent 12 years in Hong Kong before heading to India on a mission of mercy with 12 Chinese boys towards the end of WWII in late 1944. He enjoyed India and they liked him there, so after a short return to Canton and Hong Kong after the war, he went to Mumbai in 1949 and spent the rest of his life there.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 10th Year No 3 1935
Works by Father Donal Donnelly SJ :

1. “A Prisoner of Japan” - (Sheed & Ward).
2. “Life of B. Charles Spinola, S.J.”
3. “A Nobleman of Italy” - Sands & Co.
4. “Life of St. AIoysius”
5. “A Gallant Conquistador” - Browne & Nolan
6. “Life ofB. Rudolf Acquaviva and Companions” - MS

Irish Province News 21st Year No 2 1946

IN ALIIS PROVINCIIS DEGENTES :

India :
Fr. D. Donnelly gave a series of Lenten Conferences to the men's sodality there on The Authority of the State, Obedience to Law. The Catholic in the Municipality, The Catholic in the State.

Fr. Donnelly to Province News, 20-3-46 :
“A batch of Chinese Navy men passed through Bombay on the way to England for training in December-January last. The Naval Chaplain brought me along to hunt up the Catholics among them. There proved to be very few Catholics, but two of the pagans were old Wah Yan boys, and they gave me a tremendous welcome. I got a big batch to Midnight Mass at Christmas. I also had one of the Wah Yan boys and three others under instruction, but they left for England before I could finish. However, I gave them a letter to the nearest Parish Priest in England.

Irish Province News 37th Year No 2 1962

Fr. Daniel Donnelly, St. Mary's High School, Bombay 10, writes :
I am at present in practically sole charge (one Brother to collect fees, one Father to teach Hindi) of a grand school of 1,100 boys, more than half of them Catholics. We get quite a few vocations every year; this year I am praying for half-a-dozen. The boys are mostly Goans, grand people. The non-Catholic boys are Parsees, Moslems and Hindus; and while very, very few are ever converted, they are wonderfully responsive to moral instruction, easily the most consoling classes which I teach. These young Indians are like no other boys whom I have taught in this : that once they take to you they give you their heart and are astonishingly loyal and friendly.
Retiring age over here is 65, so I have only another year to run as Principal. Then I hope to get away to “real” mission work in the districts. I'd have to learn Marathi, of course, but I learn languages easily, T.G.
We shall see.

Irish Province News 50th Year No 3 and 4 1975

Obituary :

Fr Don Donnelly (1896-1975)

In his letters to various Jesuits in Ireland and Bombay, Don's brother, Fr Leo SJ, St Albert's College, Ranchi, wrote as follows:
“You will have been informed by cable of my brother’s death. He suffered a severe stroke in March and was paralysed on his left side. He became progressively weaker as he was unable to retain solid food. I was with him during the summer holidays, but started back on 10th June. After my return here I received a telegram announcing his death on 12th June, It was, in fact, a merciful release, as it was painful to see so active a man reduced to helplessness. Still, it makes me feel rather lonely.
Donal (latinised in the Society to Daniel) had a very full and happy life. For his early life I can supply a few details. He had an exceptionally brilliant academic record. Under the old ‘Intermediate’ system he won a 1st Class Exhibition in each Grade, and at least one Gold Medal (first place in all Ireland in a given subject) each year (details in the Belvederian). At UCD his record is still, I think, unsurpassed. He took seven subjects in his first year, doing First Arts and First Science simultaneously, and got 1st Honours in all seven and 1st place in five, plus the Delaney Scholarship (this could be checked by reference to the files in UCD). He scored very high marks in the BSc, and MSc (equivalent to a PhD today as it involved research) He produced a theory of ballistics which engineers used to refer to as ‘Donnelly's Theory’. He was also enrolled as a student in Trinity College (his father's university) and won some prizes there - in particular a Foundation Scholarship. He entered the Society still under 21.
He inherited his love of and knowledge of horses from his father, who was an excellent judge. Don had a fantastic memory for the pedigree of horses. I think he carried the whole Stud Book in his head, and knew the breeding of every horse running at that time. When he entered the Society he put all that completely aside, never 'talking horses'. It was only in 1963, when age compelled his retirement from headmastership and he was sent as Minister to our scholasticate in Pune (Poona), that he took it up again. There he discovered a number of stud farms in the neighbourhood, and seemed to take it as a hint from the Lord that it was permissible to use his talent in this field of apostolate. If you really know horses, you are accepted in the horsey confraternity, and so he moved with ease in that circle. At least he saw apostolic opportunities in meeting managers, owners and jockeys on their own ground. He liked to meet Irish jockeys who came to Bombay to ride, and he did them good. Ask Johnny Roe about that.
Don spent so little time in Ireland that he is not well known in the Province - now probably only by those whom he taught in Clongowes from 1923 to 26. But I know that he remained somewhat in touch with the Brutons of Kildare.
It would be difficult to discover the number of priestly vocations he fostered wherever he happened to be. During all his extremely successful career as Prefect of Studies he was above all interested in boys, rather than studies as such. The way he took up hockey in Bombay is an indication of that. It gave him a beneficial influence over a very large number of young people.
Naturally I am a bit prejudiced. All my life he has been an immense inspiration to me, and I still can't quite realise that he is gone. One would like to think that his influence will continue to do good, at least through his publications.
In spite of the amazing amount of work he managed to fit into the day, he always said two rosaries in addition to his Divine Office. Here is a quotation from a letter from a Hindu friend of his: ‘I was very grieved to learn that your dear brother, my good friend, passed away on 12th June. For the past many years we used to meet in Bombay during the annual bloodstock sales, and I used to look forward to the pleasure of seating him by my side and inviting comments on my lots for sale. In the process I learnt a great deal and valued his advice which was always unbiassed. I shall miss him sadly’.
From a letter of one of the boys Don brought from China to India, who entered the novitiate but was advised to leave on account of scruples (apparently Don and he corresponded for 25 years): ‘He was, I think, my ideal man. As a small boy, I was afraid of him, and then I grew to have an extraordinary respect for him both as a priest and for his intelligence; and all the time I had a sincere affection for him. My wife often says I have two fathers, my own and Father Donnelly. Now I certainly know that is true’. (The writer is now an artist and schoolmaster in England).
In case you have not got it otherwise, a short account of Don’s coming to India. In 1939, with no more scholastics coming from Ireland, the Language School in Hong Kong was turned into an Apostolic School. Don and Ned Sullivan were in charge of about 30 boys. When the Japanese invaded Hong Kong, the School had to be abandoned. Don and some other Fathers made their way into Free China. Don went to an Apostolic School run by the Maryknoll Fathers, where twelve of his boys joined him. In 1943 the Japs made a drive to eliminate some air-fields used by the Americans, so Don, his boys and some Fathers had to move west. They ended up in Kunming in the south-west corner of China, nearest India. Eventually they were air-lifted to India ‘over the hump’ by RAF planes returning to India after having brought military supplies to China. In Calcutta he met Fr Conget, Superior of Bombay, who advised him to bring the boys to Bandra, the only boys' school which has an almost entirely Catholic pupil intake. Don remained there even after the end of the war to let the senior boys finish their matric exam. Then in 1947 he returned by sea to Hong Kong. The authorities there were not so keen on a large number of Chinese candidates, so most of the boys were ‘brushed off’. Only three were accepted, One left in the novitiate (scruples), one left in philosophy (lack of grey matter), one has been ordained - Fr Joseph Tai SJ.
Don went up to Canton, where he took charge of the Sacred Heart School (formerly run by the de la Salle Brothers for the Archbishop). When the Commies came in he was pushed out, and asked to return to India rather than remain in Hong Kong.
While learning Chinese in 1932, after some months with a teacher in Shiuhing, Don went to a village on the West river to to get practice by acting as assistant priest. Returning to the presbytery one day, he found a man chained to the railing of the church. The man was a leper, caught stealing and condemned to death. He was to be shot the following morning. Entering into conversation, Don discovered that the unfortunate man's mother had been a Catholic, though of course unable to practise her - religion once she had been engulfed in her husband's 'extended family'. Helped by the PP, Don instructed the man, gave him some food, and went back to supper, On an impulse the PP decided to baptise the man that evening - very fortunately, as the man was shot so early in the morning that they had no opportunity to speak to him again. The man was christened ‘Dismas?’

In Bombay, 1944-1975 (from the Bombay Province newsletter Samachar, July 1975):
Father Daniel Donnelly, after having laboured in Hong Kong and China for 12 years, came to Bombay on a mission of mercy with 15 Chinese boys. He liked us and we liked him, and after safely depositing his boys in their native land, he returned to Bombay for good and worked like a Trojan here for the next 25 years and more until he was struck by partial paralysis.
During these years he had time to work in most of our Bombay City houses, generally in the capacity of Rector and/or Principal and/or Minister and/or Parish Priest. He was never at the Institute of Education, Sodality House or Diocesan Seminary. At Vinayalaya he was only for some weeks as a sick man. De Nobili College, Poona, too had him for a couple of years as Minister and treasurer, and his last community was the one of the Christian Brothers in Bassein.
Barring the last three months, which he spent at the Holy Spirit Hospital or in the novitiate infirmary, he had always been in excellent health. He believed in brisk walking, light meals, early rising and hard quick work. Since childhood he loved horses, and from the day he landed in India he loved hockey.
His hobbies were solving a daily cross-word puzzle (for a time he composed one daily), an occasional game of patience, reading novels and also other more serious stuff (including science magazines - he was an MSc); and writing articles (by the dozen, and keeping two or three series abreast) for the Messenger and other papers. Many an author did not know (?) who had censored his book; Fr Donnelly knew at least one of the censors. Organizing school hockey leagues and tournaments and watching the games he considered not a hobby but part and parcel of his work in the all-round education of the boys.
As Rector and School Principal he could not be accused of curtailing the freedom of his subordinates or unduly interfering in their spheres of action. He expected every Jesuit, teacher or boy to do his duty. Even in the days of greater regimentation in schools, he could not pass as a disciplinarian.
He trusted boys, even when he knew some would take advantage of his kindness and liberality. Few did more than he did, chiefly in Bandra days, to foster vocations to the Society (for Bombay, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur). Yet it was well known that in his optimism he was inclined to count his candidates before they were hatched. Yet, in later years, he could count quite a few Jesuits whom he had encouraged to break the egg-shell. Some will remember the vocational booklets he wrote and the Bombay Vocation Exhibition (for the Seminary and for religious orders of men and women) he organized in Bandra.
He loved the Society and found it hard to reconcile his loyalty to the Jesuit spirit with some of the changes introduced in the last decade. In his lovable frankness and literary wit he showed what he thought of some modern trends in his devastating piece of satire - which he called parable or vision - whereby he regaled(?) the ears of scores of fellow Jesuits assembled on the terrace of St Xavier's High School one evening in 1969 to celebrate his 50 years in the Society.
Although his speech in ordinary conversation was at times difficult to follow there were some stories too about the legibility of his handwriting even when in block capitals), hardly anyone could miss a word when he spoke in public, which he did often. For a couple of years he was entrusted with the monthly domestic exhortation (you may recall that ancient custom) at St Xavier’s High School. He was always original, even if not to everybody's taste. Many a Catholic in Bandra, St Mary's and St Xavier's made it a point to attend Fr Donnelly's Sunday Mass to hear his sermons. You could never predict the subject of the homily, but most people found it interesting and profitable. On a certain Sunday he spoke on some changes in the Liturgy. The following Sunday he read out from the ambo two letters on the subject he had received from the pews during the week.
His last months in a sick bed must have been a severe trial. Fortunately he had most of the time his younger brother Leo from Ranchi with him. Many others of the Vinayalaya community helped him in his hour of need. He mellowed during those last 100 days. Illness bridged for him the generation gap that had opened before him.
Unshorn novices in mufti watched over him day and night. He was grateful to them. For him they were a concrete token of the motherly love of the Society he had joined in far-away Ireland when the century (though no longer he) was in its teens.
After a Eucharistic concelebration at St Peter’s, Bandra, he was buried on June 13, in the porch of the church and beside the school that had been his first centre of apostolate in India.
Fr Don Donnelly’s curriculum vitae shows the man's adaptability to varying circumstances: 1898 - born in Dublin; 1919 - Jesuit novitiate in Tullabeg; 1925 - philosophy in Valkenburg; 1927 - theology in Innsbruck; 1929 - ordained in Dublin; 1930 - Subsecr, of Missions, Rome; 1931 - tertianship; 1932 - arrival in China, teaching in Shiuhing; 1933 - studying Chinese language; 1934 - Wah Yan, Hong Kong, teaching in Regional Seminary; 1935 - Prefect of Studies, Wah Yan; 1936 - final vows; 1940 - director of Minor Seminary, Hong Kong; 1944 - arrival in Bandra (India) with Chinese boys, teaching; 1947 · back to Canton (China), teaching; 1949 - back in India, studying Hindi in Ranchi; 1950 - Rector of St Stanislaus High School, Bandra; 1956 - Minister, St Xavier's College; 1957 - Principal and Minister, St Mary's High School; 1963 · de Nobili College, Minister and Treasurer; 1965 - Minister and Treasurer, St Xavier's College; 1972 - Principal and Superior, Campion School, Bhopal; 1974 - chaplain to Christian Brothers, Bassein road; 1975 - death at Vinayalaya, 12th June; burial in Bandra, 13th.

Obituary :

Fr Don Donnelly (1896-1975)

More about Fr Don Donnelly († 12th June 1975)

When the last number of the Province News had gone to press, the editor discovered fifteen pages of notepaper which Fr Fergus Cronin, Rector of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, had filled with this account of Fr Don:
For one who was so well known in the countries in which he worked, Fr Daniel Donnelly, who died last June in Bombay, was relatively little known in Ireland. This was largely due to the fact that apart from his noviceship and his period in the Colleges, all his life in the Society was spent abroad,
He came from a Dublin family. His father was a doctor practising in Parnell square, and he went to school at Belvedere.
He entered the Society in 1919, having already obtained a Master of Science degree. My recollection may be at fault, but I think I remember him telling me that he had got a scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin, and that he attended lectures there, in order to fulfil the conditions of the cash grant, and also studied for a degree at University College, Dublin.
Having finished his novitiate, he studied philosophy in Valkenburg, came back for his Colleges to Clongowes and then did his theology in Innsbruck.
After tertianship he spent a year in the Curia in Rome as assistant to the Secretary of the Missions, and from there he went to work in the Missions - in Hong Kong.
He studied Chinese (Cantonese) in the Portuguese Mission at Shiuhing and then came to teach in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, which had just been given to the Society by its founders. Again my memory may be at fault, but I believe I heard that while the negotiations regarding our taking over the College were in progress, Fr Donnelly dropped several Miraculous Medals into the grounds!
After a few years he was made Prefect of Studies in Wah Yan College and was in this position until just before the beginning of World War II. He was extremely well known in Hong Kong because of his position in the world of education. He had very positive ideas on most subjects, and in education he believed in being very firm, but he was also very approachable. A recently published book by Fr P O'Connor of the Columban Fathers, under the title Buddhists find Christ, gives a number of accounts, written by the persons themselves, of their conversion to Christianity. One of these was Dr Lert Srichandra, a Thai doctor educated in Wah Yan College and later in UCD. The book recounts many very amusing conversations, often held late at night in Wah Yan, between Dr Lert and Fr Donnelly. In his account, Dr Lert gives a great deal of credit for his finding the answers to his problems to the very direct, frank and friendly handling by Fr Donnelly of a young student's fumbling approaches to the mysteries of our faith. Dr Lert has many pages of such interchange, all very revealing of the mentality of both of these men.
Just before World War II struck Hong Kong, Fr Donnelly had collected a group of teenagers, who had shown some signs of a possible vocation to the priesthood or to the Society. These were known to all of Ours in Hong Kong by Don's name for them, “the little lads”. They were in his care in the Language School in Tai Lam Chung, and when the war came, Don succeeded, first in getting these lads out of Hong Kong to the port of Kwang Chow Wan, and then to the part of South China not occupied by the Japanese. Finally he got them flown over “The Hump” from Kunming in Yunnan province to Calcutta in India. From Calcutta he brought them by train across India to Bombay and finally was able to house them in St Stanislaus College in Bandra, just outside Bombay. Many years later, Don was to be Rector of this college.
After World War II, Don brought the group of young men back safely to Hong Kong. Of them Fr Joseph Tai is the only one in the Society, but many of the others grew into pillars of the Church and of the community in other walks of life.
Returning after this tremendous odyssey to Hong Kong, Don was able to arrange the future of these young men, and then was himself assigned to Canton. There he was a teacher in the Sacred Heart School, but was also concerned with the planning of a Jesuit secondary school which was to be built there. Fr Thomas Ryan was the Superior of the Hong Kong Mission, and his idea of a Jesuit college was one which would in every way make its own impression on all, not only for its standards of excellence in teaching, but also as being a building such as to do us credit. Don was always a man whose idealism was to be realised in a very practical form, and at one time he brought a brick down from Canton to show Fr Ryan what a suitable material it could be from which to build the proposed college. Fr Ryan’s reaction, it is believed, was to throw it back to him in disgust!
Don was in Canton until the communists came to take over South China. He was fairly sure that they would also take over Hong Kong, and in any case, since for the foreseeable future we had no work in Canton, he in his practical way wanted to go elsewhere. To Fr Ryan, leaving China at such a time was not to be thought of - it betrayed a lack of faith in the future of our work in China, a thing he refused even to think of. To Don, it was just being practical to find some other field in which to labour. Fr Ryan rather hurt Don by the manner in which he viewed Don’s desire to go to India, where he was assured he would be very welcome and much needed. But Don was never a man to be discouraged or even much affected by what others thought of him or his actions, so, about 1950, off he went to start a new life in India.
In India he later became Rector (as mentioned above) and Principal of St Stanislaus, Bandra. He was also Principal in several other Jesuit colleges, ending his teaching career as Superior and Principal of Campion High School in Bombay.
During these long years he developed many new interests. Most of those who knew him remember him, apart from his great ability in the scholastic field, as the man who produced the standard book on hockey (for which, I have been told, he was decorated by the Indian government). He is remembered also as an incessant writer of verse. Every school annual of the colleges where he was Principal (or Superior, or both) contains many poems, some as short as sonnets, some quite long narrative poems on current or on spiritual themes.
When finally he retired as a teacher he went to St Augustine’s High School, Bassein, a school run by the Christian Brothers (to quote his own words from one of his last letters) ‘where I act as chaplain, teach a little, and make myself generally useful’.
He enjoyed really good health until April 1975, when he suffered a severe stroke which left him paralysed on the left side. He was moved to the Jesuit novitiate of Vinayalaya, Andheri, Bombay, where he was cared for until a second stroke caused his death.
His death leaves the Society the poorer by the loss of one of its most loyal sons. In his later years, by all accounts, he had become rather critical of many of the changes taking place in the Society, particularly in the life-style of its members, but this was largely due to the high standards he had set himself, and which he believed he should see everywhere.
His love of the Society is seen in all of his writings. He was a man who studied the theory of anything in which he was concerned. This is seen in his writing his book on hockey. He saw everything as the carrying into reality of the theory which he had formulated about that particular subject. This too is seen in his writings about Society subjects, eg, his pamphlet on the Spiritual Exercises and his short Life of Blessed Charles Spinola. This latter was an adaptation of an Italian life which had attracted his attention. This tendency to take over the work of others is seen when later he produced a catechism in Chinese and English which was largely based on My Catholic faith by Bishop Morrow. Don was always practical, and if someone else had written something that he thought well expressed what he wanted to say, he felt free to use this material in a way that some of his fellow Jesuits felt was a little too close to the original without sufficient acknowledgement.
He was a man of tremendous energy, who faced without any self-consciousness any situation which arose. He was a man of great and strong convictions. Above all, he was a really observant religious whose love for the Society came through in everything he did or wrote. He had thousands of friends and admirers, and I think it is true that of this great number of men of all kinds who admired him for one or other of his many gifts, all saw him first and foremost as a man of God

Irish Province News 52nd Year No 2 1977

Calcutta Province

Extract from a letter from a Jesuit of Calcutta Province, Darjeeling Region (Fr. Edward Hayden, St. Joseph's College, North Point, Darjeeling, Western Bengal)

I was one of the old “Intermediate” boys of the Christian Brothers, Carlow. I left off in 1910, 67 years ago, at the end of June. Yes, we learnt the Gaeilge. The Brothers - or some I met, one in particular, a Brother Doyle, was very keen on it. The others didn't teach it as it was only in the “Academy” that they began with languages: French, Gaeilge, Algebra, Euclid and of course English. (5th Book - Senior Elementary Class - was followed by the “Academy”). The Brothers had dropped Latin just before I joined the “Academy”. We were living at a distance of 5 Irish miles from Carlow, and I was delicate, so I often fell a victim of 'flu, which didn't help me to make progress in studies - made it very hard: but at that time the rule was “do or die”. There was only one excuse for not having home work done – you were dead! That was the training we had: it stood me in good stead through life; it is the one thing I am grateful for.
We had a number of Irishmen here, a handful: Fr Jos Shiel, Mayo, died in Patna. Fr James Comerford, Queen's County, died in Bihar. I met the Donnelly brothers, they were Dubliners. The one who died (Don) was Editor of the Sacred Heart Messenger. Many of his stories were about horse-racing - he must have read plenty of Nat Gould when he was a boy! (Nat wrote a number of horse-racing stories supposed to have been in Australia). There are three Irishmen in Ranchi: Frs Donnelly, Phelan and Lawlor. Fr Phelan has spent nearly his whole life in India. As a boy he was in North Point, and after his Senior Cambridge he joined the Society. At that time there was only the Missio Maior Bengalensis of the Belgian Province. The Mission took in half or more of north-east India - Patna, Ranchi and south of it, Assam, Bhutan and Sikkim - an area four or five times that of Ireland! Needless to say, there were parts of it which had no SJ within a hundred miles ...Down here in the Terai where I am “hibernating” out of the cold of Darjeeling, some forty-five years ago there was no priest. One or two of the professors of theology from Kurseong, some 40 miles away, used to visit this district at Christmas and Easter. It was very malarious. Catholics from Ranchi came here to work on the tea plantations. Then a Jesuit was sent to reside in it. Now the district has schools and Jesuits galore, also non-Jesuits. Great progress has been made. The Salesians took up Assam, the American SJs took over Patna. The Northern Belgians took over Ranchi and the Southern Belgians took Calcutta. (The Belgian Province grew till its numbers reached 1400. Then, about 1935, Belgian separated into Flemings - North - and Walloons - South). Ranchi was given to the North and Calcutta to the South. On the 15th August last year (1976) Calcutta was raised from being a Vice Province to be a full-blown Province. 100% of those joining the SJ now are sons of India. Madura in the south has been a Province for years. Nearly all the Europeans are dead: no more are allowed to come permanently unless for a very, very special reason, India has begun to send her sons to East Africa in recent years.
Fr Lawlor is Irish-born but somehow joined the Australian Province about the time it started a half-century or so ago.
Brother Carl Kruil is at present in charge of an ashram: a place for destitutes, in Siliguri. Silguri is a city which grew up in the last forty years around the terminus of the broad gauge railway and the narrow (two-foot) toy railway joining the plains with Darjeeling - one of the most wonderful lines in the world, rising from 300 feet above sea-level, 7,200 feet in about 50 miles and then dropping down to about 5,500 feet in another ten. Three times it loops the loop and three times climbs up by zig-zags. I seem to remember having met Fr Conor Naughton during the war. Quite a number of wartime chaplains came to Darjeeling. The mention of Siliguri set me off rambling. Br Krull remembers his visit to Limerick. (He stayed at the Crescent, 11th 13th June, 1969). He is a born mechanic. Anything in the line of machinery captivates him. He has to repair all the motors and oil engines – some places like this have small diesel generators which have to be seen to from time to time and all other kinds of machinery: cameras, typewriters etc. At present he comes here to do spot welding (electric welding of iron instead of bolts and nuts.
The PP, here is replacing an old simple shed with a corrugated iron roof by a very fine one with brick walls and asbestos-cement roof. Two years ago or so, the roof was lifted by a sudden whirlwind clean off the wooden pillars on which it rested. Since then he has been saying the Sunday Masses on the veranda of a primary school. In this school 235 children receive daily lessons and a small mid-day meal. The Sisters are those of St. Joseph of Cluny – all from South India. They are really heroines: no work is too difficult for them. They do all their own work and cook for us. Their Vice-Provincial is from somewhere in the centre of the “Emerald Gem”. They are growing in numbers and do great work, running a dispensary amongst other things. The church is very broad, approximately 90 by 60 feet. As no benches are used - people sit on the floor - it will hold nearly 450 people at a time. The altar is in one corner. :
Fr Robert Phelan (Ranchi Province) had a visit one night from dacoits (armed robbers), but with help managed to beat them off.
Ranchi had several of these raids last year. In nearly every case the dacoits managed to get some cash.
One night about two weeks ago a rogue elephant (one that is wild and roaming away from the herd) came to a small group of houses close by. A man heard the noise and came out. The elephant caught him by the leg and threw him on to a corn stack - fortunately. The corn stack of rice waiting to be thrashed was quite broad and flat on top! He was very little the worse for the experience. And that is the end of the news.
One more item: please ask the new Editor of the Irish Province News to let me have copies as (?) and send them by overland (surface mail). Even if they are three months coming, they will be news. God bless you and reward you handsomely.
Yours in our Lord,
Edward Hayden, SJ (born 15th October 1893, entered S.J. Ist February 1925, ordained 21st November 1933, took final vows on 2nd February 1936. Now conf. dom. et alumn. and script. hist. dom. at the above address).

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1945

Letter from Father Donal Donnelly SJ

By all accounts the Missions in China, so far from being set back, are actually progressing during war-time, most of the missionaries having turned their hand to hospital and relief work thereby increasing the prestige of the Church and bringing more souls to Christ. All of the Irish Jesuit Mission in China are safe and sound.

Fr Don Donnelly, has travelled by rail, road; water and air, accompanied by a little troop of seminarians, from end to end of Asia. After the capture of Hong Kong, he first went to French Indo-China to reconnoitre for the mission, then to Wuchow in Kwangsi, where he taught science and philosophy in the Junior Seminary of the Maryknoll Fathers. There he was joined by a remnant of the boys whom he had been training for the priesthood in Hong Kong, and another older boy who wished to become a Jesuit. As the invading Japanese armies approached, the Seminary was transferred to Paaksha in the same province. In a letter dated last September, Fr Donnelly describes the rest of his odyssey :

“An urgent warning came from the American Consul to us in Paaksha in June, urging us to clear out without delay. The Maryknoll Fathers promptly closed down the Seminary, and Fr Grogan and I, with our ten little protégés, set off for Kweiyang, the capital of Kweichow province. We had a very mnixed trip. The first bit, by sampan floating down the West River to Kweiping, was very pleasant; it took about nine hours. Then we had a day or two waiting in Kweiping, before we were picked up by an American Army barge, towed by a launch. (The lad in charge was an Irishman, from Fr Grogan's part of the country.) This dragged us past the most glorious scenery, and through the most wonderful rapids, I have ever seen, to a place called Taai Waan, south of Lauchau. There should have been a train to Lauchau, but there was none; so we contacted the big shot at Taai Waan, a Catholic, and he squeezed us on to a boat leaving that evening for Lauchau. We got there after a very leisured trip. and hung about Lauchau for a couple of days, waiting for a train. Finally we got one, and then started the most appaling train journey ever made. The train was packed to the doors, corridors and steps; we had no seats, most of us; the journey was about 250 miles, and was supposed to take 23 hours; it actually took almost four days. The nights were terrible - nodding about all over the place, without room to rest or move; However, we reached the railhead at Tushan at last, and then our troubles were over. We had a great welcome from the Chinese Father at the Catholic Mission, and in a few days, the British military authorities (who have been extraordinarily kind to us) gave us a free ride in a truck to Kweiyang, about 150 miles.

I left the boys with Fr Grogan at Kweiyang and came on myself (by American truck this time, also free) to Kunming, to see about getting the boys and ourselves out to India. That was a very pleasant trip, though a bit long, about 400 miles. I saw for the first time the real old Chinese walled cities; and the scenery was marvellous. I arrived here three months ago; since then I have brought Fr Grogan and the boys along here. We hope to leave now any day for India (by RAF plane, I hope, as I say, the British authorities, and indeed, the Americans also, have been most kind and helpful) but there are still documents to be obtained and arrangements to be made”.

And in a letter dated April 19th, he writes, this time from St Stanislaus High School, Bandra, Bombay :

“I am out here in India now with these grand Spanish Fathers for the past four months, and the years in China seem like a bad dream. Still, I must say that I am very grateful to Almighty God, not only for His marvellous Providence over us all during these past three years, but also for the trifle of war experience which He sent my way. I cannot truthfully say that I should like to go through the war and its aftermath again; but just for once it was a most salutary and sanctifying experience. I certainly shall never listen again without a slightly contemptuous smile to the saying that ‘war is heil’. War is certainly very terrible, but it is equally certainly not hell; on the contrary, many men get nearer to heaven in wartime than in times of peace.

The Chinese boys and I are quite settled down here now and thoroughly happy. There are eleven of them; ten are junior seminarians who hope to join the Society of Jesus, while the last boy is a university student. He is an old Wah Yan boy named Philip Chau Pak Harig; he has wanted for years to join the Society. I brought him along with me on the understanding that I should teach him Latin, and that he would teach my boys Chinese. He (as indeed, all the boys without exception) has made an excellent impression on all here. So,I am trying at present to get him into the Bombay university, so that he can finish his degree (medicine). The rest of the boys are not so far advanced; they will be taking their Matric. in 1947 and 1948, and will then, I hope, go to the novitiate, Vinayalaya, a delightful spot about half-an-hour from here by surburban train and bus. It is really most creditable for these lads, because, despite the handicap of learning through a foreign language (English) and of broken, unsatisfactory studies for the past three years since the war, they are actually a year ahead of time; had they been in Hong Kong, they would not be due for Matric. before 1948 or 1949.

These Indian boys are very different from the Chinese. The Chinese is quiet, shy, reserved, very industrious, patient, gentle, and altogether charming; your Indian boy is lively, very friendly, distinctly less industrious, cheery, clever and not less charming, I shall certainly leave a bit of my heart here in Bandra when the time comes to return to. China. The Indian boys here are far more fickle than the Chinese, but they are solidly Catholic, and to them the priest is the priest, as he is to any Irish boy. In China it is not so; the priest is just another schoolmaster, usually somewhat ‘more decent’ and kindly and painstaking than the lay teacher, but as far as priestly dignity is concerned, you might just as well be Mr Ezechiah X of the China Inland Mission.

I am teaching here myself, and helping out in the church, the finest parish church I have ever seen, and as busy a place as Gardiner St nearly 250,000 Communions a year. I have given several Retreats since I came, to Matric, boys, to our Scholastics at the Theologate in Poona, to teachers, etc. I start another retreat this evening to nuns. The last little job I had was, of all weird. things, to write a new libretto for an operetta ! You would be amazed at the amount of verse I have perpetrated since coming here. It started with the demand for translation of Spanish Christmas carols into English, then came requests for Papal anthems, Mission anthems, Rector's Day songs, and so on, and now this is the last straw!

Well, best wishes to all old friends in Belvedere”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1986

The Travelling Donnellys

Don Donnelly SJ (1915) died in 1975 after a varied life in a different world. His brother Leo (1920), now in Sacred Heart Church Limerick, sends this report which he calls “The Travelling Donnellys”:

The older, Donal or Don (later Latinised into Daniel or Dan), Belvedere 1903-1915, was always first in his class. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1919 after taking his MSc in UCD After two years in Tullabeg, Rahan, he went for Philosphy to Valkenburg, Holland, with the German Jesuits expelled from Germany by Bismarck. After three years teaching in Clongowes, he studied Theology in Innsbruck, Austria. Ordained in Dublin in 1929, he spent a year in Rome attached to the Jesuit Mission Secretariat. Then, after Tertianship in North Wales, he sailed for Hong Kong in July 1932.

Having learnt the Cantonese version of Chinese mainly with the Portuguese Jesuits in Shiu Hing, he worked as Headmaster of Wah Yan College in Hong Kong until the second World War broke out. No more Scholastics would come from Ireland, so the house intended for their Language School was vacant, and was utilised as a Minor Seminary for boys intending to become Jesuits. Don was put in charge. Then, on 8th December 1941 the Japanese invaded and occupied Hong Kong. The Irish Jesuits, as neutrals, were not interned. So, after things had quietned down, Don made his way into Free China with a dozen of the “Little Lads”. He settled down with the American Maryknoll Fathers at Tanchuk. Alas, a year orso later, the Americans began to construct an airfield nearby. Whereupon the Japanese Army made a drive to occupy that part of China as well, so the Maryknoll Minor Seminary had to be abandoned.

With his charges Don made an adventurous journey westwards by antiquated train, up turbulent rivers in over-crowded boats, and finally up steep mountain roads in delapidated trucks, ending in Kunming, the Capital of Yunnan Province, the nearest to India. To Kunming the Allies were bringing supplies by air over the “Hump” for the Chinese Army of Chiang Kai Chek. The planes were returning empty to India, so Don succeded in getting passage for himself and the twelve boys. Eventually they settled in St Stanislaus School, Bandra, Bombay. When the war was over and the older boys had completed their matriculation, the party returned to Hong Kong by sea.

Don went on to Canton, now liberated, to act as Headmaster in the Archbishop's school. But all too soon the Communists took over the whole of China, and Don was on his travels again. He asked to return to India and worked in Bombay for twenty five years as Headmaster in various schools until his death of a stroke in 1975.

The younger brother, Diarmuid Leo (the second name was always used) Belvedere 1908 - 1920 was never first in his class. He entered the Jesuits straight from school. After two years in Tullabeg, he was sent for a year to study Humanities in France. Then after three years Science in UCD, he began Philosophy in Milltown Park. However, owing to illness, a colleague returned to Ireland and, to replace him, Leo was transferred to Pullach-bei-München in Germany.

There followed three years teaching and coach ing Rugby in Belvedere. Then, after Theology and Tertianship he returned to Belvedere to teach Mathematics as a side-line to coaching Rugby.
In September 1941 he was appointed Chaplain in the British Army. He spent nearly three years in various posts in Great Britain, then transferred to Normandy on D-day. Always remaining safely behind the lines, he ended the war in Ostend, Belgium. Shortly after he was appointed to the Irish Guards in Germany, and was demobbed early in 1946.

On suggestion ot his brother he was appointed Professor of Church History in Kurseong, the Theologate of the Jesuits in India, situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, After a little over two years, he was transferred to Australia, visiting Hong Kong on the way. There followed one year in Newman College, Melbourne, and then five years in the Holy Name Minor Seminary, Christchurch, New Zealand

The Belgian Jesuits in India were having difficulty in securing Visas for new blood from Belgium, so a “swop” was arranged. Leo went to Ranchi, Bihar, India, while a Belgian went to the Irish Jesuit Mission in Zambia. Leo remained as Professor of Philosophy in the Regional Seminary, Ranchi for twenty six years, and finally returned to Ireland in 1981.

(Editor: Fr. Leo forgets to mention something about his 1938 SCT...)

Born: 25 November 1638, Craddockstown, County Kildare
Entered: 01 December 1658, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1669, Palermo, Sicily
Final Vows: 02 February 1676
Died: 30 January 1700, Irish College, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

1675-1686 at Fermo College (ROM) teaching Philosophy and Grammar - and 1681 teaching Theology at Macerata College
1693-1700 At Irish College in Rome taught Theology, Philosophy and Humanities : Rector 1695-1698

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1692-1695 Rector at Rome. While there in 1692, he received letters from Fathers Relly and Wesly at Poitiers. He sought and procured for the “meritorious and afflicted Irish Mission” 50,000 reales from Fr Emmanuel de Sylva SJ, Lisbon. In 1693 he received a further letter from Father Relly, which was directed to the Greek College, Rome. On 05 February 1695, he received from Father Ininger of Ingolstadt, 500 scudi, or 1,000 florins for the Irish Mission.
In 1690 he was at Poitiers when his nephew William, a lieutenant Sir Maurice Eustace’s infantry writes to tell him that his brother has been killed at the siege of Limerick, “riding as a volunteer”. He also asks him to get him transferred into Tyrconnell’s Horse, in which regiment he would have less work and more pay.
1697 There is a petition against him by his sister-in-law, Mrs Eustace at Craddockstown.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of William and Jane née Whyte (daughter of Nicholas Whyte at Leixlip)
Had already studied Philosophy at Antwerp before Ent 02 December 1658 Rome
After First Vows he was sent for Regency at Fermo, and then studied Theology at Palermo where he was Ordained c 1669
1669-1671 Sent teaching at Ascoli
1671-1672 Tertianship at Florence
1672-1678 Taught Philosophy and Theology at Fermo, and also spent one year during that time as Penitentiary at Loreto
1679-1681 Sent to Macerata College to teach Philosophy
1681-1683 Sent to Irish College Rome as Prefect of Studies
1683-1684 Sent to Fermo College again to teach Dogmatic Theology
1684-1690 Sent to Ireland and was appointed Superior of the Dublin Residence and school, and was also made a Consultor of the Mission, and was though to be a very suitable candidate for Mission Superior. He remained there until the Williamite conquest, and the Mission Superior Lynch sent him to Rome as Procurator of the Irish Mission. On the way he spent a year at Poitiers to attend to urgent financial business of the Mission in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Dublin.
1691 Arrived in Rome and proved himself a tower of strength of the mission during the darkening years that preceded the penal times acting as procurator of the Irish Mission.
1694 Appointed Rector of Irish College Rome 10 October 1694 and died in office 30 January 1700.

Born: 1575, Fethard-on-Sea, County Wexford
Entered: 1598, Portugal - Lusitania Province (LUS)
Ordained: 1604, Coimbra, Portugal
Died: 30 June 1647, Cashel Residence, County Tipperary

1603 At Coimbra (LUS) in 3rd year Theology
1606 Teaching Theology at Irish College Lisbon
1616 Catalogue Superior of Mission thinks he to fill Chair of Theology. Missioner
1617 Is in Ireland. Prudent and assiduous operarius, very hot tempered
1622 In Leinster
1626 Good in all, preaches well, not circumspect, choleric

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica” :
(cf Foley’s Collectanea and Fr Young’s sketch in “Spicilegium Ossorium, Vol ii)
1607 Sent to Irish Mission from Spain, at the time his brother John, a judge, quitted the bench for conscience sake.
He is named in the letter of Father Lawndry to the General 04/11/1611 as then labouring assiduously on the mission in his neighbourhood. He was employed at Cashel chiefly for forty years, and was a distinguished Preacher.
He is named in a Report of the Irish Mission 1641-1650 (Verdier?). His virtues are fully recorded in this Report.
His death is recorded at Cashel residence a few months before the destruction of the city and church.
Is said to have died on his knees on Good Friday 16/04/1647 (though Easter Sunday was 21 April 1647!)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Redmond Everard. Brother of Sir John Everard, Speaker of the House of Commons
Had studied Humanities at the Irish College Lisbon and Philosophy at Coimbra before Ent 1598 Portugal
After First Vows he resumed his studies at Coimbra and was Ordained there 1604
1604-1605 Sent to lecture Philosophy at Braga
1605-1608 Sent to lecture Philosophy at the Irish College Lisbon
1608 Sent to Ireland and was at Callan by May, and then sent to the Dublin Residence
1621-1631 Sent to Drogheda and with Robert Bathe established there the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin. he was also a Consultor of the Mission.
1631 Sent to Cashel residence. In spite of poor health he was zealous in Ministry until his death there 30 June 1646

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father James Everard SJ 1575-1647
Fr James Everard was born in Fethard in 1575. He entered the Society in Portugal in 1598, the year the irish Mission was founded, by the appointment of Fr Holywood as Superior.

After some years spent professing Theology in Portugal, Fr Everard succeeded in getting to the irish Mission in 1607. That same year, his brother, who was a judge, resigned his post rather than act against his conscience.

His talents as a preacher were remarkable, and for 40 years he laboured unceasingly as a missioner amid innumerable perils. Cashel was the scene of his apostolic labours, though his name appears in a State paper as being secretly kept by Archbishop Matthews in his hose in Dublin in 1611.

He was of delicate health and suffered a good deal during his life, but his ill health never made him less prompt for any call.

He was found dead on his knees on Good Friday morning, April 16th 1647, aged 72, of which 50 were spent in the Society.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
EVERARD, JAMES. This Rev. Father offered his services for the Irish Mission early in 1605, but could not be spared from Spain until the Autumn of 1607, at the very time that his brother John, an eminent lawyer and judge, quitted the Bench rather than betray his Conscience. At this period, intolerance, with the denial of civil rights, stalked abroad through his native Country, and the best men were seized for its victims, and the British Constitution was the by-word for injustice, oppression, and persecution to death for liberty of Conscience. During 40 years, F. Everard was reserved for Apostolic labor chiefly at Cashell. As a Preacher, he ranked in the first class : and though of a delicate constitution, and generally unwell, he was ever prompt and eager to fulfil the duties of his ministry. Severe to himself, he was all condescension and charity to his neighbours. On Good Friday, 16th of April, 1647, the venerable man was found dead on his knees.

Born: 04 September 1907, Lamerdingen, Bavaria, Germany
Entered: 28 April 1927, Feldkirch, Vorarlburg, Austria - Germaniae Superiors Province (GER S)
Ordained: 28 August 1938
Final Vows: 15 August 1944
Died: 12 May 1969, Augsburg, Germany - Germaniae Superiors Province (GER S)

by 1932 came to Tullabeg (HIB) studying
by 1940 came to Belvedere (HIB) teaching
by 1941 at Rathfarnham (HIB) making Tertianship
by 1942 at Milltown (HIB) working and studying 1941-1946
by 1947 at Mungret (HIB) teaching 1946-1948

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

Mungret College, Limerick :
Fr Fackler on the request of the Bishop of Raphoe spent the month of September as Chaplain to the German children at Killybegs, Donegal. The month was a very busy one for him, but he feels that it was well worth while. His Lordship sent a letter of thanks and very high praise on Fr. Fackler's return.

Born: 17 June 1909, Running Creek, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 23 February 1927, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 30 June 1940, Heythrop, Oxford, England
Final vows: 15 August 1946
Died: 14 September 1988, Nazareth House, Camberwell, Melbourne - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Early education at St Patrick’s College, Melbourne
1929-1931 Juniorate at Rathfarnham Castle

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 :
Early education was at St Patrick’s College Melbourne before entering at Loyola Greenwich 1927. As one of seven children, he seemed to like the quiet and calm of the Society, as it matched his personality, which was quiet and calm and sprang from a deep quality of determination and self-command. He was a powerful athlete and had a keen intelligence.

1929-1932 He was sent to Rathfarnham Castle Dublin to study English Latin and French at University College Dublin, though he did not take a degree.
1932-1934 He was sent to Vals France for Philosophy
1935-1937 He returned to Australia and Xavier College Kew for Regency, teaching Latin, Economics and English, and was also Second Division Prefect and Assistant to the Prefect of Studies.
1937-1940 He was sent back to Europe for Theology at Posillipo Naples and Heythrop College England, being Ordained 30 June 1940
1942-1949 He returned to Australia to teach Theology at Canisius College Pymble to the Jesuit Scholastics, and he also made his Tertianship at Loyola Watsonia (1945) and he went from that for a year to St Aloysius College Sydney. In 1947 he was appointed Chaplain to the Campion Society (a Lay Catholic Action Group founded in Melbourne in 1929 just before the Great Depression and the rise of fascism)
As a Theology lecturer he was greatly appreciated because he spoke slowly and notes could be taken He was also in charge of tones, reading at table and the refectory sermons. he encouraged the initiative of scholastics, but he warned them against heresy! The Scholastics enjoyed his company because he was a good listener and entertaining. His calm and equable manner kept him above any contention or discord. He was recognised particularly for his simplicity of communication and a great shrewdness.
1950-1953 He was appointed to Newman College as a tutor in Philosophy and Experimental Psychology, but after some disagreement with the Provincial Austin Kelly, he was assigned to Belloc House. (1953-1985)
1985-1988 He lived at Xavier College Kew

It was at the Institute of Social Order, Belloc House, Kew that he performed his most memorable and important work as a writer and social scientist. There were times when Catholic Social Teaching was eagerly sought by the faithful, and so John, along with other Jesuit colleagues, James Muirhead and Bill Smith, reacted to an important need. They lectured, organised Summer Schools, and edited and wrote for two periodicals “Twentieth Century” and “Social Survey”. After Vatican II, at the invitation of the Bishops, he travelled New South Wales and Victoria giving lectures of the social apostolate. He was also involve with the “National Catholic Rural Movement”, and lectured at the Mercy Training College on Philosophy in general and Philosophy of Education in particular.

He was highly respected as an academic and a wise priest. He taught Catholic and Social Theology to the students at Genazzano Convent for some years. He had a highly analytical mind, and was noted for his ability to sum up an argument. He was at his most influential when one-on-one with people, especially over a cup of tea. He was good at listening and stimulating thought in others. He was a Socratic educator, heuristic, helping people reflect on ideas.

He could deal with a great variety of people. His happier encounters were with such people as the bread delivery man on a Saturday morning whom he engaged in intellectual discussions. He accepted everyone as they were, and was open to all. There was no notion of self promotion. He only wanted to share his insights, and he did that in a competent and self-effacing manner. In everything he undertook he was effective. he had a passion for truth and a hatred for those who misled others by “easy hopes or lies”. Without rancour, he devoted himself to giving positive and solid instruction to those who would listen. In community, his strong sense of humour and gift of laughter made him good company. He was a humble and spiritual man.

Born: 08 September 1850, Shrule, County Galway
Entered: 27 September 1867, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1878, Kolkata, India
Final vows: 15 August 1886
Died: 26 April 1922, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia

by 1870 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1871 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1873 at St Xavier’s Kolkata (BELG) Regency
Early Australian Missioner 1879; New Zealand in 1885

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Nephew of the famous Father Peter Dooley PP

He was sent for Regency to teach at the Belgian College in Calcutta with the Belgian Jesuits.
He was Ordained in Kolkata in 1878 by Archbishop Paul-François-Marie Goethals SJ, BELG - (First Archbishop of Kolkata)
1879 He was sent to Australia to assist the Irish Mission there in Melbourne and Sydney. He also spent some time at Invercargill, New Zealand, in a Parish given by the Bishop Samuel Nevill of Dunedin. However he taught chiefly in Melbourne and Sydney.
He died at Norwood 26 April 1922.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
Entered 1867

After First Vows he was sent to St Acheul for Juniorate. He was sent to Kolkata India for Regency teaching English at St Xavier’s. He was then Ordained at Asansol, Bengal, India in 1879.

1879-1882 He was sent to Australia and to Xavier College Kew teaching
1882-1886 He was sent to St Aloysius College Sydney, as Prefect of Discipline and also made tertianship in 1886
1886-1887 He was sent teaching at St Ignatius College Riverview
1887-1889 He was sent to St Mary’s Parish, Invercargill New Zealand and was also Minister there. He was Superior here in 1889
1890-1895 Have suffered some ill health he returned to Xavier College Kew
1895-1914 He was teaching at St Aloysius College Sydney
1914 He was sent to St Ignatius Norwood

He is described as a retiring man who did his work quietly and well. He was known as a scholar of great ability, a fluent linguist, well read in many languages and had a fund of accurate information. He was always a man of precise habits. When on holiday in Sydney, he carefully took a tram to each suburb, rode out to the terminus and back, and when he had exhausted all the lines, declared the holiday over and settled back to work again.

His spare time was spent reading. Aristotle remained his pet study when he was well on in years.

Born: 14 January 1912, Ranelagh, Dublin
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 20 September 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

◆ Companions in Mission - Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Gerald (Gerry) Brangan Entry
Gerald had difficulties with the study of humanities even though he was intelligent and endowed with excellent judgment and much common sense. So it was with some relief that he moved on to Tullabeg for philosophy. His years at Tullabeg were happy ones. He was encouraged and guided in his study of philosophy by his former school friend Henry Fay, himself a very talented and kind scholastic.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Clongowes student. Died in Theology

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 15th Year No 1 1940

Milltown Park :
On September 20th, Mr. Harry Fay died in St. Vincent’s Hospital. He had spent two years in Milltown although during his first year he had not followed lectures as he was even then suffering from heart trouble. Although frail in health, his vigour, even brilliance, of mind and his remarkable power of friendship made him more than ordinarily popular. We will miss him, but Heaven has the first claim on us all. RIP

Obituary :
Mr Henry Fay

1912 Born in Dublin, 14th January
1919-22 Catholic University School
1922-26 Belvedere College
1926 30 Clongowes
1930-32 Emo Park - Novice
1932-34 Rathfarnham - Juniorate
1934-37 Tullabeg - Philosophy
1937 38 Belvedere - Irish Monthly
1938-39 Milltown Park - Theology

When Harry Fay was struck down when only a Junior by a disease which wrecked his physique and promised to carry him off in as short time, many must have felt that here was a tragedy, the tragedy of promise that could never be fulfilled. But when Harry Fay died, those who knew him wondered more at all that he had done in his short days than at all might he have done. It is a trite phase to use of the young dead “consummatus in brevi tempora multa explevit - but of Harry Fay it was fully true. Scarcely ever can there have been a young man in the Province. or even in the Society, who had spent such full days and whose death affected so many. He was an invalid for most of his life with us. Deprived of the joy of games, walks, boats - things he loved - and confined very much to the house and to his room. Yet he was never outside the life of the house, never a hermit. Rather did the number of his friends seem to grow, until everyone was his particular friend, and a stranger to the house would be told “You must meet Harry Fay”, as if to know him were to give your allegiance. And to know him was to give your allegiance for he was that rare soul, one whose nature has been perfected and completed by religious life. He was a natural Jesuit, as it were, and his formal commission to the company seemed merely a recognition of that.
Harry Fay had a genius for friendship. Why had he such a capacity? How did he use the gift? When we answer these questions we shall find ourselves explaining his wide influence
on others. Rich gifts of character, temperament and mind combined in him in a rare balance - there were few men of nicer balance among us. He radiated sincerity. There no pose, no polite affectation, of interest, no selfishness to mar the genuine love of his fellows, to obstruct his keen desire to help them, or to raise barriers between him and others. The idlest observer keen that in every community where he lived he was the resort of all lame dogs. They came to him for consolation in depression, for assistance in their work, often enough for confirmation in their purpose in life. No claim for help was denied, to everyone in need he gave liberally of his time, his energy and his advice. It was often humorously said that no spiritual father was more consulted than he. lt is quite true that no spiritual father could have been more sincerely interested or more anxious to help. His own health, which would have depressed the spirits of a less valiant man, never interfered with his unobtrusive charity. He had the great gift of doing things for you as if he really liked you which is we think the real virtue of love. All who genuinely want to help others and who are willing to be inconvenienced and disappointed in the process will gain respect, not all will be taken into confidence completely conquered. Harry Fay made complete conquests. His power of sympathy was great, his mind keen and his balance superb. He had no touch of small-mindedness. His horizon was broad, it stretched out to Heaven and he strove always to see things in the clear light of heaven and to keep true proportion. How he succeeded his friends will know and all can judge from the admirable life he led when death was always near. His patience under suffering was new or that conscious patience which often irritates, it was an apparently careless patience that provoked astonishment. He seemed scarcely to advert to his suffering and there were times when one had to say to oneself - he is sulfuring - lest one should forget. In all his worst bouts of illness and in his last fatal illness one van scarcely recall a moment when cheerfulness lapsed or the invalid manner appeared.
Harry Fay was not alone a young imam of the richest character with extraordinary depths of holiness, he was also of the first order of intelligence.
The most superficial acquaintance with him was enough to show that he was talented, he had power of concentration, desire to know - he had intellect. Where others acquired
philosophy, Harry Fay was a philosopher. He had the “mens naturaliter” philosopher and he was mature in this that his life was informed by his philosophy - for him it was not a sterile discipline of the mind but a manner of living, of giving that reasonable service that God asked of him in his vocation.
It is no one's to search the secrets between God and his fellow. So it will suffice to say that we think that Harry Fay was very much a chosen soul and among chosen souls rare. The beautiful blend of nature and grace made him attractive, made him one to admire to love and if possible to imitate. Ignatius, the Captain of Our Company, is surrounded in heaven by a noble body, but surely marshalled there with the boy Saints, Aloysius, Berchmans, Stanislaus stands a new arrival - who loved the Society dearly, so dearly that he read and reread her early history so that he might know what hind of man Ignatius wished the Kings men to be, who shared with Stanislaus the frank sincere love of his fellows, with Aloysius his gallantry in every trial his spirit of sacrifice, his knightly bearing, with Berchmans his care of little things, his tender love of Our Lady, and surely the company triumphant saluted in their heavenly ranks as another worthy of their steel took his place.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1940

Obituary

Harry Fay SJ

Though Harry Fay was only with us for four years, from 1912, it was as a junior boy, yet we felt a closer connection than that might warrant, for were not all the Fays Belvederians? When he left School, where he had been one of the leaders of a brilliant intellectual group, Harry decided to be a Jesuit. The decision must have been a hard one, for it was clear to all that Harry was destined to a distinguished career. He was already “a charmer” in the exact opposite way to that in which the word is usually used. His charm consisted in a sincere and courageous mind, naturally active, disciplined and alive to beauty. He would infallibly gather round him a wide circle of friends, even disciples. The fact that spiritual beauty and knowledge meant more to him than anything else insured that his friends should be an élite, that his influence would be, through them, lasting and widespread. This God gave him almost, one might say, in return for what He took. For quite early in Harry's religious life it was clear he would never enjoy normal health. As his strength ebbed and his resistance deteriorated, he must often have wondered would he live to the priesthood. Actually he died in Milltown Park when only a fraction of his theological studies were over. But to that great disappointment he bowed with the same cheerfulness and resignation as he always met pain and disillusionment. He returned to us a little while ago to work on the Staff of the Irish Monthly, and though the effort proved beyond him, we can record how hard he strove and how earnestly he desired to do whatever was within his power. His death at the early age of twenty-eight robbed many of a much-loved friend, and many more of a wise, a sympathetic and a holy counsellor.

◆ The Clongownian, 1940

Obituary

Father Harry Fay SJ

Few who have passed through Clongowes have had such gifts of intellect and character as those which Harry Fay possessed. In his four years here he did brilliantly at his studies besides taking a prominent part in Line and House activities.

What his contemporaries will recall most of all was his extraordinary unselfishness, and his evident sincerity. These two qualities, combined with a rare power of sympathy, were to make many friends for him both here in Clongowes and afterwards in the Society of Jesus. His genius for friendship - and it certainly was genius - undoubtedly had its foundation in his capacity for unselfish interest in others. He was genuinely delighted to help others and this help was always free from the slightest suspicion of patronage or condescension. In Clongowes too his complete freedom from any pettiness of mind was remarkable, indeed, if anything really exasperated him at school, it was any exhibition of pettiness either on the part of a master or a boy.

His sincerity was also manifest in his piety which was so much part of him that it had none of that self-conscious affectation which irritates. This meant that he was able to do much good because he used the most effective means - example.

It was but natural - considering his name - that he should be very interested in art, literature (especially drama) and music. In these respects he had an advantage over his fellows, for from his earliest childhood he had been familiar with all that was best in music, and when he grew older he was to learn of the work his uncles, Willy and Frank, did for the theatre in Ireland. Throughout his life he had a great interest in and understanding of these subjects.

When in 1930 he entered the Society of Jesus one would have prophesied for him a distinguished career as a writer, professor or spiritual director but God had chosen a different path for him. He had barely completed his noviceship when he was struck down by the disease which was to bring him to his grave in the middle of his twenty-ninth year. For the next six years he was to call forth the admiration of all who met him by the cheerful and patient manner in which he bore the cross of his suffering. As usual he was completely unconscious of any heroism on his part, but we have only to consider that before he died he was to have to relinquish one by one his interests and ambitions in order to under stand what a series of sacrifices his illness entailed.

He had a first-class intellect and a lively interest in studies but he had to abandon all thought of going to the University. In his ecclesiastical studies he was making brilliant progress, but here again he had to give up all hope of doing them as thoroughly as he would have wished..

He was naturally very lively and active, yet for six years he had to give up all exercise. Also he was anxious to be able to work for and to take part in external activity for the salvation of souls - for was not that part of his vocation - and here he was an invalid for whom there could be no question of doing such work.

Yet despite these hardships and handicaps, the amount of work Harry did before he died was truly amazing, so much so that it was no wonder that, when people considered the depths of holiness which his six years of suffer ing had so clearly revealed as well as the good which he had done, they should say of him consummates in brevi explevit tempora multa, for it was literally true of Harry.

To his mother and father and his brother we extend our sincere sympathy on their sad loss. May he rest in peace.

Born: 27 June 1864, Sydney, Australia
Entered: 09 September 1882, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Ordained: 1895, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1897
Died: 27 April 1939, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

by 1892 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 01 January 1901; 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 :
His early education was at St Kilda House, Surry Hills NSW, and he Entered the Society at Sevenhill 1882.

1884-1886 After First Vows and did his Juniorate studies at St Ignatius Richmond
1886-1887 He was sent for Regency to Xavier College Kew
1887-1888 He continued his Regency at St Aloysius College Sydney
1888-1891 He returned to Xavier College to complete his Regency
1891-1892 He was sent to St Aloysius College Jersey for Philosophy
1892-1895 He was sent to Milltown Park Dublin for Theology
1895-1897 He was Socius to the Novice Master and Minister of Juniors at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg whilst making Tertianship there at the same time.
1898-1901 He returned to Australia and St Patrick’s College Melbourne as Prefect of Studies
1901-1903 He was sent to Xavier College
1903-1912 He was sent as Vice Rector and Prefect of Studies to St Aloysius College Sydney, later being appointed rector.
1912-1913 He was sent to Loyola Greenwich as Minister
1913-1920 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview
1920-1922 He was back at Loyola Greenwich due to ill health
1922 He began parish work firstly at Hawthorn, then at Norwood and finally at St Aloysius Sevenhill where he died after a long illness.

In his life he was given a number of important administrative positions, but he found these problematic. He was the only “Old Aloysian” to have been appointed Rector/Headmaster at his alma mater. It was said that up to 1920 he was quite a good worker and a man of sound judgement, particularly in financial matters. he suffered something of a breakdown at Riverview in 1920 and was never quite the same again, suffering a lot from scruples and somatic illnesses.

He was remembered by those who knew him for his kindliness.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 14th Year No 3 1939
Obituary :
Father Thomas Fay

1864 Born 27th June
1882 Entered at Sevenhill, South Australia
1893 Milltown, Theology.
1896-98 Tullabeg, Tertian, Soc. Mag. Nov., Submin., Cons. Dom.
1898 Tullabeg, Sup. School., Adj. Proc., Cons. dom.
1899 Returned to Australia
1939 Died in Australia, 26th April

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1939

Obituary

Father Thomas Fay SJ

Surviving Aloysians of the early days of the College will be interested - we cannot say will be sorry, after such a life - to hear of the passing to a better life of Father Thomas Fay SJ, who died in March of the present year in Adelaide.

Father Fay was born in Sydney on June 21st, 1864, and became a pupil of St Aloysius' College in the month of February 1880, not long after the College had been opened at St Kilda House. After a very successful career as a student during two years, Thomas Fay applied for admittance to the Society of Jesus, and was received on September 7th, 1882. He went to Sevenhills, South Australia, to commence his novitiate with the Fathers of the Austrian Mission. In the following year he proceeded to Vaucluse, Richmond, Victoria, where a new novitiate was opened for the Irish-Australian Jesuits. The Novice Master was the famous Sicilian father, Aloysius Sturzo, who was now Superior and Master of Novices in Australia, having been in Ireland first Master of Novices and later Provincial. He had come from Rome to Ireland accompanied by a number of Italian novices, who had to leave Rome on account of the persecution of the Order by Garibaldi.

Mr Fay completed his novitiate and was admitted as a scholastic in 1884, but remained at Richmond, continuing his studies till January 1887, when he became Master and Prefect in Xavier College, Kew. He remained on the staff of that college till the end of 1892. From Xavier College he went to his studies in philosophy at Jersey, in the Channel Islands. Records find him next at his theological studies in Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained to the priesthood in July, 1896. At the end of 1898 he returned to Australia, and began his second Australian career as Prefect of Studies in St Patrick's College, Melbourne, where he remained, doing clerical and school work till 1902. He was then appointed “minister” at St Aloysius', and in the following year became Rector. He held that post till 1910. During his period of office, the College was firmly established at its new home in Milson's Point; the present Junior School was built; and the school set on its way to prosperity. In 1910 he became vice-presi dent to Fr, McCurtin, and held that post till he was transferred to '”Loyola”, Greenwich, in 1913. He was transferred to Riverview in the following year, and remained there as Bursar for eight years, till his health began to fail. In 1923, somewhat recovered, he went to Hawthorn, Victoria, whence, his health again failing, he was transferred to Norwood, South Australia, where he lived a quiet life for three years or so. From there he was sent to Sevenhills, where he lived until the end came this year.

The above particulars of his career will show the reader how much a devoted servant of God, always fighting ill-health, can do when called upon. Everyone who knew Fr Fay remembers his beautiful and kindly character, and those who lived with him in the various stages of his long life of 75 years will always recall the beautiful companionship in the several communities of which he happened to be a member.

Born: 03 December 1870, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 19 December 1887, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 02 August 1903, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 07 April 1933, St Bride's Nursing Home, Galway

Part of Jesuit community, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

2nd year Novitiate at Tullabeg;
Came to Australia for Regency 1893
by 1899 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1905 at St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edmund Dowling entered the Society in September 1887, and after novitiate and juniorate at Tullabeg, was sent to Australia for regency at Riverview, 1893-98, which included two years as first prefect 1895-96.

Newspaper obituary, 1933.
Spent childhood in Galway and attended St Ignatius College, Galway.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 8th Year No 3 1933
Obituary :
Fr Edmund Downing

The Irish Province sustained another very severe loss by the death of Father Downing, which took place at St. Bride's Home, Galway, on the Feast of the Seven Dolours, 7th April, 1933. He was 63 years of age, and spent 46 of them in the Society.
About four weeks before his death he began to suffer from headaches, and after some days, prudence suggested his removal to hospital. It was not certain what was wrong, but a tumor on the brain was suspected. He was anointed on St. Patrick’s Day. For the last fortnight he was most of the time unconscious. Each day, however, there were intervals of consciousness, and, thanks to the kind and prudent arrangement of our Fathers, he received Holy Viaticum every day, except the actual day of his death.
Father Downing was born in Limerick, 3rd December, 1870, educated at St. Ignatius' College, S.]., Galway, and began his noviceship at Dromore, 19th September, 1887. The second year and a year's juniorate were passed. in Tullabeg, to which place the noviceship had been transferred, and then his health broke down. 1892 found him at Riverview “Cur. Val”, but for the next five years he seems to have done full work at that College. He made his philosophy at Jersey, theology at Milltown, then tertianship at Mold under Pére de Maumigny, and was then sent to the Crescent. After one year he was transferred to Galway in 1906, where he remained until his death. He was eight years Prefect of Studies, thirteen Spiritual Father, Doc. twenty-six, and, during that last residence in Galway a most strenuous worker in the church, and indeed all over the city.
The people gave him a public funeral. Most Rev. Dr. O'Doherty, Lord Bishop of Galway, presided at the Office and High Mass. During the funeral, houses were shuttered and
blinds drawn all over the city. In front of the hearse marched fifty priests, the Confraternities, Sodalities and school children followed it, then came a host of pedestrians, sixty-four cars bringing up the rear.
One of the public papers writes of him as follows : “In the confessional and to those in any trouble he was especially kind with a gentle, tactful, patient kindness. He might have made
his own the words of the Master - I know Mine and Mine know Me. He was a good shepherd, and he gave his life-work for the flock. He loved his own people, his own Order, and his country, and that triple loyalty was what made him the man, the priest, the friend we knew.
The wise counsellor in worldly affairs, the devoted confessor in the church and at the bed-side of the dying, he became a great figure in the religious life of the people. He knew no dividing line between rich and poor. His early experience as a first-class athlete had given his body a grace and dignity that made him a stately personality..... But all his great powers of body as well as mind were subordinated to and sanctified by the ever present realisation of his holy calling”.
A great Churchman, a sincere and devoted friend, his memory will long be revered in the Galway that he loved, and for which he had done good so unobtrusively and so constantly.
A Father who lived for a great many years with Father Downing sends the following. Limited space prevents the insertion of the entire communication :
It is not any exaggeration to say that the Irish Province, the community of which he was a member, the city where he laboured had sustained an almost irreparable loss. To know him was to know a saint , a more Christlike and more unselfish soul, and a more devoted priest it would be hard to find. As a member of the community he was loved, his presence at recreation always enhanced it. His sermons and instructions were highly appreciated, His thorough grasp of Moral Theology, his broad-mindedness, his prudence, his zeal and union with God, his patience and complete self-abnegation, all contributed largely towards the fruitfulness with which his long years in the sacred ministry were blessed. A few lines written by a lady give a sample of his influence on countless souls : “He gave me a rule of life over eighteen years ago which I have followed faithfully ever since. It has made my life very happy, and I hope, holy”.
When his remains were laid out in the house, rich and poor streamed in to have a last look, for they considered him a saint. At the obsequies, on April 9th, the church was thronged, and a few days later His Lordship, Dr. O'Doherty, assured one of the community that he had never witnessed a more devotional or more impressive funeral service.
During a visit to Dublin, in February, 1932, Father Downing slipped on the street and broke his leg. It never mended. When he returned to Galway he was able, with the help of
crutches, to drag himself to his confessional, and continued to hear confessions to within five weeks of his death, but from the day of the accident he was never able to say Mass. RIP

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Edmund Downing SJ 1870-1933
Fr Edmund Downing was born in Limerick City on December 3rd 1870. He was educated in St Ignatius Galway, where he spent most of his life as a Jesuit, and where he became part and parcel of the City’s life. When he died on April 7th 1944 he was given a public funeral. The reason for this sign of esteem can be found in the tribute paid to him in the public press :
“He loved his own people, his own Order and his country, and that triple loyalty was what made him the man, the priest, the friend we knew. The wise counsellor in worldly affairs, the devoted confessor in the Church and at the bedside of the dying, he became a great figure in the religious life of the people. A great Churchman, a sincere and devoted friend, his memory will long be revered in Galway that he loved and for which he has done good so unobtrusively and so constantly”.

He was an authority on mystic prayer and contributed articles on that subject to various periodicals.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Edmund Downing (1870-1933)

A native of Limerick, educated at St Ignatius' College, Galway, entered the Society in 1883. After the completion of his studies, he was assigned to teaching and church work at the Crescent in 1905, but remained only a year after which he was appointed to Galway. Up to a few months before his death, he was on the teaching staff of St Ignatius', but is best remembered as an earnest worker in the church and a spiritual guide of eminence.

Born: 07 November 1869, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1886, Roehampton, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1905
Final Vows: 02 February 1911
Died: 11 August 1942, Stillorgan, Dublin - Angliae Province (ANG)

Born: 23 June 1808, Rathkeale, County Limerick
Entered: 26 August 1832, St Andrea, Rome, Italy (ROM)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1845
Died: 24 December 1845, Rathmines, Dublin

Part of the Belvedere College SJ, Dublin community at6 the time of death

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a student at the Irish College in Rome when he entered the Society.

He made his Novitiate and Higher Studies in Rome.
1835 He was sent to Dublin and worked there until his death 24 December 1845
He was eloquent, laborious and full of energy, until his health failed. He was sent to travel to try recover, but in fact he needed rest.
He had been appointed Rector of Belvedere, and lived in Rathmines for the better air, in the house of a friend. One day he found that his sight failed him when in conversation with others. Suspecting death was approaching, a friend went in search of a priest, but he did not arrive in time.
He was a pious and holy priest.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Charles Ferguson 1808-1843
Fr Charles Ferguson was born in Limerick on June 23rd 1808. He was a student in the Irish College Rome, from which he entered the Society.

After his return to Ireland he taught Humanities at Tullabeg. From 1835 he was stationed at Dublin. He was eloquent, laborious and full of energy until his health failed. He was then sent to travel for the good of his health, but seemed to require rest more than travel.

In 1843 he was appointed Rector of Belvedere. He was staying at a friend’s house in Rathmines for the benefit of the air, when one day, when conversing with some friends, he suddenly found his sight failing him. Suspecting the approach of death, he asked for a priest.

He was a pious and zealous priest, dying at the age of 35.

Born: 22 July 1785, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1807, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1819, Palermo, Sicily
Final Vows:: 01 January 1832
Died: 03 January 1850, Clongowes Wood College SJ

In Clongowes 1817

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Graduated DD at Palermo.
Taught Rhetoric, Metaphysics and Theology at Clongowes.
He had a great love for the Society and great sympathy and charity for his neighbour.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Baptised in the old Parish Church of St Paul’s.
Early education was very successful in Humanities at Stonyhurst before Entry.
After First Vows he was sent with Messers Aylmer, St Leger, Butler and others to Sicily, graduating DD, and was very nearly made a Bishop.
1814 He came back to England and remained six months in Preston as Operarius.
He was then sent to Clongowes, and was one of the first to teach Philosophy and later Theology there.
He was the sent to the Dublin Residence, and was many years an Operarius there.
He was for some time teaching Rhetoric and Prefect of Studies, both at Clongowes and Belvedere.
1842 he finally went to Clongowes, where he remained until his death.
He was very fond of the Society, and remarkable for his great charity, such that the dying, or those in trouble always found him ready to comfort them.
For a few years before his death he suffered partial paralysis of his brain and other parts of his body. When no longer able to say Mass, he wished to hear it as often as possible, though unable to leave his room unaccompanied. Worn out, and fortified by the Sacraments, he died 03 January 1850.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Paul Ferley 1785-1850
Fr Paul Ferley was born in Dublin in 1785, and baptised in the old parish Church of St Paul’s. At the age of 22 he entered the Society at Stonyhurst.

He went with Messers Aylmer, St Leger, Butler and others to Sicily after his noviceship, where on completing his studies, he took the degree DD, and was very nearly made a Bishop.

On his return he worked at Preston for six months. Recalled to Ireland he was first to teach Philosophy, and after a few years Theology, at Clongowes. He laboured for many years as ab Operarius at the Dublin Residence in Gardiner Street. Finally he returned to Clongowes in 1842.

For some years he suffered from partial paralysis. Unable to say Mass, he wished to hear as many Masses as possible. At length, worn out in body and mind, he expired peacefully on January 3rd 1850.

◆ 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 you 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.

A letter from the Acting General Father Thaddeus Brezozowski, dated St Petersburg 14/06/1806 was addressed to the only two survivors, Betagh and O’Callaghan. He thanked them for their work and their union with those in Russia, and suggested that the restoration was close at hand.

A letter from Nicholas Sewell, dated Stonyhurst 07/07/1809 to Betagh gives details of Irishmen being sent to Sicily for studies : Bartholomew Esmonde, Paul Ferley, Charles Aylmer, Robert St Leger, Edmund Cogan and James Butler. Peter Kenney and Matthew Gahan had preceded them. These were the foundation stones of the Restored Society.

Returning to Ireland, Kenney, Gahan and John Ryan took residence at No3 George’s Hill. Two years later, with the monies saved for them, Kenney bought Clongowes as a College for boys and a House of Studies for Jesuits. From a diary fragment of Aylmer, we learn that Kenney was Superior of the Irish Mission and Prefect of Studies, Aylmer was Minister, Claude Jautard, a survivor of the old Society in France was Spiritual Father, Butler was Professor of Moral and Dogmatic Theology, Ferley was professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Esmonde was Superior of Scholastics and they were joined by St Leger and William Dinan. Gahan was described as a Missioner at Francis St Dublin and Confessor to the Poor Clares and Irish Sisters of Charity at Harold’s Cross and Summerhill. Ryan was a Missioner in St Paul’s, Arran Quay, Dublin. Among the Scholastics, Brothers and Masters were : Brothers Fraser, Levins, Connor, Bracken, Sherlock, Moran, Mullen and McGlade.

Trouble was not long coming. Protestants were upset that the Jesuits were in Ireland and sent a petition was sent to Parliament, suggesting that the Vow of Obedience to the Pope meant they could not have an Oath of Allegiance to the King. In addition, the expulsion of Jesuits from all of Europe had been a good thing. Kenney’s influence and diplomatic skills resulted in gaining support from Protestants in the locality of Clongowes, and a counter petition was presented by the Duke of Leinster on behalf of the Jesuits. This moment passed, but anti Jesuit feelings were mounting, such as in the Orange faction, and they managed to get an enquiry into the Jesuits and Peter Kenney and they appeared before the Irish Chief Secretary and Provy Council. Peter Kenney’s persuasive and oratorical skills won the day and the enquiry group said they were satisfied and impressed.

Over the years the Mission grew into a Province with Joseph Lentaigne as first Provincial in 1860. In 1885 the first outward undertaking was the setting up of an Irish Mission to Australia by Lentaigne and William Kelly, and this Mission grew exponentially from very humble beginnings.

Later the performance of the Jesuits in managing UCD with little or no money, and then outperforming what were known as the “Queen’s Colleges” forced the issue of injustice against Catholics in Ireland in the matter of University education. It is William Delaney who headed up the effort and create the National University of Ireland under endowment from the Government.from the Government.

Born: 04 October 1793, Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy
Entered: 30 November 1818, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1831
Final Vows: 02 February 1834
Died: 27 May 1880, Monaco, France - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Came to HIB in 1861 working at SFX, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Born: 27 June 1638, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 24 November 1668, Madrid, Spain - Toletanae Province (TOLE)
Final Vows: 02 February 1679
Died: 05 October 1685, Cuenca, Spain - Toletanae Province (TOLE)

1670 After First Vows in Madrid 25 November 1670 he was sent to various houses of TOLE at Huete, Caravaca de la Cruz and Villarejo
In latter years he was sent to Cuenca College as a teacher of the younger pupils, where he died 05 October 1685

Born: 1552, Corduff, County Dublin
Entered: 1584, Verdun, France - Campaniae Province (CAMP)
Ordained: c .1589, Pont-à-Mousson, France
Died: 21 February 1606, Dublin, Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

Alias Delafield
Mission Superior 17 April 1599-1604

Christopher Holiwood Entered at Verdun same year
1587: At Pont-à-Mousson 2nd year Theology, Procurator Convictorum (was there with Fleming and Archer).
1589-1595: Procurator of Boarders and called Pater in 1590; Master of Arts; Prefect of health, Prefect of the Church Confessor.
1595: Came from France to Upper Germany. Minister at Friburg (Peter Canisius in the house at that time).
1596: At Lucerne, Confessor, Prefect of Cases of Conscience, Censor.
1597: Reported to have returned to France and Pont-à-Mousson where he was Procurator, Minister and Confessor.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica” :
Son of Lord Corduff.
1579 Was at Douai - “a youth of great promise”.
1599 April, was sent to Fitzsimon and Archer, and was Mission Superior until 1604. Several of his letters are preserved, abounding in interesting details of the affairs of Catholic Ireland. In one letter 25 February 1603, he states that there were five Jesuits in Ireland : two in Munster Andrew Malony and Nicholas Leynach; two in Leinster himself and Fitzsimon in prison as well as his Socius Lenan. With the Spanish troops repulsed and the Irish Chieftains broken and reduced, c sixty Ecclesiastical Commissioners were appointed in Ireland to superintend the business of the Churches. They began in Dublin, making sure they were in good repair, and insisting that people should attend services. Unable to get the Catholics to obey, they fixed a day each week when “Recusants” had to appear before the Commissioners. They resist, and are called traitors etc, and many put in jail for disobeying the Queen’s laws. They can be fined for each refusal to attend Church and which they refused to pay, calling them illegal.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Field (alias Delafield)
Had already studied at Douai and Paris before Ent 1584 Verdun.
After First Vows completed his Philosophy and Theology at Pont-à-Mousson where he graduated MA and was Ordained c 1589.
1589-1596 Appointed procurator for resident students at Pont-à-Mousson.
1596 Minister at Fribourg and later Lucerne, Switzerland.
1599 On the arrest of Christopher Holywood he was appointed Superior of the Irish Mission 17 April 1599. He encouraged Sodalities, thus hoping to consolidate Catholics against Protestantism. He used his influence with the nobility to make common cause with the persecuted “Catholic citizens of Dublin”. He was subsequently succeeded by Holywood again and he remained in Dublin where he died 21 February 1606 .

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Field, Richard
by Judy Barry

Field, Richard (1553–1606), Jesuit priest, was born at Corduff, north Co. Dublin. He was in attendance at the Jesuit college in Paris in September 1579, entered the society in 1584 and was ordained a priest c.1589. He spent some years at the university of Pont-à-Mousson in Lorraine, where his presence was recorded in 1587 and 1593. This was followed by periods at the college of Fribourg and at Lucerne in Switzerland.

In January 1599, when Christopher Holywood (qv), recently appointed superior of the Irish Jesuit mission, was captured at Dover and imprisoned, Field was ordered to take his place. He arrived in Ireland sometime before 1 September 1599 and worked for the next six years in the vicinity of Dublin, providing a range of pastoral services. In common with other leading Jesuit missionaries, he strongly eschewed links with the Spanish monarchy and gave little support to O'Neill (qv) and the confederates. Writing to the general of the order in 1600, he stressed the need for more missionaries ‘to teach, instruct, and keep from the various excesses and vices to which they are addicted these raw people, who are indeed nominally and in a general way fighting for the faith, but who in their lives and manners are far removed from Christian perfection' (Morrissey, 27). He was optimistic that catholicism would be officially restored, and listed a number of sites in the city and county of Dublin where Jesuit colleges might be located.

On 9 April 1603 news of Queen Elizabeth's death reached Ireland, and the expected accession of James VI gave the recusants new confidence. In all the principal towns of Munster, and in Wexford, Kilkenny, and other Leinster towns, the recusant clergy, with the support of the magistrates, took possession of the churches. On 11 April Field reconsecrated the church of St Patrick in Waterford, and the following day publicly officiated at high mass. He then reconsecrated the cathedral of the Holy Trinity, and on 13 April (Wednesday in Passion week) celebrated high mass there. These proceedings alarmed Lord Mountjoy (qv) who hurried to Wexford with a considerable army and quickly forced the submission of the magistrates.

In 1604 Field was replaced as superior of the Irish mission by Holywood, who had been released from prison on Elizabeth's death. In the following year, when the government initiated its campaign to enforce conformity by ordering Dublin city councillors to attend divine service, Field joined his confrères Henry Fitzsimon (qv) and Holywood in encouraging them to resist the official mandates and in preparing cases for their defence. He did not comply with the proclamation requiring priests and Jesuits to leave the kingdom by 10 December 1605 and, though he was in poor health, continued to preach in Dublin. In a sermon given at the end of the year, he took as his text ‘Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.’ He died in Dublin 21 February 1606.

CSPI, 1599; William J. Battersby, The Jesuits in Dublin (1854); Edmund Hogan, Distinguished Irishmen of the sixteenth century (1894); DNB; Proinsias Ó Fionnagáin, SJ, The Jesuit missions to Ireland in the sixteenth century (privately published, c.1970); Thomas Morrissey, James Archer of Kilkenny (1979); Colm Lennon, The lords of Dublin in the age of reformation (1989)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962

Richard Field (1599-1604)

During Fr Holywood's imprisonment, Fr Richard Field, or de la Field, of Corduff, Co, Dublin, acted as Superior of the Irish Mission. He was born in 1553, studied at Douay and Paris, and entered the Novitiate of Verdun in 1584. He completed his philosophy and theology at Pont-à-Mousson, and subsequently acted as Procurator of the University hostel there for eight years. After that he became Minister of the College of Freiburg in Switzerland, and Prefect of Cases and Censor of Books at Lucerne. On the arrest of Fr Holywood he was appointed Superior of the Irish Mission on 17th April, 1599, and reached Ireland at the beginning of June. As Superior he revived Catholic practices through sodalities, and consolidated Catholic resistance to heresy by inducing the nobles and gentry who lived in the country parts to make common cause with the persecuted citizens of Dublin. Always delicate, his health gave way, and two years after he had handed over the reins of
government to Fr Holywood he died at Dublin on 21st February, 1606.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Richard Field 1560-1606
Fr Richard Field was a Palesman, born about 1560.

In 1579 he was attending the University of Paris. The next we know of him he was at the University of Pont-à-Mousson with the Irish Fathers Archer and Holywood. In 1599 he came to Ireland and replaced Fr Holywood as Superior, so that in fact he was the first Superior of our Mission. It was a critical period in the history of our country, and ad first Fr Field adopted a very cautious attitude, but finally supported the Catholic cause and begged the Pope to send aid.

He was a tower of strength to the people of the Pale, both by his advice and example, and so much so that he was beset by spies and finally imprisoned in Dublin Castle. He was released after some time through the influence of his friends, but never recovered from his experience.

In 1604 he fell into consumption, and on June 29th 1606 he died, mourned by the people who had lost a sincere friends and great benefactor.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
FIELD, RICHARD. Of his early history I can learn nothing : but in consequence of F Holiwood s apprehension (of whom more hereafter), he was appointed Superior of his Missionary Brethren in Ireland. He had certainly reached his destination in the Spring of 1599.
Some of his letters have fortunately escaped the injuries of time. The first bears date Dublin, 1st of September, 1599. He acknowledges the receipt of his letters written in April, and speaks in high terms of the successful zeal of F. Henry Fitzsimon. In a second letter dated Dublin, 20th of July, 1600, he states that the population, which was in arms against Queen Elizabeth’s government, and fighting nominally for Religion, were far remote in their lives and manners from practical Christianity and the perfection of the Gospel; nay, were addicted to many gross errors and vices, and he calls aloud for a supply of pious and learned Priests to instruct and correct them. He adds, that in the more civilised part of the Island, where he happened to reside, the poor were exceedingly well affected to Religion.
The third letter is also dated from Dublin on the 25th of February, 1603. It laments the interruption of epistolary intercourse that now it was the fourth year since he had heard from Rome. He states that there are five Jesuits in Ireland : viz. two in Munster, F. Andrew Malony, and F. Nicholas Lynch - two in Leinster; viz. himself and his socius, F. Lenan, and F. Henry Fitzsimon, who was still detained in prison. He then proceeds thus : “since the Queen’s Privy Council have imagined that the war is drawing to a conclusion, for the Spanish troops were repulsed last year, and the forces of the Irish Chieftains were broken and reduced, they have appointed upwards of sixty Ecclesiastical Commissioners to superintend the business of the Churches. They have begun with Dublin, and have ordered the Churches to be put in proper repair, and to be refitted with with seats, &c., in a handsome style. They have divided the City into six parishes, and have endeavoured to urge the people by threats, and allure by promises to attend the service and sermons in the respective parish Churches. Unable to prevail on the Catholics to be present : they fix a day in each week, when the Catholics, (whom they call Recusants), must appear before the Commissioners. The Gentry are asked in the first place, and then the Common people, whether they will frequent the Churches and assist at the sermons? The general answer is, that they will not enter these profane places of worship, or listen to the false doctrines of the preachers : and that by the faith of their forefathers, and by the Catholic Religion, they are prohibited from communicating with them in sacred things. A thousand injuries and calumnies are heaped upon them in consequence : they are called traitors, and abettors of the Spaniards : commitments to jail are made out for disobeying the Queen’s Laws; fines of ten pounds are ordered for each offence or absence from the Church on the Lord s day. The imprisonment is patiently endured; but the citizens will not pay the fines, for they stoutly deny that they can be legally compelled to pay them. This is the condition of the citizens; and their invincible fidelity has stimulated the courage of other Towns”. He adds that the wiser sort of Commissioners think it unfair that a people inured from the cradle to the Catholic Religion, or as they say to Popish Ceremonies, should be punished so heavily merely for Religion, “tantum religionis causo”, especially in such turbulent times, and when a Spanish invasion may be apprehended. For the Irish Chieftains are still levying troops, and announce with confidence that in the course of this very Spring they are infallibly to receive reinforcements from Spain.
The precise date of F. Field s death I cannot recover. He was living when Dr. James White, Vicar Apostolic of Lismore and Waterford, dedicated 25th of July, 1604, to Pope Clement the VIII his Memorial, “De rebus gestis a Catholicis utriusque Ordinis in Regno Hiberniae a morte Elizabethae, quondam Angliae Reginae”. It seems however, that he died early in the year 1606; for F Holiwood begins a letter on the 29th of June, 1606, by saying “All my brethren, by the blessing of God, with the exception of Richard, (of whose death I have already informed you), are safe and well”.

• We have sometimes seen it asserted, that Tithes to the present Established Church in Ireland were not enjoined by Statute Law. But the contrary is the fact. For, by 27th Hen. VIII. A.D. 1535. Tithes, offerings, and other duties of Holy Church are required to be paid by every of his Majesty s subjects of this Realm of England, Ireland, Wales and Calais, and Marches of the same, according to the Ecclesiastical Laws and Ordinances of the Church of England, and after the laudable usages and customs of the Parish, or other place, where he dwelleth or occupieth. This is confirmed by the Act of 32 Henry VIII. 1540; and again by Edward VI in 1548.
• He states in this Memorial that the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death on the 24th of March, 1603. did not transpire in Ireland till the 9th of April! On the 11th of April, he reconciled the Church of St. Patrick in Waterford, and on the next day publicly officiated at High Mass; thence proceeded to reconcile the Cathedral Church dedicated to the Holy Trinity. On the 13th of April (which was Wednesday in Passion-week) High Mass was celebrated in this Cathedral. These proceedings alarmed Sir Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, who hurried to the City with a considerable force to overawe the inhabitants.

Born: 02 February 1595, Toberton, CountyDublin
Entered: 1647, Kilkenny City, County Kilkenny
Ordained: 1623
Died: 03 May 1663, St Aloysius College, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Alias Fitzwilliam

1651-1658 Procurator for Ireland in England.
1655 Operarius in Londion

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He was of a noble family and a cousin of General Preston, and was at one stage Chaplain to his wife, who was sister of the FLA Provincial at the time, and accompanied her to the Netherlands in the Autumn of 1650. Descended from Baron Patrick Finglas of Westpalston (Viscount Fitzwilliam), MP for Dublin 1650 (and appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer by Henry VIII in 1520, and later 05 May 1534 Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench for Ireland, replacing Bartholomew Dillon).
1650 Sent to Netherlands
1651-1663 Sent to England as procurator for the Irish Mission under the name Robert Fitzwilliams (cf Foley’s Collectanea) Joined ANG that year at St Ignatius College London.
1658 Sent to Lancashire at St Aloysius College, where he died, aged 57. (actually aged 68!)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Received a Special Dispensation for Ent at Kilkenny due to his advanced age. He was already Ordained in 1623 before Ent 1647 Kilkenny
1650 Allowed to accompany the wife of General Preston to Belgium, August 1650. She was the sister of Fr de Namur, Provincial of the GALL-BEL Province.
1652 Transcribed to ANG after two years in Belgium. he remained in England and died at St Aloysius College, Lancashire 03 May 1663

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
FINGLASS, ROBERT, was of a good family. This Rev. Priest, at the age of 51 joined the Society. He had been Chaplain to the Lady of General Preston, (sister to the F. Provincial Namur, S. J.) and accompanied her to the Netherlands in the Autumn of 1650.

Born: 26 October 1870, Dalkey, County Dublin
Entered: 14 September 1889, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 30 July 1905, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1908, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 15 June 1949, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

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

Brother of Fr Willie Doyle - RIP 1917

by 1893 at Exaeten College Limburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1895 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1896 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1907 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Took First Vows at Milltown Park February 1892

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948

Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin.
We moved in on Saturday morning, 14th August. Fr, Superior (Fr. McCarron), Fr. Minister (Fr. Kearns), and Bro. E. Foley constituted the occupying force, and Fr. T. Martin not only placed his van at our disposal, but gave generously of his time and labour for the heavy work of the first day.
A long procession of vans unloaded until noon, when the men broke off for their half-day, leaving a mountain of assorted hardware and soft goods to be unpacked and stowed. By nightfall we had a chapel installed, the kitchen working, dining-room in passable order, and beds set up, so we said litanies, Fr. Superior blessed the house and consecrated it to the Sacred Heart.
Next morning Fr. Superior said the first Mass ever offered in the building. It was the Feast of the Assumption and a Sunday, so we. placed the house and the work under the Patronage of Our Lady and paused to review the scene. Fr. Provincial came to lunch.
The building is soundly constructed from basement to roof, but needs considerable modification before it can be used as a temporary Retreat House. The permanent Retreat House has yet to be built on the existing stables about 130 yards from the principal structure, but. we hope to take about twenty exercitants as soon as builders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and decorators have done their work.
Fr. C. Doyle is equipping and furnishing the domestic chapel as a memorial to Fr. Willie, who worked so tirelessly for the establishment of workingmen's retreats in Ireland. A mantelpiece of this room has been removed, and thermostatically controlled electric heating is being installed. Lighting is to be by means of fluorescent tubes of the latest type.
With all due respects to the expert gardeners of the Province, we modestly assert that our garden is superb. Fr. Provincial was so impressed by the work done there that he presented us with a Fordson 8 H.P. van to bring the surplus produce to market. Under the personal supervision of Fr. Superior, our two professional gardeners took nine first prizes and four seconds with fourteen exhibits at the Drimnagh show. Twelve of their potatoes filled a bucket, and were sold for one shilling each. The garden extends over 2 of our 17 acres and will, please God, provide abundant fruit and vegetables.
From the beginning we have been overwhelmed with kindness: by our houses and by individual Fathers. Fr. Provincial has been a fairy-godmother to us all the time. As well as the van, he has given us a radio to keep us in touch with the outside world. We have bene fitted by the wise advice of Frs. Doyle and Kenny in buying equipment and supplies, while both of them, together with Fr. Rector of Belvedere and Fr. Superior of Gardiner Street, have given and lent furniture for our temporary chapel Fr. Scantlebury sacrificed two fine mahogany bookcases, while Frs. Doherty and D. Dargan travelled by rail and bus so that we might have the use of the Pioneer car for three weeks. Milltown sent a roll-top desk for Fr, Superior's use. To all who helped both houses and individuals we offer our warmest thanks, and we include in this acknowledgement the many others whom we have not mentioned by name.
Our man-power problem was acute until the Theologians came to the rescue. Two servants were engaged consecutively, but called off without beginning work. An appeal to Fr. Smyth at Milltown brought us Messrs. Doris and Kelly for a week of gruelling labour in the house. They scrubbed and waxed and carpentered without respite until Saturday when Mr. Kelly had to leave us. Mr. Hornedo of the Toledo Province came to replace him, and Mr. Barry arrived for work in the grounds. Thanks to their zeal and skill, the refectory, library and several bedrooms were made ready and we welcomed our first guest on Monday, 30th August. Under the influence of the sea air, Fr. Quinlan is regaining his strength after his long and severe illness.
If anyone has old furniture, books, bedclothes, pictures, or, in fact anything which he considers superfluous, we should be very glad to hear of it, as we are faced with the task of organizing accommodation for 60 men and are trying to keep the financial load as light as possible in these times of high cost. The maintenance of the house depends on alms and whatever the garden may bring. What may look like junk to an established house may be very useful to us, starting from bare essentials. Most of all, we want the prayers of the brethren for the success of the whole venture, which is judged to be a great act of trust in the Providence of God.
Our postal address is : Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 4 1949

Obituary

Fr. Charles Doyle (1870-1889-1949)

He was born on 26th October, 1870 at ‘Melrose’ Dalkey, Co. Dublin, the son of Mr. Hugh Doyle, an official of the High Court of Justice in Ireland. Educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicester, by the Fathers of Charity, where he spent six years, he entered Tullabeg on 14th September, 1889. After two years' Juniorate at Milltown, he did philosophy at Exaten and Valkenburg, Holland for two years and for one year at Enghien in Belgium, and then was master for six years at Belvedere College. He studied theology at Milltown where he was ordained on 30th July, 1905. His third Probation he made at Tronchiennes. He was professed of the four solemn Vows at Belvedere on 2nd February, 1908. A brief record entered up by him in the Catalogus Primus of the year 1930 contains the following summary of the offices he held prior to his appointment as Procurator of the Province in 1925 : "Proc. dom. an. 9: Min. an. 5 ; Soc. mag. nov. an. 3 ; Rect. an. 10.'' He was Rector of the Crescent from 1912 to 1918, then for a short year Rector at Rathfarnham Castle in 1919, where he was succeeded by Fr. John Sullivan, and Rector of Belvedere College from 1919 to 1922.
During the last year of his life Fr. Doyle was subject to many infirmities and had to go to hospital frequently, but despite this he carried on manfully at his appointed tasks and observed common life with edifying fidelity: He died at St. Vincent's Hospital on 15th June, 1949.

An Appreciation :
From the above rather bald and barren collection of dates and places certain events stand out with arresting interest in the life of Fr. Charles Doyle : that he held most of the offices of trust in the Society, that in addition to having been Minister, and Socius to the Master of Novices, he was three times Rector and for nearly 25 years held the onerous post of Procurator of the Province, that he died in his 79th year within a few months of his Diamond Jubilee, a man who can deservedly be reckoned among the “bene meriti" of his generation in the Society.
It would be impossible in a short appreciation such as this to do justice to the many aspects of such a long and varied career. All we can hope to do is to give a few impressions that may serve to describe in outline :
(1) The brother of Fr. Willie.
(2) The Procurator of the Province.
(3) The Man of God

The Brother of Fr. Willie :
The reason, perhaps, why Fr. Charles Doyle's name will be best remembered by posterity is because he was the brother of a saint, or at least of a candidate for canonization. One might add that it is the only pretext he himself would have advanced as a claim for immortality: His veneration for his brother was a veritable hero-worship, the advancement of his cause a holy obsession from which his mind never deflected. There were only three pictures in his room, all of Fr. Willie, as the youth, the young priest, the missioner and chaplain.
Some may see therein an excessive family glorification, but who that has ever read "Merry in God” could not feel "proud' of having had such a brother. Fr. Doyle moreover had additional reasons for sustaining his devotion, for be alone could measure, by a mail-bag that brought letters from every corner of the globe, the universal veneration in which his saintly brother was held, and as a consequence there was none more confidant than he that God willing, the day would eventually come when Fr. Willie would be elevated to the altars of the Church.
Procurator of the Province :
Only one who has held the office of Procurator for a considerable time can appreciate the monotony of the task, the unavoidably material outlook it engenders in the mind, and the intimate contact into which it brings one with the Mammon of Iniquity. It requires much agility of mind and sublimation of the mental processes to convert every figure entered in a ledger and every letter tapped out on a typewriter into an act of the pure love of God. Fr. Doyle, however, appears to have acquired this gift and perhaps also to have discovered therein a clue to the secret of the countless aspirations made by his saintly brother. For twenty-five years he held the office of Procurator of the Province and may without exaggeration be described as the Procurator “par excellence”. Under his skilful guidance the book-keeping of the Province and in the Province was re-organised and standardised. His own books were a model of neatness, accuracy and meticulous care.
He was approachable at all times and patient with all comers, even when they broke into the middle of a long tot or disrupted the counting of a sheaf of notes. For all his manner betrayed, they might only have disturbed him in a cross-word puzzle or a game of patience. He had a keen sense of humour too and enjoyed the good-humoured banter that from time to time was levelled against the hapless holder of his office. He enjoyed the bon mot of the facetious father who said that book-keeping in the Society should be labelled “leger de main” and every holder of the office provided with a treatise on that particular form of craftmanship. No one chuckled more wholeheartedly than he at the alleged quotation from a certain Domestic Exhortation : “In olden days a subject, starting on a journey, meekly approached his superior on his knees with a request for a paternal embrace and a blessing ; now he brazenly beards the Bursar on his hind-legs with a demand for treasury notes and a voucher!”
As a " distraction” from the work of book-keeping he turned his attention to the task of censorship. For over twenty years the words “Censor Deputatus, Carolus Doyle”, were wont to meet the eye on most of the Province and Messenger Office publications. Not that this implied that he had read through everything that bore his sanctioning name on the title page, for presumably even a Censor Deputatus can appoint a deputy in his place. Such was certainly the case with “Carolus Doyle, Censor Deputatus” of many publications in the Irish language, his knowledge of which he could frankly confess was practically nil!
But book-keeping remained his paramount care. Three times within the last twelve months of his life he was compelled to go to hospital and on each occasion he insisted on bringing all the essential paraphernalia of his office with him. Perhaps, it may be urged, he acted unwisely in so doing and should have accepted the services of an “adjutant”, but error, if error there was, was one of judgement, that only served to emphasize his outstanding devotion to duty and his desire to carry out his “job in life” even to the end.
The Man of God :
But the dull routine of book-keeping did not damp his ardour for spiritual things or lessen his desire to take a share in the work of the Ministry. As a young priest and even well past middle age he was recognised as one of the outstanding preachers of the Province, distinct in delivery, sound of doctrine and above all with a telling way of driving home the truth, however unpalatable to his hearers. His Lenten lectures on “The Home” were said to have reached a financial peak, even for that famous annual feature in Gardiner St., though he himself would have been far from using such a measuring rod as a test of their success.
Every year, until his failing health compelled him to reduce the numbers, he gave from four to five retreats and only twelve months ago, in his seventy-eighth year, with sentence of death hanging over him, he conducted a priests retreat, which many a younger man would have hesitated to undertake. The “tableaux vivants”, which were a marked feature of his retreats did not win universal appreciation, but none could question the zeal and sincerity which inspired them.
Except for the purpose of giving retreats and making the annual audit of the accounts of the Province (”Praecursor Visitationis” was one of his soubriquets) he never wandered much abroad and agreed with Thomas A. Kempis “that they who do so seldom thereby become holy”. Indeed, his room was his castle and his only regular wanderings therefrom were for the purpose of making a lodgement in the bank or having a friendly interview with the Income Tax Commissioners.
For the rest, he was the “beau ideal” of Common Life. An early riser with an early Mass every morning, a man who never missed recreation or Litanies (and how grateful some tired father was when he recited them in his stead on a confession day), a man who always answered the first sound of the bell, leaving not only the letter but the figure unfinished, a man who sang his simple song on Christmas night but who also, despite every pretext, always went to bed in good time.
He was not without his idiosyncrasies, however (as what holy man is not?) and it was said of him, as of others who regulate their lives with clock-like precision, that he looked askance at those who, he suspectedwere ready to throw a spanner in the works of what they regarded as excessive routine rigidity. There were occasions too, when he could be exacting to a degree, as his companions knew to their cost. He was notoriously allergic to noise. His hearing was so acute that ever the winding of a watch or the striking of a match was said to reach his ears from overhead and woe betide the man who dropped his boots above him! No time was lost in admonishing the boot dropper, yet it was done in such a disarming fashion that no feud ensued - but the boots ceased dropping!
But, if he could be exacting at times, he was ever ready to make allowance for the foibles of others and never completely lost the human touch himself. His partiality for sweet things, even in old age, was such as would have given serious cause for alarm in the case of a school boy, and even a youngster might have envied the gusto with which he pursued the daily adventures of “Gussie Goose and Curley Wee”. “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto”, might have been his motto, but “Merry in God” would be more appropriate and could be applied to him with the same aptitude as it was to his saintly brother. For beneath all his merriment lay an abiding sense of the Presence of God.
In that presence he closed his accounts with a smile on his face. If ever he had an overdraft in the Bank of Heaven, it has long ago been converted to a comfortable credit balance, and if his spiritual petty cash did not always balance, 'twas only a matter of pence which the great Auditor assuredly has long since overlooked. May his saintly life and simple merriment long continue to be an inspiration to all those. who are destined for the unenviable task of having care of the purse.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Charles Doyle 1870-1949
Fr Charles Doyle was born in Dublin on October 24th 1870. He entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1889. He made his Philosophical studies at Valkenburg, his Theology at Milltown Park, and his tertianship at Drongen in Belgium.

His life in the Society was spent in offices of administration, being Minister for five years, Rector for ten, and Procurator of the Province for the last twenty-five years of his life.

He was the elder brother of Fr Willie Doyle, whose life he wrote “Merry in God”, and for whose beatification her worked hard for many years.

He was an exemplary religious, an excellent member in community, and he was noted especially for his unfailing cheerfulness. In his personal life he practiced a constant severity or even austerity. Outside the Society he was well known for his Lenten Lectures delivered in Gardiner Street. As a Retreat giver he was much sought after.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1950

Obituary

Father Charles Doyle SJ

Father Charles Doyle died in St. Vincent's Nursing Home on 15th June, 1949, after a long illness patiently endured. He was born at “Melrose”, Dalkey, in 1870, and was the son of the late Mr. Hugh Doyle, an official of the High Court of Justice in Ireland. His early education was with the Fathers of Charity, Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, where he spent six years. He had very kindly recollections of his school-days and he kept in touch with the Ratcliffe Father's up to his death last year. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1889, and passed through the various stages that the Order requires of its members - two years' novitiate in Tullabeg, two years' juniorate at Milltown Park, three years, philosophy at Valkenberg, Holland, and Enghien, Belgium, six years, teaching at Belvedere College, four years, theology at Miiltown Park, where he was ordained priest in 1905. He completed his religious training by doing his “Tertianship” or third year at Trouchiennes, Belgium.

He held responsible and important positions in the Order during his life as a priest. Immediately after his Tertiarship he was appointed Assistant Master of Novices at Tullabeg. He was Rector of Crescent College, Limerick, from 1912 to 1918, of Rathfarnham Castle in 1919, where he was succeeded by the late Father John Sullivan. He returned to Belvedere College as Rector for the next three years. From 1925 until his death twenty-four years later he was the Provincial Bursar, having charge of the accounts of the Irish Province.

Fr Charles Doyle was a brother of the late Father Willie Doyle, the well-known and saintly chaplain, who was killed in 1917 during the first world war, while administering to the soldiers on the battlefield. His admiration for his chaplain brother amounted almost to hero-worship. He laboured assiduously in collecting evidence of his brother's sanctity and he kept a list of all the favours obtained through his intercession. He was responsible for the publication of a life of Fr Willie called “Merry in God”, which was read all the world over. There were only three pictures in Father Doyle's bedroom, and they were all of Fr Willie at various stages of his career - as a young boy, as a young priest and as a chaplain.

As has already been stated, he was the Provincial Bursar for twenty-five years. But as well, at other stages of his career he was put in charge of the accounts and finances of a few of the Houses of the Irish Province. He had a great aptitude for this kind of work. Under his direction and advice the account books and all the book-keeping of the Irish Province was improved and reorganised. His own account books were perfect models of nreatness, accuracy and the greatest care. His interest in his work was very great, for instance, he had to go to hospital three times during the last year of his life. On all three occasions he insisted on bringing his account books with him. He certainly remained in harness and at his post up to the very end of his life.

He was above all a fervent religious and a man of the highest spirituality. He was a great model to all by his piety, his self-denial, his observance of rule and his observance of common life. He rose at 5.30 every day, said an early Mass and attended all the Community duties day after day with the greatest regularity. He avoided all exemptions even when his health was in a very precarious state. With all this he had a keen sense of humour, and enjoyed the good-humoured banter which is so often found in Community life. He was approachable at all times and most ready to oblige. Every year until his health gave away he spent his summer vacations in giving several retreats to priests and nuns. The retreats were greatly appreciated and are still well remembered by those who made them. About a year before his death he conducted a Priests Retreat in spite of his 78 years of age. He was also an eloquent preacher. His voice was pleasing and distinct, and as might be expected from such a man, his sermons were always most carefully prepared. On one occasion he gave a series of Lenten Lectures in Gardiner Street on the “Home”, and they drew great crowds from all parts of the city and country. These Lectures of his are regarded as among the best that were preached in Gardiner Street. And that says a great deal because the Lenten Lectures were given by some of the most distinguished preachers of Ireland and England,

He was an excellent teacher, but very strict. Some past Belvederians have still vivid recollections of his strictriess as a master. But his strict methods were tempered by kindness and justice, so that the boys had a great respect and veneration for him. As Rector of Belvedere he did much for the College. The number of students increased during his term of office, and as might be expected from his genius in the administration of temporal affairs the finances of the College greatly improved. The games also flourished under his jurisdiction. During the period he was Rector the Belvedere Team made some bold bids to win the Senior Cup, and they succeeded in winning the Junior Football Cup. Foundations were being laid for the excellent teams that Belvedere has put into the field ever since.

Father Doyle is survived by his brother Mr Robert Doyle, KC, former Recorder of Galway, to whom we extend our deepest sympathy. 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 Commnnity

Father Charles Doyle (1870-1949)

Born at Dalkey and educated in England, entered the Society in 1889. He pursued his higher studies in Valkenburg, Enghien and Milltown Park, Dublin where he was ordained in 1905. During his life, Father Doyle occupied many positions of trust. He came as master to the Crescent in 1911 and was appointed Rector of the College the following year. Father Doyle's rectorship at the Crescent was passed in difficult times: the college was badly in debt and, owing to the short supply of Jesuit masters, the task of main taining the school was onerous in the extreme. During his six years here, he was a strenuous worker in the classroom and the church. On leaving the Crescent, he was successively Rector of Rathfarnham Castle and Belvedere College. The last twenty-five years of his life were spent in the exacting work of bursar of the Irish Jesuit Province. During his last years, he published (anonymously) a biography of his celebrated brother, Father Willie Doyle.

Born: 1583, County Meath
Entered: 23 October 1604, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1613, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Final Vows: 05 March 1624
Died: 11 August 1646, Kilkenny City, County Kilkenny

Alias Geraldine

Superior Irish Mission 11 August 1646

1613 Catalogue Educated at Douai
1617 In Ireland; 1622 in Leinster; 1626 in Ireland
1637 ROM Catalogue Talent, judgement and experience good, a Preacher

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Educated in Sicily and Rome
1615 In Sicily
1617 In Ireland (IER August 1874) - Preacher; Master of Novices; Consultor of Mission; Praised by Bishop Rothe
From a letter of Mission Superior Robert Nugent 01/10/1640 we learn that he has succeeded Barnaby Kearney as a Consultor of the Mission in Munster.
He is believed to be identical with the George Geraldine of Foley’s Collectanea and Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS

◆ Fr Francis Finegan :
Had previously studied at Douai before Ent 1604 Rome
After First Vows he completed his studies and Rome and Palermo, and was Ordained there 1613
1613 Sent to Ireland but had to wait at Bordeaux for a ship, so did not arrive until 1615
He worked as Missioner in Leinster and then appointed Novice Master at Back Lane, Dublin (1628). In 1630 the Noviceship was dispersed due to a fresh bout of persecution.
1640 Although there is little known of the next ten years, except that he suffered from poor health, he was appointed a Consultor of the Mission
1646 Fr General sent the letter appointing him as Superior of the Irish Mission 11 August 1646, but he died in Dublin the same day.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962
George FitzGerald (1646)

George FitzGerald, or Geraldine, was born in the diocese of Meath in 1583. When he had finished his year of logic at Douay, he went to Rome, and entered the Novitiate of Sant' Andrea there on 22nd October, 1604, He studied philosophy at the Roman College, and theology at Palermo, and then went to Bordeaux to await an opportunity of getting to Ireland. He reached Ireland in 1615, and for the next thirteen years worked as a missioner in Leinster. He made his solemn profession of four vows on 5th March, 1621, and when a Novitiate was opened in Dublin in 1628 he was chosen to be Master of Novices. He held that position until two years later a fresh outburst of persecution dispersed the novices. On 29th November he was made Consultor of the Mission and on 11th August, 1646, he was appointed Superior of the Mission, on the exclusion of Fr George Dillon. But this appointment had no effect either, for before it could reach Ireland, Fr George Fitzgerald was dead. He died on 11/21st August, 1646. During his life he had a high reputation as a theologian and a mathematician, and had always been noted for his piety and religious observance.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father George Fitzgerald 1583-1646
Fr George Fitzgerald, or Geraldine as he was sometimes called, was born in Meath in 1583. He entered the Society at Rome in 1604.

Fr thirteen years after his return to Ireland in 1615 he worked as a missioner in Leinster. For many years now, Father Holywood had been requesting the General for leave to open a noviceship in Ireland. There was no lack of candidates. It was only after his death in 1628 that a noviceship was started in Dublin, and Fr Fitzgerald was appointed our first Master of Novices. He held the post for two years, until persecution dispersed the novices.

He was appointed Superior of the Mission in succession to Robert Nugent, but died in 1646 before the letter of appointment reached Ireland.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
GERALDINE, GEORGE, was in Sicily, in August, 1615, when his services were required for the Irish Mission. It appears that he was stationed in Munster; for F. Robert Nugent, in his letter of the 1st of October, 1640, after announcing the death of the venerable F. Barnaby Kearney, requests F. George Geraldine to succeed the deceased as a Consultor, on account of his long experience, prudence, “et loci vicinitatem”. I think he had been gathered to his Fathers before the year 1649