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Born: 31 March 1909, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 24 June 1948, Collège Sainte Famille, Cairo, Egypt
Died: 14 February 1982, Milltown Park, Dublin

Transcribed : HIB to ZAM 03/12/1969; ZAM to HIB 1980

Chaplain in the Second World War with the Royal Air Force.

Early Education at Christian Brothers School, North Brunswick Street, Dublin

by 1951 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - third wave of Zambian Missioners

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Born in Dublin on 31 March 1909 Fr Joseph Augustine McSweeney grew up in Dublin, Ireland, and completed his secondary education with the Christian Brothers in Dublin. He worked for a short time before entering the Society in 1930. He followed the normal university studies, philosophy, regency and theology, being ordained in 1943. In 1945 he was assigned to be chaplain in the Royal Air Force where he served until 1949. He enjoyed his years in the armed forces, especially the opportunity they gave him of seeing the Holy Land and the Middle East. In later years, his recollection of those years seemed to bring him real joy. After a year in Belvedere he was missioned to Chikuni in Zambia. There he taught as a Jesuit priest for 17 years, from 1950 to 1967. Because of poor health, he then returned to Ireland. He celebrated his jubilee, 50 years as a Jesuit, in 1980. Two years afterwards, he died in Dublin in 1982.

A single quotation from one of his letters will best describe the type of dedicated man Joe McSweeney was: ‘I have the normal 28 periods a week, and as these are all in Forms 5 and 6, they involve much preparation and correction of homework. During this term, I have felt bound to give 4 more periods a week to teaching hymns to Forms 1,2,3 and 4, because the singing of hymns at Mass and Benediction has become very poor. This makes 32 periods. I give 7 hours a week attending at the Spiritual Father's room; this is the equivalent of another 10 periods a week; altogether 42 periods’.

Besides being a highly competent teacher, Fr McSweeney was a most devoted spiritual Father in Canisius. Throughout his 17 years he was always concerned about providing his students with both religious and moral training, never taking the easy way out. ‘Training in responsibility needs continual supervision’ was one of his beliefs with the result that he was present at all student Masses throughout the week, being available to them in the confessional, at all times promoting among them a habit of regular attendance at Mass and reception of the sacraments.

It was he who introduced and promoted religious groups like the Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament, Apostleship of Prayer and the Sodality of Our Lady. His serious conscientiousness was evident in all that he did. The young students appreciated his gentleness and thoroughness. In the homily in Gardiner Street at his funeral, Fr Paul Brassil, the Zambian provincial, told of the past pupils' appreciation and gratitude for all that they had received from him. “An outstanding, successful teacher” was the description of Joe that those who worked with him in Chikuni gave him.

By no stretch of imagination could Fr Joe be termed a modern, well-integrated priest. He was just an old-fashioned, slightly nervous and tense priest, but he did dedicate himself fully to the improvement of his students. And they were his students, particularly the senior ones for whom he had a great sensitivity.

Towards the end of his teaching at Canisius, Fr Joe began to suffer from his nerves, finding it more and more difficult to cope with the normal tensions of a dedicated teacher's life. Of course he had always been a perfectionist. Even in his more relaxed days he had required at least a month's notice to prepare his choir for a sung Mass. It is quite easy to imagine the agony that the more casual attitudes of today can be to a perfectionist! But even when he felt the lack of special attention in the way of food more suitable to his needs, he retained his sense of humor: ‘I hope at 57 I am not going to be asked to approach the minister, plate in hand like Oliver Twist, toties quoties, for some more’.

In Joe's case, it is now clear that in this nervous person, God provided us with a great example of care and dedication and He no doubt even now rewards Fr McSweeney’s dedicated response to this vocation.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Clerk before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 57th Year No 2 1982
Obituary

Fr Joseph McSweeney (1909-1930-1982)

I have an early memory of Joe McSweeney in Emo noviceship coming out to recreation wearing a peaked tweed cap. The memory remains because the incident was unusual, yet it puts Joe in context. He was a late arrival to the noviceship (November, 1930) and a late - though not very late - vocation. Chronologically he was only a few years older than the rest of us schoolboys of the previous June, yet his experience of having had a job seemed to invest him with a maturity we didn't have.
Then as always, seriousness was his outstanding characteristic. He tackled the outdoor works, which were a real trial to him, with the determination of a man whose job depended on doing so much in a fixed time. One of the jobs the novices had to do with pick and shovel was to clear the overgrown paths of the vegetation which had spread unchecked for fourteen years. Joe applied the principle Age quod agis to every task and ministry he ever undertook, as few men have applied it.
When we moved to Rathfarnham for juniorate, Joe enjoyed the studies, and to my mind was a far happier person than he had been when using pick and shovel in Emo. Though serious, he had a good sense of humour, and responded positively to our jovial ragging with a laugh. As a junior he was put in charge of our Pioneer total abstinence branch, and when one night he grew weary of the jocose cases of conscience we were giving him, he just stood up, bowed, and with a laugh announced “The meeting is over, gentlemen” and ran.
In Tullabeg, as in Rathfarnham, he got real satisfaction in study - this time of philosophy. He never gave the impression that he ambitioned being an academic, yet in conversation he showed how thoroughly he had mastered the matter in hand, and what relish the mastering of it had given him. He played games, though he was not an athlete, and took part in everything that was going on in the scholastic community. We knew him as a very self-contained person whose prime relationship was with God. He was never late for “morning oblation”, nor did he “hit the floor” for any other faults that brought many of us to our knees in the refectory.
He was apprehensive of life in the colleges, but when the time came and he was posted to the Crescent, he dedicated himself entirely to his teaching. He showed his courage and generosity in undertaking to teach a beginners class Greek, though he had never studied it previously.
He was delighted to be sent to Milltown after a two-year regency. In those years the Second World War kept all the native scholastics within the shores of Ireland. Theology interested Joe as much as, if not more than, philosophy, and it afforded him scope for his interest in argument and discussion. Here as always he was the unobtrusive obliging one you could always rely on to do the job you could coax no one else to do.
His post-tertianship status - chaplain to the RAF - came as a great shock to most of us, his contemporaries. We thought Joe’s academic outlook and innate reserve and shyness would make a chaplain’s life a very trying one for him. He didn't seem to view it that way at all. In his simple direct approach, he took it as God's will for him, and God would see him through. So quite undaunted he donned the officer's uniform. He enjoyed his years in the armed forces, especially the opportunity they gave him of seeing the Holy Land and the Middle East. In recent years his recollection of those years seemed to bring him real joy.
My knowledge of Joe’s success as a teacher in Zambia (1950-'70) comes from those who shared the burden of the day with him there. That serious conscientiousness was as evident there as it had been elsewhere. The young Zambians appreciated and valued his gentleness and thoroughness more than their less studious Irish contemporaries seem to have done. Paul Brassil, the Zambian Provincial, in his homily at Joe's funeral Mass in Gardiner street, told us of his past pupils’ appreciation of and gratitude for all that they had received from him. An outstanding successful teacher, was the description of Joe that those who worked with him in Chikuni gave us. Yet Joe himself seemed unaware of his success and equally unconcerned about it. He rarely initiated conversation about either his teaching or his week-end parish ministry. It was part of what God's providence had brought about through him. That seemed to be the view of the truly humble, obedient, unassuming Joe.
He returned to Ireland (1970) a semi invalid, taught in Mungret for two years, but discovered that his energy was unequal to the task; moved to Rathfarnham to do secretarial work, thence to Monkstown (1974) and finally to Milltown Park (1975). Those of us who had known him as a younger man, and accompanied him in his last years in Milltown, were saddened to see how ill health had affected him so seriously. In recent years, when he felt well, he could still enjoy an argument or discussion as much as ever. However, his nervous debility dictated for him a routine pattern of living that seemed almost compulsive.
For example, he went out every afternoon and had a cup of tea: in Bewley's restaurant, if he got as far as the city centre; or in a Ranelagh tea-room if he could go no farther.
He was up at six every morning, said his prayers and offered Mass. This daily act of worship had come to be the occasion of considerable anxiety to him. He concelebrated with us frequently, but we were aware of the strain that so doing caused him. Meals were a big part of the compulsive routine that he seemed forced to follow. He found it difficult to follow the letter of the law that the doctor laid down for him, but frequently spoke of the kindness and consideration of the kitchen and refectory staff in helping him to do so. The staff in turn, despite Joe's ill-timed visits to the kitchen, his ever recurring questions and requests, saw and appreciated the gentleness and courtesy that his illness had obscured but not destroyed. They had a real affection for him.

Here is an excerpt from Fr Tom O'Brien's tribute in the newsletter of the Zambian Vice-Province (Jesuits in Zambia: News): A single quotation from one of his letters will best describe the type of dedicated man Joe McSweeney was:
I have the normal 28 periods per week, and as these are all in Forms 5 and 6, they involve much preparation and correction of homework. During this term I have felt bound to give 4 more periods a week to teaching hymns to Forms 1, 2, 3 and 4, because the singing of hymns at Mass and Benediction has become very poor. This makes 32 periods. I give 7 hours a week attending at the Spiritual Father's room: this is the equivalent of another 10 periods per week; altogether, 42 periods.
Besides being a highly competent teacher, Fr McSweeney was a most devoted Spiritual Father in Canisius (Secondary School, Chikuni). Through out his twenty years [in Zambia) he was
always concerned about providing his students with both religious and moral training, never taking the easy way out. ‘Training in responsibility needs continual supervision' was one of his beliefs; with the result that he was present at all student Masses throughout the week; was available to the students in the confessional at all times; and promoted among them a habit of regular attendance at Mass and reception of the Sacraments of confession and communion, It was Fr McSweeney who introduced and promoted religious groups like Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament, Apostleship of Prayer and the Sodality of Our Lady, giving to this apostolic work his meager spare time.
By no stretch of imagination could Fr McSweeney be termed a modern, well integrated priest. He was just an old fashioned, slightly nervous and tense priest, who dedicated himself to the improvement of his students, for whom he had a great sensitivity, particularly for the senior ones. In reaction to some derogatory remarks made by his fellow Jesuit teachers in regard to the boy-girl mores of Chikuni, Fr McSweeney once had this to say: “If such fathers had more pastoral experience, they would have more respect; and respect is very important in affecting our words and actions towards others”. In fact it was his conviction that his students at Canisius were superior in this regard to their peers in other countries.
Towards the end of his teaching at Canisius, Fr Joe began to suffer from his nerves, finding it more and more difficult to cope with the normal tensions of a dedicated teacher's life. Of course he had always been a perfectionist; even in his more relaxed days he had required at least a month's notice to prepare his choir for a sung Mass. It is quite easy to imagine the agony that the more casual attitudes of today can present to a perfectionist?
However, even when he felt the lack of special attention in the way of food more suitable to his needs, he retained his sense of humour: “I hope that at 57 I am not going to be asked to approach the Minister plate in hand like Oliver Twist toties quoties for some more”.
In Joe’s case it is clear that in this nervous person God provided us with a great example of care and dedication, and no doubt rewards even now such a response to this vocation. We praise and thank Him, and ask Him to look mercifully on the soul of our fellow-worker. [He died on 14th February 1982.]

Born: 15 January 1915, Portroe, County Tipperary
Entered: 24 March 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1945, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 13 January 1977, Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin

Brother of Michael McShera - Ent 05/04/1931; LEFT 04/02/1943

◆ Irish Province News 52nd Year No 2 1977 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1977

Manresa
Brother Tony McShera’s heart attack and death during the weekly prayer-meeting on Thursday 13th January was a great shock to our community. He had been at the retreat house door to welcome the participants in his usual hearty manner, and he had just spoken during the meeting itself when the Lord called him. He could not have died in a more appropriate setting, at prayer and in the midst of his friends.

Obituary :

Br Anthony McShera (1915-1977)

Born January 15th at Portroe, Co. Tipperary, he was educated at the Christian Brothers School, Sexton St, Limerick, to the end of his first year Inter. Certificate. He entered the Noviceship on March 24th 1935 and pronounced his First Vows on March 28th 1937.
1937-1954: Cook: Belvedere, where he pronounced his Final Vows on August 15th 1945.
1954-1969: Cook, Milltown Park.
1969-1977: Cook: Manresa House, Dollymount. Died: January 13th 1977.

The long “innings” which he had as cook in each house speaks its own praise, both as regards his work, and as regards the satisfaction he gave to his communities.

Father James Healy, now in Milltown Park, remembers him well. “Living with Brother ‘Mac’ in Milltown was a joy and a pleasure: the pleasure of eating well and the joy of knowing that his professional skill always provided plenty, wasted nothing and cost the minimum. As a scholastic I loved to watch him in the Servery, carrying and dis hing out vegetables for a Community of 80 or more; he had been up since 5.30; had given us porridge and dished out lovely hot bacon and eggs when the mob arrived in a rush for breakfast; he'd spent the whole morning preparing for this moment and for our dinner. He was proud to feed us, so quickly, so pleasantly. His joy was in our pleasure.
‘Mac’ had a wonderful way with the boys on the domestic staff. There was competition among them to get into the kitchen. Once there you served a strict apprenticeship, and you made a lifelong friend. Here was a master craftsman, respecting his tools and materials, rejoicing in his creations, expecting you to do likewise. Be clean. Be punctual. Be methodical. Learn your trade thoroughly. Join a union. I still meet Mac's protegés and they are all proud to be imitators of him, all extremely grateful to him for the formation he gave them.
Mac was still going strong when I returned to teach in Milltown. One year I noticed his room had been changed to a worse one. How come? The Minister had to change someone and knew that Mac would take it more charitably than the alternative victim.
He was never Tony to me not I Jim to him. Titles did not matter. We played golf together. Eugene Ward and Joe Conran invited Mac and myself to make a four for a golfing holiday in Newcastle, Co Down. It must have been one of the first mixed priest-brother villas. Somehow, Mac and I formed a new bond on that villa; the golf brig comes in a variety of species and ours seemed to be - opposed? - well, 'different from that of our companions. Of course the four of us were mad, fanatical. Only we laughed at different moments. Any Christian can share your sorrows. It takes a friend to smile together-– as we did, reminiscently, in later years when I occasionally met him in Manresa. The pleasures pass, the joy remains”.

Father J. C Kelly, S.J., of Milltown Park writes: “He told me, in his inimitable Limerick accent, that one day as a young fella’ he realised with blinding clarity that his vocation in life was to be a cook, He never wanted to do anything else. At the height of his powers in the late fifties in Belvedere, he was a superb cook: and his day began at five o'clock in the morning in the Dublin market buying fresh vegetables. He went to the market on his bike”.

His recreation was golf. Father Matt Meade recalls his dedication to his pastime of golf. Characteristically Brother McShera was wholehearted in his interest in his pastime, and keen to achieve and recall his successes on the Course - which were, indeed, very creditable, although far from rivalling his prowess at his real “vocation” inside the Society of Jesus: his excellence as a cook.

Born: 06 September 1826, Glaslough, Co Monaghan
Entered 06 June 1854, Sault-au-Récollet, Montréal, Canada - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1859, All Hallows College, Dublin
Professed” 15 August 1871
Died 09 October 1885, St Vincent’s Hospital, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Part of the Boston College, Boston MA, USA, community at the time of death

Older Brother of Patrick McQuaid (MARNEB) - RIP 1885

Born: 04 June 1931, Castletroy, Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 04 September 1962, Kaiserdom Sankt Bartholomäus (Frankfurter Dom), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Final Vows: 02 February1966, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 09 October 2005, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1962 at Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt (GER I) studying
by 1965 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1979 at Gonzaga Spokane WA, USA (ORE) teaching
by 1990 at San Salvador, El Salvador (CAM) working
by 1997 at Zomba, Malawi (ZAM-MAL) teaching
by 2001 at Cambridge, MA, USA (NEN) Sabbatical
by 2002 at Venice, CA, USA (CAL) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
James McPolin was born in Limerick and educated at the Jesuit Crescent College. In 1948 he entered the Society at Emo and followed the standard course of studies of the Irish province. After a year’s theological studies at Milltown Institute he transferred to Frankfurt a.M. for his final years of theology.

Jimmy as a scholastic always gave the impression of youth and energy. He was deeply interested in sports of all kinds and persuaded those of us studying philosophy with him to build a basket-ball court on which he tutored the ignorant among us in the rules of the game. He sailed through his Jesuit studies effortlessly and we were not surprised when he was sent to the Biblical Institute in Rome for a Doctorate in Sacred Scripture. Thus he lectured in Scripture for 23 years at the Milltown Institute, Dublin, alternating semesters for 3 years with the Biblicum in Rome. Subsequently he also taught scripture at Gonzaga University, Spokane, at the University of Central America (UCA, El Salvador) and at St. Peter’s Seminary in Zomba, Malawi. His textbook on St. John’s Gospel is still very popular with students of scripture.

He was elected as the representative of the Irish Province for the 32nd General Congregation of the Jesuits in Rome in 1975 and was deeply involved in drafting the document of that Congregation on the formation of our young men. He acted as the Irish Provincial’s delegate for formation for many years.

After serving as Dean of the Theology Faculty at Milltown Institute for four years he was appointed as President of the whole Institute. During this time he was transferred to a small community of scholastics living in poor quarters in the centre of Dublin city. During his seven years in that community he showed great concern for the difficulties of the poorer neighbours. His cycling to work every day to and from his office at Milltown, 6 km away, surprised many of his academic colleagues at the Institute.

In 1989 he moved to San Salvador in Central America where he worked as assistant priest in the Jesuit Parish, eventually becoming the Parish Priest. When he first arrived in San Salvador he was invited to visit the University community for a meal and spend the night with them because of the curfew. In fact there was some urgent business in the parish which prevented him from accepting the invitation. That was the night in which the six Jesuits in the University community together with their housekeep and her daughter were murdered by the army. Jimmy thus narrowly escaped sharing their fate.

On his return from San Salvador in 1996 he joined the small group of Jesuits who were teaching at St. Peter’s Seminary at Zomba, Malawi. He first studied the local Chi-Chewa language and then settled into teaching scripture for five semesters.

He had a very good relationship with the Malawian seminarians: he always greeted his class with the word “Wawa” which is a term of great respect in Chewa and which invariably elicited a loud response. He set himself up as coach of the football team and could be seen at half-time surrounded by a ring of players whom he harangued in a good natured way. He also endeared himself to the teaching staff by the jokingly provocative way he would express some outrageous opinion during meals at our ‘round table’ which would immediately spark a lively discussion.

His deep commitment to the Faith and Justice agenda proposed for Jesuits by GC 32 was very obvious in his homilies at the daily Liturgy – he would illustrate his point by telling stories from “a certain parish where I served”. He was referring to the San Antonio Abac parish in El Salvador where he served as parish priest and where one of his predecessors and several young people on retreat had been shot by the military a few years before.

When he returned to Ireland he joined the Belfast community for a year and contributed to their efforts in the reconciliation between opposing factions in Northern Ireland. This was followed by a year’s sabbatical at Cambridge, Mass. and then by three years in the parish at Venice, California where his fluency in Spanish was appreciated by the many hispanic parishioners.

A series of strokes starting in 2004 forced his return to the Irish nursing unit at Cherryfield and he died there on 9 October, 2005.

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/remembering-james-mcpolin-sj/

In his homily at the funeral of James McPolin SJ, Michael O’Sullivan recalls a life dedicated to faith and justice in El Salvador, in Malawi and here in Ireland. He also remembers
Jimmy as a dedicated and innovative president of the Milltown Institute.
About two years ago Jimmy said to me that he felt most alive and of most use during the years he was in El Salvador (1989-96) – despite the awful suffering among the people and the deadly danger that shadowed his own life. He went there straight after his term as President of Milltown Institute (1983-89). He did so because of his commitment to and companionship with the God whose love makes the promotion of justice an absolute requirement.
Jimmy had hardly arrived in the country when six Jesuits, a woman (Elba Julia) and her daughter (Celina), were murdered by an army death squad at the Jesuit residence on the grounds of the University of San Salvador. The Jesuits were murdered because of their commitment to the faith that does justice; the women, who had taken refuge with the Jesuits after their home had been damaged by gunfire, were killed so as to leave no witnesses. Jimmy could have been among the dead that night, 16 November 1989, given that he had deferred accepting an invitation to stay with the Jesuit community at the University until he had spent more time among the ordinary people. (2) Afterwards his concern to see justice done in the case of his dead Jesuit companions and the two women was viewed by him as a way also of promoting justice for the people of the country. In a letter to members of his family in Ireland in 1990 he wrote: “The future of justice is obfuscated by the fact that the trial of the soldiers for the killings is being impeded by false evidence of the military and by the collusion of the American Embassy and Government.” (3)
You may be aware of the memorial bell on the Milltown avenue in front of the Irish School of Ecumenics building. It was put up in honour of those who were killed that night. One of the dead Jesuits, Amando Lopez, had studied theology at Milltown, and was ordained to the priesthood in this chapel. You can see him in the 1965 ordination photo on the corridor outside this chapel. Another of the dead Jesuits, Ignacio Ellacuria, had done part of his Jesuit formation in Dublin as an ordained priest. The memorial bell will also always be a reminder of the third president of the Institute and the values that took him to El Salvador at that time.
Jimmy also narrowly escaped death at a subsequent date when he found himself under the table while army bullets were sprayed around the room. He was the pastor of San Antonio Abad parish, where a predecessor, and several young people on retreat, had been slain by the army in 1979. I stayed with Jimmy and the Jesuit community at San Antonio Abad during part of my time in El Salvador in 1991 and 1992. One day he asked if I would like to see the new houses he was having built for the poor. We headed toward a four wheel drive vehicle. Remembering that Jimmy did not drive in Ireland, and knowing I did not feel like handling such a large vehicle there and then in San Salvador, I asked him who would be our driver. He told me he would drive. He proved to be a very able driver, having become such out of his desire to serve the poor more effectively.
To understand the development of Jimmy’s commitment to economically poor and politically persecuted people it is necessary to know that in 1974-75 the Jesuits worldwide committed themselves to the work of justice as integral to the service of faith and that Jimmy was one of two Jesuits elected by his Irish colleagues to represent them in Rome where that decision was taken. Then in 1980 I asked him as a leading scripture scholar to review a book that was generating a lot of interest at the time, namely, Jose Miranda’s Marx and the Bible. (4) He told me later that reviewing this book led to a quantum leap in his Jesuit commitment to what had been decided in Rome some years earlier. Viewed from the perspective of spirituality as an academic discipline it can be said that his quantum leap of faith was facilitated by the practice of an intense reading experience. Other kinds of practices would evoke, express and enhance his conversion.
In that year, 1980-81, some of us here at the Institute – students at the time – thought the Institute should take an initiative to stop the intended tour of apartheid South Africa by the Irish rugby team. We held an all night vigil at the premises of the IRFU and collaborated with others in organising and taking part in protest marches on the streets. Jimmy, who was the Dean of Theology at the time, was one of very few academic and administration staff to join us. He also went on a placement to Brixton, England, around that time to work with marginalised black people. This commitment to black people reappeared strongly after his years in El Salvador when he went to live and work in Malawi (1997-99). One of his former Malawian students told me that Jimmy was a friend of the poor and oppressed, and that he lived what he taught from the Bible. This was also true of him in Ireland.
During his years as President of Milltown Institute he accepted an invitation from Seamus Murphy, now a member of the Philosophy Faculty, to live in inner city Dublin as a member of the Jesuit community called after Luis Espinal. Espinal was a Catalan Jesuit who had been murdered in Bolivia for his commitment to the faith that does justice. The Espinal community, which had been brought into being in 1980, the year of Espinal’s martyrdom, by Seamus, Kevin O’Higgins, the former Dean of Philosophy, and myself, when we were students at Milltown, and which was joined almost immediately by John Moore, then a Professor and Head of Department at UCD, was committed to simple living, was a friend to the flat dwellers in the local Dublin Corporation estates, and was a meeting place for social action groups. Jimmy used to cycle to and from Milltown in those years. He also participated regularly in protests outside the U.S. embassy against U.S. foreign policy in Central America, protests in which some staff and students at the Institute took a prominent part.
In line with how he understood and lived his faith and scholarship a defining characteristic of his Presidency was the way he enabled the teaching of liberation and feminist theologies to progress in the Institute. He welcomed me on the staff in 1986 and I am grateful to him for the support he gave me to teach these theologies. Una Agnew, the first female head of a programme at the Institute, and now Head of the Dept. of Spirituality, remembers his commitment to improving the situation of women, while Dominique Horgan, now the Archivist, remembers how he initiated the Adult Religious Education programmes, of which she was the first Director. This commitment to adult religious education is also reflected in the fact that during his years as President he taught scripture at the People’s College, which was located near the Espinal community. He did so there in order to reach out to people who at that time would not come to places like Milltown because of their social class, feelings about the Catholic Church, or educational attainment. Jimmy was a great success with such groups.
After his years in Malawi, following his term as President of the Institute, and his years in El Salvador, Jimmy went to Belfast to be in solidarity with those struggling for peace and justice there. During that time he also wrote a series of very fine articles on scripture texts for readers of the Sacred Heart Messenger. Then, given his language skills, and feeling for Latino peoples, he went to California to be a pastor in a parish with a very large Latino population. While there he suffered a stroke, and had to return to Ireland. More strokes followed. He died on October 9th. May he rest in peace, and may we be inspired by the way he lived the Institute motto to bring scholarship to life. Amen. Alleluia!

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 128 : Special Issue June 2006

Obituary

James (Jimmy) McPolin (1931-2005)

4th June 1931: Born in Limerick
Early education at Crescent College, Limerick
7th September 1948: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1950: First Vows at Emo
1950 - 1953: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1953 - 1956: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1956 - 1959: Belvedere - Teacher (Regency)
1959 - 1960: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
1960 - 1963: Frankfurt am Main, Germany - Studied Theology
4th September 1962: Ordained at Frankfurt, Maine
1963 - 1964: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1964 - 1967: Biblical Institute, Rome -D.S.S.
2nd February 1966: Final Vows in Rome
1967 - 1976: Milltown Park -
1967 - 1970: Professor of Sacred Scripture / Rome in alternate semesters
1970 - 1976: Milltown Park - Professor of Sacred Scripture; Superior of Scholastics
1976 - 1977: Betagh House - Professor of Sacred Scripture at Milltown Park
1977 - 1978: Milltown Park - Professor of Sacred Scripture
1978 - 1979: Gonzaga Univ., Spokane, WA, USA - Professor of Sacred Scripture
1979 - 1983: Milltown Park - Professor of Sacred Scripture; Dean Theology Faculty
1983 - 1990: Espinal community -
1983 - 1990: President, Milltown Institute; Lecturer in Sacred Scripture, Writer
1987 - 1990: Superior
1990 - 1998: El Salvador - learning language and parish work
1998 - 1999: Malawi - Lecturer in Sacred Scripture at St. Peter's Seminary
1999 - 2000: Belfast- Ecumenical and Reconciliation Ministry
2000 - 2001: Sabbatical - Faber House, 42 Kirkland Street, Cambridge MA
2001 - 2004: Venice, California - Associate Pastor, St. Mark's Church
2004 - 2005: Gardiner Street - Residing in Cherryfield
9th Oct 2005: Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Father Jimmy McPolin was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on April 5th, 2004 for respite care following a stroke in the USA. While his mobility was poor at times he was self caring for the first six months. Then he was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital on four occasions, having suffered more strokes. His condition deteriorated over this time and in the last six months to a year he needed full nursing care. In that time his mental state also deteriorated. He was unable to converse and was unaware of his surroundings. However, he did appear to know some of the staff.

Michael O'Sullivan writes:
Jimmy was a fellow Limerick man and past pupil of the old Crescent College. I did not meet him, however, until I went to Milltown to study Philosophy in 1974. I found our first meeting painful. I was struggling to come to terms with life in the Milltown of that era after three years in the company of many women friends at UCD, and he, in his role as “Superior of Scholastics”, did not understand that. But he changed. He was an architect of the Formation document at GC 32 with its focus on “the integrated character of apostolic formation”. He also got in touch with his “inner child” and would express this, for example, by dressing up as Santa Claus at the Christmas staff party in Milltown Institute in an effort to lighten up what could be an over sombre atmosphere. His preference to dress in grey rather than the customary clerical black meant that on one occasion at least he was taken for a Protestant minister. This happened when he visited my mother, who did not know him at the time. When she answered the door to him and lie asked her if she was Mrs. O'Sullivan, she replied that, yes, she was, but that she was a Catholic!

In a conversation with Jimmy about two years before he died he said to me that he felt most alive and of most use during the period he was in El Salvador (1989-96) - despite the awful suffering among the people and the deadly danger that shadowed his own life. He went there after his term as President of Milltown Institute (1983-89). He did so because of his commitment to and companionship with the God whose love makes the promotion of justice an absolute requirement. Jimmy had hardly arrived in the country when six Jesuits, a woman (Elba Julia) and her daughter (Celina), were murdered by an army death squad at the Jesuit residence on the grounds of the University of San Salvador. The Jesuits were murdered because of their commitment to the faith that does justice; the women, who had taken refuge with the Jesuits after their home had been damaged by gunfire, were killed so as to leave no witnesses. Jimmy would have been among the massacred that night, 16 November 1989, had he not chosen to spend time among the ordinary people before accepting an invitation to stay with his Jesuit companions at the University. (Jimmy shared this with me in El Salvador in 1991. He had also said this to his family in Ireland, according to his niece, Gráinne) Afterwards his concern to see justice done in the case of these companions and the two women was viewed by him as a way to also promote justice for the people of the country. In a letter to members of his family in Ireland in 1990 he wrote: “The future of justice is obfuscated by the fact that the trial of the soldiers for the killings is being impeded by false evidence of the military and by the collusion of the American Embassy and Government”. (The source for this quote is his niece Gráinne who had also spoken with other members of his extended family.)

Jimmy also narrowly escaped death on another occasion when he found himself under the table while army bullets were sprayed around the room. He was the pastor of San Antonio Abad parish, where a predecessor, and several young people on retreat, had been slain by the army in 1979. I stayed with him and the Jesuit community at the parish during part of my time in El Salvador in 1991 and 1992. One day he asked if I would like to see the new houses he was having built for the poor. We headed toward a four wheel drive vehicle. Remembering that Jimmy did not drive in Ireland, and knowing I did not feel like handling such a large vehicle there and then in San Salvador, I asked who would be our driver. He told me that he would drive. He proved to be a very abie driver, having become such out of his desire to serve the poor more effectively.

To understand the development of Jimmy's commitment to economically poor and politically persecuted people it is necessary to remember that in 1974-75 we committed ourselves at a global level to the work of justice as an integral part of the service of faith and that Jimmy was one of the two delegates elected by his peers to go to the 32nd General Congregation where that decision was taken. Then in 1980 I asked him as a leading scripture scholar to review a book that was generating a lot of interest at the time, namely, Jose Miranda's Marx and the Bible. ((At that time I was co-editing a magazine on faith and justice issues.) He told me later that reviewing this book led to a quantum leap in his Jesuit commitment to Decree 4 of GC 32. Viewed from the perspective of spirituality as an academic discipline it can be said that his leap of faith was facilitated by the practice of an intense reading experience. Other kinds of practices would evoke, express and enhance his conversion.

In the academic year, 1980-81, some theology students at Milltown Institute were strongly of the view that the Institute should take an initiative to stop the intended tour of apartheid South Africa by the Irish rugby team. We held an all night vigil at the premises of the IRFU and collaborated with others in organising and taking part in protest marches on the streets. Jimmy, the Dean of Theology at the time, was one of the very few academic and administration staff who joined us. He also went on a placement to Brixton, England around that time to work with marginalised black people. This commitment to black people reappeared strongly after his years in El Salvador when he went to live and work in Malawi (1997-99). One of his former Malawian students told me that Jimmy was a friend of the poor and oppressed, and that he lived what he taught from the Bible. This was also true of him in Ireland.

During his years as President of Milltown Institute he accepted an invitation from Séamus Murphy to live in inner city Dublin as a member of the Jesuit community called after Luis Espinal. Espinal was a Catalan Jesuit who had been murdered in Bolivia for his commitment to the faith that does justice. The Espinal community, which had been brought into being in 1980, the year of Espinal's martyrdom, by Séamus, Kevin O'Higgins, and myself, when we were theology students at Milltown, and which was joined almost immediately by John Moore, then a Professor and Head of Department at UCD, was committed to simple living, was a friend to the flat dwellers in the local Dublin Corporation estates, and was a meeting place for social action groups. Jimmy used to cycle to and from Milltown in those years. He also participated regularly in protests outside the US embassy against US foreign policy in Central America, protests in which some staff and students at the Institute took a prominent part.

In line with how he understood and lived his faith and scholarship a defining characteristic of his Presidency was the way he enabled the teaching of liberation and feminist theologies to progress in the Institute. He welcomed me on the staff in 1986 and I am grateful to him for the support he gave me to teach these theologies. Una Agnew, the first female head of a programme at the Institute, and now Head of the Dept. of Spirituality, remembers his commitment to improving the situation of women, while Dominique Horgan, now the Archivist, remembers how he initiated the Adult Religious Education programmes, of which she was the first Director. This commitment to adult religious education is also reflected in the fact that during his years as President of the Milltown Institute he taught scripture at the People's College, which was located near the Espinal community. He did so there in order to reach out to people who at that time would not come to places like Milltown because of their social class, feelings about the Catholic Church, or educational attainment. Jimmy was a great success with such groups.

After his years in Malawi, following his term as President of the Institute, and his years in El Salvador, Jimmy went to Belfast to be in solidarity with those struggling for peace and justice there. During that time he also wrote a series of very fine articles on scripture texts for readers of the Sacred Heart Messenger. Then, given his language skills and feeling for Latino peoples, he went to California to serve in a parish with a very large Latino population. While there he suffered a stroke, and had to return to Ireland. More strokes followed. He died on October 9h. May he rest in peace, and may we be inspired by the way he lived the Institute motto to bring scholarship to life. Amen. Alleluia!

From the homily by Derek Cassidy at the Funeral Mass in Gardiner Street:
I have no doubt in my heart or mind that this virtuous soul, at whose invitation we gather today in faith and prayer, is residing easily and comfortably in the hands of our God. It is also unquestionable that Jimmy's illness looked like a disaster and we watched as the person we knew and loved was leaving us over these past twelve months or so, we were stunned and amazed how one who so loved God and who was such a devoted friend and servant of His was so afflicted: God certainly put Jimmy to the test.

But in his own words, writing in his well-received and celebrated tome on “JOHN”, Jimmy reflects for us “the suffering of Jesus is an expression of love, for the Good Shepherd is on His way to lay down His life for His friends out of love” - not like the hired shepherd who would run away from suffering.

Wisdom concludes that “they who trust in the Lord will understand the truth, those who are faithful will live with The Lord in love; for grace and mercy await those He has chosen”. That is a verse that Jimmy took on as his leit motiv. He is one who trusted and who lived a faithful life, and now that Jimmy has gone home to the God who chose him, grace and mercy will embrace him. As he wrote in his book, “Jesus' death is a pass(ing) over to the Father, so that Death and Resurrection are inseparable; and the light of the Resurrection penetrates suffering and gives it meaning”.

St Paul confirms our Faith for us in the reading we have just heard. Because of the resurrection, death has no more power over us. We learn this message as we continually enter the waters of our Baptism and let the grace we received there be at work in our lives calling us ever more deeply into the Mystery of Life.

Writing in the introduction to his volume on John, Jimmy alerts us to the fact that the sign of the Fourth Evangelist is that of the Eagle, and reflects for us that this is because John had the MOST penetrating GAZE into the Mystery of God Made Man - of Jesus. We each have our own special memory of Jimmy. Mine centres around Jimmy's own gaze into my eyes - he had a way of looking into my eyes that invited trust and response in care. I often imagine to myself that this is a very Jesus-like gaze, as He (Jesus) looked at the Rich Young Man and loved him.

Born: 11 December 1914, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 08 October 1934, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois community at the time of death..

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 10th Year No 1 1935

Brother Terence McParland

Brother Terence McParland died at St. Vincent's on Monday 8th October, 1954.
He was born in Dublin, 11th December 1914, and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge St.
In 1933 he passed the Leaving Certificate Exam., securing Honours in seven subjects, and won first place for a University Scholarship offered by the Dublin Corporation. The 7th Sept that same year saw him a Novice at Emo. Here he quickly endeared himself to his companions, who were not slow to appreciate a character of exceptional excellence. He was ever bright and cheerful. “Recreation with him”
writes one of his companions “was never dull, and his rather quaint and poetic mode of speech added a charm to his easy manner. Scrupulous in the observance of rules and customs he edified us all : “' The Mass is the one big thing in my life, It means a deal to me”. Little peeps like this gave us an occasional insight into our Brother's beautiful soul.
Nor was it his companions alone who learned to appreciate Brother Terence. Those who were responsible for his training knew that great as he was in intellectual gifts, he was far greater in soul and character.
The end came unexpectedly. A sudden haemorrhage necessitated his removal to hospital. There, for some days, he seemed to be making satisfactory progress, but a second attack supervened, and although recourse was had to a transfusion of blood he never rallied, and died on Monday the 8th October.
The Requiem Mass Xmas said by Father John Coyne in the Ignatian Chapel. Father Provincial and a great many Fathers and Scholastics from the various houses were present.
A thoughtful kindness, which was much appreciated, was the presence of Rev. Brother Bourke. Superior of Synge St., with his senior boys, who joined in the Mass and prayers, and
stood by, as a last tribute to their former pupil and comrade, while the remains were laid to rest in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin. RIP

Born: 16 April 1896, Rhode, County Offaly
Entered: 11 December 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 25 August 1977, Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin community at themtime of death

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Chauffeur before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 52nd Year No 4 1977
Manresa
Having lost two members of our community as a result of the status we suffered a more lasting loss on August 25 when Brother Laurence McNamee died suddenly. He had been mildly unwell for a few days but was up and about and quite well enough to entertain his sister a Cross & Passion nun. Brother John Loftus was driving the sister back to her convent in Glandore Rd and Bro Laurence went also for the drive; at the bottom of Griffith Ave, he collapsed; Bro Loftus rang for an ambulance immediately and Fr Dargan rushed to Jervis St Hospital to anoint Bro Laurence; officially he was dead on admission.
When one thinks of Bro Laurence one is reminded of Mary Purcell's life of Blessed Peter Fabre ... The Quiet Companion; so gently and so quietly and so prayerfully did he pass his last years.
Fr Ambrose McNamee, O Carm. (nephew) was chief concelebrant at the Requiem Mass in Gardiner St.

Irish Province News 56th Year No 3 1981

Obituary

Br Laurence McNamee (1896-1920-1977)

A great worker. He said the one time he was tempted to leave the Society was when he was sent to Emo to get the place ready for the novices and was then told to do nothing as the contract of sale had not yet been signed. Earlier in Tullabeg he looked after the car. Bringing back three novices (after their appendicitis operations in St Vincent's hospital on Stephen’s Green) from Tullamore, the car lost a wheel just after crossing a bridge near the gate of Charleville castle. He promptly took one nut off each of the other wheels and fixed the wandering wheel to bring the novices safely back to Tullabeg. Back in Tullabeg during the war, he looked after the 'gig' or 'back-to back' which in those petrol-starved days carried Jesuits to and from Tullamore and the train. He took the same care of the horse as he did previously of the motor-car, with the result that the steed grew fat and kicked.

Born: 29 September 1931, Ballylongford, County Kerry
Entered: 01 March 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1962, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 19 December 1997, Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin

◆ Interfuse No 97 : Special Edition Summer 1998 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1998

Obituary
Br Patrick (Pat) McNamara (1931-1997)

29th Sept. 1931: Born in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry
Pre-entry experience: He worked for the Jesuits for 2 years at Mungret College, Limerick
1st March 1950: Entered the Society at Emo
17th March 1952: First Vows at Emo
1952 - 1953: Tullabeg, Cook
1953 - 1954: Milltown Park, Cook
1954 - 1955: Emo, Cook
1955 - 1984: Belvedere, Cook. He subsequently held the positions of Minister, Health Prefect, In charge of staff, House Consultor. He took a sabbatical break in 1983.
1984 - 1997: Manresa House, Minister, Prefect of Health
19th Dec. 1997: Died at Manresa House aged 66.

Pat died suddenly at Manresa House at the end of a normal working day in the evening of 19th December. May he rest in the Peace of Christ!

Homily at the Funeral Mass of Br. Pat : Jesus is the Way to Life

“O come, thou key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the path that leads on high and close the path to misery”.

These words from the hymn 0 come, O come Emmanuel express some of our Advent desires. We are a people in waiting for the coming of the Lord, but the Lord is also waiting to come to us. This time is one of preparation, of getting ready, of creating space for the Lord. We are a people in need, but we have to acknowledge that, if we are to be open to the gift of God, Jesus, who comes to us. The prophet cried in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. Like the exiled people of Isaiah, we look for a new era, a time of consolation, when the desert is in bloom, the valleys filled, the uneven ground levelled, and the crooked ways straightened. These would facilitate their journey home from exile, as well as ours. We are a people in need of consolation and joyful hope and that is even more true in our time of sorrow, in our loss, at Pat's sudden death.

We are sad on this day at the loss of a brother - a brother to his own family and a brother to us Jesuits, as well as to his many friends. His death brings up much feeling, grief, loss, sorrow, emptiness, shock ...and we need space for all that. There is an element of being stunned by Pat's hasty departure without any chance to say good-bye. He was ready, but we were not. Our hearts go out to his family on this occasion for he loved his family and was concerned about each and all of them. But as well as joining with you in the sadness of this day, we are with you in faith. Our sorrow is real and we grieve together, we share a great loss, but our hope is solidly grounded in the Lord. Because of our faith we do not grieve as those who have no hope; life has changed not ended. There is a new beginning as well as an ending. A new pathway has opened.

The Jesuit way of life might be described as a pathway of discipleship; it is a way of following the Lord, which Pat embarked on more than 47 years ago. Most of that time was spent in Belvedere, where he formed many friends with staff, parents and pupils, and did much work that served the Society and its mission. The past 13 years were spent in Manresa, where he had more space and scope for his talents with plants and flowers - he blossomed anew in that environment. His care of the lawns, the trees, and flowers evoked many favorable comments. His gentle reminder to retreatants about the flowers - to leave what is out there, out there, so that we can all enjoy them, brought smiles to many faces. His warm and caring personality was genuine and touched people. Your presence here today in such large numbers is a fitting testimony to Pat's life, as well as being a great source of support to his brothers Jimmy, George, Michael, his sister Sally and their families.

Pat was familiar with the Spiritual Exercises as a way of growing in relationship with the Lord. Two key parts of that are the Kingdom and the Two Standards. The Kingdom calls us to be generous in offering ourselves to be with and to be for the Lord, who has been generous to us; the other exercise is to help clarify our motivation so that we are not led astray, nor deceived, in our following. The Kingdom and the Two Standards are significant in the lives of any Jesuit, but it would seem that Pat to some degree reversed them. I think that he had Two Kingdoms and One Standard. He loved his native Kerry and kept regular contact with his family. Late last September he was jubilant when Sam went home after an eleven year absence. It is fitting that the funeral cortege came by Croke Park yesterday evening and that it paused for a moment there. That is the only other shrine where Pat worshipped; he liked to go there regularly and had the ability to get in at minimum cost. He loved the Kingdom, but that was not at variance with his service to the Lord's Kingdom, which was the heart of his life. His standard was clear; he was not easily deceived. He was a man of faith and of prayer, who kept the faith, who shared the faith, and who finished the race. He prayed the Rosary daily with the domestic staff. He was a man of God for others.

The Christian way of life is one of service. Pat rarely wanted anything for himself; service was key to his life. A few years ago Pat wanted a new tractor and he got it in early December - he referred to it as his Christmas present, but it was a gift for others; he loved to use it - some of the staff described it as his Formula One machine, but it was to improve Manresa for others. He was a welcoming presence and felt the place should be the same. He wanted the grounds to look well as they provided a good atmosphere for the people who came to pray. More recently he wanted to redo the Avenue. It had to wait because of some building and then because the gateway needed to be rebuilt for the safety of people who came here. Finally he got all the parts in place. The gateway was built and a new gate was designed and ordered. Arrangements for the tarmacadam were put in place. He was preparing a way for others, a safer way. The tarmacadam was finished on Friday morning last and the new gate was to be hung the next morning. But Pat was called to travel a different avenue and enter another gate that Friday evening. Christmas had come early, Christ had come to Pat to call him home; a new era had dawned as the journey was complete.

This verse might fit with this time of year and summarise his faith journey in life, a faith that led him safely home to the Lord who welcomed him at the gate:

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the Year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

Pat has travelled that known way and entered that New Year, that new era, in the Kingdom of the Lord, who welcomes him home. May he now enjoy the fruits of his labours in eternal rest, light and peace.

Mike Drennan, SJ

Born: 05 October 1907, Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 17 February 1927, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 13 May 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1945
Died: 27 July 1977, St Ignatius, Richmond, 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
James McNamara was a 'gentle giant' who spent much of his life centred on St Ignatius' parish, Richmond. He was baptised in the parish Church, and attended the local school before going to Xavier College for his secondary studies. It was in the parish that he made his first Holy Communion and was confirmed, and there he served as a priest and as pastor, and from there he was buried in 1977.
He entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 17 February 1927, and proceeded with the studies of humanities and philosophy in Ireland, with a degree from the National University. He returned to Australia and Riverview for regency as a prefect and rowing master. He went back to Ireland for theology and tertianship.
The greater part of his ministry after ordination was in the parishes of Toowong, Hawthorn and Richmond. In all these places he was experienced as a wise and land pastor. As parish priest he was a good Financier.
In spite of his size and muscular strength he was never a man of robust health. He suffered especially in the hot weather.
After some twelve years in ordinary punish work he was sent to teach in the seminary, both at Werribee and Christchurch, where he taught psychology cosmology and history of philosophy.

Born: 09 May 1933, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1951, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1966, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 28 May 1981, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 01 October 1989, University Hall SJ, Hatch Street, Dublin

Had been part of the Espinal, Gardiner Place, Dublin City community up to just before his death

by 1969 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1972 at Southampton, England (ANG) working
by 1975 at St Bede’s, Manchester (ANG) teaching

Born: c 1784, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 09 October 1821, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare and Hodder Place, Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, Lancashire, England
Died: 09 September 1823, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Temporal Coadjutor (Irish)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a baker by trade. After his parents had died he went to live with his older brother.
He joined a Third Order community of Carmelites near Dublin, and he spent six or seven years with them.
When the Carmelite congregation was broken up for some reason, he applied to the Society.

He commenced the experiments of the novitiate under Robert St Leger. He was known to be remarkable for his meekness and piety as well as a great spirit of labour. Two years after entry, while the community were preparing for their annual Retreat, he became very unwell. He though his ailment was of no consequence, and so rose to do his daily work. He suffered a relapse, and while two fellow Brothers were at his bedside he declared able to get up, and then suddenly he lost consciousness. he died the following day.

Fr St Leger writes “Diem clausit Supremum hodie Frater Johannes McMahon. Coadj. temp. Novotius relicto post se bonum nominis et integrae vitae exemplo. Sepultus est in Cormiterio Publico Rahanensi die illa, Vespere. RIP”

The site of his grave is not marked by any monument, it is quite near the door of the old church, close to the wall.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MAC MAHON, JOHN, this pious lay-brother died at Tullabeg, on the 9th of September,1822.

Born: 25 October 1886, Clifden, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1919, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1922
Died: 12 June 1963, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1909 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1911
by 1918 at The Seminary, Kandy, Sri Lanka Mission (BELG) teaching at Seminary
by 1921 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
Tom McLoughlin was educated at CBC Wexford until he went to Clongowes Wood, Dublin, 1901-04. He entered the Irish noviciate at Tullabeg, 7 September 1904, and continued with his juniorate studies at the same place, 1904-06. His philosophy was at Louvain, 1908-11, before regency at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, 1911-16, where he taught and was third prefect. He directed the junior debating and was master-in-charge of the library Theology followed at Kurseorag, Kandy, and Milltown Park, 1916-20. Tertianship was at Tronchiennes .
McLoughlin returned to Australia to teach and was first prefect and rowing master at Riverview, 1921-25. He was not suited to the office of first prefect because he was not the man to insist on discipline with the tact and authority of one more suited to that work. His only interest in games was that Riverview was playing, and he wanted them to win.
He was sent to St Patrick’s College, 1925-35, where he taught French. During this time he also edited the “Patrician”. He was considered a good teacher, making French easy and entertaining for students. His classes were delivered with an almost flippant spontaneity that concealed the careful preparation he put into them. There was always the atmosphere of friendliness and warmth to his classes. He could be strict, but liked incidents to be finished immediately He was a keen handball player and enjoyed a game with the boys. His contact with the Old Boys was much appreciated, and his memory of their activities was most impressive. He received many visits from them. He vigorously promoted the Old Collegians' Association.
From 1936 until his death he returned to teach at Riverview and to edit “Our Alma Mater”. He was also prefect of studies, 1937-50, and chaplain to the Old Boys from 1950.
He was one of the great institutions at Riverview, a much respected friend and patron of the Old Boys. He taught French with some success for many years. He was most thorough and painstaking in everything he undertook, yet he was not at all fussy, a good disciplinarian, very kind and understanding. He was a good influence on every boy he taught.
He showed concern for those in special need, teaching the lower classes by choice. Every night he corrected many French exercises and prepared live classes for the next day. His work on “Our Alma Mater” was also a nocturnal task. One edition had 2,000 names of Old Boys. He had no secretary. He was a great letter writer.
In his declining years he continued to look after the alumni, supervise a few study periods, hear confessions, and edit “Our Alma Mater”. Towards the end he sustained a heart attack from which he died. Over 1,000 attended his funeral Mass at St Mary's Church, North Sydney, some travelling hundreds of miles to he present. The 300 senior boys of Riverview lined the roadway at the cemetery.

Born: 08 December 1922, Portrush, County Antrim
Entered: 07 September 1940, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1958, Holy SpiritSeminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 07 December 2002, Ricci Hall, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to CHN : 1992

by 1949 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1966 at Bellarmine, Baguio City Philippines (PHI) teaching

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Michael McLoughlin, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Michael McLoughlin, SJ, passed away peacefully on 7 December 2002. It was the eve of his 80th birthday when the Lord came unexpectedly like a thief (2 Pet. 3:10) to call him to himself.

In 1984 he was completing his philosophical studies in Ireland when the Jesuit Provincial assigned him to Hong Kong. This was to be a life commitment so two years were spent in learning Cantonese, the first year in Guangzhou and the second in Hong Kong. Another year was spent teaching in Wah Yan College, then on Robinson Road.

By the autumn of 1951, he was back again in Ireland, once more in the students’ benches studying theology in preparation for his ordination to the priesthood.

Five years passed (1956) before he headed for Hong Kong once again. This time he was given a permanent assignment, to teach theology in the Regional Seminary in Aberdeen. Except for a two year absence in Rome (1958-1960), where he obtained a doctorate in dogmatic theology, he taught theology in this part of the world for over 30 years.

He remained a professor of theology in the Regional Seminary until it became the “Holy Spirit Seminary” in 1964. For the next two years he carried on the same work in Baguio City, Philippines. In 1966, he returned to Hong Kong to continue his work in the Holy Spirit Seminary until his retirement in 1989.

Although he spent the greater part of his life wrestling with abstract theological concepts, he did manage to find time to carry out the duties attached to several posts, including that of being rector of Wah Yan Jesuit community (1980-1986).

In 1994 he moved from Wah Yan College to Ricci Hall; it was from there that the Lord called him home.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 22 December 2002

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Casey G., Grogan and Sullivan leave England for Hong Kong on 2nd July on the ‘Canton’. On the following day Fr. Kevin O'Dwyer hopes to sail with Fr. Albert Cooney from San Francisco on the ‘General Gordon’ for the same destination.
The following will be going to Hong Kong in August : Frs. Joseph Mallin and Merritt, Messrs. James Kelly, McGaley, Michael McLoughlin and Geoffrey Murphy.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Fr Michael (Hal) McLoughlin (1922-2002) : China Province

Born Newry [Portrush], Co. Armagh, Dec. 8 1922;
Entered Emo Sept 7, 1940;
Joined the Hong Kong Mission, 1948
Ordained Milltown Park, July 29, 1954;
Professed 4 vows, Feb 3, 1958;
Died Hong Kong, Dec. 7 2002.

Frank Doyle writes:

Michael McLoughlin passed away peacefully on 7th December 2002. It was the eve of his 80th birthday when the Lord came “like a thief“ (2 Pet. 3:10) to call him to Himself.
He was completing his philosophical studies in Tullabeg in 1948 when the Jesuit Provincial assigned him to Hong Kong. This was to be a life commitment. As was normal in those days, his first two years of regency were spent learning Cantonese. For the first year he was in Canton (now Guangzhou), where the Irish Jesuits were working before the Communists took over in 1949. Hal (rhymes with “Hall”) - as he was always known - did his second year of language in Hongkong. His third year of regency was spent teaching in Wah Yan College, at that time on Robinson Road.

By the Autumn of 1951, he was back again in Ireland, once more in the students' benches studying theology in preparation for his ordination to the priesthood. He was ordained in 1954 and, following Tertianship in Rathfarnham, returned to Hongkong.

He was assigned to teach theology in the Regional Seminary in Aberdeen. From the beginning it had been staffed by the Irish Jesuits, although there were also non-Irish Jesuits on the faculty. Except for a two year absence in Rome (1958-60), where he obtained a doctorate in dogmatic theology, Hal taught theology in that part of the world for over 30 years.

He remained professor of theology in the Regional Seminary until 1964. In that year, with the supply of seminarians from the Chinese mainland cut off, the seminary was handed over by the Jesuits to the Hongkong Diocese which converted it to a diocesan seminary.

For the next two years Hal, together with Jimmy Kelly who had also been in the Regional Seminary, taught theology at Bellarmine College in Baguio City in the northern Philippines. Bellarmine College was in fact the continuation of the Jesuit theologate in Zikawei, Shanghai, which, after the Communist takeover, had found temporary accommodation in the villa house of the Philippine Province. The scholastics studying there were all destined to work in the Far East Province. Frank Doyle, Harry Naylor and Matty Barrett all did their theology there. (The Filipino scholastics at that time were going to Woodstock for their theology.) Following his two years in Baguio, Hal returned to Hongkong to teach in the Holy Spirit Seminary, as the former Regional Seminary was now known. He finally retired in 1989.

Although he spent the greater part of his life wrestling with abstract theological concepts he did manage to find time to carry out the duties attached to several posts, including that of being rector of the Wah Yan Hong Kong Jesuit Community (1980-86). In 1994 he moved from Wah Yan College to Ricci Hall, which is a residential hostel for university students. Here he led a very reclusive life. Some of his closest friends in the Society had gone before him. He was diagnosed with cancer and had been responding well to treatment, even being able to drive his car again. But, quite unexpectedly, he died one night in his sleep. May he rest in peace.

Born: 29 August 1908, Omagh, County Tyrone
Entered: 15 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1943, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 25 November 1992, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Early education at Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh, County Tyrone

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 74 : Autumn 1993 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary
Fr Gerard McLaughlin (1908-1992)

29th August 1908: Born, Omagh, Co. Tyrone
Early Education: Christian Brothers' Schools
15th Sept. 1926; Entered the Novitiate, Tullabeg
1928 - 1931: Rathfarnham - studying Arts, UCD.
1931 - 1934: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1934 - 1937: Belvedere - Regency - Teacher and Rugby Trainer
1937 - 1941: Milltown Park - Studying Theology
31st July 1940: Ordained, Milltown Park
1941 - 1942: Tertianship, Rathfarnham
1942 - 1944: Belvedere - Teacher and Assistant Prefect of Studies
1944 - 1955: Crescent College, Limerick - Prefect of Studies
1955 - 1960: Belvedere - Prefect of Studies
1960 - 1969: Mungret College, Limerick - Teacher
1969 - 1973: Crescent College, Limerick - Teacher
1973 - 1976: Crescent College Comprehensive - Teacher
1976 - 1979: Crescent Church Limerick - Assistant Admin. Comprehensive College
1979 - 1991; Belvedere - Teacher, Chaplain at St. Joseph's Young Priests' Society
1991 - 1992: Milltown Park, Chaplain at St. Joseph's Young Priests' Society
25th Nov, 1992: Died, St. Vincent's Hospital

I remember two Gerry McLaughlins - the martinet who was Prefect of Studies in Belvedere from 1955 to 1960, the first five years I was in the Senior House, and the movingly gracious old man (though he was never really old) who shared the community with me there from 1979 until his slightly quixotic move a year before his death in 1991.

Belvederians of the 1950s had all heard of Fr Coyle, the Rupe as he had been known to generations. Those like me, who had not known him, were unsure how to interpret that nickname but thought we were probably glad not to have to test its precise connotations when we crossed the Yard from the Junior House in September 1955 and found a new man in occupation of the office.

He was small of stature (which seems almost de rigueur for Prefects of Studies and Headmasters in Belvederel). He had a characteristic way of turning at an angle of 45 degrees whenever he had to admonish the tall fellows and always avoided having to look up to them, delivering his comments past their noses and moving dismissively away as he did so. The features were sharp, the expression shrewd, the manner abrupt even at times waspish. He did not too readily let us see the other side of himself - the witty side, that enjoyed innocently vulgar jokes, the humane side that could make allowances and apply exceptions, the sensitive side that responded alertly to the needs and the feelings of the other person, the humble side that most rarely indulged in talk about himself and hardly ever referred to his own achievements.

In those early days, he ran what they call 'a tight ship' and we expected as much, having heard of his rather fearsome reputation in Limerick, whence he had come (bearing his nickname with him) and whose streets he was supposed to have patrolled on his bicycle in the evenings, to ensure the Crescent boys were all safely in doing their homework, a veritable one-man vigilante squad.

In the mornings, he was on the stairs to intercept the late arrival. (pupil and, I suspect, teacher alike!). Through the day- of so we thought - he patrolled corridors to encounter and 'deal with those who had not found favour inside their classrooms and been put outside. As he went, he carefully checked the exercises in the boxes, not just verifying that Mr So-and-So (or Fr So-and-So either - Gerry was no respecter of persons) had actually set homework the night before, as the schedule demanded, but also counting the copies and checking the total against the rolls for that day. Loose leaves stuck into the end of clapped out copy books were not allowed and the offending object would be marked with a large “x”, never to reappear under pain of awful retribution. (Then some genius got the bright idea of “x-ing” all the copies and Gerry and ourselves were back to square one...).

He wielded the biffer in the fashion of the time but he was not remotely a sadist and his Belvedere was not a place characterised by harsh physical punishment. The fear he inspired was caused more by the sense that the all-seeing eye would catch up with you wherever you were - creeping a minute late up the stairs, lurking in the angle of a doorway, dallying needlessly between classes in the Yard, somehow or other where you shouldn't be. Suddenly, he was sure to be there. The face was identified, the name entered in the notebook he always seem to have to hand and - after a brief moment when you thought he would make no more of it and were moving gratefully on the fatal word “detained” floated lightly on the air after you in its Northern intonation, like a verbal lasso, to stop you in your tracks.

We watched for the master-less classroom and would often take the class himself, invariably expounding what seemed his favourite subject, geography, if he could not do this but he had noted that an exercise was die to be set that day, he at least managed to send in something appropriate, picking it himself (even in Irish, which was risky for him as he did not speak the language).

As we got older, we saw a little more of his humanity and realised that he was actually shy. We saw for the first time that he saw the humour of things. There was a twinkle in his eye and an indulgent irony in the voice when he called out: “Practice today, Johnny O'Connor!” as the aforementioned passed him on the stairs, evidently having defaulted the time before. And then “Snitch” (never really a term of dislike on our lips) was gone, disappearing just as we were about to reach Rhetoric and thought we might get to know him for the first time.

The other Gerry McLaughlin was over 70 when I met him again in 1979. By then, I was a recently-ordained member of the staff, he was semi-retired. He never properly graduated beyond that status until he died. In time, classes got beyond him in the Senior School, then the groups he took in the Junior School dwindled to one to two. He knew his health was failing (emphysema and, as he said, with characteristic bluntness and, usually, his wry twinkle, “the waterworks”). He worried about this, didn't make too much of it but wanted you to know all the same!

He accepted his progressive relegation to the margins of the timetable with grace and good humour but never entirely resigned himself to being unemployed. Jim O'Connor, who was in charge of the Junior School in part of this period, remembered how touching it was to find Gerry McLaughlin constantly offering to take classes when another teacher was absent, although by then in his late seventies. He had not lost the quick bark we had known years before and the boys were still a little in awe of him. Perhaps he sensed this. Apples would appear from the gown pocket and be thrown in a sudden gesture to this boy and that, with some hurried comment they couldn't catch - and by the end of a term, one way or another every boy would have received his apple!

In community, he was touchingly anxious to be part of things. He faithfully carried his share of the early morning Mass supplies to Temple St Hospital and elsewhere. He rarely took to his bed. At table, he would try to “lead” conversation with snatches of what he had heard on the radio or the like, rather as we had all once done as novices, and, if one topic failed to take wing, he would gamely try another. He did his best to take an interest in what was going on. This came easily enough to him because he was naturally curious, but growing deafness (that scourge of the inquisitive!), to which of course he never admitted, did add a slight petulance in the very last years.

He never spoke much about himself or his childhood in Omagh, where he had been born in 1908 and educated by the Christian Brothers. Rumours of the family having been attacked in “pogroms” were current among us. They sometimes seemed to find an echo in an outburst of anti-British sentiment, but this was rare and we remained largely in the dark about his previous experiences and the make-up of his family.

In his very last year, he asked to be moved. This was almost certainly because he could no longer teach at all or see any remaining function for himself in the school and he did not wish to be merely on the shelf in the place where he had once been so active. He had spent some 52 years working in Jesuit schools. There had been three years in Belvedere as a scholastic (1934-7 - during this period, he trained a winning Junior Cup team one of the very few achievements of which he could be said to have boasted a little and of which he was clearly proud). He had come back again for two years after ordination, to teach and assist Fr Coyle, then – well and truly apprenticed! – he had gone to the Crescent as Prefect of Studies for eleven years (1844-55).

After performing a similar function in Belvedere for five years (and asking to be relieved of it, because of a policy difference with those in higher authority), he had gone back to Limerick, first to Mungret and then to the Crescent once more (both in the city and at the new site in Dooradoyle when the school became a Comprehensive), until 1979 and his final return to Dublin. Now his teaching years were over.

Gardiner St, which would have been near the scene of so many of his labours, had no rooms free so he went to the House of Studies at Milltown Park. (He was indignant at suggestions that he was living in Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Province infirmary, which is beside, but not strictly part of, Milltown Park!) There, he continued the work he had taken on some years earlier in Belvedere (when no one else volunteered): chaplain to St Joseph's Young Priests' Society. He fulfilled other community functions too and took his turn on morning Mass-supplies. But the short-term spells in hospital, a feature of his later period in Belvedere, went on. He died peacefully on 25th November 1992, still “in harness” as he would have wished and truly “full of works and days”. May he rest in peace.
BB

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1993
Obituary
Father Gerard McLaughlin SJ
I remember two Gerry McLaughlins - the martinet who was Prefect of Studies in Belvedere from 1955 to 1960, the first five years I was in the Senior House, and the movingly gracious old man (though he was never really old) who shared the community with me there from 1979 until his slightly quixotic move a year before his death in 1991.

Belvederians of the 1950s had all heard of Fr Coyle, “the Rupe” as he had been known to generations. Those like me, (who had not known him), were unsure how to interpret that nickname but thought we were probably glad not to have to test its precise connotations when we crossed the Yard from the Junior House in September 1955 and found a new man in occupation of the office.

He was small of stature (which seems almost de rigueur for Prefects of Studies and Headmasters in Belvedere!). He had a characteristic way of turning at an angle of 45 degrees whenever he had to admonish the tall fellows and always avoided having to look up to them, delivering his comments past their noses and moving dismissively away as he did so. The features were sharp, the expression shrewd, the manner abrupt, even at times waspish. He did not too readily let us see the other side of himself - the witty side that enjoyed innocently vulgar jokes, the humane side that could make allowances and apply exceptions, the sensitive side that responded alertly to the needs and the feelings of the other person, the humble side that rarely indulged in talk about him- ; self and hardly ever referred to his own achievements.

In those early days, he ran what they call “a tight ship” and we expected as much, having heard of his rather fearsome reputation in Limerick, whence he had come (bearing his nickname with him) and whose streets he was supposed to have patrolled on his bicycle in the evenings, to ensure the Crescent boys were all safely in doing their homework, a veri table one-man vigilante squad.

In the monings, he was on the stairs to intercept the late arrival (pupil and, I suspect, teacher alike!). Through the day - or so we thought - he patrolled corridors to encounter and deal with those who had not found favour inside their classrooms and been put outside. As he went, he carefully checked the exercises in the boxes, not just verifying that Mr So and So (or So-and-So either - Gerry was no respecter of persons) had actually set homework the night before, as the schedule demanded, but also counting the copies and checking the total against the rolls for that day. Loose leaves stuck into the end of clapped out copybooks were not allowed and the offending object would be marked with a large “x”, never to reappear under pain of awful retribution. (Then some genius got the bright idea of “x-ing” all the copies and Gerry and ourselves were back to square one...)

He wielded the biffer in the fashion of the time but he was not remotely a sadist and his Belvedere was not a place characterised by harsh physical punishment. The fear he inspired was caused more by the sense that the all-seeing eye would catch up with you wherever you were - creeping a minute late up the stairs, lurking in the angle of a doorway, dallying Deedlessly between classes in the Yard, somehow or other where you shouldn't be. Suddenly, he was sure to be there. The face was identified, the name entered in the notebook he always seemed to have to hand and - after a brief moment when you thought he would make no more of it and were moving gratefully on - the fatal word “detained” floated lightly on the air after you in its Northern intonation, like a verbal lassoo, to stop you in your tracks.

He watched for the master-less classroom and would often take the class himself, invariably expounding what seemed his favourite subject, geography. If he could not do this but he had noted that an exercise was due to be set that day, he at least managed to send in something appropriate, picking it himself (even in Irish, which was risky for him as he did not speak the language).

As we got older, we saw a little more of his humanity and realised that he was actually shy. We saw for the first time that he saw the humour of things. There was a twinkle in his eye and an indulgent irony in the voice when he called out: “Practice today, Johnny O'Connor!” as the aforementioned passed him on the stairs, evidently having defaulted the time before. And then “snitch” (never really a term of dislike on our lips) was gone, disappearing just as we were about to reach Rhetoric and thought we might get to know him for the first time.

The other Gerry McLaughlin was over 70 when I met him again in 1979. By then, I was a recently ordained member of the staff, he was semi-retired. He never properly graduated beyond that status until he died. In time, classes got beyond him in the Senior School, then the groups he took in the Junior School dwindled to one or two. He knew his health was failing (emphysema and, as he said with characteristic bluntness and, usually, his wry twinkle, 'the waterworks'). He worried about this, didn't make too much of it but wanted you to know all the same!

He accepted his progressive relegation to the mar gins of the timetable with grace and good humour but never entirely resigned himself to being unemployed. Jim O'Connor, who was in charge of the Junior School in part of this period, remembered how touching it was to find Gerry McLaughlin constantly offering to take classes when another teacher was absent, although by then in his late seventies. He had not lost the quick bark we had known years before and the boys were still a little in awe of him. Perhaps he sensed this. Apples would appear from the gown pocket and be thrown in a sudden gesture to this boy and that, with some hurried comment they couldn't catch - and by the end of a term, one way or another every boy would have received his apple!

In community, he was touchingly anxious to be part of things. He faithfully carried his share of the early morning Mass supplied to Temple Street Hospital and elsewhere. He rarely took to his bed. At table, he would try to “lead” conversation with snatches of what he had heard on the radio or the like, rather as we had all once done as novices, and, if one topic failed to take wing, he would gamely try another. He did his best to take an interest in what was going on. This came easily enough to him because he was naturally curious, but growing deaf ness (that scourge of the inquisitive!), to which of course he never admitted, did add a slight petulance in the very last years.

He never spoke much about himself or his childhood in Omagh, where he had been born in 1908 and educated by the Christian Brothers. Rumours of the family having been attacked in pogroms were current among us. They sometimes seemed to find an echo in an outburst of anti-British sentiment, but this was rare and we remained largely in the dark about his previous experiences and the make-up of his family.

In his very last year, he asked to be moved. This was almost certainly because he could no longer teach at all or see any remaining function for himself in the school and he did not wish to be merely on the shelf in the place where he had once been so active, He had spent some 52 years working in Jesuit schools. There had been three years in Belvedere as a scholastic (1934-37 - during this period, he trained a winning Junior Cup team, one of the very few achievements of which he could be said to have boasted a little and of which he was clearly proud). He had come back again for two years after ordination, to teach and assist Fr Coyle, then - well and truly apprenticed! - he had gone to the Crescent as Prefect of Studies for eleven years (1944-55).

After performing a similar function in Belvedere for five years (and asking to be relieved of it, because of a policy difference with those in higher authority), he had gone back to Limerick, first to Mungret and then to the Crescent once more (both in the city and at the new site in Dooradoyle when the school became a Comprehensive), until 1979 and his final return to Dublin. Now his teaching years were over.

Gardiner St, which would have been near the scene of so many of his labours, had no rooms free so he went to the House of Studies at Milltown Park. (He was indignant at suggestions that he was living in Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Province Park!), There, he continued the work he had taken on some years earlier in Belvedere (when no one else volunteered): chaplain to St Joseph's Young Priests' Society. He fulfilled other community functions too and took his turn on morning Mass-supplies. But the short-term spells in hospital, a feature of his later period in Belvedere, went on. He died peacefully on 25th November, 1992, still 'in harness' as he would have wished and truly 'ful of works and days'. May he rest in peace.

Born: 27 February 1934, Derry City, County Derry
Entered: 27 March 1956, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final vows: 02 February 1966, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 01 August 2023, Coptic Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

Part of the John Chula House, Zambia Community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM 03 December 1969

1956-1958 St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1958-1959 Milltown Park - Refectorian
1959-1960 Clongowes Wood College - works in school
1960-1962 Rathfarnham Castle - working in the community
1962-1963 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia - studying language, involved in buildings
1963-1964 Charles Lwanga, Chisekesi, Zambia - maintenance
1964-1966 St Ignatius Lusaka, Zambia - studying Art and Engineering
1966-1971 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia - Maintenance
1971-1972 Ireland
1972-1978 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia - Maintenance
1978-1980 St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia
1980-1986 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia - Maintenance
1986-1989 Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia
1989-199 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia - Maintenance

Final Vows 15 August 1966, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia

Southern Africa Province Province Obituary - sent 04 August 2023

Br Gabriel McKinney, S.J.

(1934-2023. In Zambia 1962-2023)

1 August 2023

He was 89 years old and 67 years in the Society of Jesus, 61 of those in Zambia.

Ort.................27 Feb 1934
Loc. Nat......... Derry, Co. Derry, N. Ireland, U.K.
Ingr. ............... 27 Mar 1956
Loc. Ingr. ....... Emo Park, Ireland
Tertianship.....Tullabeg, Co Offaly, Ireland
Transcribed..............HIB to SAP on 03 Dec 1969
Grad. ............. FF Dies.........02 Feb 1966
Loc. Grad....... Canisius, Chikuni Mission, Zambia
Defunc.. .........01 Aug 2023
Loc. Defunc....Coptic Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia

Gabriel McKinney was born on 27 February 1934 in Derry, Northern Ireland, of Thomas and Mary (née Crossan) McKinney. He went to primary school at St Eugenes and then finished off at St Columbus College. He always remained close to his family and would spend most of his home leave with them. One of his brothers, Anthony, became a Carmelite priest working in Dublin. In the time of The Troubles of the 1960s.1970s when there was so much social conflict in the North, Gabriel would have on display in Chikuni recreation room various memorabilia, including a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier.

He entered the Society at Emo in 1956. Afterwards he did some juniorate in Milltown Park before being missioned to Northern Rhodesia in 1962. He spent two years at St Ignatius, Lusaka gaining mechanical experience in a city garage and so preparing himself for his life’s work in the garage at Chikuni. He took his final vows in Chikuni in 1966 and later joined the newly founded Vice-Province of Zambia in 1969.

In Chikuni he took charge of the garage and of all matters connected with the functioning of a large and varied fleet of motor vehicles. These were absolutely essential in the pastoral activities that were carried out not only from Chikuni itself, but also from the more-or-less dependent parishes of Monze, Chivuna, Fumbo and Kasiya. In addition, there were the tractors and other machinery for the farm, as well as the pumps so necessary for the water supplied. Gabriel and his team were always there to keep them in good working condition, even if at times they had to coax some of them back to life after the daily wear and tear, an accident, or even neglect.

A noteworthy factor in all of Gabriel’s garage work was his success in transmitting his knowledge and skills to many local young men. Some of these stayed with him for years, working alongside him. Others left and went on to start small-scale mechanics business and fitness centers of their own. Gabriel may not always have been aware of it, but the work he has doing made a major contribution to the economic independence of the people and to their all-important food security.

He also served as a well-liked and effective house minister, for a year at St Ignatius, for two years at Luwisha House and for two separate periods at Chikuni (1979-1982; 1988-1990). He brought to this work the care for order and detail that characterized everything he did in the mechanical area. In addition, he developed a flair for vegetable growing and maintained a sizeable and productive garden in Chikuni, and also at Kizito’s near Monze during his brief stay there in 2002.

Having spent more than 50 years in Chikuni, Gabriel became almost the embodiment of that community, with its positive reputation for hospitality and for apostolic outreach to the nearby religious communities and the families of teachers, development personnel and workers living in the locality. He was a warm- hearted community man who enjoyed living and interacting with fellow-Jesuits from a variety of nationalities.

Those who lived with him, or knew him reasonably well, were much aware that what really kept Gabriel going, whether in the garage, in the community or in the garden, was his deep spiritual life. There was nothing ostentatious about this, but it was clearly the guiding principle of his whole existence.

https://jesuit.ie/news/remembering-brother-gabriel-mckinney/

Jesuit brother Gabriel McKinney SJ, who spent sixty years on mission in Africa, passed away on 1st August at the Coptic Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia, aged 89. Irish Jesuits International commemorated him recently with the essay below.

Go well, Brother Gabriel

From all the team at Irish Jesuits International we would like to send our thoughts and prayers to the family, friends and loved one’s of Brother Gabriel McKinney who departs this life leaving behind fond memories of his time and work in Zambia.

Gabriel McKinney was born on 27 February 1934 in Derry, Northern Ireland, of Thomas and Mary (née Crossan) McKinney. He went to primary school at St Eugenes and then later at St Columbus College.

He entered the Society at Emo in 1956. Afterwards he did some juniorate in Milltown Park before being missioned to Northern Rhodesia in 1962. He spent two years at St Ignatius, Lusaka gaining mechanical experience in a city garage preparing himself for his life’s work in the garage at Chikuni.

He took his final vows in Chikuni in 1966 and later joined the newly founded Vice-Province of Zambia in 1969. In Chikuni he took charge of the garage and all things regarding the up-keep and functioning of a large and varied fleet of motor vehicles. These were absolutely essential in the pastoral activities that were carried out not only from Chikuni itself, but also from the more-or-less dependent parishes of Monze, Chivuna, Fumbo and Kasiya.

In addition, there were the tractors and other machinery for the farm, as well as the pumps that crucial for the water irrigation. Gabriel and his team were always there to keep them in good working condition, even if at times they had to coax some of them back to life after the daily wear and tear.

A noteworthy factor in all of Gabriel’s garage work was his success in transmitting his knowledge and skills to many local young men. Some of these stayed with him for years, working alongside him. Others left and went on to start small-scale mechanics business and centres of their own. Gabriel may not always have been aware of it, but the work he was doing made a major contribution to the economic independence of the people and to their all-important food security.

Having spent more than 50 years in Chikuni, Gabriel became almost the embodiment of that community. He was a warm-hearted man who dedicated his life to making the lives of others better through his mechanic hands, upskilling and outreach to teachers and the wider parish community.

Go well, Brother Gabriel. Rest in Peace.

Posted on Irish Jesuit International August 8, 2023 by Joe Munnelly

Born 5 February 1830, Lismore, County Waterford
Entered 8 December 1854, Amiens, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained 1859
Final vows: 14 September 1872
Died 18 December 1896, University of St Mary, Galveston, TX, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

Part of the College of the Immaculate Conception, New Orleans LA, USA community at the time of death

by 1857 at St Charles, Baton Rouge LA USA (LUGD)
by 1871 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1872 at Roehampton London (ANG) making Tertianship
Early Australian Missioner 1866

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
David McKiniry entered the Society in 1854, and after novitiate in Milltown Park studied in Europe before joining Joseph Dalton aboard the Great Britain, arriving in Melbourne in September 1866. Immediately he was sent to St Patrick's College to teach, but on weekends he worked in the Richmond Mission. The arrangement continued until the end of 1869, when McKiniry spent more time in Richmond, and during the middle of the year joined Dalton on a series of successful country missions around Castlemaine, Kyneton and Ararat districts.
As McKiniry had not yet undertaken tertianship or taken final vows, his appointment in Australia was going to be short lived, and he left for Ireland on 11 September 1870 with Isaac Moore. He did tertianship at Roehampton 1871-72 and transferred to the New Orleans province. He devoted most of the remainder of his life to parish ministry or chaplaincy work in colleges.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 1 1925
St Patrick’s College, Melbourne has just celebrated its Diamond Jubilee as a Jesuit College. It is the mother house of the Australian Mission.
On September 21st 1865, Fathers Joseph Lentaigne and William Kelly, the pioneer Missioners of the Society in Victoria, landed in Melbourne and took over the College.
On September 17th, 1866 , the second contingent of Irish priests arrived - Fr. Joseph Dalton, Fr. Edmund Nolan, Fr. David McKiniry and two lay brothers - Br. Michael Scully and Br. Michael Goodwin.

Born: 06 February 1890, Goulburn, Sydney, Australia
Entered: 20 June 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1924, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1932
Died: 27 October 1945, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Older brother of Colin - RIP 1964 and Cousin of Donald - RIP - 1925 and Saint Mary

by 1927 at St Andrew-on-Hudson, Poughkeepsie NY, USA (MARNEB) making Tertianship
by 1928 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Kenneth McKillop, brother of Colin, studied and practised law as a solicitor after leaving Riverview, before he entered the Society at Tullabeg, Ireland, 20 June 1915. After his juniorate and philosophy at Milltown Park, 1918-21, regency was at Clongowes and theology at Milltown Park, 1922-26. Tertianship followed at Poughkeepsie, St Andrew of Hudson, 1926-27. He spent 1927-29 studying moral theology in Rome.
Returning to Australia in 1929, he professed moral theology at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, until 1941, after which he went to Riverview as spiritual father to the students. In 1937 he attended the Australian Plenary Council as canonist to the archbishop of Melbourne and was also secretary of one of the sub-committees.
He was a very big, genial, kind man - slightly scrupulous. He had ill health for some years, maybe breaking down from the strain on a rather sensitive person who had professed moral theology for so long. He felt the responsibility deeply He took very seriously whatever task his superiors asked him to undertake. He was most patient during his years of ill health.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Solicitor before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Obituary :

Fr. Kenneth McKillop (1890-1915-1945)

Fr. Kenneth McKillop made friends so easily and clove to them so loyally that nearly everyone who knew him here will feel his death as a personal bereavement.
He was born in Goulbourn, New South Wales, on 6th December, 1890. He was educated at Riverview and, after his qualification as a solicitor, practised for two years in Sydney. When he decided to join the Society, in order to gain a little travel experience he asked and obtained leave to come to Tullabeg for his noviceship. When he arrived here on 6th June, 1916, we novices were somewhat awe-stricken at the sight of this massively built postulant with the strong and intelligent features and the prestige of membership of one of the learned professions. But awe vanished when he became a novice and talked to us and we found only modesty, gentleness, and a love of fun. One story he told us illustrates the latter. He had been walking on a country road in Spain (I think) when he saw some men drinking around a table outside an inn. They had only one bottle with a thin spout to it, and each one in turn tilted it above his head without touching the spout and directed a stream of wine into his mouth. After a moment's pause Mr. McKillop took his place at the table and presently
had the bottle in his hands. But so unpractised was he that he split the wine all over his face and retired amid howls of laughter, theirs and his own. One needed to know him some time before one realised that his character was fully as strong and intelligent as his features declared. Often in conversation or public disputation his slight air of diffidence would cause one to overlook the acuteness of what he was saying. Later still one realised the deep earnestness of his spiritual life.

After his noviceship he spent one year at Rhetoric, and then went to Milltown Park for philosophy. Then he spent a year at Clongoves, where he proved, as anyone would expect, to be an outstanding success with boys. I remember him once at Greystones, at the request of two worshipping Clongowes youngsters, giving them an exhibition of his wonderful powers of swimming and diving. He returned to Milltown for theology and was ordained there in 1924 by Dr. Mulhern. Bishop of Dromore. He did his tertianship at Poughkeepsie, U.S.A. During it he was chosen with three other fathers to give an important mission at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady in Philadelphia We heard (but not from him) that the mission was a great success. After his tertianship he went to the Gregorian University for a biennium in Moral Theology and Canon Law. There he won honour for this province just before his friend, our present Fr. Provincial, followed him to increase it. On his return to Australia he became Professor of Moral Theology and Canon Law at the Regional Seminary, Werribee, near Melbourne. After occupying this chair for eleven years the incurable heart trouble that caused his death made itself evident in him. He was then sent to his old school, Riverview, as spiritual father to the boys, where he spent three years before the end came. The end of his life was the crown of a great achievement. He had several distinguished relatives. His brother, Fr. Colin McKillop, is the Province Procurator in Australia. He was a close relative of the late Fr. Donald McKillop, S.J., a former superior of the Daly River Mission to the aborigines, and of the latter's sister, the far-famed Mother Mary McKillop, Foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph, an Australian congregation that has done notable work for the Church. Fr. T. Walsh delivered the oration at the graveside of Fr. McKillop. A few days after Fr. McKillop's death his brother Archie, a doctor, died suddenly after an operation. He had been in good health and was present at Fr. Ken's funeral.

Born: 06 December 1892, Goulburn, Sydney, Australia
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1930, St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 29 February 1964, St Francis Xavier, Lavender Bay, North Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger brother of of Ken - RIP 1945 and Cousin of Donald - RIP 1925 and Saint Mary

by 1916 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1920 in Australia - Regency
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
Colin McKillop, brother of Ken and cousin of Donald and Saint Mary, was educated at Riverview where he rowed with a senior crew, played rugby in the first XV, and was an active member of the St Vincent de Paul Society. He was also a good swimmer, competing in Goulburn. He worked as a bank clerk in Goulburn for a time, and then entered the Society at Tullabeg, Ireland, 7 September 1912. He was a home junior at Rathfarnham, 1914-15, and studied philosophy at Stonyhurst and Milltown Park until 1918 when he returned to Xavier College, Melbourne. Here he was second prefect and Officer Commanding (OC) of the cadet corps. He spent a few more years of regency at Riverview until 1924 before returning to theology studies at Milltown Park, 1924-28. He was ordained after two years. Tertianship at St Beuno's followed immediately. McKillop returned to teaching at Riverview, 1929-38, and was minister and procurator. These were the difficult years of the Depression. Numbers of students fell to 120, and the college debt was substantial. He arranged loans and methods of paying the interest and part of the capital debt, with the result that in about ten years the college was financially safe and the number of boys increased once again. He also improved the interior of the college. He held similar jobs as bursar at Cassius College, Pymble, 1938-39, and at Xavier College, 1939-40. He returned to Pymble, 1941-50, with the same brief, as well as care of the farm and garden. He was also procurator of the vice-province from 1940 and cared for the temporal administration of the houses throughout Australia. He lived at the Lavender Bay parish, 1951-64, doing the same work until his death. He was large, stout man, and very shrewd in all business matters. He was an excellent procurator and administrator of finances, keeping a good eye on the stock market and investments. He was also considered a man of considerable intelligence and a good moral theologian. But he was also rather shy and diffident, and so not a good preacher, nor a man that many people knew well. His shyness disappeared in the presence of businessmen with whom he worked. They admired him, appreciated his rather uncanny business judgment, and liked to deal with him because he was not petty. The province owed much to McKillop for his assistance in building the holiday house at Gerroa, the place of much enjoyment to Jesuits and lay visitors alike. He was experienced as very land and extremely fair and just. He disliked anyone trying to deceive him, for he was himself a very straight and forthright man. He was on his way to help in the setting up of the new junior school at Riverview when he died very suddenly at Lavender Bay from a cerebral haemorrhage.

Born: 19 August 1852, Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath
Entered: 19 February 1874, Milltown Park (HIB for Taurensis Province - TAUR)
Ordained: 26 August 1888, Woodstick College MD, USA
Final vows: 02 February 1894
Died 01 April 1916, O'Connor Hospital, San José CA, USA - Californiae Province (CAL)

Part of the St Joseph’s, San José, CA, USA community at the time of death.

Transcribed TAUR to CAL : 1909

Born: 12 August 1921, Ballybunion, County Kerry
Entered: 07 November 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1957, Catholic Workers College, Dublin
Died: 02 March 2013, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1970 at Southwell House, London (ANG) studying and the London School of Economics

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-liam-mckenna-dies-at-91/

Fr Liam McKenna dies at 91
Fr Liam McKenna died on 2 March in Cherryfield, having moved there from his community in Gardiner Street five days earlier. He was 91, but was alert and engaged to the very end of a full and fruitful life. Liam (as he was known in his family – Jesuits tended to call him Bill, with which he was happy) was born in Ballybunion and grew up in Listowel, though with long periods away from home as a boarder first in Kilashee, then in Clongowes, where in his last year he was captain of the school.
He had an early interest in economics, but was put on for a classics degree in UCD. It was only after several false starts that he was launched into the work which was to occupy most of his life, as a mentor of trade unionists in public speaking and in negotiation – but a mentor who was himself learning every step of the way. In a rambunctious partnership with Fr Eddy Kent he helped to found and develop the Catholic Workers College. It was not an academic setting, though the team (McKenna, Kent, Hamilton, Kearns, Des Reid, Michael Moloney) included some of the brightest in the Province, who would spend their summers upgrading their expertise in European countries.
Back in Sandford Lodge, where money was scarce, they would spend their afternoons putting out the chairs and preparing the classrooms and canteen for the evening sessions. They gradually built up a trusting relationship with the unions, and a clientele of up to 2000 adult students. Bill spent 35 years training shop stewards and foremen in the sort of speaking and listening skills that would empower them for their work in the unions, shaping their own destiny.
In the mid-1970s Bill moved to work for the Province, then for the Centre of Concern, the conference of Religious, and the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. He paid the penalty for heavy smoking in a serious heart attack, but lived life to the full, aware that he could drop dead at any moment. In Gardiner Street he would join in concelebrated Masses twice a day. On 24 February he acknowledged his need for full-time care, and moved to Cherryfield, after arranging daily delivery of the Financial Times.
He was alert until shortly before his peaceful death, as his curious, questing mind moved to explore the ultimate mystery of God.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 152 : Summer 2013

Obituary

Fr Bill (Liam) McKenna (1921-2013)

12 August 1921: Born in Ballybunion, Co. Kerry:
Early education in Kilashee Prep, and Clongowes Wood College
7 September 1939: Entered Society at Emo
8 September 1941: First Vows
1941 - 1944: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1944 - 1947: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1947 - 1950: Mungret College - Teacher
1950 - 1954: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31 July 1953: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1954 - 1955: Rathfarnham: Tertianship
1955 - 1969: College of Industrial Relations - Studied Economics / Sociology at UCD; Lectured in Sociology, Economics and Industrial Relations at CIR
2 February 1957: Final Vows
1969 - 1970: Tavistock Institute, London - Research
1970 - 1976: CIR – Lectured in Sociology, Economics and Industrial Relations
1976 - 1979: Loyola - Member of Special Secretariat
1979 - 1980: Milltown Park – “Centre of Concern' Office”, University Hall & Heythrop
1980 - 1982: Director “Centre of Concern” Office (moved to Liverpool Jan 1982)
1982 - 1984: Espinal - Secretary to Commission for Justice CMRS (Justice Desk)
1984 - 1989: Campion House - Secretary to Commission for Justice CMRS
1989 - 2005: Belvedere College
1989 - 2002: Assisting in Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
2002 - 2003: Assistant Guestmaster
2003 - 2005: Assisted in SFX Church, Guestmaster
2005 - 2013: Gardiner Street: Assisted in SFX Church, Assistant Librarian (since 2011)

By mid-February, Bill was becoming weaker and eating very little. He was still concelebrating Mass twice daily in the church and in the house chapel. On Sunday 24" February, he agreed that he needed full time care, so he moved to Cherryfield Lodge the following day. Bill appreciated the care and was alert until very shortly before his peaceful death at 7.35pm on Saturday 2nd March.

Liam McKenna died only eleven days before the election of Pope Francis, having taken a great interest in the resignation of Pope Benedict. A Jesuit Pope would have provoked many a question from Liam and many a conversation. His mind remained lively until the very end of his long life, so his deep love of the Church and his commitment to prayer and to the Eucharist would have informed anything he might have said about having a Pope from his own Order. His breviary and missal were well used, and he had spare copies of each.

There is a photograph, taken in the mid-1920s, of Liam, as a very small boy, with his mother and his elder brother: Mrs McKenna is a slim, elegant and very well-dressed woman; Liam and Jack wear expensive clothes. The image is one of comfort and security, as might be expected from a very successful merchant family in a Kerry town, but Jack's health was so precarious that his mother sent him to Switzerland for a year; he is still in good health at 95. Liam became a Jesuit and his two sisters (who predeceased him) became Ursulines, so Jack was the only one of the four siblings to marry.

Listowel was not a town where Catholics were universally welcomed: one of Liam's sisters wanted to join the local tennis club, which was reserved for Protestants, so Mr McKenna was forced to enlist the unwilling help of the bank manager by the simple threat to move his account elsewhere. Liam's attitude to everything was influenced, and positively so, by being a younger brother all his life.
Liam (as he was known in his family - Jesuits tended to call him “Bill”, with which he was happy) was born in Ballybunion and grew up in Listowel; his Kerry roots remained very important throughout his life, despite long periods away from home as a boarder in County Kildare, first at Kilashee, and then at Clongowes, where he was captain of the school. Bill went to the noviceship at Emo just a few months after leaving school.

He had an early interest in economics, but was told that the topic was “of no use”, so he was sent for a classics degree in UCD. Bill followed the normal Jesuit formation of the period and, in a time of European war, it had to be entirely in Ireland, up to his completion of Tertianship at Rathfarnham in 1955. His formidable brain helped him to see that many aspects of Jesuit formation were outmoded, and over stylised. Bill emerged from Tertianship with a great love of the Society, a deep commitment to his priesthood and a great ability to recognise nonsense when he saw it.

Until that point, Bill's Jesuit career had been like many of his Jesuit contemporaries, until he was assigned to the Catholic Workers College in 1955. He was based there for twenty-one years. Bill had finally managed to study economics and sociology at UCD, so he lectured in sociology, economics and industrial relations. Significantly, Bill was launched into the work which was to occupy most of his life, as a mentor of trade unionists in public speaking and in negotiation - but a mentor who was interested in everything and who himself was learning every step of the way. In a rumbustious partnership with Fr Eddy Kent, he helped to found and develop the College. It was not an academic setting, though the team (Kent, Tim Hamilton, Lol Kearns, Des Reid and Michael Moloney) included some of the brightest in the Province, who would spend their summers upgrading their expertise in European countries. Back in Sandford Lodge, where money was scarce, they would spend their afternoons putting out the chairs and preparing the classrooms and canteen for the evening sessions.

They gradually built up a trusting relationship with the unions, and a clientele of up to 2000 adult students. Bill spent 35 years training shop stewards and foremen in the sort of speaking and listening skills that would empower them for their work in the unions, shaping their own destiny. The Catholic Workers College evolved into the National College of Industrial Relations and now, on a different site) is the National College of Ireland.

The three-man Special Secretariat was set up in 1972 following the McCarthy Report on Province Ministries. Liam joined it in 1976, when it was no longer quite so centered on Jesuit Province administration, leaving its members free to work elsewhere. Liam gave great help to the Holy Faith Sisters as they produced new Constitutions.

Liam's passion for social justice was based on calm analysis and passionate commitment. It was the focus of his work from 1979 until 2002, no matter where he was living, be that London, Liverpool, Gardiner Place, Hatch Street, Belvedere College or Gardiner Street. He helped set up, with Ray Helmick (New England) and Brian McClorry (Prov. Brit.), the Centre for Faith and Justice at Heythrop, then in Cavendish Square in London. The 1970s and early 1980s could fairly be described as 'strike-ridden'; in or about 1982, Liam and Dennis Chiles, Principal of Plater College, Oxford, were joint authors of a 91-page pamphlet Strikes and Social Justice: a Christian Perspective, but it may have been for private circulation.

In all those years of activity, Liam made many friends. He was especially kind to anybody who was ill, but very impatient if he detected excessive “self-absorption”. Liam's style of talk was unique, with every word well enunciated and with a regular, almost rhetorical, pause as he gathered himself to declare a supplementary opinion. Was he disappointed at never becoming superior of a Jesuit community? Being highly intelligent, he may have realised that his gifts would be wasted in such a role. Liam always admired those who did any job well; he was very proud of his niece who became a forensic scientist.

Liam gave the impression of being very serious, and he did some very serious reading, but there was a lighter side. He kept all the novels of Dick Francis; he had boxed DVD sets of every television series that starred John Thaw. Videos, DVDs and his own television entertained him when it was no longer easy for him to leave the house. Liam was the only member of the Gardiner Street community to have a small coffee bar in his room. He became a familiar figure on Dorset Street, as he walked briskly along, pushing his walking frame.

Liam paid the penalty for heavy smoking in a serious heart attack, but lived life to the full, aware that he could drop dead at any moment. In Gardiner Street be would join in concelebrated Masses twice a day (one in the church and the other in the house chapel). On 24 February 2012 he acknowledged his need for full-time care, and moved to Cherryfield Lodge, not permanently, after arranging daily delivery of the Financial Times. He was alert until shortly before his peaceful death five days later, as his curious, questing mind moved to explore the ultimate mystery of God.

Born: 16 July 1870, Clontarf, Dublin City
Entered: 13 September 1886, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 30 July 1905
Final Vows: 2 February 1910, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 26 December 1956, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Editor of An Timire, 1912-19.

by 1897 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1898 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1909 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach)
by Vincent Morley

McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach) (1870–1956), Irish-language scholar and catholic social thinker, was born 16 July 1870 in Clontarf, Co. Dublin, son of Andrew McKenna, accountant, and Mary McKenna (née Lambert). Having attended Belvedere College, Dublin, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1886 and studied at the order's novitiates in Dromore, Co. Down, and Tullabeg, King's Co. (Offaly), before graduating with a BA in Irish and classics from the Royal University (1893) and taking an MA (1895). After further study in scholastic philosophy and theology he was ordained in 1905 and subsequently taught at Belvedere College, Dublin, and Mungret College, Limerick.

Lambert McKenna's English–Irish phrase dictionary was published in 1911, but it was the classical bardic language rather than the modern vernacular that principally engaged his attention, and from 1916 onwards he published numerous editions of bardic poems in Studies and the Irish Monthly – a journal that he edited in 1922–31. McKenna's edition of Iomarbhágh na bhfileadh (the ‘bardic contention’) was published in 1918, and his editions of the poetry of Aonghas Fionn Ó Dálaigh (qv), Donnchadh Mór Ó Dálaigh (qv), and Philip Bocht Ó hUiginn (qv) followed in 1919, 1922, and 1931 respectively. He spent four years compiling the state-sponsored Foclóir Béarla agus Gaedhilge (1935), but the dictionary's scope was largely confined to the colloquial language of the Gaeltacht and it failed to provide Irish equivalents of many modern terms and concepts. His Dioghluim dána (1938) and Aithdhioghluim dána (1939–40) were substantial anthologies of bardic poems by various authors.

McKenna was an advocate of the social principles of Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum. Lenten lectures that he delivered in Limerick in 1913 were published by the Irish Messenger in its ‘social action’ series of pamphlets under such titles as The church and labour and The church and working men. In The social teachings of James Connolly (1920), McKenna argued (p. 7) that James Connolly's (qv) voice was ‘ever the voice of Tone or Fintan Lalor, though his words are often the words of Marx’. During the 1920s he wrote in the pages of Studies about such recent events as the Russian revolution, the short-lived communist revolutions in Hungary and Bavaria, and the Mexican revolution. In 1925–6 he chaired a national conference on the use of Irish in the schools, convened by the Department of Education, and its recommendations on the increased use of the language as a medium of instruction were accepted by the minister, John Marcus O'Sullivan (qv).

McKenna retained his intellectual vigour at an advanced age, and three works that he edited were published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies when he was in his 70s: Bardic syntactical tracts (1944) and two bardic duanairí (poem-books) – The book of Magauran (1947) and The book of O'Hara (1951). He was awarded the degree of D.Litt.Celt. honoris causa in 1947. McKenna spent the latter part of his life in the Jesuits' house of studies at Lower Leeson St., Dublin, and died in Dublin on 26 December 1956.

Ir. Independent, 25–7 Dec. 1956; Hayes, Sources: periodicals, iii, 499–500; Austen Morgan, James Connolly: a political biography (1988), 59; Beathaisnéis, ii (1990), 50–51

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 1 1925

Fr. Lambert McKenna is Chairman of a committee appointed by the Ministry of Education for the purpose of reporting on the National Programme of Primary Education. During the meetings of the Committee, very valuable evidence was given by Father T. Corcoran

Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927

Towards the close of last year the School Inspection Committee sent, with the approval of the Free State Government, Fr Lambert McKenna on a visit to Great Britain and the Continent for the purpose of getting First-hand information on the working of various systems of Primary School Inspection. He spent two months at this task, Visiting England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.

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, 1883. 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.

Irish Province News 32nd Year No 2 1957
Obituary :
Fr Lambert McKenna (1870-1956)
Fr. Lambert McKenna died in St. Vincent's Nursing Home on 26th December, 1956, after a prolonged illness. He was born in Dublin on 16th July, 1870, and was educated at Belvedere College, of which to the end he was a very loyal son. In 1886 he entered the Novitiate, then at Dromore, Co. Down, and having taken his first vows, he studied for the Royal University at Tullabeg, Milltown Park and 86 St. Stephen's Green. He took his B.A. in classics and Irish in 1893. He taught for one year at Clongowes and having studied for another year at Milltown Park he took his M.A. in 1895. He taught the Juniors at Tullabeg for one year and went to Philosophy, first at Jersey and for the third year at Louvain. He taught for two years at Mungret before beginning his Theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1905. From 1906 we find him for three years at Belvedere, first as Doc., then as Adj. Praef. stud, and finally as Praef, stud. In 1909 he went to Tronchiennes for Tertianship. From 1910 he taught for three years at Mungret and for one year at the Crescent, In 1914 he was stationed at 35 Lower Leeson St. as Director of the Leo Guild. He was Praef, stud, and Dir. Leo Guild at Rathfarnham from 1915-1918, being in addition during the last year Editor of the Irish Monthly. In 1919 and 1920 he taught at Belvedere, being Praef. stud. in the latter year. He was Adj, Ed, Studies at Leeson St. for two years. From 1923 to 1934 he was back at Rathfarnham teaching the Juniors, being Praef. stud. for two years and Ed. Irish Monthly for several years. In 1935 he was assigned to Leeson St., where he was to remain until his death.
Fr. McKenna was, even as a student, strongly influenced by the work of Douglas Hyde and Eoin MacNeill in the newly founded Gaelic League, He combined an exact knowledge of Irish idiom and poetical diction with an eagerness to see as many Irish texts as possible published and annotated with critical notes. He made his name in 1911 by publishing a short, but excellent, “English-Irish Phrase Book”, which he had compiled himself from the works of the best contemporary writers of living Irish speech. In the same year, as editor of Timthire Chroidhe Naomhtha Íosa, he began to print a series of unpublished Irish bardic poems, which were later continued in the Irish Monthly and in Studies. His edition of the “Contention of the Bards” - a work which had been begun by his friend Tomás Ó Nulláin, but had been left incomplete - appeared in 1918; the poems of Aongus Ó Dálaigh in 1919; the poems of Philip Bocht Ó h-Uigion in 1931; Dioghluim Dána in 1938; Aithdioghluim Dána in 1939-40; poems from the Book of Magauran and Bardic Syntactical Tracts in 1944; poems from the Book of O'Hara in 1947. He was awarded the degree of M.Litt.Celt. in 1914, he was elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1932 and he was given the degree of D.Litt.Celt. (honoris causa) in 1947.
Fr. McKenna took an active part in organising the Irish College at Ballingeary in its early years, and he was in close touch with Pearse when he was headmaster of Scoil Éanna. The success of his phrase book, which passed through several editions, caused the Irish Government to appoint him as editor of a more ambitious Foclóir Béarla agus Gaedhilge, which was published in 1935. But this volume has less of Fr. McKenna's personal sense of idiom, and less also of his early enthusiasm for the spoken Irish language.
Apart from his life-long devotion to Irish studies, Fr. McKenna took a keen interest in what was - before 1914 in Ireland - the new study of Catholic social principles. He was Spiritual Director of the Leo Guild during the first World War and during the post-war years. He thus came into personal contact with many young Irish Catholic laymen, who shared his interests and who looked to him for guidance. About this time he published several pamphlets, of which his “Social Principles of James Connolly” was the most notable. In the early years of the Irish Free State he was appointed chairman of a commission, which in 1925 made a report on the first (1922) national programme of primary education and laid the foundations of the present scheme.
In 1924, he published “The Life and Work of Fr. James Cullen, S.J.” He strove to make the Irish Monthly, during his years as Editor, an organ of Irish Catholic social and educational thought. He was also active as adviser to more than one Dublin charity. Those who knew him well in his last years can testify that to the end of a long life he maintained an active interest in a surprisingly wide range of Catholic activities, and especially in every form of the lay apostolate. He was for many years keenly interested in the Legion of Mary, and Mr. Frank Duff was one of the group which stood around his grave at Glasnevin.
Those who lived in community with Fr, McKenna at any time, and very specially in his last years, will remember him as a priest who was also an admirable community man. He had a wonderful memory for anecdotes of Irish Jesuit life, many of them stretching back to days that lie now in a very distant past for most of us; and his gifts as raconteur and mimic made his conversation a constant pleasure for all who were present. He suffered much throughout life from his health, and his infirmities were a great trial to him in his last years, But he bore them all with a wry sense of humour, which won sympathy from all his brethren. Few members of the Province have done as much for practical social work in Ireland as well as for the promotion of Irish studies. Suaimhneas síorrai dé anam.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Lambert McKenna 1870-1956
Fr Lamber McKenna was a great Irish scholar. His Irish Phrase Dictionary and the Larger English-Irish Dictionary are monuments to his name.. He also edited numerous Irish texts for the Irish Texts Society, In his early years he took an active part in the Irish College at Ballingeary, and he was in close touch with Padraic Pearse as Headmaster at St Enda’s.

His other great interest was Social Studies. At a time such interests were not so popular as they are nowadays. He was Spiritual Director of the Leo Guild for years. His pamphlets on Social Questions were well appreciated in his day, and continued so, especially his “Social Principles of James Connolly”. He also published the Life of Fr James Cullen, the Founder of the Pioneers.

As a community man he was invaluable, and Leeson Street community, where he spent his last years, is still rich with his anecdotes of Irish Jesuit Life.

He retained to the end an amazing influence with a wide range of Catholic activities, especially those of the lay apostolate.

He died on December 26th 1956, a first class scholar, a thorough Jesuit, and an inveterate enemy of anything that was false or pretentious.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Lambert McKenna (1870-1956))
A native of Dublin and educated at Belvedere College, entered the Society in 1886. He pursued his higher studies in Dublin, Jersey and Louvain and was ordained at Milltown Park in 1905. His teaching career ended in 1920. He spent one year at Crescent College, 1912-13. Father McKenna's gifts did not include teaching ability although he was a brilliant classical student and had carried off high honours in the old Royal University. With the growth of the Gaelic League he became absorbed in the study of the Irish language, and by 1911 published his English-Irish Phrase Book. His name appears frequently in the list of learned editions of Irish works issued by the Irish Texts Society. For many years he published with translations a series of hitherto unprinted bardic poems. These may be read in the past numbers of the Irish Monthly (at present, dormant) and Studies. His scholarship in Irish studies was recognised by the degree of MLittCelt from the NUI (1914), the membership of the Royal Academy (1932) and the degree of DLittCelt (honoris causa) of the NUI (1947). Father McKenna took an active part in organising the Irish College in Ballingeary in its early years. His government-sponsored Foclóir Bearla agus Gaedhilge appeared in 1935.

Yet, Father McKenna's high attainments in Irish scholarship are not his only claim to remembrance. He was a pioneer in the study of Catholic social principles. From his pen came also a considerable number of pamphlets, most notable among which was his Social Principles of James Connolly. To the end of his long life he took an active interest in a wide range of works of the lay apostolate.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1957
Obituary
Father Lambert McKenna SJ
Fr Lambert McKenna died in St Vincent's Nursing Home on 26th December, after a prolonged illness. He was born in Dublin on 16th July, 1870, and was educated at Belvedere College, of which to the end he was a very loyal son. In 1886 he entered the Society of Jesus Novitiate, then at Dromore, Co Down. After taking his degree at the old Royal University he taught for a year, and took his MA in 1895. After finishing the Philosophy course be taught for two years at Mungret before beginning Theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1905. From 1906 we find him for three years at Belvedere, first as teacher and then as Prefect of Studies. From 1910 to 1913 he taught again at Mungret and spent the year 1914 teaching at the Crescent, In 1914. he was stationed at 35 Lr Leeson Street, as Director of the Leo Guild. In 1919 and 1920 he taught at Belvedere, being Prefect of Studies again in the latter year. From 1923 to 1934 he was in Rathfarnham Castle teaching the students attending University College, and for most of that time editing “The Irish Monthly”. In 1935 he returned to Leeson Street, where he was to remain till his death.

Fr McKenna was even as a student strongly influenced by the work of Douglas Hyde and Eoin MacNeill in the newly founded Gaelic League He combined an exact knowledge of Irish idiom and poetical diction with an eagerness to see as many Irish texts as possible published and annotated with critical notes. He made his name in 1911 by publishing a short but excellent “English-Irish Phrase Book”, which he had compiled himself from the works of the best contemporary writers of living Irish speech.

Fr. McKenna took an active part in organizing the Irish College at Ballingeary in its early days, and he was in close touch with Pearse when he was headmaster of Scoil Éanna. The success of his phrase book, which passed through several editions, caused the Government to appoint him, editor of a more ambitious “Foclóir Béarla agur Gaedhilge”, which was published in 1935. But this volume, according to the critics, has less of his: personal sense of idiom and less also of his early enthusiasm.

Apart from his life-long devotion to Irish studies, Fr. McKenna took a keen interest in what was-- before 1914 in Ireland - the new study of Catholic social principles. He was Spiritual Director of the Leo Guild during the first World War and during the post-war years. He thus came into contact with . many young Irish Catholic laymen, who shared his. interests and looked to him for guidance. About this time he published several pamphlets, of which his “Social Principles of James Connolly” was. the most notable. In the early years of the Irish. Free State he was appointed chairman of a Commission which in 1925 made a report on the first (1922) national programme of primary education and laid the foundations of the present scheme. He was also active as adviser to more than one Dublin charity and those who knew him well in his last years can testify that to the end of a long life he maintained an active interest in a surprisingly wide range of Catholic activities and especially in every form of the lay apostolate.

Born: 18 September 1929, Drumcondra, Dublin
Entered: 01 October 1947, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1962, Milltown Park , Dublin
Final Vows: 08 December 1976, John Austin House, Dublin
Died: 21 January 2020, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Early Education at O'Connell Schools, Dublin

1949-1952 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1952-1955 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1955-1956 Crescent College SJ, Limerick - Regency : Teacher
1956-1958 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Teacher; Studying CWC Cert in Education
1958-1962 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1962-1963 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1963-1964 Belvedere College SJ - Teacher; Chaplain Belvedere Newsboy’s Club
1964-1974 Rathfarnham - Teacher & Chaplain at Bolton St College of Technology, Dublin
1969 Sabbatical
1970 Province Social Survey
1974-2010 John Austin House - Teacher & Chaplain at Bolton Street College of Technology, Dublin
1987 Vice-Superior
1991 Bolton Trust - Development Director & Secretary; Sabbatical
1995 Vice-Superior
1997 Chair of Co-operative Development Society
2010-2014 Gardiner St - Chair of Co-operative Development Society; Vice-President of Bolton Trust; Writer
2014-2020 Milltown Park - Chair of Co-Op Development Society; Vice-President ‘The Bolton Trust’; Writer
2015 Researching Ecology
2018 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/bolton-trust-at-25/
Dermot McKenna, just turning 84, is celebrating the silver jubilee of the Bolton Trust. He traces his interest in cooperatives to Maggie Thatcher. In 1987 Dermot was a chaplain in Bolton Street College of Technology,… and teaching management and industrial psychology to engineers, showing how people can achieve a lot if they organise in small groups.
In the terrible recession of the 1980s (not as bad as the one we are suffering now) he and his colleagues saw their graduates snatched off to jobs in the offshore island by interviewers sent over by English companies.
“After all our labours, off they went to work for Maggie Thatcher. A group of us used to meet over lunch, and eventually came up with the idea of setting up a kind of co-op, a company limited by guarantee. 25 years ago we formed the Bolton Trust which started in Bolton Street and spread to the other DIT colleges. Its mission is to foster entrepreneurship and grow sustainable indigenous enterprises. A lot of teachers joined in, salaried by the DIT but giving their services freely to the Trust. A key figure in the development was Rea O’Neill, who has put enormous work into it and is highly regarded in all the colleges.
“The ESB gave us an old hotel down on the docks where we could bring in people and they could set up their own companies. At first we used that as our centre – about 20,000 square feet, which was rather small. In 1999 the Bolton Trust took over the East Wall Enterprise Centre from the IDA, renamed it the Docklands Innovation Park (DIP) and formed a long-term plan to upgrade the extensive facilities and create a hub for enterprise and innovation.”
The DIP is now home to some 40 established companies, and it “incubates” a further 40 start-ups every year. Its tenants employ some 350 people. It is central, connected by road and rail in all directions, with excellent online and phone services in its modern and secure offices. It is well described as a dynamic entrepreneurial environment. In its meeting rooms you sense a buzz of young, technically sophisticated people whose horizon is the globe.
The Bolton Trustees still remember with gratitude the support of Dermot McKenna throughout its life (he is still Vice-President), and the financial help of the Irish Jesuit Province at a time when the DIP was just a bright idea, a sign of hope. It is an example of two of the three dimensions which Fr General seeks in our ministries: the promotion of justice and collaboration with others.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/dermot-mckenna-sj-animated-by-vatican-ii/

Dermot McKenna SJ: animated by Vatican II
It was Vatican II above all that gave Dermot McKenna SJ, who passed away on 21 January, aged 90, the freedom to live out his Jesuit life fruitfully, according to Gerry O’Hanlon who gave the homily at the requiem Mass on 24 January.
The council brought with it “a retrieval of the mystical, more emotionally charged, and experiential version of Ignatian spirituality, the opening to finding God in all things and an understanding of the faith that does justice”. It was all of this that allowed Dermot to “breathe in a way that wasn’t so easy beforehand, despite his idealism, his love of God”.
Fired by this new spirit in the Church, Dermot became engaged in technical education, especially in Bolton Street College of Technology. According to Gerry, Dermot threw himself into “direct analysis and dialogue around the world of work and all it demanded”, studying urban sociology and social psychology. Eventually he set up the Bolton Trust to help fund and support the cooperative movement in Ireland, his great passion in life.
Dermot passed away on 21 January 2020. You can read Gerry O’Hanlon’s homily notes here » Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

https://www.jesuit.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Dermot-McKenna-Homily-notes-GOH.pdf

REQUIEM MASS FOR DERMOT MCKENNA SJ 24 JANUARY 2020
Homily notes by Gerry O’Hanlon SJ
After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my lambs.” A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” A third time Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” and so he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep. When you were young, you used to get ready and go wherever you wanted to: but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you up and take you where you don’t want to go’
— John 21: 15-18
You can sense Simon Peter a bit impatient and uneasy as Jesus asks him three times, do you love me? Well, those of you who knew Dermot so well can imagine how blunt he might have been in his reply!
But as we gather to celebrate and give thanks for him, to mourn his passing, I think those words of love and of being young and old say a lot about someone we have all known, will miss so much, and of whom we have our own particular memories.
When you were young: I think first of his time as a young Jesuit, joining in 1947 – not so easy: a pre-Vatican II church that saw the modern world as its enemy, a Society of Jesus that had a tough, of its time, emotionally illiterate formation, a spirituality that focussed on an ascetic reading of the Spiritual Exercises, and a notion of obedience that often bypassed consultation and discernment. The camaraderie that existed among the foot soldiers was often accompanied by an anti-authority hostility and even anger.
And then the climate changed. The Church in the modern World of Vatican II, a retrieval of the mystical, more emotionally charged, and experiential version of Ignatian spirituality, the opening to finding God in all things and an understanding of the faith that does justice
– all this meant that Dermot could breathe in a way that wasn’t so easy beforehand, despite his idealism, his love of God. He found Paddy Doyle in Rathfarnham to be a kindred spirit in the 60s and 70s, and he became engaged in the main apostolate of his life, Bolton Street College of Technology, later to become the Dublin Institute of Technology, now part of a University.
It’s almost as if those changes in title – reflecting a struggle for parity of esteem on behalf of technical education, taken for granted in continental Europe but always somewhat second-class till then in Ireland – mirrored the kind of project Dermot and his colleagues were engaged in. In retrospect it seems to me that he – and they, including Brendan Duddy who is still with us today – were kind of unsung heroes, in first touch with the secularisation and secularism which we take for granted in Ireland today but which then was new, with a group of students who were often viewed as second best by wider society, and, as priests, in a role was really very un-clerical, demanding new responses.
Dermot and his colleagues had different ways of going at this challenge. Some preferred a more traditional, chaplain and pastoral/sacramental role, while others, Dermot among them, preferred a more direct analysis and dialogue around the world of work and all it demanded. Dermot studied in urban sociology, in social psychology, and with apprentices, students of professions, trades and crafts, taught and ran groups which took into account their experience of the world about them and tried to point to the values they might otherwise have missed. Above all, with the help of many staff members, and through his study of the Mondragon Cooperative project in the Basque Country in Spain, he eventually set up the Bolton Trust to help fund and support the cooperative movement in Ireland, his great passion in life – more of this later in the mass.
He was a great walker, hill walker, as well, and he often joined staff and families on walks on weekends. And so, over decades, this often hidden work, took shape: a real option for the poor, with Catholic Social Teaching at its core, but always in the humble guise of service, for believer and unbeliever alike, far from the critique of clericalism and entitlement which Pope Francis sees as such an obstacle to the gospel proclamation in these days.
And so at the banquet at the end – see Isaiah (25: 6-9) – this unsung work, these seeds scattered without apparent much fruit – need to be celebrated and told about.
And his family: his five brothers, Kieran, Padraic, Gearoid and Tome, all of whom are here today, as well as John who is in Canada and whom I got to know through Dermot, with Pat his wife, both of them wonderful people who would love to be with us today – would be part of this celebration, with their wives and children, and their children, as well as his cousin Angela. Dermot was a quiet and thoughtful presence in his family – well, they will admit themselves that it’s sometimes hard to get a word in edgeways when they’re all in full flow! – but he enjoyed the banter and slagging, often spoke about them, was proud of their achievements.

I had an email from John and Pat in Hamilton, Ontario, last night in which they wrote that they are with us in spirit today and that “Dermot was a special person and we all have great memories of him. We saw him in November and said our goodbyes to him then. His caregivers in the nursing home were caring and compassionate and gentle with him”.

1. When you are older.... like many of us, Dermot found it hard to transition into older age, to leave his beloved NC road for Gardiner Street and then later Milltown and here in Cherryfield. As he said, close enough to his death, how come the birds outside Cherryfield were so happy and free and he was locked into his chair? He knew then, and also earlier in life, through his own insecurities and weaknesses, that he needed God’s mercy, the experience of the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises. He could be grumpy, stubborn, blunt, not mincing his words. One of my last conversations with him, familiar to many of you I’m sure, began with me asking how are you, and he replying, awful! But then, before too long, even with some confusion and fading memory, he was smiling and there was even the old familiar laugh. His traditional faith would have helped him: he did love Jesus, he knew that if God is for us nothing can be against us (Romans, 8: 31-35, 37-39). He knew, with Rahner, that all life is a giving-back to God of what God freely gives to us and that death is the last big gift we give, of our own life, like a little child jumping from a high wall into the arms of his mother or father.
2. Life is changed, not ended –
   Our great hope of course is the resurrection, based on our faith in Jesus Christ. This is where the sophisticated Athenians walked away from Paul at the Areopagus, the Public Square – this was too much to believe! And yet Paul himself says we are the most foolish of people as Christians if there is no resurrection. There is a natural human longing for life and its continuance. And so we speak of heaven, sometimes in terms of eternal life, sometimes as the beatific vision, and sometimes – as I prefer – beatific life, a changed life, the fullness of life, in communion with God and all those we love. And so Dermot, we hope with a sure hope, has gone before us into this new life, with his virtues celebrated and his weaknesses healed, enjoying a table of good food and wine, getting more than the odd word in!
   Conclusion:
   It was a kind of running joke between Dermot and myself that when we ran into one another (we had first met when he trained the U-16s rugby team of which I was a member in 1964 in Belvedere!) he would greet me with something like, “Do I know you?”, with a twinkle in the eye and the smile and then laugh. And so it requires no great leap of my imagination to see that scene between Jesus and Peter now unfolding between Jesus and Dermot, as Jesus asks “Do I know you” and Dermot smiles, at rest, seeing, sensing the fullness of life that is before him.
   Amen.

Born: 10 April 1836, County Monaghan
Entered: 29 July 1865, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained - pre Entry
Final vows: 15 August 1875
Died: 13 April 1910, Mungret College SJ, Mungret, County Limerick

Master of Novices 1874-1882

by 1872 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1873 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) teaching
by 1874 at Drongen France (FRA) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of Msgr John McKenna, Dromore, County Tyrone

He made his priestly studies at Maynooth, and became a distinguished member of the Dunboyne Establishment (the original postgrad house of Maynooth). Some of his fellow students there were Dr William Walshe, Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Edward T O’Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, and many other remarkable men.

After First Vows he was sent as a Teacher to Galway and then as a Teacher and Operarius at Limerick, as a form of Regency.
1872 He made further studies in Theology at St Beuno’s and became “Professor of the Shorts”.
1873-1874 He was sent to Drongen fr Tertianship.
1874-1882 He was appointed Master of Novices at Milltown.
1883 He was sent to Galway again as a Teacher.
1885 He spent time at Tullabeg caring for his health.
1891 At the opening of the Theologate at Milltown, he was appointed Professor of Logic and Moral Theology.
1908 He retired to Mungret in failing health. He attended the 1910 Provincial Congregation, and when he got back to Mungret he had a bad cold. This brought about his death with great speed, and he died there 13 April 1910.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Charles McKenna SJ 1836-1910
Fr Charles McKenna was already a priest of the Clogher Diocese when he entered the Society in 1865. His career at Maynooth had been brilliant, his fellow students in the Dunboyne being the Archbishop Walsh of Dublin and Bishop O’Dwyer of Limerick.

He became Professor of the Short Course at Milltown and from 1874 to 1882 was Master of Novices in the same house. When Milltown Park was inaugurated as a Collegium Maximum in 1891, he was appointed professor of Logic and Moral Theology.

In 1908 he retired to Mungret in ill health, and he died there two years later on April 13th, having given 45 years of solid and outstanding service to the Province.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1910

Obituary

Father Charles McKenna SJ

Within less than a year after the death of Walter Colgan, the Angel of Death has again visited Mungret, not now to call one of the boys, but one of the Fathers. Fr Charles McKenna, notwithstanding his advanced years, seemed to be in his usual health till about the 8th of April last when he had a weakness from which he appeared to recover, but which returned the same day. For some time he held his own, but finally we were grieved to hear that pneumonia had developed, and on the 13th he passed quietly away, having received the last sacraments. Fr McKenna was born in 1836 in Monaghan. Having entered Maynooth College he was ordained for the diocese of Clogher anal became a member of the Dunboyne Establishment. In 1865 he entered the Society of Jesus. Besides, holding other offices, he was for some years Professor of Moral Theology and Canon Law, and was much consulted for his opinion. His health becoming enfeebled, he was attached to this house about two years ago. Though his duties here did not relate directly to the school, his bright look and cheerful inanner were well known to all and will be missed for many a day. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Charles McKenna (1836-1910)

Was a secular priest of the Clogher diocese when he was admitted to the Society in 1865. After his noviceship, he came as master to the Crescent where he remained for four years. Father McKenna was a man of fine intellectual gifts and was in due course appointed to the chair of moral theology and canon law at Milltown Park, where he remained until the year before his death. He was a member of the Mungret community for the last few months of his life.

Born: 06 February 1926, Knocksaxon, Balla, County Mayo
Entered: 08 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1966, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Died: 04 August 2016, Ricci Hall, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed HIB to HK: 03 December 1966

Son of James McIntyre ad Ellen Clarke.

by 1954 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1962 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death Notice
Father Thomas McIntyre SJ died peacefully on 4 August 2016 at Ricci Hall, Hong Kong, at 2:30pm. Born in Knocksaxon, Balla, Country Mayo, Ireland, on 6 February 1926, Father McIntyre entered the Society Jesus at Emo Park, Portlaoise, Laoise, on 7 September 1948. He was ordained to the priesthood on the feast of St. Ignatius, 31 July 1959, in Milltown Park, Dublin, and professed his final Vows on 2 February 1966 at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. A requiem Mass was celebrated at Wah Yan College in Wan Chai on 13 August, followed by burial at Happy Valley Cemetery. May he rest in peace. Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 21 August 2016

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He entered the Society in 1948 and came to Hong Kong as a Regent in 1955, where he learned Cantonese in Cheung Chau.
He studied Theology at Milltown Park and was Ordained there in 1959.
He returned to Hong Kong in 1962 and was teaching at the Regional Seminary in Aberdeen. After that he taught Collegio Rici in Macau for 13 years, during which time he spent two years in Germany studying Catechetics. He eventually returned to Hong Kong and spent 6 years at Xavier House giving directed Retreats. He then moved to do the same work at Ricci Hall.
He is described as a careful and accurate man, keen on details and scrupulous about facts. He was very keen on social justice - inspired by “Rerum Novarum”, and worked hard for social change.

Born: 25 January 1913, Korumburra, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 12 March 1929, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 08 January 1944, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 15 August 1946
Died: 21 February 1964, Mahuadanr Hospital, Jharkhand - Ranchiensis Province (RAN)

Part of the Mandar, Daltonganj, Ranchi, Jharkhand, Hazaribag, India community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931; ASL to RAN : 12 March 1956

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Philip Mclnerney was educated at CBC St Kilda and St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, and entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 12 March 1929. He studied humanities, gaining a BA from the National University in Dublin, 1931-34. Philosophy was at Innsbruck, 1934-37, and he did regency at Xavier College, 1937-40, being second division prefect. He was among the first group of Australian theologians ordained in Australia, 8 January 1944, studying at Canisius College, Pymble. Tertianship at Loyola College, Watsonia, followed.
After tertianship he was prefect of studies at St Patrick's College, 1946-48, and then headmaster at Xavier College, Kostka Hall, 1948-51. He was among the first group of Australian Jesuits to be sent to the Hazaribag Mission in India. He transferred to the Ranchi province on 12 March 1956.
He taught at St Xavier's, Hazarrbag, 1952, and after studying Hindi in 1953, he was vice-rector of St Xavier's, Ranchi, for a year, and superior of the Hazaribag-Palamau district. In 1955 he was the vice-provincial delegate of the same region and parish priest. From 1956-60 he was parish priest of the Catholic Ashram, Hazaribag, and from 1958, president of schools in villages, a regional consulter and president of cases in the district.
In 1961 he was parish priest of Daltonganj, an inaugural parish with four parochial schools. He looked after the station and visited Barwadih, and was still a regional consulter. His last
appointment was parish priest of Mahuadanr. He died in the Mahuadanr hospital.
He was considered to be a man of high principles, all of which he applied to himself. Because he naturally had a land disposition, he manifested a nice combination of steeliness and softness. When there was a conflict of emotions, compassion always won. He had great love for the sick and poor in India, visiting them whatever the time of day or state of the weather. Superiors would have appreciated his rigid spirit of obedience and his charming humility As a teacher of mathematics he was much admired, and he was able to get the best out of his students. His Jesuit colleagues valued his hard work, devotion to duty and encouragement to all when he was establishing the region.

Born: 19 March 1892, Oristown, County Meath
Entered: 18 March 1923, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final vows: 15 August 1933
Died: 12 October 1972, Stillorgan, County Dublin - Angliae Province (ANG)

Part of the St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales community at the time of death

Born: 07 May 1918, Murroe, County Limerick
Entered: 14 August 1937, St Andrew on Hudson NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Ordained: 18 June 1950
Final vows: 15 August 1954
Died: 27 June 1997, Philadelphia PA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

by 1952 came to Rathfarnham (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 11 May 1887, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1905, Tullabeg
Ordained: 15 August 1920, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1923, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 05 September 1925, Dublin

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

by 1910 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Belvedere - a conspicuous member of the gymnastics team which had won the Shield so often there.

After his Novitiate he did his Philosophy at Stonyhurst, then Regency at Clongowes, and then he went to Milltown for Theology.
After Ordination he went to Clongowes as Study Prefect. He was very devoted to his work, even in times when he was suffering much from his health.
He had been ill for a number of years and doctors had though an operation could be successful. Within a month he underwent three operations, all very severe, and he died 05/09/1925 at the early age of 38. his sufferings during his last illness were so acute that one of his nurses had to be withdrawn, being unable to witness such suffering. All through this he was very patient and resigned to the will of God.
He was a pious man and very devoted to Our Lady. He was simple, unostentatious, kindly and generous in making sacrifices for the convenience of others. He prepared very carefully for everything - which his careful copious notes show - and this brought him remarkable success as a Preacher and Director of Retreats.
On the 1925 status he had been appointed Minister at Mungret, a job which he would have done admirably. But before he could take up that post he became very ill and died.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926
Obituary :
Fr Thomas McGuinness

Fr T McGuinness had been ailing for about three years, and finally the doctors decided to attempt an operation. Within a month he underwent three operations, all extremely severe, and he died on September 5th, 1925, at the early age of 38 years. His sufferings during his last illness were so acute that one of his nurses had to be withdrawn, not being able to bear seeing him in such great pain. All through he was patient, and entirely resigned to the will of God.

He was Belvederian - as a boy he was a conspicuous member of the gymnastic team which won the Shield so often for the College. He did his philosophy at Stonyhurst, his teaching at Clongowes, his theology at Milltown. After the Tertianship he returned to Clongowes as Study Prefect. He was efficient and devoted to his duty, being often at his post when he was
suffering much.
He was very pious, especially toward Our Lady, very simple and unostentatious, kindly and generous in making sacrifices for the convenience of others. These qualities, coupled with careful preparation - how careful his copious notes show - brought him remarkable success as a preacher and director of retreats. On the last status he was appointed Minister at Mungret a post which he would have filled admirably. But before he entered on his duties there, God called him to his reward.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Thomas McGuinness 1887-1925
Fr Thomas McGuinness had been ailing for three years, so, finally the doctors decided on an operation. Within a month he underwent three operations, all extremely severe, to no avail, and he died on September 5th 1925 at the early age of 38 years. His sufferings during his last illness were so acute that one of the nurses had to be withdrawn, not being able to endure seeing him in such pain. All through he was patient and resigned to the will of God.

He was a Belvederian, and as a boy was conspicuous as a member of the gymnastics team which won the Shield do often for the College. He entered the Society in 1905.

After his tertianship he was sent to Clongowes as Study prefect. He was very efficient and devoted to his monotonous duty, being often at his post when he was suffering a great deal.

He was deeply devoted to Our Lady, simple and unostentatious in manner, generous in making sacrifices for others.These qualities, coupled with careful preparation, his copious notes augured remarkable success for him as a preacher and director of retreats.

On the 1925 Status he was appointed Minister at Mungret, but before he entered on his duties there, God called him to his reward.

◆ The Clongownian, 1926

Obituary

Father Thomas McGuinness SJ

Tom McGuinness died in hospital after a series of severe operations. He had been in Clongowes for five years as a scholastic, and for five more of his short life as a priest he had presided in one of our study halls. As a Belvedere boy he was a wonderful athlete and gymnast, and to the last he was capable of marvellous feats, but those who knew him in the days when as a young man he coached the Gym, team and made runs freely for the Community, would scarcely have recognised the gay and light-hearted leader of boys in the worn and emaciated man years of terrible suffering made of him. Yet few knew what he suffered, for with characteristic pluck he concealed it all, and often he dragged himself to the Study when he could scarcely walk, And his natural gaiety and a kind of delight Tul simplicity of heart, school boyishness it seemed, complimenting schoolboys for such is the Kingdom of Heaven-never lessened. At the same time, there grew up in him in an evident way a stronger spirituality which made him, young but very carefully prepared as he was, a most valued giver of retreats from the very first. Small wonder, then, that the loss of such a personality, guessed at and felt rather than known though he was, left us all with a sense of deep and even irreparable loss.

Born: 01 November 1947, Dungarvan, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1966, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 30 August 1980, Dungarvan, County Waterford
Final Vows: 03 February 1991, John Sullivan House, Monkstown, County Dublin
Died: 27 October 2000, St Ignatius, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin

by 1976 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR) studying
by 1981 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR) studying

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 108 : Special Edition 2001

Obituary

Fr Thomas (Tom) McGrath (1947-2000)

1st Nov 1947: Born in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
Early education at CBS in Dungarvan
7th Sept. 1966: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1968: First Vows at Emo
1968 - 1971: Rathfarnham - studying Arts at UCD
1971 - 1973: Milltown Institute - studying Philosophy
1973 - 1975: CIR - studying Psychology
1975 - 1980: Innsbruck - studying Theology
30th Aug, 1980: Ordained priest
1980 - 1982: Innsbruck - Doctoral studies in Psychology
1982 - 1986: CIR. - Lecturer; Doctoral Studies, Psych.
1984 - Minister, CIR
1986 - 1988: Leinster Road - Lecturer, St. Vincent's Hospital;
1987: Superior
1987 - 1988: Tertianship (2 Summers) at Wisconsin
1988 - 1990: Cherry Orchard - Psychotherapy work;
1990 - 1996: Sullivan House - Rector; Social Delegate;
3rd Feb 1991: Final Vows
1996 - 2000: Leeson Street - Director of St. Declan's (1996-98)
1999: Sabbatical leave
27th Oct. 2000: Died in Dublin

About a year before his death, while Tom was in Germany, he developed severe headaches. He was diagnosed to be suffering from a brain tumour. Returning to Ireland, he was operated on, but the doctors were able only partially to remove the tumour. In August, while in France on holiday, he unexpectedly took ill and was brought back to St. Vincent's, from where he was later transferred to Cherryfield on 2nd September, 2000. While his condition was weak, he enjoyed a reasonable quality of life and was lucid to the end. He died on Friday, Oct. 27, 2000.

Brendan Murray preached at Tom's Funeral Mass...

When Tom McGrath was a young child growing up in the midst of a very loving family in Dungarvan, his early years were often darkened by illness, and brightened again by frequent excursions to the seaside. On one of these excursions Tom picked up a shell from the beach and began to wonder what was inside it. Then he looked out over the water at the horizon and began to wonder what was beyond it.

That childlike sense of wonder remained with Tom throughout his life, first as an inner source of energy, which released in him (what he called) 'a rage for knowledge and then as a driving force that helped him to develop the wide array of his God-given talents. Like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Tom saw life as an adventure to be lived, as a challenge to be faced, and as a hymn to be sung.

I don't know if he always had a feeling that his time on this earth would be short but he certainly had that feeling during the last year of his life. Even when he was in full health there was always a sense of urgency about him, an impatience to get things done. The world spun on its axis, but never quite fast enough for Tom. He needed an extra hour in every day, an extra day in every week, and an extra week in every year. And for him there was always an agenda to channel his energies and time: tasks to be done, articles to be read, calls to be made, people to be helped, appointments to be kept, and - most important of all - occasions to be celebrated.

During his last working week in August, when he was already greatly restricted by his illness, he took his first client for analysis at nine o'clock in the morning and his last one at nine o'clock in the evening. Later, he had a drink and a chat with a friend or with one of his family.

That, of course, was no surprise to his community in Leeson St who were familiar with his ways and well used to the sight of him scurrying down the back garden at seven-thirty every morning and hearing the sound of his battered little Starlet roaring off the grid on its way to Saint Declan's School, usually at top speed, and usually modh díreach in a bus lane.

In Cherryfield Lodge Nursing Home, where Tom was so happy and appreciative of the care that he received when recuperating after surgery and again during the final stages of his illness, there is a saying of Fr John Sullivan pinned to the wall in the matron's office which says: “If you can say Deo Gratias to everything, you are a saint”.

In life, Tom never claimed to be a saint and, in death, he would, I suspect, be a most un-cooperative candidate for canonisation - but he certainly was grateful for everything that he received: for the many gifts that he was given and for the many opportunities that came his way, but more especially for the affection and support of his family, for the companionship and loyalty of his friends, and for the camaraderie and understanding of his Jesuit colleagues.

Tom's training as a Jesuit taught him to seek God in all things. His training as a psychoanalyst taught him to search deeply for the relevant data and to respect their truth. These two sources of formation were fused together in Tom's colourful, complex personality and enabled him to accept the reality of facts whilst discerning in them a veiled reality of gifts. For Tom believed passionately that everything that is, is given; and that it comes to us from the hand of a loving God. He believed passionately that God's creative and forgiving love imposes on us a debt of gratitude and that our sense of gratitude is both the source and measure of our generosity. That is why he tried, as best he could, to give freely what he had freely received.

One of the most revealing memories I have of Tom is of a week end in 1989 when a number of us assembled in Tullabeg to reflect together on the signs of the times. At the social gathering, which opened that seminar, I watched Tom patiently listening to one of the brethren who kept asking, “What do you analyst people do?” Eventually, Tom responded, “I listen”. “And what do you listen for?” “I listen for the word”, said Tom.

At the time, I don't think any of us realised the significance of the word in Tom's life. He listened for the word in his professional work, the voice of the real self as opposed to the echoes of intrusive elders, or idealised expectations, or presentations designed to appease harsh authorities. But he also responded to the word of God: the creative word that called him into being at his birth, the sacramental word of baptism that called him into the community of Christ and the family of the Trinity, the mysterious word of his vocation that called him into the Society of Jesus to be with him as a companion and to labour with him as a disciple, the symbolic word of nature that spoke to him powerfully in the sunset and the dawn, and finally the commanding word of God that summoned him in death into the communion of the saints.

Tom was an independent spirit who liked to be in control of his own destiny. Listening came easily to him. Letting go did not, but as his final illness progressed he gradually found the freedom to speak to others about his fears and his loneliness until those twin spectres were eventually disarmed forever. He even found the freedom to speak about his death.

This day last week a close friend came to visit Tom in Cherryfield and left him with a promise that he would see him again on Friday, not knowing that Tom had other plans for that particular Friday, which was the Feast of St Otteran and the anniversary of Tom's mother's death. As soon as his friend had gone out the door Tom turned to his family and remarked drily: “He'll have a job finding me on Friday”.

The night before he died he recited the Hail Mary with his family, emphasising the final petition, “Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death”. Then he shared with them a simple reflection: “We came into this world without fear and we should leave it without fear”. Tom had reflected deeply on the relationship of law and liberty in the epistles of Saint Paul and saw his whole life as a journey from coercion to freedom, or, as he preferred to put it, as a movement from “should” to “want”.

-oOo-

Brendan Staunton writes...

It would be easier to talk to Tom than write about him. Tom was someone you could talk to. He once said in an interview with the Irish Times, not long after he had returned from his psycho analytic training in Austria, Innsbruck and Igor Caruso, that the goal of analysis was to help people “author their lives”. How do I author an obituary for such a complex and lovable person?

A colleague once teased him by asking, “What do you do all day?” “I listen”, Tom replied. “And what do you listen for?” his colleague persisted. “I listen for the word”, said Tom. I think the word that governed Tom's life is to be found somewhere between psychology and religion, spirituality and psychoanalysis. The relationship between them, not to mention the threshold between psychoanalysis and philosophy, was a central concern, a prime preoccupation ever since I first got to know him in 1970.

Two images from his funeral mass on October 30th, 2000, resonate: as a young man, while walking the beach in his native Dungarvan, he looked into a shell and wondered about its hidden depths? Then he raised his head and gazed out to the horizon, and pondered on what might be beyond the horizon? These two images reminded me of Kant's insight about the only two horizons worth studying: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.

Tom took the latter path, which led to his becoming a Jesuit priest, which in turn led to his following Freud, who saw that the inner world of every child was a life being lived, and not just a passive preparation for adulthood. Tom liked the Cat Stevens's line, “from the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen”, which for him expressed well how misunderstood children could be. He brought this aliveness to his work in St Declan's, a school for troubled kids. This work followed his years of working with Jesuits in formation, and his teaching in the Milltown Institute, NCIR, LSB and the School of Psychotherapy in St Vincent's Hospital, Here his work with the Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland built on his experience as a founding member of the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Constitutional, ethical and organisational issues interested him from his psychological days in UCD.

While Tom loved his work, his first love was his family and friends, Jesuit and non-Jesuit alike. Many of us miss the convivial conversations in pubs and elsewhere. I know he is missed by Eithne, Frank, Helen, Jim, Mary, Niall, Patrick, and many more, especially his Sunday evenings with his sister, Assumpta, his brother-in-law, and family. He was a good friend, in smooth and rough times; he could acknowledge mistakes with friends, but this ability for friendship never left him right up to his untimely death.

As well as the world of childhood and the world of organisations, Tom was also alive to the gap between faith and culture that is a feature of the way we live now in Ireland. Tom lived that tension, trying to do justice to both, without the refuge of a facile harmony or a nostalgic solution.

His fighting spirit shone in his final year. It was a testing, trying and tense time, as his many visitors would testify. And the many people who visited him were a testimony to the affection and love he inspired. Family, friends and faith shone in the passionate uncertainty of Tom's treatment. We couldn't see the depths of the shell, nor beyond the horizon of death and dying. It was difficult to accept that he was dying.

Thinking of Tom at Conferences, (from Rome to Rio de Janeiro), on Committees (IFPP; APPI), his concern with psychoanalysis in all its shades was a constant thread. He pulled and pushed that thread through traditional theology, and I will always remember a passionate outburst during a meeting where Tom's openness to the feminist horizon urged a re-reading of the early history of Christianity, and how that story needs to be told from a different perspective. That men made all the rules alone angered him. He once told me, “Creation is for revelation, and revelation for freedom, a freedom that worked for a more just ordering of society”.

His never-to-be-completed doctorate would have contributed to the debate on the relationship between psychology and religion, spirituality and psychoanalysis. He saw not only the differences but also their common ground. Socrates, Freud and Jesus were three in one for Tom.

“The sense of humanity has not yet left me”. These words, spoken by Kant to his doctor, nine days before he died, could be applied to Tom, yet he often questioned the ethics of self fulfilment, and had no time for the viewpoint that the only point to life was the point you gave it. While appreciating the uniqueness of subjectivity he knew this meant transcendence and therefore a dimension of gift, and word. And yet Tom believed passionately in the truth of experience being the most important norm for human knowing. His ample library bore witness to his thirst for knowledge.

For Tom, Christianity was not against culture. History for him was the medium through which the Divine is realised. The bible was dependent on neighbouring cultures and wisdom traditions, and he, therefore, could never see eye to eye with people in Religious Life who saw Freud as “a pagan”. Augustine appreciated Aristotle! Aquinas loved Plato!

A true reflection on Tom's life would require other people's thoughts, too. Tom was a simple, complex and untidy character. No obituary can do him justice in a way. As Tom battled to accept his brain tumour, his serious spirit became more intense, and paradoxically calmer. There is no denying how difficult his last year and a bit was, for him and for all who cared for him. He underwent a sort of sea change. What moon pulled the tide of his thinking and feeling, sexuality and spirituality, silences and speeches is a mystery. How would Tom like us to remember him? Maybe with some unanswered questions. Like why did he die on his feast day? Or why so young? Why did he not take more care of himself?

“Readiness is all”, he might reply, and raise a glass to us with a twinkle in his eye, cigarette in hand, a sanguine rub of his beard, or an acerbic judgement on someone in authority. Tom was amazing, really, in that he could be a stirrer and a calm presence, but always curious to know what was in that shell by the sea side. And even when he saw a grain of truth, he never imposed it in a doctrinaire kind of way. He lived our zeitgeist with zest. I feel blessed to have known him, and sad he is no longer with us, and miss his sagacity, secretiveness and spirituality. But as Lacan reminds us, separation can mean se parare.

Born: 25 January 1841, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 September 1867, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1874, Laval, France
Final vows: 02 February 1887
Died: 23 May 1927, Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia

by 1870 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1871 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1875 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1878 at Holy Name Manchester - Holy Cross Bedminster (ANG) working
by 1878 at Holy Name Manchester - St Helen’s (ANG) working
by 1885 at Mariendaal, Osterbeek Netherlands (NER) making Tertianship
Went to Australia with John McInerney 1885

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After his Novitiate he was sent for Philosophy and some Theology at Louvain, finishing his Theology at Laval, after which he was sent to Mariendaal, Holland for Tertianship.
1884 He was sent to Australia and he spent most of his years there at St Aloysius Sydney, and was Minister there for many years.
1919 His health gave way and he was moved to the Novitiate at Loyola, Greenwich, and remained there until he died 23 May 1927

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas McGrath entered the Society as a priest, 23 September 1867. He completed his juniorate studies at St Acheul, France, 1869-70, and studied one year of theology at Laval, France, 1874. He taught at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, Galway, Limerick and Mungret, during the years 1875-84, before tertianship at Mariendaal, Holland, 1884-85. Then he left for Australia, arriving in December 1885 .
For the rest of his apostolic life, McGrath spent his time at St Aloysius College, 1885-1919, teaching French and bookkeeping, as well as being a thoughtful minister for a number of years. As a teacher he was recognised by all as kind and considerate, though a strict disciplinarian.
At Milsons Point he was mainly involved with pastoral work at the Star of the Sea Church. Because of failing health, he retired to Loyola College, Greenwich, from 1919 until his death.
For many years he was confessor to the Jesuit novices and the Josephite novices at Mount Street, North Sydney, He was considered a likeable man by those who knew him. He was bearded, and in later life nearly blind and almost deaf. He continued saying a special Mass for priests with poor sight until the end, even though he practically had to be held at the altar by the novice servers.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Had spent several years at business in Dublin before entry. Had been St Stanislaus student

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 4 1927
Obituary :
Fr Tom McGrath :

On 8th May Fr Tom McGrath the senior in age of, our Province, died at Loyola, Sydney.

He was born on the 25th January, 1841, in Dublin, and entered the Novitiate, Milltown, in 1867. He had a year's rhetoric in France, and made philosophy and theology at Louvain, with the exception of the last year, which was passed at Laval. 1875 found him Prefect in Tullabeg, and from that date to 1884. he did excellent work at Galway, Crescent, Mungret, and on the Mission in England. In 1884-85 he made his tertianship in Mariendaal, Holland, and immediately afterwards sailed for Australia. Until his health broke down he worked at St. Aloysius' College, First at Bourke Street, Sydney, and then at Milson's Point. He was for sixteen years Minister. In 1919 his health gave way, and he was moved to the Novitiate, where he remained until he died. On the evening of his death the Master of Novices selected as the subject of his points the life of the good old man. He dwelt on his patience under pain and humiliation, which were intense as the end drew near, on his great faith, on his charity--he was never heard to say an unkind word of anyone-on his respect for superiors, and on his exact observance of spiritual duties. The impression made on the youthful community was deep, for they knew that the Master's words were not a. mere formula, that the virtues he put before them found a living realisation in the holy life and death of Fr. Tom McGrath.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Thomas McGrath (1841-1927)

Was born in Dublin and admitted to the Society in 1867. He made his higher studies in France and Louvain and was ordained at Laval in 1875. For the next nine years he was prefect or master in Tullabeg, Galway, the Crescent and Mungret. He spent one year as master and worker in the Sacred Heart Church. Transferred to Australia in 1885, he continued his work in the colleges and in spite of delicate health carried out for many years the onerous duties of minister of the house.

Born: 02 July 1870, Nenagh, County Tipperary
Entered: 14 August 1895, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1908, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1913, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 09 February 1948, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

by 1900 in Vals France (LUGD) studying
by 1911 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1911

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick McGrath was educated at the Crescent, Limerick, and worked for some years with Pim Brothers, drapers, in Dublin. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 14 August 1895, and after the juniorate studied philosophy at Vals, did regency at the Crescent, Limerick, 1901-05, studied theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1905-08, and again taught at the Crescent, 1908-10, before tertianship at Tronchiennes, 1910.
He came to Australia on the ship Ormuz in August 1911, worked in the parishes of North Sydney and Richmond, and taught at St Aloysius' College, 1915-18, but his main work was
chiefly in the parishes. He was superior at Sevenhill, 1918-20, and Richmond, 1920-31. He also worked at Lavender Bay, 1932-43, as parish priest, then at Canisius College, Pymble, for a few years, before his final placement at the parish of Richmond, 1944-47. He was a consulter of the vice-province from 1939-44.
He had, according to Albert Power, “a deep sympathy, wide knowledge of human nature, practical common sense, and great kindliness, and large-hearted generosity. He was totally devoted to his people. He was, moreover, a man of shrewd business talent, and, at the same time, a man of vision and resolution”. He was remembered in the Richmond parish for building the spire on the church, and in Lavender Bay for the parish schools. His main recreations in later life were his violin and his pipe. He practised his violin every morning for a short time before breakfast. He finally died from heart disease combined with high blood pressure.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 7th Year No 3 1932

Richmond Parish
Father Patrick McGrath, S.J., who had been P.P. of Richmond for twelve years, also bade farewell to his parishioners at a public meeting. Amongst the crowd of distinguished people assembled to say good-bye was Mr. J. H. Scullin, ex-Prime Minister. He was the chief speaker on the occasion. He said that they had assembled to say good-bye to Father McGrath. They would much prefer to be welcoming him back again. There was no one in Richmond who had endeared himself more to his people than Father McGrath, who was part of the whole city and the forefront of the parish. He had left an indelible mark on the parish, and the completed church would ever be associated with his name. Not only did he leave monuments in bricks and stones, but he had won a lasting place in the affections of the people by his fine qualities of heart and mind, and his readiness to share the sorrows and joys of his parishioners. Father McGrath would never leave the parish. He had won the respect of all classes in the community.
There were several other speeches, and when Father McGrath had made a moving reply, he gave his blessing to the great crowd that had assembled to say farewell.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Extracts from a letter of Fr. Patrick McGrath, S. J., St. Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, to Fr. Finucane, 10-9-945. Fr. McGrath is an old Crescent boy who while stationed at the Crescent 34 years ago volun teered for the (then) Australian Mission. :
“Your letter arrived just in time for the celebration of the Golden Jubilee. Besides the House celebration there was a Parish celebration in our Hall. I knew nothing about it till three days before. Since I came to Australia I have spent most of my time between Melbourne and Sydney as Parish Priest. I did some six years' teaching in St. Aloysius, Sydney, twelve year's Parish Priest there, and the rest of my time in Melbourne as assistant, but mostly as Parish Priest. I broke down in Sydney. The hilly land there was too much for my growing years, and after a rest of a few months in our Theologate at Pymble I was sent back here as a Curate and I was very glad of it. I certainly never regretted coming to Australia.
Our Parish here is a very large one, and on the whole a very Catholic one, made up almost entirely of working people, for the most part very sincere and practical Catholics and most generous and easy and pleasant to work with. The same may be said of our Parish in Lavender Bay, North. Sydney,
The church of St. Ignatius in this Parish is a magnificent one, pure Gothic, in a commanding position, with a spire 240 feet high, the most perfect and beautiful spire in Australia. The stone of the church is Blue Stone but the upper part of the spire is white.
Looking up the Irish Catalogue a few days ago I was surprised to find that I know so few there now. Here in Australia the Irish Jesuits are dying out. The Vice-province is going on well. It is fully equipped with everything, novitiate, scholasticate with Juniors and Philosophers, and a special house for Theology, and we have this year a tertianship with 14 Australian Tertians. We want more novices, but there is good hope that there will be an increase this year. Our colleges here are doing very well. Both in Sydney and Melbourne there is a day-school and a boarding-school. The buildings in both places are first class”.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 2 1948

Obituary

Fr. Patrick McGrath (1870-1895-1948) – Vice Province of Australia

Perhaps the first thought of his friends, on hearing of the death of Fr. Patrick McGrath, was “we have lost, indeed, an Israelite, in whom there was no guile”. For though the call to religious life came to him much later than to his fellow-novices, the business career in the world, which he had mapped out for himself, left no trace on his soul, which remained childlike to the end.
Born in Nenagh, he received his secondary education at the Crescent College, Limerick. He went through the classes with the quiet, solid perseverance which characterised his whole life. He was then apprenticed to a Dublin draper (Messrs. Webb), and he persevered at the trade until his 25th year, when the ‘Leave all and follow Me’ won his unhesitating assent. He entered the noviciate, Tullabeg, in 1895. With him he brought no worldly relic, inimical to noviceship harmony, unless perhaps his fiddle, for fiddle it was, not a Stradivarius, no more than he was a Kreisler. A tribute to his character is the tolerance of his companions to the instrument, won by the geniality of the kindly strummer.
The noviceship routine was hard for one who had enjoyed the liberty of some seven or eight uncontrolled years. In fact, they had been controlled by his genuine spirit of Catholic piety, which ultimately made a religious of him, and which set him in the midst of the younger novices as an example of cheerful endeavour at tasks which often must have sorely tried him.
Hosiery was no preparation for Latin and Greek, which awaited him in the Juniorate. One of the relaxations was boating on the Grand Canal and adjoining rivers. Others took to the oars in relays. Mr. McGrath never relinquished his. If his hands were blistered at the start, the constancy would harden them - it did, and it carried him through those years, fitting him with the baggage needed for later years as a successful master.
In 1899 he set out for Vals. The country is a beautiful one - the Cevennes run into it. Long walks, which he loved, were alluring: often the way lay over mountain paths. Climbing was stiff, but not as stiff as the Metaphysics, which nonetheless he bravely faced, and it was amusing to see him frowning, in the library, over the hard nut difficulties to be cracked. His mind was not made for the abstract, but perseverance gave him a sufficient grasp of the principles which dogmatic theology, later, would require.
We next find him a master in his old school, the Crescent, where for five years, his good humour, his patience, and his sympathy made him an excellent teacher. After his theology and tertianship he returned again to the school. Not for long. The vision of Australia, crying out for workers of all kinds, appealed to him, and he set sail in 1911.
To an old fellow novice he wrote in 1945 : “I certainly never regretted coming to Australia, and since I have come I have never had any desire to go back, not that I have lost interest in Irish affairs, for I am always rejoiced when I hear that Ireland is going ahead”.
With the exception of six years teaching at St. Aloysius' College, Sydney, the rest of his work in Australia was in the parishes, either as curate, or, for a considerable time as P.P, partly in Melbourne and partly in Sydney. That he fulfilled the function happily is best told in his own words, written at the time of his Golden Jubilee, in 1945, to a friend. They are a good reflection of his simple, straightforward character : “The people organised a great celebration for my Golden Jubilee in our parochial ball. I knew nothing about it till three days befcre, when Fr. Lockington told me to be ready for it. The people kept it a secret from me, wishing in their kindness to give me a pleasant surprise, and they succeeded beyond measure.. I knew from my many years living and working amongst them that I was popular, but I had no idea that I was so popular until that night”. Fr. McGrath spent thirty-six years in Australia. It was indeed fitting that his Golden Jubilee should be celebrated where his untiring devotion reaped so many sheaves for the Master's golden harvest.
By a curious coincidence, Fr. Wilfred Ryan, S.J. (Superior of Norwood, S.A.), who entered the Society in the same year as Fr. McGrath happened to be in Melbourne at the time of his death and preached a touching and beautiful panegyric at the Requiem of his old comrade in arms. R.I.P.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Patrick McGrath (1870-1948)

Was born in Nenagh and received his education at Sacred Heart College. On leaving school he entered on a business career and was twenty-five years old when he felt called to enter the Society. He received his higher education at Vals and Milltown Park. He spent his regency in his old school from 1901 to 1902 and returned as a priest in 1908. He remained only two years when he was transferred to the Australian mission. His first six years in Australia were spent as master or prefect in the colleges. But the greater part of his religious life was spent in church work in which he became one of the most respected and loved priests in the land of his adoption. He died on 9 February, 1949 in Melbourne.

Born: 30 June 1910, Aglish, Cappoquin, County Waterford
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1947, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 03 April 1989, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Early education at Mungret College SJ

Nephew of Fr Michael McGrath SJ (1872-1946).

Born: 1 February 1872, Aglish, County Waterford
Entered: 22 August 1896, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 July 1907, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1915, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 11 May 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1899 in Vals France (LUGD) studying
by 1913 at Linz Austria (ASR) making Tertianship
by 1919 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Had studied for 5 years at St Patrick's College Maynooth before Entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 1st Year No 3 1926

The Irish Sodality : This Sodality is directed by Fr Michael McGrath. It grew out of the first week-end retreat in Irish at Milltown Park in 1916. After the retreat, steps were taken with a view to the formation of an Irish-speaking Sodality for men. Success attended the effort, and the first meeting was held in Gardiner Street on Friday in Passion Week. The Sodality soon numbered 400 members. In 1917 a second Irish-speaking Sodality, exclusively for women, was established. In a short time it was found advisable to amalgamate the two branches. The Sodality is now in a flourishing condition, and has every prospect of a bright future before it. In addition to the Sodality, there is an annual “open” retreat given in Gardiner Street to Irish speakers. The first of these retreats was given in 1923 by Fr Coghlan, he also gave the second the following year. The third was given by Father Saul.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 3 1946

Obituary :

Fr. Michael McGrath (1872-1896-1946)

Fr. Michael McGrath was born at Aglish, Co. Waterford, on February 1st, 1872. Educated at Mount Melleray, then at St. John's College, Waterford, and lastly at Maynooth, he entered the Society at Tullabeg on August 22nd, 1896, and later went to Vals for philosophy. He taught in the Crescent 1901-5. He was ordained with Fr. William Doyle and Fr. John Sullivan in Milltown Park by Archbishop Walsh in 1907. He made his tertianship at Freienberg in Austria, and then taught for five years at Belvedere. A course of Canon Law under Pére Choupin at Ore Place, Hastings, completed his long formation, and the rest of his life was spent at Milltown Park, where he was Professor of Canon Law from 1920 to 1932, Lecturer in History of Philosophy from 1924 to 1930, Professor of Patrology, Christian Archaeology, Liturgy and Ascetics from 1932 to 1946. The Irish language always remained Fr. McGrath's favourite study. He established the Irish Sodality of the Blessed Virgin at Gardiner Street in 1916, and continued to direct it until 1935. His edition of Amhlaoibh Ua Suilleabháin's Irish Diary for the Irish Texts Society (1936-8) will be a lasting testimonial to his mastery of Irish and English. He was, at the time of his death, engaged on the preparation of many other Irish works, some of which were nearing completion. Among these were an Irish translation of the New Testament (apart from the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles) with a detailed commentary, the Irish Missal of O'Hickey brought up to date, the Life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and the Lives of Distinguished Celtic Scholars. During his long years in Milltown his encouragement and advice were highly appreciated by many a theologian, and his hard. work and cheerfulness were a model to all.

Fr. Garahy has kindly contributed the following personal appreciation :
My acquaintance with Michael McGrath began at Mount Melleray in 1888. He had been there a year or two before my arrival. We soon formed a friendship which lasted during the year and a half I spent in that romantic retreat at the foot of Knockmealdown Mountain. I left Melleray at the end of the Christmas term for Mungret College. Michael McGrath remained on for another couple of years and then passed to St. John's College, Waterford. Later still he was sent to Maynooth, having won a free place in the National College. He had finished two years of his theology course when, with the leave of his bishop, he offered bimself as a candidate for the Society in 1896.
In Melleray Michael McGrath was of the quiet type, rather shy and retiring, but a sincere friend when one had succeeded in breaking through his reserve. He was a painstaking student, eager to absorb all the knowledge offered us boys in classics, the sciences and history. One advantage he had over the rest of us he had a fair acquaintance with the Gaelic. It was spoken freely in his native townland of Aglish, Co. Waterford. It was also the language of the little mountaineers who attended the National School at Melleray. I used to envy Michael McGrath when I heard him exchanging jokes in Irish with those youngsters on their way home from school. Irish was not taught in the College in those days, though we were living in the heart of an Irish speaking district. Melleray was not singular in that matter. The Gaelic revival did not come till several years later. When it did come Michael McGrath threw himself with all the ardour of his soul into the movement.
He and I met again in the Crescent after fourteen years. I was so taken with his enthusiasm for the language that I accepted his offer of instruction and within a few months found myself appointed to teach the first couple of O'Growney's booklets to & class of small boys in the Crescent. During the year I spent with him in Limerick he held the office of Prefect of Studies although still a scholastic. His whole hearted devotion to the duties of his office during that year was to be expected of the Michael McGrath I knew at Melleray—with his passion for study and his earnestness of character. What I did not expect and what was always a wonder to me was his unsparing self-sacrifice in helping the more backward boys to succeed in the examinations. What this cost him in time and in strain on his nerves only himself knew. We, his fellow masters, knew that he regularly sacrificed the couple of hours so badly needed after a hard day's work in the school room to this work of charity; and the wonder was how he escaped a nervous collapse.
At the end of the year he and I left Limerick for Milltown Park to begin our theological studies. The Gaelic revival was then in full swing. Milltown Park had caught the infection ever before our arrival, Fr, Lambert McKenna, Fr. J. F. X. O'Brien and Mr. Tomás Ó Nualláin were, I think, the pioneers of the movement in Milltown. It was natural that those of us who were anxious to master the difficulties of the spoken language should turn to Mr. McGrath for help. He had what we all lacked, a rich sonorous Déisi blas. I well remember his patience in helping us to acquire the correct sounds of the broad and slender vowels. Fr. B. Coghlan, one of our really great Irish scholars to-day, was an enthusiastic pupil, and so was Fr. Dominick Kelly, now for many years a distinguished professor in Newman College, Melbourne.
When Fr. McGrath returned to Milltown as a professor, I had already been transferred to the Mission staff. From that time forth I had few opportunities of meeting him. May he rest in peace”.
It is hoped to include an account of Fr. McGrath's Milltown career in the October issue.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael McGrath 1872-1946
Fr Michael McGrath, while yet a scholastic, was Prefect of Studies at Crescent from 1901-1905.

Born in Aglish County Waterford on February 1st 1872, he was educated at Mount Melleray. He passed on to Maynooth and from there entered the Society in 1896.

Having studied Canon Law for a period after his ordination, the rest of his life was spent in Milltown Park, as professor in various faculties, Canon Law, Patrology, Liturgy and Ascetics. Normally a most kindly and lovable man, he could be most vehement in argument. For example, as Professor of Ascetics, when lecturing on the vice of curiosity, especially in religious, he used to refer to a Father (unnamed) notorious for this fault, and would almost have a stroke, so vehement would be his effort to convey his scorn for such pettiness.

He was a great Irish scholar, with a vast enthusiasm for the revival of the language. He edited the Diary of Amhlaoimh O’Sullivan for the Irish Texts Society. At the time of his death he was engaged in a new translation of the Bible, an Irish Missal, a life of St Aloysius Gonzaga and the lives of distinguished Irish scholars. He founded the Irish Sodality in Gardiner Street in 1916, and he continued to direct it until 1935.

His retreats were famous, being based on John Oxenham “Bees in Amber”, and there was hardly a convert in Ireland that had not heard his opening words : “Yo every man there openeth, a high way and a low”.

He was a model of observance, kindly in advice both as professor and confessor, and many generations of Jesuits owe him a deep debt for his faithful and patient service in their formation. He died on May 11th 1946.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Michael McGrath (1872-1946)

Was born at Aglish, Co. Waterford and educated at Mount Mellary. He was accepted by the Bishop of Waterford for his diocese and commenced his ecclesiastical studies at St John's, Waterford. From Waterford he was transferred to Maynooth where he completed two years' theology. With the permission of his bishop he applied for admission to the Society and began his noviceship at Tullabeg in 1896. His higher studies were made at Vals, Milltown Park and in Austria. He was ordained in Dublin in 1907. Father McGrath spent six years regency at the Crescent and was the first scholastic since Father Tom Finlay to be entrusted with the onerous duties of prefect of studies. After the completion of his studies, Father McGrath was employed in teaching for five years at Belvedere College, when his superiors bade him once more return to his own studies: he was sent off for higher studies in Canon Law to prepare him for a professor's chair at Milltown Park. He held the chair of Canon Law from 1920-32 but remained a member of the theological faculty until his death. He was a native Gaelic speaker and deeply learned in the language.

Born: 18 November 1895, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 06 October St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1927, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 02 January 1988, St Ignatius, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin

Early education at Belvedere College & Clongowes Wood College SJ

Studied for a BA in French and German as a Junior

by 1918 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1929 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) making Tertianship
by 1945 at Campion Hall, Oxford (ANG) studying
by 1949 Fordham, NY USA (NEB) making Tertianship

Irish Province News 1st Year No 1 1925
We may mention here a school story recently published – “The Last Lap.” Its author is Mr. Fergal McGrath, SJ. The book, which was mostly written while the author was a scholastic in Clongowes, has had an enthusiastic reception. The Reviewer in the " Ecclesiastical Review " writes of it : “It is a splendid boys' story. Probably neither Fr. Finn, or Fr. Spalding nor Fr. Boylan has told any better”.

Irish Province News 1st Year No 3 1926
Mr Fergal McGrath's “Last Lap” has been translated into Spanish. Much difficulty was experienced in finding Spanish equivalent for such phrases as : “getting his eye in”, “the calculating pig”, etc,

Irish Province News 10th Year No 2 1935
Works by Father Fergal McGrath SJ :

1. “The Last Lap” - Pub. Benziger Bros., N. York and the Talbot
2. “L'Ultima Tappa” - Italian translation of the above by Father Celestine Testore, S.]., , pub. Marietta, Rome, 1929
3. “Adventure Island” - Pub. Benziger Bros., N. York and the Talbot Press, Dublin, 1952. School edition pub by Talbot Press, 1954, sanctioned by Board of Education for Higher Standards of Primary Schools.
4. “Un Drama en Irelande” - French translation of above by M du Bourg. Pub. Editions du Closer, Tours, 1934
5. “Christ in the World of To-day” - Pub. Gill & Son, 1933 (Lenten Lectures on the Sacred Heart)
6. “Mother Catherine McAuley” - (Biographical sketch contributed to The Irish Way) Pub. Sheed & Ward, 1932
7. “The Beefy Saint” - Pub. Irish Catholic Truth Society (a story for boys)
   Pamphlets
8. “Canon Hannigan’s Martyrdom: - Pub. Irish Messenger Series, (A story of Irish clerical life)
9. “The Catholic Church in Sweden” - (Edited) English C.T.S
10. “Stories of the Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart” - (In collaboration) Irish Messenger Series, “Tenement Angel”.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948
Fr. Fergal McGrath sailed from Cobh on 24th September for New York ; he will be lecturing in Fordham University in the coming year.

Irish Province News 63rd Year No 2 1988

Obituary

Fr Fergal McGrath (1895-1913-1988)

Born in Dublin [on 18th November 1895) and educated in Clongowes (1908 12], Fergal McGrath was so dedicated to the Society, which he joined in 1913 on 6th October, after taking First Arts in UCD), that it is impossible to imagine him in any other way of life. He was very proud of his family, particularly of the involvement of his father, Sir Joseph McGrath, in the development of Irish university education, and as he became in his turn the patriarch, his love for the younger generations was evident in the quiet, almost shy, allusions which he made to his nephews and nieces.
Having taken a BA at University College, Dublin [1917], and studied philosophy in both Stonyhurst (1917-'8] and Milltown Park (1920-'2], he taught in Belvedere (1918-'20] and Clongowes [1922-24] before beginning theology at Milltown in 1924. [He was ordained a priest on 31st July 1927.] Fr Fergal's tertianship was made at 's Heerenberg in the Netherlands, which was then a house of the Lower German Jesuit province. He found that tertianship dragged a bit towards the end and he was happy to return to Ireland and to Rathfarnham as Minister of Juniors in 1929. Fr Fergal became Rector of Clongowes in 1933, at a very important phase in the growth of the school, and remained in office until 1941, when he went to Gardiner street as Superior. Four years of study in Oxford, where he took a D. Phil., Occupied his years until 1948 and he spent a further year studying education at Fordham university in New York, Returning to Ireland, Fr Fergal was made Rector of St Ignatius, Galway, where he remained until 1953. Leaving the West, he moved to Leeson street as a writer and spiritual father, until he began his last superiorship as Rector of Rathfarnham in 1961. From 1967 to 1972, he lived at Loyola House. Leeson street was his final Jesuit home. Fr Fergal was Province Archivist from 1975 until 1986, but remained Custodian of the strongroom, dealing with researchers and with many written queries until he went to hospital early in December 1987. He died on 2nd January 1988.
Fergal McGrath was a writer, a Jesuit superior, a good friend to many people all over Ireland, with a vast correspondence and with an interest in everything. He could write scholarly books, short stories, novels of school life and many pamphlets and newspaper articles. He wrote with the same care and precision which he brought to everything he did.
There was no haste, but much prudence. He once said, rather unnecessarily, to somebody who knew him very well '”s you know, I'm a cautious man'” He gave himself heart and soul to any task assigned to him.
Blessed with a very strong constitution and with what seemed to be an inherent ability to avoid stress, Fr Fergal was remarkable in his adherence to a personal daily routine. He had great respect for his fellow Jesuits and found it hard to say anything even remotely harsh about anybody. Most of his experiences as a superior seemed to have been happy, but he never discussed any of the difficulties which must have cropped up in those years, such as the hardships incur red while building at Clongowes and the unease at being a superior in formation during what are known as the 'turbulent' 1960s. In a life which lasted for 92 years, there were obviously disappointments and 'might-have-beens', but Fr Fergal never referred to them. He was quite free from resentment and never wasted time by cultivating hurts. He recognised that the past had not been perfect and, with complete trust in the Lord, got on with the task in hand. This attitude made him a surprisingly free person, because first impressions could be of a man bound by many self-imposed rules.
It was this inner freedom, combined with his respect for others, which drew so many people to him. The person to whom he probably felt closest all his life was a man who died almost fifty-five years before he himself did - Fr John Sullivan. A biography was one sign of his devotion to Fr John's cause; another was his slide-show, of which there were both long and short versions. I remember a conversation in which he made an unconscious slip by referring to “St John Sullivan” and went on talking, unaware of how much he had revealed in that brief anticipation of the Church's judgement. He also did tremendous work for the Cause of Mother Mary Aikenhead.
Despite the long and very slow decline in his energies, Fr Fergal's last years in Leeson street were undoubtedly some of his happiest. As his long daily walk along the Stillorgan road was gradually reduced to a stroll in the back garden, as he became more and more grateful for the lift in the house, he gave the impression of great happiness, because he felt himself among a group of brothers in the Lord, who both cared for him and esteemed him. He lived to become the longest-serving member of the Province.
There were many changes in the Society which Fr Fergal accepted, but which he hardly understood and of which he did not fully approve, but here, once again, his obedience and his deep sense of commitment as a religious took him across hurdles at which he might have fallen. Fr Fergal was intelligent and was a liberal in the Edwardian sense of the word. Patience was one of his strongest suits and stood him in good stead on many an occasion when he might have been driven wild with exasperation, as when unpunctual scholars kept him waiting for hours after they were due to examine documents in the archives.
His radio was a prized and well-used object. Even at 92, Fr Fergal found that a session with his clarinet was a good way to relax and he never felt called to make major adjustments for the television era. His devotions took up an increasingly large part of his day and it was obvious that he was very close to the Lord. In somebody so accomplished, so well known that he received an honorary doctorate from UCD as recently as 1982, there was a profound vein of humility, as I discovered one morning when he amazed me by asking for my advice about some point in the Divine Office.
We worked together in the archives for several years. Having known many of the men whose papers are preserved in the Leeson Street strong-room, he was an invaluable source of advice. No question from me was made to seem silly, no letter from any enquirer was too demanding to merit his full attention.
I treasure casual remarks Fr Fergal made, such as “I don't remember Fr X, but I do recall the old men talking about him” or his stories about mishaps during a juniorate villa at Monkstown, Co Dublin, during the first world war. He spoke little about his own accomplishments, such as his classical learning and his good command of Irish, but he did pass on jocular pieces of advice, such as a piece of consolation he had been given in 1933, when somebody told him that “being a rector isn't too bad - there are even whole days when you'll forget that you're a rector at all”.
A quick glance around his room told the story of Fr Fergal's life better than any biography. His chimneypiece was lined with photographs of his family, of fellow Jesuits and of the present Pope. There was one small bookshelf and, piled beside it, boxes of papers relating to Fr John Sullivan. His wardrobe contained a few, well-worn clothes and his Jesuit gown hung on the back of his door. The attention of any visitor would be drawn to the most prominent object in the room: a desk, laden with letters from all over Ireland and abroad, with books which he was reading as possible material for the refectory and with a Latin Office-book placed close to his armchair.
Fr Fergal's last illness was mercifully brief. His sense of humour showed itself to the end, as he responded to a plea not to die in 1987 and thereby destroy the Province's death-free record for that year. When I last saw him, the day before his death, he was sleeping peace fully, his face serene. A well-lived life was drawing to its earthly close. It was a life in which many people were blessed with his friendship and I am very grateful for having been one of them.
Fergus O'Donoghue, SJ

Fr Fergal McGrath: Incomplete bibliography of his works
Fiction:
“Adventure Island “(Dublin and New York, 1932). “Tenement Angel and Other Stories “(Dublin, 1934). “The Last Lap “(Dublin, 1925; Italian translation “L'ultima Tappa”, Turin "and Rome, 1929; French translation “Au Dernier Tour”, Paris, (no date).
Education:
“The Consecration of Learning”: lectures on Newman's Idea of a university (Dublin and New York, 1962). “Education in Ancient and Mediaeval Ireland” (Dublin, 1979). “Newman's University: Idea and Reality” (Dublin, 1951). “The university question” in “A History of Irish Catholicism”, vol. V, pp. 84-142 (Dublin, 1971).
Christian doctrine: Christ in the world of today (Dublin, 1933). Life in Christ (Dublin, 1957).
Biography: Father John Sullivan, S.J. (Dublin, 1941).
Biographical articles:
“Catherine McAuley” in “The Irish Way”, edited by F.J. Sheed, pp. 244-'62 (London, 1932). “The conversion” in “A Tribute to Newman”, edited by Michael Tierney, pp. 57 83 (Dublin, 1945). “The Background to Newman's Idea of a University” in “The Month”, July-August 1945, vol. 181, no. 946, pp. 247-'58.
Pamphlets:
“Father John Sullivan SJ” (Dublin, 1942). “Newman in Dublin” (Dublin, 1969). “Youth Guidance” (Dublin, 1944). “James A Cullen SJ : A modern Apostle of the Sacred Heart” (Dublin, 1980).

◆ The Clongownian, 1988

Obituary

Father Fergal McGrath SJ

A life-span of ninety-two years, almost all of it in active life, would fill a long chronicle. Fergal McGrath’s was particularly full, not just because of his health and longevity, but more because of his talents and fidelity to his Jesuit priesthood.. His associations with Clongowes are especially strong, and the most important of them are almost impossible to chronicle, because they consist of friendships with hundreds of Clongownians, scattered across Ireland, Europe and beyond, who will remember this large, kindly, courteous and always interested friend as an important part of their lives.

A photograph of Fergal's father used to hang in the Rogues Gallery in Clongowes, a respectable Victorian figure: Sir Joseph McGrath. He had been a teacher in the old Tullabeg College, later became co-secretary with Sir James Creed Merridith of the Royal University of Ireland and subsequently of the National University of Ireland, and in this latter capacity he was knighted by what in retrospect can be seen as a dying British administration. Fergal did not often talk about his father, but his own identity was different. He was a strongly patriotic Irishman, committed to his country and its language, and without the animosities that could have marred another son of a knighted father. He took pains to learn Irish well, and used it when he could; so he was at his ease as Rector of an Irish-speaking school, Galway's Coláiste Iognáid, in the early 1950s.

He was educated at Belvedere and, from the age of 14, at Clongowes; after First Arts in University College, Dublin, he entered the Jesuit noviceship, and later studied modern languages, then philosophy, then theology. As soon as he finished his Jesuit training, with a tertianship in Germany, he was loaded with responsibility: the charge of Jesuit scholastics in Rathfarnham, then Rector of Clongowes, Superior of Gardiner Street Church and community, Rector of Coláiste Iognáid in Galway, and later of Rathfarnham Castle.

Fergal carried these burdens with a genial ease, but paid a price for them. He worried about his charges and spent endless energy preparing, planning and providing. It was as a prudent and promising young man that he was appointed to succeed Fr George Roche. The Clongowes he took over in 1933, and ruled for eight years, carried what then seemed a crippling debt. In the climate of the Economic War, money was short to a degree we can hardly imagine. Pupils, the main source of revenue, were scarce, and with World War II became scarcer. The contractor of the New Building had gone bankrupt. The college was not insured against this contingency, and had to take over the management of construction, and all through the thirties and early forties, suffered from a pressing and sometimes mounting debt to the banks which coloured all administrative decisions.

His last two years in Clongowes were overshadowed by the war in Europe, with all the fears and uncertainties it brought. Fergal organised (through the scholastics) a fire brigade for contingencies. He saw a tide of refugees from England rise and ebb, leaving him with many empty beds and financial worries.

He once remarked that he went to Clongowes full of enthusiasm as an educator, loving the scope that the job seemed to offer; but soon found that all his energies were used in surviving. He was a slim man of 37 when he went to Clongowes, but the burdens of responsibility and a sedentary job turned him into the portly figure we later knew. He tried in vain to reduce it. He was a modest eater, and well into his eighties he walked, and swam, and on holidays played consistent golf. His two splendid schoolboy stories, “The Last Lap” and “Adventure Island” show what an active, dreaming boy there was inside the adult frame. He wrote them in odd moments of enforced leisure, one in a convalescence from a long flu in the twenties, the other in spare moments when in charge of the Jesuit juniors. He relished the memory of a happy and carefree youth with its limited anxieties. Adult life as a Jesuit had for him few carefree moments.

Despite his worries, he was much appreciated in Clongowes, especially by the ten scholastics who constituted the most active and talented part of the teaching staff, and whom he supported and fathered in the kindest way. To the parents he was always accessible and understanding, generous in remitting fees in cases of bereavement or hardship, energetic in helping past pupils on their first steps in life. He never forgot Clongowes, though his last residence there ended nearly fifty years before his death. He would never miss a Clongownian funeral, and maintained an enormous correspondence with past pupils and parents who became his warm
friends.

Fergal's friendships were in many ways his greatest achievement - and he was a man of considerable achievements. He kept his friendships in good repair by visits and correspondence. They were planned, as every thing in his life was planned. He would delicately invite a fellow Jesuit to chaperone him on visits to widows or spinsters. He would bring his clarinet to play duets with an aging bachelor, a former colleague. When, in Galway, Bishop Michael Browne's mother died, Fergal agonised over whether it would be appropriate for him to approach the formidable old prelate with his sympathies. He made the move, and found that he was almost the only one to have ventured near the isolated and sorrowing bishop, who was deeply moved by Fergal's humanity. Here as elsewhere, Fergal's moves were for other people's sake, not for his own.

The others whom he befriended were from every part and condition in the country. Fergal knew the taste of poverty from his experiences of the thirties, and he responded positively, not just in individual acts of kindness, but interested himself too in the structures of society. He initiated the Social Study weekends which brought all sections of industrial and agricultural society to Clongowes for seminars of a high quality in the mid-thirties. He gave much energy to the Clongowes Housing Project, providing flats for the needy in Blackhall Place; and also to the Clongowes Boys' Club.

Apart from these concerns, Fergal gave innumerable retreats and lectures, many of the latter focussed on Fr John Sullivan, of whom he wrote the biography as well as a popular pamphlet. On coming to Clongowes he inherited the aura of John Sullivan, and he did more than perhaps any other man to convey to the public the impact of John's saintliness.

The public obituaries of Fergal spoke of him in that most ambiguous phrase, as “a distinguished educator”. He was indeed a sound scholar, well equipped for the task with languages, patience, a broad educational background in his youth, and an extraordinarily methodical approach to work. His study of Newman's University was a major work of lasting value, the fruit of four happy years of research in Champion Hall, Oxford, then in its palmiest days.

When Fr Tim Corcoran vacated the Chair of Education in UCD, Fergal's wide educational experience and high reputation made him a likely candidate for the position, It is said that Chancellor Eamonn De Valera, at the meeting to appoint the new professor, asked: “Is Father McGrath not interested?” But Fergal had withdrawn his interest rather than contest the chair with Tim Corcoran's assistant, W Williams, who he felt had prior claim on it, and whose late application was unexpected. Instead he spent a year as visiting professor in Fordham University, his only transatlantic excursion, but one that he remembered with warmth and happiness.

Fergal was a conservative and cautious man to the end. In 1987 he wrote to a friend marvelling at her word-processor, but preferring still to tap away at a typewriter he had bought secondhand in 1933. He did not enjoy the major changes in the Church and in Irish Jesuits in the last two decades. The disruption of traditions and the loss of vocations disturbed him - he was quite upset when the present writer grew a beard in the early seventies, and correspondingly relieved when the growth was shaved off. But he never became angry, bitter or vociferous. He reflected beautifully his master Newman's definition of a gentleman; one who never willingly inflicts pain. He was trusted to the end by all his brethren, whom he served to his ninety-third year as keeper of the Province archives. May one conjecture that what he must particularly enjoy in the Beatific Vision is “Deus Immutabilis”, in whom there is no shadow of change, who wipes all tears from our eyes, and has lifted all burdens and anxieties off Fergal's broad back.

PA

Born: 24 September 1930, Scotland
Entered: 07 September 1960, Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 01 July 1968, Holy Cross, Glasgow, Scotland
Final Vows: 02 February 1976
Died: 02 March 2019, Boscombe, Hampshire, England - British Province (BRI)

by 1966 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1965-1969
by 2001 came to Milltown (HIB) studying
by 2002 came to Gardiner St (HIB) working

Born: 28 October 1920, Iona Road, Glasnevin, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1980
Died: 30 September 1984, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Macau-Hong Kong Province (MAC-HK)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

by 1948 at Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father McGovern, S.J.
Happiness through Love of All
R.I.P.

Father Patrick Terence McGovern, SJ, member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, died almost suddenly after a heart attack in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, in the morning of Sunday, 30 September 1984, aged 64.

He was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 28 October 1920. At the end of his secondary schooldays he felt himself internally called to the priesthood and the religious life. The call was not altogether welcome. He was enjoying the freedoms of early manhood to the full and had no wish to exchange them for the restraints of noviceship and scholastic life. After a severe struggle he listened to God’s call and entered the Irish Jesuit novitiate on 7 September 1938. He need not have worried. He accepted the foreseen restraints and duties of Jesuit life, but within these limits, he was to enjoy life to the full to the end of his days.

The happiness of a consecrated life is founded ultimately on love of God, trust in Him and zeal for His glory. There can, however, be supplementary helps. Father McGovern’s supplementary help was an ability to like very deeply the people he worked with or for. He liked the young men who came to him for temporary help and remained his friends for life. He made many lasting friends in his few years in Malaysia. He liked the soldiers he met as an acting chaplain in Malaysia and remained always rather prosodies. He liked, quite exceptionally, the young men with whose aid he founded the Industrial Relations Institute. When he was appointed to the Legislative Council he expected to be a fish out of water, but he soon found himself in the swim; he valued the immediate and continuing friendliness of his reception and he soon came to have a high regard for the hard work done by his fellow members and their devotion to the welfare of Hong Kong.

The early years of what was to be an usual life for an Irish Jesuit were notable in only two ways: he came to Hong Kong in 1947; then, instead of doing the customary period of teaching after language study, he received permission to go to North America for social studies - strong aspirations were already stirring.

He was ordained priest in Ireland on 31 July 1953, and returned to Hong Kong in 1955. The following decade was devoted to school work, with a few years of pastoral work and army chaplaincy in Malaysia. His interest in social work, however, remained keen. He worked for various voluntary agencies and in 1965 he became director of the Caritas Social Centre, Kennedy Town.

In 1968, with the help of a group of workers, he founded the Industrial Relations Institute (IRI) to train workers “for participation in free, strong responsible trade unionism” and to help them to recognize the dignity of their work. He remained director of the IRI for only a few years. As soon as the workers themselves were ready to take over, he resigned the directorship, but he retained a deep interest in the work of the IRI and a deep affection for those who were running it.

Meanwhile he had become a regular broadcaster of five-minute social comments on Radio Hong Kong. These comments were listened to, for he had no objection to being provocative.

One of his listeners apparently was Sir Murray Maclehose, then Governor of Hong Kong. Sir Murray invited Father McGovern to transfer his provocative comments to the chamber of the Legislative Council. Before long, Father McGovern made minor history by arriving on a motor bicycle for his first attendance as a Legislative Councilor.

He and Mr. Andrew So, appointed at the same time, were generally recognised as unofficial spokesmen for the workers and the underdogs of Hong Kong. Their speeches at open sessions bore this out fully.

Father McGovern was an exact observer of confidentiality. Even his closest friends knew nothing of what went on at closed sessions and preparatory meetings, or of what modifications he succeeded in introducing into legislation. His friends did know, however, that he was happy in his work and that he was not a man to be satisfied unless he was accomplishing something.

The high point of his official work came when, valiantly but unavailingly, he led the opposition to the amendment of the Abortion Bill.

In his last days, Father McGovern was deeply involved in the heavy round of official duties attendant upon the initialing of the Sino-British Declaration. Did this heavy work shorten his life? No one can say.

Yet these were not his last public acts. On the evening before his death he was asked to open the new premises of the IRI, and he came home that evening full of happy confidence that this was the beginning of expansion for his favourite work. Next morning he was dead.

At all the Sunday Masses celebrated that morning, before and after his death, prayer was offered that we may “wake up to our social responsibility.” It was a fitting accompaniment to the death of one who had devoted his life and his energies to accomplishing that awakening.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 5 October 1984

◆ 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 Belvedere College SJ in Dublin before he entered the Society.

During the 1950s he was sent to the USA to study Trade Union Movements. So, in 1968 in Hong Kong he set up an Institute for trade union leaders, so that when McLehose became Governor, he was appointed an unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Among other things he brought in compulsory holidays for workers, and also on some public holidays.

He was the founder of the Industrial Relations Institute - a training and information Centre for trade union workers. he was also Director of Caritas Social centre in Kennedy Town. His most notable interventions were on housing policy, workers protection, taxation, abortion and education.

He was awarded an OBE for his contribution to his work in Hong Kong.

Note from Tommy Byrne Entry
During his term as Provincial (1947-1963) he sent many Jesuits to Hong Kong, and then in 1951 he started the Irish Jesuit Mission to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). He also saw the needs in Singapore and Malaysia and sent Jesuits to work there - like Kevin O’Dwyer, who built St Ignatius Church in Singapore; Patrick McGovern who built St Francis Xavier Church in Petaling Jaya, and also Liam Egan, Gerard (Geoffrey?) Murphy and Tom Fitzgerald.

Note from Paddy Joy Entry
According to Fr Patrick McGovern “Fr Joy was a great man..... his virtue was that although he was an intellectual heavyweight, he stepped so lightly through this morass of problems that no toe was trod on. On the contrary, wounds and hurts, both personal and canonical were bound up so deftly that the cured patients not only improved relations with one another, but in the process of being helped gave their universal and unstinting respect to the man who did the helping. He became the focus of a vast diversity, and from all sides won confidence, respect and affection”.

Note from Thomas Ryan Entry
He sent young Jesuits to work on social activities there - Patrick McGovern and Kevin O’Dwyer

Note from Jimmy Hurley Entry
He became the Hong Kong SELA representative in 1979, succeeding Patrick McGovern.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 59th Year No 4 1984

Obituary

Fr Patrick McGovern (1920-1938-1984) (Macau-Hong Kong)

(Notes from material supplied by Fr Socius, Macau-Hong Kong:)

Fr McGovern died in Wah Yan College, 281 Queen's road East, Hong Kong, at 8.30 am on Sunday, 20th September. He had been coughing during the night, and at 7.30 called Fr Richard McCarthy to say that he was not feeling well and would like to see Irish Columban Sr Gabriel, a medical doctor attached to the Ruttonjee sanatorium. She came promptly with another doctor, Sr Aquinas. They saw that Fr McGovern's condition was serious and called an ambulance. Fr McGovern was anointed by Fr McGaley, but by the time the ambulance arrived he was already dead. He had had a heart attack some months earlier, and since then had twice been operated on for a growth in his left arm.
The newspapers, radio and television reported the death, and on the Tuesday morning (2nd October) the two English-language newspapers, South China Morning Post and Standard, carried editorials on Fr McGovern. The funeral Mass was celebrated in St Margaret's Church, Broadwood Road, Happy Valley. The chief celebrant was the Provincial, Fr Liam Egan, assisted by Archbishop Tang of Canton and Fr Enaudi, one of the Hong Kong Vicars General (the Bishop was away attending a meeting in Rome). Fr Enaudi gave the blessing after the Mass and Archbishop Tang recited the prayers at the graveside. Among the were the acting Chief Secretary, Mr Dennis Bray; the Attorney-General, Mr Michael Thomas; and the and Secretary for Security, Mr David Jeaffreson.
Fr Patrick McGovern: born in Dublin, 28th October 1920, 1926-32 primary school St Patrick's, Drumcondra. 1932-38 secondary school Belvedere. 1938-40 Emo, noviciate. 1940-43 Rathfarnham, juniorate. 1943-46 Tullabeg, philosophy. 1946-47 Milltown, completing academic studies (BA from NUI). 1947-49 Canton, learning Cantonese, 1949-50 Los Angeles (Loyola University) studying sociology and industrial relations. 1950-54 Milltown, theology. 1954-'5 Rathfarnham, tertianship. To Hong Kong.
Of the 29 remaining years in which he served the Hong Kong mission, four he spent overseeing and raising funds for the building of the church and hostel in Petaling Jaya. The remainder he spent in Ricci Hall (11 years), Wah Yan, Hong nearby Kong (9 years). Wah Yan, Kowloon (4 up years), and Cheung Chau (1 year). From the catalogues his most frequent assignments seem to have been with the Industrial Relations Institute, as promoter/director/counsellor (for 16 years); minister, and teacher/lecturer especially in sociology. About 1977 he became a member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council (abbreviated to Legco), and about 1980 also of the Executive Council (abbreviated to Exco). These two bodies advise the Governor in his work of ruling the territory. About 1982 he ceased to be a member of Exco but continued as a member of Legco till his death.

South China Morning Post editorial, 2nd October 1984:
Good and faithful servant
The Roman Catholic Church has in mourners recent years often found itself in a dilemma in pursuing the rights of the common man. That it has been in the fray of social activism is unquestioned and while many a politician may have had cause to wish, like Henry II, to be rid of some turbulent priest, the state has learned to accept the Church's more militant stance. Hong Kong heard on Sunday with profound sadness of the death of Father Patrick McGovern, an Irishman of deep sensitivity, with a fine sense of social justice and a gift for rhetoric and wit that seems to be a mark of divine approval in those who hail from the emerald isle. Remarkably, it took a churchman to shake the conscience of the Government and Legislative Council on occasions far too numerous to recall, and it is fair to say that Legco would not have been the same without him. It is worth adding, that he and another cleric, the Rev Joyce Bennett, between them, provided the sharpest edges to the Unofficials criticisms in recent years, And in doing so, they gave a good example to younger members.
Father McGovern was ever the champion of the underdog and the working man. And his Irish background no doubt stood him in good stead, for no nation felt the yoke of its neighbour's domination and the bitterness of poverty and hardship like the Irish.
Yet Father McGovern was ever the gentle and courteous rebel who carried his convictions with a mixture of tolerance and tenacity that enabled him to win friends at every level of society. He was not averse to riding a motor scooter to Lower Albert Road, proudly displaying a Legco badge, though he graduated to a small Japanese car in later years.
Not content with sitting in Legco he was elevated for a time to Executive Council where no doubt he played the part of Devil's Advocate with relish. He will be sorely missed and certainly the pages of Hong Kong's last years will be embellished by some of his deft and darting prose. Many in Hong Kong will join in saying, well done, good and faithful servant.

Irish Province News 60th Year No 1 2 1985

Obituary

Fr Patrick McGovern (M-HK)
(† 30th September 1984)

(Cf. IPN, October 1984, where the date of Fr McG's death was wrongly transcribed as 20th. The following appreciation was copied from Macau-Hong Province Letter no. 263 (10: 1984), which devotes almost six pages to him:)
Paddy was a very remarkable Jesuit for the diversity of his interests and the range of his activities in very different fields.
It would be hard to find a priest who was more devoted to the defence of the church and the spread of the Kingdom than he was. He liked preaching and his hearers liked his sermons which were eloquent, instructive and interesting without being too long. Most Sundays he celebrated Mass in one or other of the parish churches or convents in the neighbourhood and usually heard confessions also. One of the last things that he did on the Sunday when God called him to Himself was to ensure that somebody stood in for him to celebrate the Mass he was to have said in a nearby church. He often said that the most fruitful and enjoyable years of his life were those he spent in Malaysia in pastoral work and where he collected the greater part of the money that went to build our parish church in Petaling Jaya. During this time he was also a part-time chaplain to the armed forces which had suppressed the communist insurrection in that country.
His work among the soldiers made him sympathetic and understanding, and led him to see the basic goodness of men who are not remarkable for their piety: he often spoke about this.
Paddy was deeply attached to the Society and had a healthy interest in all its apostolates. When he concelebrated with the brethren (something he did whenever he could) he seldom failed to pray for the welfare of the Society and for vocations. On his appointment to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, which he accepted in the hope that as a member he would have greater scope to work for the under-privileged and workers, he said openly that without the support of the Society he could never have taken office.
He cherished community life and many of us during recreation enjoyed his presence as much as we miss his wit and good humour now. There were two things that he detested: cynicism and isolation. He seldom spoke harshly to others or of others but did not suffer fools gladly. A favourite topic of his during recreation was theology, and though he tended to
be conservative without being dogmatic, he was keenly interested in new movements in that field. He often said that when he "retired" and had the time to do so he had a great amount of reading to catch up with. During recreation while he listened carefully to what others had to say about the government and its policies, he was always very scrupulous not to divulge any confidential knowledge he might have had. Paddy had very varied interests. He could cook well when occasion required his doing so, and during his last year he would often
spend the better part of the late evening baking brown bread for the community; the result wasn't at all bad. But his dearest hobby was gardening and the cultivation of flowers and flowering shrubs. In his earlier years in the Society a member of the team of he was scholastics which constructed and planted beautiful rock gardens in Tullabeg and Milltown park. The bank of azaleas which now forms a pleasant contrast to the nauseating green exterior of Ricci Hall is the work of his hands - his also was the choice of colour for the exterior of Ricci Hall: 'spring green' he called it. The verandah outside his room in Wah Yan, the room in which he died, was a veritable shrubbery so many were the potted plants it housed. All these things go to show how he loved nature and its creator.
The Society expects its members to be well acquainted with the social teaching of the Church. Paddy made a study of the social encyclicals in some depth and used them extensively in his speeches in the Legislative Council, without giving explicit quotations. In his economic think-ing he had as little time for the Manchester School as he had for Marxism, and he was more than sceptical of the method of Marxist social analysis. His great interest was the betterment of the living conditions of the little man which he envisaged as his role in government by way of promoting faith and justice. This he will be remembered for by all who knew him.
There are numerous other things that could be said about him but there is one last remark that cannot be omitted. The Society in Hong Kong has traditionally set great store by hospitality, and during the years that he was Minister in three different communities Paddy always went out of his way to make guests feel welcome and at home. Not only that, but whenever he had the time he would take visitors on a sight-seeing tour of the territory by car and enjoy the outing as much as his guests. May the good Lord give him eternal rest.
JJK

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 35 : Christmas 1984

Letter : Harold Naylor

Dear Editor,

When the sudden death of Fr. Patrick McGovern was announced on the morning of Sunday the 30th of September, two visiting Jesuits (from Manila and London) showed uneasiness, when they heard he had been a legislative councillor. No doubt they were thinking of the case of Ferdinand Cardenale in Nicaragua, and other cases of Jesuits being asked to step down from politics. I would like to give my opinion on the matter.

The spokesman of the Hong Kong Diocese, Fr. Michael Yeung, was quoted in the press as saying that Fr. McGovern “had been dedicated to social service throughout his life. There had never been an imbalance between his social service and his missionary work”. The Bishop was pleased with this work, as was the Provincial and the other Jesuits in Hong Kong. At his funeral, there were forty Jesuits priests, together with a great number of other priests: Italian PIME, American Maryknollers, French MEP, Salesians, Vincentians, Franciscans and Chinese Diocesans.

Fr. Liam Egan presided at the Requiem Mass, Fr. Einaudi (Vicar General) at the Last Absolution, and Archbishop Tang, S.J. at the Last Blessing at the graveside. All felt that the Church had lost a strong voice in civic matters and a powerful force in social and educational work. Some of his peers were at the funeral - people with whom he had worked for years in the legislative chamber and the back room. They included the Chief of Police and the heads of the Education, Legal Affairs and Economic Services Departments, as well as other civic leaders from the manufacturing, banking, legal and other professions.

John Swaine, an unofficial councillor, said: “He was able to inject a sense of conscience into our discussions, so that we looked beyond the mere text of policies and legislature to the human realities underneath”. That could sum up the thrust of his life: the use of his verbal skills to put the case of the common man before the executive and legislative branches of the administration.

Social issues and labour were his field. Since he was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1978, by the then Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, he had systematically brought in labour legislature. “Paid Holidays” were first introduced through him, then rules on working conditions and compensation benefits. He was largely responsible for defeating the government's move to shelve the Llewelynn Report on fundamental education reform, and made history in 1983 by being the first “unofficial” to reverse a government decision.

He scored his first major success in settling the threatened strike of prison warders in 1975, much to the delight of the warders. After the riots of '76, he set up his Industrial Relations Institute (IRI) and actually died the day after being present at the opening of its new premises. He had served on the Government Salaries Revision Commission and on innumerable commissions against corruption, narcotics and many other issues of daily life in Hong Kong. His last contribution was the inclusion in the Sino-British Agreement (Sept. 1984) of the freedom of association of workers and of their right to strike.

How did all this happen? Well, it could be traced back to Fr. T.F. Ryan, who, when Superior of the Mission in 1948, decided that Paddy, who had been studying Cantonese in Canton till then, should not teach in the Colleges, but rather go to the USA to study the Labour Movement and social questions. He did so in 1949 and then went to Milltown for Theology. Returned as a priest in 1955, he taught English, History and Religious Knowledge in Wah Yan Hong Kong for two years, before going to Malaysia for two years. It was there that he felt the realisation of the ideals of his priesthood. Part-time Armed Forces Chaplain, he was always saying Mass for young adults, instructing young men in the Faith and helping to build the church in Petaling Jaya. He returned to Hong Kong to be Spiritual Father to the boys in Wah Yan until he became Director of the Caritas Social Service Centre in Kennedy Town in 1965. He stayed there until he founded the Industrial Relations Institute.

He had the distinction of being taken off the air" by the Governor, David Trench, who took offence at his provocative social comments on radio in 1965.

An unconventional man, he made history by turning up at the Legislative Council on his Vespa whilst the other councillors arrived in their chauffeur-driven cars. Later he used a small Japanese car. He dressed casually in an open-necked shirt, though he wore clericals on formal occasions.

In June 1984, Fr. Paddy was the only one to speak in Council against the lifting of rent controls: “Speculators are nursing their burnt fingers in kid gloves, but they are a hardy lot and have proved before that they can make a quick recovery at the sight of a possible cure or another quick buck”.

St. Ignatius recommended that we adapt ourselves to “time, place and person”. Hong Kong is a unique place and stands at a crucial moment in its history. It has just lost a brilliant spokesman for the worker and the ordinary person. He died without an enemy, even after eight years of public life. I feel that his death was like that of a singer at the last bar of his song.

Yours etc.,

Harold Naylor, S.J., 56 Waterloo Road, Hong Kong.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1985

Obituary

Father Paddy McGovern SJ

“The hard nut from Iona Road”, was how we first heard of him. For the lively nature of Fr Patrick Terence McGovern SJ had caused his fame to spread in the Irish Province even before he was ordained. The ripples spread fore and aft, up and down the age groups. Evidently Ireland's loss was Hong Kong's gain. The following tribute from Harold Naylor SJ draws heavily on comments made by the Hong Kong media.

“UNDERDOG CHAMPION MCGOVERN DIES” was the headline on the front page of SCM Post. On the following day, the day of burial, this daily of 300,000 circulation had an editorial : “GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT”

The coverage in radio and press in English and Chinese showed how much he was appreciated. He had always been good copy for newsmen, for his speeches in the Legislative Council, and comments on social affairs, were striking and 'of great human interest.

He died at the peak of his involvement in civic affairs. The sentence in the Sino-British Agreement, which was signed just a week before he died, had a phrase to the effect “workers will have freedom of association, and also the right to strike”. He had urged for that. However, in the two years that led to the step, he kept silent on the matter.

At his funeral in St Margaret's Church, Fr Foley had spoken of him as the mouth of the voiceless. He had consistently spoken out on the welfare of workers and the people of Hong Kong.

Sir Murray MacLehose had appointed him to the Legislative Council in 1976, for a three year period, The occasion was his hearing him make a provocative social comment on the radio. Some years previously, a former Governor had him taken off Radio Hong Kong, for his social comments during Morning Prayers.

John Swaine, also a civic leader, spoke of his injecting a sense of conscience into our discussions: so that we looked beyond the mere text of policies and legislation, to the human relaties underneath.

Fr. Michael Yeung, spokesman for the Diocese, spoke of him as fulfilling the responsibilities of a Catholic, being throughout his life dedicated to social service. ‘But there had never been an imbalance between his social work and missionary work’.

Enjoying the freedom of early manhood as a schoolboy in Belvedere, he had no wish to exchange them for the restraints of religious life. After a severe struggle, he listened to God's call and became a Jesuit in 1938,

Coming to Hongkong in 1974, he studied Cantonese in Canton. Instead of teaching in Wah Yan, Fr T Ryan sent him to the USA to study the labour movement and social questions. Returned to Hongkong as a priest in 1953, he taught English, History and Religion in Wah Yan College, Hongkong. After two years of priestly work in Kuala Lumpur, which he looked back as his ideal, he returned to Wah Yan College, but became director of Caritas Social Centre, Kennedy Town in 1965.

In 1967, he started the Industrial Relations Institute, and the night before he died, he opened its new premises.

Most of the new labour laws could be traced to his endeavours. The introduction of paid holidays for workers was one of his first acheivements.

He was always speaking and his deft and darting prose was well remembered, usually causing titters of laughter in the solemn debates of the legislative chambers.

In June 1984, he opposed the abolition of rent controls: ‘new speculators are nursing their burnt fingers in kid gloves, but they are a hardy lot and have proved that they can make a quick recovery at the sight of a possible cure of another quick buck’.

A man simple of tastes, he tended his indoor plants and sang simple tunes, He regaled his fellow civic leaders at their dinners with renditions of songs from My Fair Lady, with lyrics changed to reflect social themes.

‘We will miss him’ said the Governor. May his absence make more fully present his ability to like very deeply the people we work with and for, and heighten our social responsibility.

His life was based on a love and trust of God, and zeal for his glory. His training did not lead him to spend his time reading or writing, but rather to speak - and to speak splendidly - about what he saw possible for the welfare of the people of Hongkong. And that started with the common man, the worker and his family. And he did it splendidly, and died without a single enemy,

Harry Naylor SJ

Born: 30 May 1920, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 04 October 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1955
Died: 01 October 2007, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 135 : Spring 2008
Obituary

Fr Robert (Bob) McGoran (1920-2007)

30th May 1920: Born in Belfast
Early education at St. Patrick's N.S., Drumcondra, and Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin
4th October 1937: Entered the Society at Emo
5th October 1939: First Vows at Emo
1939 - 1943: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy,
1946 - 1949: St. Ignatius College, Galway - Teacher
1949 - 1953: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1952: Ordained at Milltown Park
1953 - 1954: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1954 - 1961: St. Ignatius, Galway - Teacher
2nd February 1955: Final Vows at St. Ignatius, Galway
1961 - 1968: St. Ignatius, Galway - Prefect of Studies
1968 - 1973: Belvedere College - Prefect of Studies
1971 - 1973: Headmaster
1973 - 1984: St. Ignatius, Galway - Rector
1978 - 1984: Parish Priest; Parish Treasurer
1984-1990: St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street - Parish Priest
1986-1990 Parish Priest Parish Treasurer; Prefect of the Church; Director Social Services Centre
1990 May-July: Zambia - Musaka Minor Seminary, Choma
1990 - 1993: Campion House - Promoted Apostleship of Prayer and Messenger; Assistant Editor of An Timire
1993 - 2003: Galway
1993 - 1994: Rector; Promoter A of P and Messenger
1994 - 2002: Parish Curate; Promoter A of P and Messenger
2000 - 2003: House Historian
2003 - 2007: Cherryfield Lodge - Prayed for Church and Society
1st October 2007: Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin.

Bruce Bradley writes:
Bob McGoran was born in Belfast on 306 May 1920, and had County Down connections, but he was brought up in Dublin and educated first at St Patrick's NS, Drumcondra, and later at Coláiste Mhuire in Parnell Square. He was only 17 when he joined the Society at Emo in 1937. His long association with Galway, where he spent a total of 36 years after ordination, began, as a scholastic, when he taught there from 1946 to 1949. He was an immediate success, in the classroom, where he showed himself a naturally gifted teacher, and in the co curricular activities, which he threw himself into with characteristic generosity and enthusiasm. He had a great way with people, not least with the boys -- of all ages – in his care, but his humanity and unforced spirituality made a big impact on everyone who had contact with him.

It was no surprise that, after ordination in 1954 and tertianship, he came back to Coláiste Iognáid two years later, first as teacher and later as prefect of studies. It has been suggested that he was possibly the most versatile teacher in the Province, teaching almost every subject except modern continental languages. When a science teacher was needed, he enrolled in UCG for a course, so that he could fill the gap. He took over the games from Eddie Diffely and, in just one year, the college eight won the Anderson Trophy at Galway Regatta for the first time - a feat Eddie had greatly desired but never achieved. It was typical of him that, although not knowing much about rowing when he arrived, he effortlessly mastered his brief with the perfect result. All through his life he would do the same, taking on a diversity of new tasks, however unfamiliar to start with, and acquiring the necessary mastery without seeming to exert himself. Besides being prefect of studies, and subsequently headmaster, he ran choirs, produced operas, and raised funds for the construction of the Griffin Building. In those years, too, he led the school into the just-introduced (free education scheme. It was all taken in his stride.

Those who worked with him in those years recalled his way of getting others to work for him, his warmth and his marvellous smile bringing you along with him even against your better judgment. At the same time he had the steel to go above the Tertian Master's head when he badly needed one of the Tertians as an emergency replacement after Jack Hutchinson's heart attack at a Province meeting. When Michael Connolly refused, Bob appealed to the Assistant and duly got his man. He rarely took “no” for an answer, while managing to give no offence in the process.

In 1968, before the new building in Galway, on which he had worked so hard, was finished, he was transferred to Belvedere and served as first headmaster for five years. It is no surprise that he quickly commended himself to a new community of pupils and staff, as well as the Jesuit community, and he left many warm memories behind him when he returned to Galway. These were the years of student protest and the transition was not always easy. He wasn't above sending scholastics he trusted to do disciplinary battle on his behalf, which sometimes involved tricky assignments, but Bob's smile and innate decency disarmed any fleeting resentment felt by his subordinate and he was universally regarded as easy to work for .. and easy to live with. He brought the school through difficult
times of change in curriculum and discipline, restoring an ethos of personal care and approachability and re-establishing trust in authority after what some at least considered dark days that had gone before. A born teacher himself, his professionalism impressed his colleagues and he was an invaluable support to new teachers. He was respected by the boys for his good humour and his scrupulous sense of justice. Someone said of him: “He was fair to everyone and had no favourites”.

He returned to Galway for another eleven years in 1973, this time as rector and then parish priest. This represented a major transition into pastoral work and away from the school, although his continuing involvement with music and choirs formed a kind of continuity. In 1984 it was back to the centre of Dublin once more, first to raise £1 million for the new roof in Gardiner Street Church, then becoming parish priest and, latterly, working as director of social services, along with various other tasks, all assumed with Bob's steadiness and good humour. He is remembered as someone who brought the church and the parish through difficult times in the eighties, judging shrewdly what would work well, sympathetic to the traditional, but also keen to introduce innovation. The measure of how he was regarded was the warmth with which he was always greeted by parishioners and community alike, whenever he reappeared in Gardiner St after returning once more to the west.

Before returning to Galway for the last time in 1993, he worked in the promotion of the Apostleship of Prayer and the Messenger and was Assistant Editor of An Timire for three years. He continued that work in Galway for a few years as rector before becoming involved again in the parish full-time, as curate. He involved himself in everything in the parish - Parish Renewal, Marriage Encounter, the choir, neighbourhood liturgies, and a variety of other activities. In June 2004 he had a swimming accident when getting out of the water on a stormy day at Blackrock. This necessitated him being brought to Cherryfield, which, to his dismay, he was destined never to leave. He would fret about this, especially early on, asking those who came to see him: “When can I go home? I want to go home. Can you arrange for me to go home?' He died on 1st October 2007, a few days before he would have celebrated seventy years in the Society.

In his moving homily at the funeral in Galway, Conall O'Cuinn welcomed him back to what was certainly his true home on this earth. “God's grace”, he said, “was at work in Bob's life and, through him, at work in all of our lives”. He graced the Province and everywhere he worked with his great human gifts and, even more profoundly, with the profound spirituality which seemed so entirely part of who he was.

Born: 06 August 1923, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Entered: 24 September 1973, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1985, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 11 March 2002, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Croftwood, Cherry Orchard, Dublin community at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin at the time of death.

by 1981 at Lahore Pakistan (MISS PAK) working

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 112 : Special Edition 2002

Obituary
Br William (Bill) McGoldrick (1923-2002)

6th Aug. 1923: Born in Edinburgh
Early education at De La Salle, Dundalk
Worked as a grocery assistant in Dundalk until 1952. Also worked in a general store in Muff, Co. Donegal.
He was employed by Maypole Dairy, London. Later joined Marks & Spencer in Essex for twelve years.
He was a member of the Legion of Mary.
It was while he was at the Morning Star Hostel that the possibility of joining the Jesuits surfaced.
24th Sept, 1973: Entered the Society at Manresa House, Dublin
3rd April 1976: First Vows at Manresa House
1976 - 1977: Betagh House - Minister
1977 - 1980: St. Ignatius Galway - Infirmarian; Sacristan
1980 - 1983: University House, Lahore, Pakistan - Minister
1983 - 1989: Galway - Sacristan; Infirmarian; Assistant in House
1983 - 1984: Tertianship at Tullabeg
2nd Feb. 1985: Final Vows in Galway
1989 - 2002: Cherry Orchard
1989 - 1990: Minister; Community Development
1990 - 2000: Minister; Health Prefect; Community Devel.
2000 - 2002: Residing in Cherryfield Lodge
11th March 2002: Died in St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.

Bill was admitted to Cherryfield in April 2000. He remained in reasonably good health until December 2001. He was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital with a kidney infection. He returned to Cherryfield Lodge on 16 January 2002, but his general condition was much weaker and he was re-admitted to hospital on 20th January, suffering from severe respiratory distress. Bill's condition deteriorated and he died peacefully in St. Vincent's Hospital on 11 March 2002.

Bill Toner writes....
As I write this I am looking at a photograph of Bill given to me by Bill's sister, Mary. Bill is in a white coat, standing at the counter of a grocery store. Behind him is a notice reading, New Zealand Butter 3s/2d., and a multitude of tins arranged in a series of tall pyramids. Bill has the expression of a man you would not trifle with. The picture was taken somewhere in London, in one of the branches of Maypole dairies where he worked in the 1950s.

Bill had a varied life. His father worked for Maypole dairies before him, and was sent to work in Edinburgh, where Bill was born. Later his father was moved to the branch in Dundalk, where Mary and the younger children were born. Bill was educated in the local De La Salle School. Bill liked to recall when, in answer to a question, he told the class he had three brothers and a sister and, because the teacher had not heard of Mary's arrival, was slapped for telling lies. Bill went to work in a variety of jobs in Dundalk, mostly in shops. While working in a butcher's shop he had an unfortunate argument with a colleague about a meat knife, which led to an injury to his finger, so severe that two joints were eventually amputated. Bill worked for a while in a shop belonging to a Mr. Corr, who was the grandfather of the Corr's pop group family. The early death of his brother Sean, whom he was very close to, upset him so much that he wanted to leave Dundalk, and he answered an ad for a job in Muff, Co. Donegal. The shop was one of the old-fashioned general stores which did everything from serving drink to undertaking, and Bill stayed there for many years.

Bill was active in the Legion of Mary, and this seems to have been a principal motive in going to live and work in England. He worked in a variety of shops in London, and eventually went to Marks and Spencer in Ilford, where he worked in stores and security for about 10 years. Eventually, around 1970, he returned to Dublin to work full-time in the Legion's Morning Star hostel, where someone suggested to him that he should join the Society, which he did at the age of 50.

I only came to know Bill well when I went to Croftwood Park. Bill was already well established there having arrived at the time of the move from No.73 to No.25. Bill settled in very well. His varied life experiences and a rather liberal streak meant that nothing shocked or surprised him, and he was very non-judgmental about the behaviour of some of his more colourful neighbours. This meant that he was rarely lonely, as many came to him to talk over problems or just to chat and share a fag. Bill admitted that he had smoked since the age of ten, and although this was to catch up with him in the end, it broke a lot of barriers in a place like Cherry Orchard, where smoking is endemic.

Bill was a natural home-maker. With only limited apostolic opportunities in the area, particularly as his health and mobility declined, Bill saw one of his principal duties as making No.25 a homely and welcoming place. He was always on hand to see off members of the Community on their travels, and to welcome them home and offer to make a cup of tea. He loved to chat, and had a fund of anecdotes from his many different jobs, both inside and outside the Society. He was always a man to bury the hatchet, but he had marked some of the burial spots well, and liked to trot out a few favourite "hurts' he had suffered along the way.

Order and routine were important to Bill, so he was a very valuable anchor man in the community, ensuring that there was some order in the day, that Mass and meals were regular, and that birthdays were remembered. He was a careful housekeeper, and would have regarded it as a personal failure if something like sugar or toilet paper ran out (which it never did). When he began to go to Cherryfield for brief annual 'overhauls', he would return to Croftwood appalled to find that we were on our last tea-bag and there was no ice-cream in the fridge. Although there was no doubt that he held us all in the community in the highest esteem in regard to such things as writing articles or running meetings, he never regarded us as really competent to wash a milk jug or close the fridge door properly.

Those who knew Bill only in later years might think of him as rather frail, but in his prime he was physically very strong. One of his occasional pastimes was arm-wrestling, and in Pakistan he built up quite a reputation and was often challenged by the locals. Apparently he always won. In Croftwood he confined himself mainly to playing chess, particularly with a neighbour, Eddie Keating, who liked to call in for a game in the evenings. Bill also followed football and liked to watch it on T.V., and as a Dundalk fan he enjoyed an off the pitch rivalry with Gerry O'Hanlon who favoured St. Pats. From his London days Bill followed Spurs, but they gave him little joy in recent years.

Bill was very good to the local children, but when they were really wearisome I would sometime send Bill out to deal with them, as an ultimate sanction. In his early days in Croftwood two small boys used to call each day to the door and Bill would give them a biscuit. One day they came but he had no biscuits. So as they went out the gate the two little boys picked up stones and threw them at him. Bill used to tell this story as a kind of parable, but it did not stop him giving the occasional sweet. One Halloween he decided to give out mini chocolate bars instead of apples. Word seemed to spread to the furthest reaches of Cherry Orchard until eventually we were eaten out of house and home by large gangs of masked children. Bill taught many of the local children sign language for the deaf, a skill he had picked up in his Legion days. I cannot recall a single community Mass where Bill did not pray for the children in the street.

Bill's spirituality was deep in his bones, in the way you might expect of a lifelong member of the Legion of Mary, But in many ways he wore it very lightly and was never over-pious or preachy. From time to time he ran prayer or rosary groups in the house, but he usually shared his spirituality in a quiet way, When he chatted to local people he would often end up giving them a pair of rosary beads or a leaflet about John Sullivan.

Bill was immensely happy being a Jesuit, and clearly considered it a great grace that came out of the blue relatively late in his life. He had great affection for his fellow-Jesuits, and never seemed to forget anyone he had ever lived with, whether in the novitiate, or Temple Villas, or Galway, or Pakistan or Cherryfield Lodge. He was very devoted to his family, and was particularly close to his sister Mary, who, along with her three daughters and son, was a frequent visitor to Croftwood.

Bill was sadly missed in Croftwood, by neighbours as well as by his Community, when he moved to Cherryfield. He had time for people. It is sobering to wonder if those of us who dash around the place 'doing good' will be remembered with half as much affection. May Bill's generous and gentle soul find joy and fellowship at the heavenly table of the Lord.

Born: 03 April 1891, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 07 September 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Died: 13 August 1966, Warrenpoint, County Down

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Had studied for a BA in Arts at UCD before entry.

by 1914 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1915 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
1925-1926 Tertianshiup at Exaeten

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Loose leaf note in CatChrn : Entitled “Left Stonyhurst for Castle Brown”
23 Oct 1815

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 42nd Year No 1 1967

Obituary :

Fr Patrick McGlade SJ (1891-1965)

Father Patrick McGlade was born in Belfast on April 3rd, 1891. He spent some years at St. Malachy's College, Belfast, before going to Clongowes where he spent five years as a boy. He entered the Society on September 7th, 1909. He studied as a Junior in Milltown Park. His philosophy was divided between Valkenburg (1913-14) and Stoneyhurst (1914-16). He returned to Clongowes for his regency from 1916-1921-filling the posts of Gallery Prefect and Lower Line Prefect the latter from 1917-21. He then went to Milltown Park for his theology and was ordained on July 31st, 1923. Tertianship was in Holland. The remainder of his life is divided as follows :
Clongowes : Prefect of Studies 1926-27, Prefect of Lower Line 1927-31. Crescent : Teaching 1931-33. Emo Park : Retreat Staff. 1933-34. Clongowes : Teaching 1934-62.

I am glad to pay tribute to Father McGlade as a Line Prefect. As a young priest he was an extremely effective Lower Line Prefect in Clongowes, able to maintain the confident control which they need and like over boys of fifteen or sixteen, This was done without excessive severity, because his aim was not to produce a cowed, regimented, submissiveness, which might have made life easy for him. Discipline was never an end in itself he had some thing to give. Notably he engendered enthusiasm for photography, good literature and music. Silence in the library was insisted upon because he rightly judged that many boys relished that quiet refuge from the harassments of mob life. He took pains to develop taste in music, not merely to pander to immature standards; his dramatic scratching of the key across a low-grade gramophone record left an indelible impression on my mind as well as on the particular song. At this period he taught English - as he did for many years afterwards and managed to convey to a rather restless group some appreciation of the beauty, and power, of words. His own sermons and “declamations” were delivered in an immensely impressive, softly booming tone, and with an exquisite choice of words. They were invariably enjoyed.
What about games? He created, or directed, keenness for high standards in rugby, cricket, tennis, hurling and hockey, etc.; this without ever, to my knowledge, kicking a ball or handling a racket or bat. One felt, in spite of this, that he was thoroughly, un questionably competent. His performance as a rugby referee was accurate and stylish. But he commanded from an eminence; no one expected him to come down into the melee, indeed they would have been embarrassed if he had; he was riot to be jostled, Here again one learnt by experience that games vigorously and skilfully played were the most enjoyable.
There was a certain fascination about him, partly because at times he seemed aloof and formidable, indeed occasionally unpredictable. He was colourful, with a touch of the unorthodox about him; something of a character. I think he commanded almost universal respect. This he may not have realised, for he had a nick-name which he abhorred; it clearly embarrassed and irritated him; in fact it had no hostile or contemptuous under currents at all; it sprang simply from his very dark and determined jowl. For a while he was more commonly known only as “Paul” ; this is fixed in my mind by the memory of the death of the crease horse, “Paulina”, who was named after him, and collapsed so dramatically from excitement on the day that Col. Russell landed his plane on the cricket crease, about 1929.
But of course what gave him his exceptional influence was his ability to feel, and show, genuine personal interest in the boys and their groups. He had on those occasions a quizzical and humorous approach, which, coming from such a majestic figure, gave him the advantage of tactical surprise. But he never presumed or demanded intimacy or confidences, nor did he ever betray them. I am inclined to think, now, that he never knew how much people liked him. He was probably far more diffident about his personal relations than any boy ever suspected. He was an artist working in a rather difficult temperamental and emotional medium, always a hair's breadth away from disaster. He lived interiorly under strain; externally he presented an impregnable front. One sensed that he really delighted to see someone developing their own personality; he did not want to impose uniformity, nor did he want to know what everyone was doing all the time, above all he did not presume to think that if you were not enjoying yourself in the way he had organised for you, you could not be enjoying yourself at all; he did not intrude. He welcomed the signs of coming maturity, neither resenting the departure of childish charm nor expecting adult solemnity. God be thanked for his vital influence.
MICHAEL SWEETMAN

Born: 24 December 1927, Newry, County Down & Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 07 September1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 14 January 2017, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - Zambia-Malawi Province (ZAM)

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

Raised in Newry, County Down and Galway.

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

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

Early Education at Coláiste Iognáid and Clongowes Wood College

1947-1950 Rathfarnham - Studying at UCD
1950-1953 Tullabeg - Studying Theology Philosophy
1953-1954 Lusaka Mission - Studying CiTonga language
1954-1956 Chikuni Mission - Regency : Teaching Religion, History, Maths; Assistant Games Master; Health Prefect for students; Scouts
1956-1960 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1960-1961 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1961-1972 Canisius College - Prefect of Discipline; Teacher of English and Latin; President Junior Academy; Photographic Society; Scouts & Cadets; Retreats
1971 Headmaster (1971-1972)
1965 Teacher of Geography and Geology
1972-1975 Teacher; Spiritual Father to House and students; Spiritual Exercises at Kohima Barracks (Kabwe); Consultor
1975 Choma, Mukasa, Zambia – Headmaster, teacher
1976-1982 Canisius College – Rector, Teacher
1982-1997 Luwisha House, Lusaka - Religious Education Inspector for Department of Education and Culture (to 1993)
1988 Revisor of Archives for Province
1993 Education Secretary, ZEC (1993-1997)
1995 Consultor
1997-2001 Choma, Zambia - Teaches English & Geography at Mukasa Minor Seminary, Choma
2000 Librarian
2001-2011 Xavier House, Lusaka - Minister; Works in JTL and Archives at Fr John Chula House (Infirmary)
2005 House Treasurer; Works Archives at Fr John Chula House (Infirmary)
2011 Prays for the Church and the Society at Fr John Chula House
2011-2016 Loyola House, Dublin
2011 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/tom-survives-a-battering-2/

Tom survives a battering
Galway-born Tom McGivern SJ was locking up Chula House in Lusaka, Zambia, on Thursday evening when he was set upon by a thug demanding money. Tom had very little, and
the exasperated thief bashed him over the head with an iron bar. The community found him slumped on the floor. He needed ten stitches to his head, but after observation and a scan in the ICU, the scene has improved. Fr McGloin reports from Lusaka on 10 January: “I’ve just returned from visiting Tom in hospital. He seems to be greatly improved. He recognizes people; he is talking, though sometimes he gets confused; he is eating quite well; he has walked to the toilet; he was sitting up for a while today. This morning the surgeon does not believe any surgery will be required. But pray for him. Aged 83, he faces a struggle.”

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/tom-mcgivern-sj/

Tom McGivern SJ: a man without guile
Michael J. Kelly SJ gives an account of his late missionary friend Tom McGivern SJ who passed away on 14 January, 2017 in his 90th year.
Just a month before his death, the British Journal Religion & Education referred to Tom as “father of Zambian RE” and elsewhere as its “hero”. During the years 1982–1993, he served as Zambia’s first Inspector for Religious Education. At this post, Tom was not only responsible for ensuring the quality of RE in all secondary schools across the country, but he also served as the chief professional and technical advisor to the Government on matters relating to RE.
Tom recalled very laconically his appointment to this post: “The word came to me through my superiors that I had been appointed as the Inspector of RE. So I packed my bags and headed to Luwisha House which was to be my abode for the next eleven years.” He responded very courageously to this challenge and was instrumental in developing a syllabus which, with minor modifications, is still in use today.
Sadly, Tom was not fully aware in the final years of his life how significant his work for RE in Zambia had been. What led to this was as a result of an attack by a thief which left him brain injured at his home in Lusaka, in January 2011. He was later repatriated to Ireland in September 2011 for more specialised investigations and care. Despite being away from his beloved Zambia where he had lived for most of his life, he showed much gratitude to everybody who stretched out a hand to help him. And it was in Cherryfield that, following a fairly short illness, he handed over his great self to God.
Furthermore, Tom had three great characteristics: his smile, his loyalty and his open childlike nature. In some ways he was the incarnation of a smile. It seemed to be there always, even when he had to reprimand or correct, as those who had him as a prefect of discipline can well recall. He loved a good joke – and he loved to repeat back to you any good joke you might have told him! Maybe it was because he was born on Christmas Eve that he had such a good sense of humour, such a realisation that there was plenty to smile about in life, even if there were also sad and disturbing things.
As for loyalty, Tom’s was almost legendary: loyalty to the Church, loyalty to the Society, loyalty to his companions and friends, loyalty to Zambia. If Tom was on your side, you were safe. He would never let you down. This loyalty showed itself in a very special way when he set out to do something on behalf of religious Sisters: if one of them let it be known that she had a problem, Tom would be off his mark at once, seeing what he could do to help.
And Tom always embodied in his person the words of Jesus, “Unless you become like little children you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” He was always a child and had all the loveableness of a child. When somebody would produce some sweets or a piece of chocolate, Tom would stand there, eyes opening wide, expectant like a child. Indeed, jokingly it was sometimes said of him that he showed himself, less as a man among boys but more as a boy among boys!
Finally, Tom was a great inspiration and model for all of his Jesuit brethren. He was the kind of Jesuit St. Ignatius of Loyola would have wanted him to be, the kind of person God had in mind when He created him. Like Nathanael in the Gospel, he was a person in whom there was no guile, a most lovable, kind, cheerful man. We in Zambia are poorer without him. The world is poorer without him, but heaven is better off for having him. Ar dheis láimh Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions : https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/518-irish-men-behind-the-missions-fr-tom-mcgivern-sj-rip

IRISH MEN BEHIND THE MISSIONS: FR TOM MCGIVERN SJ RIP
Fr Tom McGivern SJ passed on to his final reward on the 14th January 2017 in his 90th year. Encouraged by his friends and family, he had completed his biography in January 2011.The following excerpts are drawn from ‘As I Remember’ as Tom relates his life story weaving into it references to some of the momentous historical events of the 20th century.

Family values and Catholic education
Born on Christmas Eve 1927 into a family of two boys and two girls, Tom went to the Jesuit primary school ‘The Jez’ in Galway and then to Clongowes Wood College for second level education. He went to train for the priesthood in the Society of Jesus in County Laois, then known as 'Queen's County'. After his ordination in 1959, he went on to spend most of his life in Zambia.
In his biography, Tom comes across as a modest, straight talking and honest man. His parents Eileen and Edward, while very understanding, expected nothing less than the truth from their children. When young Tom was caught out in a lie about a visit to the local cinema, he was grounded and his punishment was to write out 100 times: ‘No lie can be lawful or innocent and no motive however good can excuse a lie, because a lie is always sinful and bad in itself.’
This Catholic catechism definition and punishment left a lifelong impression on him!

Into the silence
World War II had just ended when Tom began his Jesuit novitiate at the age of 18. A new life opened characterised by study, silence and prayer into which the ‘outside world’ only occasionally intruded.
Tom remembers Fr Frank Browne SJ, made famous for his rare photos of the Titanic when he sailed at the beginning of the ship’s only voyage from England to Ireland in 1912. An old man by the time Tom stumbled, covered in embarrassment, across his path in the chapel, Fr Browne had served as a Chaplain in the trenches during WW I.
The novitiate came to an end after two years with the taking of perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

On to university life in Dublin
As the newly arrived students at university, the young Juniors were given the oldest bikes to cycle from their seminary to the University. It was a punishing five miles each way. Rationing was still in place after WW II and the young men were given a tin of sugar lumps each month, used for sweetening the tea and as money for playing poker!
During this time, the Free State of Ireland left the Commonwealth and ushered in the birth of the Irish Republic.
A primary Arts degree was followed by a further three years of Philosophy—taken to acquire critical and precise thinking. The ‘how’ and ‘why’ of life were often on his mind. It reveals something of Tom’s twinkling humour bubbling up throughout his biography, that one assignment submitted was entitled ‘Man, the Laughing Animal’.

‘Go South, young man’
It was 1953 and the young Queen Elizabeth had ascended the throne. The Irish Province had been assigned to send men to Northern Rhodesia as the Polish Jesuits who usually served there, were now unable to travel after the fall of the Iron Curtain that divided post WW II Europe. Tom had volunteered to go on mission to Alaska but was instructed to travel south of the Equator instead to Zambia—then Northern Rhodesia, a colony of the British Empire.
Zambia is about nine times the size of Ireland and Chikuni Mission where Tom went to live, is roughly the same as the island of Ireland. Tom’s first task was to learn Chitonga, the language of the Southern Province.
Being understood wasn’t always easy. In class, teaching about the Holy Trinity and the four gospels, Tom once asked the students how many persons were in the Trinity. “ Four” they said, “ Matteo, Marko, Luka and Johanne”. He admitted he had a lot to learn about teaching but little did he know he was to spend 40 years in education (http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/WgSDS2KHccxNSESQi9xb/full)!
The building of Chikuni mission was slow but steady in every sense of the word—from moulding bricks in the sun to bringing a meaningful understanding of Christ and religion to the people.
Following a period away from Chikuni and a one year Tertianship in Ireland and England in 1960, Tom returned to immerse himself in education. During that period he taught English, French, Geography, Geology, Literature, Mathematics and Religious Education.

‘The reluctant hero’
Across the years, Tom McGivern lived through the civil and political unrest preceding Zambian independence, rolled up his sleeves in the building of a fledgling nation and devoted his life to its growth along with his Jesuit brethren and members of other religious organisations.

https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/520-michael-j-kelly-sj-and-the-man-with-the-beaming-smile

MICHAEL J KELLY SJ AND THE MAN WITH THE WELCOMING SMILE
Father Tom McGivern, S.J. Memorial Mass, St. Ignatius 28th January 2017
Fr Michael J Kelly SJ and a large number of priests concelebrated a Memorial Mass in Lusaka, Zambia for their friend and colleague Tom McGivern SJ. Presided over by Fr Emmanual Mumba SJ, Provincial of the Zambia-Malawi Province and attended by over 130 people including the Irish Ambassador Séamus O'Grady and his wife, a large part of the congregation were former students from four decades of Tom's teaching and religious sisters with whom he had worked.
The Homily given by Michael J Kelly SJ expresses the deep appreciation of Fr Tom's work and comradeship across the many years he served in Zambia.

Homily by Fr Michael J Kelly SJ
Friends, I welcome all of you very warmly to this memorial Mass for Father Tom McGivern who died in Ireland two weeks ago today. And as we remember Tom and celebrate his life, we think lovingly of his sister Mary and brother Eddie in Canada; of his nieces, nephews, relatives and their families in Ireland, Canada, and Switzerland; and of the thousands of people here in Zambia and elsewhere in whose lives he made such a difference for good. To all of them we extend our sincere sympathy. They have lost a great brother, a great uncle and a great friend, but they can be absolutely certain that Tom continues in his love for them and his concern that all should go well with them in every aspect of their lives.
It’s more than seventy years since Tom and I first met. The occasion was my arrival at the Jesuit novitiate in Ireland where Tom had already completed his first year. I remember it so well. It was five past four, the afternoon of Saturday, September 6th 1946, and Tom was the first Jesuit novice that I met. He immediately stretched out his hand – his hairy hand, I might say – and gave me a very warm welcoming smile, telling me that if he had stuck it out this long, then I should be able to do the same! That was the beginning of a friendship that lasted literally a lifetime and that was stronger than the brutal assault Tom experienced six years ago this very month, stronger than the death that took him from us two weeks ago today.
Most of us know what happened to Tom that fateful night in Chula House on the Airport Road - how when he was locking the security gate into the house a thief sprang on him and with an iron bar gave him a few hefty blows on the head. Because of his strong physique and the great care he got in hospital and subsequently in Chula House, Tom recovered to the extent that his life was no longer in danger. But damage had been done to his brain and as the months passed it became clear that he needed more specialised investigations and care. So it was that in September 2011 he was repatriated to Ireland, to Cherryfield, the Nursing Home there for elderly and infirm Jesuits. There he received the wonderful love and care that enabled him to live peacefully for the final years of his life, generally in reasonable physical health but with his mind gradually slipping away from him all the time. And it was there that, following a fairly short illness, he handed over his great self to God at half-past-ten in the morning on Saturday 14th January.
These were difficult years for Tom when he was away from Zambia and the people he loved, and when he could no longer remember people or events and needed nursing assistance in looking after himself. But some things remained with him: his great, broad beaming smile; his graciousness; his sense of fun; his gratitude to everybody who stretched out a hand to help him. And occasionally in the early days of his handicapped existence back in Ireland, I even heard Tom express this gratitude in Chitonga, as his faltering memory brought up words from the past: “Eh-hee. Mbubo.Twa lumba1.” Zambia was where he had lived for most of his life and Zambia was close to his heart up to the very end. And it was truly fitting that, although he did not die in Zambia, one of his many Zambian friends, Mable Chilenga, was with him, holding his hand when the time came for him to go home to God. Thank you, Mable, for being there at that time.
Here in Zambia we find it hard to think of Tom as being enfeebled, having difficulty in speaking, not being able to recognise people, weary and tired. That was not the Tom we knew. The Tom we knew was a vigorous active man; a great Jesuit and a wonderful priest; a loyal friend and delightful companion; a man of heart-warming kindness and immense concern for anybody in need, especially if that person was a religious Sister; always bright and cheerful; steadfastly loyal, true and trustworthy. And for more than fifty years he put all of these great qualities at the service of the people of Zambia, principally through education but also and more strikingly through the kind of person he was.
Tom spent almost twenty of his early years in Zambia at Canisius College in the Southern Province, as teacher, prefect, headmaster and Rector. Those who came under his influence there will always remember how he formed them into being persons of integrity and character, hard-working, honest, and fired with concern for others. It was he who established the Cadet Force at Canisius several months before Independence. As Captain the Reverend Thomas McGivern he had the privilege in September 1964 of marshalling these into a Guard of Honour for inspection by Kenneth Kaunda, who was then Prime Minister of what was still Northern Rhodesia, the very first Guard of Honour that the future President of Zambia ever inspected. And in later years, under Tom’s dynamic leadership, the Canisius Cadets won the top awards at army camps held at Arakan Barracks.
When Tom left Canisius he brought his vitality, practicality and deeply religious Christian spirit to his work at Mpima Minor Seminary and later at Mukasa in Choma. Through his life and work in both places he inspired many youthful would-be seminarians to commit themselves to following the Lord who had called them, wherever He might go. In this way, Tom played a significant role in bringing it about that today we have so many good Zambian priests. I don’t think he could have left us a finer legacy.
The next phase of Tom’s apostolic life (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/517-fr-tom-mcgivern-sj- may-he-rest-in-peace)saw him breaking altogether new ground, both for himself as a person and for Zambia as a country. This was when he launched out into the field of Religious Education. He has the distinction of being the country’s first Inspector of Religious Education and through his dedication in this area over a period of more than ten years, he established RE on a sound footing within the Ministry of Education, raised it to a status comparable with that of other school subjects, and gave the teaching of it a tremendous boost in the schools across the country. Moreover, with the help of a group of very dedicated people, lay and religious, he also developed a syllabus for RE that has stood the test of time. Given that his own academic and teaching backgrounds were in English and Geography, all of this was a tremendous achievement on Tom’s part. What for somebody else would have been the work of a lifetime, he just took in his stride, seeing this as his way of serving God at the moment.
From the Ministry of Education Tom moved to the Zambia Episcopal Conference where for a number of years he put his long experience as teacher, administrator and inspector of schools at the service of the Church as its Education Secretary General. During these years he consolidated much that he had initiated in the field of Religious Education and made good use of his understanding of the workings of the Education Ministry to help the Catholic education system adopt and adapt to emerging education policies and new directives.

Three of Tom’s great characteristics were his smile, his loyalty and his open childlike nature. In some ways he was the incarnation of a smile. It seemed to be there always, even when he had to reprimand or correct, as those who had him as a prefect of discipline can well recall. He loved a good joke – and loved to repeat back to you any good joke you might have told him! Maybe it was because he was born on Christmas Eve that he had such a good sense of humour, such a realisation that there was plenty to smile about in life, even if there were also sad and disturbing things.
As for loyalty, Tom’s was almost legendary. Loyalty to the Church, loyalty to the Jesuits, loyalty to his companions and friends, loyalty to Zambia. If Tom was on your side, you were safe. He would never let you down. He was always that way, but this became even more characteristic of him as he grew older. And this loyalty showed itself in a very special way when he set out to do something on behalf of religious Sisters. Sometimes you hear somebody like Mother Teresa being referred to as the saint of the poor. I think Tom will always be remembered as the saint of the Sisters, whether those at the Marian Shrine, or the Sisters of Charity in Kabwata or Roma, or Sisters wherever: if one of them let it be known that she had a problem, Tom would be off his mark at once, seeing what he could do to help, even to the extent of pestering you or somebody else to come to her help. Ever loyal, ever faithful, ever energetic on the Sisters’ behalf.
And Tom always embodied in his person the words of Jesus, “Unless you become like little children you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” He was surely one of the children to whom our Father in heaven revealed the mysteries of the kingdom, as we heard in the Gospel today. Tom was always a child and had all the loveableness of a child. I can still see his eyes opening wide when somebody would produce some sweets or a piece of chocolate, wide-eyed and expectant like a child. Indeed, we Jesuits sometimes joked among ourselves that at Canisius and elsewhere Tom always showed himself, not so much as a man among boys but more as a boy among boys! Again, maybe he had this most endearing trait because his birthday was Christmas Eve when God gave him to the world 89 years ago as a most delightful Christmas present.
And underlying all this and giving it life were Tom’s deep faith and his total Christian commitment. Always and everywhere he was a man of God and a man of prayer; a man who endeavoured to praise, reverence and serve God in everything he turned his hand to; a man consumed in very practical ways by the love of God and who was always concerned that he should let that love have its full way with him.
Friends, I could go on forever talking about Tom, a man who was such an inspiration and model for all of us Jesuits, the kind of Jesuit St. Ignatius of Loyola would have wanted him to be, the kind of person our heavenly Father had in mind when He created him. But let me end by going back to my first meeting with Tom and that warm welcoming hand extended to me nearly 71 years ago. It is my earnest hope and prayer that when I too am called to our Father’s home Tom will be there with his lovely smile, stretching out to me the same hand, welcoming me home, and both of us hearing the reassuring words of the Lord Jesus, “In my Father’s house there are many places to live in. Your place is now ready for you. That’s why I am taking you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”
Two weeks ago today, after a long and faithful life, Tom’s place was ready and the Lord Jesus came to take him to himself, so that where Jesus is Tom also might be. That is our assurance. That is our faith. And we express it in a short prayer in the Irish language, a language Tom knew and loved so well: “Ar dheis laimh De go raibh a anam dilis,” words which mean “may his lovely soul always be there at God’s right hand”.
Mu zyina lya Taata, ilya Mwana, ilya Muya Musaante2. Amen Author: Fr Michael J. Kelly, SJ

https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/517-fr-tom-mcgivern-sj-may-he-rest-in-peace

HOMILY FOR FR TOM MCGIVERN SJ BY JOE HAYES SJ

When I think of you Tom the image that comes to my mind is that of the reluctant hero reluctant because you are the last to realize that in so many of our eyes you are a hero. You spent your life as part of critical movements you did not initiate but which you did your best to move forward. You are a very private man about your inner dreams but I suspect that privacy didn't come from shyness alone but from a sense that the second reading is trying to communicate. "We are earthenware vessels, doing the best we can, but always appreciating we are part of a deeper movement, the movement of our transcendent God."
I found Tom in the midst of what I call the Chikuni/Canisius movement, the movement to educate potential male and female leaders to be ready to play key roles in the emerging Zambian State. Young Tom helped pupils deepen their appreciation of nature through his Geography classes. He helped improve their communication skills through his English teaching. He modelled the virtues needed as the young Zambia took more control of its copper resources. This is also the period where one saw Tom leading his troop of cadets as he inspired the youth to value a career in the uniformed services.
Tom then switched to participate into the movement to educate and encourage young men to become priests so that the emerging Christian communities would be served by their own people.
From there Tom was invited to help oversee the teaching of religious education in schools and from there to oversee the overall participation of the Christian Churches in their partnership with government in providing formal education for Zambian Children.
While here, Tom was drawn into another movement, the movement by Zambian women to claim their dignity and move towards a partnership with men that respected the unique qualities of each gender. Key players in this movement were the young members of women's religious orders.There Tom made many special friends and it was so nice to hear that one of those special friends was with him as the time clock ran out. Thank you Mable.
For the past few years Tom has been more consciously invited into the most important movement within which all the other movements get their meaning. To the eyes of mere experience we have seen the cruel assault, the movement into dementia, the loneliness of leaving behind his work and friends, the dying away from the place where he would have loved to have died. To the eyes of faith that invitation is one into the paschal mystery of Christ as the Gospel reading hints. "God working to make all people appreciate they are his friends, doing it Christ's way. Not focusing on our sins, our failure to live up to our potential but inviting us to be his ambassadors of reconciliation so that all will know they are God's friends."
I would imagine there were times that Tom, with Christ asked the question of God "My God, why have you forsaken me." But we sense too that many times he prayed with Christ "Father into your hands I commend my Spirit." Tom gave us glimpses that he was singing that deeper song when, amid the darkness, we experienced his smile, that smile that said a special thank you to those who visited, to those who cared for him in Cherryfield. A special thank you to his family and to those in the mission office.
Tom, you have walked the walk. Thank you for being a mentor, an inspiration, a friend

Born: 01 January 1929, Galway, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1946, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1960, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1964, Chiesa de Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 24 October 2009, Arrupe, Mwangaza, Jesuit Spirituality Centre, Lang’ata, Nairobi, Kenya - Africa Orientalis Province (AOR)

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus : 25 July 1968-8 March 1975
Father General's General Assistant: 1977-1984

Transcribed HIB to AOR: 25 April 1989

by 1963 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying
by 1985 at Nairobi, Kenya (AOR) teaching - Hekima

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/the-irish-jesuits-under-cecil-mcgarry-sj/
The Irish Jesuits under Cecil McGarry SJ
Cecil McGarry was Irish Provincial at a very difficult juncture in the history of the Society. In other words, it was upon his shoulders that the implementation of the renewal of religious life in accordance with the Second Vatican Council was placed. This took more specific form in the
32nd Jesuit General Congregation. Under Fr Arrupe’s leadership it called Jesuits to a faith that does justice: it was with this message that Cecil inspired his Province. The photo is of Cecil and Fr Arrupe conversing during one of the latter’s visits to Ireland.
From Chapter 7 of To the Greater Glory: A History of the Irish Jesuits by Louis McRedmond (Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1991) :
The Provincial on whom the burden primarily fell of bringing the Irish Jesuits safely through the aftermath of Vatican II was Father Cecil McGarry, who came to office in 1968. To guide him he had the emphasis of the documents approved in 1965 and 1966 by the 31st General Congregation of the Society, which had elected Father Arrupe, as well as the exhortations which very quickly came from the new General himself. The Congregation chose two themes to stress, both of them conciliar. The first was an insistence on returning to the Society’s origins, which meant developing a heightened awareness of its Founder’s intentions. The second theme was the need to adapt the Society’s organisation and activities to enable it better to cope with the intellectual, social and spiritual problems of the age. From the outset of his generalate Father Arrupe urged the Society to press on with this process of modernising itself in the spirit of Saint Ignatius (which involved inter alia Ignatian ideas of mobility and flexibility), in order that Jesuits might be able more easily to move into new areas of apostolic opportunity and need. And so ’Jesuits throughout the world began the task of integrating the decisions of the Congregation with their personal endeavours for renewal. As General, Father Arrupe indicated that he expected action. He said, “I do not want to defend any mistakes Jesuits might have made, but the greatest mistake would be to stand in such fear of making error that we would simply stop acting.” (1) Father McGarry acted promptly, to the great benefit of the Society in Ireland and to the admiration of Jesuits from other Provinces (2) which were slower to move.
It cannot have been easy. The Provincial discharged his unenviable task with courage, conviction and, it may reasonably be supposed, a degree of pain known to himself alone. While there were Jesuits in every age group who rejoiced to see the Congregation decisions implemented, what the Provincial had to do caused unhappiness to a number of older Fathers settled in their ways and harbouring no doubts concerning the work undertaken by the Irish Province in their lifetime. Also distressed were some younger men who had thrown themselves with enthusiasm into tasks given them in the recent past. If the Province was to adapt to new priorities some of the established activities would have to be curtailed, not least because of the fall in numbers which all orders began to suffer in the 1960s: eight Irish scholastics left the Jesuits in the year that Father McGarry took office, (3) which meant the intake of novices – averaging seven a year (4) – did nothing to balance the natural losses through death and retirement. This imbalance was unlikely to improve. The Provincial did not act arbitrarily: he initiated internal discussions in each house to establish what the community was doing, and what it felt it should be doing. It would be no more than a small exaggeration to say that there were as many opinions as there were Jesuits. (5) But only the Provincial could make the ultimate decisions, and these involved abandoning some cherished commitments.
Perhaps his most distasteful duty was deciding where manpower could be saved. Suppression of a boarding-school was likely to bring maximum results, if only because it took so many men to provide supervision and administration as well as teaching. If a school had to go, Mungret was more vulnerable than Clongowes. (6) In the first place, there would still be a substantial Jesuit presence in Limerick between the community serving the public church and those attached to the Crescent (now the Crescent Comprehensive). Secondly, Mungret had already lost its apostolic school, which was half the reason for its existence. The Vatican Council had been the remote cause of this happening. The Council seemed to require philosophy and theology to be integrated in seminaries. Father Redmond Roche, Superior of the Apostolic School, could not see how this was to be guaranteed for the future, given the vocations crisis and an already evident shortage of competent lecturers. The vocations crisis also meant that institutions doing similar work, such as All Hallows in Dublin, were adequate to the need. The Apostolic School was accordingly suspended in 1967. The lay school, by contrast, was reaping the benefits of Father Kerr’s rectorship. Demand for places constantly exceeded those available and the disappearance of the Apostolic School actually helped by removing an ambiguity from the overall purpose of Mungret. How far Clongowes was protected by its venerability as the first house of the restored Society in Ireland, or by its fame and continuing prestige, or (as was hinted sotto voce) by the fierce loyalty of its past pupils who would have made a far greater clamour if suppression were mooted than came from those of Mungret, must remain matter for speculation. One thing is certain. Father McGarry was not a man to flinch from any decision, however unpopular, if he believed it to be right. When he chose Mungret rather than Clongowes for suppression, it can be taken for granted that he did what he had prayerfully concluded to be his duty. Of course, there were many to say he was wrong: their arguments ranged from nostalgia to the new-found status of the lay school at Mungret and its long-established fecundity in vocations. But the critics who spoke thus were spared the responsibility of making the decision.
There were positive decisions also. In 1966 the State had proposed a scheme of ’free’ – i.e. fully State- supported secondary education. Although it involved a reduction of 20 per cent in their income, (7) Coláiste Iognáid in Galway and the Crescent in Limerick entered the scheme. Now came the further proposal that the Crescent should become the keystone of a large comprehensive school of the kind outlined above in the account of developments at Gonzaga. At Dooradoyle in Limerick, under the inspired guidance of the Jesuit historian and Limerickman, Father Thomas J. Morrissey, this experiment in Irish education took off with dynamic vigour as a non-feepaying co-educational school to meet ’the diverse needs of the bright and the dull, the affluent and the deprived’. (8) Personal initiatives received much encouragement, such as Father Michael Sweetman’s protests against inadequate housing for the poor of Dublin: (9) a stand which inspired more than one young Jesuit to become involved in activity for social reform and in time would result in the services provided by Jesuits today to the socially deprived in the suburban housing estates and the high- rise flats of the modern capital. The teachings of the Vatican Council were promoted by public lectures at Milltown Park which attracted overflow audiences in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (10)
In the context of service to the Church, it may be that no single development of recent years will turn out to have been as significant as the generous support given by Father McGarry to the Irish School of Ecumenics founded by Father Michael Hurley of the Milltown community in 1970. (11) This small but vitally important postgraduate institute offers university degrees, nowadays from the University of Dublin and formerly from the University of Hull, to students from various Christian Churches and from Third World as well as European countries who study theology together, gain firsthand experience of one another’s pastoral routine and return to their duties in their own communions as informed witnesses to the hope and possibility of Christian Unity. The School functions under the patronage of senior representatives of the Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. The facilities of Milltown Park have been made available to the School from the outset and its international character was confirmed by the attendance of then General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr Eugene Carson Blake, at its formal inauguration in Milltown, where he delivered the opening address. International Consultations on such topics as Mixed Marriages and Human Rights have confirmed its repute. It has developed a Centre for Peace Studies which underlines its significance not only for the ecumenical movement in contemporary Christendom but also for an Ireland still disrupted by violence and tensions in the North which have deep roots in the religious division of the past.
The emergence under Jesuit auspices of this independent educational body, together with the attainment by the Milltown Institute of pontifical university status, can stand for the quality of Cecil McGarry’s leadership of the Irish Province. But it may well be that his ultimate memorial will be the option for the poor exercised today by Father Peter McVerry and other Jesuit champions of the homeless and deprived. Much of this began only after Father McGarry’s term as Provincial ended in 1974 but it was his determination to give the Province a new direction, in obedience to the General Congregation and to Father Arrupe, that made possible an Irish Jesuit emphasis reminiscent of the old Mission dedicated to the poor of the Liberties and the dispossessed of the penal towns and countryside.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/tributes-to-cecil-mcgarry-sj/
Tributes to Cecil McGarry SJ
A number of tributes to Cecil McGarry SJ have come in in recent days. They are all fired by deep warmth towards the man who did so much, as Provincial from 1969-1975, to
steer the Irish Province in the heady years after the Second Vatican Council, and who rose to equally large challenges in Rome and in Kenya until his death on 24 November last. An excerpt from Louis McRedmond’s history of the Irish Jesuits, To the Greater Glory, provides valuable context for understanding Cecil’s contribution to the Irish Province. And below you can read Michael Hurley’s personal recollections of Cecil, acknowledging the immense debt he owed him for his commitment to ecumenism. Also a short note by Paul Andrews, recognising Cecil’s iconic status in the 1970s.

CECIL McGARRY SJ (1929–2009): SOME PERSONAL MEMORIES Michael Hurley SJ
When in 1964 Cecil McGarry returned from Rome to Milltown Park to teach theology, the faculty and the community were still recovering from a major crisis. Kevin Smyth who taught apologetics had on 9 April that year left the Society because of faith difficulties. Paddy Barry who taught canon law had done the same and for similar reasons on 26 January 1961. And in 1962 on 11 October Des Coyle who taught dogmatics had died; his colleague, Ned Hannigan who taught moral had predeceased him, dying on 15 February 1960. So in the space of four years four members of staff had gone, two still in their 40’s, the other two in their early 50’s and, most disturbingly, two of them for faith reasons. In 1964 as faculty and community we needed new courage, new confidence. Cecil’s arrival was providential, a godsend.
That very academic year Cecil’s name appears as one of the speakers in the Spring 1965 session of the Milltown Park Public Lectures. These had begun in January 1960 on ‘theological subjects of topical interest’ and, with literally hundreds coming to attend on the Wednesday evenings in Winter and Spring, they were helping to boost our spirits. Cecil’s subject, ‘collegiality’, could hardly have been more topical and indeed controversial. Vatican II’s document on the Church had just been approved, on 21 November 1964 but the Council’s discussions on primacy and collegiality had been tense.
In June of that same year, 1965, Cecil gave a paper on ‘The Eucharistic Celebration as the True Manifestation of the Church’ at the Glenstal Ecumenical Conference which was residential and interdenominational. . This was just the second such Conference and Cecil was giving some of the fruits of his doctoral research. The topic he had chosen for his thesis had been ‘The Catholic Character of Anglican Ecclesiology, 1945-1963’.
During the rest of his time in Ireland and indeed for the rest of his life Cecil maintained his interest in ecumenism and encouraged others to do likewise. Two notable examples took place during his time as Provincial (1968-1975). The first was the interdenominational service in Gonzaga chapel on 15 April 1970 on the occasion of the presentation to the Church of Ireland, in the person of its Primate, Archbishop George Simms, of a volume of essays to mark the centenary of its disestablishment. Cecil identified himself fully with the event by agreeing to preside and preach and he succeeded in securing the acquiescence (sic) of Archbishop McQuaid who was known to have serious misgivings about ecumenism..
The second example was the formal inauguration of the Irish School of Ecumenics at Milltown Park in that same year, on 9 November 1970, as an interdenominational third –level institute of research and teaching. Cecil had agreed to be the Catholic Patron. In advance he had advised Archbishop Conway of Armagh and had obtained the acquiescence of Archbishop McQuaid. Louis McRedmond, in his A History of the Irish Jesuits,(p.310), suggests that, in the context of service to the Church, no other single development of recent years may turn out to be as significant as this.
And the very last engagement of Cecil’s Dublin years was also ecumenical: in April 1975 he preached in St Patrick’s Cathedral with ‘Vatican II: Ten Years After’ as his theme; he was whisked from the pulpit to the airport to fly to Rome to begin his term of office at the Jesuit GHQ as one of Fr Pedro Arrupe’s Assistants.
I have sometimes found myself thinking that ‘without Cecil McGarry there would be no Michael Hurley’. His support for ecumenism in the teeth of episcopal discouragement if not opposition was really crucial: for some bishops an individual priest or religious was an ecclesiastical nobody. And in that internationally traumatic year of revolts, 1968, Archbishop McQuaid had requested that a forthcoming Milltown Park Public Lecture of mine on Original Sin be cancelled and that I be removed from the diocese. The Provincial was ready to acquiesce but Cecil as my Rector intervened and reached a compromise: my lecture would not take place but I would stay on in the Dublin diocese.
May Cecil rest in peace.

CECIL McGARRY
Paul Andrews SJ
For Irish Jesuits who lived through the tumultuous years round 1970, Cecil McGarry was an iconic figure, determined, courageous, a harbinger of change and not expecting everybody to love him for it. Becoming a Jesuit was not easy for him: suspected TB interrupted his noviciate, and after nearly a year in Cappagh he had to restart the process. He was not enthused at being sent to study theology in Rome, but he landed there with the fathers of the Vatican Council, which swept him off his feet with the vision of a renewed church.
The students whom he lectured on return to Milltown loved the fresh air he breathed into its fusty atmosphere, and were dismayed when Rome interrupted Brendan Barry’s reign after three years and made Cecil Provincial. It was not easy to instil the Province with the vision of Vatican II, especially when the incumbent archbishop, landing in Dublin after the Council, had announced “No change”.
Cecil used Encounter Groups to loosen up relationships between Jesuits. He set up a Secretariate to facilitate change in a Province unused to it and appointed some young rectors.
Cecil made mistakes, and was heavily criticised, but he so learned from his failures that he was able to lead the Province through six stormy years, and hand over a shaken-up and partly rejuvenated group to enjoy the calmer waters of Fr Paddy Doyle’s Provincialate.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/funeral-of-cecil-mcgarry-sj/

Funeral of Cecil McGarry SJ
Over 500 people gathered in St. John the Evangelist Church in Nairobi to bid farewell to Cecil McGarry SJ on Saturday, November 28th 2010. The Chapel in Mwangaza Spirituality
centre where Cecil worked, lived and died was too small for the numbers expected. The funeral service was moved to the neighbouring parish Church. Religious sisters formed the majority of the congregation and over 30 concelebrants participated. Fr. Provincial of Eastern Africa, Fr. Orobator Agbonkhianmeghe presided and Hekima College Choir led the singing. Cecil’s sister Doreen, his nephew Andrew and wife Trish were present and John K. Guney SJ represented the Irish Provincial at the ceremony and gave the homily. Cecil was buried in the Jesuit cemetery in Mwangaza retreat centre where another Irish Jesuit, Fr. Sean O’Connnor is at rest. Cecil got a great send-off, and the crowds present at the Mass and at the burial service were an indication of the impact he made in Eastern Africa over the past 25 years.

Homily given by Fr. John K. Guiney SJ at Cecil McGarry’s funeral Mass St. John Evangelist Church, Nairobi, Kenya
28 Nov. 2009
Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-9 Psalm 5: 6-8
1 Cor. 9: 16-19
Mt. 5:1-12a
We come together today to mourn, to thank God and to celebrate the life of a very special man.
Cecil McGarry was born in Ireland in 1929. He was a man who loved God, loved the Church and loved the Society of Jesus with all his heart. He was a companion of Jesus for 63 years. He served Christ’s mission in the spirit of the readings we have just heard; he served with all his heart, no half measures and with a passion, perseverance, determination and love that gave outstanding witness to all around him even to those who disagreed with him or opposed him. Words like visionary, courageous, prophetic with a wonderful gift of discernment, wise, manager of change, stubborn and controversial, are descriptions of Cecil by his friends and many others.
An African companion who knew Cecil well wrote me after his death a wonderful testimony to Cecil and his way of living:
“John, a giant has gone to the Father. He was of such stature, spiritual and intellectual that it was difficult to take him for granted. He evoked strong feelings of admiration or even of opposition. He did not care much what people thought of him. Once he was sure a decision was for the Kingdom, he never flinched or wavered. It had to be accomplished effectively and completely. He was of such inner strength. I found out that I could only admire him but could hardly imitate him. He was highly gifted intellectually; he was energetic and dynamic, so much so that he could hardly accept himself, when, in the last couple of years, he was reduced to an almost passive life. And yet, he held on serving to the last: what he could do he did. Whenever I found time, it was to him that I used to go to ‘talk’. We thank God for the great gift of Cecil, to the Society and to the Church, especially to the Church in Kenya and to so many persons who sought his ‘hekima’ (wisdom).”
What were the benchmarks of Cecil’s journey that made him the man he was?. He made a huge impact not only in his Province but also in the universal Society, as Assistant for formation to Fr. General from 1975-84 and in his adopted Province of Eastern Africa.
Cecil joined the Society in 1946 in the midlands of Ireland. One year later, he was asked to leave because of ill health. His dream was shattered; the event was a real dark night of the soul. It was to be the first of many major formative experiences of being tested and called to trust always in Divine Providence. After months of treatment for spinal T.B. he re-applied to the Society and was readmitted.
His peers recall that right through his formation Cecil was Beadle, that is to say, the leader of the scholastics/students. He was perceived somewhat like the prophet Jeremiah who, as we heard today, was gifted with leadership and an ability to discern and articulate God’s ways with people and events in a courageous manner.
In the early 1960s – an era of tremendous change, questioning and upheaval in the world – he was sent to Rome for his postgraduate studies in Theology. The experience of being in Rome during the time of Pope John XX111, Vatican 11, winds of change and renewal blowing through the corridors of the Catholic Church, and the election of the prophetic Pedro Arrupe as General of the Society in 1965, were all crucial formation events for Cecil.
These events and persons were to mark Cecil’s life journey and mission for the rest of his days. He returned to Ireland to teach theology and was soon appointed a very young Rector of the Milltown school of Philosophy and Theology. Immediately he began to work on renewing the formation of the theologian student community. He established small communities of scholastics with emphasis on sharing of life, personal responsibility, accountability and the development of internal structures of guidance and religious values, rather than mere conformity to external institutional rules.
He moved the Institute from a stand-alone Jesuit institute of studies to become a consortium of religious orders where all religious, including women religious and lay men and women, were allowed to pursue their academic and spiritual formation.
He promoted the school of Ecumenics, Peace and Reconciliation, which played a critical role during the growing conflict in Northern Ireland and continues to do so through healing processes for the whole of the island.
At the age of 39, he was appointed as Provincial, one of the youngest men ever to hold the role in the Irish Province. Inspired by the spirit of Vatican 11 and of the 31st Jesuit General Congregation, he moved immediately to update the communities and structures of Jesuit life in Ireland, which had developed shades of monasticism and introspection. He encouraged Jesuit life in Ireland to return to the spirit of its Ignatian sources. He explored with others the explicitly defined mission of the Society of Jesus after the 31st General Congregation as the service of faith of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement. This twinning of faith and justice was the source of tremendous zeal, energy and controversy in the Province and indeed in the whole Society. He set up commissions to reflect on different sectors of Jesuit works and invited lay partners, who were experts in planning, change and management, to work with Jesuits to bring about renewal through reading the signs of the times in accordance with the founding charism. Each year, Provincial renewal programs brought in men and women like the American Jesuit psychologist, Jim Gill, to help people to talk to one another but above all to give Jesuits skills to listen to one another, grow in self awareness and build unity of minds and hearts.
The decisions from this process were many – for example, moving the novitiate from the country to the city, an emphasis on the human and social sciences in studies for scholastics and young priests, the closure of some schools, the immersion of some communities among the poor and a more participative and consultative management style of the Province. He encouraged and facilitated British and Irish Province collaboration and cooperation around formation programs. This was groundbreaking given the historical political and cultural conflicts over the years and the outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland at that time. Cecil believed that in conflict situations the people who must first reach out to join hands across the divide are companions of Jesus.
The responses and reactions to Cecil leadership were manifold. Many of you here today in leadership know that making decisions is not easy but dealing with the reactions can be even more difficult to manage. Some of the reactions were earthshaking and memories (both positive and negative) of his term of office live on in the Irish Province to this very day. The majority, especially, the younger generation, had great appreciation, believing that Cecil enabled the Society of Jesus to enter the 20th.Century and prepare for the 21st. They felt affirmed, trusted and were given responsibility at a young age. Some others were highly critical.
Amidst all this Cecil persevered, convinced that renewal according to the spirit of Vatican 11 and to the spirit of Jesuit Congregations was absolutely essential to apostolic efficaciousness of the Company in Ireland. He lived in a real way the beatitude we read today ‘’blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’’. Thank God the Province had a man of courage to live this beatitude, because it is still being blessed by his vision, discernment, planning and courageous decisions.
Following his six-year term as Provincial, he was sent to Rome to become Assistant for formation in the universal Society. He worked with the same dynamism, zeal and decisiveness in a diversity of contexts, cultures and even creeds of formation. His goal was always the renewal of the Society according to Vatican.11, the Jesuit congregations and in accordance with the spirit and charism of the founder. The formation of ‘men for others’ was the mantra and the end product was always to have men with an inner freedom ready for apostolic service anywhere in the world. His work as always evoked great support and also controversy.
Two of his most painful moments were:

1. The assassination of the Companions in El Salvador which we commemorated in November on the 20th. anniversary. He had been with that Jesuit community immediately before the killings as a special delegate of Fr. Arrupe and they were deciding whether it was safe to send scholastics for regency to El Salvador. 2. Perhaps his most painful moment was the Papal intervention in the Governance of the Society after Fr. Arrupe suffered a stroke. In the true spirit of St. Ignatius he took this with a gracious obedience and holy silence.
   Then God beckoned him for service in Africa.
   I do not dare to say much of this period of his life because each one of you here today has your own homily on Cecil in your heart. I have a number of memories after reuniting with him in Eastern Africa after he and I left Ireland. I remember him on his bicycle as he negotiated the matatus (buses) on Ngong Rd. and I was fearing for his life. I remember him going to the Pallotines in Galapo, Tanzania, to get completely immersed in learning the rich Kiswahili of that country. I remember his excitement about working with Sr. Maura and the Emmanuel Sisters. I remember sharing survival notes with him during his recovery from his brain haemorrhage at Marjorie’s place.
   But what I can say is this; in Africa Cecil found his real spiritual home. Yes, he was a resource person to Congregations and Bishops Conferences; he was teacher, dean, rector, but above all he wanted to be and was a Pastor- a shepherd of souls. IN Eastern Africa, he lived the quintessence of Ignatian and Celtic Spirituality -he became an ANAM CHARA as we say in Gaelic, a Soul Friend to numerous people and communities. He enabled so many people to discover and follow the will of God and to find peace. The presence of so many women here today is evidence of the way he enabled and empowered women to seek and find God’s will.
   In finding his real spiritual home in Eastern Africa he wanted to be buried among the people he loved so much. We pay tribute to his family, Doreen, Andrew and Trish, who are with us today to represent all his family, for supporting and loving him in mission and setting him free to serve the God he loved so much and allowing him to be buried in his adopted country and Province.
   I invite you all to join in the old Irish blessing for those who have passed on before us – “Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis” (may Cecil’s faithful soul be at God’s right hand). AMEN.

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions :
As in “Jesuits in Ireland “ : https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/87-irish-jesuit-dies-in-kenya

IRISH JESUIT DIES IN KENYA
Irish born Jesuit, Fr.Cecil McGarry, died in Nairobi on November 24th.2009. John K. Guiney attended his funeral and gave the homily at the Requiem Mass.
Cecil served Christ’s mission with all his heart, no half measures, and with a passion, perseverance, determination and love that gave outstanding witness to all around him, even to those who disagreed with him or opposed him.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 142 : Spring 2010

Obituary

Fr Cecil McGarry (1929-2009) : East African Province

Paul Andrews writes:
Why was it that, from the Juniorate on, we saw Cecil as a future Provincial? It is a clear memory, this agreement among the brethren that here was a man made for leadership. It was not just that whisper of a miracle which enabled him to resume his novitiate, interrupted when the doctors initially told him: “With a tubercular abscess on the spine you will not be able for the Jesuit life”. In his revealing memoir Seduced (in Call and Response, Frances Makower's collection of vocation stories), Cecil recalls his conversion experience:

“The heart of my novitiate vision had been a companionship that required a radical availability to God and his will. Reluctantly I came to see that God could be calling me to live that availability to him as a layman and possibly with impaired health for the rest of my life. It was one thing to understand that this was the real meaning of what I had committed myself to during the Spiritual Exercises, quite another to accept it now in quite changed circumstances. I could never forget the moment I did so, during a sleepless night in Cappagh Hospital. It was a moment of great pain but profound consolation, in which I accepted that my life was God's gift to me and that it was for him to determine its course; my part was to be available to his will”.

Whatever the reason - the blessing of John Sullivan's crucifix or a faulty diagnosis – repeated X-rays showed no sign of the tubercular abscess, and Cecil returned to Emo to start his novitiate all over again. The experience left him visibly stronger. He was his own man among us overgrown schoolboys. His background was not untypical: middle child of a civil servant father and a mother of deep but unobtrusive faith; impressed by his glimpse of Jesuit teachers in his three years in Belvedere; intelligent but not academically ambitious; a good companion - even to old age when, on leave from Kenya, he would join a Jesuit group in Kerry. God had touched him in some special way. The fact that in all the houses of study he was appointed beadle of the scholastics - a sort of tribune between the authorities and the plebs – reflected the confidence in him felt by both parties; responsible, perceptive, strong, not a yes-man. Even his formal relationships were softened by his genuine charm, thoughtfulness and sense of humour: in any discussion of the Jews' disdain for tax-collectors, he liked to remind us that his father was the head of all Ireland's taxmen.

Yet his path was not a smooth one, even after the health crisis in Emo. At the end of his studies he was happy to be fingered as a future master of novices, and destined for a course in Rome in ascetical and mystical theology. But the shakers and movers in Milltown wanted a canonist, and Cecil's destiny was changed to a doctorate in Canon Law, a devastating blow: “Canon or Church law held no interest for me, and the last thing in the world I wanted was to spend my life teaching in a seminary”. When Visitor John McMahon changed this to a Roman course in systematic theology, the relief at escaping from legal studies was tempered by the prospect of becoming a seminary professor at a time when the divine science in Milltown was at its nadir. Cecil could not have realised that windows were being opened in Rome, and the fathers of the Vatican Council were coming together, bringing a vision of a renewed church, a vision which swept Cecil off his feet.

The students whom he lectured on return to Milltown loved the fresh air he breathed into its fusty atmosphere, and were dismayed when Rome interrupted Brendan Barry's reign after three years and made Cecil Provincial. It was not easy to instil the Province with the vision of Vatican II, especially when the incumbent archbishop, landing in Dublin after the Council, had announced "No change". Cecil listed the hard questions that he faced: “Were we not doing good things in the Irish Province? Undeniably. But were they the better things? Were they the most needed in Ireland at the time? Were they serving the more universal good? Were they the works that others were not doing? Fidelity to our own Constitutions, and to Pope John's signs of the times, required that we ask such questions. Pedro Arrupe's convictions and vision had become mine”.

But they were, initially at least, in conflict with many existing attitudes in the Province. This resistance surfaced most painfully at the 1970 Provincial Congregation, which overwhelmed Cecil with deep desolation, discouragement and doubts as to whether he could continue trying to lead people where they did not want to go.

Instead he sought another way forward: to facilitate new spiritual experiences in the Province, that would free men from fear and help them to communicate at a deeper and more personal level. So he used Encounter Groups to loosen up relationships between Jesuits. He sought help from other provinces to introduce individually directed Spiritual Exercises, and to encourage greater familiarity with our Constitutions. He received huge help from Eoin McCarthy, the consultant who visited every house in the Province, listened to almost every Jesuit in residence, and wrote a perceptive report which is still worth reading. Cecil set up a Secretariat to facilitate change in a Province unused to it. He gave enthusiastic support to the Irish School of Ecumenics during its difficult early years. As chairman of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of men, he reached a new level of communion with other Religious, which bore visible fruit in the Milltown Institute, financed and managed by a partnership of about ten congregations. He appointed some young rectors, three of whom left the Society shortly afterwards. Cecil made mistakes, and was heavily criticised, but he so learned from his failures that he was able to lead the Province through six stormy years, and hand over a shaken-up and partly rejuvenated group to enjoy the calmer waters of Fr Paddy Doyle's Provincialate.

The 32nd General Congregation in 1974 gave Cecil a new direction, when it elected him one of the General's four Assistants ad providentiam, Fr Arrupe's counsellor and companion in government.

That companionship was sorely needed at a time when Pope Paul VI reprimanded the Congregation for discussing the question of Grades in the Society, and openly wondered whether he could continue to trust us as before. It became clear that the Society did not enjoy the confidence of the central authorities of the Church during the remaining years of Fr Arrupe's generalate. Our commitment to a service of faith that does justice was alien to some Jesuits, who had the ear of high Vatican officials. This came to a head when Pope John Paul II, after refusing Arrupe's resignation and seeing him, in consequence, disabled by a stroke, dismissed his Vicar General, suspended the Constitutions, and appointed Fathers Dezza and Pittau to do their best as an interregnum. All that Arrupe and Cecil had worked for seemed to be ashes.

Three years later, after the election of Fr Kolvenbach as General, Cecil was asked to help in the establishment of Hekima, the East African theologate in Nairobi. He was Hekima's first dean of studies and professor of Systematic Theology from 1984-1994. Then he became its rector from 1995 to 1998. He was frequently called upon to assist the Kenyan bishops and to advise them as a resource person in many important seminars and conferences. In 1994 he played an important role in the first African Synod in Rome (he shared in the pain that the synod would not be held in the continent), where he was a member of the synod's secretariat. Cecil was also involved in the development of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, as consultant as well as a professor of theology.

After a sabbatical, Cecil moved to Mwangaza retreat house near Nairobi, where he directed the Exercises from 1999 until a few weeks before his death. A brain haemorrhage in 2001 had brought him to death's door, but he fought his way back to full ministry. He gave spiritual direction to numerous lay people, Religious, priests and bishops, and assisted many religious congregations in their efforts towards renewal and growth.

The flame we saw as Juniors still burned strongly, uncomfortably. “How”, he asked, “does one continue to feel with the Church, and to love it - such integral aspects of the Jesuit way of life - when the Spirit of Jesus seems to have been arrested and confined, as Jesus himself was in his time? My response can only be: I love Christ in this Church because I cannot love him apart from his Church. He lives in this body, in which I too am a sinful part”.

Cecil has left us an agenda (Seduced, page 77): “Many of the most burning issues in the Church community are resolutely excluded from the agendas even of synods of bishops by papai authority. Are the bishops not to be trusted? What is the true meaning of collegiality? Should we not search for truth, wherever it leads, confident that it will set us free? Truth about such issues as the place and role of women in the Church, sexual morality, obligatory celibacy of the clergy in the Church of the West, the demands and limits of collegiality and inculturation. Is there no danger that we are forgetting the stricture of Jesus: You load on people burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not move a finger to lift (Luke 11,46)? Is open dialogue, so treasured in the early Church and by Vatican II, to be entirely abandoned? Why do we not believe any more in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but only in that of central authority? Is this the way to foster loyalty, participation and love within the Church? Is this the way the Church of Rome should preside over the whole community?”

The legacy of this remarkable man, this great lover of the Society, is not merely in his massive accomplishments, but in his passion for a renewed Church and a renewed Society, in his unrealised dreams, and the work in progress, waiting for us to carry on.

From a letter of the Provincial of Eastern Africa (Nov. 24, 2009) to the Province of Eastern Africa (to which Cecil belonged):

Brothers: Greetings of Peace!
I have just received the sad news of the death of Fr Cecil McGarry at Pedro Arrupe Community, where he lived and worked for over 10 years. As you know, Cecil's condition had deteriorated rapidly due to a relapse of his prostate cancer, which compromised his kidneys.......

Cecil came to the Eastern Africa Province in 1984, as part of the team chosen by Fr Arrupe himself to found Hekima College, the first theologate of the African Assistancy. He was Hekima's first dean of studies and professor of Systematic Theology from 1984-1994. Then, he became its rector from 1995 to 1998.

Cecil's availability to serve the Church and the Society of Jesus in Africa took him beyond his full-time job at Hekima College. For many years he was frequently called upon by both AMECEA (Association of Members of the Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa) and the Kenyan Episcopal Conference to assist the bishops and to advise them as a resource person in many important seminars and conferences. He played a very important role in the first African Synod in Rome in 1994, where he was a member of the synod's secretariat. Cecil was also involved in the development of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), as consultant as well as a professor of theology. Moreover, at our province level, Cecil assisted our provincials with the governance of the newly established Eastern Africa Province, as well as with his availability to listen and give good advice to many companions,

After a well-deserved sabbatical, Cecil was assigned to continue his apostolic mission in retreat ministry at Mwangaza. He devoted his entire life to this ministry from 1999 until a few weeks before his death. All this time, Cecil guided the retreats of many people, gave spiritual direction to numerous bishops, priests, religious and lay people. and assisted many religious congregations in their efforts towards renewal and growth.

Cecil lived an exemplary life, fully devoted to the Society's mission, the formation of Ours and the apostolates, Not infrequently, he was likened to Pedro Arrupe, for the depth of his courage and the breadth of his vision as a Jesuit. The fruits of his presence among us will last a long time. The occasion of his death is a time to give thanks to God for a life well lived. As we say goodbye to Cecil, our companion, the example of his life inspires us to recommit ourselves more deeply to our Jesuit religious life as servants of Christ's mission.

I would like to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, for the presence of Cecil among us for so many fruitful years. In the person of Cecil they shared with us one of the best Jesuit companions they had. We are deeply grateful to the Irish Province for sending us fine Jesuit companions who have witnessed to the universal mission of the Society and for giving their constant support to our province's apostolic initiatives all these years. We pray in a special way for the Irish Province, so that the Lord may reward their generosity and steadfast commitment to the universal mission of the Society.

I would also like to thank the superior, members, nursing staff and support staff of Pedro Arrupe Community, and the collaborators and staff of Mwangaza, who cared for Cecil with so much love and affection during the time of his illness. Their care and love for Cecil with so much love and affection during the time of his illness will remain a blessing to the Society of Jesus in Eastern Africa....

A. E. Orobator, S.J., Provincial of Eastern Africa

Born: 11 February 1922, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 February 1940, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977
Died: 23 May 2000, St Paul's Hospital, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Part of the Wah Yan College, Hong Kong community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03/12/1966; HK to CHN : 1992

by 1949 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1966 at Hornchurch, Essex (ANG) studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Francis McGaley, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Francis McGaley died in St. Paul’s Hospital on 23 May 2000 after a long illness. He was 78.

Father McGaley came to Hong Kong in 1948 and studied Cantonese in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. He taught in Wah Yan College, Robinson Road for one year before returning to Ireland in 1951 to study theology. In 1956 he returned as a priest to teach in the new Wah Yan on Queen’s Road East where with the exception of one year (1959-60) in Cheung Chau studying Cantonese and another (1956-66) in London University studying Modern History, he lived until his last illness. He taught History, English and Religion, was the Spiritual Father to the senior students and also had charge of the Christian Life Community and the Apostleship of Prayer. He was a good teacher and appreciated by the students as a person interested and devoted to them. As Spiritual Father he was much sought after by Catholics and others and many Wah Yan old boys kept in contact with him.

Father McGaley was well-known to the parishioners at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Wanchai, where for over 30 years he said Sunday Mass and heard confessions. His pastoral work among religious and lay people included Mass, talks and religious retreats. He led a very full life in the service of God.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 4 June 2000

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Casey G., Grogan and Sullivan leave England for Hong Kong on 2nd July on the ‘Canton’. On the following day Fr. Kevin O'Dwyer hopes to sail with Fr. Albert Cooney from San Francisco on the ‘General Gordon’ for the same destination.
The following will be going to Hong Kong in August : Frs. Joseph Mallin and Merritt, Messrs. James Kelly, McGaley, Michael McLoughlin and Geoffrey Murphy.

Born: 05 February 1910, Brighton, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 02 March 1926, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows:15 August 1943
Died: 07 May 1982, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, 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
Patrick McEvoy spent his boyhood in Croydon, Vic., and was educated at Xavier College. He was always intellectually advanced, and completed his secondary studies when only fifteen years of age. He entered the Society, 2 March 1926, Loyola College, Greenwich, a few weeks after his sixteenth birthday.
He pursued all his priestly studies in Ireland, at Rathfarnham, Tullabeg, and Milltown Park, and gained a BA in classics from the University of Dublin. He never did regency, and
was ordained, 24 June 1937. He returned to Australia in 1939, after tertianship in Wales, and remained on the philosophy faculty until the end of 1961, during which time he was prefect of studies from 1941-61. He was transferred to teach secondary school boys Latin at St Aloysius College, Sydney, 1962-82, and was prefect of studies, 1970-71.
McEvoy was never given the opportunity to undertake special postgraduate studies in philosophy, but that did not seem to worry him. He had a strong influence on many Jesuit
scholastics, especially those interested in philosophy He lectured in classically pure Latin for an hour without notes and with intense concentration and seriousness, in clear and logical fashion. He set high standards for himself and demanded the same of others. He was intolerant of weakness in people, and could not adequately deal with weaker students. He saw truth very clearly, and wondered why others could not he so enlightened. In examinations, however, he could be gentle, and was always courteous and respectful.
He was the most distinguished metaphysician in the province, drew up his own codex in rational psychology and natural theology, but otherwise, wrote little. He was not a neo-Scholastic, but rather belonged to the transcendental Thomist school of Pierre Scheuer and Joseph Maréchal from Louvain. Other professors did not always accept his views, and students were sometimes caught between these differing opinions, especially during oral examinations.
McEvoy was a complex character in many ways, very clever and competent, with childlike simplicity in many of his daily reflections on life. Whatever his task, whether as philosophy
professor, teacher of biology, destroyer of forests, teacher of Latin, or administrator of studies, he performed all with extraordinary perfection. Yet, while always sure about his work, he seemed to be unsure of himself. From being a “dapper young man” in his early days in the Society, he went to an extreme state of sartorial disrepair. When he took up biology, his room took on the air of a neglected slaughterhouse. At St Aloysius' College, his room took many months to clean up and paint and retouch the walls. He had lived in a slum. One of his major recreations was watching the wrestling on television on Saturday mornings while correcting Latin exercises.
A short time after giving a scholastic “contio” on the sacredness of the priestly state in which he was reported as saying that any form of manual labor was beneath the sacerdotal dignity, he plunged himself into such a degree of servile work as had not been seen in a Jesuit before. He became a truck driver and woodsman. He built up a wartime woodpile at Watsonia that seemed to rival the Great Wall of China!
As a scholastic himself he was an “enfant terrible” with superiors. They wondered if he was suitable for ordination. But as minister of philosophers he was a very stern disciplinarian.
Only a magnificent physique such as he had could have stood up to the battering to which he subjected it. Periods of intense study alternated with bouts of excessive physical labor. He smoked with all the avidity of a confirmed addict. A homemade cigarette world be waiting with matches to be snatched within seconds of the end of a lecture. On Long Table days, and other days, he enjoyed the opportunity of partaking in any liquid refreshment provided. He appeared to have an indestructible constitution.
For years he belted around the countryside on a heavy motorcycle whose mechanism and eccentricities he soon mastered with his usual competence, and which he controlled in the same unrelenting manner with which he tackled everything. When he was at St Aloysius College, every year he would travel from Sydney to Melbourne on his current rusty mount. He used to stop at Tarcutta, buy some meat pies and then sleep under a tree. On one occasion, making the journey by night, he was thrown off the machine. He lay unconscious on the ground for some time. When he recovered consciousness he remounted the cycle and continued riding. However, he soon discovered that in his semi-stunned state he was travelling in the opposite direction.
The change from philosophy professor to Latin teacher to secondary boys was considerable, but McEvoy proved himself most adaptable. He was respected and even liked by the small number of boys who met him in Latin classes. With staff he was reserved except at school celebrations, when he could prove that he had greater staying power than anyone else. He found it hard to relate to Jesuits, as he was very critical of their weaknesses. In recreation he would sit by himself, drink and read the paper. If greeted by a visitor, he would respond with a short burst of strained joviality and then, not being able to continue, relapse into silence. He never gave the appearance that he was interested in others unless they related to him in some way.
This was the complexity of McEvoy, talented in so many fields and yet remaining manqué. There was an intense shyness, perhaps even a totally unwarranted inferiority complex. He was not comfortable with his peers, but he enjoyed the company of the young, either scholastics or adolescent boys. With them he could be relaxed and at ease. He was not just a rationalist, he could meet people heart to heart. McEvoy, however, must remain an important figure in the Australian province. He was the real founder of the new Australian philosophate and a man of solid faith and unadorned spirituality - a man rough hewn perhaps by the unwisdom of other times, but never destroyed by it.

Born: 14 June 1891, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1910, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1929
Died: 31 January 1979, Bridge House, Westbourne, Bournemouth, Dorset, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1921 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1920-1924
by 1925 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship
by 1926 came to Australia (HIB)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William McEntegart came from a large family with strong Irish origins and deep religious affiliation. He was a man with a large frame, long, but always lean and athletic. He must have been a precocious schoolboy at St Francis Xavier's College, for he graduated and completed a BSc degree from Liverpool University by the time he was nineteen years old.
He entered the Society at Roehampton, England, 7 September 1910, and enjoyed his philosophy studies at St Mary's Hall. Regency was at St Ignatius' College, Stamford Hill, where
he taught science and mathematics. He was remembered as a terrifying teacher, but it was a period of time when vocations resulted from the school, so the students must have been impressed.
For theology McEntegart went to Milltown Park, Dublin, 1921-24, and was in tertianship at Tullabeg the following year. Novices at the time in that house remember him for his fondness for fresh air, windows wide open and feet outside. He had Little time for stuffy officialdom and made a point of amusing the novices. He managed to let them know items of news normally concealed from them. He took a kindly interest in their well being, and though never edifying in the conventional sense made them feel happier.
Then began negotiations for him to teach philosophy in Australia. The Irish provincial considered him a very suitable person, and the English provincial reluctantly allowed him to go. McEntegart wanted to go to Australia.
He arrived in 1926 and went to Corpus Christi College, Werribee, to teach philosophy. But it was not long before he clashed with the rector, Albert Power. McEntegart was a genial, easy-going man. Albert Power a small, intense, hard-drivlng and rather narrow man. The latter persuaded himself the former was having a bad influence on the students, and had him moved to Riverview in 1927. He had McEntegart's final vows postponed, despite clearance from the English province. After this treatment, McEntegart naturally desired to return to his own province, and left Australia in February 1929. He was a great loss.
His next assignment was to Stonyhurst and the Mount, teaching mathematics and physics, but this was short lived. In 1930 he settled down to teach Thomist philosophy, especially cosmology, at Heythrop College quite successfully for thirteen years. His students found him a particularly fine and interesting lecturer on frequently dull subjects. He made his lectures interesting by often bringing in a newspaper, from which he would read an article and comment on it humorously and often devastatingly. He could be witty and even a little wicked at times. He was much liked by his students.
It was recalled that he would say Mass in a basement chapel that attracted gnats and mosquitoes, so a “moustiquaire” was made for McEntegart, who rewarded the donor with a couple of cheroots, golf balls and, on his birthday, a full size cigar. McEntegart enjoyed playing bridge and golf and was keen on solving esoteric crossword puzzles at Christmas time.
From 1954-64 McEntegart filled a number of useful assignments. He did a year as professor of philosophy in the Madurai province and then joined the staff of Campion High School,
Trichinopoly. Later he returned to England and taught moral theology living at Manresa House, Roehampton. Then he was chaplain at Gateley Hall, the junior school for Farnborough Convent, followed by a year at Assisi Maternity Home, Grayshott.
In 1964 he joined the St Francis Xavier's College community at High Lee, Woolton. This enabled him to renew a number of family contacts in the Liverpool area. He was faithful to his daily Latin “Tridentine” Mass. He could keep himself amused and interested at all times and developed a first class knowledge of horse racing on television. Amusing comments were made about the advancing involvement of lay people in the Church after Vatican II. He also developed unusual food habits. In contradiction to modern medicine, he became addicted to animal fats and dripping. The more cholesterol he had, the better he flourished.
In 1970 he was assigned to St Beuno's. McEntegart lived a long life and was appreciated by many, especially by the scholastics who experienced so much of his thoughtfulness and kindness.

Born: 01 October 1887, Loughrea, County Galway
Entered: 05 May 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 21 August 1953, Our Lady's Hospice, Dublin

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

Brother of Timothy McEntee - LEFT 1921

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Draper before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 28th Year No 4 1953
Obituary :
Brother Hugh McEntee
When Brother McEntee went to hospital no one imagined that his health was to deteriorate the way it did. After a period of convalescence, he returned to Clongowes for a short time. We were surprised to see the great change in him. Clearly he had lost his customary vigour.
During this brief period, he could be seen making his way slowly along the corridor, trying to exercise himself that he might regain some of his previous energy to fit himself once more for his work as Sacristan, The boys, who always held him in high esteem, noticed his weakened condition and to members of the community they expressed their hope that Brother McEntee would soon be hale and hearty once again and be back in the Sacristy. But it was not to be, for despite further medical attention, he continually failed in health, finally in the Hospice of the Dying, on August 21st, he passed peacefully away, having received the Last Sacraments.
He was born at Loughrea on October 1st, 1887, and was educated there. As a young man he set up his own drapery business in the same town. After some time he sold out and came to Dublin where he was in employment at T. Lyons and Co., Wholesale Drapers, Chathan Row. Here he was remarkable for his piety and zeal, chiefly manifested by a striking devotion to the sick, as well as his constancy in assisting in the enrolment of large numbers of boys in the Brown Scapular. As regards. the latter devotion, he had great faith in the revelation to St. Simon Stock, namely, that those members of the Brown Scapular who died in the proper dispositions would be released from Purgatory on the Saturday following their death. Hence, it was that he prayed that he would die on a Friday, and his prayer was answered.
On May 5th, 1920, he entered the novitiate at Tullabeg. He remained at this house until 1927 when he was transferred to Clongowes. With the exception of the period 1938-1944 when he was in Mungret, Brother McEntee spent the rest of his religious life at Clongowes.
As Sacristan of the Boys' Chapel and the People's Church, he was a model of order, neatness and efficiency. He had a constant loyalty and an abiding interest in his work, and was always most obliging and charitable. The local boys, whom he had instructed in Mass-serving and as Benediction acolytes, were very devoted to him. The boys in the college looked upon him as a necessary part of Clongowes, where he was erroneously but affectionately known as “Brother McGinty”. A past pupil, now a priest in the Dublin Diocese, said that as a boy he was most impressed by the brother. This good priest confessed that in his public request for prayers to his congregation he unconsciously reverted to his student days and referred to “Brother McGinty”. No doubt, the good brother appreciated the slip.
Brother McEntee's earlier devotion to the sick revealed itself in is religious life by his thoughtfulness in sending Catholic booklets, leaflets and holy pictures to hospitals and orphanages, and these undoubtedly brought consolation and assistance to many souls.
May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1954

Obituary

Brother Hugh McEntee SJ

Many Clongownians will regret the passing of Brother Hugh McEntee SJ. He was born on October 1st, 1887, and died on August 21st, 1953, having given the greater part of a holy life to Our Lord's service in the Society.

Both as refectorian and sacristan, he was most painstaking and efficient. His desire to diffuse happiness and pleasure in others, especially young boys, was ever : active ; his keen sense of humour was at call whenever occasion demanded; his manner was friendly, genial. and kind. But more than all his other commendable qualities, one may recall his practical devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He never spared himself in order to have the Boy's Chapel and the People's Church always spotlessly clean and ornate. Every sacred vessel and even the least candlestick seemed, with the perfect lustre of each, to tell the Hidden God really present in the tabernacle, the true story of his own heart's adoration and love.

His piety did not begin merely when he entered the Society. Even as a young man, when he owned a drapery business in Loughrea, Co Galway, he had a remarkable zeal for the sanctification of souls. He was an active and eager auxiliary of the local clergy in the work of enrolling boys and young men in the Brown Scapular of the Blessed Virgin.

He first came to Clongowes in 1927, when he was appointed refectorian and here he remained until July, 1938. After six years in Mungret College, he returned to us as sacristan. His last illness was long and painful but his resignation to God's will was most exemplary. RIP

Born: 21 July 1834, Virginia, County Cavan
Entered 09 August 1865, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 15 July 1860 - pre Entry
Final vows: 02 February 1876
Died: 24 December 1902, Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia

by 1870 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
Early Australian Missioner 1877 - first to New Zealand 1879

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Was already a Priest on Entry.

1877 He set sail for Melbourne with Daniel Clancy, Oliver Daly and James Kennedy (Left 1898). During his thirty seven years in the Society, he worked as a Missionary in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
1878 He was sent with Joseph O’Malley to found a house in New Zealand which ended up being closed. Joseph O’Malley lived at Dunedin and Thomas lived at Invercargill.
On Christmas Eve 1902 he saw two children in a car being drawn by a frightened horse. In trying to stop the runaway car and save the children he was knocked down and rendered unconscious. The horse stopped and the children escaped unhurt, but Thomas died without recovering consciousness 24/12/1902.

Note from Joseph O’Malley Entry :
1878 He went to New Zealand with Thomas McEnroe, to Dunedin, at the invitation of Bishop Patrick Moran. There was a College started there which was not a success, and he returned to Australia in 1885 and to Riverview until 1890.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-jesuits-in-new-zealand/

JESUITICA: Jesuits in New Zealand
There is no Jesuit house in New Zealand, though there have been false starts. There was a short-lived Jesuit mission in Invercargill, and Jesuits taught philosophy in the Christchurch seminary. Wicklow-born Bishop Moran of Dunedin wanted a Jesuit school, and in 1878 welcomed two Irish Jesuits, Joseph O’Malley and Thomas McEnroe, who opened St Aloysius’ College in Dunedin (pictured here), with fifteen boarders and six day-boys. But it was the bishop rather than the people who wanted the school, and it lasted only five years. The site became a golf course, in which the 14th hole is still called (incongruously for Jesuits) “the Monastery”.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas McEnroe entered the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, as a secular priest, 9 August 1865. He revised his theology at Louvain, 1869, was a rural missionary, 1874-76, and arrived in Australia in 1878. Then he set off for New Zealand, and first taught in the college at Waikari, then was in Dunedin as minister, and finally, from 1882, cared for the parish of Invercargill until 1888.
He returned later to North Sydney and parish work until 1890, and after a year at Riverview worked in the parish of Richmond, 1891-93, and North Sydney, 1893-97. During these years he gave retreats interstate. He was in the parish of Hawthorn, 1897-01, and, finally, lived at Loyola College, Greenwich, in failing health. He died, however, after bravely trying to stop a bolting horse.
He was a very upright, zealous and hardworking priest, also meticulous and methodical, which made him a good procurator. However, he was inclined to be harsh in his views and sharp in expressing them, and not a very comfortable companion in a small community.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Thomas McEnroe 1834-1902
Fr Thomas McEnroe was born in Virginia County Cavan on July 21st 1834. He entered the Society as a secular priest in 1865.

He spent 25 years on the mission in Australia, where he did great work for the glory of God and the good of souls. On Christmas Eve 1902, he heard confessions in one of our Churches in North Sydney. When he left the Church, he saw two children in a car drawn by a frightened horse. In trying to stop the runaway and save the children, he was knocked down and rendered unconscious. The horse stopped and the children were saved, but Fr McEnroe died without regaining consciousness.

Born: 24 October 1901, Crayford, Kent, England
Entered: 29 June 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park
Final Vows: 02 February 1943, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 11 December 1952, Mungret College, County Limerick

by 1936 at Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Civil Servant before entry
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 28th Year No 2 1953
Obituary :
Father William (Liam) McElligott
Father William McElligott was born in Crayford, Kent, in 1901. At an early age he went to Bruges, to a school run by the American Xaverian Brothers. In later years he used often recall his bewilderment when he awoke on his first morning there, a lonely little boy, surrounded by French speakers who buttoned their shirts up the back. Later on, probably owing to the 1914 war, he was at the Xaverian Brothers' school at Mayfield, Sussex.
He entered the British Civil Service in 1917. Between then and the Treaty of 1921, he seems to have taken some active part in the Anglo Irish war, for which he was later decorated with the Cogadh na Saoirse Medal. It was probably during these years that he learned to speak, as he could fluently, his Kerry Irish. After the ratification of the Treaty, he was transferred to the newly created Irish Civil Service, and worked with the Land Commission until his retirement on entering the Society.
So it was, at the age of 27, he first came to Mungret to learn Latin preparatory to his noviceship. He had always an interest in, and a flair for languages, and his fellow-novices, with their years of Latin studies behind them, were amazed at the fluency and accuracy with which he could speak and write Latin, after a single year of study.
Leaving Mungret in June, 1929, he entered the noviceship at Tullabeg at the end of the same month. Tho' he was a grown man of settled habits, who had seen the world and in such of its harsher side, he was always quite at his ease with his school-boy colleagues. And on their part, his fellow-novices looked forward to having him for recreation or for a walk--for he was good company, ever and always. Even so early in his religious life, he was wont to say that he neither expected nor wanted to live much beyond the age of fifty. Whether he was joking or serious, he had his wish.
After his First Vows, in September 1931, Fr. Liam went to Tullabeg for his Philosophy. At the end of his second year there, his state of nerves demanded a change and he was sent to Mungret for two years, 1933-35, where he was Second Prefect. In 1935 he had improved sufficiently to go to Heythrop and complete his Philosophy course. The next year he returned to Mungret as First Prefect. In all he was a Prefect in Mungret for four years the three mentioned above and for another year after his Tertianship. That friendly companionship, which his fellow-novices had noticed, found its development in his interest in his lads, both youngsters and seniors, and in the affection with which he inspired them. As a disciplinarian, he was on the strict side, with memories perhaps of his own continental up-bringing, and yet he had the gift of retaining the friendship even of those towards whom he had had to show severity.
The 1937 Status sent him to Theology at Milltown, and the struggle with nerves and insomnia and their consequences became more tense. However, with almost heroic efforts he pulled through, and was ordained in 1940. After his Fourth year and his Tertianship at Rathfarnham he returned to Mungret, where he was to end his life some ten years later.
After a year's spell as Prefect and another as “Doc. Praef. Od.” in 1944 Fr. McElligott took up the duties of “Adj Proc. Dom.” Therein and in his French classes, he found an outlet for the last two of the many talents he possessed-all chance of exploiting the rest of them in the Lord's service had vanished with the slow decline of his previous condition. His books were a model of accuracy and neatness,; his skill in solving the many crises of supply of essentials and near-essentials in the extremely difficult post-war years was remarkable. At times he seems to have regretted that a Jesuit house is not run on the tidy lines of a Civil Service Department. He certainly worried over what to another man would have been trifles, but this worry was a contributory cause to his untimely death. But “Fidelis servus et prudens” sums up his life during these harrowing years. As Fr. Rector said in a tribute he paid to Fr. Liam's memory at Break-Up in Dec. 1952 : “All the improvements we see around us in Mungret are due principally to Fr. Liam's careful husbanding of our resources in those difficult times”. He can, in no slight way, be numbered among those “Men who made Mungret”.
Fr. McElligott took a keen interest in the methods of teaching modern languages. As far as he himself was concerned, he had acquired no small skill in some of the most difficult-Magyar, Polish and Russian. Nor was it merely an academic interest that led him to study these unusual tongues, but rather a very practical and unassuming charity towards a number of refugee boys who found their way to Mungret, owing to the movement of Nations during and consequent to the recent war. One of his regrets was his failure to inspire in his classes an interest comparable to his own. His pupils had a much more limited objective to pass their exam. They did indeed attain their object, often with distinction, but their teacher's enthusiasm for the language met with small response.
During these hidden years of his life, he carried on a quiet apostolate amongst his old boys, advising, helping and cheering them on their way. Many were the letters that came to Mungret after his death, paying tribute to all that he had done in most cases quite unbeknownst to his colleagues.
For some eight months before his death, he was disimproving in health, with however, not a few brilliant flashes of the “old Mac” whom we had known. During the Spring and early Summer he was away for treatment for bad blood pressure. When term re-opened in September he was obviously far from well. The doctors were so disturbed by his condition that they had confined him to bed for a fortnight before his fatal attack. He fretted more at the prospect of a life of inactivity than at the possibility of a sudden call. He died on December 11th, fortified by the Rites of Holy Church and is buried in Mungret where he had spent all of his religious life apart from his years of study. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1953

Obituary

Father William McElligott SJ

Fr McElligott dead. Could it be possible? Yet, the sad news that came to us on the afternoon of December with was only too true.

Born in Creyford, Kent, in 1901 Liam McElligott went at an early age to Bruges in Beigium to be educated. At the outbreak of the 1914 War he was brought back to the Xaverian Brothers School at Mayfield, Sussex. In 1917, he entered the British Civil Service. Between then and 1921, he seems to have taken part in the Anglo-Irish War for he was decorated later with the Cogadh na Saoirse Medal. It was probably during those years, that he learned to speak fluently his Kerry Irish.

After the ratification of the Treaty, he was transferred to the newly created Irish Civil Service. He worked in the Land Commission until his entrance into the Society of Jesus. Among the staff of the Land Commission he made many friends; to these the news of his death came as a great shock.

In 1928 he came to Mungret to study Latin, and in the following year entered the Society. The years 1933-35 saw him back in Mungret as Second Club Prefect. After Philosophy he spent a year here as First Prefect 1936-37. In 1942, two two years after his Ordination, he was Prefect for another year. He showed an absorbing interest as a Prefect, in those who came under his charge. Strict in inatters of discipline, he retained the friendship of boys long after they had left Mungret.

His love of music led him to help many boys who were studying it. He had a critical appreciation of music in its various forms, and was himself an acc omplished pianist. Those who were intimate with him will remember his half humourous pretence of being a mere amateur.

In 1944 he was appointed assistant procurator of the college, and he fulfilled the onerous duties of his office until his death. The war years brought him many difficulties, but his skill and patience brought us through with the minimum of inconvenience. Fr Rector's tribute to his work, at the close of the term in December may well be quoted:

All, the improvements we see around us in Mungret are due principally to Fr. Liam's careful husbanding of our resources in those difficult times. He can in no slight way be numbered among those “Men who made Mungret”.

Methods of teaching were of keen interest of him. Those who were taught by him in Mungret have a vivid recoll ection of his energy, vitality, and earnestness. French. was a favourite subject of his, but he cheerfully admitted that his efforts to teach French pronun ciation were not a complete success. He had a paternal interest in the boys who came to the College from foreign lands after the war. He made a study of Magyar, Polish and Russian languages to tide these newcomers over the lingustic difficulties they experienced. During all the years he was in Mungret, he lived for the College. He was a familiar figure among the boys helping, encour aging, and cheering them with that humourous playfulness that still remains a precious memory.

It is perhaps for his charming sense of humour, and spirit of innocent fun that he will be especially remembered,

During his life in the Society, it might be said that he was never free from ill health. Nervous strain and insomnia were his constant Cross. To these in the last years of his life, was added the blood pressure, which was destined to prove fatal. Some time before his condition became critical, the doctors ordered him complete rest. In those last weeks, though he could not see much hope of recovering his former health. he retained his old spirit of cheerfulness, and talked lightheartedly of the future. On December 11th the end came suddenly, and he passed peacefully away fortified by the rites of Holy Church.

Born: 04 January 1905, Oughterard, County Galway
Entered: 28 September 1933, St Stanislaus, Guelph, ONT, Canada - Canada Superiors Province (CAN S)
Ordained: 30 June 1946
Final vows: 02 February 1949
Died: 15 July 1986, Phoenix AZ, USA - Canada Superiors Province (CAN S)

by 1948 came to Rathfarnham (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 25 December 1823, County Mayo
Entered: 04 December 1861, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 20 March 1871, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

by 1865 at Montauban France (TOLO) studying Theology 4

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Had been a Priest working in the Harrogate Mission in England before Entry. His Entry annoyed the local Bishop.

He was sub-Minister at Milltown, and spent a year at Montaubon studying Theology.
He was then procurator at Clongowes until his death there 20 March 1871.

Born: 28 March 1858, Rathmines, Dublin
Entered: 15 February 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 26 July 1891, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1897, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin
Died: 28 December 1928, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Cousin of Robert I - RIP 1929 T Patrick - RIP 1918 and William Kane - RIP 1945

by 1896 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :

Early education was at Clongowes.

After his Noviceship Joseph remained at Milltown for a further five years doing Juniorate and Philosophy, and then spent five years Regency at Clongowes Prefecting and Teaching.
He began his Theology at Mold, Wales (FRA), but the new Theologate opened at Milltown in 1889, so he moved there.
After Ordination he was sent to Mungret as Assistant Moderator of the Apostolic School, and the following year Moderator and Minister.
He was then sent to Chieri, Italy for Tertianship.
1898 On return to Ireland, he was sent to Belvedere for two years as Assistant Director to James Cullen at the Messenger.
1900 He was sent to Tullabeg as Minister of Juniors for two years, and then back to Mungret as Moderator of the Apostolics for four years. All during these years he continued to act as Assistant Director of the Messenger, and by 1900 he had begun to edit “Madonna”.
1906 He was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius for a year, then another year in Clongowes as Spiritual Father.
1908 He was sent to Belvedere, and he remained there until his death 28 December 1928. During his time at Belvedere he continued to edit the Messenger and Madonna publications, and continued as Assistant Director until 1914 when he was appointed Director. He was also Spiritual Father at Belvedere 1913-1921. The end came quickly and found him perfectly resigned.

As well as his formal work, he also wrote a number of spiritual books which were well received in Ireland and other parts of the world. However, it was his work as Editor of the Messenger that he had his biggest impact. He possessed all the qualities which suited him for this work, especially his own devotion to the Sacred Heart. Under his care the Messenger became the most popular publication in Ireland, and amongst the Irish abroad. He had a reals sense of the taste and needs of his readers, and so made the Messenger very attractive to a wide circle of readers. He also believed that the real soil for evangelisation was among the ordinary people, and so he catered chiefly for them. He tried to ensure that in the contents there was something that might appeal to the interests of each reader, and often someone who read only the article on natural history as their interest, ended up reading the whole issue. So there were readers across a wide spectrum of society. It was told that an English protestant bought several dozens of copies for hiw workers due to articles on farming! His own writings showed a keen literary taste. he was also an excellent community man, and he thoroughly enjoyed friendly banter on maters arising out of his work. He was considerate in his dealings with others, and despite his increasing blindness he was also very patient.

Father General, in his letter (p825) “de Cotedianis Pietatis Exercitis” of July 2nd 1934 refers thus to Father MacDonnell : “Anno 1925 in parvo nostro conventu Redactorum Nuntiorum SS Cordis Jesu et Apostolicus Orationis, P Josephus MacDonnell, Redactor Nuntii Hibernici ......”

Note from Edward Kelly Entry :
He was ill for a very short time, and died peacefully and happily at Gardiner St 07 February 1905. The Minister Father Bannon and Father Joe McDonnell were present at his death.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 2nd Year No 3 1927

Jubilee :

On February 15th Fr Joseph McDonnell completed his 50 years' work in the Society. He received numerous letters and telegrams from all parts of the world, the most valued being one from the General, commending him for the good example he had given, and for his 50 years' work. A week later a large gathering assembled at Belvedere to wish the Jubilarian many more years of devoted service.
Fr. McDonnell was Master and Prefect at Clongowes, he was Moderator of the Apostolics in Mungret, Superior of the Juniors in Tullabeg, Operarius in Gardiner Street ; but it is as Editor of the Messenger that his best work has been done. Under this personal care for the last 21 years the progress made and the good done by the Messenger is simply marvellous And the work was accomplished in spite of grave difficulties. For some years his sight has been Much impaired. But he is holding on and to-day takes as much interest in the work as he did 20 years ago. Fr McDonnell has written quite a number of devotional works that compare very favorably with the best of our day. He still edits the Madonna.
For many years he was Confessor at the Christian Brothers Novitiate, Marius. Lately the novitiate was changed to a place a considerable distance from Belvedere. But the Brother-General asked him to continue, and, at considerable inconvenience to himself, he consented.

Irish Province News 4th Year No 2 1929

Obituary :

Fr Joseph McDonnell

Fr. Joseph McDonnell died in Dublin on Friday, December 28th in his 70th year. For some years back he had been in very bad health, but, with characteristic energy and determination, he remained at his post in the Messenger office until a few days before his death.

He was born at Dublin on the 28th March 1858, educated at Clongowes, and on February 15th 1877 began his novitiate at Milltown. There he remained for seven years - novitiate, juniorate, philosophy, and was then sent to Clongowes, where, as prefect or master, he spent the next five years. He began his theology at Mold, but in 1889 the new theologate was opened at Milltown, and Fr McDonnell joined it. Theology over he went to Mungret as Assistant Moderator of the Apostolic School. Next year he become full Moderator as well as Minister of Mungret, and at its close went to Chieri for tertianship. In 1896 he began at Belvedere his long and most fruitful connection with the Messenger as Assistant Director, Fr J. Cullen being Director. Two years at Belvedere were succeeded by two others in Tullabeg, where he had charge of the Juniors, and then Mungret once more as Moderator of the Apostolics. He held this important office for four years. From 1898 to 1906 he continued at different periods to act, at a distance, as Assistant Director of the Messenger, and in 1900 began to edit the Madonna. On leaving Mungret he spent a year in Gardiner St. as Operarius, another in Clongowes as Spiritual Father, and in 1906 returned to Belvedere, not to leave it until his holy death. During the years that followed he continued to edit the Messenger and Madonna, but did not become full Director and Editor of the Messenger until 1914. From 1913 to 1921 he was Spiritual Father at Belvedere. In addition to his other occupations Fr McDonnell wrote a number of excellent spiritual books that are doing a great amount of good in Ireland, and many other countries, but it was as Editor of the “Irish Messenger” that his great work was done. He possessed to a marked degree those qualities which fitted him for this important post, and especially a great devotion to the Sacred Heart, and zeal for souls. Under his care the Messenger became the most popular publication in Ireland, and amongst the Irish abroad. He had a wonderful flair for the tastes and needs of his readers, and he made the pages of the Messenger attractive to a very varied circle. He realised that the most fertile soil for religion is the mass of the people. He therefore catered chiefly for them. Amongst the varied contents there was sure to be some item to appeal to every reader, and those who began to read because they took interest in natural history or astronomy ended up by reading the whole through. In every rank of life one found readers of the Messenger. For the simple people the little red book was a monthly library, and supplied matter for piety and for observation and discussion of the wholesome things of life. He was proud, for example, that an English protestant bought several dozen copies for his work-people on account of a series of articles on farming. He knew that it is possible to be “too good”!
In his own writings Fr. McDonald had a fine, forcible style, and showed excellent literary taste in “Meditations on the Sacred Heart” and other books. He was an excellent community man, and thoroughly enjoyed friendly banter on matters arising out of his work. He was considerate and gentlemanly in his dealings with others, and in spite of his blindness and
feeble health was most patient. The end came quietly and found him perfectly resigned. His hope was that on account of his affliction he would go straight to Heaven, and those who know how saintly was his life feel confident that his prayer has been heard.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Joe McDonnell 1858-1928
Fr Joe McDonnell will always be remembered in the Irish Province as the man who made the “Irish Messenger” what it is. He possessed to an eminent degree, those qualities which fitted him for this important post, reinforced by and rooted in an all pervading devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and zeal for souls. He catered for the mass of the people, and under his direction, the Messenger increased in circulation under the Irish abroad.

He was also the author of a number of excellent spiritual books, the chief of which is his “Meditations n the Sacred Heart”.

He became the full editor of the Messenger in 1914 and remained at his post until a few days before his death, December 28th 1928

Towards the end of his life he was blind, and he expressed the hope that on account of this affliction, gladly borne, he would go straight to heaven on his death. Those who lived close to him and knew the saintlines of the man, had no doubt but that his hope would be translated into reality.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1929

Obituary

Father Joseph McDonnell SJ

The “Irish Messenger” is the only national periodical of Ireland at home and overseas, reminding the wanderer of the Faith of the homeland, reminding those at home of sons and daughters on Canadian farms and in American cities, to whom they send the little red book month by month: it achieves thus a kind of Irish Communion of Saints and so has become a national institution worthy of a jest in a Sean O'Casey play.

Belvedere has the honour of being the home of this institution, and thus, although its late guide and genius was not himself a Belvederian, it is but fitting that Belvederians should mourn his loss as a personal one. Old Belvederians will remember him as a kindly confessor, at one time director of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin; past and present Belvederians will remember his generosity to the College Conference of St Vincent de Paul; even diminutive Belvederians will remember the free-day they celebrated two years ago in honour of Fr. McDonnell's golden jubilee as a Jesuit.

Father McDonnell was born in Dublin on the 28th March, 1858, educated at Clongowes, and on February 15th, 1877, entered the Jesuit Novitiate, which was at that time at Milltown Park. He studied philosophy at Milltown and pursued his theological studies at Mold and at Milltown. At two different periods he was Moderator of the Apostolic School of Mungret. From 1896 dates his connection with the “Irish Messenger”. He was at Belvedere from 1896-1898 as assistant director. Father Cullen being the director; from 1898-1906 be continued to act in this capacity, although occupying posts at Tullabeg, Mungret, Clongowes, Gardiner Street. In 1906 he began to edit. the “Madonna”. In 1906 be returned to Belvedere and there he spent his days until December 28th, 1928, in the achieving of his life's work, first as assistant-editor, then as editor of the “Irish Messenger” and director of the Messenger Office Publications. If one glances at a list of his published devotional works and pamphlets one will see that his was not an idle pen; if one studies the development of the “Irish Messenger” itself, of the “Madonna”, the coming into being of the “Gaelic Messenger”, the long list of books and pamphlets by distinguished authors published by the Messenger Office, one will get some idea of the gift of organisation, of the shrewd sense of needs and values that he possessed.

Fr. McDonnell was blessed with length of days, but these were not unclouded by sorrow. To a man of his keen interests his partial blindness must have meant many hopes unfulfilled, the narrowing in of experience and the limiting of friendships; to a man of his position one would have thought it an insurmountable obstacle. His character, however was unsoured by this severe decree of Providence, and, buoyed up with an edifying courage, he worked on till the end. He was not petulant, he liked social intercourse, charmed many by his courtesy and a sympathy born of experience, liked to be “chaffed”, liked better still to pretend that he did not know that he was being “chaffed”. He was never a shirker. Although in the last few years of his life he suffered much from bronchial troubles during the winter months, he nevertheless kept to his task, was punctilious in attendance at religious duties, said Mass often in pain, and was cheerful always. Even when in hospital he used transact business with his secretary; and on the evening before his death sent for the assistant-director, Father T Ryan, to discuss the great business of his life. If by their fruits shall men be recompensed, Father McDonnell merits a reward exceeding great.

Mr. G. K. Chesterton, in an introduction to the recent translation of Henri Ghéon's study of the Curé d'Ars, points out that each nation contributes a characteristic outlook on Christianity and on Christian action, and adds that the Irish contribution is a purity in love and in hate which seems to be capable of reducing things to their simplest expression Now I think that this is a quality that might be remembered in estimating Father McDonnell's character and in explaining, too. how he made the “Irish Messenger” a national institution. He was deeply and simply everything. He was sincerely and unsophistically devout. He was wholeheartedly and undividedly absorbed in the “Irish Messenger” and in its interests, He was stoutly and, at times, singularly convinced of his ideas and policies. His devotion to his Alma Mater was unassailable and child-like. He had thus the two qualities necessary to the make-up of a good editor - thoroughness and simplicity: simplicity, in order to feel with the people; thoroughness, in order to be able to supply their needs.

But I prefer to remember him as one who had to bear a cross which, of all others, seemed too heavy to bear and yet bore it cheerfully and with courage. RIP

T I M

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1929

Obituary

Father Joseph McDonnell SJ

(Mungret, 1892-1895 & 1900-1904)

On the last day of the year 1928, the mortal remains of a devoted friend of Mungret and its students were laid to rest in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. Past Mungret students, especially those of the early nineties and of the first years of the present century will remember with affection and veneration Father Joseph McDonnell SJ.

Father McDonnell was born in Dublin seventy-one years ago, and spent over fifty years in the Society of Jesus. He was a first cousin of Father William Kane SJ, who is so well known as a teacher, a friend and a lovable personality to the Mungret students of the past thirty years.

Father McDonnell first came to Mungret in 1892 as a young priest, and for three years had charge of the Apostolic School, fulfilling besides in 1894-5 the additional office of Minister of the College. In 1895 he went to Chieri (in Piedmont), a beautifully situated town in the South-Eastern slopes of the Alps, for his Tertianship, or third year's noviceship. Returning to Ireland in 1896, he was appointed to the duty of assisting the late Father James Cullen SJ, in editing the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, and two years later was placed in charge of the Junior Scholastics of the Society of Jesus in Tullabeg College. In 1900 he was again transferred to Mungret College as Director of the Apostolic School, where he remained till 1904. After a few years he was again sent to Belvedere College, Dublin, to resume his former role of Assistant Editor of the “Messenger”. In this position he soon made himself indispensable, and when, in 1914, Father Cullen, then very old, had to relinquish finally the post of Editor, Father McDonnell took over the complete charge, which he retained till his holy death, in December, 1928.

Father McDonnell's work as Editor of the “Messenger” is well known. In the short sketch of his life which appears in the March number of the Messenger, we read :

Owing to his secluded life and dislike of appearing in public, Father McDonnell was personally known to only a small fraction of those who were familiar with his name, but by hundreds of thousands not merely in Ireland but also in foreign lands, he was regarded with love and respect for the comfort and courage which he had brought to them through his writings.

During his second term in Mungret, in the moments which he managed to spare from his regular work (besides being Director of the Apostolic School, he was also Spiritual Father of the Lay Boys, and taught several hours a day), he edited the “Madonna”, which he had founded in 1900, about the time of his coming to Mungret. This has gradually attained a circulation which is now probably as large as that which the “Messenger” had when Father McDonnell first took over the editorship.

In the work connected with the “Messenger” and the “Madonna”, Father McDonnell laboured unceasingly during the last twenty five years of his busy and fruitful life. His health was never robust, and he always worked up to the full measure of his strength. During the years he spent in Mungret it was a well-known and regular occurrence for Father McDonnell, after any short period of extra work or unusual strain, to become completely exhausted, and to be confined to bed, taking little or no food. He had, however, great recuperative power, on which he seemed rather to pride himself, and was usually at work again in full vigour after a day or two. During the last two years of his life his health gradually declined, and his sight, never good, failed so much that he was quite unable to read. Hence, for many years before his death he transacted all his editorial work with the aid of a secretary, who read letters, manuscripts, and proofs to him and put in writing his replies and criticisms. Yet, notwithstanding weakened health and failing sight, he worked unceasingly up to a week before his saintly death.

Father McDonnell never lost his courageous and hopeful spirit, his rare gentleness and courtesy of manner, his genial cheerfulness or his keen sense of humour. The spread of the devotion to the Sacred Heart was the passion of his life. “Few”, says the writer already quoted, “have spent themselves so unsparingly to make this devotion more known and appreciated, and few have done as much as he did to diffuse it through Ireland”. His apostleship was exercised mainly through the pages of the “Messenger” and the numerous pious publications of all kinds that gradually grew up around it as well as by his own numerous and excellent devotional books through which his name is principally known. Father McDonnell left his impress deeply in the customs and traditions of the Apostolic School. It was owing in no small part to his example and teaching that the spirit of piety and especially the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which has, since his time, been traditional among the Apostolic students, took such firm root in the College. Those who were privileged to be under his charge in Mungret will remember his fatherly kindness and patience, his gentleness of disposition, and the never-failing courtesy and respect with which he treated even the youngest and most thoughtless of the lads of whom he had charge. His zeal for souls communicated itself to the boys ; and there can be no doubt that his spirit and example have had a very important influence upon the lives of many who are now priests in different parts of the world. Although without skill in athletic exercises, and having little knowledge of boys' games, he entered into all the interests of the boys of whom he had charge, and it was amusing sometimes to see his excitement over a football match or an athletic contest in which his boys were competing against some other section of the College. He showed the same zeal in organising excursions, concerts and debates, and in the strenuous work of the College theatricals, all of which he regarded as important factors in the training and formation of the boys.

It was under Father McDonnell's direction that the “Rules and Customs of the Apostolic School” were first drawn up. It was for the students of the Apostolic School, too, that he wrote the excellent little handbook for young ecclesiastical students, called “Daily Duties”, which breathes such a spirit of solid piety, and inculcates so well the practice of prayer, self-denial and zeal, which must be at the foundation of the character of the truly apostolic priest. When leaving Mungret, Father McDonnell confessed to an intimate friend that he “felt broken-hearted” at parting from his lads and the work he loved so well. He would not trust himself to take leave of the boys, or even to drive off by the avenue in the usual way. He went round by the “Black Walk” a quarter of an hour before the appointed time, and waited for the car at the College gate.

To the end, even amid the absorbing work of his editorship and writings, he never relaxed in his love for all his own past pupils nor in his interest in the Apostolic School. He was always ready to utilise his position as editor in favour of Mungret and the work it is doing. By very many of his old pupils as by many of the readers of his works, his death will be felt as a personal loss; and though his life was blameless and spent in the service of the Master whom he loved, his many friends will not omit to pray for his speedy admittance to his eternal reward. RIP)

E Cahill SJ

Born: 01 February 1848, George (O'Connell) Street, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 14 September 1867, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1877, Leuven, Belgium
Final Vows: 02 February 1887
Died: 07 November 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin

Educated at Crescent College SJ

by 1870 at Amiens, France (CAMP) studying
by 1871 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1877 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1886 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After his Noviceship he was sent to St Acheul (Amiens) for Juniorate, and then to Louvain for Philosophy.
He was then sent to Tullabeg for Regency and returned to Louvain for Theology in 1875.
1885 He was sent to Belgium for Tertianship.
He spent seven years at Tullabeg as a Prefect or Teacher. He also spent six years in Belvedere, six years at Mungret and four at Crescent. He was also an Operarius for four years at Milltown and seven years in Galway.
He died at Milltown 07 November 1928.
His life was somewhat uneventful and hidden, though nonetheless meritorious. Teaching or Prefecting the youngest boys in the various Colleges won admiration from many. Given that he was a very highly strung man, this kind of work was quietly heroic.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 4th Year No 2 1929

Obituary :
Fr John McDonnell
John McDonnell was born in Limerick February 1st 1848, and began his noviceship at Milltown September 14th 1867. There were 24 novices in those days at Milltown, amongst them Frs. T. and P. Finlay. R. Kane, Weafer, Waters etc, He made his juniorate at S. Acheul, his philosophy at Louvain, and then went to Tullabeg as prefect. There he remained until 1875, in which year he returned to Louvain for theology. His tertianship was made in Belgium in 1885. As prefect or master Fr, McDonnell spent 7 years in Tullabeg, 6 in Belvedere, 6 in Mungret, 5 in Clongowes and 4 at the Crescent, in all 28 years. He was operarius for 4 years at Milltown and 7 in Galway. His happy death took place in Dublin on the 27 November 1928.If Fr. McDonnell's life was uneventful and hidden it was certainly meritorious. Teaching or prefecting, for 28 years, the smallest boys in the various Colleges where he was stationed is a feat that wins our admiration, and was an abundant source of merit to himself. When it is added that nature had given Fr McDonnell a set of highly strung nerves, his life for these years must have bordered on the heroic. RIP.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father John McDonnell (1848-1928)

A native of Limerick and one of the first pupils of Crescent College, entered the Society in 1867. He made his higher studies at St Acheul and Louvain where he was ordained in 1878. He spent two periods as master in the Crescent, 1887-88 and 1895-98. His teaching career throughout the Irish Jesuit colleges amounted to twenty-eight years. He spent some twelve years in church work at Milltown Park and Galway. He died at Milltown Park on 27 June, 1928.

Born: 07 June 1878, Bohola, Swinford, Co Mayo
Entered: 07 June 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, Sacred heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 15 September 1948, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Co Offaly community at the time of death

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
Obituary
Br. James McDonnell (1878-1914-1948)
Brother McDonnell died in St. Vincent's Hospital very suddenly in the early afternoon of Wednesday, 15th September. He had been some weeks in hospital with prostate trouble, and had had a minor operation on 14th September. He felt well and was in good spirits the next day, but at 1.45 p.m., without warning or struggle, he rendered up his soul to God. He was anointed immediately by the hospital chaplain. The funeral took place to Glasnevin 17th September, after the 10 o'clock Mass, celebrated by his Rector, Fr. Michael Connolly, St. Stanislaus College, Tullamore. The prayers at the grave-side were recited by Fr. Provincial.
Brother James was born at Bohola, Swinford, Co. Mayo, on 7th June, 1878 and was a late vocation, not entering the noviceship till he was well on in the thirties. In fact he received his gown on his 36th birthday, 7th June, 1914. It was the brother of the late Bro. James O'Grady, John Canon O'Grady, P.P. of Bohola who brought him to Dublin and introduced him to the then Provincial, Fr. T. V. Nolan with a view to his admission to the Society.
After leaving school Br. McDonnell worked on his father's farm, but about 1909 went to the United States and was employed in Butler's Chain Stores for two years at the end of which he became a Manager of one of the Stores. While in America he started a correspondence course in Commercial Art, which he continued after his return to Ireland, intending to make of this branch of art a life career. However, Providence had other designs for him. On the last night of a fortnight's mission held in the parish, Canon O'Grady arranged for him to drive the missioner to the station the following morning, and it was as the result of the conversation he had with the priest in question during the drive to the station that James McDonnell decided to join a religious Order.
On the completion of his noviceship Bro. McDonnell was sent to Belvedere College where he remained two years. The following four he spent at Clongowes, and in 1923 he began his long association with Mungret College (1923-25 and 1931-39) where for ten years and more he had charge of the boys' refectory. It was largely due to his kindly ways and neighbourly charity shown John Dillon, a farmer who lived nearby, during his serious illness that the College was left a valuable property which rounded off our farm near the Apostolic School, during the Rectorship of Fr. Edward Dillon. From 1925 to 1929 Bro. James worked at the Crescent College, where he made his final profession on 2nd February, 1925. He was in charge of the domestic staff of Belvedere College during the years 1929 and 1930 and it was at this time he contracted pneumonia from which he barely recovered, thanks to expert nursing in the Mater Hospital. The ten years preceding his death Bro. McDonnell spent in Tullabeg, engaged chiefly in secretariate and printing work in connection with the Ricci Mission Unit and in light work in the garden where he was helper to Bro. Pill. This period of his life was overclouded with ill-health and nervous exhaustion against which he struggled bravely.
Bro. James was a saintly man, very unworldly and mortified, of imperturbable patience, he was like many patient people, of strong and resolute character. Gentle to a fault, affable and sweet of temperament he won the affection and confidence of all who came in contact with him. He was deeply attached to his family relations and took the greatest interest in their spiritual and temporal welfare, and was in turn held in the deepest affection by them. Few of those who lived with Bro. James in the Society were aware of his taste for music and painting. He could play the violin quite well, and he devoted many of his leisure hours as a younger man to the painting of religious pictures. Cultured and refined by temperament and upbringing, he was before all else a model of the virtues which befit the Jesuit Brother : union with God, love of the brethren, self-effacement, anxiety to help the Society to the best of his powers, fidelity and trustworthiness, on which Superiors could ever rely. R.I.P.”

Born: 16 April 1913, Dalkey, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1945, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1948, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 09 July 2006, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 133 : Special Issue September 2007
Obituary
Fr John (Jack) McDonald (1913-2006)

16th April 1913: Born in Dublin
Early education in Belvedere College
12th November 1932: Entered the Society at Emo
13th November 1934: First Vows at Emo
1934 - 1937: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1937 - 1940: Tullabeg -Studied Philosophy
1940 - 1942: Belvedere - Regency, HDip in Ed
1942 - 1946: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1945: Ordained at Milltown Park
1946 - 1947: Tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle
1947 - 1950: Tullabeg - Minister; Prefect of the Church; President of B.V.M. Sodality
2nd February 1948: Final Vows at Tullabeg
1950 - 1961: Rathfarnham -
1950 - 1955: Minister; Assistant Teacher
1955 - 1961: Rector; Treasurer
1961 - 1962: Crescent College - Treasurer; Ministered in the Church
1962 - 1964: Gardiner St. - Minister; Prefect of the Church
1964 - 2006: Milltown Park -
1964 - 1965: Treasurer, Sub-Minister; Milltown Institute Treasurer
1965 - 1987: Bursar
1987 - 1988: Cherryfield Lodge - Bursar; Assistant Bursar, Milltown Park
1988 - 2001: Assistant Bursar, Milltown Park
2001 - 2006: Cherryfield Lodge - Praying for the Church and the Society
9th July 2006: Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin.

From the homily preached by Fr. Michael Hurley:
“Well Done, Well Done”, Good and Faithful Servant. Enter into the Joy of Your Lord' (Mt 25: 14-17, 19-23)

We're all here this morning, you will agree, to praise and thank. God for the life and work of Fr. Jack McDonald, for the blessing he has been in our lives; we're here too to ask forgiveness from God and from Jack himself for our failure to appreciate him sufficiently, to love him as much as he deserved; and we're here to pray that he may rest in peace and use his influence in the heavenly places to get us a replacement for himself and also many others of his stature to carry on the work of the Irish Jesuit Province, the work to which he devoted himself so wholeheartedly, for so long.

My name is Michael Hurley. But why am I the one to be giving the homily this morning, trying to put into words some of the thoughts in our minds, the feelings in our hearts? I'm no contemporary of Jack's: I'm only 83: he was 93: he was ten years senior to me. But I am a fellow Jesuit and I lived amicably here in Milltown Park with Jack for many years. However the main reason, I think, why it has fallen to me to give the homily this morning is this: some years ago Jack approached me and asked a favour: his nephew, Arthur, knowing he didn't have long more to live, was putting all his affairs in order and had asked to see a priest: would I oblige? Of course, I would and did and did so very gladly. In asking me Jack was doing me an honour; it was a gesture of trust. as unexpected as it was undeserved, and in giving the homily this morning I am once again saying thanks to Jack and also to the family: on the occasion of Arthur's funeral I was privileged to get a glimpse of the veneration in which Jack was held and how devoted all were to him.

For our Gospel reading this morning I chose the parable of the talents (Mt 25: 14-17, 19-23) because those great, glorious words I wanted as my text occur in it not just once but twice and I can think of no words more appropriate for the occasion. 'Well Done, Well Done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord'. These were surely the words which the choirs of angels and the whole court of heaven were singing on Sunday morning when Jack made his entry. As we'll be reminded once again at the end of Mass, the funeral liturgy explicitly invites us to imagine the angels and saints leading and escorting and welcoming Jack into paradise, into the holy city, to the bosom of Abraham, to meet our Lord and his mother, to sit down at table with them at the banquet feast which is heaven.

But who else was in that welcoming party? Surely his patron Saint John but Jack was such an intensely private person that we can't be sure whether this is the aggressive John the Baptist or the amiable John the Evangelist. Also present will have been all those who have gone before him to prepare a place for him: his father, John J. founder of the now well-known law firm, his mother, Maud Flannery of Ballaghadreen; Jack's eight sisters and brothers, four of each, especially Joe who followed him to the Jesuit noviceship; all the fifteen who entered Emo with him in 1932 (except Joe Mallin who was home from Hong Kong recently to take part in the 1916 celebrations); all the ten who were ordained with him in this chapel in 1945, all the fellow residents of Cherryfield who have gone before him, not least perhaps Joe Gill who was ordained with him in 1945.

Jack entered Emo in November 1932, the year of the eucharistic congress. His novice master was Fr John Coyne who subsequently exerted an enormous influence on the life of the Province. After Rathfarnham from where the studied Arts in UCD and Tullabeg where he studied philosophy he went to Belvedere to teach from 1940-42 and one of the first tributes which we have to Jack's characteristic personal kindness comes from these years.

The tribute occurs in an autobiographical sketch written by one of the boys he taught who is still alive, and Fr John Guiney has kindly shared a copy of this document with me. Jack is here referred to as “a special friend”, with “a heart of solid gold”; mention is made of his “courtesy and superb manners” and of “the myriad of good deeds that he performed”. Other such tributes would follow in the course of Jack's life.

After ordination and tertianship, Jack became involved in administration and this was to continue for the rest of his active life. In 1947 he went to Tullabeg as Minister, as second in command and in charge of all practical matters in the house. After three years in Tullabeg he went to Rathfarnham - for five years as Minister and then for six as Rector. The Crescent in Limerick came next, but only for one year in which he was Treasurer; then Gardiner Street for two years where he was Minister, and finally, in 1964. Milltown Park where he acted as Bursar until his retirement to Cherryfield in 1999.

Administration can be difficult. Ever since the disobedience of Adam those subject to authority resist it. Administration can be particularly difficult in a period of rapid social change, when attitudes all round are changing but without as yet the sanction of law. Law is slow to catch up with life even in non-controversial matters and this time-lag can be very troublesome for those in positions of responsibility. Jack could not escape from this dilemma. Here in Ireland we had no experience of the horror and turmoil of the second world war, but neither did we experience much of the changes and experimentation to which it led in church as well as in society. Some changes did take place here (Zambia, Gonzaga, Manresa), but, in general, the winds of change were not altogether welcome and one sign of this can possibly be seen in the fact that for almost quarter of a century from 1935 until well after the war, until 1959, the important position of Socius to the Provincial, Assistant Provincial, was held by the same person. The Vatican Council and the Jesuit Congregations eventually helped but before these took place it was extremely difficult to be a superior of any sort, specially if you were a perfectionist as Jack was. So Jack's years in administration cannot have been easy. But he enjoyed figures and was an excellent bursar and bookkeeper, fully deserving of a Well Done Well Done.

He also enjoyed gardening -- the greenhouse in our quadrangle is a monument to his interest in gardening -- and fishing in Mayo in the summer time, and, of course. family visits. His reputation for personal kindness continued to grow. Br John Adams recalls with much appreciation and thanks how in 1961 when he himself was away in London on tertianship and his father in Limerick was dying, Jack was wonderfully kind to his mother.

Those who make the Spiritual Exercises hear Christ in the meditation on the Kingdom addressing them in these words: “It is my will to conquer the whole world and all my enemies. Therefore whoever wishes to join me in this enterprise must be willing to labour with me, that by following me in suffering, he may follow me in glory”. Jack made the Exercises and that meditation. He heard that call and answered it with great generosity, wishing indeed with God's help to distinguish himself in the service of Christ his Lord and King.

So the angelic chorus which sang Jack into heaven on Sunday were simply indicating the fulfilment of the promise made to him by Christ the King: Jack having followed him in labours and in suffering as a Jesuit for seventy four years would now follow him in glory; would now share his joy, his peace: “Well Done, Well Done, good and faithful servant. Come take possession of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”. (Mt 25:34).

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2002

Farewell Companions : Dermot S Harte

Fr John J McDonald SJ

He was a Scholastic during my early schooldays. He was a gentle and shy person and is, I believe, the only one of the masters who still graces our presence. He is no longer a young man and has lived in retirement for many years.

A member of a family of distinguished Belvederians, he had three brothers, two of whom entered the family law firm. I didn't really know his third brother, Fr Joe McDonald SJ - also a Jesuit - who served for most of his working life as a Missionary in Zambia. Joe died in Dublin some years ago. His only sister, Sheila, was a Dominican Nun and she was one of the most vibrant, genuine, sincere, kind, and loving people that I ever had the extraordinary pleasure of knowing.

Jack follows quietly in the footsteps of Christ spreading the Light of Christ wherever he goes and beneath that quiet exterior there beats a heart of solid gold. It will probably never be known how many people he helped to cope with various traumas that beset them, and he would be most embarrassed if anyone were to remind him of the myriad of good deeds which he performed. He is a welcome friend and advisor to many people and is able by his words, deeds and example to lift even the lowliest Spirit

I visit him whenever I can and it is so apparent that the courtesy and superb manners that he displays and which are the very hallmarks of a gentleman, are still alive and well. Jack will be with us, God willing, for a long time to come and will continue to remain a Special Friend of mine and of my family. Thank you for everything, old friend. I salute you.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2006

Obituary
Father Jack McDonald SJ (OB 1932)

A Tribute : A Man for Others

It was with a heart filled with sadness that I learned of the “going home” of Fr John J McDonald SJ. He was in the ninety-fourth year of his life and in the fifty-first year of his ministry. Jack had been in declining health for a number of years but he continued to remain bright and cheerful.

It is a long time ago since a young Scholastic entered the Classroom of his, and my, old school, Belvedere, and announced “My name is Mr McDonald and I am your Latin teacher”. He was, I believe, the last surviving teacher from our schooldays.

A gentle and shy person, he was born in 1913 into a family of distinguished Belvederians, one of a large family. A brother, Fr Joe, was also a Jesuit. Joe died in Dublin some years ago.

Throughout the many years that I knew him he epitomised all that was good in this now “creaky” world following quietly, as he did, in the footsteps of Christ and spreading the Light of Christ wherever he went, for beneath that quiet exterior there beat a heart of solid gold. It will probably never be known how many people he helped to cope with the various traumas that beset them and he would be most embarrassed if someone were to remind him. A welcome friend and advisor to many people he was always able by his words, deeds and example to lift the lowliest spirit.

The College Motto “A Man for Others” might well have been composed with Jack in mind.

Over the last years I visited him in Cherryfield Lodge whenever I was able and the courtesy and superb manners, which are the hallmarks of a gentleman, were always fresh and well.

And so we take our earthly leave of this saintly friend as he begins his sojourn in Heaven; a man whose memory will forever be crystal clear in our minds. Each one of us has his or her special memories of this extraordinary priest that will remain with us all the days of our lives.

He will be greatly missed by all who were privileged to call him “friend”.
For you, I know, will walk the streets of Paradise, head high.

DH

John ] McDonald SJ
Born April 16th 1913
Ordained July 31st 1945
Died July 9th 2006

Born: 11 November 1922, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 06 September 1941, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1961, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 26 April 1973, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 48th Year No 2 1973

Belvedere
We have still another sudden death to record, that of Fr Peter MacDonagh. He was attending the Province Meeting at Rathfarnham on Thursday April 26th, but feeling indisposed he returned home shortly after lunch; he had difficulty ultimately in reaching his room and died about 4 o'clock. It was most unexpected.

Obituary :

Fr Peter McDonagh (1922-1973)

Fr Peter McDonagh came to the noviceship at Emo Park a day too soon!, but then all 14 companions did likewise because Sept. 7th, the official day of entrance, was a Sunday and train Services were restricted in the emergency conditions of the war. Thus Saturday, Sept. 6th was an uncounted day of initiation - presumably not much adverted to since the ensuing years were already accepted as a long haul. He was one of several representatives of Coláiste Iognáid, hailing from across the street and acquainted with church and school from childhood.
He was born Nov. 22nd, 1922 and was consequently 19 when he entered, having completed a year at University College, Galway immediately after leaving school. He settled down equably at Emo, earnest and conscientious, regular and companionable, a ready sense of humour and a gay laugh audible possibly on occasion after the challenger had sounded. He had an interest in nature study, trees and plants and birds - an advantage in the Emo environment. He was an adept with a cross-cut and enjoyed pike fishing on the lake when opportunity occurred during the Major Villa. It could be said of him then and later that his relaxations were in a demure unelaborate kind.
He pronounced his vows Sept. 9th 1943 and proceeded to Rathfarnham, resuming the Arts course he had interrupted at University College, Galway. 1945 Degree and Tullabeg for Philosophy; 1948, two years at the Crescent and a final year at Coláiste lognáid; he was an energetic industrious teacher inspiring interest in his subjects, organising and engaging in debates and other extra curricular activities which brought him into closer contact with the boys among whom he had a way.
1951 found him at Milltown Park amid the lean years of Genicot and Dogma (at which he acquitted himself cum laude). He took his part in Holy Week Ceremonies and the Christmas plays, presenting himself in anything but the role of “odd man out”.
1954 ordination; 1955 Tertianship at Rathfarnham. His life as a priest differed little, apart from his priestly duties, from what had been the tenor of his life previously. In 1956 he returned to the school-room - a year a Gonzaga and the succeeding years to Belvedere where he remained until his untimely death.
In his latter years at Belvedere he suffered increasingly from a form of asthma which necessitated his being provided habitually with an “inhaler”. He appears on occasion to have been heedless in applying this remedy and possibly as a result he was afflicted with a kind of nervous tension which compelled him to seek hospital treatment on occasion to obviate the distress. A certain
reticence and reserve grew upon him and his energies were not sufficiently resilient to cope with the exuberance of the class room. A change of occupation was advisable and in 1971 while remaining domiciled at Belvedere he was transferred to the Social Service Centre at Gardiner St, where to all evidence he gained a new lease of life. He was devoted to the work which fortunately provided him with a wide variety of interests in assisting and relieving the poor. Meals on wheels, flat hunting, landlords to be bearded, Senior Citizens to be catered for and entertained, all was grist. His depression lifted, the buoyancy returned. He attended the Province Meeting at Rathfarnham, April 26th. The present writer sat opposite him at dinner and we laughed and joked. He was in the best of form. Then it was “Grace” and I helped him as he gave a hand at drying. It was like Emo again, a day too soon ... and now in a sense history was to repeat itself for the Lord was good to call him to Himself - at 50 and with so much to do a day too soon.
His death which occurred as he betook himself to his room in Belvedere that same afternoon was tragically sudden. A post mortem assigned its cause to a cardiac attack during an asmathic spasm. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1973

Obituary

Father Peadar McDonagh SJ

The death of Fr. Peadar McDonagh occurred with tragic suddenness on the afternoon of April 26th this year. He had attended a large meeting of the Jesuit Province in Rathfarnham Castle that very morning and the previous day, during which he had been in more than usually good form. Apparently not feeling well, he had slipped away from the meeting without fuss and died just outside his room in Belvedere on his return.

It was typical of Fr Peadar that he died, causing, a minimum of trouble and disturbance to others. Of a gentle and pleasant disposition, he had carried on his work during his life quietly and unobtrusively. He came to Belvedere in 1957, three years after his ordination, and taught here for fourteen years. He was a painstaking and conscientious teacher and his classes fully appreciated the solid preparation that went into his teaching and his orderly presentation. He had a pleasant relationship with the boys and numbered some of the lay masters among his closest friends.

During the latter years of his teaching, increasingly bad health made his daily programme a heavy burden indeed, which he bore with great patience until forced to give up in 1971. A change of occupation then became advisable and while continuing to live in Belvedere, he was transferred to the Social Centre in Gardiner St. The new interests awakened there gave him fresh impetus and he became very devoted to the work and keenly interested in the plight of the old people and of the poor. It revealed him more than ever as a man of great sensitivity with a sympathetic interest in others.

To Father Peadar's family and close relatives we in Belvedere offer our deepest sympathy. They are a family who have always been closely associated with the Jesuits since the time they became practically our next-door neighbours in Galway. In particular, to his mother, his sister, Joan, Mrs McKiernan, and brother-in-law, Mr Patrick McKiernan, who have three sons in Belvedere, and to his brother, Padraic, we extend our sympathy.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

R McG

Born: 21 December 1915, Salford, Manchester, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1951, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 25 February 1993, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

by 1971 at Charles Lwanga, Zambia (ZAM) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Frank was born in Manchester, England, on 21 December 1915. His family moved back to Ireland to live in Dublin. He was 23 years of age when he entered the Society at Emo Park. He went through the usual studies of the Society and was ordained priest at Milltown Park in July 1951.

After tertianship in 1953, he was posted to Belvedere College in Dublin as Assistant Prefect of Studies, going on to be minister for five years and then rector for another six. As it is normal for rectors to be moved at the end of their term, Fr Frank moved to Gardiner Street Church in 1966 to work in the church there, with all which that entailed.

A big change of scene took him to Zambia in 1969 to Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College for a few years where he taught, was spiritual Father to the students, minister and also bursar. St. Ignatius in Lusaka had him for a year, as had Mukasa Minor Seminary in Choma. Back to Lusaka to Chelston parish where he did church work and was also on the Nunciature staff as the ‘local collaborator’, a term to which Fr Frank objected. He remarked to a colleague, ‘My Vatican masters were either oblivious or unbothered that the Nazis had made the term “collaborator” a very bad word’. In 1975 he was minister in Chikuni and returned to Ireland the following year.

He was posted to Gardiner Street where he had been in the sixties. He was bursar and church worker, posts which he held up to 1990 when he was transferred to Cherryfield, the Jesuit Nursing Home, again as bursar and censor of books. This was his last posting as he died there of a heart attack in February of 1993.

Fr Frank was a kind man, right from his novitiate days, ready to help his fellow Jesuits. When he was at Belvedere College, he was remembered as ‘a kind, thoughtful and humane rector’. A good community man, his kindness went with him to Zambia and it is that quality that he is remembered by.

One who wrote a short obituary of him ended it thus: ‘He was an urbane man with a sure sense of humor and the ability to tell a story. Not an ascetic in the physical sense, he liked his drink and smoke and music. But there was in him the essential askesis of devoted service and of deep sympathy and concern for people. It is good to know that he considered his time at Cherryfield the happiest time of his life’.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Civil Servant before entry

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 76 : Christmas 1993 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary

Frank McDonagh (1915-1993)

My first memory of Frank McDonagh is from Tullabeg. I had been there just one year, straight from Emo, still a “post-novice” amidst scholastics, seasoned or even wounded by the Rathfarnham experience of those days, when he arrived; and he took me under his kindly wing to ease me into a life-style that he considered was more balanced and more in keeping with what Fr Neary would have called “the pooled wisdom of four centuries”. I doubt if I was a very docile pupil and at times he must have regarded me with mild exasperation; but his friendliness was indomitable.

I have always remembered his thanks at his first Mass reception to those who had prayed for him along the way: he had, he said, been often conscious of their help. Indeed for a man like him, older than his confreres and with wider secular experience, the scholastic years must have been quite difficult at times.

We met again in Zambia. For some time he was on the nunciature staff as “collaborator localis”. His Vatican masters, he remarked to me with some heat, were either oblivious or unbothered that the Nazis had made "collaborator" a very bad word. He also served as Rector of Chikuni: I have a memory of him presiding with modest magnificence at an outdoor evening showing of O'Toole and Hepburn's Lion in Winter: honesta recreatio for tired missionaries.

He had already presided at Belvedere, A member of the community recalls him as a kind, thoughtful and humane Rector; that would surely be echoed by others who knew him then. I rather suspect that he privately enjoyed the fact that the rector of the great college was a “local” from around the corner in the less augustan Dorset Street.

He did two stints in Gardiner Street. He is remembered as an efficient and humane bursar, a good preacher with “good stuff”, a well-informed man you would listen to with respect.

He was an urbane man with a sure sense of humour and the ability to tell a story well. Not an ascetic in the physical sense: he liked his drink and smoke and music. But there was in him the essential ascesis of devoted service and of deep sympathy and concern for people. It is good to know that he considered his time in Cherryfield the happiest time of his life: felicitas in fine, pax in pascuo. Requiescat.

Stephen Redmond

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1995

Obituary
Father Francis McDonagh SJ

My first memory of Frank McDonagh is from Tullabeg. I had been there just one year, straight from Emo, still a “post-novice” amidst scholastics seasoned or even wounded by the Rathfarnham experience of those days, when he arrived, and he took me under his kindly wing to ease me into a lifestyle that he considered was more balanced and more in keeping with what Fr Neary would have called “the pooled wisdom of four centuries”. I doubt if I was a very docile pupil and at times he must have regarded me with mild exasperation, but his friendliness was indomitable.

I have always remembered his thanks at his first Mass reception to those who had prayed for him along the way. He had, he said, often been conscious of their help. Indeed, for a man like him, older than his confrères and with wider secular experience, the scholastic years must have been quite difficult at times.

We met again in Zambia. For some time he was on the nunciature staff as “collaborator localis”. His Vatican masters, he remarked to me with some heat, were either oblivious or unbothered that the Nazis had made 'collaborator a very bad word, He also served as Rector of Chikuni. I have a memory of him presiding with modest magnificence at an outdoor evening showing of O'Toole and Hepburn's “Lion in Winter”, honesta recreatio for tired mission aries.

He had already presided at Belvedere. A member of the community recalls him as a kind, thoughtful and humane rector; that would surely be echoed by others who knew him then. I rather suspect that he privately enjoyed the fact that the rector of the great college was a “local” from around the corner in the less than Augustan Dorset Street.

Born: 01 February 1865, Tipperary Town, County Tipperary
Entered: 01 February 1883, Milltown Park, Dublin and Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 01 August 1897, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1900
Died: 16 July 1938, Mount Saint Evin’s Hospital, Fitzroy, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Xavier College, (Kostka Hall) Kew, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death.

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

by 1899 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1889 for Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick McCurtin was one of the best prefects of studies the Australian province has ever seen, and perhaps the best all round educationist. He was a most dynamic and active presence in both New South Wales and Victoria, and made a deep impression on all colleagues, but especially non-Jesuits. The Teachers' Guild of NSW benefitted by his services as member, councillor and president during the years, 1912-21. He was appreciated for his influence, wit and keen insight into all matters under discussion. He endeared himself to people by his unfailing courtesy and solicitude for the welfare of everyone. From 1914-16 he was the Catholic representative on the Bursary Endowment Board of NSW, a strong voice, with “breadth of view and clear outlook”, seeking equality for Catholic schools. McCurtin was also active during the school holidays giving retreats. McCurtin's early education was at Rockwell College before entering the Jesuits at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1 February 1883, After philosophy in 1888, he was sent to Xavier College, Melbourne, until 1894, teaching senior classes and assisting the prefect of studies. He returned to Ireland for theology, and was then sent to Belvedere College, 1897-98, before his tertianship at Tronchiennes. He returned to Belvedere in 1899 and was prefect of studies for 1901 before he left for Australia again, arriving at St Patrick's College as prefect of studies in 1901. When sending McCurtin to Australia, the Irish provincial, James Murphy, wrote to the mission superior, John Ryan, that he should be grateful to receive “an invaluable man, most holy and edifying, earnest, active and unsparing, methodical and practical”.
From 1903-10 he was prefect of studies at Xavier College before his appointment as rector of St Aloysius' College, 1910-16. It was during these years that college rectors expressed considerable concern about the insufficient quality of Jesuit teachers, especially for the senior classes. Many fathers were considered too old or unwell. McCurtin was particularly concerned that St Aloysius College was given poor quality teaching staff by a succession of mission superiors, hence its reputation for inefficiency. He believed that superiors did not believe in the future of the college. He was concerned about the lack of professionalism of Jesuits in education, and the lagging response of Jesuits to progressive changes in educational theory and practice. Furthermore, there was not money for secular teachers, and Catholic teachers were hard to find. Despite his concerns, St Aloysius' College was registered as a first class school in New South Wales and ranked among the best schools. The public examination results were good and the spirit among the boys most pleasing.
The question of poor teaching staff at St Aloysius' College led to the dramatic resignation of McCurtin as rector in 1916, when the mission superior transferred Dominic Connell, “one of our best masters”, to become parish priest at Norwood, SA. At the time there were very few competent teachers on the staff, and finances were not good, which made the employment of lay teachers difficult. McCurtin believed that the image of the school would suffer. Jesuit superiors, including the General, did not appreciate this resignation. After a further period as prefect of studies at Xavier College, and Riverview, 1917-21, he returned to Ireland, where he later became superior of the Apostolic School at Mungret and rector of the Crescent College, Limerick, 1923-31. Wishing to end his days in Australia he returned to do good work as headmaster at both Burke Hall and Kostka Hall. He died in St Evin’s Hospital after sustaining a heart attack. McCurtin was a striking figure-a small, slight, alert, active, dapper person. He was fond of flowers and beautiful things, was orderly and methodical, artistic with exquisite handwriting, and humorous, with great social charm. His Jesuit brethren found him to be a colleague with very definite opinions strongly held and, on occasion, vigorously expressed, but he was also a tolerant and kind character with a keen sense of humour. Because he was what he was, he found it difficult working with immediate superiors who did not possess his own qualities. As prefect of studies at Riverview, 1918-21, he experienced much frustration, anxiety and illness because of the disorderliness and apparent lack of enthusiasm for academic excellence. He showed special interest in the Old Boys of all the colleges in which he served. While in Ireland he kept up continual correspondence, especially with Xavier College and St Aloysius College. Former students praised him for his fatherly care, his spirit of broadmindedness and tolerance, and other good qualities that made him a universal favorite. They spoke of him as a dynamic personality, builder and developer, and a polished gentleman. During his educational work, Patrick McCurtin was continually involved with educational issues, both for the development of Jesuit pedagogy and Catholic schooling in Australia. Australia was fortunate to have had the services of McCurtin's considerable administrative ability and clear vision. He was totally professional in his approach to education, an attitude not always appreciated by his superiors. Together with James O'Dwyer, to whom he dedicated a marble altar in the Burke Hall chapel, he improved the attitude of Australian Jesuits towards academic achievement, while his contact with educational organisations and State committees of education gave the Jesuits wider influence in the community.

Note from Dominic Connell Entry
He was sent mid year to Manresa Norwood to replace Henry Cock. This resulted in a major drama when the Rector of St Aloysius, Patrick McCurtin, resigned in protest, claiming that Dominic was his only good Jesuit teacher

Note from John Forster Entry
He returned to Australia and St Aloysius Sydney, and he was appointed Rector there in 1916 following the resignation of Patrick McCurtin

Note from John Williams Entry
John Williams (RIP 1981) had a sad childhood. His Irish mother and Welsh father died leaving five small children, three boys and two girls. He was looked after by a relative of his, Father Patrick McCurtin, and was a boarder at Mungret.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 4 1926
College of the Sacred Heart Limerick : On May 16th, Fr McCurtin's appointment as Rector was announced. On the same day, his predecessor, Fr L. Potter, took up his new duties as Superior of the Apostolic School. During his seven years' rectorship the Church was considerably extended, a new organ gallery erected, and a new organ installed. A beautiful new Shrine in honor of the Sacred Heart was added, and a marble flooring to the Sanctuary laid down.

Irish Province News 13th Year No 4 1938
Obituary :
Father Patrick McCurtin
1865 Born 1st February in Tipperary town
1883 Milltown. Novice
1884 Dromore, Novice (Noviceship changed to Dromore)
1885-87 Milltown, Philosophy
1888-93 Kew (Australia) Doc., etc
1894-96 Milltown. Theol
1897 Belvedere. Doc. Cons. dom
1898 Tronchiennes. Tertian
1899 Belvedere. Doc.. Cons. dom
1900 Belvedere. Praef. Stud. Cons. dom
1901-02 Melbourne. St. Patrick's. Praef. Stud.. Cons. dom
1903-09 Kew. Doc. Cons. dom
1910-16 Sydney, Milson's Point, Rector, Doc. Oper
1917-19 Kew, Praef. Stud. Doc. an. 25, Cons. dom
1918-20 Riverview, Sydney, Preef. Stud. Cons. dom
1921 Clongowes, Doc. Praes. acad. sen., etc
1922 Rathfarnham. Miss. Excurr
1923-25 Mungret, Superior Apostol., Lect. Phil., Cons. dom
1926-31 Crescent, Rector. Doc. an. 37 mag., etc
1932 Australia, Loyola, Soc. Mag. Nov
1933-36 Kew, Min. Burke Hall, Doc. an. 42 mag. Cons. dom
1937-38 Kew, Min. Kostka Hall, Doc. an. 42 mag. Cons. dom

He went to Australia for the third time in the autumn 1931. Died Saturday, 16th July, 1938

Outside studies, etc., Father McCurtin spent only twelve years of his Jesuit life in Ireland. The rest, thirty-three years, was passed in Australia where he held with distinction many important posts including the Rectorship of Milson's Point for six years. He died when in charge of the newly established preparatory school Kostka Hall. He holds the distinguished record of forty-four years teaching in one or other of our Colleges.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1923

An Appreciation

Father Patrick J McCurtin SJ

In 1911 we schoolboys of St. Aloysius' saw a pile of luggage heaped at the back of the Masters' house. · On the following day someone had a letter from a boy at Xavier, where Father McCurtin had previously taught, saying that the school name of our new Rector was Fr McCurtin. That was our first introduction. We met him lter, and it is not too much to say that we found him quite unlike the priest we had pictured in imagination.

He was short in build, and dressed then, as he always was, immaculately. I think he was the only one of the staff who wore a silk hat; he fitted a “bell-topper” so well that we would almost have doubted his identity were he crowned only with felt, and minus cuffs and stick. I believe he abandoned some of these distinguishing marks in later years. He was thin and spare. A man of intense enthusiasm and energy such as he possessed could not well be otherwise. We did not know that even then his health was not good; his consistent vitality gave indication of a robust constitution. We always thought him a much younger man than he was; his appearance belied his age. Brisk walker, brisk thinker, brisk and sure in judgment-everything: about him told of the high-tensioned mechanism that controlled him, or, rather, that he had learned to hold in subjection. Strachey's description of Arnold fitted the Rector admirably: “His outward appearance was the index of his inward character; everything about him denoted energy, earnestness and the best intentions”. His eyes read a person at a glance. I cannot remember any boy trying to deceive him or treat him in any other way than siti cerely and earnestly. We felt that it wouldn't pay: or, perhaps, a keen boyish instinct convinced us that he deserved the best treatment we could give.

When Father McCurtin came to Aloysius we felt that progress was assured ; we were impelled by the influence of a great personality to co-operate in that progress. Few lagged behind; success and an increase in attendance came at an incredible pace.

He taught English and Religious Know ledge during my time. His methods were very direct. He was accustomed to give his views - favourable or otherwise on the suitability of a text-book, and, sometimes, on the mythical Board of Examiners who set the book. This method of critical analysis soon showed its influence on the boys, who began to look for faults and virtues in a book, and gradually ceased to read as a task or merely from the motive of idle curiosity. His speech as President, of the Teachers' Guild of NSW recalls much of what he said to his boys in 1912 and 1913. In 1915 he was able to say that the Representatives of the Registered and State Schools had met the Board of Examiners and secured a certain amount of success. In typically sarcastic language the long-experienced teacher had a gibe at the methods of these theorists in education : Usually, the teacher has to gaze at the examiner and the law-giver from a respect fui distance, and strive to gauge his be nevolence through the thunderous cloud of his majesty. But last year the very gods came down from a remote Olympus and mixed with mortals. Thus a better under standing has arisen between the University authorities and the members of the teach ing profession”.

Another feature of the Rector's teaching was to encourage individual effort.. He could gauge a boy's likes and dislikes; he directed each one wisely along the road adapted for him by Nature. Take the modern school curriculum as an example of crushing out individuality. The day is full of half-hours devoted to a dozen subjects; and the boy must try to get a superficial knowledge of all these or be plucked in the examinations These public exami nations have been so magnified in impor ance that they are regarded by a natic of shopkeepers as the criterion of a boy or a college's efficiency. Yet, how many! the successful candidates have ever bee introduced into the portals of the hall { learning; how many have ever been taugl to study for the love of study or knowledg or without constraint from a master's las or a possible examination failure hangin over their heads like a threatening swor of Damocles. The best proof of the inad: quacy of our examination system is ti current belief that a boy'is educated whe he leaves school. The truth is that by the he should have learned how to begin 1 study seriously. Father McCurtin ha something to say about the crammin system in his 1915 address to the Teacher Guild:

“There is, indeed, one problem which is a spectre of the future, but is right here with us. It is really one part of a problein, though. very important part. We have a syllabus for a schools, for all candidates. One may introduce slight variations here and there for some pupil but the freedom possible is not great when it comes to practice. Whether it would be wise not to cast varying minds and varying taste, and aptitudes into one mould, I shall not discuss. ... Ordinarily, it is safer to propher after an event, but I do hazard the forecast that the matter will some day clamour for attention at the hands of our educators in New South Wales”

Father McCurtin was not lacking in el couragement for every honest effort. Ei couragement is becoming out of date i modern times, in proportion to the growt I of self-interest and the cult of selfishness. A pat on the back for an honest attempt may change the whole trend of life for a honest boy. But surprisingly few teachers and employers notice the good points in an effort; they concentrate on condemning the deficiencies which are evident to them after years of training and experience. Father McCurtin could wield a weapon of the most cutting sarcasm when he wished; but after the lash had fallen beavily he would always bring out some balm of encouragement for a good point that had lain hidden under the defects. He had a hand always ready to assist the less capable boy; a lash (nearly always verbal) to urge on the lazy; and a rapier. of sarcasm to deflate the swollen pride of the unwarrantably venturesome. But he never completely deflated the boyish balloon; he discharged the hot-air and tied it firmly to mother-earth lest it rise too quickly and immaturely. I was once told of an incident concerning a school essay; it illustrates this trait of his teaching, A certain student whose literary attempts had never shows any more than the evi dences of unpleasant tasks, and from whom the Rector expected better results, deter mined to take a rise out of the master. He compiled a plan, vrote an essay in rough, amended it, and finally handed in a ten page manuscript that was considerably above the average for a schoolboy. He took the precautiou to leave it unsigned. On the Tuesday following the Rector placed the pile of essays on the desk; and promptly, as was his wont, rejected half of them as worthless. He commented on the remainder, reserving the ten-page effusion for special comment. The laudatory com .ments were directed at a boy who found · no opportunity to disclaim ownership until the end of a long review. When the real author was discovered the Rector changed his tactics, and re-examined the essay. Be ginning with the plan, following paragraph after paragraph, analysing construction of sentences, criticising phraseology, concep tions and presentation, the unfortunate author was quickly convinced that little more than the title was unassailable. I have heard that boy say many a time tirat that essay and that day's criticism started him to think seriously of writing. Some years later that same boy handed over the manuscript of a lengthy book to the same master, and begged of him to dis sect and reject, feeling confident that what Father McCurtin left intact would be av cepted by the world at large. He did dissect with an incredible precision, insiglit and minuteness, and sent a covering letter, which I was allowed to read, and from which I am granted permission to reproduce the opening sentences. He wrote: “My dear --; I have just finished the last line of your book, and wish to send you my warmest congratulations at once. The thing I do wish especially to write is: God bless you... I feel as proud as Punch of you."

His educational efforts were not confined within the walls of Aloysius'. For nine years - 1912 to 1921- he was an influential member of the Teachers Guild of New South Wales. The Hon Secretary of the Guild gives the following information con cerning his activities in educational matters :

“Father McCurtin joined the Guild somewhere about 1912. In 1913, when Rector of St Aloy sius' College, he opened a discussion on the revised syllabus for Secondary Schools in consequence of which important resolutions were passed and forwarded to the Board of Examiners. He was elected Vice-President in 1913, and was President for the year 1914-15; and thereafter was on the Council till he went abroad. Always a keen debater and vigorous uphoider of the I rights of the non-State seliools, he was deputed to speak on behalf of the Headmasters' Association at the meeting held at the University in 1921, when the matter of the compulsory registration of teachers was advocated. It was his telling speech that defeated the measure as being one for which the time was not yet ripe in this State, and as being likely to bring the schools more and more under Government control.

He represented the Catholic schools on the Bursary Board from March, 1910, until February, 1917, when, on being removed to Melboume, he resigned his position. He severed his connection with the Guild on his departure for Europe in 1921”.

An appreciation of his services in the cause of education in Australia appeared in “The Australian Teacher” (April, 23). Since the notice represented the views of his associates in educational matters who were members of every religion, it may be taken for granted that the eulogism is un biassed and deserved.

“The Guild has suffered a distinct loss in the departure of Father McCurtin. His shrewd and logical criticism was always helpful, and facili tated the solution of many problems. He is at present engaged in missionary work in Ireland”.

Far be it from my intention to criticise the wisdom of Father McCurtin's transfer to Ireland. It can be said with impunity, however, that Australia suffered an almost irreparable loss when he left our shores. Our educational efforts, which are for the most part in the tentative and experimen tal stage as they must be in a young country-needed. the advice and ripe di rection of such a man. We can hardly spare men of the Father McCurtin capabilities and experience, who can speak with authority and suggest directions when the politically driven ship of national education is grating on the rocks of disaster.

He has now a responsible position in Ireland as Spiritual Director to the ecclesiastical students at Mungret. He is eminently suited for any position where the training of young men is concerned. From him they may learn wisdom that has heen gained by long and varied experience; from contact with him they may grow like him. For his personality is such that it irradiates manliness and culture, just as the flowering wistaria vine perfumes and be decks with a rich splendour the battered shed wherein such mundane creatures as cows and chickens sleep.
Father MeCurtin has left his impress upon hundreds of Australian boys, now grown into respectable citizens of a young Commonwealth. They are in every walk of life; in the Church, medicine, law and business; distinguished in war and in peace. They are his best biography. He left an indelible mark on all people and organisations associated with him.

We can say truthfully of him: Australia is a better country because he once lived in it; it is poorer than it would have been had he remained in it.

EOB

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1933

Golden Jubilarian

Father Patrick J McCurtin SJ

The courteous patience of the Rev Editor of the School Magazine should have been incentive sufficient to make me begin and finish this article. But as usual I am running late, and probably, delaying the issue of the magazine. My greatest difficulty, I find, is to make a literary sketch of Father McCurtin. In a sketch the lines must be few and definite, but complete. The task for a draughtsman would be easier than for the writer, because Father McCurtin's spare frame is more angular and more linear than that of any other Jesuit. (And that is a bold statement about an Order where the litheness of the athlete has been a consistent character istic, as befitted “runners of God” on a world-wide course.) Nevertheless, the spare frame of this good Jesuit is charged with such energy that only a sculptor, using all the dimensions, might portray it fittingly. And this sculptor would need to be proficient in the art of making marble eyes that would mirror a great soul; for Father McCurtin is gifted with eyes that see and understand all things, eyes that can coax or threaten, sympathise or smile, despite the firm-set mouth. In stature he is small, so small that the unexpected demeanour of strength, which he manifests, overwhelms boys completely. His self-sufficiency, general proficiency, and equanimity cannot fail in arousing spontaneous hero-worship. One naturally expects six-foot giants to manifest strength, because they seem to be built for it; but when the capacity for government is manifested in a small man, one sits up and takes notice. The small man is more picturesque; thus was Bonaparte.

I write of the Father McCurtin whom I knew twenty years ago; since then I have often met him, but I have always avoided seeing him as the years have changed him. A few months ago I dined with Father McCurtin at Burke Hall, Melbourne, after he had put to bed several baby boys who seemned not at all in awe of him. Though time had brought me closer to his own level of knowledge I could, or would, not discard the mantle of pupil in the presence of the master. It was not mere imagination, nor might it be explained modernly in the terms of an inferiority complex. For here is the proof: he and I played billiards doggedly, unremittingly, interminably for almost two hours, neither one of us manifesting any skill in the game, and we might have continued until doomsday had not an urgent call put an end to the game. I detest billiards at any time and in any place; but I detest the game with an added zest when it is played with so interesting a man as Father McCurtin.

I suppose I should not allow the preceding paragraph to go to the Editor; it is quite uninteresting, I know. Moreover, such writing is bad-form in these days of Oxford drawls, languid-self interest and regulated behaviour. It is bad form to register the human interest of a pupil's affection for an old master. Nowadays such is quite rare; masters are compelled to become machine-like purveyors of information that is weighed out and apportioned according to the requirements of a nationalised syllabus. (A foretaste of the Soviet, of which the nation is unconscious!) Overworked pupils must study only their text-books, not their masters. It is only an exceptional master who can rise above the system, and only a philosopher or incipient Bolshevik pupil who can follow suit. But twenty-five years ago we took our time, and when I come to think of it I believe that those pupils did not turn out so badly after all for many of them went to Anzac, whence some never returned. I am at a disadvantage when meeting the masters of to-day, for I meet them on terms of equality, and a pupil is the best judge of the master as a patient is the best judge of the physician. So, if pupils a quarter of a century hence remember their masters as we of prior generations remember ours, the present system, or more correctly, its exponents, will be honorably and affectionately esteemed. How long ago, how anciently, does that sentence indicate! Yet, to-day Father McCurtin seems as young, or as old, as he did that quarter of a century ago.

Three days ago I was at Bourke in the far-west of New South Wales, and I was thinking of Father McCurtin, or rather thinking about the necessity of writing this article. No superior would ever have sent Father McCurtin to Bourke; he simply would not have fitted into the west; but there he was surely enough, enthroned in the affectionate remembrances and conversation, and evident in the wide-outlook and zeal of two Irish priests, whom he had taught and fashioned at Mungret. The McCurtin impression is, I believe, as widely circulated and as indelibly impressed on worthy men as is the King's head on the coinage of the realm. In such fruits of his labours he may, and should, take much satisfaction; good, wholesome pride that his work has been worth while and permanent, helping to maintain the Kingdom of God in more than one country of the world.

Though I fully believe that this article has too much of the first personal pronoun in it, and is much too flattering in tone to afford any satisfaction to its subject, I am determined to publish it for more than one good reason. First of all, this tone is the fashion. Every man who can seems now to be writing his autobiography, and not one of these is justified. Second, the lack of opportunity for Father McCurtin to enter a defence against my remarks gives me a doubtful victory over him, for which I have waited for many years. I have had many masters, but he was the only one whom I determined to master. A vain ambition, no doubt, but really not so foolish as it would first appear. An unimaginative master may work his pupils as wax and succeed in leaving his excellent impression upon them, after which they will assuredly grow into respectable citizens. Give a sheep dog to a childless, wealthy woman and she will nurse it and domesticate it until it has not more of dog left in it than an imbecile pomeranian. Give the same dog to a sheepman; he will put it to work, beat it into energetic life, impose tasks that would convulse pomeranians and embarrass men, and threaten to discard it should it prove a failure. Similarly with the imaginative school master. (Those who were pupils of Father McCurtin will recognise that the dog metaphor is not at all strained; more than one of us were so often referred to as “Puppies” that we readily answered to the name.) So, let the master train the puppy pupil in the basic principles of education; then give him the field and ask a dog's work of him.

Throw to the pupil slabs of Milton or chunks of Dryden. If he cannot comprehend, tell him he is lacking in ordinary intelligence, for all small boys of his time knew these things at the age of two. Then if the pupil has left a spark of self-respect he will beg, borrow or buy the works of Milton or Dryden and read therein so as to rise to the heights of intelligence and knowledge required of a boy of ten or twelve. I should be sorry if this badinage obscured the useful lesson which is contained in the foregoing sentences. That lesson is that by so provocative a form of teaching the boy of initiative will be allowed to discover himself, after having searched for and found and read some of the better works of literature. He will begin to read for the love of reading, not because he is forced to cram in set text-books. Father Mc Curtin may not have adopted such methods in teaching; he might be violently opposed to them and regard my philosophising as erroneous; but, at all events, that is the impression I have of his teaching. And as a pupil I found it encouraging, and as a grown man I look back on it gratefully. Someone may ask what good has it done me; or what have I done because of it. Again, I am forced to introduce the first personal pronoun into the argument; but I do so, I believe, so that it may encourage both pupils and teachers. I distinctly remember determining as a boy to write an essay that would be difficult for even Father McCurtin to criticise adversely. I spent much labour on it, three full days, and presented it unsigned. It was adversely criticised: but it taught me that I had some facility for writing and aroused an ambition to continue. I still have that essay, preserved as affectionately as a mother keeps some relic of her first child's infancy. Now, I have several volumes to my name, and al though they may be regarded in various ways by the discerning and the less discerning public, I am honest in asserting that had it not been for the provocative teachings of Father McCurtin I should never have written a line. Australian writers are few; the Australian is timorous of self-expression with the pen; perhaps, the pupil is dried up by forced study when young; and set text books have made literature as unattractive as Arnold's Latin grammar.

The article on Father McCurtin, which the Editor asked me to write, has not been written, although my ruminations will occupy much space in the magazine. However, it is unneces sary to write an article so as to arouse affectionate memories among his past pupils. Let me tell them that in this year he celebrates fifty years of mem bership in the Society of Jesus, and all will pray that God may let him live to celebrate another jubilee. We need such men as he is; when he left Aus tralia in 1920 there were many who resented his going, who felt that he was more needed in Australia than in Ire land. He returned to us again in 1931, as fresh as ever. He is now in charge of Burke Hall in Melbourne.

Here are some outstanding dates and events in his career. They were sent by the Editor to guide me in writing a biographical article. As they will probably be of more interest to readers than what I have written, I append them. They represent the multifarious activi ties of a long and useful life; con sequently, they speak for themselves.

In 1883, on February 1, he entered the Society. From 1886-8 he studied philosophy at Milltown Park, Dublin, From 1889-95 he was teaching at Xavier, in Melbourne, and in 1891 was Prefect of Studies there. From 1895-8 he studied Theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained to the Priesthood in 1897. In 1998 he taught at Belvedere, Dublin, and in the following year he was in Belgium for his Third Year. The beginning of the century saw him at teaching work again at Belvedere, 1902-3 were spent at St Patrick's, Mel bourne, and 1903-5 witnessed valuable work at Xavier. Then came his splendid career at St Aloysius' College as Rector (1910-16), during which he resurrected the Old Boys Union and almost trebled the enrolment of pupils. 1914-16 were marked by his efficient services as Catholic representative on the Bursary Board of NSW, when he not only. succeeded in winning due rights for all Catholic Secondary Schools, but also gained such general esteem from his fellow members that they marked his departure from their midst with evident regret. 1917 was spent at Xavier, and 1918-19 at Riverview. In 1920 he re turned to Ireland, where he was occupied in preaching retreats and for a period was Superior of the celebrated Apostolic School at Mungret. From 1926-31 he was Rector of the Sacred Heart College, Limerick, where he rebuilt the Community House and School and decorated the public church. In 1931 he returned to Australia, and in 1932 was appointed to the charge of Burke Hall, Melbourne, where he still flourishes in excellent health.

Ad multos annos, .

ERIS M O'BRIEN

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1938

Obituary

Father Patrick J McCurtin SJ

The following account is taken from the “Advocate”, Melbourne.

An educationalist of high standing in the Jesuit Order, Rev Patrick McCurtin, who did outstanding work in the colleges of his Order in Ireland and Australia, died on Saturday morning in Mt St Evin's Hospital, after an illness of three weeks. His death is a heavy loss to the Society of Jesus, and to educational circles, in which, for more than fifty years, he was a distinguished figure. Of a genial and kindly disposition, his pupils idolised him, and there was deep and poignant sorrow at Kostka Hall, Brighton Beach, when the news of his death was made known.

Born in Tipperary, Ireland, Fr Mc Curtin, who was 73 years, studied for the priesthood in the Jesuit College at Milltown Park, Dublin. As a scholastic, he began teaching at Xavier College, Kew, and in 1886 he was prefect of studies there. His fine work met with well merited recognition, and he was appointed Rector of St Aloysius' Coll ege, Sydney. Later, he was attached to Riverview College, Sydney, as prefect of studies. In 1921, Fr McCurtin returned to Ireland, and in 1922 he was made Rector of the Crescent College, Limerick - a position he filled with eminent success. Returning to Australia in 1930, he was appointed headmaster of Burke Hall, a preparatory school affiliated with Xavier. He did much to place this school on a sound basis. When a second preparatory school in connection with Xavier College was established at Brighton Beach in 1937, the headmastership was conferred upon Fr McCurtin, who held this position up till his death.

Archbishop's Tribute

His Grace Rev Dr Mannix, paid the following graceful tribute to Fr McCurtin:

The prayers of the priests and people are most earnestly requested for the eternal repose of the soul of Fr Mc Curtin. On the day before his death, when I saw him for the last time, he had just received the sad news of the death of his brother in Ireland. He told me that he had been closely attached to his brother, but he took the sad news with resignation and with confidence that everything was right with his brother, who, as he said, had always been a faithful Catholic. Naturally, the news coming to him when he himself was almost exhausted, must have made a deep impression upon him, and perhaps hastened his own death. The two brothers had been closely attached during life, and in death they are not divided. Fr McCurtin is lost to us all: Priests and people have come here in large numbers to testify the esteem in which he was held, and to offer their sympathy to the Jesuit Fathers, who have lost one of the brightest ornaments of their Order in Australia.

The passing of Fr McCurtin naturally brings to our minds that long line - uninterrupted line, I might say - of Irish Jesuits who have come here to work and to labour in Australia. They were great men, many of them, and good men, all of them. They have done in Australia a marvellous work for Christian learning and culture, for re ligion and for God. Now another of them has gone to his reward. Some indeed, of the old ones amongst them are still with us, thanks be to God, and long may they be spared to do and continue the work in which they are engaged. But Fr McCurtin's work is over. He was not the least of the Jesuit Fathers. He came, I believe, from that part of Ireland which gave us an other great Jesuit Father, whose name is remembered in benediction - Fr James O'Dwyer. There was much resemblance between the two, and they have left the stamp and zeal of their own lives and their example and teaching upon the minds and hearts of many of those who are prominent in Catholic life in Melbourne and Australia. Fr McCurtin's work, like that of Fr O'Dwyer's, will remain, His mortal days are ended, but the stamp and seal put on many lives will remain to bear fruit and fructify in Australia, I hope, in the years that are to come.

One of the greatest consolations that the Jesuit Fathers have, looking back upon the great work done by their Order in Australia, is that now young Australian Jesuits are coming to step into the places that are being left vacant, one by one, by the great old pioneers, the Irish Jesuit Fathers, who came to this land. Fr McCurtin had great gifts, and he used them all. Perhaps the one great gift that God gave him was that of being a teacher, not merely a teacher in the ordinary sense, but one who built up the character of the boys committed to his care. I was myself closely associated with him while he was at Burke Hall, and I could not fail to be deeply impressed by the manifest impression that he made upon the boys who were sent to the college. He had the gentlest ways and was always bright and cheerful, and he seemed to radiate happiness wherever he went. While he was gentle and kind, still he was always the master. Side by side with his great gentleness of character was a real robust manliness, and the staunchest of principles that never deserted him. He was a great favourite with the boys, and seemed almost to be one of them, and it was quite evident that he was always seeking to mould their characters and preparing them to be, what I hope they will be, a credit to their Jesuit teachers and to the Church to which they belong. All his life was spent in that work, and his only thought was to serve the Master by moulding the character of the young.

He has been an outstanding success in Australia, as he was in Ireland, and the Jesuit Fathers will find it hard to replace him. We all miss him. We have lost a great friend and a great priest. We can only hand him over to the tender mercies of the God Whom he served so long and so well. In spite of his saintly character, human nature is weak, and maybe there are still some stains upon his soul. We pray to-day, and will pray for many days, that if there be any stain remaining it may be wiped out in the mercy of His Redeemer, Whom he served so faithfully and so affectionately, and Whose living Image he tried to impress upon so many of the young people of Australia. May God have mercy upon his soul and upon the souls of all the faithful departed, and may eternal Light shine upon him.

An Old Aloysian’s Tribute

23 Salisbury Road,
Rose Bay. ii.
23rd July, 1938.

Dear Father Hehir,
Although personally unknown to you, I am writing as the oldest member of the St Aloysius' Old Boys' Union to express the. deep regret I feel with regard to the death of Father McCurtin; and to express my sympathy with the Jesuit Order in his loss.

He endeared himself to everyone that he came in contact with while at the college, and there will be many who will feel his loss deeply.

Yours faithfully,

Arthur Barlow

◆ Mungret Annual, 1937

Obituary

Father Patrick McCurtin SJ

On the 16th July, 1938, Father McCurtin died at Mount St Evin's Hospital, Melboume. Though he had reached the three score years and ten, yet the news of his death came as a shock. His life was so regular, his days so methodically arranged and the triumph of his strong will over ill-health so consistent, that even at 73 years of age one did not regard Father McCurtin as old.

Born in 1865, in the shadow of the Galtee mountains, in the town of Tipperary, he received his early education in Rockwell College. In 1883 he began his novitiate in Milltown Park and completed it next year in Dromore, Philosophy followed at Milltown Park, and in 1888 we find him at Xavier College, beginning a connection with Australia that was to last for thirty-three years. He returned once more to Milltown for. theology, and was ordained in 1896. Tertianship and two years at Belvedere followed, and once more he took up the threads of the work he had begun so fruit fully in Australia. From 1901 till his death, in 1938, with the exception of twelve years in Ireland, Father McCurtin devoted him self to the service of education in Australia,

Father McCurtin's connection with Mungret was brief, 1923-26, but his work there was enduring. His long experience in Australia, his knowledge of the needs of the priesthood gleaned from his own experience in giving retreats and his knowledge of the educational system of that country, were all brought to bear upon the office entrusted to him. No detail that helped towards the advancement of culture, no practice that helped to the building up of character and the acquiring of solid virtue in the young aspirants to the priesthood, was neglected. To build the supernatural on a good natural foundation was his ideal, and, to achieve this, he spared no pains.

No sketch of Father McCurtin's life that did not take into account his work for the church in Australia, would do him justice. As master, as prefect of studies, or as recior, he worked in St Patrick's, Xavier, Riverview, and St Aloysius. All these colleges owe much to the meticulous care. and the sure grasp of essentials that Father McCurtin brought to bear upon their studies.

Nor were his educational activities restricted to these colleges. His expert knowledge and wide grasp of the secondary school system was put at the service of the State when a scheme was being drafted for school registration. In like manner, he helped the various convents and drew up for them a course of studies that facilitated registration when this became obligatory.

The last years of Father McCurtin's life must have been his happiest. He was successively Head Master of Burke Hall and Kotska. Hall. Here he renewed his youth with the generous youth of Australia and formed the young lads as he had formed their fathers and perhaps their grand fathers - years before at Xavier. Just when Father McCurtin seemed set for a century, the call came. The work of “the good and faithful servant” was completed and he entered on his reward.

His Grace, Archbishop Mannix, paid a warm and grateful tribute to Father McCurtin at his Solemn Requiem at Hawthorn:

“Father McCurtin had great gifts and he used them all. Perhaps the one great gift that God gave him was that of being a teacher, not merely a teacher in the ordinary sense, but one who built up the character of the boys committed to his care. I was myself closely associated with him while he was in Burke Hall, and I could not fail to be deeply impressed by the manifest impression that he made upon the boys that were sent to the college. He had the gentlest ways and was always bright and cheerful, and he seemed to radiate happiness wherever he went. All his life was spent in that work and his only thought was to serve the Master by moulding the character of the young”.

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 Patrick McCurtin (1865-1938)

Was born in the town of Tipperary. He was admitted to the Society in 1883 and ordained at Milltown Park in 1895. Apart from his studies in Ireland, Father McCurtin spent only twelve years of his religious life in this country. He spent his scholastic years in Australia and returned there in 1901 where he was to spend twenty years. He returned to Ireland in 1921 and came as rector to the Crescent in 1926. During his term of office he did much for the progress of the school and greatly improved the church. On the separation of the Australian mission from the Irish Province of the Society in 1931, he elected to finish his days where so much of his best years had been spent. He died in Melbourne 16 July, 1938.

Born: 05 December 1892, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 31 August 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1924, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1929, Robinson Road, Hong Kong
Died 27 June 1932, Sacred Heart College, Canton, China (Died of cholera)

by 1918 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1928 at St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1929 Joined second batch Hong Kong Missioners

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 4 1932
Obituary :
Our mission in China has suffered grave loss by the deaths of two of its most zealous missioners, Our hope is that the willing sacrifice of their lives will bring down the blessing of God on the mission, and help in the gathering of a rich harvest of souls for Christ.

Fr Joseph McCullough
On the 27th June Father McCullough died at Canton of cholera. He caught the disease while devotedly attending Father Saul.
He was born in Belfast, 5th December, 1892, educated at Mungret, and began his novitiate at Tullabeg, 31st August 1914. After one year's juniorate at Tullabeg he was sent to Stonyhurst for philosophy. In 1917 our Irish philosophers owing to war troubles, were called home, and located at Milltown. Here he finished philosophy, and then spent two years in
Clongowes. Four years theology at Milltown, a year's teaching at Mungret, and tertianship at St. Beuno's brought him to the year 1928, when he sailed for China. He lived for one year with the Portuguese Fathers in Shiuhing, where he managed to teach English to about forty Chinese boys, using, as well as he could, their own language. Next year saw him Minister at Sacred Heart College, Canton, where he became an excellent teacher of the higher classes, and made such progress in the language that he was able to preach from the pulpit of the Canton Cathedral. His qualities of heart and his gaiety endeared him to many of the boys, and this influence was invaluable the following year when, in trying circumstances, he was appointed Superior of the College.
The Japanese boycott, the anti-foreign feeling in student circles paralysed the discipline in the Canton schools, and Sacred Heart College did not escape. Often during the year heroic
patience was required to keep the classes at work, and better than anyone else Father McCullough succeeded. He had become an intimate friend of many of the leading Chinese pagan boys. Their conversion was not to be hoped for at the moment. But, now that Father McCullough is reaping the reward of his brave efforts, we trust that his prayers will complete the work he had so well begun.
He was so well known that. a short time before his death a Convent of Chinese Sisters had invited him to give a retreat in Chinese to their pupils.
The following sketch is by Father M. Kelly who lived with him for a great many years before he went to China :
“It is difficult to think that he is dead, He was the embodiment of health and vigorous manhood when he left for China. During the last two years of theology he was Chaplain to the lncurable Hospital. There he did invaluable work. Being of a gay and cheerful disposition, it was really wonderful to see how the faces of the poor patients used to light up when they saw him approach. He always had a cheery word or a joke for every one. To bring a little brightness into the lives of such sufferers he got up any number of entertainments, securing the best artists in Dublin, even the famous Fritz Brass and his No. I Army Band. But he himself with his fine voice was always the most popular item with the patients.
On the purely spiritual side he worked even harder, and with conspicuous success. Many a deathbed was made easier by his presence, and not a few were won back to frequent the
Sacraments by his zeal and persistent efforts. Little wonder that, when leaving the hospital, the patients presented him with a beautiful watch, and that they were unfailing in their
prayers for his success in China.
As stated elsewhere Father McCullough sacrificed his life through his devotedness to Father Saul. It was not his only sacrifice. An intimate friend knows, and may now be pardoned for revealing, that he sacrificed his life's ambition when he accepted the invitation to go to China. Knowing that his abilities lay in the direction of preaching and giving retreats he worked assiduously during philosophy and theology preparing sermons and meditations-in the hope that eventually he would be chosen for the Mission staff in Ireland.
Towards the end of the Tertianship a letter came from Father Provincial asking him to go to China. It was utterly unexpected, and accepting, meant the renouncing of his life's
ambition. For two days he prayed for light and grace and then wrote his answer, a magnificent answer - he was willing to go if considered worthy. That meant his giving up the work.
for which he had prepared so long and so carefully, it meant leaving for ever a country that he dearly loved - he belonged to a family that for generations had been intimately connected with every popular movement in Ireland But, under a gay and lighthearted exterior, Father McCullough was an exact and zealous religious, and when the call came for a big sacrifice it got a reply that was really heroic.
May God reward him, and, by his death and that of his fellow worker, Father Saul, may He bless and strengthen our young mission, that has the sympathy of every one in the
Province in the loss of two such zealous workers.”

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Joseph McCullough 1892-1932
Fr Joseph McCullough was a martyr of charity in the exact sense of that hackneyed phrase, for he died of cholera contracted when nursing Fr Michael Saul, who also died of cholera.
Fr McCullough was a Belfast man, born in that city on December 5th 1892. He was one of the pioneer members of our Hong Kong Mission in 1928. He became so proficient in the Chinese language that he was able to give retreats to Chinese girls in a convent run by Chinese nuns.
The keynote to his life was zeal for souls. All during his scholasticate he prepared himself for retreats and missions. His qualities of heart and spontaneous gaiety endeared him to any of the pagan boys he met in Canton and which greatly helped him when appointed to the difficult post of Superior of our College in that turbulent and faction ridden city.
He died on June 27th 1932, young in years but ripe in achievement.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1929

Our Past

Father Joseph McCullough SJ

Mungret feels proud that still another of her old boys has been selected to join the little groups of Irish Jesuit Missionaries at Hong Kong. Fr Joe left Ireland for the Far East on September the 3rd. During a few years work in the sacred ministry he had shown a singular aptitude for preaching and direction. So many were indebted to him for spiritual assistance that it was not without dismay that they heard of his new destination. Their prayers will help Fr Joe greatly in his arduous labours amongst the Chinese. Shortly after his arrival at Hong Kong he and a companion Crossed over to Canton where the little band of pioneers have extended their labours, An extract from one of Fr. Joe's letters will illustrate that his eye still twinkles and that he can enjoy the humorous side of things :

At Canton station Fr McDonald SJ met me. If Hong Kong seemed to be 90% Chinese, Canton seemed about 200% so at least. What pandemonium once we left the station! A whole army of rickshaws and coolies seemed to bear down on us. Fr. Dan kept quite cool and an Indian policeman rushed up and smashed into the rickshaws with his long heavy truncheon. He spoke no word but just hit out right, left and centre. All was quiet at once, and Fr Dan's only remark was “This is Canton”.

I had one little adventure in the city. As I walked through one of the crowded thoroughfares with Fr McDonald, a slick looking gentleman eyed me sharply as I passed him, instantly observing, as I suppose, that I was a stranger. He followed with a friend, Then getting in front he left his friend behind me. A push from behind drove me into the arms of the gentleman (sic) in front, and an effort was made to reach my breast pocket. I handed off, kindly I hope, but firmly, and the objective was missed. We looked into each others eyes, smiled and passed on,

We may remark that Fr Joe comes from the North, in fact, Belfast. He really should have warned the Chinamen of that fact. Fr Joe with Mr J Hogan SJ, an old Crescent boy, were sent to the Catholic Mission, Shiuhing, West River, China.

In Shiuhing they are in the company of 20 Portuguese Jesuits who have charge of a district larger than Ireland. Fr Joe is devoting himself this year mainly to the study of Chinese, and gives help in the Catholic school before he returns to Hong Kong. We are sure that Fr Joe would be delighted to hear occasionally from old Mungret boys of 1912-14 as well as from his pupils of later years. He would value their prayers even more.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1932 : Golden Jubilee

Mungret and the Irish Jesuit Mission in China

Father Joseph McCullough SJ

Readers of the “Mungret Annual” will be interested to read of the progress, in six years, of the work of the Irish Jesuit Fathers in South China. To none will it come as a surprise that the sons of Mungret, true to the traditions of Mungret, have entered largely into this new venture to win China to the Catholic Faith. The Superior of the Mission, Father George Byrne; the Superior of the Jesuit Community in Canton, Father Joseph McCullough; the Minister in the Jesuit Community in Canton, Father Michael Saul (1904-09), and the Irish Father at present stationed in the Stella Maris College of the old capital city of Shiu-Hing, Father Eddie Bourke (1910-13), are all Mungret Alumni. To these must be added Father Richard Gallagher, who taught in Mungret from 1911 to 1914, and Rev R Harris, who was in Mungret as recently as 1922.

And first, the pioneer and founder of all this work is Father George Byrne, who for some years studied in Mungret. He arrived in China on the feast of St Francis Xavier, 1926. Surely an auspicious date. One which We hope and pray foreshadows the success which would have been the Saint's, had God so permitted him to enter into this land of China's teeming million,

The district of South China, to which these sons of Mungret have gone, is one of the most prosperous and densely populated in China. It is the city and district whence have come most of the leaders in the present government of China. For most of China's merchants, bankers, diplomatists and politicians are from Canton and the province of some forty millions of inhabitants of which Canton is the brains and the capital.

Indeed, so great is the share of the Cantonese in the Chinese movement for political freedom, that Canton is styled the brains of China.

The present Acting-President of China, Wong Ching Wei, is from Canton. The founder of the Nationalist Party, Sun Yat Sen, is from a village in the Canton delta. The importance, therefore, of Canton as a stronghold of the Catholic Faith is manifest. And for this reason the Holy See, rich with the experience of centuries, has manifested great concern in the establishment of the Church in this metropolis of South China. From America have come the Maryknoll Fathers, from Italy the Salesian Fathers, and from Ireland the Jesuit Fathers - all to unite in bringing to a great people the message of salvation.

Among the important works which Father Byrne came to do was to open a Regional Seminary for the training of the future priests of South China. It is a work which St. Francis hinself would have cherished, seeing it is one of the best, if not the best means, of solving the terrible problem of bringing China to the light and truth of Christ.

Last October this Regional Seminary building was ready for habitation. It is a beautiful structure in Chinese style, standing on the summit of its little hill-island and overlooking the entrance of Hong-Kong harbour. Seen in the golden rays of the setting sun, it nestles at the foot of the Hong Kong mountains, facing a view of sea dotted with a multitude of little islands. At its feet lies crowded the Aberdeen fishing fleet, the junks and the sampans--the homes of thousands of Chinese. This is a vision not easily forgotten

From here will go forth a well trained native Chinese army of Christ's own soldier priests to win their pagan brothers into the fold of the Good Shepherd. There you will find one who is still, I am sure, remembered in Mungret - Father Dick Gallagher. His energy knows no bounds, and to hear the choir of Chinese students which he has trained but for a few months, makes one proud that Mungret was his home for so many years. “The Rock”, the chief mouthpiece of things, Catholic in Hong-Kong, which he edits, he takes in his stride, as it were, and it is only one of his numerous works of zeal and love.

A night's journey from Hong-Kong by one of Butterfield and Swires' fine river boats, brings one to the famous capital of Kwang Tung-Canton. Here the beautiful Gothic spires of the Catholic Cathedral belonging to the Missions Etrangères, stand out as land-marks to be seen from any elevated part of this vast city. It is in the grounds of this Cathedral that is situated the Sacred Heart College. The Superior of the Irish Community teaching here is Father McCullough, also a Mungret man. With him are also two other Mungret men. Father Saul, well known all over Ireland for his missionary work and zeal, joined the community last year, and already he has made his influence felt. Rev Dick Harris has also been a credit to his Alma Mater by his zeal and sympathy among the boys. Already he has made several converts. He and Father McCullough spent a preliminary year studying the language at Shiu Hing. This place is a large village situated on the West River and a day's journey from Canton. At present Father Eddie Bourke, recently First Club Prefect at Mungret, where he once studied as a boy, is there grappling with the problems of Chinese language and customs.

So Mungret men are everywhere leavening the work of the Irish Jesuits on South China. Surely Mungret is honoured in them and they in her for all she has done for them. Yet they are but a handful of the soldiers of Christ, whom Mungret has scattered so lavishly all over the world, from China to Africa, from America to India, from Australia to the Philippines.

Truly, Mungret's role of honour is mag nificent, and we, its representatives out here in distant Cathay, take a noble pride in being her sons, and we are happy to join with ail her far-flung legions in offering her, on this her Golden Jubilee, our heartfelt thanks for all she has done for us, and in wishing her a continuation of God's blessing in the great and fruitful work she is going to do in the future,

For the convenience of readers we add the addresses of past Mungret men now working with the Irish Jesuits in China :
Rev George Byrne SJ, Ricci Hall, Hong Kong.
Rev Joseph McCullough SJ, Sacred Heart College, Canton.
Rev Michael Saul SJ, Sacred Heart College, Canton.
Rev R Harris SJ, Sacred Heart College, Canton.
Rev E Bourke SJ, Stella Maris College, Shiu Hing.
Rev R Gallagher SJ, Regional Seminary, Hong-Kong

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1933

Obituary

Father Joseph McCullough SJ

Scarcely had the sad news of Father Saul's death reached us in Mungret, than there followed the news that Father McCullough had also been called to make the great sacrifice and to offer his life for the young Jesuit Mission of Hong Kong. He had caught cholera while devotedly attending Father Saul in his sickness and at his death. Boys still at school here remembered Father McCullough for his great cheerfulness and good-humour, while many had heard of him from their companions. Thus it came about that his unexpected death came home to us all, with unusual force.

Joseph McCullough was born in Belfast, December 5th, 1892, and was in Mungret from 1912 to 1914. In the August of 1914 he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Tullabeg. He went through the full course of his studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, broken only by two years on the teaching staff at Clongowes. After his ordination he spent the year 1926-27 teaching at Mungret. In 1928 he was appointed to the Mission in Canton. Here he spent a twelvemonth among the Portuguese Fathers at Shiuhing learning. Chinese. He made rapid and remarkable progress in Chinese, and was constantly invited to preach in Canton Cathedral. In 1929 he became Minister and Teacher at Sacred Heart College, Canton, and in 1930 he became its Superior. In attending Father Saul during the cholera epidemic of June, 1932, he himself caught the disease and died after three days illness.

The loss of Father McCullough to the Mission in Canton might be called a disaster if we did not remember that God's ways are not our ways, nor our thoughts His. He had triumphed over the difficulties of the language, and his full powers were just coming into play on the apostolate. We can sympathise, therefore, with the loss of his brothers in the field afar. By all who knew him, too, this early death is keenly felt, for he was gay and cheerful always, a ready helper of others and an excellent friend to all. He had a fine voice, and we are told that he was never readier to use it than for the pleasure of the poor incurables of a Dublin hospital. His humour appears in his letters from the mission, some of which appeared in our columns in 1929. Life in the new land of China, far from Ireland, where his human interest and natural ambitions were centred, was not pleasant, but he met its disappointments with the smile that concealed holiness, and smiling, made the offering of his life for China.

To his sorrowing relatives Mungret offers her deep sympathy. RIP

Born: 14 June 1874, Belturbet, Co Cavan
Entered: 20 June 1900, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1911, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 26 March 1924, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

MCCORMICK to 1913 Cat

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
At the time of his death Philip had been in Gardiner St community for about twenty years. It was said of him that anything you gave him to do was sure to be done well.
He was of average height, had a refined face and was not robust physically. Father Vincent Byrne said his funeral Mass which was attended by many of the Brothers from the city houses. Fr Provincial John Fahy read the prayers at his graveside.

Born: 25 December 1605, County Down
Entered: 04 October 1624, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: c 1630, Douai, France
Died: 20 April 1643, Dublin City, County Dublin

Alias Connell

“Henry McCawell or Cavellus, was son of Isabella Carrin or Currin”.
Studied Humanities at Louvain and Philosophy at Douai, teacher of Arts, able to teach Philosophy and Theology

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Name in Latin “Cavellus”
Described as a most learned and zealous man; had been Professor of Philosophy; Imprisoned and flogged.
1642 Deported to France and returned to Ireland March 1643, and he died in Dublin a few days after return of hardship
Directly under “Henry” there are two further McCaughwells: Hugh and John, both apparently born in Down, and both of whom Entered 1624 in Belgium. (These are possible duplicate entries for Henry??)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of William and Isabelle née Carrin
He has previously studied Humanities under the Augustinians at Louvain and the Jesuits at Antwerp and graduated MA at Douai where he studied Philosophy under the Jesuits, before Entry 04 October 1624 at Tournai
1626-1630 After First Vows he was sent to complete his studies at Douai and was Ordained 1630 there
1631 He was sent to Ireland and to the Dublin Residence as Operarius. As an able Philosopher and Theologian, he ran classes in Philosophy and Theology for prospective seminarians, preparing them for Colleges in Europe.
1641 He was in the city when it was taken over by the Puritans 1641. Matthew O’Hartegan (in a letter of 05 August 1642 to the General) described McCavell’s fate “He was arrested, beaten with rods in the market place and put on board a ship bound for France with eighteen other priests. He was ill and half paralysed at the time. He found refuge at La Rochelle, but he was so determined that he was already planning a return to Ireland. He did take a ship the following Spring but died within a few days of his arrival in the city 20 April 1643.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Henry Cavell SJ 1605-1643
In Dublin early in the year 1643 died Fr Henry Cavell, or Caughwell, a man of great learning and zeal for souls.

He taught Philosophy in the Dublin Residence, for we read that Fr Stephen Gellous studied philosophy for two and a half years under him. Though confined to bed, he was dragged by the Parliamentarians from the Dublin Residence in 1642. As he was unable to stand, he was placed in a chair, more for mockery than for ease, and subjected to brutal assaults of the soldiery. He was beaten with cudgels and thrown into the ship with nineteen other religious and priests and transported to La Rochelle, France.

In La Rochelle he was most charitably received by Fr Destraded and given a Brother to assist him. No sooner was he restored to some degree of health then urged by his burning zeal, he hastened back once more to the scene of his labours. On the passage back he encountered a storm which lasted 21 days. He was completely broken down by his sufferings and died in Dublin a few days after landing, a true martyr of charity and zeal.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CAVELL, HENRY, is described as “Vir doctissimus et animarum zelo plenus”. He was apprehended in Dublin, dragged by soldiers from his sick bed though suffering from Palsy, severely scourged “virgis primum bene caesus” and then put on board a vessel with nineteen Religious and Priests, and landed at Rochelle. The Rector of the Jesuits College there paid him every charitable attention, and by great care and the best medical advice, gradually succeeded in restoring him to a state of convalescence. As soon as he could, the Rev. Father hastened to the scene of his former labors; but within a few days after his return, early in 1613, fell a victim to his zeal and charity. F. G. Dillon says in a letter of the 3rd of August, 1643, that he had encoun tered a storm on his passage back which lasted twenty-one days. “Sic verus Christi Confessor obiit”.

Born: 17 January 1857, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 23 January 1880, Milltown Park
Final Vows: 15 August 1893, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 01 June 1926, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His Master of Novices was Charles McKenna at Milltown.
1886 He was now at Milltown as Cook, and he also served as Cook in Cork, Limerick, Clongowes, Galway and Tullabeg.
1925 He was sent to Gardiner St and not long afterwards he suffered a stroke. He recovered from this sufficiently to be able to walk in the garden with the aid of a stick. His second stroke was more severe and he survived only a couple of days, and died 01 June 1926.
He was at least six feet tall and was apparently a powerful man.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 4 1926
Obituary
Brother William McCartney
Br McCartney . died at Gardiner Street on June 1st, 1926

He entered the Society in 1880, and two years later was appointed cook at Milltown Park. For the next forty years he was cook in one or other of our Irish houses. In his case “cook” was no mere honorary title. He spent his working day in the kitchen, and while there his coat was always off. And he had a very clear idea why he worked so hard. It may be news to many that he was known to his intimate friends as “Propter Te”. During the greater part of these forty years the words were constantly on his lips-he had learned them during a Retreat. When his work was well-nigh overwhelming - such as four villas in Galway - during the war, one after another in quick succession, he never shirked : “Propter Te”. When difficulties gathered round him he stood his ground, and faced them like a man It can be said with truth of him, “he died in harness.” Retreats were started in Rathfarnham in 1922. It meant double work for him, and he had no help except a lad to wash the dishes. He was advised to ask for assistance.
But no, he would do the best he could “Propter Te”. It was too much for him. In course of time he began to feel out of sorts, the old energy was ebbing fast, and he was sent to the doctor, who put him in his own motor and drove him straight to hospital. The heart had given way, and Br McCartney was in well nigh a dying condition. He He lingered on for two years, and IS now with that generous Father Who rewards the cup of water given for His sake. He won't forget those forty years of hard, continuous work ever and always generously done for him. Propter Te.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother William McCartney 1857-1926
“Propter te” was the motto and guiding principle of Br William McCartney, who died at Gardiner Street on June 1st 1926.

Having entered the Society in 1880, he spent the next 40 years of his life as cook in one or other of our houses. During all those years the words “Propter te” were ever on his lips, so that he became known to his intimate friends as “Propter te”.

When the Retreats stared at Rathfarnham, his work doubled, yet he never asked for help. Finally his health broke down and his heart became affected. He lingered for two years before passing to Him who had heard so oft those words “Propter te”.

Born: 03 October 1915, Sherkin Island, County Cork
Entered: 04 October 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1952, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died 18 June 2008, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Della Strada, Crescent College Comprehensive, Dooradoyle, Limerick community at the time of death.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/remembering-tom-mccarthy-sj/

Remembering Tom McCarthy SJ
Fr. Tom McCathy SJ was born in Co. Cork in 1915 and he entered the Society at Emo in 1937. He studied Arts at UCD before his philosophy and theology, and was ordained in Milltown Park in 1949. He taught in Clongowes Wood College for 8 years before going to St. Ignatius, Galway as Minister. Over the years, he also taught in the Crescent College and Gonzaga College, gave the Spiritual Exercises, and worked with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Limerick. He went to Cherryfield Lodge in 2004 and despite deteriorating health, he enjoyed being out in the garden. He died peacefully on Wednesday, 18 June 2008, aged 92 years.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 137 : Autumn 2008

Obituary

Fr Thomas (Tom) McCarthy (1915-2008)

3rd October 1915: Born in Sherkin, Co. Cork
Early education at Sacred Heart College, Cork
4th October 1935: Entered the Society at Emo
5th October 1937: First Vows at Emo
1937 - 1940: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1940 - 1944: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1944 - 1946: Clongowes Wood College - Regency
1946 - 1950: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1949: Ordained at Milltown Park
1950 - 1951: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1951 - 1959: Clongowes Wood College - Teacher
2nd February 1952: Final Vows at Clongowes Wood College
1959 - 1961: St. Ignatius, Galway - Minister
1961 - 1963: Crescent, Limerick - Teacher, Games Manager
1963 - 1965: Gonzaga College - Teacher
1965 - 2004: Limerick -
1965 - 1977: Crescent College
1977 - 1978: Dooradoyle - Vice-Superior; Teacher
1978 - 1982: Superior
1982 - 1983: Sabbatical
1983 - 1997: Dooradoyle - Directed Spiritual Exercises
1997 - 1999: Parish Visitation
1999 - 2004: Parish Visitation; St. Vincent de Paul Society
2004 - 2008: Cherryfield Lodge - Praying for Church and Society
18th June 2008: Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Liam O'Connell writes:
Sherkin Island:
Tom McCarthy was born on the 3rd October 1915, on Sherkin Island, off the coast of Cork, and he had a strong love of his family and his native place all his life. His parents had seven children, Patrick, James, John, Simon, William, Mary and then the youngest, Tom. One day when Tom was 9 years old, his father went away for the day. Tom took this chance to take out his father's boat, hoisted the sail and manoeuvred his way over and back around an inland lake, and he handled the boat very well. What he did not know until much later was that his father had returned early from his business, and from a distance he saw Tom sailing the boat. His father was very impressed by Tom's skill and was proud of him.

On May 21st, 1927 when 11-year-old Tom and his father were out fishing from a boat when Charles Lindberg passed overhead while flying from the USA to Paris, on one of the early translantic flights. Tom explained that at first they thought they heard a ship's engine, and then they thought they saw a large bird flying towards them, before then they realised that it was an aeroplane. Lindberg afterwards wrote about this: "The first indication of my approach to the European Coast was a small fishing boat which I first noticed a few miles ahead and slightly to the south of my course. There were several of these fishing boats grouped within a few miles of each other.

There is another story from Tom's childhood, which gives a hint of what is everlasting. One Christmas Eve, Tom and his mother had gone shopping to the mainland, to the town of Baltimore. During the day a storm blew up, and they were marooned in Baltimore, and feared that they would miss Christmas back in Sherkin with their family, because the seas were too dangerous. Late in the evening the captain of the ferry decided to set sail, and they all arrive home safely. 80 years later Tom still recalled the delight of going home with his mother and being reunited with his family.

The sea was one of Tom's great loves. Another was a life long love affair with language. He loved to find the right word for a situation. He delighted in words like 'insouciance' or
apposite' or 'flout - used correctly of course. This craft with words went back a long way. One day a schools inspector at his national school asked the students to spell three words: Furze, Yacht and Arctic. Tom got the prize for being the only person to get all three spellings correct. All his life until fairly recently he was a great reader, especially of biography and history, and books about sailing, and he loved good writing.

In 1978 when Tom retired from teaching, I suspect that it was not because he lacked energy, but, perhaps, because of the terrible things his young scholars did to language, and that this began to wear him down.

Jesuits
As a boy Tom moved from Sherkin Island to the mainland to stay with an uncle and aunt, to attend school in Baltimore, and then he moved on to the Sacred Heart Secondary School in Cork city as a boarder. After school he joined the Jesuits in October 1935. He formed great friendships with his contemporaries, especially with Michael Reidy and Eddie Diffley. In later years in community Tom was a most kind and encouraging presence, with a great sense of humour, and a lovely ability to laugh at himself. Sometimes his encouragement took the form of long homilies that kept us late for dinner on cold winter days. But no one could deny that these came from a kind spirit and a sincere zeal for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tom's work as a Jesuit brought him as Minister to Galway, and he taught Irish in Gonzaga College, and Latin and Irish in Clongowes. When he came to Limerick in the 1961 Tom taught these subjects again, and he also took on the job of Games Master. During the holidays he gave retreats, and he did Summer supply in a parish in New York. This also helped him to keep in touch with his brothers and sisters over there, and their families.

Old Crescent, Vincent de Paul
He was a Munster Schools Rugby Selector, and a Patron of Old Crescent Rugby Club. Devotion to Old Crescent was a big part of his life. It went very deep and in pride of place in his room was a picture of him blessing the new pavilion at Rosbrien. He enjoyed his visits to the clubhouse, where he was made feel so welcome, and where his pipe smoking was graciously tolerated.

Tom's other great interest was the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and the Conference of past students of Crescent, that works in St. Joseph's hospital. On Tuesdays after dinner, Tom first enjoyed a good smoke of his pipe, a mixture of Balkan Sobrany and Maltan tobacco, and then he was collected by some kind Brother, to go to St. Joseph's hospital, where they organise entertainment during the winter months. During the summer months they held outings to scenic locations around Limerick. The Brothers of this Conference of St. Vincent de Paul, and the patients of St. Joseph's were strong and constant friends to Tom. In recent years Tom said Mass at the Oratory at the Crescent Shopping Centre, and again made very good friends here. Retirement

After teaching, Tom worked with the parish priests in Southill on Parish visitation, and he travelled there on his Honda 50. He enjoyed this contact and admired the good people of Holy Family Parish. In later years, and in another part of the city, much closer to the city centre, Tom was driving by one day, when he came upon an altercation. He stopped the car and walked into the middle of the furore, and said something like “Desist from this inappropriate and unseemly behaviour”. The assailants could not believe what they were seeing and hearing; they scattered before this vision of a frail but valiant 82 year old.

Golf
Tom was a beautiful golfer with a neat and tidy swing, and he loved the cut and thrust of competition. Just before ordination in July 1949, he had a golf lesson from Christy Greene in Milltown, and discovered the secret of golf. By the end of the lesson every shot was perfect, and he could not wait to try out his new swing in a full round. However he had wait, first because of a Retreat and then Ordination and First Mass and then Mass in Sherkin Island. Eventually, two weeks later he got back to a golf course, in Killarney with his brothers. But alas! He used to chuckle as he explained that the secret of golf had escaped again. Tom had the distinction in Limerick Golf Club of winning a stroke competition, the Mungret Cup, despite taking 10 shots at one hole. Later he won the Holmes Cup with a partner, but Tom would never allow his partner, to say that 'we? won the cup, as Tom disparagingly refused to acknowledge the other's contribution.

Cherryfield
In recent years Tom's independent Island Man spirit meant that he did not want to accept help in coping with old age. However that most persistent of women, the Jesuit Health Officer, Mary Rickard, cajoled Tom to stay at the Jesuit Nursing Home in Cherryfield from time to time on short visits. At first he went reluctantly. Tom even went missing during some of Mary's visits to Limerick, but then as he grew weaker, he enjoyed the extraordinary care and goodness of the staff there, and he came to love Cherryfield, and in turn was loved and cherished by the Cherryfield Staff.

When Tom was Superior of the Jesuit Community at Dooradoyle, there was a frugality about the living conditions at Della Strada. However this was frugality with a purpose, as the community made a large contribution towards the cost of a new Jesuit community house in Kitwe in Zambia. Today this house serves as a home for Jesuits working in the University and in a Spirituality Centre. Nowadays. We use the phrase "Live simply so that others may simply live, but Tom anticipated this worldview of sharing. It came from a spirituality of the Body of Christ, which values solidarity and communion between people, and where we are all our brothers and sisters keepers.

When he was well into his 60's Tom was sent on a sabbatical year to train as a Spiritual Director and Retreat Giver. His letters from the training course to his community in Dooradoyle were masterpieces, as Tom poked fun at himself and his mistakes. But these letters were also profound, and gave an insight into Tom's willingness to unlearn old ways and to learn new skills, and to retain what was central to the message of Jesus Christ, and the Jesuit way of life. These letters showed that Tom was both daring and humble in the face of change. We had a sense that he walked with his God at his side, and in the middle of every difficulty God was his shield and his staff.

We pray that the love he learned from his father and mother, this love story with God which began at Tom's baptism, this love he kept alive all his live, will be enjoyed by Tom forever. Go dté tú slán ar shlí na firinne. Mile buíochas duit. Go dtreorai na haingil isteach sna flaithis thú.

Born: 09 June 1889, Sydney, Australia
Entered: 11 October 1911, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB) / St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1926, St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 14 November 1953, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1919 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1925 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
Robert McCarthy's father was a prosperous pharmacist, and Robert was educated at Riverview 1904-07. His father strongly opposed his joining the Society in 1908. Three years later Robert fell dangerously ill and was pronounced to be dying. He was given the vows of the Society on his deathbed, and then recovered.
Later, he entered the Society at Tullabeg, 11 October 1911, and did a brilliant mathematics and science course at the University of Dublin, 1913-18, completing a MSc with first class
honors. Philosophy studies were at at Jersey, Theology at Milltown Park, 1920-24, and tertianship at Tronchiennes.
McCarthy returned to Riverview to teach from 1925-27 was assistant editor of “Our Alma Mater”, and assisted Pigot in the observatory The two men were temperamentally incompatible - McCarthy being a loud-voiced, almost boisterous man boiling over with nervous energy. This helped him to be a very effective teacher, especially of mathematics and physics, but he could not work with Pigot. However, he did get on well with almost everyone.
He taught at St Patrick's College, 1927-30, and Xavier College, 1930-49. His final work was in the parish of Richmond, 1950-53, where he worked especially with the poor and was chaplain to the local branch of the St Vincent de Paul Society. As a retreat-giver and spiritual director, McCarthy was said to be especially good with girls, and this gave rise to some unkind remarks by the sort of people who would argue to the death against the ordination of women. However, he is chiefly remembered as a vigorous and successful teacher of boys. He suffered from heart disease for about fifteen years, but that did not prevent him from working hard.

Note from Edward Pigot Entry
His extremely high standards of scientific accuracy and integrity made it difficult for him to find an assistant he could work with, or who could work with him. George Downey, Robert McCarthy, and Wilfred Ryan, all failed to satisfy. However, when he met the young scholastic Daniel O'Connell he found a man after his own heart. When he found death approaching he was afraid, not of death, but because O’Connell was still only a theologian and not ready to take over the observatory. Happily, the Irish province was willing to release his other great friend, William O'Leary to fill the gap.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1939

The Boys of ‘03 : Father Robert McCarthy SJ

Little did we dream that the change from Bourke Street to Milson's Point would have reduced our numbers as considerably as it did. Few of us realised that our schoolmates of Surry Hills would not be with us when the College made the second change in its locality and the familiar surroundings of Crown Street gave way to the harbour views from Milson's Point. Those of us who recalled the Crown Street bus appreciated the change in transport across the Harbour, though some missed the extra time of journey afforded by the Crown Street tram. Fountain pens were a luxury in those days, and the supply of ink-wells at the College was a source of enquiry on more than one occasion. The large school-yard at Bourke Street was replaced by a tennis court attached to a private residence. The number of boys had fallen to less than a couple of score. Many of those who were to become famous in the athletic world had left school or gone to Riverview - Eddie Mandible, Cecil and Reg Healy, John and James Hughes. Of the original thirty-seven only a few were newcomers to the College, and most of those from Bourke Street were friends of my own age - Frank Casey, Jim Molloy, Les Carroll, Arthur Mulligan, Cyril Courtenay and my brother Justin come to my mind. Dan Carroll came across with the original 37, and worshippers of his football prowess at school still recall the wonderful game he played in a curtain-raiser before the first match of the Wallabies in England. One side had turned up a man short and Dan was asked to fill the vacancy. His seven tries for the match made the English critics wonder what kind of a team the Wallabies had when they could afford to go on the field without such an express moving man as Carroll. The last news I had of him was from my brother Justin on his way to the War. He met Dan in San Francisco, where Dan had established himself as the football coach of a local University and was a recognised exponent of the American game.

Jack Barlow was with us in Bourke Street, and came across the water to the new school, to go on with me the next year to Riverview. He became a member of the cadets there and develop ed an interest in military matters that afterwards won him fame at Gallipoli and eventually cost him his life. Frank Casey is a successful business man in Batlow. He collected many a prize year after year and made the journey from Strathfield every morning by train, tram and boat. We Juniors had to be at school half an hour before classes started to secure at least that amount of study and found it a useful supplement to the few minutes occupied in the short transit over the harbour.

Season tickets were available on the ferries, and we found out that a ticket to Mosman cost very little more than one to Milson's Point and allowed the holder to travel anywhere on the Sydney Ferries of those days. Some of us availed ourselves of this and frequently took a trip across the harbour to Mosman and Neutral Bay. Charlie Burfitt, who was not so fast over the hundred as Tom Roche, always put up a good performance between the College and the wharf. If he managed to get away a couple of minutes before three, he made little of the run down Campbell Street, and was fairly sure of catching the three o'clock boat over to Sydney. On one occasion he threw his bag of books on to a departing ferry and wisely decided to wait for the next one himself. He admitted being no swimmer, and shared our respect for sharks. A boy did go into the Harbour at Neutral Bay, and fortunately for Redmond Barry some of the “tourists” saw the incident and supplied the necessary evidence exonerating him from providing any physical assistance. An impromptu series of passing rushes across the deck of a ferry ended in my going home capless because I failed to take a pass from Blue Barry. The cap was last seen sailing down towards Kirribilli Point. The present hatbands made their appearance during the year and later came the badge.

One Saturday we went to Riverview . to play football, though some of us had very vague notions of the constitution of a team. Redmond Barry organised the game and spent most of the journey. up the river explaining what we had to do. Our disappointment was great when we found that our most formidable opponent was our old schoolmate of Bourke Street - Arthur Kelly, The result of the match was à foregone conclusion.

We journeyed out to the Sydney Cricket Ground for our sports, as we had done from Bourke Street, and as the original 37 grew to more than double that number during the year we were able to continue our usual successful social-athletic gathering.

The original thirty-seven at Milson's Point: Myrten Allen, Henri Aenger-heyster, John Barlow, Charles Burfitt, Wallace Bridge, Leslie Carroll, Francis Carroll, Augustus Carroll, Anthony Carroll, Daniel Carroll, Cyril Courtenay, Aubrey Curtis, George Curtis, Henry Carter, C D'Alpuget, Jacques D'Alpuget, Henry Daly, John Fraser, Galvan Gillis, Michael Hackett, Charles Howard, Laurence Hindmarsh, Charles Irving, Godfrey Kelly, Forster Latchford, Justin McCarthy, Robert McCarthy, Arthur Mulligan, John Molloy, William Molloy, Kennedy Noonan, Marcel Playoust, Thomas Roche, Prosper Ratte, Sydney Stougie, William Willis.

Born: 19 April 1921, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1980
Died: 13 November 1995, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to HIB ; 15 September 1992

by 1948 at Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Fr. Richard McCarthy, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Richard McCarthy, S.J., of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, died in hospital on 13 November 1995.

Born in Ireland 74 years ago, Father McCarthy spent the greater part of his life in Hong Kong. On his arrival in the territory in 1947, he was sent to Canton for two years of language studies, followed by a year of teaching in Wah Yan’s old premises on Robinson Road.

He returned to Ireland for his theological studies and was ordained priest in 1953.

After coming back to Hong Kong in 1955, he began a life of classroom teaching which ended only with his death forty years later.

Father McCarthy was an outstanding teacher. His first love was mathematics, but he also taught English and religious studies.

Many generations of Wah Yan students remember his clarity, his energy and the demanding standards he set them. He was interested in drama and debate and year by year prepared Wah Yan boys for the school speech festivals and inter-school drama competitions.

For nearly twenty years he was closely associated with the Saint Joseph’s College Sunday School, offering Mass for the children and their parents every Sunday. A widely-read man with a retentive memory, his homilies were greatly appreciated. He prided himself on never exceeding five minutes, a feat he achieved only through painstaking preparation.

Father McCarthy had many friends among his colleagues on the teaching staff of Hong Kong Wah Yan College and among his students, past and present. His involvement with the Saint Joseph’s Sunday School was a source of great happiness to him, and parents and children responded warmly with their friendship.

This was evidenced by the many who attended the funeral Mass presided over by Cardinal Wu, in Saint Joseph’s Church on 18 November and by all they did to ensure that it should be a fitting tribute to one whom they held in such high regard.

May he rest in peace!
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 24 November 1995

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 86 : July 1996 & Interfuse No 92 : August 1996
Obituary
Fr Richard McCarthy (1921-1995)

2nd April 1921: Born in Limerick
1933 - 1939: Education at St. Michael's Limerick
7th Sept. 1939: Entered Noviceship, at Emo
8th Sept. 1941; First Vows at Emo
1941 - 1944: Rathfarnham Castle - BA Degree, UCD.
1944 - 1947: Tullabeg: Studying Philosophy
1947 - 1950: Hong Kong: Language study/teaching at Wah Yan
1950 - 1954: Milltown Park: Studying theology
31st July 1953: Ordained at Milltown Park
1954 - 1955: Rathfarnham Castle - Tertianship
1955 - 1961: Wah Yan College, Kowloon - Teaching
1961 - 1995: Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Teaching and assisting in St. Joseph's Church, With the establishment of the Chinese Province in 1991, he asked to be ascribed to his Province of origin, but remained in Hong Kong, applied to the Chinese Province.
13th Nov. 1995: Died in Hong Kong

Even though Fr. McCarthy had been ill on and off over the last few months, his death was still quite a shock. Away back in 1968 he had had a by-pass operation, which was very successful and gave him many extra years of life - and a vigorous active life. Fr. MCarthy came from a big family, 11 brothers and sisters, and always remained very attached to them. After entering the Society in 1939, he followed the usual routine: noviceship, juniorate, during which he took a bachelor of arts degree - he was particularly gifted at maths and English. Then he went to Tullabeg where he studied philosophy for three years. During these years in the juniorate and in Tullabeg he developed many other interests: dramatics - he was an excellent actor and director - and opera, especially Gilbert & Sullivan, Fr. McCarthy had a lovely, rich, sonorous voice.

In 1947 he was sent to Guangzhou (Canton) for two years to study Cantonese. He became very fluent in it, though later he did not use it much. In 1949 he returned to Hong Kong where he taught for one year in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. From 1950 to 1954 he studied theology in Milltown Park and was ordained a priest in 1953. For him, being a priest was something he valued very much and he was always conscious of the privilege of saying Mass daily. In 1954-55 he spent a year in tertianship and returned to Hong Kong in 1955.

From 1955 to 1995, forty years, he was teaching, first in Wah Yan College, Kowloon, and later in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. “A simple, ordinary life”, you might say, but so precious in God's eyes, fulfilling Christ's words: “As long as you did it to one of these my least ones, you did it to Me”
.
In 1962 Fr. McCarthy was asked by St. Joseph's Church in Garden Road to help out by saying the Sunday Mass at 9.00am for the children and their parents, and they loved him - proof of which is the large crowd that attended his funeral. The children loved his sermons and the adults his counselling and advice. I have often seen him in Wah Yan College seated on a bench on the bottom corridor, talking to the parents, listening to them and advising them. They also rang him up frequently to ask for advice.

Fr. McCarthy was an excellent teacher: clear, simple and direct - strict at times, but at the end of the term you were very clear on its meaning. He taught many subjects: English, Maths, Ethics, Religion and Colloquial. He taught Maths in Form 3 for many years and was an outstanding teacher.
He was an inspiring and helpful preacher. He was very proud of his five-minute sermons. Although I tried several times to get him to over the five minutes, he always refused. “Five minutes is enough to get across one point - that's enough”.

He was an excellent community man, humorous, fond of joking, very easy to talk to, fond of a glass of whisky after dinner, liked to watch TV and good films. He had a great memory and could recite reams of poetry and Shakespeare, even some he had learned as a child!

One of his special gifts was his love of children, both in St. Joseph's Church and the Form 1 and Form 2 students in Wah Yan, Hong Kong.

In the last few months, Fr. McCarthy's health got worse. He found being in hospital a sore trial, hard to take. Yet even when he was suffering and depressed, he always thanked his visitors. He said he would like to go quickly, without causing trouble to too many people. And our Lord heard his prayer. Fr. McCarthy slipped away quietly after a heart attack in the early morning of 13th November.

We will miss Fr. McCarthy in our community, but for his sake we are happy that his sufferings are now over. We pray that he is now with the Lord, our Lady and the Saints and so many fellow Jesuits, and we pray that we may join him one day.

Fr. Sean Coghlan Homily, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong

Born: 28 May 1875, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 16 February 1894, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 26 July 1910, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 25 April 1946, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1905 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1911 at Linz Austria (ASR) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick McCarthy was born in Collingwood and educated at St Ignatius', Richmond, and later at St Patrick's College, 1890-93, where he had been a member of the Sodality of Our Lady and an altar server. He was always regarded as a person of high principle, and was a good influence among his contemporaries.
He entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 16 February 1894. After his juniorate there, he taught at Riverview and St Aloysius' College, 1898-04. Philosophy studies followed at Valkenburg, 1904-07, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1907-10. He made tertianship at Linz, Austria, the following year, and then returned to Australia.
He taught at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1911-15, and was then appointed socius to the master of novices at Loyola College, Greenwich, 1915-18, and again, 1928-31. During
the war he became chaplain to the German internees at Holdsworthy camp. He returned to St Aloysius' College in 1919, and was prefect of studies for a year before his posting to Sevenhill as superior and parish priest.
Here he did his best work, and was highly regarded as an outstanding preacher in the archdiocese. However, he was thrown from a motorcycle in January 1927, was unconscious for
almost a fortnight, and on sick leave for some months. It was believed this affected his health and temper . His whole character and disposition changed entirely. Formerly the mildest and most imperturbable of men, he became at times irritable and impatient, and made himself clear in no uncertain manner when things were not done as he thought they should be. Most people knew that the real man was kind and gentle. He helped so many people during his pastoral ministry.
After a short stay at Richmond and Greenwich, McCarthy returned to Sevenhill as superior, 1931-33, and then taught at St Patrick's College and Xavier College until 1938 when he went to the parish of Hawthorn until his death. This occurred suddenly when he was visiting a home to distribute Communion to the sick. He had had heart disease for some years, but this had not interfered with his pastoral work or the regularity of his life.
He was a tiny little man, full of vigor and fire. With the novices he was quick and nervous in manner, but also lively and humorous, brightening up the noviciate perceptibly. Children in schools catechised by the novices greatly enjoyed his occasional visits. He was a practical man full of common sense and a very sound, though not spectacular, preacher and retreat-giver. He managed his rather peculiar community at Sevenhill very well before his accident.

Born: 21 October 1905, North Circular Road, Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1939, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 14 May 1956, Mater Hospital, Dublin

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

Older brother of Joseph McCarthy - RIP 1986

by 1938 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 31st Year No 3 1956
Obituary :

Fr Michael McCarthy

Fr. Michael McCarthy died on Monday, May 14th in the Mater Hospital Nursing Home, after an illness of nearly five months.
He was born in Dublin in 1905, the eldest son of John McCarthy, a distinguished member of the Survey and Valuation Office. He was at school at O'Connell School, Dublin. In the large world of that school he was known and appreciated as a good student and a very good athlete. It was too large a place for the flowering of his gifts and he left memories of a very quiet boy of piety and talent rather than of striking intellectual power. He entered the Society in 1922 with Fr. Thomas Byrne, who was later to be his Provincial, and together they passed into and through the influence of Fr. Michael Browne. In 1924 Michael McCarthy came to Rathfarnham Castle and spent a year as a home junior, preparing for his Matriculation examination and for an entrance scholarship in Mathematics. It was here that his talents, now maturing, became very plain. He showed all the signs of the first class mathematician and took his scholarship with first place. In his first year examinations he again came first in his subject, but added to it leadership in English, which surprised none who knew him and least of all the many readers of the juniorate magazine. His writings had a quality of clear simplicity and dry humour, humour often barbed delicately, which made it obvious that we had in our midst a mathematician with elegant prose style. It was unfortunate for the Province that Michael McCarthy who was never a robust man, should have contracted “broken head”, as it was called. This interfered so much with attention to severe study, that his brilliant course was ended and he was sent, out of time, to teach in Clongowes. So ended his academic career in the National University to the deep regret of his professors and his contemporaries.
Self pity was no part of Michael McCarthy's make up and he set to work in Clongowes as if the heights had never beckoned. He taught Mathematics and played games and relaxed his strained nerves in field sports which admirably suited his temperament. In a quiet way he became a near authority on fishing and shooting and indeed developed a certain out of this century air of the educated man who is at home with nature and knows it very well. After three happy years in Clongowes, where he recovered his health and learnt to enjoy and love men like Fr. Wrafter and Fr. Elliot, he went on to Tullabeg to take up again the student's yoke. The atmosphere of these years in Tullabeg is one most cherished by those who lived there. No day was a dull day here. There was adventure in the classroom, on the football field, with the boats and after wild fowl on the bog. Here Michael McCarthy flourished and was very much at home. Here he found himself as a good community man and here he made his friends.
After Tullabeg the more sober air of Miltown in 1933. He went into the Shorts as the only possibility for one of his disposition of health and in that less tense atmosphere studied his Theology. He was a very good moralist. By nature he was not of speculative bent, in fact he rather disliked the metaphysical approach, while the legal dissective method suited his instinct and training. He was ordained in 1936 by His Grace the Most Reverend Alban Goodier, S.J, and after his fourth year went on to St. Beuno's for his tertianship under Fr. Leonard Geddes.
In 1938 he went to Mungret to teach and act as Spiritual Father to the boys. To his great satisfaction it was English he was asked to teach and here too for the first time he began a favourite work, that of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
In the following year he became Minister in Belvedere in the days of the Rectorship of Fr. J. M. O'Connor, and for the first year he was also Assistant Prefect of Studies. He enjoyed telling stories of his days as Minister to Fr. O'Connor; picturing himself as the quiet man of routine and placid method in double harness with the drive, energy and unexpected inspirations of his Rector. But the combination worked and between the two to the last there was a strong bond of affection and mutual respect. From 1942 to his death Michael taught Mathematics and for all but his last short year he was Spiritual adviser to the College Conference of St. Vincent de Paul, Last autumn he gave up his formal connection with the Conference and returned to his earlier and less pleasant job as Assistant Prefect of Studies. He spent nearly twenty years in Belvedere and there was no phase of college life in which he had not a keen, appreciative and intelligent interest. His great gifts were, with patience and generosity, put at the disposal of the boys and staff of the College. He was a very successful teacher and he owed it not to his knowledge or forceful personality, but to his intelligently humorous understanding of schoolboys. He was never dis appointed, never impatient. He never looked for either the mature or the angelio in his classes so there were none of the spurious scenes, no unfocussed situations, no dramas. The principal actor did not favour melodrama. Belvedere boys will miss him for this understanding quality.
It goes without saying that Michael McCarthy is a loss to the Province. He was a young man as years go and we might have expected to have him for many years to come. He is a very great loss to Belvedere College and to all his friends. Neither health nor natural temper made him the man of marked personality who cannot be overlooked. Health and temper produced a retiring, unobstrusive man, but his colleagues and the boys whom he taught knew him for more than the delicate, reserved teacher. In him natural piety had matured into one for whom the spiritual life was not artificial, not worn as a cloak, however hardly won, but as his natural life, simple and spontaneous. He was a model of formal regularity, but never intolerant of others; he was devout without ostentation, he was charitable to his brethren without any condescension and with humour; he worked hard and unfailingly under the handicap of ill health. He was perhaps a little intolerant of artists and their temperamental vagaries, but in all else he was such a religious as St. Ignatius would have wished to see us all.
His favourite work with the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul was a little known outlet for something deep in his character, which lay concealed beneath a certain exterior reserve and restraint. Even his friends can have little idea of his influence with the poor, of the affection they had for him and of his love for them. He visited them at home, heard the whole tale of their woe and coped with their problems. Manner, elegant figure, delicate air, all meant gentleman for them and he was their “kind gentleman”. He looked after them body and soul and while he was in no doubt about values he yet knew he was dealing with human beings. Their concern for his health was amusing to him, but to others, touching. He had their prayers and Masses. They asked about him regularly. They mourned him deeply. They had lost not a benefactor, but a friend, one of themselves, another Christ.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael McCarthy 1905-1956
Fr Michael McCarthy died on May 14th 1956 at the age of 51. With his death the Province lost a truly spiritual, congenial and lovable character, a man of exceptional mathematical and literary talents, which ill health prevented from blossoming into full maturity.

Born in Dublin in 1905, he was educated at O’Connell Schools, entering the Society in 1922. His early studies were crowned with brilliant success, but that bane of many a Jesuit “the broken head” marred his chances of further achievement.

He bore his cross lightly and good-humouredly, by no means making a martyr out of himself. His zeal and apostolic fervour found an outlet in the St Vincent de Paul Society attached to Belvedere College, where he laboured for the best part of his life as a Jesuit priest.

An unobtrusive hero, shy and reserved as to his real self, he served God faithfully in the classroom and on his quiet visits to the poor. A life hidden in God. A character truly lovable and to be admired.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1956

Obituary

Father Michael McCarthy SJ

The death has occurred of Rev Michael McCarthy SJ, of Belvedere College, Dublin, to which he had been attached for almost 20 years. A native of Dublin, he was aged 51.

Fr McCarthy was the eldest son of Mr John McCarthy, a distinguished member of the staff of the Survey and Valuation Office, Dublin. He was educated at the O'Connell School where he was a brilliant scudent as well as a fine athlete. He entered the Society of Jesus at St Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, in 1922. After his novitiate, he entered UCD as a Scholar in Mathematics and read a most successful course there, being Prizeman in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics. He then taught his subject in Clongowes Wood College for the next three years before going back to Tullamore in 1931 to study Philosophy. After two years there followed four years at Milltown Park where in July, 1936, at the end of his third year, he was ordained priest by His Grace Most Rev Alban Goodier SJ. He completed his training as a Jesuit at the House of Third Probation, St Beuno's, North Wales, in 1938.

During the next year he taught English Literature at Mungret College, Limerick, and at the same time he was Spiritual Director to the boys of the college. Then in 1939 began his long association with Belvedere College. He was Vice-Rector of Belvedere from 1939 until 1942, and for some time Assistant Prefect of Studies. During the whole period he taught Mathematics in the upper classes and until the last few months acted as Spiritual Director to the College Conferences of St Vincent de Paul.

Fr McCarthy's brother, Rev Joseph McCarthy SJ, is Superior of the Jesuit house at Chikuni, Northern Rhodesia. Another brother, Mr Owen McCarthy, BE, is at the Survey and Valuation Office, Dublin; while his third brother, Mr. James McCarthy, is Professor of English at Cairo University. His three sisters living in Dublin are Mrs N McCauley, Santry; Mrs Hastings, and Miss McCarthy.

The death of Fr. McCarthy is a severe loss to Belvedere College, and is a personal bereavement for the boys and men who have had the privilege of his company and training during almost twenty years. There was no phase of college life in which he had not a keen, intelligent and appreciative interest. He was a man of exceptional intellectual gifts, distinguished by rernarkable clarity of thought allied to clarity of expression, and given normal. health would have been a leader in the field of mathematical analysis. His great gifts were generously put with patience and success at the disposal of the boys and staff of Belvedere, and his monu ment as a teacher is their achievement.

He was widely read, possessed a critical mind, and wrote English with such elegance and distinction that his opinions were widely sought and his rare writings and sermons highly valued. He has a special niche in the hearts of the poor over a large area of the City centre. He was their trusted confidant, and their regular and honoured visitor in tenement homes.

Ill-health never interrupted his apostolate of the poor and it was an apostolate all the more valued because it was so spontaneous in its interest. His friends of the poor, hawkers, newspaper sellers, flower sellers, revered and loved him, whom they called with affection “the poor, kind gentlemnian” - well-chosen words which declared his character.

All those who suffer by his loss, his colleagues, his thousands of pupils, his poor, will pray for eternal rest for his soul.

Born: 17 April 1912, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 05 January 1986, Monze Hospital, Zambia - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Part of the Kasisi Parish, Lusaka, Zambia at the time of death

Younger brother of Michael McCarthy - RIP 1956

Early education at O’Connell’s School Dublin

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

by 1956 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fifth wave of Zambian Missioners

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Because Joe was such a ‘character’ - widely known and admired (as it were from a distance), fondly mimicked, amusedly quoted in his characteristic phrases like ‘old chap’, ‘nonsense!’ ‘My community’ etc, perhaps the full depth of his humanity and Jesuit identity were known only to a small circle of friends with whom he felt totally comfortable. His achievements as a missionary can easily be narrated for the edification of others or the annals of history.

Born on 17 April 1912, to a Dublin family of Cork stock, Joe had to compete with several brothers and sisters for the approval of his father; his mother had died when Joe was very young. After secondary school with the Christian Brothers, he entered the novitiate at Emo on 3 September 1930. As a junior he finished with a B.Sc. in Mathematics from U.C.D. Philosophy, regency and theology brought him to ordination at Milltown Park on 29 July 1943. He went to teach at Clongowes Wood College and was looked upon as a very competent teacher. From his oft repeated anecdotes of his life there, it is very clear that he enjoyed himself immensely.

A call for volunteers to meet the needs of the Jesuit Mission in the then Northern Rhodesia, saw Joe packing his bags to say goodbye to Clongowes. His ability to discard the comforts of life would be a feature of his life right up to his dying moments, despite the fragility of his body and the poor state of his general health. He came out with the first nine Irish Jesuits in 1950.

In the late 50s, Joe pioneered the Chivuna Mission where he built the community house, church and Trade School with the co-operation of Br Jim Dunne and won the esteem and affection of the people in the locality who fondly spoke of him as ‘Makacki’. For four years he was in Namwala, again building the mission house, a sisters' convent and outstations. In both these places he was full time parish priest.

The new Bishop of Monze, in his wise fashion appointed Joe as his Vicar General in the newly established diocese of Monze. Few (if any) could match Joe's qualifications for such a post: clear-sighted, wide experience in pioneering Church expansion, adroit in negotiating with local authorities, well able to collaborate with so varied a group of people, and an ability to make most of the limited funds available. Joe contributed enormously to the expansion of the church in Monze diocese during those years.

At the Bishop's request he was assigned to Chirundu, to the Zambezi Farm Training Institute, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Milan. In those ten years Joe became known in the vicinity and was highly appreciated by government officials, trainees and their families.

It was characteristic of Joe that wherever he lived and worked soon became ‘his’. He would speak of ‘my’ mission, ‘my' road, ‘my’ community etc. He loved to reminisce about the good old times of his life as he got older, amusedly recalling the characters of the old days, their witty sayings that indicated their nimbleness of mind. Such memories provided him with immense entertainment. The older he got the more he tended to repeat himself.

The Society he loved and felt part of was the Society of pre-Vatican II days, the Society in Ireland before the 60s; or the pioneering Society of Chikuni Mission characterized by the thrust and energy of the newly arrived Irish Jesuits, enjoying a degree of autonomy and homogeneity. How often would he later recall those great times. The present-day emphasis on community meetings, faith-sharing, more open dialogue between the members of the community continued to baffle him and defeat him to the very end.

His health was never very good and began to wane. After surgery in early 1977, Joe realised the strong possibility of the recurrence of the cancer. However some years later, the end came quickly. Jim Carroll was with him for his last four hours of life. When taking his leave of Jim in his final moments, Joe revealed so much of himself in his final words: ‘I think you should leave me here, old chap; there are certain formalities to be undergone from here on’! Within minutes Joe had died, leaving behind so many friends regretfully but at the same time looking forward to meeting so many others.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 61st Year No 2 1986

Obituary

Fr Joseph McCarthy (1912-1930-1986) (Zambia)

17th April 1912: born. 3rd September 1930: entered SJ. 1930-32 Emo, noviciate. 1932-35 Rathfarnham, juniorate. 1935-38 Tullabeg, philosophy. 1938-39 Clongowes, regency, 1939-40 Tullabeg, philosophy. 1940-44 Milltown, theology. 1944-45 Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1945-50 Clongowes, teaching. 1950-86 Zambia.
1950-51 Chikuni, learning language. 1951-57 Chivuna, administering trade school (1954-57 Vice-superior). 1957-58 Chikuni, assistant administrator of schools. 1958-59 Kasiya. 1959-62 Namwala. 1962-66 Kasiya, acting vicar general of Monze diocese. 1966-68 Monze, building Chirundu. 1968-75 Lusaka, St Ignatius, administering Chirundu. 1975-77 Chikuni, teaching. 1977-86 Kasisi: 1977-82 Superior, 1982-86 administering Kasisi farm. 5th January 1986: died.

The following obituary notice is taken from pp. 6-9 of the Zambian Province news-letter, February 1986.

As we stood mournfully round Fr Joe McCarthy's grave at Kasisi Fr Felix Kalebwe asked the Jesuit novices to kneel round the grave and realise that they were blessed to have been able to participate in the burial of a great Jesuit; and they were invited to remember this event for the rest of their lives, and to try to emulate Fr McCarthy in his zeal and dedication.
Later, as we came away from the burial-ground, avoiding the large pools of rain-water, one of the loveliest things of my life happened: many people, Jesuits and non-Jesuits, expressed their sympathy for me personally, in words like, “You will miss him greatly; you were such great friends”.
Because Joe was such a “character”, widely known and admired (as it were from a distance), fondly mimicked, amusedly quoted in his characteristic phrases like “I say, old chap”, “Nonsense”, “My community”, perhaps the full depth of his humanity and Jesuit identity were known only to a small circle of friends with whom he felt totally comfortable. Yes, his achievements as a missionary are part of history, can easily be narrated for the edification of others or the annals of our history. But lest his shyness with so many, and his inclination to resort to eccentric behaviour would hide the warm and gentle character of Joe, I would like to try to describe Joe the man who was a dedicated Jesuit and a very warm friend to a few of us.
Born on 17th April, 1912, to a Dublin family of Cork stock, Joe had to compete with several brothers and sisters for the approval of his father; his mother died when Joe was very young. After secondary school with the Irish Christian Brothers Joe entered the Jesuit noviciate at Emo on 3rd September, 1930. University studies followed at University College, Dublin, and despite being incapacitated by tuberculosis he finished with a good BSc Mathematics. On to Tullabeg for philosophy, where his keen intellect continued to reveal itself. Regency at Clongowes, followed by theological studies at Milltown Park; he always claimed in later life, in his characteristically boastful way, that he was an outstanding moral theologian of that era! What is clear from his studies throughout his Jesuit formation is that Joe could easily have gone on to lecture in any of the three fields of mathematics, philosophy or theology - and would have made his mark in whichever he chose.
Instead, after ordination on 29th July, 1943, fourth year of theology and tertianship, Joe went to teach at Clongowes Wood College. He was looked up to as a very competent teacher while at Clongowes. And from his oft repeated anecdotes of life in Clongowes at that time it is very clear that Joe enjoyed himself immensely while there, and later treasured fond memories of characters like The Prince McGlade and Patch Byrne. A life of satisfying teaching, accompanied by the gracious- ness of castle life lay before him; an inviting prospect for a humanly intellectual person like Joe.
But the Irish Provincial of the time, Fr Thomas Byrne, called for volunteers to meet the need of the Jesuit mission in the then N. Rhodesia. Joe packed his bag and said goodbye to the status and comradeship of Clongowes. In no way did he gladly turn his back on Ireland, the land and people that he loved so much, whose history and literature were so much part of him. That innate asceticism in him, the willingness to leave what he treasured so dearly and with which he was so personally involved, led him to offer himself for the challenging work of a new mission. This ability to discard the (justifiable) comforts of life would be a feature of Joe's life till his dying moments, despite the fragility of his body and the poor state of his general health.
The long boat and train journey to Chisekesi, language study at Chikuni, and then assignment to Kasiya Mission, where he quickly proved his qualities as a missionary. In the late '50s Joe pioneered Chivuna Mission, where he built the house, church and Trade School with the able cooperation of Br Jim Dunne, and won the esteem and affection of the people in the locality, who fondly spoke of him as “Macacki”.
At this stage of his life Joe had entered into the zenith of his apostolic life. Besides being a pioneering missionary and full-time parish priest, he was soon to be an invaluable consultor of the regional Jesuit superior of the Chikuni Mission. His clear-mindedness, coupled with an imaginative zeal and appreciation of the people's needs made Joe a very valuable consultor. Besides providing the superior with the benefits of his knowledge, Joe was energetically pursuing his own expansion of the church. Teachers, headmen and chiefs appreciated his efforts to extend education in their regions. His working relations with all of them were always amicable, and highly appreciated - often still recalled with great admiration and affection even thirty years afterwards. Numerous primary schools in the southern province of Zambia are monuments to Joe's zeal and competence.
Whether as planner, builder, adminisrator, pastoral worker, negotiator, adviser, fruit farmer, cattle farmer or whatever, Joe could not only turn his hand to it, but excel in it. And could (and would!) talk per longum et latum on any of these achievements; as indeed he could talk on any other subject on this earth. He needed to talk about what occupied his time and energy, to think aloud and sound out his grasp of the subject, rather than to learn from another. He was very much a self-made man, believing that with intellect nearly everything could be mastered practically by personal trial and error). Of course he found it next to impossible to admit to others that he ever made a mistake!
The new Bishop of Monze, James Corboy, in his wise fashion appointed Joe as his Vicar-General in the newly established diocese of Monze. Few (if any) could match Joe's qualifications for such a post: clear-sightedness, wide experience in pioneering the church expansion, adroit in negotiation with local authorities, ability to collaborate with so varied a group of people, and an ability to make the most of limited funds. Joe contributed enormously to the expansion of the church in the Monze diocese area in those years. Up to last year Bishop James was still in the habit of calling on the services of Joe when negotiations had to be made with some government ministry. Joe always looked on such a task as a great honour to himself . . , “to help James”.
At the Bishop's request Joe was assigned to Chirundu, to launch the Zambezi Farm-Training Institute, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Milan. In those years (about ten) Joe became known in the vicinity, had cordial relations with all officials in the locality, and was highly appreciated by government officials, personnel of the Archdiocese of Milan, as well as by the trainees and their families who passed through the Institute. During those years, often living alone, Joe was able to give free rein to his personal eccentricities, that would make it difficult for him to re-enter into ordinary community life. To all practical purposes he was Chief of Chirundu, and would later recall the advantages of that way of life. Life at Chirundu also afforded Joe opportunity to find pleasure in the wonders of nature; his knowledge of fossils, birds and trees was very extensive indeed; and his enquiring mind found such delight in so many simple objects of nature.
It was characteristic of Joe, that wherever he lived and worked soon became “his”. He threw himself totally into whatever he was doing, mastering it and achieving his goals in it; never withholding himself from a place or a work. I guess this partly explains why he developed the habit of claiming districts, missions, churches, schools, roads, farms, communities, even cattle for his own: “my” mission, “my” community, ...
This praiseworthy characteristic, to make anything his own, might account for Joe's long-standing resistance to the formation of the Province of Zambia. It took him years to accept that such a change did not inevitably mean a neglect of the Chikuni area or of the diocese of Monze. Those areas, where for the best part of twenty years he had spent himself untiringly - often to the neglect of his health - were to remain, even to the end, of great concern for him.
As the strenuously active part of his life came to an end, other aspects of Joe's character began to manifest themselves more. He always held that he came from a long line of traditional Irish bards or poets, and was convinced that he had the gifts of oratory. He loved to reminisce about the good old times in his life, amusedly recalling the characters of those days, their witty sayings that indicated nimbleness of mind: the memorable incidents of life in Clongowes, the victories of McCarthy and O'Riordan in the early mission days, the achievements of Namwala and Chirundu, brought to life by accolades for the colourful characters of those of those days. Such memories provided Joe with entertainment. And the older he got the more he tended to repeat himself; he was aware, to a degree, that such constant re-living of the past could bore his listeners; but that did not deter him from an exercise that gave him such great delight!
The competitive element of Joe's character, which had helped make him such a zealous missionary in the 50s and 60s, remained with him in later life. How he yearned to preach the greatest sermon, even to the children of Kasisi primary schools, or to be the most heal-ing of confessors to the people of the parish! How he wanted to be the best cattle farmer, the best buyer of necessities for the community! How he was spurred on by a crossword puzzle, by a debate. Such competitiveness quite often could lead him into what seemed rudeness towards others, as he grabbed the limelight in company. Joe was never content to sit back and listen, allowing someone else to be the 'soul of the party'. He had to be the one who dazzled!
The Society he loved and felt part of was the Society of pre-Vatican II days, the Society in Ireland before the 60s; or he pioneering Society of the Chikuni Mission, characterised by the thrust and energy of the newly-arrived Irish Jesuits, enjoying a degree of autonomy and homogeneity; how often he would later those “great times”. The present day emphasis on community meetings, faith-sharing, more open dialogue between all members of the community continued to baffle and defeat him to the very end. Of course he was incapable of admitting to this bafflement, and so tended to dismiss it all as emotional immaturity, decrying the absence of the old solid virtues of self-reliance and selflessness.
How remarkable that Providence : should lead him, for the last eight years his life, to Kasisi, a non-Irish environment, As superior he was able to show his innate kindness to members of his community, to the Sisters in the nearby community and to guests who visited Kasisi to rest or make their annual retreat. All were the recipients of Joe's hospitality.
After surgery in early 1977 Joe realised the strong possibility of a recurrence of the cancer in him. But he would never discuss his anxiety with anyone else. He preferred to carry on as if
everything was okay, doing his duty; and whenever close friends tried to get him to share his anxieties with them, he would quickly switch the conversation into less personal channels. And few people were better than Joe at giving direction to a conversation, in fact at taking over the conversation completely and not giving the other conversant (!) a chance of changing it back on course!
The end came quickly: fighting for life in the intensive care unit at the University Training Hospital, imbalance of body fluids with intermittent hallucinations, infection of the surgery wound, removal to Chikuni and Monze hospitals, an apparent recovery, a lapse into pneumonia, accompanied with a great peace and acceptance of the inevitable. Jim Carroll, who was with Joe for his last four hours, describes his death as a most beautiful one, with Joe eagerly looking forward to seeing his mother and Jesus. When taking his leave of Jim, recall in his final moments, Joe revealed so much of himself in his final words: I think you should leave me, here, old chap; there are certain formalities to be undergone from here on! Within minutes Joe had died, leaving behind so many friends regretfully, but at the same time looking forward to meeting so many others.
In recent annual retreats Joe had confided in me that he had been over- whelmed by God's love for him. I honestly think that he made great efforts in returning that love through his deeds; may he now rest in that same love.

Born: 30 April 1894, Stourport, Worcestershire, England
Entered: 07 September 1910, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1930
Died: 27 July 1968, St Joseph’s, Robinson Road, Hong Kong - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1926 came to Milltown (HIB) studying
by 1940 came to Hong Kong (HIB) working 1940-1967

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father McCARTHY Jeremias
R.I.P.

At noon every Saturday for the past eleven years the Editor of this paper lifted the phone and spoke for a few minutes to a voice coming from a flat in Robinson Road. On the following Monday morning with unfailing regularity a typewritten page was delivered to the Sunday Examiner office; the weekly editorial had arrived.

To the deep regret of the staff of the Sunday Examiner and of its readers this time-honoured procedure will never be repeated: for Father Jeremiah McCarthy, S.J. our editorial writer died at 2:45pm last Saturday afternoon at the age of seventy-four.

Father McCarthy was a man of many talents; a distinguished theologian, he began his missionary work in Hong Kong twenty-nine years ago as Professor of Dogmatic Theology in the Regional Seminary for South China at Aberdeen; he held a Master’s Degree in Chemistry from Oxford University and as a war-time refugee in Macao he turned his knowledge to good use by devising substitute fuels to keep the local power supply in operation.

When the war was over Father McCarthy returned to his post at the Seminary and began his connection with the Agricultural and Fisheries Department with whom he developed a method of drying and preserving fish and experimented in the increased use of natural and artificial fertilisers.

After some years in Cheung Chau Island as Superior of the Jesuit Language School he returned to Hong Kong, joined the staff of the China News Analysis and began the long association with the editorial page of this paper which despite declining health continued up to the week of his death.

Father McCarthy wrote over five hundred editorials for this paper; and as we look through the files at the variety of subjects covered we can only marvel at the range of intelligent interest of which this one man’s mind was capable. Moral, liturgical, social, political, international and local problems were subjected in turn to his keen analysis and the conclusions recorded in the elegant, economical prose of which he was a master. Freshness of approach, clarity of though and expression, and a deeply-felt sympathy for the poor, the suffering and the oppressed - these are the marks of the writer, as well as of the man and the priest, whose comments on the passing scene stamped this page with a character of its own.

The staff of the Sunday Examiner, and of the Kung Kao Po where Father McCarthy’s editorials appeared in translation, has lost a most valued and faithful collaborator and friend.

May God reward his earthly labours with the blessing of eternal refreshment, light and peace.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 2 August 1968

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He arrived in Hong Kong from the English Province in 1939 and went to teach Dogmatic Theology at the Regional Seminary in Aberdeen.

During WWII, as a refugee in Macau, his Masters Degree in Chemistry enabled him to devise substitute fuels to maintain the local power and water supplies going.
After the War he returned to Aberdeen and began an association with the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, developing methods of drying and preserving fish.
Later he joined “China News Analysis”, enhancing its reputation. During these years he also wrote weekly editorials for the “Sunday Examiner”, over 500 of them, on a wide range of topics. His comments on local affairs especially were often quoted at length in the Hong Kong daily press.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947
Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

◆ Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948

Fr. Jeremiah McCarthy of the Hong Kong Mission writes from the U.S.A, where he is examining possibilities of setting up an Institute of Industrial Chemistry in Hong Kong :
New York, 23rd September :
“I have spent some time at Buffalo and Boston and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Professors there were most kind, and I learnt a good deal. I expect to be here for a month or six weeks, visiting factories and Colleges in New York. I met Fr. Ingram at Boston. He was doing some work at Harvard. I have heard from several sources that he had a great reputation at Johns Hopkins. I went yesterday to the Reception for Mr. Costello at Fordham and the conferring of an Honorary Degree. Cardinal Spellman was there. In his speech Mr. Costello avoided politics, except to say that the Government would stop emigration altogether, save that they would still send priests and nuns wherever they might be required. Most of the speech was taken up with a very graceful tribute to the Society and its work. He referred to the debt of Ireland to the Society in times of persecution, and again in modern times, and hoped to see an extension of our work in schools and Colleges in Ireland. The address was broadcast”.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
Fr. Jeremiah McCarthy arrived at Cobh from New York on 7th December and is spending some time in the Province, before resuming in England, his study of technological institutes, prior to his return to Hong Kong.

Irish Province News 43rd Year No 4 1968
Obituary :
Fr Jeremias McCarthy SJ (1893-1968)
Fr. Jeremias McCarthy, a member of the English Province who to the joy and lasting advantage of all Jesuits working in Hong Kong was ascribed to the Irish Province in 1939 for work in Hong Kong, died in Hong Kong on 27th July, aged 74.
He was born on 3rd April 1893 at Stourford, Worcestershire, where his father, a civil servant, was then stationed. Some of his early years were spent in Co. Cork, Ireland, but he returned to England and was educated at St. Francis Xavier College, Liverpool. He entered the English Province noviciate in 1910. (Two of sisters later became Columban Sisters.) After philosophy in Stonyhurst, he taught for four fondly remembered years in Beaumont. He also spent three years at Oxford, taking an M.A. degree in Chemistry and thus equipping himself for unforeseeable work, valuable but bizarre. After two years of theology in St. Bueno's, he transferred to Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained on 31st July 1926. After his tertianship he taught in various schools in the English Province for eleven years and was solemnly professed in 1930. In 1939 he applied to the General for work in a mission country and Fr. Ledochowski ascribed him to the still small Hong Kong mission in April of that year. He was warmly welcomed in Hong Kong, where several of the little band of Jesuits had known him in his scholasticate days. His unmistakable intellectual distinction and originality made him a very valuable addition to the mission; but he looked so frail that many must have wondered how long he could stand up to the strain imposed by the Hong Kong summers. He was thin, looked older than his years and was bent forward by a spinal affliction. Time was to show that this apparent physical frailty was largely an illusion. He may have suffered but he made no show of it. For almost three decades he was to labour at an astonishing variety of tasks, defying not only the Hong Kong summer, but the hardships of the Japanese capture and occupation of the colony and, in his last years, a complication of organic ills. Three days before his death he was still vigorously doing work that would have appalled many a younger man. For his first three years in Hong Kong he taught dogmatic theology in the Regional Seminary for South China. In 1942 he went to Macao, where the Hong Kong Jesuits were opening a school for Portuguese boys whose families had fled from occupied Hong Kong. This school won a special place in Fr. McCarthy's affection : the boys were, and have always remained, grateful for the help given them in a time of great hardship. The school did not occupy all his energies. Macao, cut off from the rest of the world, was short of nearly everything, so Fr. McCarthy, the best qualified and most ingenious chemist in the territory, quickly set about providing ersatz substitutes for the ungettable imports - everything from petrol to cosmetics. As a mark of appreciation, the Governor of Macao decreed that vehicles using the evil-smelling McCarthy substitute for petrol should not pass within nose-shot of the Jesuit school. In later years new arrivals in Hong Kong would be shown a lump of the McCarthy soap substitute, hard and gritty but beyond price in days when no other soap was to be had. Morale had to be kept up in Macao, so Fr. McCarthy and the other Jesuits joined the more vigorous citizens in organising debates and lectures and helping to provide through the local press a substitute for the intellectual sustenance normally fetched from abroad. Macao in those years of isolation was a little world on its own where every local crisis and dispute was avidly discussed by the whole population. In post-war years Fr. McCarthy had an inexhaustible fund of stories of the strange doings of those days including the great debate on the use of Chinese or Western style in the rebuilding of a church lavatory, and his own five-minute suspension for publishing an article expounding the views on evolution later contained in Humani Generis - as he was leaving the episcopal chamber the bishop said “I lift the suspension”. After the war he returned for a year to his work in the seminary, after which he went to Europe for a much needed rest. He was next asked to explore the possibility of setting up an institute of industrial chemistry in Hong Kong. This scheme proved abortive, but his next venture was fruitful. At the request of the government of Hong Kong he toured Europe and America investigating methods for making compost from what is politely described as night soil. It is scarcely necessary to say that the more ribald Jesuits of the many countries he visited were less mealy-mouthed in describing this novel form of apostolate. Fr. McCarthy's rather donnish appearance and fastidious diction added to the joke.
Having completed his work on nightsoil, he was asked by the government to act as technical adviser on fish-drying part of a large-scale reorganisation of fisheries, which was one of the most valuable works undertaken by the government in its post-war effort to rebuild and enrich the life of the colony. This work brought him into close contact with probably the ablest young government servant in Hong Kong, Mr. Jack Cater, who became one of Fr. McCarthy's closest friends, visited him frequently, sought his advice on such matters as the organisation of co-operatives, and was to rank almost as chief mourner at Fr, McCarthy's funeral.
About this time Fr. McCarthy was appointed rector of the language school. Surprisingly enough this appointment did not prove altogether happy. It was known that he had been an independent minded scholastic and, though in his late fifties (and looking older), he was on terms of unforced equality with most of the younger priests in the mission; yet he found himself unable to make easy contact with those in their twenties. There was relief on both sides when his rectorship was terminated after a couple of years. On their return to Hong Kong after ordination, those who had failed to understand him in their scholastic years came to cherish his rewarding friendship.
From his earliest days in Hong Kong, he had been known as a writer of concise, lucid and pointed English. Bishop Bianchi of Hong Kong was always eager to make use of this gift, frequently asking him to draft pastorals, messages to his diocese and other important documents. The bishop always showed great trust in Fr. McCarthy's judgment knowing that this faithful scribe would nearly always convey his ideas exactly and in a form palatable to and easily assimilated by the recipients. The bishop also had the happy certainty that Fr. McCarthy would not repine if on occasion his drafts were not used.
Another seeker of his pen was Fr. (now Mgr.) C. H. Vath, then editor of the Sunday Examiner, the Hong Kong diocesan weekly. At Fr. Vath's request, Fr. McCarthy wrote a long series of articles on Christian doctrine, which were studied eagerly by teachers of religious knowledge. Fr. Vath also invited Fr. McCarthy to become the regular leader writer for the Sunday Examiner. This task out lasted Fr. Vath's editorship. For over a dozen years-right up to the last week of his life-Fr. McCarthy wrote a weekly editorial, often pungent, always carefully pondered and lucidly expressed. The secular papers frequently reproduced and commented on leaders dealing with economic or sociological topics, and echoes of these leaders could often be discerned in later discussions or in government action. At least one was quoted in the House of Commons, These leaders gave the paper an influence out of all proportion to its circulation. The McCarthy touch will be sadly missed. It will probably be impossible to find anyone able to combine the patience, readiness, skill and erudition that went into his leaders week after week, year after year.
For the last eleven years of his life he was mainly engaged in work for the China News Analysis, (the authoritative and highly expensive) weekly analysis of the Chinese Communist press and radio published by Fr. L. Ladany, a Hungarian member of the Hong Kong Vice-Province. Fr. McCarthy acted as procurator, relieved the editor of the difficulties inseparable from writing in a foreign tongue, and wrote articles based on the editor's research. This was not glamorous work - the days of the nightsoil apostolate were over but it was essential work and was done with unfailing exactness and punctuality.
The large number of religious at his funeral was a tribute to spiritual help given by Fr. McCarthy. In community life he was not ostentatiously pious, but he was exact in religious observance, as in all other things, and he was notably kind. His admirable book Heaven and his domestic exhortations were the most striking manifestations of spirituality that his fundamental reserve allowed him to make. These exhortations were revealing, deeply interesting, full, original without striving for originality and provocative of further thought. He was frequently urged to publish them, a suggestion that he seldom or never accepted. Enthusiasm for one's domestic exhortations is a tribute rarely paid in the Society. It was paid to Fr. McCarthy.
Frail as he looked, he was very seldom ill. Early this year, however, he had to go to hospital and was found to be suffering from grave heart trouble and certain other ills. He resumed work as soon as possible. On Thursday, 25th July, having completed a day's work, he fell and broke a thigh while saying his Rosary in his room, and it was some hours before he was able to call the attention of another member of the small community in which he lived. He was suffering grievously and an immediate operation had to be carried out, despite the precarious state of his heart. He never recovered consciousness and he died on Saturday, 27th July.
The funeral Mass was concelebrated by his Provincial, Fr. F. Cronin, his Superior, Fr. Ladany, and one of his closest friends.

Born: 01 June 1893, Killarney, County Kerry
Entered: 29 March 1913, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 08 December 1926, Convent of Mercy, Waterford City
Final Vows: 02 February 1932, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 20 January 1986, Kilcroney, County Wicklow

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ
Studied for BA at UCD
Ordained at Waterford - Eddie Bourke's sister was Sr Veronica Bourke, and as religious sisters could not attend ordinations, Mother de Sales organised with Bishop Hackett to have the ceremony in the convent chapel, Convent of Mercy, Military Road, Waterford. Occurred in December 1926 according to Sr Veronica (1985), as Fr Eddie Bourke SJ was going on missions (she played violin at ordination).
1930-1931 Tertianship at St Beuno’s, Wales

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 61st Year No 2 1986

Obituary

Fr Donal Trant McCarthy (1893-1913-1986)

1st June 1893: born, 29th March 1913: entered SJ. 1913-15 Tullabeg, noviciate. 1915-19 Rathfarnham: 1915-16 home juniorate, 1916-19 University College Dublin. 1919-21 Milltown, philosophy. 1921-24 Clongowes, regency. 1924-28 Milltown, theology (8th December 1926: ordained a priest). 1928-30 Clongowes, teaching. 1930-31 St Beuno's, tertianship.
1931-37 St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner street, Dublin, assistant in Irish Messenger office. 1937-62 Belvedere, ditto (1947-62 IMO bursar). 1962-78 Gardiner street, confessor of community (1964-75 confessor in church; 1964-75 preaching). 1979-86 in care of St John of God Brothers, Kilcroney, Bray. 20th January 1986: died

Donal Trant McCarthy was born in Killarney in 1893. His parents died when he was very young, and his home address during his schooldays was Srugrena Abbey, Cahirciveen, the residence of his uncle and guardian, Samuel Trant MacCarthy. He came to Clongowes in 1907 and left in 1912. He had a good academic career, getting an exhibition in classics in the Middle Grade and a prize in the Senior Grade of the Intermediate examination. He was also awarded the Pallas gold medal in mathematics. He repeated the Senior Grade, thus becoming a class-fellow of mine, and we were close friends during the year 1911-12. I remember him as a thoroughly good-natured boy, not brilliant at games but a fair all-rounder and generally popular both among boys and masters.
On leaving Clongowes, he commenced to work for his First Arts at University College, Dublin, but for some unknown reason broke off to enter the noviciate in March 1913. Accordingly, when I entered in the following October, our friendship was renewed. We were together at intervals as juniors, philosophers, teachers in Clongowes, and theologians. After the passage of some fifty to sixty years it is impossible to recall any special details of Donal's life at this time, but I have all along the same recollection of a most genial and helpful companion.
He was gifted with a wonderful pair of hands and an artistic eye, Carpentry, metalwork, building, painting, all came as second nature to him, and he responded with unruffled patience to the many demands which were made on him by his brethren. It would be dishonest to speak of Donal without allusion to his one minor fault, a fondness for lengthy anecdotes, but this was a trivial defect compared with his other sterling qualities.
Genealogists will learn with interest that Fr Donal had the right - which he never ever mentioned - to the title of The MacCarthy Mór. The facts concerning this claim will be found in a large volume (of which a copy is in the National Library): “The McCarthys of Munster; the story of a great Irish sept”, by Samuel Trant MacCarthy, the Mac Carthy Mór, Dundalgan Press, 1922. In this book Fr Donal's uncle claims to trace back through twelve generations in the direct male line to Cormac, second son of Tadhg-na-Mainistreach, Mac Carthy Mór, prince of Desmond, died 1413. Founder of the MacCarthys of Srugrena, co. Kerry. Fr Donal was the last in direct line of this family, neither his uncle nor either of his two brothers having had male issue.
The paths of Fr Donal and myself diverged completely after ordination, so surprising how difficult this is the first I must leave to another pen the task of time, and on top of it there are quite a chronicling his long and varied life as a number of last-minute arrangements to priest.

◆ The Clongownian, 1986

Obituary

Father Donal Trant McCarthy SJ

Donal Trant McCarthy was born in Killarney in 1893. His parents died when he was very young, and his home address during his schooldays was Srugrena Abbey, Cahirciveen, the residence of his uncle and guardian, Samuel Trant MacCarthy. He came to Clongowes in 1907 and left in 1912. He had a good academic career, getting an exhibition in classics in the Middle Grade and a prize in the Senior Grade of the Intermediate examination. He was also awarded the , Pallas gold medal in mathematics. He repeated the Senior Grade, thus becoming a class-fellow of mine, and we were close friends during the year 1911-12. I remember him as a thoroughly good-natured boy, not brilliant at games but a fair all-rounder and generally popular both among boys and masters.

He was gifted with a wonderful pair of hands and an artistic eye. Carpentry, metalwork, building, painting, all came as second nature to him, and he responded with unruffled patience to the many demands which were made on him by his brethren. It would be dishonest to speak of Donal without allusion to his one minor fault, a fondness for lengthy anecdotes, but this was a trivial defect compared with his other ster ling qualities.

Genealogists will learn with interest that Fr Donal had the right - which he never ever mentioned - to the title of The MacCarthy Mór. The facts concerning this claim will be found in a large volume (of which a copy is in the National Library): “The McCarthys of Munster: the story of a great Irish sept”, by Samuel Trant MacCarthy, the MacCarthy Mór, Dundalgan Press, 1922. In this book Fr Donal's uncle claims to trace back through twelve generations in the direct male line to Cormac, second son of Tadhg-na Mainistreach, MacCarthy Mor, prince of Desmond, died 1413, Founder of the MacCarthys of Srugrena, Co. Kerry. .

Apart from a few years teaching in Clongowes Fr McCarthy was alınost thirty years Bursar in the Irish Messenger Office. He worked in Gardiner St for eleven years up to 1975 when he had to retire because of ill-health. May he rest in peace.

F McG

Born: 01 October 1907, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 16 July 1975, Mungret College, County Limerick

Part of the Sacred Heart, Crescent, Limerick community at the time of death

Early education at O’Connell’s School Dublin

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
John McCarron was known as Sean. Even as a novice, his qualities of leadership and practical common sense were recognised. He was self-confident, sure of his judgment and, on occasion, forthright in urging his point of view. His self-confidence stood to him in counselling and directing the large number of people, both clerical and lay, who sought his advice.
He was born in Dublin on 1 October 1907 and entered the Society in 1925. After the normal course of studies, juniorate, philosophy, regency and theology, he was ordained at Milltown Park in 1938.

For 15 years (1942 to 1957) Fr Sean was the Central Director of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (PTAA) with the exception of the first year when he was the assistant. He possessed tremendous drive and was demanding of others both as to the quality and quantity of their work. Some within the Society said he was too demanding. However he had the knack or ability to draw around him people of talent and dedication who would give of their best.

He had a genius for organisation and administration which showed itself in the restructuring of the Pioneer office, in the conducting of Pioneer affairs and also in the overall direction of the memorable Golden Jubilee of the Association in 1949 which entailed a huge parade through the centre of Dublin and a massive meeting in Croke Park. He founded and launched the Pioneer Magazine in 1948 which quickly built up a good circulation in spite of the pundits who said that such a magazine would not be a practical proposition. He even procured a car for his work of promoting the Association - a very progressive action at the time. Until the late 40s, the only cars permitted in the Province were the four official cars for the country houses - Emo, Clongowes, Tullabeg and Mungret. The annual Pioneer Rally at Dublin's Theatre Royal was certainly the biggest annual rally of any group in Ireland. Because of the Association, he became one of the best known priests in Ireland.

An amusing incident took place when he was Director of the Pioneers. One afternoon seeing a poor woman pushing a pram up the hill in Gardiner Street, he went to assist her and found himself pushing a pram, not with a baby, but one full of bottles of beer!

He left the Association to be posted to Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) for the express purpose of building and setting up Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College. His right hand man was Br Pat McElduff. It was quite a showpiece with even a fountain on the campus. He was a tremendous worker but at the same time he had great kindness towards the workers and foremen. The firms he dealt with had great respect for him as he was always so straight and clear about what he wanted. He lived where he worked, in a small house, the inside of which was littered with plans everywhere – on the floor, on the table, on his bed. Zambia was a very happy episode in his life which revealed his charm and affability.

Back in Ireland he founded Manresa Retreat House and was the first Superior of Loyola House, the provincial’s new residence. His health had not been good for a number of years though he always made light of this. The end came suddenly early in the morning of 16 July 1975 in Limerick where he had been living.

Note from Arthur J Clarke Entry
During his six years as rector, he was blessed with such outstanding heads of Canisius as Dick Cremins and Michael J Kelly. Arthur's vision for Canisius as a leading secondary school was influenced by his experience of Clongowes Wood College in Ireland. First, he wanted a proper house for the community. Though the actual building was the responsibility of Fr McCarron and Br Pat McElduff, the siting and design of the spacious community house are largely Arthur’s.

Note from Pat McElduff Entry
For the construction of the Teachers Training College Charles Lwanga across the river from Chikuni, Br Pat was the obvious man for the building together with Fr McCarron just out from Ireland.

◆ 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 50th Year No 3 and 4 1975

Obituary :

Fr Seán McCarron (1907-1975)

Fr Kevin O'Donnell writes:
“I went to Tullabeg in September 1925, a few days after Seán McCarron. We were together from that date until the end of our Tertianship in 1940, moving on from the Noviceship to the Juniorate, then to Philosophy, to Clongowes, to Milltown Park and finally to Rathfarnham.
Father Paddy Kenny was in constant attendance during our years of formation, being Socius and Minister during our noviceship and coming with us to Rathfarnham. He was appointed Minister in Clongowes at the same time as we were sent there as scholastics. We had, therefore, the benefit of the guidance and example of an outstanding Jesuit - a practical and deeply spiritual man.
Seán would be astonished if he heard anyone attempting to draw a comparison between himself and ‘PK’, and I don't intend to try it. His long and constant association with ‘PK’ undoubtedly influenced Seán.
Even in the Noviceship, Seán's qualities of leadership and practical common sense were recognised. At ‘outdoor works’, when Seán was in charge of a group, we all knew whom to obey, Seán was aware of his gifts - he was self-confident, sure of his judgement and, on occasion, forthright in urging his point. This self confidence stood to him in later life in counselling and directing the very large number of people - clerical and lay - who sought his advice.
In addition to a very practical mind and his gift of leadership, Seán had a deep and genuine spirituality, zealous and generous in giving the Spiritual Exercises, and a great worker on a Mission.
He gave devoted and distinguished service to the Society which he joined fifty years ago. God grant him his reward”.

Fr Dan Dargan writes about Seán as Director of the Pioneers :
“In 1942 Fr Seán McCarron was appointed assistant to the Director of the Pioneer Association, Fr Joe Flinn. The following year Fr Flinn died and Seán succeeded him as Central Director. He remained in that office until 1957 when he left Ireland to work on the Zambian mission.
For nine years I was his assistant, and during that time I grew to look on him as one of the most able men I have met in the Society. He was highly intelligent, practical and forceful, he commanded widespread respect throughout the country and became one of the best-known priests in Ireland. Himself possessing tremendous drive, he was demanding of others, both as to the quality and quantity of their work. In the Society some said that he was too demanding. Outside the Society I have known several people who were ready to work themselves to the bone for Fr McCarron and glad to be able to do it. Indeed a secret of his success in whatever he undertook was his ability to draw around him people of talent and dedication who would give of their best.
I was often struck by his handling of a thorny issue. He would study it, would get right to the kernel and would evaluate reasons for and against. Then, where others might hesitate, he would make a decision and would fearlessly execute it. He had a genius for organisation and administration, as he showed in his efficient re structuring of the Pioneer Association office, in his overall direction of the memorable Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Association in 1949, and in his conducting of Pioneer affairs. He was much sought after as a spiritual adviser, especially during his years at Manresa Retreat House. I have heard people speak of the valuable direction he gave them with his commonsense approach and generous kindness to them.
Until recently it fell to the lot of few Jesuits to be assigned to more than one totally new work in the course of their lives. Within ten years Seán McCarron was given three such assignments: he was appointed founder of Manresa Retreat House, first superior of Loyola, and was sent to Zambia for the express purpose of building and setting up the Charles Lwanga College. One reason for these appointments was his great initiative, to which any house where he was in charge bears witness. In the Pioneer Association, before his coming on the scene, it was the official viewpoint that a special magazine for the Association would not be a practical proposition. In 1948 Seán blew this theory to bits when he founded and launched the Pioneer magazine, which quickly built up a good circulation. After the Second World War, as soon as motor cars began to appear freely on the roads, Seán procured a car for his work of promoting the Association - an action which at the time was considered very progressive! (It may come as a surprise to younger Jesuits to learn that until the late 1940s the only cars permitted in the Province were the four official house cars allowed to our country houses, one each to Emo, Tullabeg, Clongowes and Mungret).
For him a favourite occasion was the annual Pioneer meeting in Dublin's Theatre Royal. This was quite a remarkable meeting, certainly the biggest annual rally of any group in Ireland. The theatre, which held three and a half thousand people, was always packed. No sooner had Seán risen and said a few words than you could see that he held his audience in the palm of his hand. He would begin in a relaxed, humorous vein, often referring jocosely to his personal proportions - at that time he weighed 18 stone - and he would have his listeners chuckling away merrily. Then he would grow serious, would speak with impassioned eloquence, often lifting his listeners to heights of enthusiasm. On many occasions he hit out hard at drink abuses, including breaches of the licensing laws. He was sometimes criticised by members of the Province for this, but he was convinced that he was justified in making strong protests against abuses which produced such damaging effects on the moral and social life of our people.
Those of us who worked with him often marvelled at his powers of persuasion in bringing people around to accept his viewpoint. On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Association, he pro posed to archbishop McQuaid his intended programme involving a huge parade through the centre of Dublin and an open-air meet ing in Croke Park. The archbishop was anything but encouraging. Undaunted Seán explained to the archbishop the spiritual motivation of the Pioneer Association, and said that the rally would afford a unique opportunity to put this motivation before the general public. The archbishop withdrew his disapproval and gave his sanction to Seán's plans.
Almost on the eve of a national Pioneer pilgrimage to Knock in the Marian Year (1954), the men in the GNR company in the Drogheda area became involved in a dispute with the management, and decided that until they got satisfaction they would not operate any trains on Sundays. Realising the disappointment this would bring to people in Meath and Louth, Seán went up to Drogheda, met the men and appealed to them to run the trains for the Pioneer pilgrimage. To do so, he told them, would not adversely prejudice their case, but rather would win admiration from the public. The men were impressed, responded to his appeal, and - the Pioneers got to Knock!
It came as a surprise to many outside the Society to learn after his death that he experienced bad health in many forms for many years. He himself always made light of this, would even joke about it, but throughout his ill-health and suffering he showed remark able courage, never giving way to self-pity and showing a deep spirit of faith. He knew that the end might come suddenly at any time, and so it did, early in the morning of the 16th July, 1975, May his great soul enjoy happiness with God whom he served so cheerfully and courageously”.

Mary Purcell has a 3-page illustrated article on Seán in the Pioneer (September 1975).

Fr Charlie O'Connor writes about Seán in Zambia :
“I have a very clear picture of Seán in Zambia. I think he was in his element there. He had a job to do and he was complete boss in that job - and I think Seán needed to be completely in charge. He made a great job of the building of Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College: it was quite a showpiece - who in Africa had ever thought before of including a fountain in a campus?
The word I find coming to mind for the McCarron of those days (1956-'63) is genial. There was great affability towards workers and foremen - but the affable face could set in serious lines when problems arose. The firms he dealt with had great respect for him - I suppose because he was so straight and so clear about what he wanted.
Another picture comes to mind: he lived on his own in one of the teachers' houses he had erected. You'd go in and find him in a room littered with plans on the floor, table, bed, plans everywhere.
Another picture: You'd meet him making his way very purposefully towards one of the sites, his huge wide-brimmed hat on his head - that was quite a characteristic feature of Seán in those days - in shirt and trousers - and with a rolled plan under his arm.
I'm certain Zambia was a very happy episode in his life - and perhaps revealed more than other periods his great charm and affability. Before that I had thought of him as autocratic and not very warm.

Born: 22 February 1875, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1899, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 30 July 1911, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1913, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 26 January 1951, Milltown Park, Dublin

Chaplain in the First World War.

by 1903 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
by 1918 Military Chaplain : Sialkot CFA, 4th Cavalry Division, BEF France

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 26th Year No 2 1951

Obituary :

Father James McCann

Fr. James McCann was born in 1875, educated at Beaumont College and apprenticed to stockbroking in his father's office, on his return from school. In 1896 he became qualified and was taken into partnership by his father, who had a high opinion of his business acumen and knowledge of finance. But in 1899 he renounced brilliant worldly prospects to enter the Jesuit noviceship of the Irish Province in Tullabeg. A headline had been set him two years earlier by his lifelong friend Edward Dillon, and the example of both was followed later by Fr. McCann's sister, who startled Dublin society by quitting it and joining the Colletines in Manchester, from which she was transferred to Carlow and later to Simmons Court Road, Ballsbridge.
From Tullabeg he went to Gemert in Holland to study philosophy. On his return he was assigned to Belvedere College and taught there for four years. Then he crossed the city to Milltown Park for his theological training, and was ordained in 1911. A year later he was appointed as Minister and Bursar in Milltown itself. In 1917 he vacated this office to serve as military Chaplain in France. From 1920 to 1924 he filled the post of Minister in Clongowes. Then he switched back to Milltown Park as Director of Retreats. In 1932 he joined the staff of St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner St. as Operarius and Bursar. In this post he gave proof of his business ability, and foreseeing the outbreak of World War II in good time, he quietly laid in large stocks of all household commodities which would endure storage without perishing. He thus insured his community from the shortages and hardships that pressed so heavily on all civilians during what was euphemistically known as “the emergency”.
In the status of 1946 he was relieved of his burden and sent back to Milltown Park to husband his strength - visibily waning - and prepare for death.
This he did to the edification of his brethren through over four years of increasing debility (marked by recurring collapses, calling for Extreme Unction). In these his courage and trust in God never wavered. Death held no terror for him. He often confided to friends that he longed for it, and found his severest cross in the tedium of waiting for release. It was long acoming, and he had much to suffer, but it came at last, quietly, painlessly, not like a thief in the night, but by day and rather like a nurse administering an injection of morphia - the euthanasia of the angel of death.
The change of life involved for him in entering the Tullabeg noviceship must have been trying to every natural instinct. Five or six years older than most of the ex-schoolboys about him and long accustomed to the sports and recreations of the wealthiest circles in Irish life, he yet took to the new life as if to the manner born. An enthusiastic rider and polo-player he faced the novel course before him (with hurdles as stiff in the moral order as Valentine's or Becher's Brook) eagerly, and he never lost a stirrup or “clouted timber”. He surmounted all obstacles in a curiously effortless manner, and was a shining example to younger riders in the race.
All through the years he ran true to earlier form. He carried the handicap of precarious health without letting it interfere with his varied activities. He had one great natural advantage, namely the innate high-mindedness of a gentleman. And that, elevated by grace, always gives a fine religious character. He had courage and enterprise. These qualities he displayed conspicuously in the crisis of Easter Week, when, regardless of danger, he exerted himself to find the necessities of life for communities in distress, especially his own charge, Milltown Park, and his sister's isolated nuns in Simmons Court Road. Still more when he rode round to various hospitals to attend the wounded, and berated the “loyalist” staff of one of them into equal treatment for Rebels and Tommies alike.
He showed them yet again when in 1917 he volunteered for service as a Chaplain in World War I. Several doctors declared his health unequal to the task. But he took no notice of the warning and forced his way through. He began in March of that year with a cavalry regiment, serving as infantry. He was invalided to London before the end of the year. Returning when fit for duty he was in the line by March, 1918 (this time in an infantry brigade) when the last great German push began. He remained till the end of the war and went into Germany with the occupying troops. During these years he won the esteem and affection of officers and men - also the official recognition of the M.C.
Though he had put from him all personal attachment to riches, he retained to the end a keen interest in questions of finance. But only to detect and point out the weaknesses and dangers of the whole capitalistic system of the nineteenth century. He shared his father's views that it was utterly top-heavy and destined to collapse under the impact of the first great war that might occur. It was surely ironic that, already in the nineties of the last century, the McCanns, father and son, who were probably the most successful stockbrokers of their day in Ireland, should warn their countrymen against the triumphant credit system then in vogue, and universally deemed “as safe as the bank of England” - the most popular comparison on the lips of men till 1914.
Fr. McCann in later years wrote an article in Studies explaining his father's heroic campaign, about the turn of the century, to alert Ireland to the true state of affairs and solicit all Irishmen to concentrate on the task of calling our invested millions home and devoting them to the task of developing agriculture, native industries, efficient transport, irrigation, reafforestation - just all those things we are busy about now, half-a-century later, when the native capital necessary for accomplishing them has largely vanished or turned to mere paper in the vaults of banks. But the McCann voice was a Cassandra voice. The British parliament turned a deaf ear to it as obvious economic heresy.
Even at home it was little heeded. And now we know the fulness of our gain. Fr. James did certainly love to talk of all these dreams of long ago. And took a certain unmalicious pleasure in saying: “I told you so”. Some listened and were interested, but more were just irritated and bored. It is the fate of prophets, natural or supernatural, in all spheres of existence. Fr. McCann, however, had become too detached in his own heart from the Kingdom of the World to be put out by such things. His eyes were fixed upon the Urbs Caelestis into which, we may well trust, he has entered, not exactly by violence, but by knocking at the gates with brisk aplomb, saluting St. Peter and saying Adsum!

Born: 23 April 1894, Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone
Entered: 20 November 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1932, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 18 February 1936, Our Lady's Hospice, Dublin

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

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Farmer before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 11th Year No 2 1936
Obituary :
Brother William McCaffrey

Brother William McCaffrey was born at Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone, on the 23rd April, 1894. He entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on the 20th November, 1920. The noviceship over, he remained in Tullabeg, working in the garden, until 1928, when he went to Galway to be employed in the same kind of work. After two years there he was changed to Rathfarnham to act as Infirmarian, where he spent a year, and was then transferred to the Crescent, (cur pen Disp).
In 1932 he was back in Rathfarnham, this time (Cur. Val.) as a result of lung trouble. In the hope that the bracing air of Wicklow would do him good, he was sent to the Newcastle Sanatorium in that county. It failed to have any effect, and, after a brief stay, he was placed under the care of the Irish Sisters of Charity at the Hospice tor the dying, Harold's Cross, Dublin. Under their kind care he lingered on for some years , but nothing could save him and he died Tuesday, 18th February, 1936.
In 1934 he was attached to Milltown Park. A few days before he died, Father C. Power, Rector, gave him the Last Sacraments and on the morning of his death he was attended by the Minister Father D. Hayes. RIP

Born: 13 October 1929, Stoneybatter, Dublin
Entered: 18 October 1951, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1962, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 21 September 2022, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

part of the Milltown Park community at the time of death

FSS
Born : 13th October 1929 Dublin City
Raised : Stoneybatter, Dublin
Early Education at St.James's CBS, Dublin; Denmark Street Technical College, Dublin; Glove Manufacturer
18th October 1951 Entered Society at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
21st March 1954 First Vows at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1954-1958 Tullabeg - Cook
1958-1959 Mungret College SJ - In charge of Staff; Assists in Community; Infirmarian
1959-1963 Tullabeg - Cook; Cellarer
1961 Roehampton, UK - Tertianship at Manresa House
2nd February 1962 Final Vows at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
1963-1971 Milltown Park - Assistant Cook
1971-1972 Mungret College SJ - Cook; In charge of Staff
1972-1980 Milltown Park - Assistant Cook
1977 Cook
1980-1981 Jerusalem, Israel - Cook at Pontifical Biblical Institute
1981-1985 Rathfarnham - Cook
1985-2022 Milltown Park - Cook at Cherryfield Lodge
1993 Works at Cherryfield Lodge
1996 Assists in Milltown Community
2011 Assists in Cherryfield Lodge; Assists in Milltown Park Community
2020 Assists in Milltown Park Community
2022 Prays for the Church and Society at Cherryfield Lodge

https://jesuit.ie/news/br-james-mccabe-sj/

Brother James McCabe SJ died peacefully in Cherryfield Lodge nursing home, Dublin on Wednesday 21 September 2022. His funeral mass took place in Gonzaga College Chapel at 11 am on Tuesday 28 September followed by burial in Glasnevin Cemetery.

In his short homily at the funeral Mass which summed up the essence of Br James, fellow Jesuit Brother Tom Phelan said, “Jamesie spent 68 years among us Jesuits as the one who serves.” (Read full homily below.)

James was born in Dublin on 13 October 1929. Raised in Dublin, he was educated at St James’s CBS and trained as a glove manufacturer in Denmark Street Technical College. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at St Mary’s, Emo, Laois in 1951 at 22 years old.

He spent much of his Jesuit life as a cook in Milltown Park, Dublin, where he served Cherryfield Lodge nursing home and the Jesuit Community.

Many Jesuits and friends remember him for putting a smile on their faces with his inimitable sayings and wonderful stories. For example, he once referred to people who travelled to Dublin by train in the morning as ‘computers’ instead of ‘commuters’ – a play of words that was thought to have an element of truth!

He prayed for the Church and the Society of Jesus during his stay at Cherryfield Lodge nursing home. He died aged 92.

A faithful man of service

We are gathered today to say farewell to our brother James McCabe (affectionally known to us Jesuits just as Jamesie) and to give thanks for the gift of his life and for all that he meant to us.

Jamesie was reared in Stoneybatter one of the oldest parts of Dublin. He never lost his Dublin accent, which was music to my ears, being a Dub myself.

In 1954 Jamesie made his vows to serve the Lord in the Society of Jesus as a brother. It was also the year I was born, and little did I know that 22 years later I would join Jamesie in this band of brothers.

Being the youngest brother, Jamesie was always kind and supportive to me. With Jamesie’s passing, there are now 7 brothers left in Ireland. If we were a hedgehog or a bat, we would be a protected species!

Fr. Pedro Arrupe who was General of the Society once said, “The Brothers are the heart of the Society”.
From its beginning, the Society has conceived itself as a universal body. And the heart is an essential part of that body.

GC34 states that a vocation to religious life is distinct from a vocation to the priesthood. In some ways, the religious brother embodies religious life in its essence.

Jamesie, worked in many of our houses for 68 years. For most of these years, he was the cook and in the larger communities, he was also in charge of staff. Jamesie was a gentle soul, kind and welcoming, even if it was in a gruff Dublin accent. “Howya Phelan!”, he would say to me but always with a smile. A short or long conversation with Jamesie would leave me uplifted and in good spirits. What you saw was what you got. Honest and no pretense.

Jamesie lived a simple lifestyle. His possessions were few. He loved his football, music, and newspapers. He always had time for a little chat and a word of encouragement to those he encountered.

I remember one time when I was a patient in Cherryfield, I was attending Mass and it came time to receive communion, Jamesie was distributing communion. Working his way along the row of Jesuits, everything was going fine until he came to an elderly Jesuit who had fallen asleep. Jamesie waited for a few seconds. No sign of him opening his eyes, Jamesie gave the old Jesuit a gentle kick on the foot. The old Jesuit opened his eyes like a rabbit caught in headlights. Jamesie looking down at him just said “Do you want communion or what?”

Many stories and memories have been shared about Jamesie in the last few days and no doubt, more to come over the coming days. But for now, we prepare ourselves to say goodbye to our brother.

The Gospel today speaks about who is the greater Jesus addressed his disciples; “For who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves. The one at table, surely? Yet here am I among you as one who serves.” Jamesie spent 68 years among us Jesuits as the one who serves.

And in the first reading of Timothy, Paul in the evening of his life says.”As for me, my life is already poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give to me that day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his appearing.”

Jamesie, you have fought the good fight to the end; you have run the race to the finish; you have kept the faith. Now it’s time to be gone. Go in peace my Brother to the Lord whom you have served so well and continue to pray for us all. Farewell Jamesie, till we meet again.

Born: 10 September 1882, Dorset Street, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 27 February 1920, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 08 September 1945, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 20th Year No 4 1945
Obituary :
Br. James McCabe (1882-1909-1945)
“I'm asking Our Lady to take me on her Feast-Day, my Vow-day,” said Bro. McCabe to the Superior of St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street (Fr. Tyndall) as he lay in St. Vincent's Hospital on the Eve of 8th September. On receiving the Papal Blessing at the hour of death, he joined in the prayers and was fully aware he was dying. He sent for his relatives and said good-bye to them in a manly and courageous manner.
That evening he became unconscious, and in a gentle sleep passed away about 10.15 on the morning of the 8th.
Br. McCabe was born in Dorset Street, Dublin, on 10th September, 1882, and was educated at Marlboro' Street schools. He secured a clerkship in the Dublin Post-Office and worked as a postman in the Fairview District till 1909. He entered the noviceship the same year, and received his gown on 7th September. After his Vows, two years later, he spent eleven years of faithful service at Mungret College, during the greater part of which he held the offices of mechanic and refectorian of the boys' refectory. After three years in Clongowes, on the death of Br. McCormack at Gardiner Street, he was called to the latter Residence where he was destined to spend the last twenty years of his life as dispenser and prefect of the domestic staff. His talent as a mechanic was exploited to the full during these years and proved of great practical utility, sparing the House, incidentally, much expense. He was an adept at managing the loud-speaker apparatus which had been installed in the Church during the period when Fr. F. Browne was Superior. Hardworking and conscientious to a fault, Br. McCabe never spared himself even during the last years of his life when he began to lose his old vigour. He made light of the internal complaint which afflicted him during the months which preceded his death, but was at last persuaded to go to Hospital. The surgeon diagnosed cancer in an advanced stage, which an operation was powerless to check.
Many business firms and tradesmen sent Fr. Superior expressions of generous sympathy when his death was announced.
After Requiem Mass celebrated by Fr. Superior at 11 a.m. on Monday, 10th September, Br. McCabe was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Rev. Fr. Provincial reciting the prayers at the graveside. R.I.P.

Born: 17 August 1908, South Bank, Middlesborough, Yorkshire, England
Entered: 01 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 26 July 1983, Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, Dublin

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

Grew up in Rathfriland, County Down
Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 58th Year No 4 1983

Gardiner Street
The summer months saw the passing of two members of our community. Fr Johnny McAvoy († 26th July), who had given us an outstanding example of cheerful endurance during his long struggle with ill health, was the first to go. As noted in our last report, he had had to return to Cherryfield Lodge some months ago, to receive special care. At the very end, however, he moved to Our Lady's Hospice, where he died after a brain haemorrhage which mercifully saved him from prolonged suffering.
Fr Paddy Coffey, who died almost a month later († 19th August), was also attached to our community, though he had been living at St Joseph's, Kilcroney, or many years. It is no exaggeration to say that he was a legend in the Province for his amazing will-power and persistence. It would have been fascinating to listen in to his last battle of with the Lord! His ever-widening circle of friends will miss his gentle but determined winning ways.
May he and Johnny rest in the the serenity of eternal peace.

Obituary

Fr John McAvoy (1908-1926-1983)
The 1st September 1926 saw some half-dozen Clongownians arrive at the noviciate in Tullabeg. (Their number was increased by one a couple of weeks later.) One of the six was introduced to me as John McAvoy from Rathfriland, Co Down. To me he looked like a sturdy member of the CWC rugby XV that earlier in the year had for the first time won the Leinster senior cup, snatching it from Belvedere.
Transferred from the rugby field to the noviceship soccer pitch, John's sturdiness became very evident.In those days we were dressed in full regalia for the game!) Again it was seen to full advantage when, with another novice in tandem, he was yoked under the shafts of the big farm cart used for collecting the bountiful shedding of foliage from the beautiful trees lining the avenue. I recall one day before the Long retreat hearing John and some others of the, CWC group talking about some saint or other. I asked what saint was being discussed, and was told “John Sullivan”. When I confessed that I had never heard of him, I was obviously I “just a Dublin jackeen who doesn't know our saint”.
John did the home juniorate in Rathfarnham and philosophy in Tullabeg, where we were part of the first batch of philosophers, returning there after a mere two years absence.I have no recollections of John during those years, as my presence in the Castle and in Rahan was somewhat intermittent. In 1936 however we came together again for theology in Milltown, and were ordained just before the outbreak of World War Two. At the completion of the fourth year of theology we were back again in the familiar surroundings of the Castle for tertianship under the direction of Fr Henry Keane.
At the end of this long period of gestation Fr John and I found ourselves in Belvedere, where his talents became very apparent and likewise his determination that each talent must bear worthwhile fruit. Most noticeable at this time was his conscientious application to his work class-room and his training of the Senior XV. The boys found his drive and enthusiasm highly infectious; no less so the sense of discipline he inspired. These characteristics of John's training became very evident when shortly after the war the Old Belvedere club went on tour in France. The bulk of that team had been trained by Fr John.
Despite his heavy work-load Fr John never, I feel sure, lost sight of the purpose of so much activity. I doubt if he ever 'missed out on the things of the spirit that are the hallmark of a good Jesuit priest. He was an example of sustained regularity in the performance of his spiritual duties.
John moved to Mungret in 1946 and returned to Dublin in '51, having been Vice-superior of the Apostolic school for his final two years in the college. Gardiner street became his final home in the Province, and it was here that he showed himself to be a most versatile man. For 24 years he aught in Bolton street College of Technology; studied privately and took a BA degree in UCD; learned a good deal about printing; was involved in the work of the Church, especially during Holy week and other big occasions.
In Bolton street the teachers held Fr John in high esteem for his priestly influence on both students and staff. This influence was such that many of his students in later life knew him as a trusted friend and adviser. On finishing his teaching career, John began to feel his way to becoming a first-class printer. He was listed in the Province catalogue as. Typogr Prov and during his final years produced much excellent work for both the parish and the Province. At this time also he became chaplain to St Joseph's Home, Portland row. Nothing that the sisters asked of him was ever too much for Fr John, who was so dedicated to the work that he continued to make his way to the convent on foot, until so far advanced in his illness he could no longer walk there because he was unable to eat. During these latter years he was Director of the Bona Mors Confraternity. His association with Bona Mors went back a considerable number of years. Its influence on him was such that from the time he knew his illness was terminal he became so merry and full of laughter that every member of the community was edified beyond measure. John's chief recreational outlet was fishing in season with rod and line. Lake and river were his haunts on vacations and odd free days. One year however he decided on the sea, and signed on with the skipper of a Howth or Skerries trawler for a part if not all of his villa time. He described the long hours of back bending work as really exhausting, but debilitation was more than offset by luscious steaks and other good foods - so good that the moment his head hit the pillow he fell asleep. His work on board the trawler was delightful - gutting the fish!
A man of many parts, John McAvoy was a priest well and deeply formed by the Spiritual Exercises. No matter how much he gave himself to others and their concerns, he was giving himself to God. The talents he received must already have been doubled for him by the One he served so wholeheartedly.

◆ The Clongownian, 1983

Obituary

Father John McAvoy SJ

Despite having surpassed the allotted span of three score and ten years, the announcement of Fr John McAvoy's death on 26th July brought back many recollections and memories of him to not a few Old Clongownians, both those of his own time and those of a later vintage. He took a humble pride in being an Old Clongownian, and those who knew him realised that it was his years at Clongowes that prepared and formed him into the man, the priest, and Jesuit that he became.

Among his many achievements when he finished his years as a boy in Clongowes was the winning of a Leinster Senior Schools' Cup medal when he played as a forward on the team that for the first time brought the Cup to his school in 1926. More than fifty years later he returned to Clongowes, along with the surviving members of that historic team, to join in the celebrations to mark the return of the Cup in 1978.

He joined the Jesuits in 1926, came back to teach in his old school as a Jesuit scholastic for three years up to 1936 and was ordained a priest in 1939.

Anyone who knew Johnny - as he was known to his Jesuit confreres - realised he was one who loved life and loved people. His direct North of Ireland approach (though born in England he came to live in Co Down at a very early age before coming to Clongowes with his brother Jim who died as a young married man) won him many friends and respect among his fellow Jesuits and those he worked with and met. He won the friendship and trust of the many young people he dealt with. Among them were the boys of Belvedere College where he taught for five years and in 1946 trained the Senior Cup Team that won the Cup in 1946. Later it was the same during his five years in Mungret College. His greatest sphere of influence was the last thirty-two years of his life which were spent in the Jesuit Church in Gardiner Street, over twenty of which he was chaplain and priest-teacher in the College of Technology in Bolton Street.

It was at the request of Dr McQuaid, Arch bishop of Dublin, for a Jesuit to work full-time in the Dublin Vocational Educational system that Fr McAvoy was appointed to the position in Bolton Street in 1951. His success there in adapting to new surroundings and circumstances and his organising ability gradually won him the respect and confidence of the CEO, the Vocational Committee and the teaching staff not only of Bolton Street but also of other Vocational Schools in the city. For over twenty years his influence as a priest, a teacher and a friend on the students and staff of the college was enormous. His dedication and energy there paved the way for requests for other Jesuits to work in the Dublin Vocational schools.

His love of life and many friendships continued to the end. A serious operation some ten months or so before his death slowed his pace of living. As a dedicated fisherman he was forced to lay aside his rods, and to forego many other interests. Despite discomfort and suffering he was young at heart to the end. He departed peacefully and happily from the life he loved and during which he did so much for God and for others. For several years before his death Fr McAvoy was director of the Bona Mors (Happy Death) Sodality in Gardiner Street Church. There he counselled others to prepare for a happy death. This he received himself on 27th July.

Donal Mulcahy SJ

Born: 21 March 1881, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1898, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February1917
Died: 07 April 1965, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales - Angliae Province (ANG)

Transcribed HIB to ANG : 1900

by 1916 came to Milltown (HIB) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Transferred to ANG for Zambesi Mission

Born: 17 June 1923, Bargeddie, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Entered: 07 September 1946, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 25 May 1986, Rome, Italy
Final Vows: 10 May 1995
Died: 02 January 2012, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - Zambia-Malawi Province (ZAM)

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

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

by 1952 at Rome Italy (ROM) working

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 147 : Spring 2012

Obituary

Fr John McAuley (1923-2011) : Zambia Malawi Province

17 June 1923: Born in Glasgow, Scotland
7 September 1946: Entered Society in Emo Park, Ireland
25 May 1986: Ordained in Rome by Pope John Paul II
2 February 1957: Final Vows at the Gesu, Rome
2 January 2012: Died in Dublin

Apostolic Life
1948 - 1951: Ireland. Rector's secretary
1951 - 1969: Rome, General Curia , receptionist
1969 - 1970: Chikuni. Learning Tonga
1972 - 1973: Chikuni, Canisius, teaching
1974 - 1981: Namwala, teaching at Namwala Sec. Sch
1981 - 2002: Kabwe, Bwacha
1981 - 1992: Lecturer, chaplain, Nkrumah Teacher Training College
1992 - 1996: Chaplain, Nkrumah, lecturing at Mpima Seminary
1985 - 1986: Rome, Bellarmino, Studies for priesthood
1996 - 2002: Chaplaincy work, formation of young Religious
2002 - 2004: Dublin, Milltown Park, recovering health
2004 - 2006: Kabwe, Bwacha, assisting in parish
2006 - 2007: Dublin, Milltown Park, recovering health Dublin,
2007 - 2011: Cherryfield Lodge, praying for Church and Society

Obituary : Michael J Kelly
John McAuley spent 66 of his 89 years in the Society: as a novice and brother from 1946 to 1986 and as a priest from 1986 to his death on 2nd January 2012. He was a true Jesuit in whom there was no guile. Integrity, determination to pursue a spiritual life as he understood it, and zeal for the apostolate characterized him all through life. No obstacle or difficulty could deter him from making these qualities manifest in his life. At times his strength of purpose seemed daunting, but to John this was his way of finding God and showing how much God loves us. A small incident in the novitiate brings this out. When standing for grace after dinner one day, John shook his leg as if something was itching him but continued with the grace. Afterwards he told his companions that when he was sitting at the table a mouse had run up the leg of his trousers, but he thought it was his duty as a novice not to make any fuss but to wait until he could dispose of his visitor in the least perceptible way. No one but John could have been so calm, collected and yet very funny about such an experience.

John took his first vows on 8th September 1948. Ever afterwards he remained very loyal to those who had taken vows with him, making sure that each of them had the “vow photo” of the thirteen men who took vows on that day, taken by the internationally acclaimed photographer, Father Frank Browne, S.J. Like his fellow vow-men, John did his novitiate under two novice-masters, Father Tommy Byrne and Donal O'Sullivan, and like his colleagues he benefitted from the richness that came from two different approaches to the spiritual life and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. But John was a man of few words who did not speak easily about things personal to himself. Before entering the novitiate he had completed two years of a science degree at Glasgow University. But he never revealed this to his fellow-novices, most of whom were several years his junior and far behind him in academic attainments. Even less did he speak about his own spiritual life. He was a private man, one who enjoyed companionship but did not depend on it.

After a few years as refectorian in Tullabeg and secretary to the Rector in Clongowes, John moved to Rome where he spent several years as receptionist for the Curia. Because of his reticence in speaking about himself we do not know much about John's life during this period. But the few things we do know are very striking. He was outstanding for the generosity of his hospitality to Irish Jesuits who happened to be passing through Rome, going out of his way to ensure that they were able to visit church and historical sites. The fact that he took Final Vows in 1957, just eleven years after he had entered the Society, speaks volumes for the dedicated religious life he lived when in Rome. And during this period, John succeeded in doing what Hitler had been unable to do- he stopped General Montgomery in his tracks.

What happened was this. One day, when John was receptionist at the Curia, a tall man came in and said he wanted to see the General. John asked to see his ID, but the visitor said he was not carrying one. John retorted that in that case he could not admit him, to which the visitor replied that he had an appointment with the General. John looked at the day's documents detailing appointments and said he had no information on that, but the man insisted. So John asked him his name and then rang the General to tell him that a man called Montgomery was at the desk, saying he had an appointment - “send him in at once" was the reply, “I am waiting for him, he is also a General”.

But stopping high-ranking generals and the humdrum duties of receptionist at the Curia did not give John sufficient outlet for his apostolic zeal. Like every good Jesuit, he sought the Magis, he wanted to do more. And so it was that he undertook part-time studies at the Gregorian University, a move that would accelerate his transition to the priesthood in later life. The same zeal led to his being assigned in 1969 to the newly established Zambian Province where, after some time spent in learning a local language, he served as a secondary school teacher, first at Canisius, the Jesuit school, and then for several years at the government school in Namwala. In addition to his teaching duties, John also served as chaplain at Namwala School, a ministry that gave him much scope for his apostolic zeal.

From Namwala, John transferred for a short period to the Jesuit Teacher Training College, Charles Lwanga, and from there to the Government training college for secondary teachers, Nkrumah College in Kabwe, where he lectured in religious studies and served as chaplain. It was while he was in Kabwe that John's desire to be ordained as a priest came very strongly to the fore, leading to studies at the Bellarmino in Rome in 1985 and 1986 and ordination in June 1986 by Blessed John Paul II. On his return to Zambia John was again posted to Kabwe, where he served in the parish and lectured and was chaplain at Nkrumah College. As if these responsibilities were not enough, he also took on a heavy load of formation work for young religious. For a time he lectured at the national seminary in Mpima, but is probably better remembered for his catechetical work with postulants and novices for the Sisters of Charity and for the Little Servants of Mary.

Although physically very wiry, John always suffered from bad sight, attributable in great measure to his being an albino. This prevented him from ever driving a car on any of his apostolic journeys. Instead he undertook these on a Honda 110 motor-cycle. The image of John endures, sitting very straight-backed on his Honda, looking straight ahead and “put-putting” along miles of tarred and dirt roads. But the Honda eventually became John's undoing, leading to serious accidents as he hit unseen potholes or had brushes with passing cars. One of these accidents necessitated his return to Ireland in 2002 to recover from his injuries. When he returned to Zambia two years later, the Provincial felt obliged to refuse his request that he could ride his Honda again and advised him that he would have to rely on the mistresses of novices in the various congregations to get him to and from his work with postulants and novices.

Nothing daunted, John set about this but the injuries he had previously sustained had weakened him so badly that it was again necessary for him to return to Ireland, this time in 2006. At first he was assigned to Milltown Park, but a year later it became necessary for him to transfer to the Jesuit Nursing Home, Cherryfield Lodge. He settled in well and was content. He greatly enjoyed visits from members of his family who came from Scotland a few times each year to spend some time with him. But his condition steadily deteriorated; he was confined to a wheelchair; his eyesight failed almost completely; and his hearing became quite poor. But he always remained patient and now seemed more than ever concentrated on his new apostolate, to pray for the Church and the Society. Every morning, on being wheeled in for Mass, he would say “Put me near the altar”. In many ways this sums up his life, to be near the altar - “nearer my God to thee, even though it be a cross that raiseth me”. In this spirit, John died peacefully on 2nd January 2012.

The prayers of commendation, before John's body was taken from Cherryfield to Milltown Park for his funeral Mass, included the reflection: “Rather than his body, we are left with the name of John which we speak now with reverence and affection, and pray: Lord God, remember this name which he was given by his parents, and by which he is known even though he is dead; the name that you have written on the palm of your hand”. In the Society, in Ireland and in Zambia, he was known as John. But his family always called him “Jackie”. In keeping with his much-loved privacy, John preferred that this name be reserved for family use only and could be offended if it was used by any non-family member. But whether “Jackie” or “John”, we speak his name with reverence and affection because he was a sign of God's living presence with us, because he strained himself always to do more for the coming of God's kingdom among us, and because we are certain that his name - be it Jackie or John - is written on the palm of God's hand.

Born: 04 March 1920, Rathgar, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 30 December 2001, Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin

Brother Joe McAsey - RIP 1991

by 1985 at Nairobi, Kenya (AOR) working

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 112 : Special Edition 2002
Obituary

Fr Edward (Ted) McAsey (1920-2001)

4th March, 1920: Born in Dublin
Early education at Belvedere College
7th Sept. 1938: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1940: First Vows at Emo
1940 - 1943: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1946 - 1948: Mungret - Teacher
1948 - 1949: Clongowes Wood College - Teacher
1949 - 1953: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July, 1952: Ordained at Milltown Park
1953 - 1954: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1954 - 1958: Mungret - 3rd Club prefect
1955: 1st Club prefect
1958 - 1960: Rathfarnham - Assistant to Director of retreats.
1960 - 1962: Manresa House - Teacher of Religion in Vocation Schools and Bolton Street
1962 - 1968: Gardiner St. - Teacher of Religion in Bolton St. Church work in Gardiner Street
1968 - 1969: Eglinton Road - Studied psychology at UCD
1969 - 1970: NCIR - Studied psychology at UCD
1970 - 1973: Gardiner Street - Teacher of Religion in Vocation Schools and Bolton Street
1973 - 1984: Tullabeg - Directed Spiritual Exercises
1975: Spent 3 months in Far East.
2nd Feb. 1981: Final Vows at Tullamore
1984 - 1989: Nairobi - Mwangaza House - Minister, Directed Spiritual Exercises
1989 - 1995: University Hall - Assistant Prefect; Director LRA, Directed Spiritual Exercises
1995 - 1998: NCIR - Director LRA, Directed Sp. Exercises
1998 - 2001: Manresa - Director LRA; Counselling; Health Prefect; Director, Spiritual Exercise

Ted was on his way back from saying Mass in Balally on December 30, 2001, when he died at the wheel of his car, probably from a heart attack. He will be terribly missed, not only by numerous clients and apostolates, but by the elderly and sick of Manresa, to whom he was devoted; and by all of us as a lively, happy companion.

Todd Morrissey writes....
Perhaps the most striking aspect of Ted's sudden and dramatic death has been the gap it has left in the lives of so many. Several weeks after the event, one woman commented: “I still expect to hear his large cheerful voice on the phone, I cannot believe that he is dead”. In the community, one still expects to see him stride into the refectory exuding vitality, and always in good form. The gap reflects somehow his bigness in so many ways. He was big physically, with a big voice, a big laugh, and with a big heart, which was reflected in his care of others, his interest in others, his availability to others. Whether as friend, spiritual guide, or psychological counsellor, he gave the impression of solidity, of being there for one, ready to listen and, if needed, to provide shrewd advice and encouraging, yet searching analysis.

“Compassion” is a word that so many of his clients use in his regard. It was evident in his last two communities, at Sandford Lodge and Manresa, where he had care of the sick. Nothing seemed to be too much trouble, and service always seemed to be accompanied by a quip or a laugh. His interest in those who were ill was reflected also in his frequent visits to Cherryfield. During his twelve years as spiritual director to the Lay Retreat Association, numerous members experienced his compassion, and a number of retreatants were surprised and touched to receive a phone call from him a couple of weeks after a retreat, asking how they were getting on and how they were managing with the problem they had discussed.

Ted's vitality, trim appearance, and full head of hair made him seem younger than he was. He lived a disciplined life: early to bed, early to rise, and a short snooze after dinner, combined to leave him with what seemed an endless supply of energy. Each day, up to his final two years, he had a continuous stream of clients, Monday to Saturday Saturday evening and Sunday were frequently devoted to LRA retreats. Holiday periods were filled with tridua or eight-day retreats. Last summer was devoted, after a couple of retreats, to several weeks of supply work in a parish in California, where he was the sole priest. A friend, studying nearby, who rang and suggested they go out for a meal, was told he had not the time - there were weddings, christenings, funerals, on top of the usual masses, confessions and sick calls, and he was enjoying every moment of it! Not surprising then that so many experience a large gap in their lives, and none more than his only, much loved niece, Phena Gee, in Australia, with whom he kept in regular contact, and with whom and her family he spent a memorable few months during his 79th year.

Ted was born in Rathgar, Dublin, on March 4, 1920, one of three children. He seems to have had a happy childhood and to have enjoyed his school days at Belvedere. On September 7, 1938, he entered the Society at Emo. One contemporary recalls him as a large, energetic, noisy and awkward youth, cheerful and anxious to please. During the novitiate there was a severe prolonged frost, and old ice-skates were brought out for skating on the lake. Ted is remembered as giving so much time to fixing the skates of others as to have had little time to skate himself. His generosity, however, was not entirely appreciated. His awkwardness did not make for skill, and some of his fellow novices, with a facility in Latin, were heard to remark - “Quod tangit, frangit”. After Emo, Ted went through the usual round of studies at Rathfarnham/UCD and Tullabeg, before going on to regency at Mungret and Clongowes Wood colleges, 1946-49. His ordination was at Miltown Park in 1952, and his tertianship at Rathfarnham.

Then, free at last, he spent the years 1954-1958 at Mungret College, first as Third Club, and then as First Club, prefect. It was a difficult time at Mungret, but he relished the work as prefect. It provided an outlet for his vast energy, and revealed his capacity for detailed organisation and his ability to deal with large numbers of boys in an ordered yet human way. After Mungret, he moved to Rathfarnham as assistant to the director of retreats. There he had his first in depth contacts with the men of the Lay Retreat Association. From 1960-1973, he worked as a teacher of religion in vocational schools, and especially in Bolton Street. During that time he spent two valuable years studying psychology at UCD. It was an important time for his own development, and for his subsequent capacity to help countless people with their personal and psychological problems. It also helped him work on his own natural impatience and impetuosity. In 1973 he moved to the type of work that was to occupy him for the rest of his life - namely, directing the Spiritual Exercises, and counselling, first in Tullabeg, then in Kenya, and finally back in Dublin. In the Jesuit retreat house in Nairobi, he was minister as well as spiritual director, and he learned much from two Indian Jesuit directors on the staff with him.

A feature of Ted's life was his openness to new experiences, to new learning. One of the joys of his work with the LRA, during the last twelve years of his life, was the fact that his predecessors had opened the theology and spirituality of Vatican II to the members. This challenged him to keep reading, to keep updating his knowledge and spirituality. Shortly before his death, he eagerly shared with others what he was learning from the tapes of Raymond Brown on the Acts of the Apostles, and on the Gospel of St. John. In the community, Ted coordinated the Revision de Vie meetings, and from his frank comments it was clear that prayer was frequently a struggle for him, and yet he was to be seen in the chapel for an hour every morning giving his time to meditation. The effort paid off. The impetuosity and impatience that marked his earlier years disappeared almost entirely, and he became increasingly a man for others.

A central feature in each day was his celebration of Mass with a few members of the community. Fittingly, his final religious service was offering Mass for some of his friends of the sisters of Charity. Afterwards, he was the life of the party as usual, and then drove some of the sisters to their lodgings with no intimations of mortality. A few minutes later, on the road home, life ended with a crash - without danger to anyone else. An appropriate way to go for someone who radiated life and energy, and whose favourite texts were: “I am come that they may have life and have it to the full”, and the saying attributed to Irenaus, “The glory of God is man fully alive”.

Born: 13 October 1890, Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1912, Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1926
Died: 14 October 1962, Haslemere, Surrey, England - Angliae province (ANG)

by 1921 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1920-1924
by 1925 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin

Born: 06 June 1888, Wellington, New Zealand
Entered: 01 June 1908, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1926, Xavier College Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 07 November 1940, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to AsL : 05 April 1931

by 1913 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1915 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
by 1917 in Australia - Regency
by 1925 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
Henry McArdle was educated at Riverview, 1905-07, and was a member of the rugby XV and of the winning “Four” in rowing at the GPS regatta, a time before the introduction of “Eights” into rowing. He was also a good actor and musician, and always retained his interest in drama, music and rowing. In 1938 the Riverview Old Boys presented him with a skiff, but by that time was not able to make much use of it. He was a rather shy and gentle man, but could be severe in the classroom where he mainly taught mathematics.
He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 June 1908, and after his juniorate taught at Belvedere College for a few years before philosophy studies at Stonyhurst and Gemert, France, 1912-15. Then he taught at Riverview, 1915-20, and returned to Milltown Park, Dublin, 1920-24, for theology Tertianship was at Tronchiennes, 1924-25.
He taught at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1925-29, did parish duties at Richmond, 1930-31, and returned to teaching at St Patrick's College, 1931-37. Here be made a name for himself with musical entertainment. He was a hard master to satisfy, for months rehearsals continued until every note was true. Of particular note were productions of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and The Pirates. His taste for music was exceptional, he played the violin well, and was gifted with a rich tenor voice. Each year he took leading parts in light operas, which was good preparation for his work at St Patrick's College.
McArdle must have overstrained himself at St Patrick's College, as he sustained a bad breakdown in 1938 and returned to New Zealand for a rest, but he never properly recovered. He retuned to Riverview for his last few years, working in the observatory. Despite declining health, he was always kind and gracious to those he lived with, and had unswerving loyalty to his friends.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 16th Year No 1 1941
Obituary :
Fr. Henry McArdle
1888 Born 6th June
1988 Entered. Tullabeg 1st June
1909 Tullabeg, Novice
1910 Tullabeg, Junior
1911 Belvedere Doc
1912 Stonyhunt Phil. an. l
1913 Stonyhunt Phil. an. 2
1914 Gemert (Holland) Phil. an. 3
1915 In itinere (to Australia)
1916-19 Riverview, Doc
1920-23 Milltown Theol
1924 Louvain Tertian
1925 Australia (Recens)
1928 Australia, Milson’s Point, Oper., Doc. an. 8 mag
1927-28 Australia, Milson’s Point, Paeef. stud. Cons. dom
1929-30 Australia, Richmond Minister, Oper. Cons. dom
1931 Australia, Richmond Minister, Oper. Cons. dom. Proc. dom.
1932-34 Australia, St. Patrick's College, Proc. dom. Doc. an 13 Mag., Conf. alum
1935-37 Australia, St. Patrick's College, Doc. an. 16 Mag, Conf. dom and alum, Praef. od
1938 Australia, Extra domos
1939-40 Australia, Riverview, Doc. an. 18 Mag Conf. dom.

Fr. H. McArdle died in Melbourne, Nov. 6, 1940. RIP

Born: 01 August 1928, Hellensburgh, Dumbarton, Argyll, Scotland
Entered: 10 August 1956, St Mary's College, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows 15 August 1966, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 07 June 1970, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 45th Year No 3 1970

Belvedere College
On June 7th we were saddened and shocked by the sudden death of Br. Arthur McAnulla. He had been in good health the previous day working in his office. He went for his usual afternoon walk. When he was found on Sunday morning it appeared that he was preparing for bed when he died. For many years he presided in the school office quietly and efficiently so efficiently that on his death all the exam papers were printed and stencilled. Br. McAnulla was normally sparing of words but on occasion in the best Scots tradition could quip and jest with the best. He served us well in his years here and it was touching to hear the tributes paid him by our lay staff and neighbouring shopkeepers. At his funeral the boys and an impressive number of our recent past were present. Brother's life was saddened in recent years by the sudden deaths of his father and mother and brother. He was a true Scot and loved. his native land and it must have demanded heroism to sever his ties with Scotland and enter the Irish Province.

Obituary :
Br Arthur McAnulla SJ (1928-1970)
Br. Arthur McAnulla died suddenly on the morning of Sunday: June 7th. His untimely death was a great shock to us all.
A native of Hellensburgh, Scotland, he entered the Society just fourteen years ago, at the age of twenty-eight. After his novitiate at Emo Park, he spent two years at Milltown Park, taking charge of the domestic staff, and the next ten years at Belvedere College.
It was at Belvedere he really came into his own as secretary to the Prefect of Studies. Having come from a surveyors office in Glasgow, his wealth of experience was a great asset to the college. Doing all the typing of reports to parents, examination papers, etc., and many other duties which a big school entails, he was never heard to complain. Neat, methodical, and most efficient, he seemed to love his job. One lay-master said he did more work than any master in the school.
Of quiet disposition, he had the ready wit of a Scot, and a great sense of humour. He was an excellent card-player - just about a month ago after a long-table I remember he scooped the pool at cards I can still hear the echo of his broad Scottish accent saying, “Wait, I have not played yet”, and with his genial smile proceed to take the kitty.
The high regard which both lay-masters and the boys of the school had for him was significant by the large attendance at his obsequies. May his gentle soul rest in peace.
B.C.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1970

Obituary

Brother Arthur McAnulla SJ

Brother McAnulla's was a late vocation. He entered the Society when he was twenty eight in 1956, and came to Belvedere in 1960. His office training before he became a Jesuit made him an invaluable assistant for the Prefect of Studies. All the office machines from the typewriter to the photostat copier under his skilful handling produced work of the highest professional standard.

He was of a quiet disposition and never raised his voice. Yet he had a very good eye for spotting a humorous situation which he would point out to you in his soft Scots accent.

He had a weakened heart following a sharp attack of flu shortly after he came to Belvedere. He recovered from the illness but was advised not to work under pressure, For some time previous to the fatal seizure, people were commenting on his excellent spirits. It came as a great shock when one of the community went to his room on Sunday morning, June 7th, and discovered that he had passed away during the night. Most of the senior school attended his funeral in Gardiner Street.

Born: 07 January 1899, Taunton MA, USA
Entered: 07 September 1919, St Stanislaus, Yonkers, NY - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Ordained: 20 June 1932
Final vows: 02 February 1936
Died: 19 September 1971, Ybbs, Austria, Ybbs, Austria - Novae Angliae Province (NEN)

by 1966 came to Leeson St (HIB) working

Born: 16 November 1833, Mount Hanover, Drogheda, County Louth
Entered: 13 November 1852, Amiens France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 22 September 1866, Drogheda, County Louth
Final vows: 15 August 1872
Died: 31 December 1878, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

by 1855 at Villa Mongré France (LUGD) studying
by 1862 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy 3
by 1864 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theology 1
by 1865 at Montauban France (TOLO) studying Theology 3
by 1866 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theology 4

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1856-1863 He was sent for Regency to Teach at Tullabeg, and then for two years at Limerick.
1863 He was sent to Stonyhurst for Philosophy and from there to St Beuno’s for 1st and 4th Year Theology, 2nd and 3rd Years were completed in the South of France.
1866 He was Ordained by Dr Nulty at Drogheda 22 September 1866.
1869 He was sent to Teach at Belvedere and was appointed Rector there in 1873. He died in office there 31 December 1878.
He was a very good religious. Though not of a robust constitution, his death was a peaceful one.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Stanley Mathews 1833-1878
Fr Mathews was born in Drogheda on November 15th 1833. He entered the Society in 1852 at St Acheul. He did most of his studies abroad but was ordained at Drogheda by Dr Nulty in 1866.

Three years later he went to Belvedere as a Master, and in 1873 he becmae Rector of the College. This post he filled until his death, which took place on December 31st 1878.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father John Stanley Mathews (1833-1878)

Was born at Drogheda and entered the Society at St Acheul in 1852. He spent two years of his regency at the Crescent, 1860-62, and can therefore be regarded almost as one of the pioneers of the re-establishment of the Society in Limerick. His higher studies were made in England and France, but his ordination took place at Drogheda on 22 September, 1866. The years after his ordination were spent entirely at Belvedere College where he was rector at the time of his early death.

Born: 02 April 1856, Corduff, County Cavan
Entered: 22 January 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 26 July 1891
Final Vows: 25 March 1896, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 05 February 1935, Milltown Park, Dublin

Came to Australia 1899

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward Masterson entered the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, 22 January 1877, and after his juniorate taught Greek, Latin, French, English and mathematics at Clongowes Wood, 1880-81, and then again from 1886-87. He taught the senior examination class English, classics, and French at Tullabeg College, 1882-86 .
Philosophy studies were broken and undertaken at Milltown Park, 1881-82, 1887-88, then at Mungret, 1888-89. Theology followed at Milltown Park, 1889-93, and tertianship 1894-95. He became professed of the four Vows 25 March 1896.
Before being sent to Australia, Masterson was prefect of studies at the Crescent, Limerick 1893-94 and 1895-97. For a short time, 1897-98, he lectured in theology at Milltown Park.
His first appointment in Australia was teaching at Riverview, 1898-1901, and then 1905-06. He also taught at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, and gave philosophy lectures at
St John's University College, 1901-02.
He worked in the parish of Norwood, 1903-05, and returned to Ireland in 1906, where he taught and did parish work in Galway. He was also at Mungret teaching philosophy, and at Milltown Park professing canon law, scripture and philosophy.
He certainly moved regularly. He was a learned man, and wrote letters to the papers defending the Catholic side against the Orangemen during the infamous O’Haran case in Sydney

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 3 1927
Jubilee :
On February 3rd at St. Ignatius', Galway, Fr. Masterson celebrated his Golden jubilee. In order to be present Fr Provincial travelled from Dublin. He, Frs Rector, Minister and Coghlan spoke in grateful terms of all that Fr. Masterson had done for the Society. The Jubilarian, deeply moved at all the kind things said about him, made a suitable reply. Fr. Masterson held a number of the most important positions in the province. He was Socius to the Master of Novices, Prefect of Studies, and had charge of the Short Course at Milltown. 1898 found him at Riverview. He remained in Australia until 1906, and during that time proved himself one of the sturdiest and most successful champions of Catholicity in Australia. After his return to Ireland he was for many years diocesan examiner in Galway, and subsequently professed Canon Law and Philosophy at Milltown. These absorbing occupations did not prevent him contributing to the Press very many erudite articles on every variety of Theological thought.
Fr. Masterson possesses in a high degree the gift of making sincere friends. This was very much evidenced at the Jubilee. He received more than 100 letters and telegrams, and every oneof them he answered with his own hand. This proves that there is hope of many years sterling work before him still and this hope finds a place in the heart of every member of the Irish province.

Irish Province News 10th Year No 2 1935
Obituary :
Father Edward Masterson
Father Masterson was born at Corduff, Co. Cavan, 2nd April 1856, and educated at the Seminary in Cavan. He began his novitiate at Milltown Park on the 22nd January, 1877, and
remained there as Novice and junior until 1880, when he was sent to Clongowes. After a year he returned to Milltown, got through one year of philosophy, but then had to travel to
Tullabeg, where he taught until 1886 - “amalgamation year” - when he went with the Tullabeg Community to Clongowes. After a year, philosophy was resumed at Milltown, finished at Mungret, and then theology commenced at Milltown in 1889. After the four years we find him Prefect of Studies at the Crescent, the following year a Tertian and Socius to the Master of Novices in Tullabeg, then Milltown, where he professed the Short Course, and in 1898 he turns up in Riverview, Australia. He remained in Australia, doing work in various houses, until 1906, when he was back in Ireland, and stationed in Galway. Here he taught, worked in the church, and for some years was Diocesan Examiner until 1915, when he became Professor of Canon Law at Milltown.
From 1920 to 1922 he taught philosophy at Mungret, then returned to Milltown as Professor first year philosophy, until 1926, when Galway saw him once more as Oper., etc. In 1930 he went to Militown for the last time, and remained there until his death on Tuesday, 5th February, 1935. Father Masterson is entered in the Catalogues 20 times as Cons. Dom. and 18 times as Praes. Coll.
The following tributes to the memory of Father Masterson give us a very true estimate of his character :
From Mr. Costelloe :
These few lines will record a tribute from Milltown Park to the memory of Father Edward Masterson. It is not as a great theologian or brilliant controversialist who brought renown to the Society that the present generation of scholastics will chiefly remember him, although they knew him to be both, but as a religious who by his great kindness and charity endeared himself to all the members of the Society who were privileged to live with him.
All knew that he profited in no small measure by his Jesuit training, and combined in an extraordinary and marked degree the Christlike quality of being all things to all men. Yet I think, it is not untrue to say, that he was most happy and most at his ease when mixing and conversing with the scholastics. The late Father Henry Fegan said of him “I knew no other Jesuit who loves so much to spend his spare time with the young men”. He loved to join them at recreation on the corridors or in the garden. He shared their interests, counseled and encouraged them in their undertakings and applauded generously their successes. For those of other Provinces, there was always the kindly word of welcome on arrival, and the sincere God speed on departure. All knew by hearsay and some by experience the compelling force of his cogent logic, yet he was at all times a most considerate examiner. When a nervous scholastic came before him for examination in theology, it was his custom to begin by putting a straightforward question entailing little thought in order to soothe unsteady nerves and arouse feelings of self confidence. The unsuccessful candidate, particularly in moral theology, was the recipient of much consolation and encouragement. The writer of these lines saw him when a man of 78 years of age climbing several lofty flights of stairs to convey sympathy and hope to one who failed to enlist the favour of his examiners. As a professor he was slow to censure but quick to apportion a full meed of praise. Though his mind was of a serious cast, he was not wanting in a sense of humour and loved to hear or relate a good story. When death robbed a member of the community of one near and dear he was among the first to proper in an unobtrusive way, an appropriate word of genuine sympathy and an assurance of a first intention in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. All who knew him could not fail to be impressed with his deep fidelity to the Society and its traditions.
He was a deeply religious man, exact and careful in the performance of his spiritual duties. In the later years of life, although burdened by ill-health, he never deviated or sought relaxation from the common life of the community, and was a continual source of edification and indeed envy to many some fifty years his junior, He has left a sweet memory enshrined in the hearts of those who lived with him at Milltown Park, and our community, though considerably the poorer by his passing is made rich by the remembrance of his kind deeds. May he rest in peace.

From Father MacSheehan :
Father Masterson was associated with Galway for nearly 20 years, having come here for the first time about 1906, shortly after his return from Australia. Both as teacher and preacher he immediately won an outstanding name for himself, for he was as familiar with the old Delphin Classics as with the works of Newman and Lacordaire. Here however, as elsewhere, it was as theologian that he was best known and esteemed. At the diocesan conferences his opinion was invariably sought when any abstruse or disputed point was in question, and his accuracy for references was a bye-word. He was for some time diocesan examiner of young priests, and the late Bishop did him the honor of submitting to him for revision a new course of catechetical instructions he had just drawn up. With his pen, too, he was busy in Galway, and when delicate health and overstrain of work compelled him to lie up for a few days, it was invariably a sign that he had been pouring too long over his beloved Ballerini, preparing yet another article on “Recidivi” that would bring dismay and consternation among the ranks of his adversaries. (incidentally it is a pity that this particular series of articles has never appeared in pamphlet form.) But, if he could “slay his enemies” on paper, no one could be more genial in social intercourse and in community life. The many warm and lasting friendships that he formed both with externs and especially with the young men of the Society, bear ample testimony thereto. That he claimed many friends in Galway is shown by the fact that hardly a year passed that he did not revisit it, that many in Galway claimed him as a friend, by the spontaneous grief and sorrow with which the news of his demise was heard. The prayer of each and everyone of these is that he may rest forever in the sweet friendship of the Lord.

During his last stay at Milltown, Father Masterson was confessor to some of our well-known public men. Amongst the general public who attended his funeral were : Mr. P. J. Little, T.D., representing Mr. de Valera; Mr. T. O. Deirg Minister for Education; Mr. W. Honohan, representing Mr MacEntee, Minister for Finance; Mr. Sean Brady, TD; Mrs de Valera; Mr. F. Fahy; Mrs. Concannon TD; Mr. Louis Walsh, DJ; the President of the High Court and Mrs. Sullivan.
By mistake Father Masterson's name was left out of the 1923 Catalogue. It is certain that in 1922-23 he was Professor of first year philosophy. One of his pupils of that year writes “I remember being impressed by his great care in preparing lectures, and, in general, by his devotion to his work. He always seemed to set a very high store on doing what he considered his duty.”

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Edward Masterson SJ 1856-1935
Edward Masterson was born at Corduff Couthy Cavan in 1856 and received his early education at St Patrick’s Seminary, Cavan. He entered the Society in 1877, the noviceship then being in Milltown Park.

His Regency and Philosophy were erratic, commuting between Milltown, Clongowes and Tullabeg. He was a Master on the staff in Tullabeg in the fateful year of 1886 and migrated to Clongowes on the amalgamation of the two Colleges that year. After his Ordination in Milltown in 1892 he was Prefect of Studies at Crescent for some time, and then after his tertianship he began to profess in Milltown Park.

He went to Australia in 1898 where he began to show that talent for controversy which was to make him famous afterwards. He defended the Catholic doctrines on mental reservation brilliantly in a controversy which excited the widest attention.

He returned after 8 years in Australia, and was stationed in Galway from 1906-1915. In the latter year he became Professor of Canon Law in Milltown, where he spent the rest of his life, except for a brief period at Mungret, and another at Galway. In all he was associated with Galway for 20 years, where his reputation as a theologian was extremely high and where he still plied his pen. To this period date his series of articles on “Recidivi” in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record. It was at Milltown that he defended the political opinions of Suarez against a Professor of Clonliffe. After expounding Suarez’s view he said “This is the doctrine that is taught on the banks of the Tiber, let us now see what is taught on the banks of the Tolka”.

He was a most kindly man, renowned for his interest in the young theologians, a most considerate examiner, the first to console the fallen and to congratulate the victor. Much consulted by public men acting as their ever-ready counsellor and confessor. A deeply religious man, renowned for his religious observance, seeking no relaxation on account of his health, he ended his active and fruitful life at Milltown Park on February 5th 1935.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Edward Masterson (1856-1935)

Born at Corduff, Co. Cavan and educated at the diocesan College of St Patrick, entered the Society in 1877. He was ordained at Milltown Park in 1892. Father Masterson was a member of the Crescent community in 1893-94 and from 1895 to 1897, during which time he held the office of prefect of studies. In 1897 he left for Australia and remained on the mission until 1906. On his return to Ireland, he was stationed at Galway until 1915 when he was appointed to the chair of Canon Law at Milltown Park. With the exception of a few years as lecturer in philosophy at Mungret or back once more in Galway, Father Masterson spent most of his time at Milltown Park. He had a facile pen in theological or philosophical controversies of other days, and was esteemed in his time as an able spiritual adviser.

Born: 1561, Scotland
Entered: 1585, Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 03 November 1635, Drogheda, County Louth

In 1626 Catalogue

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ:
Unclear as to how he became involved in the Irish Mission, but he was living in Ireland in 1629 and described as sacristan and living at Dublin and/or Drogheda, where he died November 1625.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MARTIN, WILLIAM. All that I can learn of him is from a letter of F. James Gordon (Huntly), dated Bourdeaux, 11th March, 1611. “I have heard, that the Earl of Tyrone of Ireland, who lives at Rome, complains much of our brother William Martin; therefore I have taken care that William should write to him, and vindicate himself”.

Born: 24 December 1907, Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 20 August 1978, Kilcroney, County Wicklow

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

Early education at CBS Synge Street

Chaplain in the Second World War.

by 1934 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1936 at Wah Yan, Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He first arrived as a Scholastic for regency in Hong Kong in 1933. He was accompanied by Frs O'Meara and Ryan, and by two other Scholastics, John Foley and Dick Kennedy.
After a few months at the Regional Seminary in Aberdeen he was sent teaching at Wah Yan College Hong Kong, and he spent three years there teaching English and Catechism, and also looking after sports and games. He had outstanding gifts and took many artistic photographs and made a long 16mm film of the work of the Jesuits in Hong Kong, and of Chinese life in general. This film became very useful for talks on Missions later on.

In 1936 he returned to Ireland for Theology at Milltown Park, being Ordained in 1939.
He then went to make Tertianship in 1941-1942, after which he was sent to Tullabeg, looking after the Ricci Mission Unit and giving Retreats.
1943-1946 He became a Military Chaplain
1946 He began his work as Procurator of the Irish Mission in Hong Kong, and he was first stationed at Milltown Park. In 1950 he had to enlarge his work to incorporate the new Mission to Rhodesia (Zambia).
1974 He retired from this work and handed over to Vincent Murphy.

As Procurator he not only helped returned missionaries or those heading to the Missions. He was an indefatigable fundraiser, and he kept i touch with many missionary organisations throughout Ireland. Organising many “Sales of Work” he also raised interest in the work of the Irish Jesuits overseas.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946
Frs. Guinane, Pelly and Perrott C. have been released from the Army. Fr. Guinane is now Minister at Mungret, Fr. Perrott is posted to Galway, and Fr. Pelly is awaiting travelling facilities to go to our Hong Kong Mission. Fr. Martin, a member also of the Mission, was to have been released from the Army on December 12th, but on the 11th be met with a serious accident in Belfast (see letter below). Fr. Provincial went to Belfast on Wednesday, January 9th, to visit him at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Fr. C. Murphy hopes to start on his homeward journey from Austria on January 14th and to be released from the Army by the end of January.

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 organising 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 53rd Year No 4 1978
Gardiner Street
After a period of illness and some disorientation, Fr Tom Martin died on Sunday morning, 20th August. We were saddened at this passing away of a warm-hearted member of our community and of a staunch colleague in our apostolate. He will be mourned by his many brothers in the society and by the many friends he made both through his work for the missions and more recently through his dedication to parish visitation. May he rest in peace.

Obituary :
Fr Thomas Martin (1907-1978)
Father Tom Martin died at St John of God’s, Kilcroney, on August 20th 1978. Although Father Tom had had some eye trouble for about two years before his death, the period during which he was very seriously incapacitated was, thank God, quite short. This was, more especially in his case, a great favour from God, for his life in the Society during about 53 years was full of profitable activity.
Born at Rugby in the Archdiocese of Birmingham on October 24th, 1907, Father Tom entered the Noviceship in Tullabeg on September 1st 1925. He spent three years of his teaching years (1930-1933) at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. He studied in Milltown Park, where he was ordained priest on July 31st 1939. On completion of his Tertianship at Rathfarnham in 1941, he spent a year on the Retreat Staff in Tullabeg, where he had studied his philosophy many years previously. He was a Chaplain in the British Army, 1942-1946, during which he spent some periods of duty in England, France, Belgium and Holland.
On his return from the Chaplaincy there began for him the chief work of his life. While living in St Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, his daily work for twenty-six years was that of Mission Procurator (1946-1972); and he was Assistant Procurator for our Foreign Missions from 1972 to 1976: in all thirty years of tireless work from which our Foreign Missions in the Far East and in Zambia derived continual help. His kindly manner and understanding of people enabled him to organise great help for his missionary work from the many lay people: who could speak sincerely and perhaps more eloquently even than his fellow religious, of his quiet and attractive efficiency.
Even when serious eye trouble prevented the continuance of “office work”, as Mission Procurator, he was blessed by God by being able to continue active work in Gardiner Street as sub-minister and assistant in parish work until he had to go into hospital a comparatively short time before his death.
May he rest in peace.

Born: 19 October 1876, Wigan, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1910, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 05 March 1951, Burke Hall, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1898 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1903
by 1911 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1912 returned to Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Martin a man with a ruddy complexion and twinkling eyes, was educated at Mungret, and entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1893. After his juniorate, he studied philosophy at Jersey, 1897-1900. He taught at Clongowes and Xavier College, Melbourne, 1901-07, and also a prefect.
At Xavier he taught mathematics, English, Latin and French, and his classes were always attractive for the way he aroused interest in the subject. He was a firm teacher-no foolery in
his classes. but he was able to combine humour with severity. He delighted his class at times by reading them a story from Sherlock Holmes or the like. He enjoyed games and loved music.
Theology studies followed at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1907-10, and tertianship at Tronchiennes the following year. He returned to Australia to teach at Xavier College, 1911-15, and St Patrick's College, 1915-21. He did parish work at Richmond, 1921-28, where he was recognised as an indefatigable worker, before returning to teach at Xavier College until 1940.
He was also procurator of the mission and later of the vice-province. He taught at St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, 1940-41, and at Burke Hall, 1941-50. He was always a very retiring man, rarely seen at public functions, but good company for Old Boys, who sought him out in his room, smoking a cigar or a pipe, and together they shared memories of former days.
He was a kind and thoughtful person helpful to scholastics in the colleges. He was a good counsellor, always cheerful and good with more difficult members of the community. He was an expert teacher of French and popular with his students. He had great devotion to his work, and was admired as a preacher, although he did not particularly like the pulpit. He also had a fine singing voice. In his latter years he suffered from heart disease, but did not draw attention to it.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 26th Year No 2 1951

Obituary :

Fr. Martin died in Melbourne on 4th March. A native of Wigan, Lancs, he was born in 1879 and was educated at St. John's, Wigan and at Mungret Apostolic School. He entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1893 and studied philosophy at Jersey. After a year's teaching at Clongowes, he went to Australia, where he was on the staff of Xavier College, Kew for some five years. He did theology at Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1909. His tertianship he made at Tronchiennes. He returned to Kew to resume work in the classroom till 1921. He was then made Province Procurator, a post he held till. 1935. He was transferred to St. Aloysius' College, Sydney in 1940. From 1942 till his death he was attached to Burke Hall, Preparatory School to Kew.
Fr. Martin was a man of charming manner and a great social success. A gifted singer and interpreter of Irish melodies, the “petit Martin” was a general favourite with the French. He was in constant demand as a philosopher in Jersey on the sac-au-dos or rustication days. He kept in touch with the Irish Province all his life. He and the late Fr. Flinn corresponded monthly with each other giving and receiving items of news affecting both Provinces. R.I.P.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1951

Obituary

Father John Martin SJ

In March occurred the death in Australia of Rev John Martin SJ, a member of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus. He was born at Wigan in 1876, and after spending some years at St John's College, Wigan, he came to Mungret, where he remained until he entered the Noviciate of the Society of Jesus at Tullamore in 1893.

He studied Philosophy at the French house of the Society at Jersey, after which he was sent to teach at Clongowes, which he left for Australia in 1902. He was master for five years at Xavier College, Melbourne, and he then returned to commence his studies in Theology at Milltown Park. He was ordained priest at Milltown in 1910, and after he left Milltown he spent one year at Tronchiennes in Belgium to complete his training. In 1911 he went to Australia, where he taught, again at Xavier College Kew, until 1921. In 1921 he was appointed Province Bursar, and remained in that post until 1935.

He was transferred to St Aloysius' College Sydney in 1940, where he re mained until 1942. From 1942 until his death in March of this year, Father Martin was attached to Burke Hall, Preparatory School to Xavier College, Kew. He was a man of very charming manner, a great singer, and interpreter of Irish melodies. All through his life he kept in touch with Irish affairs, and wrote regularly to old friends in Ireland. His many friends will regret the passing of a devoted priest and genial personality RIP

Born: 23 January 1844, Naples, Italy
Entered: 26 September 1859, Naples Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1873, Woodstock College, Washington DC, USA
Professed: 02 February 1877, Las Vegas NM, USA
Died: 29 March1915, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)

Part of the St Ignatius, Las Vegas NM, USA community at the time of death

Superior of the Sicilian Jesuit Mission to Colorado, USA Mission : 01 January 1887

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

Born: 24 November 1925, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1943, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1957, Kaiserdom Sankt Bartholomäus (Frankfurter Dom), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Final Vows: 02 February 1960, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 15 November 2000, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1955 at Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt (GER I) studying
by 1979 at Rue de Grenelle Paris, France (GAL) sabbatical

Born: 02 December 1932, Cabra, Dublin
Entered: 22 December 1954, St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1965, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 25 November 2023, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St St Ignatius Leeson Street Community at the time of death

FSS
Born : 2nd December 1932 Dublin City
Raised : Cabra, Dublin
Early Education at St Agatha's William Street North, Dublin; St. Peters, Phibsborough, Dublin; Ringsend Tech, Dublin; Hosiery Mechanic; Cathal Brugha St College, Dublin
22nd December 1954 Entered Society at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
25th December 1956 First Vows at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1957-1959 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Cook (from Jan 1957)
1959-1981 Rathfarnham - Cook
1964 Tertianship
2nd February 1965 Final Vows at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
1981-1983 Manresa House - Cook
1983-1985 Lahore, Pakistan - Administration at University Hall
1985-1987 Gardiner St - Cook; Social Services Centre
1987-1989 John Austin House - Social Services Centre Gardiner St; Minister
1989-2005 Belvedere College SJ - Minister; Social Services Centre
1993 Subminister; Assistant Sacristan; Pastoral Work in Inner City; Assists in School
2005-2012 Gardiner St - Pastoral Work in Innter City; Assists in Belvedere College SJ; Community Sacristan
2012-2023 Leeson St - Assistant Sacristan & Gardener; Visitor to Cherryfield Lodge Residents
2020 Prays for the Church and Society at Cherryfield Lodge

Interfuse No 44 : September 1986

Interfuse Interviews : Gerry Marks

On his career as a Jesuit Brother, ranging from the shining saucepans of Rathfarnham to the black pots of Pakistan. Gerry is now working in the Social Service Centre in Sherrard Street and he tells us what that's like.

Interfuse
How many years have you been in the Society now, Gerry?

Gerry Marks
Well, I entered in 1954 so I'm thirty-two years a Jesuit. I started off as a postulant in the old days in Milltown Park with Fr. Con Murphy. I don't know whether you'd count that as being in the Society: the Catalogus doesn't! Anyway, I was two and a half years there before going to the noviceship in Emo in 1954. I took my vows in 1956,

Interfuse
And when did you volunteer for Pakistan?

Gerry Marks
I went out there in 1983.

Interfuse
So you had been a heck of a long time in the Order before making that decision. Mainly cooking for the troops, right?

Gerry Marks
Yes, I spent most of my Jesuit life in the kitchen.

Interfuse
Did you get fed up with cooking, if that's the right way to put it, or what made you opt for the Foreign Missions?

Gerry Marks
Well, I was a long time cooking and I didn't know whether I liked it at times. It was nice in Rathfarnham Castle; I liked it there. But when I was changed from Rathfarnham to Manresa it felt like going back to the noviceship and starting all over again. So that's why I jumped at the offer of a job in Pakistan.

Interfuse
Had you thought for some years of going on the Missions or was that a spur-of-the-moment decision?

Gerry Marks
Years ago I had thought about going to a place like Zambia but it wasn't a very strong urge. I thought I was doing okay at the cooking. I felt that I was helping out and that I was making a fairly good job of it. I also felt it was the only thing I was capable of doing. I wondered what I could do to help in Zambia and felt that I would need some other talent to be able to help the people out there.

Interfuse
So what made you think you could help out in Pakistan?

Gerry Marks
It was Bill McGoldrick's example, really. When I saw how a man of his advanced age (!) could volunteer and be capable of doing the job out there, well, I said to myself, “If Bill can do it, then the bould Marks can do it!”

Interfuse
So you replaced him out there?

Gerry Marks
Actually, it just happened at the right time, I saw a notice on the board, looking for a replacement for Bill who was coming back for tertianship. I thought I might as well volunteer this time, I thought that there would be several volunteers and I wanted to get in first. In fact I was the only applicant - so the job was mine.

Interfuse
Did you know when you were going out that it was for a limited number of years?

Gerry Marks
Yes, the contract was for two years.

Interfuse
So you hadn't burnt all your boats?

Gerry Marks
No, it would certainly be different if you were going out for an indefinite period.

Interfuse
I don't have to ask you to tell us what you were doing in Pakistan because Interfuse readers have already heard all about the job from Bill McGoldrick. When it came to the end of your time out there, were you dying to come home or would you gladly have stayed on?

Gerry Marks
For me, that's a difficult question to answer. I was sorry to be leaving in one way and I was glad in another. The thing was, I had two types of work out there, I had an apostolate with people in “the villages”, as they're called, and I was working in a hostel with the students. I was sorry to be leaving the village work. But as regards the hostel work, I didn't think much of that. There wasn't a lot to do there, to tell you the truth, I wasn't cooking. I was just looking after the staff and taking in the students' fees. In the villages, on the other hand, I found that I was meeting people and getting to know a lot of them very well. I liked that part of the work and wouldn't have minded staying on doing it.

Interfuse
Would you recommend this kind of a two-year stint to the other Brothers in the province?

Gerry Marks
I would recommend it to them if they were going to be let do the pastoral work and not confined to the hostel. You don't feel it worthwhile if you're working indoors most of the time. You meet the students and talk to them (mostly in English). I am sure that many of our middle-aged Brothers would find the pastoral work in the villages very fulfilling. I'd recommend that to any Brother because he'd be really in the middle of things where there is such great work to be done.

Interfuse
Did you find the living conditions hard yourself or did you get used to them fairly quickly?

Gerry Marks
The living conditions are okay. When I got used to the heat - 110 degrees in the dining room: great if you want to lose a bit of weight - and when I got rid of the mosquitos from my room, then living conditions were grand. The food was okay, too.

Interfuse
How was it cooked?!

Gerry Marks
Oh, it was cooked alright. But I must say that the kitchen that they had was a bit primitive and the standard of hygiene was bad. I don't think it would pass the Eastern Health Board here. I went into the kitchen when I went there first and saw that the pots were jet black. You see, the type of gas they use is a very dirty natural gas and it blackens everything in sight. All the pots were covered with this thick, black stuff, inside and out. Anyway, I got going on these pots and when I finished they were practically shining. Everything was grand for a month or so. Then they began to go black again. I just said to myself, “Sure if they've survived up to now, they can survive a few years longer”. So, I left it at that. The “black stuff” must have been edible.

Interfuse
What was the general standard-of-living like?

Gerry Marks
Some Irish Jesuits talk about Ballynun being poverty stricken. They should see the conditions in the villages in Pakistan and see the so-called housing, the little bits of shacks people live in. It is a very poor nation, materially. The one thing they have out there is the sun. I think that's what keeps them happy in their poverty. They are very happy people, believe it or not.

Interfuse
What did it feel like to live in a non-Catholic country?

Gerry Marks
Strange. I thought that when I went out first. The Moslems are friendly, though, and will shake hands with you when they meet you in the street. When they see a white face coming along, some of them will come over and say, “You are welcome”. Others might ask, “What did you come out here for?” If you say, “to work”, they wonder why you came to Pakistan where there are so many unemployed. In a way I felt sad for them because they were really good people and, if they got the chance, they'd probably make better Catholics than I am. If I ever got the opportunity, of course, I used to speak to them about the Catholic faith.

Interfuse
And how did that go down?

Gerry Marks
Well, there are a lot of things about Christianity that they find peculiar. For instance, they can't understand how God could have a son. They do have a certain devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as you know. They don't call her that; they call her the Mother of Christ the Prophet. They try to make out, through our Gospels even, that Christ promised Mohammed. They quote the text, “I am going to the Father and I will send to you a paraclete who will make all things clear”. This word, “paraclete”, in their script and in their writings, is very similar to the word for prophet. So they take this as pointing towards Mohammed. They don't realise that it was the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised the apostles and when you explain this to them, they do begin to doubt a little.
I was surprised to find that they have “Christian” mountains in the Himalayas. I was out on a trip one day and they pointed out a peak near K2 called Murray. I discovered it meant Mary. It is a big mountain and Mary is supposed to be buried beneath it. Then they point in another direction and tell you that Jesus Christ is buried over there. They say that He didn't die on the cross. His friends took him down off the cross before He died and brought Him off to the East. They can show you the mountain where He is buried.

Interfuse
Did you ever talk about religion with the students in the hostel?

Gerry Marks
Oh yes, in the hostel the students were very open. They each had different ideas on religion. Each one had his own way of thinking. We had one Shiite Moslem with a most unfortunate name. Br. McGoldrick will remember him well. If I had ever to call his name out over the yard for a phone call, I would hear a roar of laughter from the Australian Jesuits in the dining room. They used to think I was using a bad word! Anyway, he was a very nice fellow, going on to be a doctor. There was so much bribery and corruption going on in that profession that he was becoming quite disillusioned. After the doctors had performed an operation, they would go straight back to their own private clinics and leave the aftercare of a patient to the nurses. In this way they made stacks of money, thousands of rupees. That's why this student was so very disillusioned. But he was a very sincere Moslem and he would tell me all about the high moral standards he had set for himself.

Interfuse
So, eventually, the time came when you had to return to Ireland. Did you know what you'd be doing when you came home?

Gerry Marks
No. I didn't know at the time. I went and spoke to the Provincial and he told me he was looking for someone to work in the Social Service Centre, So I agreed to give it a go. Joe went on to tell me they needed someone to do the cooking on Saturdays and Sundays in Gardiner Street and wondered if I'd mind “keeping my hand in”. I didn't mind.

Interfuse
Tell us a wee bit about the Social Service Centre.

Gerry Marks
Well, I did feel a bit at sea here at first. I was always looking for a white collar job. I always had the white collar but never had the job! Anyway, I found myself coming into this job, doing office work for four days a week. As you know, there are three Sisters here and two Brothers, Eamonn Davis and myself. One of the Sisters, Sr. Mary de Porres, works in the Home Help office. The other two, Sr. Joseph and Sr. Susan, work with Eamonn Davis and myself.

Interfuse
I presume you get all sorts of problems with no two days the same? It just depends on who rambles in off the street looking for help in some shape or form?

Gerry Marks
Yes. You have to be ready for all sorts. You can get people who are very nice and polite. You can get ladies who are practically weeping looking for help because they have problems in their homes and that type of thing. Then you have tough lads coming down here straight from Mountjoy Jail. They come in here looking for money. I can tell you that Sr. Joseph is glad to have a few able-bodied men around the place at times.

Interfuse
Have you grown to like the job by now?

Gerry Marks
Well, of course, work being what it is, I sometimes get those Monday morning feelings. It's not terribly heavy work, physically speaking, even though sometimes you may have to move second-hand furniture or washing machines around. But I've got used to it. I was always used to meeting people and talking to people because I am a member of the Legion of Mary.

Interfuse
Did you find your Legion background a big help?

Gerry Marks
Yes, definitely. We visit a lot of old people. Some of them are psychiatric cases. Some of them are people who have been left alone and have no relations. They love you to stay a long time with them and talk to them. I give them as much time as possible. We each have a list of people to visit. There are about twenty-four people on my list. There are poor people and there are lonely people and they love to have you in their home for a chat, I find this very fulfilling work, visiting people who are on their own. I have to take my turn in the office as well, it's the visiting that I find most rewarding. I've discovered that the majority of these people know very little about the different grants and things that can be done for them by the Eastern Health Board or by us. There are a good few lonely old people around that we have done a lot for, Using the Eastern Health Board grants to have their houses done, helping them with their gardens and things like that: that's the type of work I like.

Interfuse
And your overall assessment of the work done by the Centre?

Gerry Marks
It's terrificly well organized and I think Fr. John Murphy is mainly responsible for that. The organizational structure of the Centre is very simple but very effective. We have a Staff Meeting every Thursday where we can discuss problem cases and help one another with advice. All in all, I can assure your readers that the Centre is a work of which the Province can be justly proud.

Interfuse No 70 : Autumn 1992

TO YOUGHAL AND BACK

Christopher Murray

“Little did I realize what was ahead for me when Eamonn Davis and Gerry Marks invited me to join them on this special occasion. I am grateful to them because it was a great day, a very pleas ant and enjoyable one. This was a surprise and delight for me, an American Jesuit on sabbatical who happened to be visiting Ireland and Belvedere College at the right time...”. So writes another participant, Brother Pat Flanagan from New York; and doubtless there will be yet more testimonies to the great day, and to the forth coming pilgrimage to Rome...

Thursday morning had us all on our feet at a rather early hour, a somewhat overcast sky and a hope of a very pleasant day. It was also the end to all discussion as to who was going and who was not and what exactly was the programme for the day.

At Gardiner St. all were ready in good time and waiting for the arrival of the bus after scoffing a plate of Bro. Loftus’ porridge and a cup of hot coffee - which he had been preparing for our comfort at 5 am. amid the sound of some musical noises and some not so musical.

The bus arrived in good time and Tom Phelan was buzzing around (rather early for him too!) making sure the “old men” were able to climb up the steps and find a comfortable seat for the long journey. All in place and then “where are the Belvedere Brothers?” In the distance Bros. Marks and Davis were seen cornering at speed and making their way up Gardiner St. to a general sigh of relief. Then came a gasp and a groan as Gerry headed in the direction of the church door as if to do his meditation, but he quickly had second thoughts and headed for the bus, to a collective sigh of relief. So on we went to collect our other passengers for the journey and found the Provincial waiting at Milltown Park to give us a send-off.

Our first stop was planned for Kilkenny with a pick-up at Naas where Bros. O'Connor and Fitzgerald were patiently awaiting our arrival. A somewhat uneventful run on to Kilkenny to the murmur of voices, which gradually grew louder as the morning blues wore off. A very pleasant breakfast awaited us and arrangement made for a meal on our evening return at 7 pm. It was a very light-heart ed and noisy crowd that boarded the bus for our Onward journey, even the bus driver became one of the excursionists!

The sun was shining brightly and the holiday spirit took over and all bother and curiosity about “what's next” was put aside, and there were some mild attempts at song and joke intermingled with comments on the places we were passing thro' and old memories evoked by some on a former journey through the same place.

Arriving finally and in good “timetable” time we found a welcoming PP, with some others, at the beautiful and ideally situat ed parish church, and were all greeted individually with great warmth. A new church in a new housing area, in very beautiful surroundings, and most pleasing to the eye.

A very restful and inspiring Mass and a reflection on Dominic Collins followed and we all felt it alone was worth the journey. A very pleasant meal, back in the town, in the welcome and warm company of the PP and then a kind of aimless ramble from here to there with Dominic Collins connections, a visit also to the SH Convent where we were graciously greeted by Mother Provincial and a quiet visit to “Exposition of the BS” which was mainly the care of the local laity. A visit to the Protestant pre-Reformation church, with visible relics and reminders of its former owners. We ourselves were the object of no little curiosity and possibly the locals had never seen such a large body of “Clericals” ambling idly around and “gawking” in at shop windows and various other places, - and wondering was this an outing for decrepit clergy! accompanied, of course, by some younger “keepers”.

I would leave it to others to describe the hilarity of the return journey, the very adequate and pleasant dinner in Kilkenny, and the hilarity and variety of real talent we enjoyed on what seemed a short journey home. The satisfaction expressed by all at the well planned day by those who had the care on their shoulders. The MC of what we might describe as the Return Concert was as good as the hidden talent that came to light in such abundance. It wasn't a very prayerful day but I think Dominic Collins would have enjoyed it very much.

Born: 07 April 1855, Dingle, County Kerry
Entered: 07 September 1875, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1888 South Africa
Died: 22 March 1893, St Aidan’s College, Grahamstown, South Africa - Zambezi Mission

Younger Brother of Denis Manning - RIP 1924

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

by 1880 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1881 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1882 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1883 at at Zambezi Mission

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of Denis Manning - RIP 1924

He studied Rhetoric at Milltown and Philosophy at Jersey.
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, and he was Ordained there.
He then rapidly failed in health and died either at Dunbrody or at Grahamstown 23 March 1893.

Note from Br Thomas Curry Entry
He died there five months after his companion Thomas Manning 06/08/1893

Born: 03 August 1848, Dingle, County Kerry
Entered: 10 September 1867, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1885, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales
Final Vows: 15 August 1888, St Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street
Died: 14 July 1924, Mount Saint Evin’s Hospital, Melbourne

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

Brother of Thomas Manning = RIP 1893 South Africa

by 1870 out of community caring for health
by 1878 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1879 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1883 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
Came to Australia 1889

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of Thomas Manning - RIP 1893
He made his Philosophy and Theology studies in England and Regency at Tullabeg teaching.
1887 He was Minister of Juniors at Milltown.
1888 He was appointed Socius to the Master of Novices at Dromore whilst making his Tertianship at the same time.
He then sailed for Australia where he was stationed at St Aloysius teaching.
1896 He taught at both Xavier College Kew and St Patrick’s Melbourne.
He worked at St Patrick’s Melbourne up to the time of his death 14 July 1924
He was a very earnest Jesuit.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Denis Manning's early education was at Clongowes Wood College, Ireland, where he was a boarder until he was nineteen years of age. He entered the Society, 10 September 1867, and his ecclesiastical studies were done in Ireland and England, 1879-86. His regency was at Tullabeg College, 1880-82, and he was minister of the scholastics, teaching rhetoric at Milltown Park, 1886-87, before his tertianship, while being socius to the master of novices, at Dromore, 1887-88.
He arrived in Australia in December 1888, and was assigned to St Aloysius' College, 1889-92, teaching for the public examinations. He taught Latin, Greek and French to senior students at Riverview, 1892-95, and at Xavier College, 1895-03. He was prefect of studies from 1897.
His final appointment was to St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, 1904-24, where he was prefect of studies, 1904-10 and 1923-24. He was also a mission consulter, 1904-16. He was
heavily involved in pastoral work all his working life, but he rarely appeared in the pulpit. If he did, it was not enjoyed. He shunned publicity. His focus was the private chapel and the classroom.
Manning's life was busy, regular and hidden to all except his colleagues and students, and those to whom he gave retreats. He devoted his life to teaching. He taught for 44 years, 36 of them in Australia. He was extremely conservative in his tastes and could hardly be said to bristle with new ideas. He was a bright and lively person in recreation and a good listener. Although inclined to serious reading - even during vacations - he enjoyed a good joke. He was a man of iron will. If he made a plan or undertook a task, he executed it to the last detail. No flights of imagination or temptations to do other work ever deflected him from his purpose.
Although deferent to the voice of authority, he never lightly undertook a new obligation. He was a man to rely on, highly efficient, performing his duties with scrupulous exactitude. He never wavered. He rose every morning at 5.30 am, even when unwell, and was most faithful to his spiritual duties. He had great devotion to the saints. In sickness in later years, he was never heard to complain, working hard until he could physically cope no more. He was content with his approaching death that came suddenly at Mount St Evan’s Hospital.
Apart from teaching, Manning was appreciated for his retreats to nuns. He was always the student, and loved study. Intellectual life was what drew him to the Society - special interests were the ancient classics and professional studies. He thought of himself as a “labourer in the vineyard”, and that is what he was.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1924

Obituary

Father Denis Manning SJ

In Melbourne, on the evening of 9th July, Father Manning died in Mount St Evin's Hospital. His death removes from the ranks of the schoolmasters a highly efficient, very interesting, and somewhat unusual personality. He may be said to have died in harness. He died within a month of his seventy-seventh year, and with the exception of the few weeks spent in hospital, he was doing his usual full work to the end.

His busy and regular, life was a hidden one. He was practically unknown - except to his colleagues and his pupils, to the fairly numerous priests who came to him for confession, and to the religious communities to which he gave retreats. Beyond these he was almost unknown.

I imagine he must have preached in his day an occasional sermon - a few words from the altar at Mass - and no doubt he gave regular instruction for over forty years to sodalists and to religious communities, but I cannot recall an instance of his appearance in a pulpit. I daresay he appeared there occasionally, long ago, but if he did I am quite sure he did not enjoy it. : He shunned publicity. His work was in the private chapel and in the classroom.

His full and useful, but uneventful life is, therefore, easily summed up. His early education was at Clongowes Wood College, Ireland, where has was a boarder till his nineteenth year. Then he entered the Society of Jesus. His training in the religious life, as well as his philosophical, theological, and other studies, mainly in England and Ireland, occupied twelve or thirteen years; in teaching he spent forty-four years, thirty-six of which were in Australia; principally in Melbourne.

Like most of his colleagues he disliked office and preferred to serve in the ranks. He was never burdened with the dignity or responsibilities of rectorship, but at Xavier for six years (ending 1903), and at St Patrick's for a much longer period, he was entrusted with the exacting duties of Prefect of Studies, Father Pidcock, so well-known to many generations of Xaverians as an original “character”, used to maintain, and some times remarked it to the present writer, who was Prefect of Studies at the time, that of all the Prefects of Studies known to him, Father Manning was the best of the lot. I suspect that Father Pidcock's admiration was not unconnected with the fact that Fr Manning; more than others, gave him a fair amount of rope for his choir practices and for his appalling concerts. Certainly Fr Manning discharged his duties as Prefect of Studies with success and with scrupulous exactitude, but he was a happy man when he was allowed to return to the ranks.

From his boyhood he was a steady student and loved study. He told me once that it was his love for study which, among other things, impelled him to seek admission into the Society of Jesus. Yet outside of the ancient classics and his professional studies his course of reading was not very varied. He read many books dealing with religious and ascetical questions but not many dealing with the lighter forms of literature, He was extremely conservative in his tastes and could hardly be said to bristle with new ideas. In time of recreation he was bright and lively, talked a good deal and was an interested listener to ordinary small talk, and moreover, though a very serious man, he had his jokes - yes, a fair number of them; but I doubt if in thirty years he added a new joke to his repertoire. Constant to an exceptional degree, he clung, even in the department of wit and humour, to old and tried friends.

Though he had a vigorous constitution, I doubt if, even as a boy, he ever played more football or cricket than he could possibly avoid. I have heard it said on good authority that as a young man he excelled at handball, That may be, but I find it hard to imagine him excelling at that or any other game, for, though firm on his feet and a strong walker in his younger days, his movements were never lively and he was awkward with his hands. At all events, his interest in sport seemed entirely limited to the school contests. Once, indeed, in a moment of inadvertent levity, he quoted from a boxing correspondent in a newspaper about some terrific wallop with which one exponent of the fistic art had put another to sleep. The exact words were, “a pile-driver to the bread basket”, and it was plain that Fr Manning, being totally inexperienced in the vivid literature of the ring, required a certain effort even to pronounce such unaccustomed language. One of his younger colleagues thereupon seized upon this incautious utterance as a pretext for assuming that Fr Manning took an intense interest in the “noble art”, and on the strength of this entirely false assumption used to retell to him the most excruciating details of the latest encounters. Fr Manning used to listen in polite but agonising silence, till one day he nearly jumped a foot off his chair when his colleague, reading something from the sporting columns of the newspaper, in formed the gathering that “Creamy” Pinkerton (or some such name) had polished off “Pinky” Tomkinson with Father Manning's favourite “punch to the bread-basket!”

Though Fr. Manning had intellectual gifts beyond the average, and as we have seen, was also exceptionally fond of books, he took little interest in novel speculations. He kept to the beaten track. Last year I dropped into his room one day in the holidays and found him reading Fabiola. I shrink from guessing how many times he must have read it since his boyhood. On another free day some years ago I called on him and found him quietly enjoying the second book of Virgil's “Aeneid”. His recreative reading was not unduly light nor ultra-modern.

In Father Manning will-power predominated over intellect. He had an iron will. If he made a plan or undertook a task, he executed it to the last detail. No flights of imagination or temptations to do other work ever deflected him from his purpose. He kept the goal before his mind, and he saw to it that he got there. Apart from deference to the voice of authority, he never lightly undertook a new obligation; but if he did, you might be perfectly sure that he would see it through. He was a man to rely on. He never wavered. He was a man who could look over a period of fifteen or twenty years and not recall a single morning when he remained a second in bed after the call at 5.30, He might have a headache or other ailment, but he simply “got up”. I venture to say that in forty years he never missed a quarter of an hour of the spiritual duties appointed by his rule. He had the heroic fidelity of the saints.

It was clear to others that in recent years his health was not good, but he never spoke a word of his health, never in his life complained, and he consistently refused proffered alleviations. Though extremely grateful for offered help, he always declined it. When I was his superior for a few years, I was in a position to know more than others about his ailments, and I had good reason to wonder at his constancy and patience. He had no fear whatever of death and no wish whatever to live unless he could keep in harness, Constitutionally Father Manning could never be among the unemployed. The limbs might be unwilling, but the strong will was always able to drive them to the task. And till close on his seventy-seventh year that task was always done with wonderful thoroughness.

During the vacation last summer he badly needed a rest, but among other works which he undertook during the recess he gave an eight-day retreat to the Sisters of Charity at Essendon. During the retreat he was far from well and seemed constantly on the point of a break-down, Indeed, he suffered much pain. The Sisters begged him to desist, but he insisted on making the effort and went through the whole retreat with its thirty-two lectures. The Sisters, who were greatly impressed by the retreat, expressed the opinion that Fr Manning would never give another. It was a prophecy justified by events. He returned to St Patrick's very unwell. Even at the end of the holidays he was clearly unfit for a serious effort, but he insisted on making it. When schools were resumed he went on with his usual work till the middle of the year. Then, in great pain he had to retire to Mount St Evin's. On the evening of 9th July he was dead. And his death was that of a true man, a hero, and a saint. May he rest in peace!

At the end of the Requiem Mass at St. Ignatius Church, Richmond, His Grace, Dr Mannix, paid the following tribute, which sums up with perfect accuracy the life of Father Manning:

“For close upon forty years Father Manning has been working continuously in the Jesuit schools of Australia. Outside his own Society his name has been rarely heard. But the fathers who were associated with him and the boys who passed through his classes know the holiness of his life and the value and thoroughness of his work. He was indeed a man of God in our midst, a man whose whole life was filled with work and prayer. . His work itself was a prayer, and he seemed to be always united to God in a remarkable manner. For years he suffered a good deal, and yet he was always at his post and no one ever heard him utter a word of complaint. A few weeks ago he found he could hold out no longer and he went to the hospital knowing, I think, that his end had come. In his last days his suffering was great, but he bore it with the patience and calmness and resignation which had marked his whole life. His work and his sufferings are over, and he has, we may be sure, entered to his reward”.

E BOYLAN SJ

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Denis Manning (1848-1924)

A native of Dingle, was admitted to the Society in 1867 and ordained in 1885 at St Beuno's in Wales. He spent three years of his regency at the Crescent, 1874-77. In 1889, Father Manning was transferred to the Australian mission. He laboured at Sydney as master and minister until 1897 when he took up duty as prefect of studies at St Francis Xavier's, Kew, Melbourne where he remained for the next seven years. In 1904 began his long association with St Patrick's, Melbourne where he was many years prefect of studies. At the time of his death, Father Manning was entering on his forty-fourth year as master in the colleges, a record almost unique in the Society.

Born: 01 January 1681, Derry City, County Derry
Entered: 18 August 1703, Lisbon, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)
Ordained: 1712/3, Coimbra, Portugal
Died: 15 January 1752, Clonmel, County Tipperary

Was younger brother of John Manby - RIP 1748

Studied in Soc Philosophy and Theology
1717 Catalogue Approved Scholastic came to Mission 3 months ago and in the country with a private family. I have not been able to get to him and there are no socii near him who could give information. Came here from Portugal and their Catalogue will give necessary info
1732 At Poitiers operarius
“The Considerations” by Peter Manby said to be at Clongowes

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Dean, and grandson of Colonel Manby (Harris “Irish Writers”) Younger brother of John.
Imprisoned for the faith before Entry.
Writer; Studied at Coimbra (Franco “Annales Lusitaniae”)
1717 On Irish Mission (HIB Catalogue 1717)
Third Entry : No Ch Name Manby
DOB Leinster; Ent 1703.
Brother of Peter (Harris)
(This seems to be the same Entry, and perhaps should read brother of John??)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Peter (Dean of Derry an afterwards received into the Church). Younger brother of John Manby
After First Vows he studied at Coimbra where he was Ordained 1712/13
1716 Sent to Ireland. He lived near Dublin at the house of a nobleman, exercising the ministries of Chaplain, Schoolmaster and assistant Priest for the local clergy. He worked later at the Dublin Jesuit school before he returned to Poitiers in 1730
1730-1733 Minister of Irish College Poitiers
1733 Sent back to Ireland. For a time he was tutor to the family of Lord Dunboyne, but then moved to Clonmel where he died 15 January 1752

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Peter Manby SJ 1681-1752
Peter Manby was born in Ireland in 1680, the son of a Protestant Clergyman, Robert Manby. His father however was converted himself and became a friar, his two sons, John and Peter, becoming Jesuits.
Peter was educated in Portugal and entered the Society in 1703. In 1714 he applied for the Irish Mission.
He published a book in Dublin in 1724 entitled “Remarks on Dr Lloyd’s Translation of the Montpelier Catechism”. His contention was that it was marred by Jansenism.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MANBY, PETER, was in Portugal in the spring of 1714, and had applied, as I find by F. Anthony Knoles’s letter, dated from Ross, the 6th of April, that year, to come over to serve the Irish Mission.

Born: 06 February 1586, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 24 September 1606, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1615, Coimbra, Portugal
Final Vows: 21 April 1624
Died: 18 August 1656, Irish College, Seville, Spain

Superior Irish Mission 20 April 1647-1650 and 27 June 1654

Educated at Portugal, Rome and Irish College Douai
1614 At Évora LUS in 3rd years Theology
1617 In Ireland Age 31 Soc 11
1621 Catalogue Talent prudence and judgment good. Gentle, a good preacher.
1622-1626 In Ireland
1638-1647 Rector Irish College Rome (Arch I C Rome Lib V 199) - 10 May 1647 (in 1642 Fr Richard Shelton is Prefect)
1650 Catalogue 65 years old on Mission 35 - Superior Irish College Rome and Sup Irish Mission 3 years
1655 Catalogue In Professed House Seville “Hospes HIB and operarius”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
The family had the title “Baron Sunderlin”
Very placid and gentle; A Good Preacher; Provincial; Writer; A good religious; Rector in Rome and Seville;
Irish Catalogues of 1609, 1621 and 1636 call him “Dublinensis”. In Foley’s Collectanea evidence is produced in favour of his being a native of Manchester. The author is of the view that Simon Malone was married in Manchester and returned home, or, that he took William to be educated in Manchester as “Harry Fitzsimon, and had him baptised there and that William was then sent to Rome.
William Malone Esq of Lismullen is on the Roll of Attainders of 1642
After First Vows did two years Philosophy and four Theology; He was proficient in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Latin.
Sent to Ireland 1615; Preacher and Confessor many years; Rector of Irish College Rome; Superior Irish Mission for three years (HIB Catalogue 1650)
Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS says DOB 1586. After studies in Rome and Portugal was sent to Ireland 1617, his name is on a list in 1617 (Irish Ecclesiastical Record August 1874);
Sent to Rome in 1635 as Rector of Irish College; Made Superior of Irish Mission 23 December 1647, succeeding Robert Nugent.
Taken prisoner at the siege of Waterford and deported. He went to Seville, and there he was appointed Rector of St Gregory’s 1651-1655 and he died there 15/08/1655 age 70.
His famous work dedicated to King Charles I : “A Reply to Mr James Ussher, his answere”, 1627, was published at Douai (cf de Backer “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ”; Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS.
Hollingsworth - of “Christ College” - states he was born in Manchester 1592. This is supported by the paper by Rev Laurence Canon Toole SS, of St Wilfred’s Manchester, regarding his birthplace (Chronicle of Manchester at Chetham Library, also published as “Mancunis” in 1839). “Anno 1592, was borne in Manchester, William son of Simon Malone, a young man with pregnant wife, he was tempted by some Irish merchants till the rebellion broke out 1649... Seduced from the Reformed to the Romish religion, of which he became one of the most earnest and able assertors; he made a reply to Archbishop Usher’s answer to the “Jesuite’s Challenge”, but he was overmatched, his adversary being more eminently learned, and having truth on his syde
“Thomas de Warre, subsequently by inheritance, Lord de Warre, a priest and rector, or parson of the Parish Church of Manchester in the reign of Henry V, founded a college to be attached to that Church for the daily celebration of the Divine Office. This College was dissolved in the first of Edward VI; it was refounded by Queen Mary; suppressed again in the first of Elizabeth, and refounded again under the name :”Christ College” in 1578.
Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS gives date of RIP as 15 August 1655 age 70, making his birth 1586, six years earlier than Hollingsworth, who may have assumed date of Baptism to be DOB. There continues to be dispute about his place of birth in that his father’s name is in the marriage register in Manchester, and there is an entry in the burial register which suggests continual living in Manchester “1597, April 29, an infant douter of Symon Mallon”.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Early education was at Douai
After First Vows he studied Philosophy at the Roman College and Theology at Évora and Coimbra (LUS) where he was Ordained 1615
1615 Sent to Ireland and Dublin. He immediately became involved in a controversy with James Ussher (afterwards Protestant Archbishop of Dublin). Ussher’s book “An answer to a challenge made by a Jesuit in Ireland” (1625) was triumphantly refuted by Malone in a work entitled “A Reply to Mr . James Ussher, his Answer”, published in Douai which reduced Ussher to silence and encouraged the Catholics.
1626-1637 Sent as Procurator to Rome
1637-1642 Rector of Irish College at Rome 10 December 1637. While in office he secured for the College the house in the Via Baccina, where it remained until the suppression
1642-1647 Prefect of Studies at Irish College Rome until 20 April 1647
1647-1650 Superior Irish Mission 20 April 1647. In more normal times he would have been eminently equipped for the duties of Superior in view of his past successes as a missionary priest in Ireland and an administrator at Rome. But taking into account the complicated politico-religious state of Ireland in 1647 and his long absence abroad he proved quite somewhat challenged by the tasks awaiting him. He identified himself with the Ormondist faction, quarreled with Rinuccini and caused a rift between his subjects of Old Irish and Anglo-Irish origin. In the first months following the “Censures” he was away temporarily and had entrusted the Office to John Young, and he had neglected to inform the General of the evolving crisis. It has been suggested that his actions later demonstrated that he sides with the small Ormondist faction on the Mission who had publicly sided with the “Confederation” against the Nuncio. In his 1649 Report to the General on the Irish Mission, Mercure Verdier recommended that he be replaced in office as soon as he had finished three years, but not before tat so as to avoid trouble with the Confederation. In the event, the General died 08/06/1949 and the election of his successor 21 January 1650, it became possible to replace Malone without incurring the displeasure of the Confederation.,
1650 He was replaced in office in January 1650, and was a very zealous missioner, but he was asked to act as Vice-Superior, 1653, on the arrest of William St. Leger. Despite the advice of the Visitor Mercure Verdier, he was again appointed Mission Superior 27 June 1654, but as he was then in prison he could not assume office. He was then deported to Spain and appointed Rector of the Irish College, Seville, 27 October 1655. By this stage he was in somewhat broken health, and much of the administration involved on the rectorship was devolved to his companion John Ussher. He died at Seville 18 August 1656
(Addendum. William Malone published in 1611 the first English translation of the works of - the then Blessed - Teresa of Avilá)

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

Malone, William (1586–1656), Jesuit, was born 6 December 1586 in Dublin, the son of Simon Malone, a local merchant, and his wife, Margaret Bexwick from Manchester. He studied humanities at Douai before entering the Society of Jesus on 24 September 1606 at Sant’ Andrea, Rome. After completing his theology course at the Roman college, he went to Portugal, where he studied theology at Evora and Coimbra and was ordained in 1615. He was sent to Ireland in 1615 on the Jesuit mission and was based in Dublin for the next eleven years.

Shortly after arriving in Ireland and at the request of his protestant friend Sir Piers Crosby (qv), he drew up a brief outline of the fundamentals of the catholic faith. Crosby brought this statement to James Ussher (qv), at that time professor of divinity at TCD and rector of Finglas. Malone then wrote a challenge for Ussher, asking of the protestant clergy when it was that the catholic church had fallen into error and how was it that the protestant faith could be true if it rejected a number of tenets held by the early church. Crosby brought this statement to Ussher and a relatively amicable private correspondence ensued between the two clerics as they debated the tenets of the early fathers of the church. Eventually, in 1624 Ussher published an expanded response to Malone's initial challenge. As the publication of catholic literature was prohibited in Ireland, Malone left for the Spanish Netherlands in 1626 and then arranged for the publication at Douai of his A Reply to Mr. James Ussher his answer (1627). In the Reply Malone details disagreements among protestant theologians and argues that the contrasting unity of the catholic church was the surest sign of the rightness of its claim to be the one true church. He notes that whereas previously protestant divines had based their arguments solely on scripture, they have more recently come to agree with the catholic position that the church fathers constitute an important religious authority. Controversially he dedicated the Reply to Charles I and declared that not even the pope could draw the catholics of Ireland from their obedience to their rightful king. Such fulsome expressions of loyalty met with the disapproval of many of Malone's fellow clergy and compatriots. The Reply eventually found its way into circulation in Dublin c.1629–30, after which, at Ussher's behest, three protestant writers published between 1632 and 1641 rejoinders to Malone's work, each dealing with a different topic in the debate.

After the publication of the Reply, Malone was sent to Rome to act as procurator of the Irish Jesuits there. From 1637 to 1647 he was rector of the Irish college in Rome and seems to have performed this task with great distinction. On hearing that Malone intended resigning as rector, the Jesuit superior in Ireland, Thomas Nugent, wrote to Rome in March 1641 begging that Malone remain at his post. Nonetheless he did resign in 1642, but remained in the college as prefect of studies until 1647.

He returned to Ireland that year to become superior of the Jesuit mission in Nugent's stead and soon found himself caught up in the political turmoil of those times. In May 1648 the papal nuncio to Ireland, GianBattista Rinuccini (qv), excommunicated all those who adhered to the truce between the supreme council of the Catholic Confederation and the protestant forces in Munster. He also prohibited church services and the normal administration of the sacraments throughout Ireland. This act divided the catholic laity and clergy and put Malone in a very difficult position. On one hand, the Irish Jesuits were predominantly the sons of wealthy Old English landowners, a group who broadly sympathised with the supreme council. Malone himself was Old English and supported the truce with Inchiquin. Indeed, he appears to have opposed the admission of Gaelic Irish clergy into the Jesuits and, unusually for a catholic clergyman, spoke no Irish. Given these views, it is not surprising that his relations with Rinuccini, whose most reliable supporters tended to be Gaelic Irish, had been tense. However, on the other hand, the Jesuit order stood for obedience to the pope above all else, and could hardly defy his representative in Ireland.

Malone finessed the situation with some skill, but little success, by ordering the Irish Jesuits to follow the example of their diocesan bishop regarding the nuncio's interdict. As most of the Jesuit houses were located in the dioceses of bishops who supported the supreme council this meant that, in effect, the Jesuit order did not observe the interdict. Only in Limerick did the Jesuit house defy the local bishop, and by implication Malone, by observing the interdict. Moreover, many Jesuits actively encouraged the supreme council's defiance of the nuncio and in August 1648 six leading Jesuits signed a declaration supporting the supreme council. At some point in late 1648, Malone visited Rinuccini in Galway city in an effort to convince him of his good intentions. However, the nuncio regarded Malone's behaviour as treachery and believed that the Jesuits played a major role in the failure of his excommunication to defeat the supreme council.

Meanwhile, the Jesuit general in Rome, Vincenzo Carafa, ordered Malone to travel to Bordeaux to explain his behaviour (which he declined to do) and sent Mercure Verdier to Ireland as Jesuit visitor, to ascertain the situation in Ireland. After meeting Rinuccini in Galway, Verdier travelled to Kilkenny to hear Malone and his supporters state their case. Recognising the depth of opposition to Rinuccini within the order, Verdier did not remove Malone from his position, and absolved the Irish Jesuits from Rinuccini's censures. The latter act angered the Jesuits who held that Rinuccini's interdict was invalid.

By the spring of 1650 Malone was in Waterford city, which was being besieged by Cromwellian forces. A plague broke out and Malone and other Jesuits were active tending to the sick and dying. The same year, he was replaced by Thomas Nugent as head of the Jesuit mission in Ireland. Following the fall of Waterford in 1651, Malone went into hiding and was eventually captured in Dublin in 1654. Initially sentenced to death, this was commuted to transportation to Barbados, before he was simply put on a ship for Cadiz in 1655. On 27 October 1655 he was appointed rector of the Irish college at Seville. However, his health was failing and most of the work was carried out by his colleague John Ussher, who succeeded Malone as rector following his death in Seville on 13 August 1656.

C. R. Elrington and J. H. Todd, The whole works of James Ussher, 17 vols (1847–64), iii, 3–5; W. J. Battersby, The Jesuits in Ireland (1854), 70–72; Annie Hutton, The embassy in Ireland (1873), 399, 413, 468–9, 473–5; Michael J. Hynes, The mission of Rinuccini (1932), 264–5, 297; Comment. Rinucc., vi, 139–40; D.Cath.B., ix, 573; Francis Finegan, ‘Irish rectors at Seville, 1619–1687’, IER, ser. 5., no. 106 (July–Dec. 1966), 45–63; D. Gaffney, ‘The practice of religious controversy in Dublin, 1600–41’, W. J. Sheils and D. Wood (ed.), The churches, Ireland and the Irish (1989), 145–58; Louis McRedmond, To the greater glory (1991), 49, 70–73, 78–9, 82–4; Tadhg Ó hAnnracháin, Catholic reformation in Ireland (2002), 241–3; Alan Ford, James Ussher (2005), 62, 67–8

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962
William Malone (1647-1650)
William Malone was born at Dublin on 6th February, 1586. After studying humanities and rhetoric at Douay, he entered the Novitiate of Sant' Andrea in Rome on 24th September, 1606. He studied philosophy at the Roman College, and theology at Evora and Coimbra in Portugal. Returning to Ireland in 1615, he was stationed in the district of Dublin. Soon after he became engaged in a controversy with James Usher, afterwards Protestant Primate. Usher's book, “An Answer to a Challenge made by a Jesuite in Ireland”, 1625, was triumphantly refuted by Fr Malone in a work entitled “A Reply to Fr James Usher, his Answer”, published at Douay in 1627, which reduced Usher to silence and encouraged Catholics greatly. In 1620 Fr Malone was made a Consultor of the Mission. On 11th April, 1624, he made his solemn profession of four vows. In 1626 he was sent as Procurator to Rome. When the administration of the Irish College, Rome, was given to the Society of Jesus by the will of the founder, Cardinal Ludovisi (1635), Fr Malone was selected to become Rector, but various obstacles arose which prevented him taking up that duty until 10th December, 1637. During his term of office he secured for the College the house in the Via Baccina, where it remained till the suppression of the Society. He ceased to be Rector on 1st February, 1642, but remained on as Prefect of Studies and Confessor till 20th April, 1647, when he was appointed Superior of the Irish Mission. During the dissensions that arose among Catholics on the occasion of the Nuncio Rinuccini's censures, he was a strong partisan of the Ormondist faction, and was in consequence denounced to Rome by the Nuncio. The General on 5th September, 16148, appointed a Visitor of the Irish Mission, and ordered Fr Malone to withdraw quietly to France. The Visitor, Fr Maurice Verdier, who arrived at Galway on 28th December, 1648, reported that it would be inadvisable to remove him just at that time. By the death of the General, on 8th June, 1649, all changes of Superiors were, with the approbation of the Holy See, suspended till a new General should be elected. Fr. Francis Piccolomini was elected on 21st December, 1649, and a few weeks later Fr Malone's Socius, Fr George Dillon, was appointed Superior of the Mission.

William Malone (1654)
Fr William Malone, who acted as Vice-Superior of the Irish Mission when Fr. William St Leger was exiled, was appointed Superior of the Mission for the second time on 27th June, 1654, but the General's letter to that effect can hardly have reached him before he, too, was tracked down by spies. To save his host he delivered himself up, and was sentenced to death. This sentence was afterwards changed to one of transportation to the Barbadoes; but just before he was put on board a ship sailing thither, another order arrived that he should be handed over to the captain of a ship bound for Cadiz. After many adventures he arrived there, and was appointed Rector of the Irish College at Seville on 27th October, 1655. But worn out by hardships he died there on 18th August, 1656, regretting the crown of martyrdom had escaped him.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father William Malone 1586-1656
William Malone was born in Dublin on February 6th 1586. After pursuing his studies at Douai, he entered the Socirty in Rome in 1606.
Returning to Ireland as a priest, he was stationed in Dublin where, like Fr Fitzsimon before him, he engaged in controversy with the Protestants, and became the great champion of the Catholics. He made his name in a clash with James Usher, afterwards Protestant Primate. The latter published a book entitled “An Answer to a Challenge made by a Jesuit in Ireland”. Fr Malone replied with his famous work “A Reply to Mr James Usher, his Answer”, published at Douai in 1627, which reduced Usher to silence and greatly encouraged the Catholics.

Fr Malone was the first Rector if the Irish College in Rome, when that institution was willed to the Jesuits by its founder, Cardinal Ludovisi in 1637. Ten years later Fr Malone was appointed Superior of the Irish Mission.

During the dissensions which arose among Catholics during Rinuccini’s mission, Fr Malone sided quite definitely with the Ormondist faction. As a result, he was denounced to Rome by the Nuncio, and the General appointed a Visiitor, Fr Verdier, to inquire into the state of affairs in Ireland. The General had in fact ordered Fr Malone to withdraw to the continent. It is interesting to note that the Visitor, after his investigations, advised against this course.

On the death of the General, his successor Fr Piccolini appointed Fr George Dillon as Superior in 1649. When Fr William St Leger, the next Superior after Fr Dillon was banished from Ireland, Fr Malone acted as Vice Superior, and was himself again appointed Superior in 1654. However, he was tracked down by spies, and to save his host he gave himself up.

He was banished to the Barbadoes, but the order was changed, and instead he was sent to Cadiz. On his arrival at Cadiz he was appointed Rector of the Irish College in Seville, but worn out by the hardships, he died there on August 18th 1656, regretting the crown of martyrdom which had escaped him.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MALONE, WILLIAM, a native of Dublin : enrolled himself at Rome, in 1606, amongst the Children of St. Ignatius. After pursuing his studies in that city, and finishing them in Portugal, he was ordered to the Irish Mission, to which during nearly a quarter of a century he rendered good service by his splendid talents, apostolic zeal, and extraordinary prudence. Recalled from Dublin, where he was Superior of his brethren, in the early part of the year 1635, to preside over the Irish College of St. Patrick at Rome, founded by Cardinal Ludovisi, he continued its Rector during the space of several years. Of his talents for government his brethren had formed the highest opinions. In a letter now before me addressed by F. Robert Nugent, the Superior of the Irish Mission, to the General Vitelleschi, of the 14th of March, 1641, he earnestly conjures him “not to yield to his petition of being released from the Rectorship of the College, however painful such pre-eminence may be that he knows no one at present qualified to succeed him in that office that there is not one of his brethren so conversant with the state of this Kingdom and Mission none so thoroughly acquainted with the character of the Irish youth as F. Malone”. On the 23rd of December, 1647, F. Malone was appointed Superior of the Irish Mission in the place of the said F. Nugent. His superiority fell in most difficult times.
In a letter dated Waterford, the l5th of March, 1649, he says, how thankful he should be to be relieved from it that the burthen was heavier on his shoulders than Mount Etna, insomuch that he could say with the Apostle (2 Cor. i. 8 ), he “was even weary of life”. Naturally of a most placid disposition, he found it impossible, during the period of the Interdict, to give satisfaction to the Party supporting the Nuncio, John Baptist Rinuccini * (a prelate ignorant of the country, and of very high pretensions ), and the conflicting interests of the supreme Council at Kilkenny. During the siege of Waterford, he was in the town : on its capture by the enemies of the Catholic Faith, he was apprehended and sent into banishment. On reaching Seville his talents for government were put in requisition, as Rector of F. Gregory’s College in that city. There he consummated his course of usefulness by the death of the righteous, in August, 1656, act. 70.
F. Malone will always rank among the ablest Champions of Orthodoxy in that immortal work entitled “A Reply to Mr James Ushers His Answere”, 4to. 1627, pp. 717. It was printed at Douay; but F. Southwell incorrectly fixes the date of publication to the year 1608. The admirable dedication of the work to King Charles I is abundant evidence of the Author’s loyalty and undivided Allegiance, as well as of his Patriotism. Harris’s notice of this truly learned work satisfies me, that he had never ventured to read it. See p. 130, Book I. Writers of Ireland. Doctor Synge, Archbishop of Tuam, and Dr. Joshua Hoyle, would have consulted their literary fame, had they not attempted to grapple with F. Malone.

• The Latin Report of his Nunciature in Ireland is in the Holkam Library, and as translated by Archdeacon Glover, may be read in the Catholic Miscellany of October, November, and December, 1829. See also “Hiberaia Dominicana”, also Third Section of the “Political Catechism”, by T. Wyse, Esq. London, 1829. Lord Castleniaine, p. 277, of the “Catholic Apology”, 3rd edition, says that “The Pope on being informed of the Nuncio’s conduct, recalled him, and sent him to his Bishoprick, where he lived to his dying day in disgrace, and never had the least preferment afterwards”. He died on the 13th of December, 1653, aet. 61.

Born: 04 September 1891, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh
Entered: 07 September 1910, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1924, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1929
Died: 06 March 1963, Eastbourne, Sussex, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1925 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 13 September 1913, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 08 December 1976, Hong Kong
Died: 01 April 2018, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Son of Michael Mallin - executed following he 1916 Irish Rising
Brother of Seán Ó Mealláin - RIP 1977

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Easter farewell to long-serving Jesuit

Father Joseph Mallin (連民安神父), of the Society of Jesus, returned to the Lord he served on 1 April 2018, Easter Sunday. He was 104-years-old.

Born in Ireland on 13 September 1913, he joined the Jesuits on 7 September 1932 and was ordained on 31 July 1946. He made his final vows on 8 December 1976.

He arrived in Hong Kong and proceeded to Canton (Guangzhou) in 1948, returning to the then-British colony in 1949.

Between 1950 and 1968, Father Mallin taught at Wah Yan College Hong Kong and Wah Yan College Kowloon, then served as the principal of Pun U Association Wah Yan Primary School, Stubbs Road, from 1971-1977 and subsequently as the school’s supervisor from 1977 to 2002.

He was chaplain of Pun U from 2009 to 2103, formally retiring when he reached 100-years-old.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated for Father Mallin at 10am on 14 April at St. Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College Kowloon.
Sunday Examiner Hong Konh - 8 April 2018

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/child-of-two-revolutions/

Child of two revolutions
When Father Joseph Mallin celebrated his 100th birthday in Hong Kong on 13 September, he was hailed in Ireland’s newspapers as the oldest Irish priest in the world. Sitting in Wah Yan College, he gave a lively interview to Fionnuala McHugh of the Irish Times, who pointed to the two revolutions that Joe has survived: the Easter Rising of 1916, which claimed his father’s life; and the coup which made Sun Yat Sen the first president of the Republic of China, the year before Joe’s birth.
Joe’s father was Michael Mallin, who left home on Easter Monday 1916 to take command of the fighting in St Stephen’s Green, and never came home; he was shot in Kilmainham along with Connolly, Pearse and the other leaders. The night before the execution, 3-year-old Joseph was taken by his mother (then pregnant with her fifth child) to visit Michael in his cell. Though Joseph has no memory of that goodbye, he heeded the plea in Michael’s last letter: “Joseph, my little man, be a priest if you can.” His brother Sean had preceded him into the Jesuits, and both brothers were assigned to the Hong Kong mission.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/featured-news/fior-eireannach-gan-dabht/

‘Fīor Eireannach gan dabht’
President Michael D Higgins and the Lord Mayor of Dublin Mícheál MacDonnacha are among the dignitaries who will attend Fr Joe Mallins SJ’s Memorial Mass on Sat 21 April, 2018 at 11:00am in St Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner St. Fr Joe Mallin was the son of Commandant Michael Mallin, who was executed for his role in the Easter Rising. He died peacefully and fittingly, on Easter Sunday morning, 1 April 2018, in Hong Kong. He was 104 years old. The funeral Mass for Fr Joe, presided over by the Bishop of Hong Kong, took place at 10am on Saturday, 14 April, at St Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College Kowloon. The burial was in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley.
In his homily at the funeral Mass, Fr Joe Russell SJ, commenting on Fr Joe’s longevity said, “It is easy to understand why the people of the Old Testament were sure that a long life was the sign of God’s blessing, and explains why extraordinary life-spans were credited to their great men.” He added, “Joe was a private person. He seldom if ever spoke about himself. Which of us knew what his likes and dislikes were? More remarkably he never spoke unkindly about others. I never remember him ever speaking disparagingly about another. He never complained. With a family background like his and proficiency in the Irish language, another might have baulked at being assigned to Hong Kong. But not Joe. This is what God was asking of him; there was nothing more to be said.”
Concluding his short homily which you can read in full below, Fr Russell commented, ”As Joe comes before his judge his good life will speak eloquently for him, not only his service to the community at large but also, as the poet puts it, that best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. These have not been forgotten, they have been indelibly recorded in the book of life. Now, there is a special difficulty in speaking on the occasion of the death of someone esteemed and admired, that in recalling their virtues we may deprive them of the prayers they need for their soul’s repose.”
He was born in 1914, just two years before his father was executed by firing squad, leaving a wife and five small children. One of Fr Joseph’s brothers, Seán, also became a Jesuit priest, and his sister Úna entered the Loreto order in 1925. She was sent to a convent in Spain, where she spent the rest of her life. Commandant Mallin would have been proud of his children. In his last letter he wrote: : “Úna, my little one, be a nun; Joseph, my little man, be a priest if you can ...” Fr Joe joined the Jesuits, and in 1948 he went to Hong Kong and China as part of the Irish Jesuit mission to China. He spent over 70 years of his life there.
Fr Joe entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1932, the same year as the Eucharistic Congress and after his ordination, he was sent on the Jesuit mission to China, where he would spend 70 years of his life. His first posting was in Canton (Guangzhou) in China in 1948. This was the era of Mao Tse Tsung’s and as his Communist Red Army advanced on the city, he and other missionaries had to move to Hong Kong.
According to Fr Alfred Deignan, another Irish Jesuit missionary there, this mission was a new challenge to the Irish Province, “and a new experience for the Jesuits who went there to work among poor people speaking a different language, the Cantonese dialect, with different food, customs and weather, often very hot and humid.” Fr Joe was mission bursar for a time there, and was Director of a social centre before working as a secondary school teacher in a Jesuit-run school. He was appointed Headmaster of their primary school and Principal of Ricci College, a kindergarten in Macau, which was a Portuguese colony until 1999. He was still holding teaching duties there when he returned to Ireland in 2006 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 2006.
Fr. Joseph, a freeman of Dublin, received an invitation from the Taoiseach’s Office to attend the 90th commemoration, as the child of Commandant Michael Mallin, who was chief-of-staff of the Irish Citizen’s Army and commander of the St. Stephen’s Green garrison during the Easter Rising. Commdt. Mallin was executed in the Stonebreakers’ Yard, Kilmainham Gaol, along with the other leaders of the revolt, and buried in Arbour Hill.
His visit at that time attracted a great deal of media attention. The late Gerald Barry interviewed him for the Easter Sunday edition of ‘This Week’ (RTE 1, 1.00pm), and he also spoke to Joe Little for RTE News and to a Sky News correspondent. “I will attend the parade on Easter Sunday, as the Government was good enough to invite me, but what I am most looking forward to is being able to go to the grave of my father in Arbour Hill, with the other families of those executed, for a ceremony in early May,” he said.
Fr Joe was also musical and played the very flute which his father’s had played in Liberty Hall as a member of the Workers’ Orchestra on the eve of the 1916 Rising. The flute and his father’s watch are on exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland.
Coming up to Fr Joe’s 100th birthday, he was asked if he regretted anything about leaving Ireland 65 years earlier. He replied that he would have liked to have spent some more time working as a priest in his home country and that he “missed the rain”.
In a moving statement on his death, Fr Joe’s family in Ireland said, “Fr. Joseph Mallin SJ was the last direct living link with that period of our history... He served for more than 70 years as a missionary and educator in mainland China and Hong Kong... and like most teachers, he often talked with pride of the pupils educated at that college, many of whom went on to become leaders in their various walks of life.”
They also spoke of the kind of man Fr Joseph was to them, singling out his humility and spirituality. “He had a deeply held Christian faith and love for his fellow man and woman. His was a practical faith with a strong base in social justice and equality; not unlike his father who as a trade union activist fought for social justice and workers’ rights and who gave his young life for such a cause.”
Referencing his communication skills they said, “Fr. Joseph was... a prolific letter writer, just like his father, and he wrote letters to his family members on a regular basis and also to many other correspondents, never failing to respond to a letter when anyone wrote to him, be it a young school child from Donegal or an academic historian from the University, they would receive a thoughtful reply.” And they spoke of his love of the Irish language – “His command of the Irish language, written and oral, was unbelievable considering he was out of the country since 1948. He wrote to family members and others as Gaeilge – always, san sean-cló, in the old Irish script, and he was delighted to speak Irish to anybody from Ireland who visited him, Fīor Eireannach gan dabht. He had numerous friends in Ireland and around the world. He kept in contact with them all and whenever he was home in Ireland he would make sure to visit them.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Homily at Funeral of Father Joseph Mallin SJ Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong 14 April 2018
When Father Mallin was two and a half years old, his mother took him to the prison cell where his father was awaiting execution by firing squad the following day at dawn for the part he played in his country’s struggle for independence. As his father embraced his then youngest child for the last time he said to his wife: he’ll make a fine priest.
Wish and prophecy splendidly fulfilled in the life we are remembering this morning.
Father Mallin – he was always Joe to us – was born in Dublin 104 years ago. In him it is easy to understand why the people of the Old Testament were sure that a long life was the sign of God’s blessing, and explains why extraordinary life-spans were credited to their great men.
Joe became a Jesuit in 1932, was ordained priest in 1946. In 1948 he arrived in Hong Kong, where – with the exception of a stint in Macau as principal of Colegio Ricci, he spent the rest of his life.
As we gather together in this chapel to commend him to the Lord’s tender mercy, we have wanted prayers offered, God’s praises sung, the scriptures read, the Eucharist celebrated. It is our way of saying thank you to almighty God for the gift of Joe, and to thank him for sharing his life with us, to thank him too for all the good he accomplished with God’s grace in a long life of service of others. His pilgrim journey came to an end on Easter Sunday – on what better day could one choose to die? – and those who were privileged to have walked some part of that journey with him are left to mourn his loss.
Our Mass this morning then is an act of thanksgiving, it is a last public act of love, an opportunity to surrender Joe into the loving embrace of the God he so faithfully served. Our Mass is also the joyful assertion of our Christian belief that we – that all of us – are called to share Christ’s resurrection. We are asserting that we have been created, not for death but for life, that death has not the last word. Because of Christ’s resurrection death, from being final and immediately destructive has become fruitful and triumphant, has become the beginning of something magnificent rather than the end of everything. Though Joe has died he still lives on, in the thoughts of those who knew and loved him, and he lives on, we confidently believe, in our Father’s house, experiencing now the truth of those lovely words of St Augustine: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
Joe was a private person. He seldom if ever spoke about himself. Which of us knew what his likes and dislikes were? More remarkably he never spoke unkindly about others. I never remember him ever speaking disparagingly about another. He never complained. With a family background like his and proficiency in the Irish language, another might have baulked at being assigned to Hong Kong. But not Joe. This is what God was asking of him; there was nothing more to be said. Joe was a man of many parts. Though most of his time was given to education, he was called on to fill many and varied roles. Because of his good judgement and attention to detail he was asked to supervise the construction of both Wah Yan Colleges as well as the Adam Shall student hostel on the campus of the Chinese University. For a time he was in charge of a Caritas social service centre. He was bursar for the communities where he was stationed. And when the Jesuits took on the running of the Pun U Association primary school, it was he who was called on to be its principal and then its supervisor. The Provincial who assigned him to this new venture gave as the reason for his choice: Joe seems to succeed in whatever he undertakes.
His was a life without frills. His hobbies were few: he was a lover of nature and delighted in treks up and down the hills and dales of the New Territories. He also played the recorder. Living in the room next to his I can vouch for this. He had a phenomenal, computer-like memory which remained with him until the end. He took the trouble to remember the name of every boy in Pun U school. The boys’ names were written in a little book which he carried around with. For him to make this effort to know the names of his students was a mark of his respect for them.
This morning we are a guard of honour escorting Joe home to meet his Lord, to that presence where each of us will one day just as surely go. We are outriders accompanying him on his final journey. As Joe comes before his judge his good life will speak eloquently for him, not only his service to the community at large but also, as the poet puts it, that best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. These have not been forgotten, they have been indelibly recorded in the book of life. Now, there is a special difficulty in speaking on the occasion of the death of someone esteemed and admired, that in recalling their virtues we may deprive them of the prayers they need for their soul’s repose.
As we hand Joe over to the mercy and compassion of his Saviour and ours, we bid him a fond good-bye, conscious that we are saying au revoir and not farewell. As we salute him with pride and affection, we turn to God in prayer for ourselves who are left behind: that the Lord may support us, all the day long, till the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and our work is done. Then in his mercy may he give us too a safe lodging, a holy rest and peace at the last.
Fr John Russell SJ

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/memorial-mass-for-joe-mallin-sj/

Memorial Mass for Joe Mallin SJ
President Michael D. Higgins was among the dignitaries at the Memorial Mass for Irish Jesuit missionary Fr Joseph Mallin SJ at Gardiner Street Church on 21 April, 2018. Fr Mallin’s funeral was previously held in Hong Kong where he had lived and worked for the last 70 years.
The service was a celebration of his remarkable life, which had both historical and spiritual significance and offered his family, friends and fellow Jesuits the opportunity to mark his passing in his home town.
The packed congregation in St Francis Xavier Church also included the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mícheál Mac Donncha, the Taoiseach’s aide-de-camp Commandant Caroline Burke, Councillor Cormac Devlin, Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD and Senator Mark Daly, who were in attendance due to Fr Mallin’s stature as the last surviving child of an executed 1916 leader and as a Freeman of Dublin.
A book of condolence was signed by mourners as they entered the church. The book sat on a table against a backdrop of photographs of Fr Joseph’s parents. The portrait of his father Michael Mallin sits beside a photo of his mother Agnes who is captured sitting with her five small children Séamas, Seosamh, Séan, Maura, and Úna at Maura’s baptism in 1916 – the year her husband was executed.
Fr Joseph’s cousin, Fr Ray Warren OMI, was the main celebrant at the Mass and delivered a heartfelt homily in which he said that his cousin was a man who was ‘blessed indeed with understanding, wisdom, and knowledge’ and noted his ‘encyclopaedic memory’.
The Mass was a bilingual celebration in honour of Fr Joseph’s lifelong love of the Irish language and of course his heritage. It was also an event in which both his biological and Jesuit family came together. Fr Gerry Clarke SJ, the Gardiner Street parish priest welcomed the congregation and was joined on the altar by many other Jesuits including Ashley Evans SJ, James Hurley SJ and the Provincial, Leonard Moloney SJ. John Guiney SJ, Director of the Jesuit Missions Office, accompanied the President, Michael D. Higgins throughout the ceremony.
Fr Joseph’s niece, Una Ni Challanáin, did the first reading and his cousin, Fr Ray Warren OMI, read the Gospel on ‘The Beatitudes’. Other members of the Mallin-Hickey family read prayers of the faithful and sang at the event.
An offertory procession that presented symbols of Fr Joseph’s life were presented at the altar during Mass. The items chosen were a flag, a flute, and his rosary beads and also his pen and glasses. Fr Joseph didn’t return home very often from the time his mission in Hong Kong began but he was a prolific letter-writer who corresponded with many people in Ireland and around the world. A letter to his nephew arrived in Ireland five days after his death and added a poignant touch to the collection.
Seán Tapley is a nephew of Fr Mallin’s who corresponded with him right up until his death and worked closely with him on the document that revealed new evidence about his father Michael Mallin’s court martial and execution. He gave a moving eulogy which gave tribute to Fr Mallin’s legacy of education and pastoral work in Hong Kong, and his love of his adopted home. He also noted that in spite of the many letters that Fr Mallin wrote, he was essentially ‘a thoughtful man with a droll sense of humour’ who was economical with words.
The Jesuit tribute to the deceased missionary was delivered by Fr Leonard Moloney SJ, the current Provincial of the Society of Jesus. In it he emphasised Fr Mallin’s dedication to his mission in Hong Kong, and his reputation for never speaking ill of anybody over his long life (see the full speech below).
After the ceremony, the congregation stayed for refreshments and conversation in Gardiner Street Jesuit community, to celebrate the life and achievements of this remarkable man.
Photo: Accompanying the President are John K. Guiney SJ and Yanira Romero of Irish Jesuit Missions.

Reflection by Irish Jesuit Provincial Leonard Moloney SJ
In the second last letter to his wife Agnes, written literally on the back of an envelope, Commandant Mallin, Joe’s father, wrote, “All is lost, my love to all my children. No matter what my fate I have done my duty to my beloved Ireland, to you, and to my darling children.”
Joe’s father was one of those Irish men with a deep Catholic faith and a sense of sacrifice, who were prepared to give their lives for what ‘was right and just’, as Joe himself has said.
Ireland has that tradition of self-sacrifice for the good of others, and it’s also expressed in another vein – that of our missionary tradition. We have the monks of old like St Columcille, St Columbanus and St Gall who left their native land to spread the good news of Christ and his vision of justice and peace.
When Fr Joe became a Jesuit, he joined an order whose early founders, like Francis Xavier, began the European missionary journey to the East. Indeed, Francis wanted to go to China but died on the island of Shangchuan, in sight of the mainland.
So like the early Jesuit Fathers, Fr Joe become a part of the Jesuit tradition of mission, going where the need is greatest, obeying orders! And following in the sacrificial tradition of his own Father, (and Irish missionaries) he gave his life – over 70 years of it – working for and with the people of China and Hong Kong.
As he said in an interview a short while ago, the men and women of the Rising, like his father “had a vision of what was right and just, and they wanted to do what they could to build a better Ireland free from poverty and oppression.”
That too was Fr Joe’s motivation as a missionary and as a Jesuit. In the words of Pedro Arrupe, a former Fr General of the Jesuits and himself a European missionary to Asia, Jesuits are men called to live ‘a faith that does justice.’
And that was the faith that Joe lived out, teaching those he was sent to, and in the best missionary tradition, allowing them to teach him. In that same interview, he quoted a Chinese saying that summed up what life was about: “It’s not about ‘ourselves alone’, (now there’s a resonant phrase!) “it’s about what the Chinese call ‘sharing with others’.”
Joe certainly shared his long life with others, be it as teacher, construction supervisor, bursar, headmaster, or director of a social services centre. He found himself in those various roles because, “of his sound judgement and attention to detail” to quote his fellow Jesuits in China.
That word attention is key. For as 20th century mystic Simone Weil points out, “Taken to its highest degree, attention is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love”. And what else would you call it when someone takes the trouble to remember the name of every boy in his school, as Father Joe did.
The Jesuits in his community also attest to his goodness – ‘He never complained’, fellow Jesuit community member Fr Joe Russell tells us. And in fact, as Fr Ray has pointed out, Fr Joe was a great communicator, and he was very careful with words.
This is something that Pope Francis singles out for attention in his recent apostolic letter Gaudete et Exultate. He tells us that resisting the temptation to gossip or engage in back biting is a holy thing.
And Fr Russell also adds, “Remarkably, he never spoke unkindly about others. I never remember him ever speaking disparagingly about another”. 104 years and never an unkind word about another person – remarkable indeed!
In that letter on the envelope that Commandant Mallin wrote to Joe’s mother he started by saying, “All is lost”. He ended by qualifying that statement saying, “All is lost, Agnes, except honor and courage”.
Those qualities were certainly not lost in his son whom we remember today. Fr Joe Mallin, a man of courage and honour, a good and holy Jesuit.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-rebel-stock/

JESUITICA: Rebel stock
A curious bond links the first scholastic of the restored Irish Mission with the oldest Jesuit in our Chinese mission: both lost their fathers to execution by the British. Bartholomew Esmonde returned from his studies in Sicily in 1814 to join the staff of the new college of Clongowes. Some ten years earlier his father, Dr John Esmonde of Sallins, Kildare, had been publicly hanged on O’Connell Bridge in Dublin for his part in the 1798 rebellion. William Aylmer of Kilcock, whose Jesuit brother founded Belvedere, was convicted of treason for the same reason, but escaped execution. Michael Mallin, a leader in the 1916 rising, called his family to Kilmainham Gaol on the eve of his execution, and prayed that his little son Joseph would be a priest. 94-year-old Joseph SJ, pictured here on the steps of Kilmainham Gaol, is still ministering in Hong Kong. Despite stereotypes, many Jesuits are of rebel stock.

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions : https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/242-fr-joe-mallin-sj-a-life-of-service and https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/587-fr-joe-mallin-sj-a-life-of-service-2

FR. JOE MALLIN SJ - A LIFE OF SERVICE
The last eighty years have seen momentous changes and Fr. Joe Mallin SJ has been a witness to many, during his years of service in China. Clearly a life of service to others was not unknown in his own family - his brother Sean entered the Society a few years before him and his father was Commandant Michael Mallin, executed by the British for his part in the Easter Rising of 1916.
Fr. Mallin was only two and a half years old and therefore has no memories of his father but was very moved by an article about him written in 1917 by an American Jesuit. Fr. Mallin remembers his mother as a wise woman, who tried to let them experience as normal a family life as possible. At the time of his execution she had four children and was expecting their fifth. In a final letter to her, her husband wrote "to pray for all the souls who fell in this fight, Irish and English".

Eucharistic Congress 1932
Shortly before he entered the Irish Jesuit Novitiate, in September 1932, Joe was an active participant in the Eucharistic Congress, remembering the huge crowds in Phoenix Park, the relief that the weather held, and the excellent marshalling by General O'Duffy, Garda Commissioner. Joe had been in contact with the Jesuits whilst at St Enda's Rathfarnham and met Fr. Ernest Mackey at Knockbeg College.

China
On the ship out to Hong Kong the Catholic cargo supervisor died and Fr. Joe was asked to conduct the burial service at sea. It was a very moving experience he remembers and the captain was most helpful. Fr. Mallin arrived in Guangzhou (Canton) in early September 1948. But in May 1949, the Jesuits had to leave the city for Hong Kong due to the advance of the Chinese Communist army. Hong Kong in the late 1940s was not in good shape due to the Japanese occupation and the Allied bombing but it recovered very quickly.
Fr. Mallin didn't have much time to explore his new home but got to work straight away. He had to take over the top floor of the Paris Foreign Mission Society house which had kindly been handed over to the Jesuits. Joe had no difficulty adapting to the new life and culture. He pitched in head first into dealing with all kinds of people – architects, builders and suppliers, cooks and cleaners. He supervised several construction or building conversion jobs and had to arrange for the temporary accommodation of many Jesuits expelled from Mainland China after the Communist takeover.
An incident he recalls clearly was when a phone call came one night, very late, from the Queen Mary Hospital asking for a priest to come to attend a dying patient. He went down to the street and stopped a taxi. The taxi driver got him to the hospital very quickly. When he thanked him, the driver replied "I am a Muslim, and my father told me that if a Catholic mission priest ever stopped me in the middle of the night to go to a hospital I should drive like the wind because it was very important."

Few words, but many loving actions
He had a very varied apostolic life, successfully doing the job of minister in the community, Mission Bursar, Director of a Social Centre, secondary teacher, Headmaster of Pun Yu Primary School in Hong Kong, Principal of Ricci College in Macao, among other things. He was known as a man of few words, but of many loving actions.

National Museum Dublin
Fr. Mallin played the flute, which had belonged to his father. Indeed his father had played it in Liberty Hall in the Workers' Orchestra on the eve of the 1916 Rising. The flute and his father's watch are now in the National Museum in Dublin.
When asked if he regretted anything about leaving Ireland, he said that he would like to have had some more time working as a priest in Ireland. He said that he also missed the rain! Fr. Joe Mallin has been a Jesuit for over 80 years and will celebrate his 100th birthday next September! He is viewed with almost incredulous amazement for all he does at his age. He is deeply respected by all those who know him.

https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/460-fr-joseph-mallin-sj-looking-back-2016-1916

FR JOSEPH MALLIN SJ: LOOKING BACK 2016-1916
Fr Joseph Mallin SJ received the freedom of the city (https://www.thejournal.ie/joseph- mallin-freedom-of-dublin-hong-kong-2671842-Mar2016/) award from the Lord Mayor of Dublin Críona Ní Dhálaigh who flew to Hong Kong to meet him on the 21st March. An Irish concert was enjoyed by all, including Fr Mallin's visiting niece Una, and the two conversed "as Gaeilge" all evening. The award was a tribute to his life’s service through his ministry to the people of Hong Kong and Macau and in recognition of his status as the child of Commandant Michael Mallin, one of the executed leaders of the Irish 1916 Easter Rising.

Oldest Irish Jesuit missionary priest
Joe Mallin was born in 1913. At age 102 (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/416-happy- 102nd-birthday-to-fr-joe-mallin-sj), he is the oldest Irish Jesuit missionary priest, living in Hong Kong.
His father Michael Mallin commanded the fighting at St Stephen’s Green on Easter (https://jesuitmissions.ie/news/459-celebrating-easter-2016) Monday 1916 with Countess Markievicz as his deputy. The Commandant paid the ultimate price for his part in the Irish Easter Rising and was shot in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin on May 8th, 1916.
The night before his father’s execution, Joseph was taken to Kilmainham Gaol by his mother, then pregnant with their fifth child, to say goodbye. He was only two and a half years old and does not remember the occasion. Michael Mallin wrote to his little boy in the last letter to his family: “Joseph, my little man, be a priest if you can.”
Portrait of Michael Mallin by David Rooney from 1916 Portraits and Lives(Royal Irish Academy)
Fr Mallin often played the flute that his father used in the Workers’ Orchestra, in Liberty Hall, Dublin on the eve of the 1916 Rising. The flute and his father’s watch are now in the National Museum in Dublin.

The ultimate price
In a greeting on Fr Mallin’s 100th birthday, Senator Mark Daly wrote:
“As a nation we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the sacrifice made by many men and women through the generations.
“The price paid by your father in laying down his life, the price paid by your mother who lost her husband, the price paid by you and your siblings who grew up without their father is a debt un- repayable by any nation.
“The proclamation whose ideals they tried to fulfill contains concepts that are both timeless and universal. Those aims are as relevant to people struggling for rights all over the world today as much as they were for the people of Ireland in 1916.”

https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/588-‘fīor-eireannach-gan-dabht’

‘FĪOR EIREANNACH GAN DABHT’
Joe Mallin SJ, son of Commdt. Michael Mallin, who was executed for his role in the Easter Rising, died
peacefully and fittingly, on Easter Sunday morning, 1 April 2018, in Hong Kong. He was 104 years old.
He was born in 1914, just two years before his father was executed by firing squad, leaving a wife and five small children. One of Fr Joseph’s brothers, Seán, also became a Jesuit priest, and his sister Úna entered the Loreto order in 1925. She was sent to a convent in Spain, where she spent the rest of her life. Commdt. Mallin would have been proud of his children. In his last letter he wrote: : “Úna, my little one, be a nun; Joseph, my little man, be a priest if you can ...” Fr Joe joined the Jesuits, and in 1948 he went to Hong Kong and China (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/587-fr-joe-mallin-sj-a-life-of- service-2) as part of the Irish Jesuit mission to China. He spent over 70 years of his life there.
According to Fr Alfred Deignan, another Irish Jesuit missionary there, this mission was a new challenge to the Irish Province (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/543-90th-anniversary-of-the-arrival-of-the- jesuits-in-hong-kong), “and a new experience for the Jesuits who went there to work among poor people speaking a different language, the Cantonese dialect, with different food, customs and weather, often very hot and humid.” Fr Joe taught in a a Jesuit-run secondary school and was still holding teaching duties there when he returned to Ireland in 2006 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 2006.
Fr. Joseph, a freeman of Dublin, received an invitation from the Taoiseach’s Office to attend the 90th commemoration, as the child of Commandant Michael Mallin, who was chief-of-staff of the Irish Citizen’s Army and commander of the St. Stephen’s Green garrison during the Easter Rising. Commdt. Mallin was executed in the Stonebreakers’ Yard, Kilmainham Gaol, along with the other leaders of the revolt, and buried in Arbour Hill.
His visit at that time attracted a great deal of media attention. The late Gerald Barry interviewed him for the Easter Sunday edition of ‘This Week’ (RTE 1, 1.00pm), and he also spoke to Joe Little for RTE News and to a Sky News correspondent. “I will attend the parade on Easter Sunday, as the Government was good enough to invite me, but what I am most looking forward to is being able to go to the grave of my father in Arbour Hill, with the other families of those executed, for a ceremony in early May,” he said.
In a moving statement on his death, Fr Joe’s family in Ireland said, “Fr. Joseph Mallin SJ was the last direct living link with that period of our history... He served for more than 70 years as a missionary and educator in mainland China and Hong Kong... and like most teachers, he often talked with pride of the pupils educated at that college, many of whom went on to become leaders in their various walks of life.”
They also spoke of the kind of man Fr Joseph was to them, singling out his humility and spirituality. “He had a deeply held Christian faith and love for his fellow man and woman. His was a practical faith with a strong base in social justice and equality; not unlike his father who as a trade union activist fought for social justice and workers’ rights and who gave his young life for such a cause.”
They spoke also of his communication skills – “Fr. Joseph was... a prolific letter writer, just like his father, and he wrote letters to his family members on a regular basis and also to many other correspondents, never failing to respond to a letter when anyone wrote to him, be it a young school child from Donegal or an academic historian from the University, they would receive a thoughtful reply.” And of his love of the Irish language – “His command of the Irish language, written and oral, was unbelievable considering he was out of the country since 1948. He wrote to family members and others as Gaeilge – always, san sean-cló, in the old Irish script, and he was delighted to speak Irish to anybody from Ireland who visited him, Fīor Eireannach gan dabht. He had numerous friends in Ireland and around the world. He kept in contact with them all and whenever he was home in Ireland he would make sure to visit them. (Read their full statement below).
The funeral Mass for Fr Joe will take place at 10am on Saturday, 14 April, at St Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College Kowloon.The burial will take place after the Mass at St. Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley, Hong Kong. The Mass will be presided by the Bishop of Hong Kong.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Statement from the Mallin/Hickey Family on the death of Fr Joe
It is with great personal sadness that we learned from Hong Kong this Easter morning of the death of Fr. Joseph Mallin SJ, and just as we were about to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Easter Rising. We always knew this day was near but it came as a shock all the same to know that Fr. Joseph is gone to his heavenly reward. What a poignant day to complete his earthly life. And what a good and long life in the service of God it was and he lived it well. May he rest in peace. We will miss him. Solas na bhflaitheas dó agus ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Joseph Michael Mallin was born in September 1913. He was the youngest son of Agnes Hickey and Michael Mallin. His mother was the daughter of Joseph Hickey, a Fenian man who was deported from Ireland for 11 years for his part in the Fenian Rising of 1867, and the granddaughter of John Francis Nugent a United Irishman, a printer & publisher from Cookstown Co. Tyrone. Agnes was born in Liverpool in 1870 during the deportation. Joseph was just a young boy when his father, Michael Mallin, Commandant and Chief-of-Staff of the Irish Citizen Army was executed at Kilmainham Gaol in 1916.
Fr. Joseph Mallin SJ was the last direct living link with that period of our history. His siblings, brothers Séamus and Fr. Seán, sisters Sr. Agnes, a Nun with the Loreto Community in Seville, Spain, and Maura Phillips have all predeceased him.
He served for more than 70 years as a missionary and educator in mainland China and Hong Kong with the Jesuit community there. He was ordained in 1946 and two years later was sent to the Jesuit Mission in China. He worked tirelessly for the people there. He loved that community and they loved him and it is there where he will be laid to rest. With others he played a significant part in the ongoing development of education and progress of Wah Yan School and college in Hong Kong and Kowloon. He managed Wah Yan College for a number of years and, like most teachers, he often talked with pride of the pupils educated at that college, many of whom went on to become leaders in their various walks of life.
Fr. Joseph was a very spiritual and humble man. He had a deeply held Christian faith and love for his fellow man and woman. His was a practical faith with a strong base in social justice and equality; not unlike his father who as a trade union activist fought for social justice and workers’ rights and who gave his young life for such a cause.
Fr. Joseph lived to be 104. He was given more time than most on this earth and he used that time wisely. His parents, Michael and Agnes Mallin would be very proud of their son’s achievements and the way he lived his life.
Fr. Joseph was a great communicator all his life, a prolific letter writer, just like his father. He was an inveterate letter-writer and he wrote letters to his family members on a regular basis and also to many other correspondents, never failing to respond to a letter when anyone wrote to him, be it a young school child from Donegal or an academic historian from the University, they would receive a thoughtful reply. His command of the Irish language, written and oral, was unbelievable considering he was out of the country since 1948. He wrote to family members and others as Gaeilge – always, san sean-cló, in the old Irish script, and he was delighted to speak Irish to anybody from Ireland who visited him, Fīor Eireannach gan dabht. He had numerous friends in Ireland and around the world. He kept in contact with them all and whenever he was home in Ireland he would make sure to visit them.
Fr. Joseph Mallin SJ was proud to be honoured with the Freedom of the City of Dublin during the 1916 Centenary Commemorations. An honour presented for his service to education and his family’s connection to the Easter 1916 Rising and the struggle for Irish Independence.
One of his last official acts was his major historical contribution to the memory of his father, Commandant Michael Mallin. This historical document was published last year and it presents new insights and facts about the record of his father’s court martial. This document is now available in the archives of Kilmainham Gaol Museum and the National Library of Ireland. It was Fr. Joseph’s wish that historians would be cognisant of this work.

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
His father was a martyr for Irish Independance. He was born in 1913. His father was shot in 1916 for his part in the insurrection against the British, and so his father was considered a martyr.After his father’s death his family were cared for, he was sent to a special Irish Primary School and then to a Jesuit one.

He joined the Society in 1932, was Ordained in 1946 and came to Hong Kong in 1948, going to Guangzhou for language studies until he was forced to leave in 1949.

He was highly respected among Jesuits as a holy man of charity and practical work. The Jesuits in Hong Kong owe much to him in maming the buildings on Cheung Chau typhoon proof (Typhoon Mary had killd 30 people there in 1930)
He was in charge of building Wah Yan College Hong Kong 1954-1955.
He was also in charge of the School Chapel at Wah Yan Kowloon and the extension over the avenue in 1969. He was also responsible for the construction of the Adam Schall Residence at the The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
He spent four years in Macau, one as teacher and three as Proncipal, until he was recalled to Hong Kong to be Principal of the Pun U Wah Yan Primary School when the Society took over the management of that school. He later became Supervisor there.
He was sent back to Macau to work at the Jesuit school there, and was recalled to Hong Kong as Supervisor of the Primary School again, He knew the teachers there so swell and they all loved him. He was interested in people and kind.
According to Mr Wallace Yu, and alumnus of Wah Yan Hong Kong, he is keen to point out that Joe Mallin was “Headmaster” rather than “Principal” at Pun U, and that the Wah Yan was only added later in 1971 between his two periods at Pun U he was in Macau at Collegio Ricci.

Note from Séamus Doris Entry
He was good friends with Harry Naylor, Joe Mallin and Dan Fitzpatrick.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - St Enda’s Rathfarnham student

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948
Frs. Casey G., Grogan and Sullivan leave England for Hong Kong on 2nd July on the ‘Canton’. On the following day Fr. Kevin O'Dwyer hopes to sail with Fr. Albert Cooney from San Francisco on the ‘General Gordon’ for the same destination.
The following will be going to Hong Kong in August : Frs. Joseph Mallin and Merritt, Messrs. James Kelly, McGaley, Michael McLoughlin and Geoffrey Murphy.

Born: 24 June 1906, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 03 January 1977, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Son of Michael Mallin - executed following he 1916 Irish Rising
Brother of Joe Mallin - RIP 2018

Early education at St Mary's Knockbeg College County Carlow

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Entered 01 September 1924; LEFT through ill health; Re Entered 01 September 1925

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 52nd Year No 2 1977

Obituary :

Fr Seán Ó Mealláin (1906-1977)

Father Seán Ó Mealláin, who died in Galway early in January, 1977, was born in Dublin on June 24th 1906. He was educated at St Enda's, Rathfarnham and at Knockbeg College, Carlow. He entered the Society of Jesus, to begin his noviceship, on September 1st 1925 at Tullabeg. He was in Rathfarnham for his University Studies at UCD. from 1927 to 1930, and spent the following three years studying Philosophy at Tullabeg. His first experience of Teaching was in the College where he was to spend so much of his life: St Ignatius College, Galway: this first period was from 1933-1935. The following year was spent teaching in Mungret College, Limerick, from where he went in 1936 to study Theology. He was ordained on July 31st, 1939, and after completing his Theology in Milltown he went for his Tertianship to Rathfarnham, 1940-1941.
He then returned to the Teaching Staff in St Ignatius College, Galway, where he spent over thirty years: 1941-1973. He was in Spain: 1973-1974.

Father Aidan Ennis, of Gardiner Street, sends the following remembrance of Father Mallin:
“Everybody who knew Father Seán Mallin will feel a sense of loss at his passing. It would be true to say that from the time he entered he suffered from ill-health: in fact he had to leave the noviceship for a time. He suffered from continual and severe headaches which left him often unable to speak. This made him at times withdrawn, so that he seemed almost morose. But this could not conceal from anyone what a remarkable person he was. Religiously he was very devoted and intense. Everyone knew the strength and conviction of his views, particularly in political matters. His talents were many: language, music, painting, teaching; but in everything he engaged in he required depth and accuracy from himself and others.
When he was in good form there was no more interesting and informative companion. The range of subjects on which he had deep, first-hand knowledge was astonishing: from oysters and flowers to sonatas and politics. If one would try to analyse what made him in his good spells so interesting and attractive it was a mixture of sincerity, animation, flashes of humour and - in serious matters - a fierce conviction that one did not dare to question.
He felt deeply and strongly about Irish Ireland. He knew Irish perfectly and preferred to speak it. He was familiar with Connemara and the Aran Islands and their people and customs. One of his recreations was to stroll around the docks in Galway, chatting with the Irish-speaking trawlermen - and with sailors from other countries in their own languages. He was Irish and European, skipping without remorse the island in between. For many years he spent the whole Summer in Germany where he did parish work for much of the time, and became very proficient in German. There, as at home, he mixed easily with high and low. He also spent some time in Spain. His views and judgements were very much influenced by his European experience and background. For this reason his contribution to a discussion was often new and “different”.
In the Summer of 1974 he became ill on the Continent and barely had strength to get home to Galway. He spent many months in hospital, weak almost to the point of non-survival, but always with great patience and fortitude. With great determination he fought back to some degree of health, and was able to rejoin his Community. He lived peacefully there until his final illness, and during this final period with his Community his conversation was often exceptionally interesting. He filled every possible space in the house with pot flowers. It was characteristic that many were uncommon and that he knew all about them, and spent many happy hours caring for them.
Is mo chara a bheidh uaigneach in a eaghmais. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam uasal”.
His last years in Galway - “cur, val” - of which Father Ennis has given us such interesting knowledge, were 1974-1977.

Born: 28 September 1829, Port-Louis, Mauritius
Entered: 28 April 1862, Angers France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1870
Final vows: 15 August 1855
Died: 23 November 1891, Paris, France - Franciae Province (FRA)

by 1885 came to UCD (HIB) to lecture 1884-1887

Born: 29 September 1859, Ballylooby, County Tipperary
Entered: 09 September 1886, Frederick MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Ordained 28 June 1898, Woodstock College, Maryland USA
Final vows: 15 August 1903
Died: 13 March1936, New York NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

by 1899 came to Milltown (HIB) studying

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1936

Obituary

Father Michael Mahony SJ

Early in March the news. of Father Mahony's death reached Mungret. Though the venerable scholar had passed the three score and ten limit yet his passing came as a surprise. He had been with us for our Jubilee in 1932 and his intellectual vigour and upright carriage gave one the impression that he would labour for many another day in the lecture halls he loved so well.

Ml Mahony was born at Ballylooby, Cahir, Co Tipp., on September 29th, 1860. The career of teaching, to which he devoted his whole life and in which he : was such an outstanding success began at an early age for at the age of eighteen he was Monitor in the National Schools and in 1880, when in obedience to a higher call he entered the Crescent, he was already a qualified teacher, drawing the princely salary of £35 per annum.

He was the first student to enter Fr Ronan's school in Limerick and he was wont to tell how he got in some hours before the others who formed the pioneer band. He has therefore been regarded. always as the eldest-born of the Apostolic School and Mungret has always followed . his career with particular interest. He was prefect at the Crescent house and later on when the school was changed to Mungret. Ml Mahony was prefect of the Seminarians and, after taking his BA degree in 1885, taught for a year. In 1886, he entered the novitiate of the Maryland Province at Frederick, with his lifelong friend, Terence Shealy. With that date begins the long preparation and silent formation that was to bear such a rich harvest in later years. Having completed his philosophy and his regency in the college's of Maryland Province, we find him next at Woodstock where he was ordained in 1898. His last year of theology was spent at Milltown Park and brought, to his sensitive heart, the great consolation of being able to say Mass for his parents in the home of his boyhood.

Back once more in the States he was engaged in various colleges till in 1911 he was appointed to the chair of Philosophy in Fordham University. The connection lasted till his death with the exception of one brief interval when in 1932 he visited Ireland for the Eucharistic Congress and came to Mungret for the Jubilee, During his short stay with us he lived again those distant days and visited once more the scenes of his youthful escapades. The Chapel, the study hall, the dormitories, all spoke to him of experiences that were engraven on his memory. One incident, small in itself, showed the simple soul and childlike piety of the great scholar. Entering the dormitory, where fifty years before he had been prefect of the Seminarians, he found where his old cubicle stood; he went down on his knees in prayer and kissed the time-worn boards; it was a sacred spot for it was there he got the vocation that he cherished so. dearly. His reminiscences were full of love for the past and for those that helped to direct his young footsteps to the Altar. Yet he was no “laudator temporis acti” for he never tired of telling of the kindness of his friends across the sea. Superiors who so gladly procured him the privilege of seeing his native land once more; kind friends, who saw to it that he lacked nothing that generosity could procure and the students of Fordham University, “ninnies” and all, who made the evening of his life so pleasant.

Fr Mahony had spent more than a quarter of a century at Fordham and the April number of the Fordham Monthly is dedicated to him and his labours. From it we take the following:

The ever increasing numbers of Fordham students who have gone forth from her halls during the past quarter of a century or more, and who were privileged to have had Father Mahony as a teacher, will, with one voice, proclaim his greatness and his enduring influence. (Rev Fr Hogan SJ (President).)

In the same number, Fr Betowski, AB, one of his pupils, and now Professor at Dunwoodie, says : “Unrelentingly he drove towards the seriousness of understanding principles: Meditating upon the directive value of eternal verities, there was an apostolic echo in his voice as he said : ‘My dear young men, if I could get this truth into your minds so that you would understand it and be guided by it, I would be willing to lay down my life’. All his devotions led up to the Blessed Mother and culminated in Christ, while his untiring search for causes invariably ended in the contem plation of the First Cause, God”.

“He had a heart of gold, a kind word, a ready clasp of the hand and a smile for everyone”, is the testimony of Justice Glennon of the Supreme Court of New York.

Marquette University had honoured Fr Mahony by conferring on him the degree of LLD in 1930 ; Fordham had made him her own; his Alma Mater had made him her guest of honour in 1932, there was but one degree waiting, the one Father Mahony prized most - I’ll get my next degree in heaven”.

Born: 30 September 1889, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1907, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1922, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1926, Sacred Heart College, Limerick
Died: 05 March 1956, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1914 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1915 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Clongowes student then a year in France before entry. He was studying French in Lille for a year to prepare for his father’s business, then he entered.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 31st Year No 2 1956

Obituary :

Fr Jerome Mahony 1890-1956
Fr. Jerome Mahony, S.J., died almost suddenly, after an attack of cerebral haemorrhage, in St. Mary's, Emo, on March 5th. He was born in Dublin 66 years ago and educated at the Marist College, Leeson Street, and at Clongowes Wood. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1907 at St. Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, and later studied philosophy at Valkenburg, Holland, and at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire.
On his return to Ireland, Fr. Mahony taught in Clongowes Wood and Mungret College, Limerick, for six years preceding his theological studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained priest in 1922. He joined the teaching staff of the College of the Sacred Heart, Limerick, before beginning his long association with Mungret College in 1928.
Fr. Mahony was appointed Rector of the Jesuit Novitiate, Emo, in 1945. On relinquishing this post, he remained at St. Mary's as Latin professor to the novices and spiritual director of the community.
Fr. Mahony served the Society loyally and well in his many years of teaching, both in the colleges and the novitiate; and his four volumes of A History of the Catholic Church for Schools are a well-thumbed testimony to his thoroughness and zeal. His will be a household name in the school-world for years to come. (One of his own favourite stories was that of hearing one small boy in Clongowes say to another as he passed : “There's Hart."). In more ambitious vein is his unpublished study of some points in St. John's Gospel; and he also wrote a number of scriptural and liturgical pamphlets for the Messenger Office.
But his most useful service to the Society of Jesus was that which he constantly and edifyingly gave within our own communities. Without parade or pretension he was an excellent religious. His charity and kindliness was never-failing. He was at the disposal, not merely of his superiors, but of everyone. A dull supply, a manuscript to be typed, a boring visitor to be shown round, an untimely confession to be heard - these and a hundred such jobs seemed to fall as by right to the lot of Fr. Jerome. He was indeed, ad omnia. And then he turned up at recreation hour to liven his brethren with quip and comment and an amazingly varied repertoire of stories. In this alone he is a sore loss to the little community where the last happy decade of his life was spent.
For those who knew Jerome Mahony at all intimately his unaffected humility impressed even more than his charity. And that says much. The third degree of humility was no mere theory for him, a thing that he had marked read on some far-away October day of the Long Retreat. It seemed to be something. always unobtrusively - almost humorously - present. On occasions where a lesser man of greater natural talents might have sulked and, so doing, ruined himself and them, Fr. Jerome, accepting that he should be esteemed and accounted as one less wise, grew in the disconcerting wisdom of the saints.
Up to the day of his death he was at work on a new Menology for the Irish province. Whoever finishes this task might well find a place for him as an example of the man, so valuable in any group, who shirking no task however unpleasant or obscure, desires only to be of help.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Jerome Mahony SJ 1890-1956
“Up to the day of his death, Fr Jerome Mahony was working on a new Menology for the Irish Province. Whoever finished this task might well find a place for him as an example of a man, so valuable in any group, who, shirking no task, however unpleasant, desired only to be of help”. So wrote the obituarist of Fr Mahony. The prompting was unnecessary. Fr Jerome, by his cheerful, edifying and saintly life, easily merits a high place in these records.

He was born in Dublin in 1890, educated at Clongowes, entering the Society in1907.

He was a thorough Jesuit, giving of his best in the classroom for years on end, ever ready to shoulder unpleasant tasks that others might excuse themselves from, and yet not making himself out as a martyr for the community. In fact he was an ideal community man, every ready with a humorous story and witty retort, with a wit that had to barb to it.

He was an author of the History of the Catholic Church for use in schools, and left behind an unpublished study of St John’s Gospel together with numerous pamphlets of the “Messenger Office”.

In 1945 he was appointed Rector of Emo Park, where he died quite suddenly on March 5th 1956.

◆ The Clongownian, 1956

Obituary

Father Jerome Mahony SJ

The sudden, quite unexpected, death of Fr Jerome Mahony at Emo last March, following a cerebral haemorrhage, came as a shock to his very many friends both within and without the Society. He was not considered an old man, as years go, he had always enjoyed good health, and had always been active and deeply interested in his work. There seemed every prospect that he would be spared to continue his useful career for many years to come. But God's summons came suddenly, though it did not find him unprepared,

He was at Clongowes from 1900 to 1906, where his father and brothers also were educated and where he came into contact with two saintly men, Fr Michael Browne and Fr John Sullivan. On leaving Clongowes he was sent by his father to Lille with a view to preparing him for a business career, but he found that God had other plans for him and in 1907 he joined the Jesuit noviceship at Tullabeg. The present writer was his “angelus”, ie, the older novice told off to initiate him into the ways of the place for a few weeks, and he remembers vividly after nearly fifty years the very thin, boyish figure who had such a flow of wit and good spirits, who soon became the life of the noviceship or at least one of its lives. He went through the usual stages of the Jesuit formation with fervour and edification. After a few years in the Juniorate in Tullabeg, where he studied Classics and English, he was sent to teach at. Mungret College, because a tired head prevented him from entering his philosophical training. From the beginning he showed a good will and adaptability which made him a very useful member of the college staff. A few years afterwards he was sent to do his philosophy, first at Valkenburg, a house of German Jesuits in Holland and than at Stonyhurst. For a few years after philosophy he did college work again at Clongowes and Mungret and in 1920 he was sent to Milltown Park for his theology, where he was ordained priest in 1924. He did his final stage of formation, his tertianship, at Tullabeg from 1924 to 1925.

The greater part of his life as priest was spent at Mungret, where he taught English and History. He was a careful and conscientious teacher rather than an inspiring one. It was something of an anomaly that one whom his fellow Jesuits knew to be so witty and joyous in temperament should have appeared to the boys and outsiders as a man of rather unrelieved gravity. He had a very elevated view of his profession as a teacher and he gave himself to his work generously and conscientiously.

Outside his teaching the abiding interest of his life was history and especially Church history. The scanty margins of his day during term time and a great part of his holidays were devoted to this subject. Novels, newspapers, games and the other numerous diversions which even very busy men allow themselves were quietly set aside. He used to say when asked if he had read the paper, that he read only the papers which were at least a hundred years old, because then they were history. Thanks to this discipline and rigid adherence to his plan of studies, he succeeded in making himself an authority on Church history.

As a recognition of his competence in this subject he was asked to write a history of the Church for the programme of Religious Instruction prescribed by the bishops for the schools. He accepted the commission and for several years it was an absorbing task. He did the job with characteristic thoroughness and deliberation. He read and noted and planned and replanned; he wrote and rewrote with indefatigable energy. He consulted specialists on various portions of his wide subject, and accepted their guidance without question. Publishers and prefects of studies who were waiting impatiently for the completion of the work complained that he was too slow; but at least he did the work well, and his book in two small volumes has been very widely adopted in the schools and has met a real need.

He had always an interest in serious subjects, in such as belonged to his profession as priest. He had made a careful study of the gospels, especially that of St John. During his theology at Milltown Park he set himself to read through the “Civitas Dei” of St Augustine, and visitors to his room would see a great unkempt quarto propped up against the wall, and would inquire about his present position in the great tome. He compiled a history of the Passion in the words of the Evangelists which was published by the Messenger Office and had a very wide sale.

As has been said most of his teaching life was spent in Mungret, where he came to share something of the institutional character of his friend of many years, Fr William Kane SJ. On leaving Mungret he was appointed Rector of St Mary's, Emo, the Noviceship, and during his time as Rector he installed central heating in that house. For several years before his death he was engaged in teaching Latin to the Novices at Emo. He was active and industrious to the last.

The conscientious discharge of his duty as teacher nust have had a big influence on the great number of boys with whom he came in contact. In his community, he was an exemplary religious, observant of rule, faithful to all his religious duties, charitable and obliging to every one. His abiding interest in serious study, his industry and thoroughness in all the jobs he was appointed to do, such as the editing of the Mungret Annual or the giving of domestic exhortations to his community, were an incentive to all. But perhaps what those who knew him will best remember was the wit and gaiety of spirits with which he brightened every community in which he lived.

To his brothers and sisters, and especially to Mother Mary Angela of the Ursuline Convent, Waterford, we offer our deepest sympathy in their great loss. RIP

H K SJ

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Jerome Mahony (1889-1956)

Born in Dublin of a family originally from the city of Limerick, was educated at the Marist School, Leeson St and Clongowes. On leaving school, he entered on a business career and spent a year in Paris. Feeling a call to the religious life, he entered the Society in 1907 and made his higher studies at Valkenburg, Stonyhurst and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1922. Father Mahony was master here from 1925 to 1928 when he left for Mungret College with which he was henceforth associated for many years. He was appointed rector of Emo Park in 1945 and on relinquishing office remained as a member of the same community. It was during these later years that Father Mahony compiled his History of the Catholic Church for Schools, which is now in use throughout Ireland. At the time of his death he was engaged upon a dictionary of biography of Irish Jesuits from the time of the restoration of the Society. In his lifetime, Father Mahony was widely respected as a deeply spiritual man and a wise director of souls.

Born: 11 November 1852, Co Roscommon
Entered: 05 October 1878, Milltown Park
Final Vows: 02 February 1889, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin
Died: 01 April 1917, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Became a Postulant at Milltown early in 1878.

1881 He was sent to Gardiner St and carried out many duties there, including that of Infirmarian very successfully. When the famous Sicilian sacristan Azzopardi was showing signs of failing health, Thomas assisted him and eventually took complete charge - apart from a couple of years at Crescent as Sacristan. He carried on this work at Gardiner St for twenty-five years. His friendly manner and respect for all classes of people won him a lot of friends. He was an excellent religious, and gave great edification by his devotion to duty, as well as his patience and resignation during his short illness. He died after a week’s illness 01 April 1917 in Gardiner St.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Drapers Assistant before entry

Born: 25 September 1804, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 November 1823, Montrouge, Paris, France - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 20 December 1834, Stonyhurst
Final Vows: 15 August 1841
Died: 04 May 1879, Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Early education in Humanities at Stonyhurst before Entry

1827 At a newly opened Jesuit school in London
1834 Ordained at Stonyhurst by Bishop Penswick 20 December 1834
1842-1847 After serving at Wardour Castle and St Ignatius Church, Preston, he was appointed Superior of the St Francis Xavier College (Hereford District), and of the Residence of St George (Worcester District), and residing as Chaplain at Spetchley Park.
1848-1851 Served the Shepton Mallet and Bristol Missions, also being Superior At St George’s.
1851-1858 Served on the London Mission
1858 he served the Great Yarmouth, Edinburgh, Worcester, London and Liverpool Missions, and then went to Stonyhurst for health reasons in 1872. He died there 04 May 1879 aged 75.

He was distinguished for his eloquence in the pulpit and skill as a Confessor. (Province Record)