Born: 13 January 1857, Ballyragget, County Kilkenny
Entered: 07 September 1876, Milltowen Park, Dublin
Ordained: 27 July 1890, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1896
Died: 30 November 1928, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia

by 1895 at Roehampton London (ANG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1895

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Stonyhurst.

After his Noviceship he spent a further two years at Milltown in the Juniorate, and then he was sent to Clongowes for Regency. At that time the Intermediate Cert was only two years in existence and he was given the task of preparing the boys for the senior grade. He also acted as a Sub-Prefect of Studies.
1891 He was back in Milltown for Philosophy, and then he returned for more Regency at Clongowes.
1888 He was sent to Louvain for Theology, and returned the following year when the Theologate at Milltown was opened, and he was Ordained there in 1890.
After Ordination he spent three years at Belvedere and was then sent to Roehampton for Tertianship.
1895 After Tertainship he was sent to Australia and started his life there at Xavier College Kew.
During his 33 years in Australia he worked at various Colleges : 19 at St Aloysius Sydney; 7 at St Patrick’s Melbourne - one as Prefect of Studies, two as Minister and Spiritual Father; 3 years at Riverview was Minister. He was also in charge of Sodalities, Moderator of the Apostleship of Prayer, Confessor to Communities and boys, Examiner of young Priests and so on. Whatever he did, these were always part of his work.
He died at St Aloysius Sydney 30 November 1928

Earnestness and hard work were the keynotes of Joseph’s life. Whether praying, teaching, exercising, he was always the same, deadly in earnest. Imagination was for others! Time and reality were his benchmarks. At the same time he was immensely kind, very genuine if not so demonstrative. He was an excellent community man, a good companion and he enjoyed a joke as well as any other man.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at Stonyhurst College and St Stanislaus Tullabeg before he entered the Society in Dublin.

1879-1880 After First Vows he continued at Milltown Park for a year of Juniorate
1880-1881 He was sent for a year of Regency at Clongowes Wood College, teaching Rhetoric, and as Hall Prefect and Assistant Prefect of Studies.
1881-1884 He returned to Milltown Park for Philosophy
1884-1888 He was back at Clongowes doing Regency, teaching Grammar, French and Arithmetic. He also prepared students for public exams.
1888-1889 He was sent to Leuven for Theology
1889-1891 He continued his Theology back a Milltown Park
1891-1894 He was sent to Belvedere College to teach Rhetoric and Humanities.
1894-1895 He made Tertianship at Roehampton, England
1895-1896 He was sent to Australia and firstly to Xavier College Kew
18996-1901 He moved to St Patrick’s Melbourne, where he was also Minister and Prefect of Studies at various times.
1901-1903 He returned to Xavier College
1903 He was sent as one of the founding members of the new community at St Aloysius College, Milsons Point.
1904-1908 He was sent to St Ignatius Riverview
1909 He returned to St Aloysius, Sydney, and remained there for the rest of his life.

Those who knew him say he was a most exact man in all he said and did. He was meticulous with dates and had a good memory for names and facts. He was also a fine raconteur and enjoyed conversation. He took an interest in the doings of those around him and longed for communication of ideas. He maintained a steady interest and curiosity in everything he approached. He appeared to have enjoyed his life.
He was also a man able to adjust to circumstances. He certainly had many changes of status in his earlier years. However, he was happy in the Society, wherever he lives, relishing every moment and enjoying the recollection of memories.
He was a teacher for 42 years, a man who prepared his classes most carefully and was regular and exact in correcting. He was absorbed in his work and completely dedicated to duty, absolutely punctual to class, a model of exactitude to others, and happy in the hidden daily routine of classroom teaching.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 4th Year No 2 1929

Obituary :
Fr Joseph Cahill
Fr. J. Cahill was born in Dublin on the 13th January 1857, educated at Stonyhurst, and entered the Society at Milltown Park 7th September 1876.The noviceship over, he spent two more years at Milltown in the juniorate, and was than sent to Clongowes. The “Intermediate” was just two years old, and Mr Cahill was entrusted with the important work of preparing the boys of the Senior Grade. He also acted as Sub-Prefcct of Studies. in 1881 he began philosophy at Milltown, and when it was over returned to Clongowes as Master. 1888 found him at Louvain for Theology. Next year the new Theologate of the Irish Province was established at Milltown, and Mr Cahill was one of the first students. He was ordained in 1890. Three years at Belvedere followed, and then came the Tertianship at Roehampton. At its conclusion he bade farewell to Ireland, for in 1895 we find him a master at
Xavier College, Kew.
During the 33 years that Fr. Cahill lived in Australia, he worked in the Colleges - 19 years at St. Aloysius, 7 at St. Patrick's, 4 at Riverview and 3 at Xavier. At St Patrick’s he was one year Prefect of Studies and two years Minister and two Spiritual Father. Riverview had him as Minister for three years. He had charge of Sodalities, was Moderator of the Apostleship of Prayer, Confessor to communities and boys, Examiner of young priests etc. But whatever else he did the inevitable “Doc” or “Par. alum. ad exam.public” always found a place in the list of his activities. According to the Catalogue of 1929 he was Master for 43 years. He crowned a very hard working, holy life by a happy death at St. Aloysius on Friday, November 30th 1928.
Earnestness, steady hard work were the key-notes of Fr. Cahill's life. Whether saying his prayers, teaching a class, making a forced march across the Dublin hills, or playing a game of hand-ball he was always the same - deadly in earnest. If imagination ever sought an entrance into his life - and it is doubtful if it ever did - the door was slammed in its face. The realities of time and eternity were the things with which Fr Joe Cahill had to deal, and he dealt with them to the exclusion of all others. Still there was not a touch of aloofness about him, of a surly disregard for others. Quite the contrary, there was a plentiful supply of “the milk of human kindness” in his character. That kindness was very genuine, but not demonstrative. Fr. Joe was an excellent community man, a very agreeable companion, and he could enjoy a joke as well as the gayest Of his comrades.
Some one has said that it is easier to run fast for a minute than to grind along the dusty road for a day. Fr Joe did grind along the road, dusty or otherwise, not for a day only but for the 52 years he lived in the Society. RIP

Irish Province News 4th Year No 3 1929

Obituary :
Fr Joseph Cahill continued
The following appreciation of Fr. Cahill has come from Australia where he spent 33 years of his Jesuit life :
As a religious he was a great observer of regularity. He was punctuality itself. His preparation for class, his correction of home work etc. were the joy of the heart of the Pref. Stud. Amongst his papers were found the notes of his lessons up to the very last class he taught. He went every day to say Mass at the Mercy Convent, and for 18 years he was on the altar
with unvarying punctuality at 6.55. He always walked, having a profound contempt for cars. For a number of years his chief break was to go in holiday time to hear confessions in some remote convents which but for him would have no extraordinary. He rarely preached as he lacked fluency and was rather unimaginative, but he was splendid at giving a short and practical address.This was shown during his time as director of the Sodality for Professional men attached to St. Patrick's Melbourne. Here he won the esteem of the best educated Catholics in the city and held it to the end.
He was a great community man, the life and soul of recreation. He was one of the working community to the end. When his doctor assured him that a successful operation was possible but unlikely, he decided to face it. He was suffering far more than was generally known, yet he worked to the end. He delayed the operation till he had taught his last class for the Public Exams in History, and then, packing a tiny bag and refusing to take a motor car to the hospital, he went cheerfully, like the brave soul he was, to face the danger. In a week he was dead, but it was typical of him that he lasted long after the doctors had given him but a few hours to live. He was a man who never gave up, and we are greatly poorer for his loss. May he rest in peace.

An old pupil of his at St. Patrick's writes as follows :
He was a man of most engaging personality and a great favourite with the boys. He took part in our games of football and cricket. Sometimes his vigour was not altogether appreciated, although we admired his tremendous energy. He was a simple, homely, engaging man, keen in everything he undertook. A fine servant of God with all the attributes of one of Nature's Gentlemen.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Joseph Cahill 1857-1928
Born in Dublin on January 13th 1857, Fr Joseph Cahill spent twenty-three years of his life as a teacher in Australia. As a religious, he was a great observer of reality. He was punctuality itself. His preparation for classes, his corrections of class work, were the joy of the heart of the Prefect of Studies. Among his papers found after his death were ther notes for the last class he taught. He went every day to say Mass at the Mercy convent, and for 18 years he was on the altar with unvarying punctuality at 6.55am. He always walked, having a profound contempt for cars.

For a number of years, his chief break during vacations was to go to some remote convent, which but for him would have no extraordinary confessor.

When his doctor assured him that a successful operation for his complaint was possible but unlikely, he decided to take the risk. But, he delayed operation until he had taught his last class due for public examinations in History. Then packing a little bag and refusing to take a car to the hospital, he went cheerfully to his ordeal. He died within a week on November 20th 1928.

A fine servant of God, with all the attributes of one of nature’s gentlemen.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1928

Obituary

Father J B Cahill SJ

Father Joseplı Bernard Cahill died at Sydney on Friday, 30th November, 1928, after a brief illness. He was born in Ireland in 1857 and, after being educated at Tullabeg and Stonyhurst, entered the Society of Jesus in 1876. Coming to Australia in 1895 on the completion of his studies, he was first sent to St Patrick's, and afterwards came to Xavier. After a couple of years at Xavier he went to Riverview and finally to St Aloysius, where he has been stationed for the last 18 years.

Father Cahill preserved a very live interest in everything Xaverian, and more especially in the doings of the Sydney Branch of the OXA, whose Patron he was. In spite of his seventy odd years Fr Cahill remained active to the end of his life. At the time of the Eucharistic Congress he was able to take part in all the functions of that crowded week. He had the joy of living a full life and dying in harness. May his soul rest in peace.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1929

Obituary

Father Joseph Cahill SJ

Three years ago we recorded in “The Aloysian” and celebrated at the College the Jubilee of Father Cahill-fifty years in the Society. And this year we cele brate the Jubilee of the foundation of the College. We should have wished to have Father Cahill, who had given twenty years consecutive good service to the College with us, but God wished otherwise. Last year he went to his reward, at the age of seventy-one, being born in 1857. He has, we hope, already entered on the great jubilee the eternal rest sung of in the Church's liturgy. And if our departed friends can know of and appreciate our wordly activities, and I think they can, Father Cahill is with us in spirit at our celebrations, keenly sympathetic.

Searching in one's memory for a word. to suggest the most characteristic fea. ture of Father Cahill, one finds one word continually recurring to mind - exactness.

For Father Cahill was exact in all he did and said. Like all historians he relished the dates of history, those num bers which give down to an exact point the deeds of man. And again he was exact in his memory of names and facts. If one hears a story often from the same person, one oftens notes slight discrep ancies in the telling, but with Father Cahill no, I have often heard him give his memories for example, of the famous case Saurin v. Starr, which had a peculiar interest to Catholics in the old world. ..... it was always the same as to fact in detail. He seemed to relate the details with a satisfaction which increased until the whole story finished, as it were, with a click of a complete adjustment and a smile in Father Cahill's face, as if one who would say “There you are, complete, exact the real and whole truth of this interesting little human comedy”. It was this obvious relish of telling that made his account. attractive to the listener. Father Cahill believed in and practised conversation, almost a lost art nowadays. “Tell me, now ...” he would question and at once you got going. He took an interest in all the doings of his fellow-men, and so longed for communication of ideas. Of all men and things with which he had contact at any time, he always retained an inter est. His days of schooling at Tullabeg and Stonyhurst, his studies in Ireland and on the Continent, his years of teaching in Australia. His life was full and his life was interesting to himself, And again here we react back to the same idea - exactness.

The obvious interest of Father Cahill at all points of his life showed an ad justment to circumstance. We are interested in what is, from a mental.view point, both new and yet old ... linked up with the old and introducing something new. Father Cahill relished his life as a Jesuit, because he fitted exactly into the cadre. He was at home and happy in the Society where all essentials were old and familiar, and looked out on the world outside with the interest almost of a child watching a procession from a window, every detail recorded and its beauty and novelty a delight for that moment, and for years after too, : in memory. . It was this exact adjustment to his milieu which made Father Cahill essen tially a good religious and Jesuit, an exact and devoted teacher. Of the seventy one years of his life - he was born in 1857, and died in 1928 - forty-two years were spent in teaching, and until the very end he showed by his careful preparation for class and his careful cor rection of work done by his class, his absorption in the work at hand. It often has been said that a life of each ing is a life of obscurity - I suppose in one sense this is so. The world hears little of the teacher, but he leaves his mark of good or ill, and the example of Father Cahill with his exact devotion to duty, his absolute punctuality - of course, true to type he had a watch that was always right, though the house clock might sometime be wrong - was an object lesson to all. But the abiding memory which is uppermost, and does most to help one, still in the struggle of life, is the memory of one, exactly adjusted to his vocation and surroundings, doing exactly the work assigned, and obviously relishing that work. It is a lesson of the joys that follow the exact performance of what God wants done, a consolation to us all in a world seething with dis content. In brief Father Cahill was the “faithful and prudent servant” rendered manifest in the flesh - a model to us all, “faithful over few things”, and now, we trust, placed over many, as a reward for exact dutiful service.

PJD

◆ The Clongownian, 1929

Obituary

Father Joseph Cahill SJ

Father Cahill’s first experience of Clongowes was from the master's desk. (As a boy he had been in Stonyhurst.) He came here just two years after the “Intermediate” was started, and was given the important work of preparing the boys of the Senior Grade, as well as acting as Sub-Prefect of Studies. Two years teaching then, and another spell of three years, from 1885 to 1888, and his work at Clongowes was done. Those who were taught by him know how well it was done. Some years later he left Ireland forever to do his work in Australia. No less than thirty-three years did he work in the Australian Colleges, and when death came it found him still active. Eamestness, steady, hard work were the key-notes of his life. Whether saying his prayers, teach ing a class, or playing a game, he was always the same-deadly in earnest. The realities of time and eternity were the things with which Father Joe Cahill had to deal, and he dealt with them to the exclusion of all others. Still there was not a touch of aloofness about him of a surly disregard for others, Quite the contrary, there was a plentiful supply of the milk of human kindness in his character, and that kindness was very genuine, if not demonstrative. He crowned a very hard-working holy life by a happy death in the College of St Aloysius, Sydney, on November 30th, 1928. RIP

Born: 29 February 1912, Gunnedah, NSW, Australia
Entered: 06 February 1931, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 08 January 1944, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 15 August 1947
Died: 23 December 1974, St Vincent's Hospital Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He was the youngest of three children and his mother died when he was ten months old. His father remarried and place his three children in an orphanage. The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, cared for him at St Anthony's, Kew 1916-1926. In 1926 he was given a scholarship to St Ignatius College Riverview and then entered the Society in 1931, influenced by William Lockington.

1931-1937 After First Vows he remained at Loyola Greenwich for a Juniorate which he continued at Loyola Watsonia, studying English, Greek, Latin and Mathematics. Hen then studied Philosophy, during which time his sister drowned, and perhaps not accidentally.
1938-1940 He was sent for regency to Xavier College Kew,
1941-1944 He studied Theology at Canisius College Pymble and was Ordained 1944.
1945-1946 He returned to Xavier College
1946-1947 He made Tertianship under John Fahy at Loyola Watsonia
1947-1949 He returned to Xavier College, mainly teach Mathematics and being assistant Prefect of Studies
1949-1962 He was sent to St Patrick’s College Melbourne, teaching Senior Mathematics. He was also Minister and Librarian at various times.
1962-1966 He was at St Ignatius College Riverview teaching Religion, Mathematics and Greek, and also editing “Our Alma Mater” (1964-1966)
1966-1973 He was sent to Burke Hall Kew, teaching Latin and Religion, and was also Prefect of Studies in 1972, his last year there.

He returned in 1973 and was made Superior of the Provincial Residence and secretary to the Provincial. However, early in 1974 his health began to deteriorate and a tumour on the brain was discovered. He died at St Vincent’s Hospital after about six months

Born: 26 December 1893, 9 Rathdown Terrace, Dublin
Entered: 17 February 1913, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1929, St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 14 September 1958, Lewisham Hospital, Lewisham, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1917 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1921 in Australia - Regency
by 1928 at St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at Belvedere College SJ before he entered the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg.

1915-1916 After First Vows he was at University College Dublin for his Juniorate
1916-1919 He was sent for Philosophy to St Aloysius, Jersey and Milltown Park, Dublin
1919 he was sent to Australia for Regency. He spent one year at Xavier College Kew (1919-1920) and then to St Ignatius Riverview as an Assistant Prefect of Discipline and a Teacher (1920-1922)
1922-1927 He returned to Ireland for Theology at Milltown Park.
1727-1728 He made tertianship at St Beuno’s, Wales.
1929-1946 He returned to Australia and St Ignatius Riverview, where he was assistant Minister, Senior Science Teacher and took care of the Rowing.
1945-1950 He was appointed Assistant Director of the Observatory at Riverview
1950 He was appointed Director of the Observatory at Riverview after Daniel O’Connell was appointed to the Vatican Observatory. He was particularly good at interpreting seismic patterns, and he picked up the Bikini atomic explosion, which was considered a security risk at the time he informed the US authorities. he was also the author of a number of scientific papers, the best known of which was probably “The Seismological and Related Aspects of the 1954 Hyrdogen Bomb Explosion”, which he wrote in conjunction with Professor KE Bullen, and was published in the “Australian Journal of Physics” in 1957.
He was a keen scientist. Teaching Physics he improvised brilliantly. he created the “Gaffoscope”, a device to illustrate the action of magnetic lines. His chief interest probably lay in Biology. he was very interested in wild life, especially snakes, which he dealt with fearlessly. But the most valuable part of his teaching probably was his devotion to truth that he instilled in his students and the appreciation he gave them by his own example of meticulous and untiring work.

As a Spiritual Father to the community, he was remembered for his monthly talks. They were simple, practical and solid, and expressed in an English of rare dignity and beauty, but more importantly their impact came from the fact that they were so clearly the principles that ruled his own austere life, the life of a man clearly dedicated to God and the truth.

He was a reserved man, very faithful to his duties and was an exemplary religious.. His observance of obedience was very strict, and he worked until just before his death. He was also a gentle man, considered too sensitive for the boys of Riverview who did not treat him kindly.

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
Burke-Gaffney, Thomas Noel (1893–1958)
by G. P. Walsh
G. P. Walsh, 'Burke-Gaffney, Thomas Noel (1893–1958)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/burke-gaffney-thomas-noel-9632/text16989, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 1 July 2020.

Died 14 September 1958 : Lewisham, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

astronomer; Catholic priest; schoolteacher; seismologist

Thomas Noel Burke-Gaffney (1893-1958), Jesuit priest, seismologist and astronomer, was born on 26 December 1893 at 9 Rathdown Terrace, Dublin, fourth son of Thomas Burke Gaffney, valuer, and his wife Jenny, née O'Donnell. Educated in 1901-12 at Belvedere College, Dublin, Noel entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg on 17 February 1913. He attended science lectures at the National University of Ireland in 1915-16 and in 1917-19 studied philosophy at Jersey, Channel Islands, and at Milltown Park, Dublin. After teaching at St Francis Xavier's College, Melbourne, in 1921, and at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney, in 1922-23, he returned to Ireland to complete his theology studies at Milltown Park where he was ordained priest on 31 July 1926.

In September 1928 he returned to Riverview where he taught science until becoming assistant-director of Riverview College Observatory in 1946 (director from 1952). Although Burke-Gaffney was a dedicated and unorthodox teacher of physics who used ingenious devices like his 'gaffoscope' to illustrate degaussing, he was a poor disciplinarian in the classroom, 'too gentle for the boys of Riverview'. Nevertheless, he was loved by his pupils and famed for his little zoo of native animals—his 'gafferoos' as he called them—which delighted a loyal and devoted following of country boys. He possessed 'an uncanny ability to tame wild creatures', and instilled into his boys the importance and nobility of the natural sciences.

A keen and devoted scientist, Burke-Gaffney published papers on the seismicity of Australia, on the detection of S waves in the earth's inner core and on special phases from New Zealand earthquakes. His most notable contribution was four papers written with Professor K. E. Bullen on the seismic aspects of nuclear explosions, studies which attracted worldwide attention. Burke-Gaffney was the first to discover that nuclear explosions detonated at or near ground level showed up on seismographs. A council-member (1954-58) and vice-president (1957-58) of the Royal Society of New South Wales, he unstintingly helped many young seismologists and did valuable work as secretary-convenor of the sub-committee on seismology of the Australian national committee for the International Geophysical Year (1957-58).

Father Burke-Gaffney also carried out extensive work on variable stars. A man of great faith, he found it hard to understand how an astronomer could ever be an atheist: 'Astronomy', he said, 'constantly impresses you with the majesty of the Almighty, and the regularity of its laws presupposes the Lawgiver'.

Slightly built and somewhat self-effacing, Burke-Gaffney lived quietly and austerely. Few outside his college friends and scientific colleagues got to know him well, but those who did found him 'a charming and liberal-minded man, graced with a gentle dignity and a delightful humour'. Revered as an outstanding community member, he was truly—vir Deo deditus et veritati (a man dedicated to God and to the truth). He died of Hodgkin's disease on 14 September 1958 in Lewisham hospital and was buried in Gore Hill cemetery.

Select Bibliography
E. Lea-Scarlett, Riverview (Syd, 1989)
St Ignatius College, Riverview (Sydney), Our Alma Mater, 1952, 1957, 1958
Nature (London), 15 Nov 1958, p 1343
Australian Journal of Science, 21, 1958, p 133
Royal Astronomical Society, Monthly Notice, 119, 1959, p 344
Royal Society of New South Wales, Journal, 93, 1959, p 86
Belvederian (Dublin), 1959
Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Oct 1948, 9 Sept, 4 Oct 1952, 25 Apr 1953, 4 Mar 1954, 8 June, 3 July, 19 Sept 1957, 15 Sept 1958

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 34th Year No 1 1959
Obituary :
Fr Thomas Noel Burke-Gaffney (1893-1958)
With the death of Fr. Burke-Gaffney Australian geophysics and Jesuit science suffered a great loss. He was the director of the Riverview College Observatory since 1952, when the former director, Fr. D. O'Connell, was appointed to the Vatican Observatory, Castelgandolfo. He maintained and increased the reputation of Riverview as a first class observatory and the most important in the southern hemisphere. He carried on the work of his predecessors, the routine observations and measurements of stars and earthquakes, as begun by Fr. Pigot and continued by Fr. O'Leary and Fr. O'Connell.
Educated at Belvedere College, Fr. Burke-Gaffney entered Tullabeg, on 17th February, 1913, studied at the National University, did philosophy in Jersey and theology in Ireland and returned as a priest to Australia. At Riverview he was appointed senior science master. Always a scientist, his earlier interest was in biology and his “200” is remembered by former generations of Riverview boys. He taught physics for many years and in 1946 was appointed assistant to Fr. O'Connell in the observatory, Here he quickly mastered the routine work and became expert in the reading and interpretation of the records. As director he continued this work which is summed up in, the bulletins issued by the observatory. This should be reckoned his most important contribution to science on account of the excellence of the records and the accuracy of his measurements.
Fr. Burke-Gaffney played a valuable part in the Australian I.G.Y. programme on the national committee for seismology and was for several years a member of the council of the Royal Society of N.S.W. His published work includes seven papers on seismology mainly written in collaboration with Professor Bullen of the University of Sydney. The papers were concerned with the seismicity of Australia, the problem of discovering S waves in the earth's inner core, special phases from New Zealand earthquakes, and seismic aspects of nuclear explosions, The last work attracted world-wide attention, he was the first to publish the recordings of atomic explosions. Professor Bullen, in his presidential address to the International Association of Seismology in Toronto, 1957, on Seismology in Our Atomic Age paid full tribute to this work of Fr. Burke-Gaffney and in Nature (15th November, 1958) described him as one who “lived austerely and was one of Australia's most unassuming scientists and a man of quiet gentle dignity”. He was, moreover, spiritual father of his community, his exhortations are described as simple, practical, solid and expressed in English of rare dignity and beauty. He died on 14th September and was buried in Gore Hill cemetery. R.I.P.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1959

Obituary

Father Noel Burke-Gaffney SJ

With the death of Fr Burke-Gaffney, Australian geophysics and Jesuit science suffered a great loss. He was director of the Riverview College Observatory since 1952, when the former director Fr D O'Connell, was appointed to the Vatican Observatory, Castelgandolfo. He maintained and increased the reputation of Riverview as a first-class observatory and the most important in the southern hemisphere. He carried on the work of his predecessors, the routine measurements and observations of stars and earthquakes begun by Fr Pigot and continued by Fr O'Leary and Fr O'Connell.

He was born in Dublin and educated. at Belvedere. Having completed his initial training in the Society of Jesus, which he entered in February, 1913, he attended lectures at the National University and did his course of Philosophy, partly in Ireland and partly at Jersey, Channel Islands.

He went to Australia in 1921 and after some years teaching returned to Ireland for Theology at Milltown Park. He was ordained priest there on July 31st, 1926. He then returned to Australia and was Senior Science Master at Riverview until 1946 when he became Assistant Director of the College Observatory and Director in 1952.

Fr Burke-Gaffney was a keen scientist, yet his chief interest lay probably with biology and he was famous among the boys of Riverview principally for his “zoo”. Teaching Physics, he improvised brilliantly and was a master in the devising of equipment. But the most valuable part of his teaching was surely the devotion to truth he instilled into his pupils and the appreciation he gave them, by his own example of meticulous and untiring work, of the importance and nobility of the natural sciences - “The heavens proclaim the glory of God”.

He played a valuable part in the Australian IGY programme on the national committee for seismology and was for several years a member of the council of the Royal Society of New South
Wales. He wrote many scientific papers the chief of which were concerned with the seismicity of Australia, the problem of discovering S waves in the earth's inner core, special phases from New Zealand earthquakes, and seismic aspects of nuclear explosions. The last work attracted world-wide attention, he was the first to publish the recordings of atomic explosions. Professor K E Bullen, in his presidential address to the International Association of Seismology in Toronto, 1957, paid fuil tribute to this work of Fr Burke-Gaffney.

His fellow religious have paid tribute to his qualities as a religious and as a man. He was always a wonderful community man. It was one of his greatest consolations during his last illness that he was allowed to return for a few weeks to be with them at Riverview. He had been Spiritual Father to the Community there and had been much valued for his practical, solid talks, valuable chiefly in that they were so clearly the outcome of the principles that ruled his own austere life, the life of a man completely dedicated to God and the truth. - Vir Deo deditus et veritati.

Born: 14 May 1905, Armidale, NSW, Australia
Entered: 18 February 1922, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Professed: 02 February 1940
Died; 13 August 1988, Clare, South Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

by 1928 at Eegenhoven, Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

Second World War chaplain

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was by the Christian Brothers at St Mary’s, Toowoomba and then at the University of Queensland, before entereing at Loyola College Greenwich.

1924-1927 After First Vows he was sent to Dublin (Rathfarnham Castle) where he studied Latin, English, Mathematics and Physics at University College Dublin, graduating with a BA in 1927
1927-1930 He was sent to Leuven, Belgium for Philosophy
1930-1934 He returned to Australia and Regency at St Ignatius Riverview. Here he taught History and Science. He feel foul of the Rector William Lockington when he took photos of the Chapel roof falling down on morning during Mass - it was thought the original design was the result of an impetuous decision by the Rector.
1934-1938 He returned to Ireland and Milltown Park for Theology
1938-1939 He made Tertianship at St Beuno’s Wales
1939-1941 He returned to Australia and teaching at St Aloysius Sydney
1942-1945 He became a Military Chaplain with the 2nd AIF, serving in the Middle East and Borneo, and when he retired he was a Major. He was well remembered by those who served with him for his kindness in writing home for hospital patients, and he was one of the few people who could get mail out at that stage. In subsequent years he attended reunions of his regiment, and ANZAC Day dawn services was a feature of his life.
1945-1947 He went back teaching at St Aloysius College Sydney
1947-1949 He was sent to Sevenhill
1950-1953 he was sent to do parish work at Toowong Brisbane
1953 He returned to Sevenhill where his contact with the people and as chaplain at the Clare Hospital gained him a reputation of a man of compassion, not only with his own parishioners, but with those from other denominations. He was a people’s priest, especially for children, the sick and elderly.
He spent most of his priestly life working among the people of Clare and Sevenhill. he was much loved, and portraits of him hang at Sevenhill and the Clare District Hospital. In total he spent 33 years there, and was much in demand for weddings, baptisms and funerals. A park and Old person’s home were named after him and he was named Citizen of the Year for Clare in 1986. At the 100th anniversary of the opening of the old sandstone-and-slate St Aloysius Church at Sevenhill, he wrote a booklet on the conception and building of the Church and College. Confidently fearless of electricity he made repairs and renovations to fittings and circuitry around the house. he also looked after the seismograph.
There were many legends of his driving ability. His pursuit of rabbits and vermin off the edge of the road cause fright to more than his passengers! His final act of driving involved hitting a tree in Clare now known as “Fr Frank’s Tree” which still bears the marks! Eventually some collusion between police and Jesuits resulted in his losing his licence, and he then relied on friends.
1972-1973 He was Parish Priest of Joseph Pignatelli parish in Attadale, Adelaide.

He was a man of charm and wit, humble and self effacing. Tall and lanky, with prominent teeth, he loved a laugh and always amused to see the mickey taken out of pompousness or self righteousness. He encouraged conversation and expansiveness. he was a man who was a natural repository of confidences, and his common sense and wisdom reflected an incarnational spirituality.
He was legendary in the parish as a fried to everybody, especially the needy or troubled. Eschewing denomination, he brought Christ to everyone he met, causing consternation among the more canonical when he celebrated sacraments with all denominations.
In his later years his forgetfulness was legendary too. He was often corrected at Mass by parishioners, late for funerals, using wrong names at baptisms and weddings.

He enjoyed being a pastoral priest and a Jesuit, was faithful to prayer and had a great devotion to Our Lady.He could preach at length and his liturgies were not the most celebratory, but they were prayerful and devotional. he communicated his own simple spirituality easily to others.

He always enjoyed the company of other Jesuits. He was a much loved and appreciated man

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 17th Year No 3 1942
Australia :

Writing on 21st February last, Rev. Fr. Meagher Provincial, reports Fr. Basil Loughnan has gone off to be a Chaplain. We have three men Chaplains now. Fr. Turner was in Rabaul when we last heard of him and it would seem we shall not hear from him again for some time to come. Fr. F. Burke was in Greece and I don’t quite know where at the moment.

Born: 01 September 1867, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 02 February 1884, Richmond, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 1897
Professed; 15 August 1903
Died: 15 May 1945, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

by 1892 at Exaeten College Limburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1893 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1899 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Note from Patrick Muldoon Entry :
Entered at the new Irish Novitiate in Richmond, and it was then moved to Xavier College Kew. He went there with Joseph Brennan and John Newman, Scholastic Novices, and Brother Novices Bernard Doyle and Patrick Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at St Patrick’s College, Melbourne, before entering the Society, first at Sevenhill and then at Richmond and Xavier College Kew, under Aloysius Sturzo.

1886-1888 and 1890-1891 He was a teacher and Prefect of Discipline at Xavier College
1888-1890 He was a Teacher of Greek, Latin and English as well as Prefect of Discipline at St Ignatius College, Riverview.
1891-1894 he was sent abroad for studies, first to Exaeten College, Netherlands for one year of Philosophy, and then two more years Philosophy at Leuven, Belgium.
1894-1898 He was sent to Milltown Park, Dublin for Theology
1898-1899 He made Tertianship at Drongen, Belgium.
1899-1901 He returned to Australia and teaching senior Physics at St Aloysius College, Burke Street
1901-1908 He was sent to St Ignatius College, Riverview to teach and was also a Division Prefect. He was a very strict disciplinarian.
1908-1914 He was sent to the Richmond Parish
1914-1916 He was sent teaching and prefecting at Xavier College. Here he was also Rowing master in 1915.
1916-1922 He was appointed Superior and Parish Priest at St Ignatius Parish, Richmond, and at the same time served as a Consultor of the Mission. From 1921-1922 he was also very involved in the second Church in the parish, St James’, North Richmond.
1923-1936 he returned teaching at Xavier College. At the same time he was an examiner in quinquennials, Spiritual Father, and Admonitor at various times.

Apart from a period of Parish work at Hawthorn in 1937 and Richmond 1942-1944, he spent the rest of his life at Xavier College. He took a special interest in games, particularly Australian Rules, on which he was an authority.
He was a very tall and powerful man who had been a stern disciplinarian in his early days. He was noted as being a very good theologian and very definite in his answers to moral problems. As a preacher, he was solid but dull. He was regularly left in charge of the Vice-Province when the Provincial was away. He had a high reputation among secular clergy as well.

At the request of the General, in 1921-1922 he was asked to solve a serious problem concerning a plantation in Gayaba, New Guinea. He was also chosen to superintend the foundation of Corpus Christi College, Werribee, whilst awaiting the arrival of the Rector, Albert Power. Finally he was responsible for making arrangements with the Archbishop of Perth, Dr Prendiville, for the establishment of St Louis School in 1938

Note from Vincente Guimera Entry
Vincente Guimera entered the 'Society in 1890, and after studies and some teaching, he was sent to New Guinea in the 1920s to help find a solution to the problems in a mission that had been acquired from the German Franciscans. The superior general asked the Australian superior, William Lockington, to settle the matter, and he sent Joseph A. Brennan to New Guinea. They closed the mission and gave it to the SVDs. Three Spanish Jesuits then came to Sydney briefly and stayed at Loyola. Guimera subsequently lived and taught at St Aloysius' College, 1924-25

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 20th Year No 3 1945
Obituary :
Fr. Joseph Brennan (1867-1884-1945)
Fr. Joseph Brennan, a member of the Australian Vice-Province, died at St. Ignatius' Residence, Richmond, Melbourne, on May 16th.

Born in Victoria, Australia, 6th September, 1867, be entered the Society at St. Ignatius, Richmond, 23rd January, 1884. He came to Europe for his higher studies. At Exaten in Holland he pursued his philosophy and at Milltown Park, Dublin, his theology, and was ordained in Dublin in 1897. He made his third year's probation at Tronchiennes.
On his return to Australia he was attached to Riverview College, Sydney, as Prefect of discipline, a post he held for ten successive years, 1900-1910. In the latter year he was changed to St. Ignatius Residence, Richmond, and remained operarius till 1915 when he re turned to the class-room, teaching at St. Aloysius College, North Sydney, 1915-1924. From 1924 to 1942 (with a break of one year at Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne) be taught uninterruptedly and was at the same time Spiritual Father to the community. The last three years of his life he was stationed at St. Ignatius', Richmond. May he rest in peace.

Born: 19 March 1869, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 November 1886, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 27 July 1902, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1905
Died: 17 October 1953, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1897 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1889
by 1904 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1905 returned to Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He entered the Society at Dromore, Northern Ireland under John Colgan.

1888-1889 He studied Rhetoric at St Stanislaus, Tullabeg
1890-1894 He was sent to Australia and St Aloysius Sydney, teaching fourth grade.
1895-1896 He taught at Riverview and was involved in Theatre, Choir, Music and Debating.
1897-1899 He was sent to Leuven for Philosophy
1899-1903 He was sent to Milltown Park Dublin for Theology
1903-1904 He made Tertianship at Drongen, Belgium
1904-1906 He was Director and Editor of the Irish Messenger, taught and was Prefect of the Gymnasium at Belvedere College SJ.
1906-1919 Because of chronic bronchial problems he was sent back to Australia and Xavier College Kew. There he taught, was Hall Prefect, and Prefect of Studies from 1908-1917. He also edited the Xavierian 1915-1917, and wrote a popular school novel “The Heart of the School”, a light commentary on social life at Xavier.
1918-1949 He began his most remarkable position as Editor of the “Australian Messenger of the Sacred Heart” and “Madonna”. During this time he was stationed at St Patrick’s, Melbourne, where he also served as rector and Prefect of Studies from 1919-1921. He also held the job of National Director of the “Apostleship of Prayer” and promoter of the Marian Congregation within the vice-Province. During this time he built a fine entrance hall and science block, which also contained the Messenger building.
1949-1953 His final years were spent at Canisius College Pymble, where he continued to write.

Throughout his life he was afflicted with deafness, and soon after Ordination he became almost totally deaf. He continued to give retreats and hear confessions, but it was only late in life that he received real help from hearing aids. He had a most joyful nature that endeared him to people. He was a good writer, a fine editor and a popular retreat giver.

Note from Vincent Johnson Entry
Father Eustace Boylan did not seem to have the necessary financial acumen to balance the books, but Johnson soon sorted out the financial situation and restored balance to the financial department.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 29th Year No 1 1954

Obituary :
Father Eustace Boylan (1869-1953)
On October 17th, the Feast of St. Margaret Mary, Father Boylan, who had devoted so many years of his life to spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart, died at Canisius College, Pymble.
He was born in Dublin in 1869 on the feast of St. Joseph, was educated at Belvedere College and entered the Novitiate at Dromore, Co. Down, on 7th November 1886. Four years later he went to Australia and spent the next six as master at St. Aloysius' and Riverview Colleges in Sydney. He studied philosophy at Louvain and theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained priest in 1903.
He made his Tertianship at Tronchiennes, and then became editor of the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, and taught as well at Belvedere, during the years 1905-7. In the following year, owing to bronchial trouble he was transferred to Australia and was prefect of studies at Kew College 1908-18. In the latter year began his long association with St. Patrick's, Melbourne, where he was Rector during the years 1919-22 and editor for 32 years of the Australian Messenger. For 30 years he edited as well the Madonna, organ of the Sodality, and was National Director of the Apostleship of Prayer. His rare literary talents were thus given full scope. In addition to regular editorial articles, he found time to write many booklets on religious and apologetical subjects. His pamphlet on the Inquisition was a best seller. He was author of two well-known works of fiction : Mrs. Thunder and Other Tales and a 400-page school story dealing with Kew College, entitled The Heart of the School, which was hailed by competent critics as the finest school story since Tom Brown's School-Days. His latest work, entitled What is Chastity, which suggests a method of instructing the young in the matter of purity, will appear shortly from the publishing house of Clonmore and Reynolds.
Fr. Boylan represented the Australian Province at the Jesuit Congress held in Rome in the autumn of 1948 in connection with the work of the Apostleship of Prayer and on that occasion he spent some months in our Province. He was an ardent admirer of the late Fr. Henry Fegan, who had been his master in the old days, and during his stay in Dublin Fr. Boylan gathered material for a Memoir of his patron, and for that purpose interviewed many who had known Fr. Fegan well, both Jesuits and laymen.
Admirers of Fr. Boylan claimed for him the distinction of having won for himself the widest circle of real friends ever formed in Australasia : a large claim, assuredly, but, given his genius for friendship and the opportunities that were his during a long and busy life, that claim may not be unfounded. Certain it is that his long association with the Messenger and Madonna brought him into thousands of homes.
The hope has been expressed that selections from his writings will be given permanent form in a Volume for publication ; his excellent prose writing would thus be preserved from oblivion to the advantage of the rising generation. R.I.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Eustace Boylan 1869-1953
On October 17th 1953, on the Feast of Margaret Mary, Fr Eustace Boylan, who had given so many years of his life to the devotion of the Sacred Heart, died at Canisius College, Pymble, Australia.

Born in Dublin in 1869, he was educated at Belvedere, and entered the Noviceship at Dromore in 1886.

After his ordination he was editor of the “Irish Messenger” from 1905-1907. Then owing to bad bronchial trouble he went to Australia.

In Australia he became Rector of St Patrick’s Melbourne 1919-1922. Retiring from the Rectorship he began his long career of 32 years as editor of the Australian Messenger and for 30 years editor of the Madonna. He was a prolific writer. His pamphlet on the Inquisition was a best seller, while his school story “The Heart of the School”, was hailed by critics as the finest school story since “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1954

Obituary

Father Eustace Boylan SJ

Fr Eustace Boylan, who died in Australia last October, brings us back a long way in our search for his first connection with Belvedere. It was in 1884 that he came to the College, and after two years he entered the Society where he was to give 67 years of devoted service to God. It has been pointed out to us that last year's “Belvederian”" unwittingly overlooked his distinction of being the oldest living OB. This he undoubtedly was at the time the article concerned was written, and had he lived to read it, we can well imagine the chuckle with which Fr Eustace might have said: “I am not dead yet”. Alas, he himself had corrected the error two months before publication, and had handed on his distinction to his old school-mate, Fr Lambert McKenna.

After the usual training Fr Boylan was ordained in 1903. In 1905 he was back here to teach and to edit the Messenger of the Sacred Heart for two years. It was at that time that the late Fr Bernard Page, then a Scholastic, founded and was the first Editor of the “Belvederian”. He was indeed fortunate in having by his side Fr Boylan, who had already begun a lifetime of editing.
Fr Boylan left his native Dublin in 1907 for Australia, where he had earlier spent some years teaching. This time he was to remain, beginning as Prefect of Studies and Master in St Francis Xavier's College, Melbourne. In 1919 he became Rector and Prefect of Studies of St. Patrick's College in the same city, and a few years later he began 32 years as Editor of the Australian Messenger of the Sacred Heart, during 30 of which he also edited the Madonna. Throughout this period he lectured and wrote books and pamphlets with considerable success, but his principal work was always the Messenger, and we conclude with part of an appreciation which appeared in it after his death.

Father Boylan was a merry man. He had no place for the gloomy or pessimistic view of things. Perhaps this was because he never ceased to have the heart of a boy. He knew the boy's heart well and was at his best describing it. He had the power of seeing the humour of things quickly, and his vivid imagination would work on any odd phrase or act and draw the greatest fun from it. His optimism, which led him always to see the best of things, together with his childlike simplicity, prevented him from ever being cynical in his judgment of others.

Eustace Boylan has gone to his reward : the reward of a life of 84 year's lived for God. Before him have gone the works of those years, the Masses offered and Sacraments conferred innumerable times, students helped through difficulties, and sinners helped to Grace, troubled souls counselled and encouraged; partners helped on to marriage and many lives brightened. If the Kingdom of Heaven is for those who are as little children, he enters truly into his glory. May he rest in eternal peace."

Born: 05 January 1909, Chain of Ponds, South Australia
Entered: 08 March 1929, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 13 May 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1946
Died 17 March 1990, Adelaide, Australia- Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

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

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He was the third child of seven, and after primary school he moved to Adelaide to live with his grandmother in the Jesuit parish of Norwood. His secondary school consisted of passing a bursary exam for Stott’s Business College where he did the Intermediate Certificate in one year instead of three. From there he started work at fourteen, first for his uncle, then for four years at the SA Savings Bank, where he stayed until he was twenty and then joined the Jesuits.

1929-1934 He spend these five years in Sydney, doing his Noviciate at Loyola Greenwich and teaching at St Aloysius and Riverview. At the latter he was also Third Division Prefect and taught mainly English and Latin.
He then moved to the newly opened Loyola College Watsonia for his Juniorate and Philosophy studies, unable to take University studies as he had not matriculated. While at Watsonia, he lightened the lives of the scholars with his much appreciated productions of several plays and operettas, especially Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Ruddigore” and “Patience”.
1939-1946 He went by ship with the last Australian group to study Theology at Milltown Park Dublin. On the way war broke out, and the ship was held up for three months at Goa, India. He was Ordained in Ireland in 1942. Following Tertianship in Ireland, he also taught in Ireland and England.
1946-1953 He finally returned to Australia at Loyola College Watsonia, where he taught Philosophy and was assistant to the Novice Master.
1954-1959 he was sent to Hawthorn as Parish Priest and enjoyed this pastoral experience. One legacy of his time was the installation of a stained glass window in the western transept.
1960-1969 He returned to Adelaide as Rector and Parish priest at Norwood. it was during this time that the question arose about the future of the secondary school. He was in favour of a multi-storey school on the Norwood site, but this was not to be. Those who lived with him noticed that he tended to avoid making difficult decisions, was not good at consulting others, perhaps because of absent-mindedness, but he was zealous, hardworking and kind towards the community, he was probably over sensitive to criticism.
In 1969 He was sent back to Melbourne and Xavier College where he remained for the rest of his life. He found teaching difficult and the boys were now of a different generation, but he continued teaching English for a number of years. English literature was one of his great loves. . His students reported experiencing some of his enthusiasm and joy of literature. He was fascinated by language, loved cryptic crosswords, ad punned mercilessly with a grin. He also wrote poetry in his earlier days and articles for the “Madonna”. He also assisted the editor John Hamilton Smith with editing articles. He also contributed articles for the “Visitor” the journal for the Assumption Sodality.
He was a lover of all sport, especially cricket, football and horses. However, he was hopeless at remembering the names of his Jesuit brethren. In his retirement he published a book of poetry called “The City of Power”, a rendering into English of some of the works of the Czech poet Jan Zahradnicek, who died as a result of almost ten years communist imprisonment.
After retiring from teaching he worked in the Archives of Xavier, putting some order into the materials and writing memorable articles about the past.

For many he modelled a blend of wisdom, kindness, dedication and service. He had great familiarity with the Spiritual Exercises that were the rock of his faith, sustaining him through periods of unworthiness and self doubt. His trust in God was absolute. He was a regular Retreat Director even give Retreats i Daily Life in his latter years.
He was a good storyteller, philosopher, Parish priest and Schoolteacher, a Superior of communities, a spiritual guide, historian and he loved children.
In his later sickness he did not want to be a burden to anyone, but he accepted his declining ability to look after himself.

His life was a mixture of leading and being led, of setbacks and disappointments, of kindness and achievements. Above all, he remained a faithful servant of the Lord.

Born: 26 December 1876, Pakenham, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 10 October 1896, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 28 July 1912, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1914, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 27 August 1969, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to AsL : 05 April 1931

by 1908 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1912 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He came from a very large family and had innumerable relatives all over Australia.
He was educated at St Patrick’s Melbourne and spent a year on his father’s farm before entering at Loyola Greenwich.
1898-1901 Juniorate at Loyola Greenwich
1901-1907 Regency at St Ignatius, Riverview as teacher, Prefect of discipline, junior Librarian, junior Debating Prefect, working with boarders and also rowing.
1907-1909 Philosophy at Stonyhurst, England
1909-1911 Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin
1911-1912 Theology at Posilipo, Naples and Ordained at Milltown Park
1912-1913 Tertianship at St Stanislaus, Tullabeg
1913-1916 He returned to Australia and firstly to St Patrick’s, Melbourne
1916-1921 He was sent to Xavier College, Kew
1921-1931 He returned to St Patrick’s, Melbourne as Rector (the second Old Patrician to hold this office). In 1922 he issues the first school magazine the “Patrician”. He built some new classrooms in the north wing of the College, restored the front entrance hall, adding a mosaic floor.
In the 1930s he failed to establish a Preparatory School at Caulfield.
He won the hearts of his students with his good natured humour. He taught English, Religion and Latin, and especially communicate this love of the poetry of Scott, Coleridge and Longfellow. He never neglected the Australian poets, especially Lawson and O’Brien. He also produced a play “The Sign of the Cross”, in which most boys in the school had a part.

After St Patrick’s he was appointed to the Richmond parish, where he was Socius to the Provincial for 15 years, kept the financial books, directed retreats and was Minister and procurator of the house. He also engaged in priestly ministry in the parish.
1934 As Minister at Richmond he set up the new house of studies, Loyola College Watsonia.
1934-1969 He spent these years in parish ministry at Richmond and Hawthorn. It was mainly at Richmond where he was most valued and appreciated. He was both Superior and Parish priest at both locations at various times.
His last days were spent at Loyola College Watsonia, suffering the effects of a stroke.

At almost 90 years of age he was invited by the Berwick Shire Council, within whose jurisdiction his birthplace Packenham lies, to write a history of the Bourke family of Packenham as a contribution to the shire’s centenary celebrations. He undertook this work with zest and thoroughness, researching, interviewing and travelling. He also wrote a similar book on his mother’s side of the family.It was facetiously said of him that he suffered from “multiple consanguinity”. The Bourkes were no inconsiderable clan with deep family attachments. he never overlooked a relationship, no matter how tenuous. Beyond these he had a vast army of friends towards whom he displayed an almost extravagant loyalty.

He was a genial, slightly quick-tempered type of man whose work in both schools and parishes was appreciated. He received the cross “pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” for his work in organising the National Eucharistic Congress at Melbourne in 1934.

One of his outstanding characteristics was an astonishing gift for remembering names and faces. This came from his love of people and God’s world in general. He was always warm and gracious to all who knew him, He had a spirit of optimism and was a practical man of affairs. He showed clarity of mind, singleness of purpose and a remarkable orderliness of disposition that marked his life. St Patrick’s College and the parish of Richmond could not be remembered with recalling the considerable influence that he had on the people he served.

Born: 10 May 1841, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1870
Final vows: 02 February 1878
Died: 22 August 1921, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

by 1869 at Amiens, France (CAMP) studying
by 1870 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1872 at Glasgow, Scotland (ANG) working
by 1877 at Castres, France (TOLO) making Tertianship
Early Irish Mission to Australia 1884

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He entered from Maynooth where he had already been ordained Deacon.

After Ordination he spent some time at an Operarius, was briefly at Crescent, and for over six years a Catechist on the Missionary Staff.
1883 he was sent to Australia and there he spent some years in Melbourne and Sydney. He was also an Operarius at Hawthorn.
1895 He was at St Patrick’s Melbourne
1901 He was sent to St Aloysius, Sydney.
1902 He was sent to Norwood
1903 He was sent to Adelaide
1905 He was sent to Riverview.
1907 He was sent to Sevenhill
1908-1914 He was sent to Norwood again.
1914 He returned to Sevenhill and he died there 22 August 1921.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He entered the Society as a Diocesan Priest having previously studied at Maynooth.

1868-1869 He was sent to St Acheul, Amiens, France for Rhetoric studies
1869-1870 He was sent to Leuven for theology
1870-1871 He was sent teaching to Clongowes Wood College
1871-1876 He went to Glasgow to work in a Parish there.
1876-1877 He made tertianship at Castres, France
1878-1882 He was a Missioner giving Retreats all over the country
1882-1885 He was sent teaching to Crescent College Limerick.
1885-1886 He was sent to Australia and Xavier College Kew
1886-1890 and 1900-1902 He was at St Aloysius Bourke Street teaching
1890-1891 He was sent for Parish work to Hawthorn
1891-1894 He was sent for Parish work to St Mary’s
1894-1895 He was sent for Parish work to Richmond
1895-1900 He was sent teaching to St Patrick’s College Melbourne
1904-1906 He was sent teaching to St Ignatius College Riverview
1903-1904 and 1907-1916 he was at St Ignatius Parish Norwood.
1913-1921 He was sent to do Parish work at Sevenhill

He seems to have been a little unsettled. moving frequently, and in later life was much troubled by scruples.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father James Cleary (1841-1921)

A native of Waterford, entered the Society in 1866. He was a member of the church staff at the Crescent from 1882 to 1885. This latter year he joined the mission in Australia where he was engaged first as master but later and for many years in church work until the time of his death at Sevenhills.

Born: 08 August 1879, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 01 March 1899, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1918
Died: 17 September 1943, Caritas Christi Hospital, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL: 05 April 1931

by 1910 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
Younger brother of Peter - RIP 1955

Educated mainly at St Aloysius College, Bourke Street, and his last year at Riverview. His contemporaries remember his as being very reliable and steady in temperament and in studies. He was “dux” of the school in his last year, and gained first class honours in Mathematics, qualifying for the matriculation entrance at the University in the faculties of Law, Medicine, Science and Engineering.

1901-1903 After First Vows he taught Mathematics at Riverview
1903-1909 He taught Mathematics at Xavier College, Kew
1909-1914 He was sent to Stonyhurst College for Philosophy and then for Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was Ordained.
1915-1916 He was at Belvedere College SJ teaching Mathematics before returning to Australia
1918-1921 He taught Mathematics at Xavier College, Kew
1921-1922 He was at Riverview, but found it very difficult
1923-1930 He returned to Xavier where he was Prefect of Studies
1930-1942 He was sent to teach Mathematics to the higher classes at St Patrick’s, Melbourne, being Prefect of Studies (1931-1935).
1942-1943 He returned to Xavier, but his health broke down.
He died at Caritas Christi Hospice, Kew

He was described as a “picturesque figure”, a strong disciplinarian, critical of the achievements of his pupils, with whom he was popular, despite the fact that he gave them very little hope of ever passing an examination. He was a strenuous worker and a careful and stimulating teacher. He had the happy knack of teaching with the lighter touch, and his success in getting the best out of his students was probably largely due to his method of leading rather than driving.
Students were attracted to him for his unselfishness and his kindly interest, combined with a fund of good humour. They found him a good teacher, firm but just , and he was affectionately known by his initials WIB”. He had a gruff manner frequently combined with a twinkle in his eye. He had many good friends among the old scholars, and continued to show interest in them.
His Jesuit colleagues found him to be a “good community man”, very loyal to his colleagues, shrewd, energetic, hardworking, full of vitality, and apart from attendance at football matches on Saturdays with some sporting friends, he had no interests outside his work and community life. He was a devoted Chaplain for many years to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart at Mena House.

His end came eighteen months after a sudden heart attack, a time that was very painful for him. His condition weakened him considerably, causing him to lose his former fire and vitality.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 18th Year No 3 1943

Obituary :

Father William Baker SJ (1877-1943)

The death of Fr. William Baker in Melbourne, at the age of 64 is just announced. He had been in failing health for some time past. An Australian, he entered the Society 1st March, 1899, and had Fr. Sturzo for Master of novices. He did his Colleges at Riverview and Kew before coming to Europe for his higher studies, philosophy at Stonyhurst (1910-'12) and theology at Milltown Park where he was ordained priest in 1914. He taught for a year at Belvedere before his tertianship which he made at Tullabeg. Returning to Australia he spent the rest of his life, practically, in the class-room or directing studies as prefect of studies, chiefly at Xavier College, Melbourne. He was a very inspiring and successful teacher of mathematics. His golden heart and drole humour will be remembered by those of the Irish Province who had the good fortune of knowing him. R.I.P.

Born: 29 November 1849, Cheslea, London, England
Entered: 12 November 1890, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Final Vows: 02 February 1901, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 16 October 1911, Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He joined the Irish Mission in Australia and did his Noviceship under Luigi Sturzo.
1893-1901 He was sent to Riverview as Assistant Director of the “Messenger”, Reader in the Refectory and assisting in the community.
1901-1909 He was sent to St Patrick’s Melbourne, again as Assistant Director to Michael Watson of the “Messenger”, Reader in the Refectory and assisting in the community.
1909 Due to failing health he was sent to Loyola, Greenwich, and he died there 16/10/1911.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
1892-1900 After First Vows he went to St Ignatius College Riverview, engaged in domestic duties, sacristan, infirmarian and assistant to the editor of the “Messenger”
1901-1908 He performed similar duties at St Patrick’s College, Melbourne
1908-1911 He did domestic duties at the Retreat House, was Refectorian, Manductor of the Brother novices and infirmarian at the Noviciate of Loyola College Greenwich.

He was buried at Gore Hill.

Born: 02 April 1911, Geashill, Walsh Island, County Offaly
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 06 January 1945, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 02 February 1948, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Died: 20 January 1957, Mater Hospital, Vulture Street, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Part of the Manresa, Toowong, Brisbane, Australia and Wah Yan, Hong Kong communities at the time of death

Older brother of Denis Carroll - RIP 1992

by 1939 at Loyola Hong Kong - studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He was one of twelve children, eight of whom entered Religion, and a brother of his Denis also became a Jesuit and worked in Zambia (RIP 1992).
His early education was at Mungret College, and he was one of 32 Novices who entered St Mary’s, Emo in 1930.
1932-1935 After First Vows he went to Rathfarnham Castle Dublin, and studied at University College Dublin, where he graduated BA in English and History.
1935-1938 He was sent to St Stanislaus College Tullabeg for Philosophy
1938-1941 He was went for Regency to Hong Kong, including language school at Cheung Chau and teaching at Wah Yan College Hong Kong. he found the Cantonese dialect very difficult, and yet while there he also edited the Wah Yan College Annual “The Star”.
1941-1945 As it was impossible to return to Europe for Theology, he and three other Scholastics were sent to Australia for these studies. he enjoyed his time there and the Australian Jesuits found him pleasant company. While waiting for Theology to began he taught for a bit at St Ignatius College Riverview.
1946-1947 He went to Ireland and Rathfarnham Castle to make Tertianship
1947-1956 He returned to Hong Kong and Wah Yan, where he was assistant Prefect of Studies, and went back to editing “The Star”. he was appointed Vice-Rector in 1951, and Rector a year later in 1952, and was also prefect of Studies. He managed all these tasks very efficiently, even though he was never of robust health. One of his achievements also was the planning of the new Wah Yan College, on Queen’s Road East. By 1955 he was no longer capable of heavy work, and in 1956 underwent a serious operation for intestinal cancer, he suffered many months of pain after this, and he bore it with great fortitude.
1956 By June of this year he had recovered sufficiently to fly to Brisbane for a period of convalescence. By November his condition had worsened, and he required another operation, but died in January 1957

His death at the Mater Hospital Brisbane at an early age, deprived the Hong Kong Mission of a most esteemed and valuable member. He had a deep interest in educational matters, and his thorough understanding of the Hong Kong educational system had established him as a very well informed representative and spokesman of Catholic Schools in Hong Long and their dealings with the government there.

He was a tall man, with a stately and almost stiff bearing and a habitual serious expression. He was a spiritual man and an observant religious, good at English literature and the craft of elaborate lettering of manuscripts, and the poignant epigram. He was meticulous, some would say excessive in the preparation of his classes. he was a hard worker and efficient administrator, strict on himself and a stern judge of those who did not measure up to his own high standards. At time he could appear to be stiff and unbending, but he had a good sense of humour and was able to laugh at himself. Towards his students he was uniformly kind though reserved, and this, combined with his unceasing devotion to duty, made them esteem him highly.

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Fr. John Carroll, S.J.
Former Rector of Wah Yan College

News has been received of the death of Rev. John Carroll, S.J., who was Rector of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, from 1951-1956. It took place in Brisbane, Australia, where he had gone for convalescence after a serious operation at the beginning of last year.

Fr. Carroll, who was forty-six years of age, was born in Leix, in Ireland. He was educated at Mungret College, Limerick, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1930. he continued his studies in the National University of Ireland, where he took the B.A. degree and Higher Diploma of Education.

He came to Hong Kong in 1938, and after two years of Chinese studies was assigned to Wah Yan College, where he taught literature and history and was editor of the college magazine “The Star.” He then went to Australia to study theology, and was ordained by Archbishop (now Cardinal) Gilroy in 1945. At the close of the war he went to Europe and then returned to Hong Kong in 1947.

All the succeeding years were spent in Wah Yan College. After a period of teaching he was appointed Prefect of Studies in 1949, and then Rector. He supervised the building of the new college in Queen’s Road, East, and presided at its inauguration in September, 1955. A few months later his health broke down and he bore a long illness with great fortitude.

Fr. Carroll’s death is a considerable loss to education in Hong Kong. He had conspicuous literary and artistic ability, but the interests of his later years were wholly directed to education. He kept himself well informed on educational developments in many countries and his only regret at his loss of health was that he was unable to put into practice the many plans that he had in mind for the development of the school. He was a member of the Grant Schools Council and of the Board of Control of the Hong Kong School Certificate Examination Syndicate. He was also a member of the Court of the Hong Kong University.
Sunday Examiner, Hong Kong - 25 January 1957

Requiem Mass for Former Wah Yan College Rector

Large Numbers of priests, religious and lay people including some eight hundred pupils and Old Boys of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, attended the Solemn Requiem Mass last Wednesday at St. Margaret’s Church, Happy Valley, for the repose of the soul of Father John Carroll, S.J., former Rector of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.

His Lordship Bishop Lawrence Bianchi presided at the Mass and gave the Absolution. The present rector of Wah Yan College, Father Cyril Barrett, S.J., was the celebrant. He was assisted by Father Charles Daly, S.J., and Father Kevin O’Dwyer, S.J.

Father Carroll who died on January 20 in Brisbane, Australia, was Rector of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, from 1951 to 1956 when he went to Brisbane for convalescence after a serious operation earlier that year. He was 46 years of age and was born in Leix, Ireland, Educated at Mungret College, Limerick, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1930.
Sunday Examiner, Hong Kong - 1 February 1957

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He came from a large family in Geashill, Walsh Island, County Offaly, 8 of whom entered religious life.
His early education was at Mungret Cllege SJ before he joined the Society of Jesus in 1930.

1938 He was sent to Hong Kong
1941 he was sent to Canisius College Pymble Australia during the war for Theology, and was Ordained there in 1945.
1946 He returned to Ireland to make Tertianship

By September 1955 his dream of the construction of the new Wah Yan College was completed. His health was poor and so he died in 1957.
He was the “architect” on the Wah Yan College, Queen’s Road East campus, Prefect of Studies and then Rector of Wah Yan Hong Kong. Schoolwork was his life, and he gave his classes not mere instruction, but affection and respect. he prepared his classes with as much care as if he had to face a group of post-graduate university students. Although ruthless on himself, it pained him to be hard on students.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Frs. John Carroll, Kevin O'Dwyer and Cyril Peyton, of the Hong Kong Mission, who completed their theology at Pymble recently, left, Sydney on December 9th on the Aquitania for England via the Cape. They hope to be home by the end of January. They are accompanied by Fr. Vincent Conway, an old Mungret boy, member of the Vice Province. All four will make their tertianship in Rathfarnham next autumn.

Fr. John Carroll, on the Aquitania, 13-12-45 :
“We left Sydney on time, at 8 am, on Monday 10th, and expect to be in England by the middle of January. Rumour says Southampton about January 12th. We are travelling as a military transport with some 200 civilian passengers. The total number of persons is said to be 4,700. It is therefore far from being a pleasure cruise, but the food is good and the ship so far is riding beautifully. There is a nice altar specially reserved for Catholics in a curtained recess in the library, and we have the place to ourselves from 6.45 to 7.45. The official chaplain, Church of England, claims the half hour from 8 to 8.30. There are two other priests on board, one of them Fr. Frank Bouchier who was at Mungret with me”.

Irish Province News 32nd Year No 2 1957
Obituary :
Fr John Carroll (1911-1957)
The death of Fr, John Carroll in the Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Australia on the 20th. January last, at the early age of 46, deprived the Hong Kong Mission of one of its most esteemed and valuable members. For Fr. Carroll by his deep interest in educational matters, and his thorough understanding of the Hong Kong educational system, had established himself as the best informed representative and spokesman of the Catholic schools in Hong Kong in all their dealings with the Government. The numerous messages of sympathy which the Superior of Missions (Fr. Harris) received after his death from the principals of the Catholic schools bore eloquent testimony to how deeply they appreciated his advice and assistance, and regretted his untimely death.
Fr. John Carroll was born on the 2nd April, 1911 in Walsh Island, Geashill, Offaly. He was one of twelve children, eight of whom entered religion. He was educated at Mungret College, Limerick, from which he entered the Society on the 3rd September, 1930, being one of the thirty-two first-year novices who began their life in the Society in Emo Park the year that house was established as the Novitiate. In September, 1932, Fr. Carroll went to Rathfarnham Castle for his Juniorate studies, and in 1935 obtained his B.A. degree in English and History. During the following three years, he studied Philosophy in Tullabeg, and in 1938 was assigned to the Hong Kong Mission, where he arrived in the autumn of that year, and proceeded to the Language school, Loyola, Taai Lam Chung, For two years he applied himself most diligently and conscientiously to the study of the language, but in his case, it was very much like watering the dry stick. He had no special gift for languages, especially for Cantonese, and it was with no little relief that in 1940 he passed on to Wah Yan College, then situated in Robinson Road. It was soon clear that teaching and college work generally, were his true vocation in the Society, and though he spent only one year as a scholastic at this work, he proved an excellent teacher from the very beginning. Another task with which he was entrusted that year, and which he found most congenial as it gave scope for his artistic gifts was the production of the College annual, The Star. As it was impossible in July, 1941 to return to Ireland for Theology owing to the war, Fr. Carroll went with three other scholastics to the theologate of the Australian Vice-Province (as it was then) at Pymble, Sydney. His four years there were very happy ones. In later years, he often spoke of them with lively pleasure. His stay in Australia left him with pleasant memories not only of the great kindness which he received from his Australian brethren of the Society, but also of the reunion with many of his brothers and sisters who were already living there. As the scholastic year in Australia does not begin until February, Fr. Carroll spent several months before he began Theology teaching in St. Ignatius College, Riverview. He was ordained priest on 6th January, 1945, an appropriate date for a member of such a large missionary family.
In 1946 he went to Ireland for Tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle, and the following year, 1947, he returned by plane to Hong Kong and by September, he was back at his teaching post in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. In rapid succession, he was appointed Assistant Prefect of Studies, Prefect of Studies, Vice-Rector, and finally Rector of the school in 1952. All these tasks he carried out capably and efficiently, in spite of health which was never very robust. His great achievement during his term as Rector, was the planning and building of the new Wah Yan College on Queen's Road East. When that great task was completed, in September, 1955, and Fr. Carroll had the happiness of seeing his dream become a reality, his term of life was drawing to a close, though it was not fully realised then, In the final months of 1955, he was not capable of any heavy work, and in January, 1956 underwent a grave operation for cancer of the intestines. Many months of pain, discomfort, and suffering followed, which he bore with great serenity and fortitude. By June, 1956, he had recovered sufficiently to be able to travel by plane to Brisbane, Australia for convalescence. He was most hospitably welcomed there by the Jesuit community, and it was hoped that during his stay with them, he could help in the parish work. However he grew worse in November, and had to enter the Mater Hospital, where his sister is a nun. Another operation in December brought no relief and after several weeks of intense suffering, he died on 20th January, 1957, a fortnight after the twelfth anniversary of his ordination.
Fr. Carroll was a deeply spiritual man, and a most observant religious, His onerous duties as Prefect of Studies, or Rector of Wah Yan College were never permitted to make any inroads on the time assigned to spiritual duties which he performed most faithfully. He had a very deep love of the Society, and consequently was visibly hurt whenever a word or action on the part of another fell short of the ideals which he felt every Jesuit should live up to. As a Rector he insisted on a high standard of observance, and this taken together with his natural shyness, made him appear stiff and unbending. He had, however, a highly developed sense of humour, and was always ready to laugh at himself. Towards the boys he was uniformly kind though reserved, and it was these qualities, coupled with his unceasing devotion to duty which made them esteem him so highly. It was when he became seriously ill, that the extent of that esteem appeared most, and his death was mourned by both past and present students as that of a true friend. In St. Margaret's Church, within sight of the beautiful school for which he laboured so much and in the presence of the Bishop and a large number of the clergy of the city, and nearly a thousand of our boys, Catholic and pagan, a Solemn Requiem Mass was offered for his soul.
To his brother, Fr. Denis Carroll, Rector of Chikuni College, we offer deepest sympathy. May Fr. John rest in peace.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Carroll SJ 1911-1957
Fr John Carroll was one of twelve children, eight of whom entered religion. Born at Geashill in 1911, he was educated at Mungret whence he entered the Society in 1930.

To his great delight, he was assigned to our Chinese Mission in 1938. Owing to the outbreak of the World War, he did his Theology in Australia, and often referred to these years as the happiest of his life. After his tertianship he was appointed Rector of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, in 1852. During his term of office the new Wah Yan on Queen’s Road was built.

In January 1956 he was operated on for cancer, and he went back to Australia to recuperate. However, his health further deteriorated and he died on January 20th 1957.

Fr John was a deeply religious man, one of those Jesuits of whom you could say that he never lost the fervour of the noviceship. He never allowed pressure of business or occupation to interfere with his observance of his religious duties. To the casual observer he would have appeared somewhat rigid and austere, but that was because being of a very high ideal himself, he expected th same of others. Nevertheless, like a true religious man, he could, when necessary, make allowances, and his sense of humour and his contribution to community recreation betrayed and understanding as well as an exacting spirit.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1957

Obituary

Father John Carroll SJ

THE death took place in Brisbane Australia on January 20th last of Fr John Carroll. He was born on April 2nd 1911 at Walsh Island Geashill, Offaly, and came to Mungret in 1927. From here he entered the Society of Jesus in 1930. He did his studies at Rathfarnham and Tullabeg, and in 1938 was assigned to the Hong Kong mission where he arrived the folowing Autumn. He studied the language for two years and then went on to Wah Yan College where he found the work more congenial. Here he was editor of the College Annual “The Star”. In 1941 as it was impossible to return to Ireland he went to Australia for Theology where he was ordained in 1945. In 1946 he came to Ireland for Tertianship, and the following year returned to Wah Yan College.

Here in rapid succession he became Prefect of Studies, Vice-Rector, and finally Rector in 1952. His great achievement during his rectorship was the planning and building of the new Wah Yan College at Queens Rd East. Fr John was, however, now a very sick man, and in 1956 underwent an operation for cancer of the intestines. By June 1956 he had recovered sufficiently to go to Australia to recuperate, Here however, he grew progressively worse. Another operation brought no relief, and after weeks of intense suffering died on January 20th.

Fr Carroll was a deeply spiritual man and a most observant religious. He had however, a highly developed sense of humour. Towards boys he was uniformly kind though reserved, and it was these qualities together with a great devotion to duty which made them esteem him so much. His death was mourned by both present and past students as that of a true friend. To his family and to his brother Fr. Denis we offer our deep sympathy. RIP

Born: 11 November 1885, Lower Hartsonge Street, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1919, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 18 October 1921, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Educated at Crescent College SJ

by 1909 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1911

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After his Novitiate he continued at Tullabeg for studies.
He was then sent to Gemert in Germany for three years Philosophy.
1908-1916 He sailed to Australia for Regency teaching at Riverview
1916 He returned from Australia and began Theology at Milltown, being Ordained 1919.
1920 He was sent to Crescent.
1921 He was sent to Tullabeg for Tertianship. His death there was as a result of an accident. he went out to swim and struck his head against a rock. he was brought back to Tullabeg and seemed to be recovering. A sudden change in his condition occurred before an operation could be performed.

Out of deference to his parents wishes he was buried at Mungret.

He was a man of great promise.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Martin Hanley entered the Society 7 September 1904, at Tullabeg. After novitiate and juniorate he was posted to Riverview from 1912, looking after the boats and being second division prefect. After the best part of four years he returned to undertake theology at Milltown Park from 1917 and was ordained during 1919.
However, the poor health he had while at Riverview continued, and instead of going on tertianship in 1921 he was sent to Sacred Heart College in Limerick, where amongst other things he was sports master. He went to Tullabeg as a tertian in 1921 and died suddenly. Apparently he went out to swim and hit his head against a rock. He had come back to the house and seemed to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse and died before he could be operated on.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Died as a result of an accident while diving in the River Brosna the day before the Long Retreat.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Martin Hanley (1885-1921)

Born in Limerick and educated at Crescent College, entered the Society in 1904. After his arts studies, he was sent to Holland for his philosophy course (1908-11) and did his regency at Riverview College, Sydney. He was recalled to Ireland for theology in 1916 and was ordained three years later at Milltown Park. He came for one year as master to his old school, 1920-21 and left for his tertianship at Tullabeg. He died on 18 October as the result of a head injury received when swimming.

Born: 09 January 1884, Nenagh, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1916, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1922, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 18 January 1968, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin community at the time of death

by 1905 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1907

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Eddie O’Connor Entry
Fr Ernest Mackey S.J. was a well known school retreat giver. The vocations of Fr Eddie O'Connor and a few years later of Walter, his brother, were influenced by him. The father of the two brothers was Peter 0'Connor a local lawyer and former Olympic champion. The story has it that Peter, encountering Fr Mackey after Fr. Eddie had entered the Society, said
‘That man has taken one of my sons’. Fr Mackey's undaunted reply was, ‘And now, he is coming to take another (Walter)’.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Ernest Mackey entered the Society in 1901, and, as a regent, taught at St Aloysius' College in 1908, and was prefect of discipline. He did the same work at Riverview, 1909-10, and Xavier, 1911-12, and was finally at St Patrick's College.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 12th Year No 4 1937
Rev. Michael Garahy, S.J., and Rev. Ernest Mackey, S.J. have been invited by the Most Rev. Bishop Francis Hennemann, P.S.M DD., to preach at the approaching Centenary Eucharistic Congress - which has already met with a good deal of opposition - to be held at Capetown, South Africa. Dr. Hennemann is Vicar Apostolic of the Western Vicariate of Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope.
Word has come to say that His Lordship is to send full Faculties to the Fathers by air-mail-including power to confer the Sacrament of Confirmation-for the Catholics on Ascension Island and the Island of St, Helena, both of which fall under his jurisdiction.
They will preach during Congress Week at the Pontifical High Mass and at the Mass Meeting for Men. There will be an official broadcast of these functions, which are to be held in the open air at a short distance from St. Mary's Cathedral.
During the course of their stay in South Africa they are due to deliver special lectures on Catholic Action and kindred subjects to Catholic Men's Societies and to Catholic Women's Leagues. Their programme includes also a series of missions and parochial Retreats throughout the Vicariate beginning at the Cathedral Capetown, as a preparation for the Congress, which is fixed to take place from January 9th-16th, 1938. A special Congress Stamp has been issued to commemorate the event.
At the close of the January celebrations they intend to continue their apostolic labours in the Eastern Vicariate at the request of the Most Rev. Bishop McSherry, D,D,, Senior Prelate of South Africa.
Father Garahy is well-known throughout the country since he relinquished his Chair of Theology at Milltown Park in 1914 to devote his energies to the active ministry.
Father Mackey has been Superior of the Jesuit Mission staff in Ireland since 1927. During his absence in South Africa, Father J Delaney, S.J., Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, will take over his duties. Fathers Mackey and Garahy leave for Capetown on Tuesday, 24th August, 1937, and are expected back in Ireland about Easter, 1938.
Father Mackey has just received a cablegram from Bishop Hennemann asking him to give the Priests' Retreat at Cape Town.

Irish Province News 13th Year No 1 1938
Our two Missioners to South Africa, Fathers Mackey and Garahy reached Cape Town on 23rd September.
The voyage was uneventful. They landed at Las Palmas and visited the centre of the Island.
Writing about the road, overhanging a steep precipice, over which they travelled, Father Garahy tells us : “I realised there was nothing between us and eternity except a few feet of road. It seemed to be a matter of inches when we crawled past other cars coming down.” They paid one more visit before reaching Cape Town, and Father Garahy's description is : “A spot of earth more arid than Ascension it would be hard to find outside the Sahara, and yet it grazes about 400 sheep and some cattle on one spot called the Green Mountain.”
Work began the very day after their arrival at Cape Town - a Retreat by Father Mackey to Legion of Mary, with five lectures a day. On the next Sunday, Father Garahy preached at all three Masses in the Cathedral, and again in the evening, The Mission began on Sunday, 3rd October, and from that date to Christmas the missioners had only one free week.

Irish Province News 13th Year No 2 1938
Our two Missioners, Fathers Mackey and Garahy, continue to do strenuous and widely extended work in South Africa. A source of genuine pleasure to them, and one that they fully appreciate, is the very great kindness shown to them by all the priests, not least among them by the Capuchins from Ireland. In the short intervals between the Missions the two Missioners were taken in the priests cars to every spot in the Cape worth seeing. They are only too glad to acknowledge that they will never forget the amount of kindness lavished on them.
In spite of fears the Eucharistic Congress in South Africa was an undoubted success, A pleasant and peculiar incident of the celebration was an “At Home” given by the Mayor of Capetown Mr. Foster, a Co, Down Presbyterian, to the Bishops, priests and prominent laymen. About 600 were present.

Irish Province News 13th Year No 3 1938
South Africa :

A very decided and novel proof of the success of the South African Mission is given by the letter of a certain Mr. Schoernan, a Dutch Protestant, who owns an extensive estate near Johannesburg. This gentleman wrote directly to the Apostolic Delegate for the Union of South Africa requesting that Fathers Mackey and Garahy should be invited to give a series of sermons and lectures to the non Catholics throughout the Transvaal. He had heard the sermons of these two Jesuit Fathers at the Catholic Congress at Cape Town, and concluded at once that the method and style of treatment of their sermons would make an immense appeal. He himself would be prepared to assist in the financing of such a scheme. “Surely”, he concluded, “Ireland could easily afford to forgo their services for a few months longer.”
The Delegate sent on the letter to Dr. O'Leary, Vicar Apostolic of the Transvaal. to answer. Dr, O'Leary explained that the two Fathers had to cancel many other invitations owing to pressure of work at home.
Mr. Schuman answered the Archbishop through Dr. O'Leary still pressing his own proposal.
The Press, including the Protestant Press, has been equally emphatic as to the success of the Mission. A contributor to “The Daily Dispatch”, a Protestant paper writes :
“A mission for Catholics in East London is now in progress at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It is being conducted by two ]esuits, Father Mackey and Father Garahy, members of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus..... Hitherto, missions in this diocese have been preached, almost exclusively, by members of the Redemptorist Order.... , A Jesuit mission, therefore, is a change, because the methods and style of the Jesuits are different from those of the other Orders in the Church. There is not so much thunder about the Jesuits. They preach more the mercy of God than His anger and His justice. They appeal more to one's intellect and sense of reason than to the emotions.
It has been essentially a mission to Catholics. Controversial subjects have been avoided, but in the sermons there has been a wealth of information and teaching invaluable even to those firmly established in the Catholic faith. To those not of the faith who have attended the mission, the discourses of the two eloquent Jesuits must have been a revelation. I, a practising Catholic all my life, have heard many missions, both in this country and throughout Great Britain, but I cannot recall one in which the teaching of the Church has been so simply and so convincingly substantiated, or one in which the sinner has been so sympathetically, yet effectively, shown the error of his ways. The sermons were all magnificent orations in which facts, arguments, and reasoning were blended into a convincing whole.”
In another place the same contributor writes :
“Masterly sermons were preached by Father Mackey and Father Garahy explaining, as they have never been explained to the people of East London before, the object of man's life in this world, the difficulties he has to contend with......they have shown how the evils of the present day have all arisen from the misuse of men's reason, how the abandonment of God, and the development of a materialistic creed have set class against class and nation against nation, how man's well-being on earth has been subordinated to the pagan ideas of pleasure and financial prosperity........There has been nothing sensational or emotional in any discourse, but the malice of sin has been shown in all its viciousness.
It has been an education listening to these two Jesuits. The lessons of history, biblical and worldly, have been explained in language that carried conviction, and the teaching of the Church on the problems discussed has been put forward with unassailable lucidity.”

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
Fr. Mackey was installed as acting Master of Novices to the Alexian Brothers, Cobh on 8th September last. Details of his work appear below.
Fr. Mackey, writes from St. Joseph's Court, Cobh on 13th November :
“You ask me for some information concerning my whereabouts and my work. I was installed here as Master of Novices on 8th September last. With me is an Assistant - a Brother from Manchester. He corresponds to our Socius.
St. Joseph's Court was the property of a Mr. Jackson-bennett. The house is quite suitable for a Religious Congregation. It is just two miles from Cobh - rather ungettatable either by cycling or walking, owing to some enormous hills.
The Alexian Brothers follow the Rule of St. Augustine, and are under a Cardinal Protector at Rome. They have the usual six months postulancy, followed by two full years of noviceship. At the end of the Novitiate they take the customary simple vows. These are renewed for two single years, then for three full years, after that for life. At present they have numerous houses in Germany and the States; five in England, two in Ireland, one in Belgium and one in Switzerland.
They take charge of hospitals, asylums and convalescent homes. On leaving the Novitiate many of them do a three years course of professional nursing at the York City Hospital.
Their religious habit is somewhat similar to that of the Redemptorist Fathers. It is of black cloth, a girdle of black leather, a scapular from shoulders to ankles, white colar, a capifolium and full black mantle with a cowl not unlike that of the Cistercians. Their Superior General is a German-American. He is very keen on all things Ignatian. He has ordered that every novice in the States, is to be presented with Fr. Rickaby's three volumes of Rodriguez on his Vow Day. They are all in favour of the Long Retreat but cannot have it for the present, owing to structural changes to be completed.
They lead a very monastic life here. The Benedicamus Domino is at 5 a.m., all lights out at a quarter to ten. They have three quarters of an hour meditation before Mass, which is at 6 a.m. Their day, which consists of the usual noviceship routine - five exhortations a week - is four times broken for Community prayer. The Office of the Passion is recited every day in common. I have just 20 Postulants and Novices at the moment, with some others due to come after the New Year.
Their Provincial bas just sent every novice a copy of the new edition of Fouard's Life of Christ, two volumes in one. It is a splendid edition (12/6) but without notes. I hope to get them to memorize the most practical passages from a concordance of the Four Gospels, at the rate of a few verses a day - to make them familiar with the sacred text”.

Irish Province News 43rd Year No 2 1968

Obituary :

Fr Ernest Mackey SJ (1884-1968)

Fr. Ernest Mackey died in St. Vincent's private hospital on January 18th. He was 84 years of age on January 9th. Despite the fact being known to his friends that he had had a stroke several weeks previously, the news came as a bit of a shock. Anyone who visited him in hospital considered the stroke was a light one. Some of his closest friends postponed their visit. They did not consider there was any urgency.
Amongst these was Frank Duff, founder and president of the Legion of Mary. For over 40 years they were close friends. When the message of Fr. Mackey's death reached Frank by phone, he exclaimed, “He was a Trojan character”. There are very many priests and religious to-day who would re-echo that sentiment.
Ernest Mackey was a man of sterling character. He had inherited much from his uncle, the late Fr. Michael Brosnan, C.M. He often spoke of this man who for nearly half a century was Spiritual Director in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. In fact he was the only relative that he ever mentioned. Frequently when in the mood he quoted some of Fr. Brosnan's sayings. For example “Be a gentleman from the soles of your feet to the tips of your fingers, and have those clean”. He spoke of his uncle's death in these words : “He wanted no visitors in his last days, left all letters unopened, and looked at God”.
There was a majesty and a dignity about Ernest Mackey. He always carried himself erect and walked with measured step. One of his disciples remarked that he had a touch of the “Omnipotens Sempiterne Deus”. He had a presence at all times, and in all places. He walked up the Church, or emerged from the sacristy on his way to the pulpit, with arms slightly extended as a large bird about to make an impressive flight. Everything about his ministry was majestic and even overpowering. The sharp features, the very deep collar, the long flowing soutane - all contributed to this presence.
This dignity and grandeur emanated from his realisation of his priesthood. He felt himself as a man specially designated by God - to a great apostolate. Never did he seem to lose sight of this. He spoke with authority. He had that virtue of forthrightness. It never left him all his life. He detested sham and humbug. He hated hypocrisy, and make-believe, and with characteristic gesture swept them away. His conversation was always a tonic. It was wonderful at times to listen to a conversation between himself and Fr. John M. O'Connor, who pre-deceased him by ten years. Both were remarkable men, each in his own sphere. They left an abiding impression on youth. Men and priests of this calibre are the great need of to-day.
From what has been written it is clear that Ernest Mackey lived his name. He was determined and dedicated to his allotted work. He paid not the slightest attention to critics. He never courted popularity. He was earnestness personified. He rarely, if ever, commented on the preaching of his colleagues. As the Superior of the Mission staff for fifteen years he relied on his men to do the work assigned above all to preach the Spiritual Exercises. On one occasion as he came into the sacristy after the Rosary he said to a young colleague: “You are going out to preach on sin. Don't touch the Angels”. Fr. Mackey's pulpit preaching was not his strongest point. It was unique in its way. He had an amazing intonation of voice that ranged over a whole octave. People listened more because of his dominating presence than of his logic, He could stop for over a minute, and shoot out in a commanding voice a text of the Gospel that seemingly had no bearing on his subject.
What was Ernest Mackey's strongest point? What was it in his priestly life that was a creation of his own, and that will persist down the years? Undoubtedly his Boys Retreats, and through these his amazing success in vocations to the priesthood. In this matter he was out on his own, and the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus owes a lot to him.
This work came into being under the provincialate of the late and great Fr. John Fahy. During his decade in Belvedere as Prefect of Studies, Fr. Fahy was responsible for a number of vocations to the Maynooth Mission to China among the boys of the College. He was Rector for six of these ten years and had great influence over boys. He must have asked himself many a time why some very outstanding vocations were lost to the Society. These boys wanted China. It came as no surprise therefore, that during his provincialate, Fr. Fahy opened our mission in Hong Kong. This demanded a big campaign for vocations. Ernest Mackey, already showing talent along this line, was the man for the job. He was put in charge of the Mission Staff. This left him free to take on all the boys' retreats possible. He gave most of these himself, and entrusted many into the capable hands of Fr. Tim Halpin and Fr. Richard Devane.
It was then that Fr. Mackey perfected his vocation technique. Boarding school retreats were lifted up to a high level. The full vigour of the Ignatian Exercises was applied. He stressed real prayer, conquest of self, a sense of the malice of sin, the call of the King, and all the salient thoughts of Ignatius. He got results.
But there was the vast field of day schools, especially the secondary schools of the Irish Christian Brothers. Those in Dublin could be catered for in the Retreat House at Rathfarnham. There Frs. P. Barrett and Richard Devane were already doing wonderful work with week-ends for working men and with mid-week retreats for senior boys of the Dublin day-schools.
Something must be done for the schools outside Dublin, It must be to the lasting credit of Ernest Mackey that he rose nobly and energetically to the occasion. He introduced a truly magnificent semi-enclosed retreat in the school itself. The system can be studied in the printed volume “Our Colloquium”. This is not the place to discuss that great compilation so splendidly edited by the late Fr. Michael F. Egan. Sufficient to say that the greatest contribution was that of Fr. Mackey. He supplied every detail on these retreats. He followed Ignatius rigidly. His great success was due to his placing of the highest ideals of holiness before boys, his whole hearted dedication to the work, his attention to details.
He often in later years spoke of these retreats in schools. He even considered them as of greater value than a fully enclosed retreat in a retreat house. But that was because Fr. Mackey directed them. Arriving at a secondary School he took complete command. He left nothing to chance. He always received the most enthusiastic co-operation from the Brothers. Vocations were needed. “Come after Me and I will make you fishers of men”. Ernest Mackey must have had these words of the Master ever in his mind. He was a fisher for vocations. He was not a lone fisher. He nearly always had fishermen among the Brothers. Their business it was to indicate where he was to cast his net. He had the magnetism - almost the hypnotic power - to attract the good fish. He was human and could make mistakes. But the man who makes no mistakes makes nothing. He landed a great haul for the Society and for the priesthood. He toiled hard. He toiled long.
The secret of his success is obvious from what has been written. He employed the means that Ignatius himself applied to himself and to all others - the Spiritual Exercises. One cannot imagine Ernest Mackey asking the Brothers in a school, the nuns in a convent, the priests in a diocese, what he should say to them, or to those under them, in a retreat. He was eloquent in his closing years on what he called the utter nonsense of such enquiries.
He remained the same Ernest Mackey to the end. He spoke of all those in the Province who were “over 70” as the Old Society. He loved to recall men like Michael Browne, Henry Fegan, and Michael Garahy. He lived in that age and never modernised. As a result his last years were spent in retirement in Manresa House. There he loved to meet the Old Society.
Now he has gone to the real Old Society in Heaven; but his work goes on in the army of Christ on earth, the ranks of which he helped to fill while on earth. May he rest in peace.
T.C.

Born: 20 October 1906, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1943
Died: 12 December 1961, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia

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 :
He Entered the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg.

1929-1930 After First Vows he was a “home” Junior at Rathfarnham Castle
1930-1934 He was sent to Tullabeg for Philosophy
1934-1937 He was sent to Australia teaching at St Ignatius College Riverview for Regency
1937-1941 He was back in Ireland at Milltown Park for Theology
1941-1942 He made Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1942-1943 He was sent back to Australia to teach at Xavier College Kew, but was thought more suited to Parish work,
1944-1945 He was at the Norwood Parish
1945-1953 He was sent to the Lavender Bay Parish
1953-1954 He was at St Mary’s Miller Street Parish
1954-1958 He was sent to the Richmond Parish
1958 He was sent to Canisius College Pymble as Spiritual Father due to ill health.

He was very like Father Sydney McEwan in appearance and had a beautiful singing voice. He suffered from heart disease for some years and died suddenly at morning tea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obituary

Father Joseph Tuite SJ

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

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

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

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

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

Obituary

Father Joseph Tuite SJ

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

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

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

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

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

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

Born: 07 February 1879, Blackrock, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1894, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 30 July 1911, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 03 January 1962, Milltown Park, Dublin

Younger brother of William Byrne - RIP 1943

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Came to Australia for Regency 1902
by 1899 in Vals France (LUGD) studying
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Hong Kong Mission : 02 December 1926
by 1927 first Hong Kong Missioner with John Neary
by 1931 Hong Kong Mission Superior 02 December 1926

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
1894-1898 After his First Vows at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, he remained there for two further years of Juniorate
1898-1901 He was sent to Valkenburk Netherlands for Philosophy.
1901-1908 He was sent to Australia and St Ignatius College Riverview for Regency, where he taught and was Third Division Prefect. He was also in charge charge of Senior Debating (1905-1908) and in 1904 was elected to the Council of the Teachers Association of New South Wales.
1908-1912 he returned to Ireland and Milltown Park Dublin for Theology
1912-1914 He made Tertianship at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, and the following year appointed Socius to the Novice Master.
1914-1919 He was sent to Australia as Superior and Master of Novices at Loyola College Greenwich. He was also a Consultor of the Sydney Mission and gave Retreats and taught the Juniors. This occurred at a time when it was decided to reopen the Noviceship in Australia. As such he was “lent” to the Australian Mission for three years, but the outbreak of war and some delaying tactics on the part of the Mission Superior William Lockington, he remained longer than expected.
1919-1923 On his return to Ireland he became Novice Master again.
1930 He went to the Irish Mission in Hong Kong and worked there for many years, before returning to Ireland and Milltown Park, where he died.

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father George Byrne
R.I.P.

Father George Byrne, S.J., the first Regional Superior of the Hong Kong Jesuits and for many years one of the best Known priests in Hong Kong, died in Ireland on Thursday, 4 January 1962, aged 83.

Father Byrne arrived in Hong Kong from Ireland, with one other Jesuit Father, on 2 December 1926, and at once started to look for work, both for himself and for the Jesuits who would soon follow him to Hong Kong. He found abundant work for both. Within a decade, though always very short of men, he had staffed the Regional Seminary, Aberdeen, built and opened Ricci hall, a Catholic hostel for students in the University of Hong Kong, taken over Wah Yan College from its founders, restarted as a monthly the Hong Kong Catholic review, The Rock, which had ceased publication shortly before his arrival, and provided for a time Jesuit teachers for Sacred Heart College, Canton.

These were the works he did through others. His own personal work was infinitely varied, as might have been expected from one of his many-sided character - at once scholarly and practical. At the time of his ordination he had been informed that he was destined a specialist’s life as a professor of theology. This plan was later changed and for the rest of his life he was to be, not a specialist, but one ready for anything. Nevertheless he retained some of the marks of the savant.

He was always a voracious reader, able to pour out an astonishing variety of information on almost any subject at a moment’s notice in English, French, or Latin. This gift, joined to a strong personality, a commanding appearance, and a powerful and very flexible voice, made him an admirable public speaker, whether in the pulpit, at retreats and conferences, at meetings of societies and associations, or in the lecturer’s chair in the University of Hong Kong. Where he readily deputised during the furloughs of the professors of education and of history. As a broadcaster, he had the rare gift of being able to project his personality across the ether and so hold the attention of his unseen audience.

As a writer, and he wrote much, he was primarily a discursive essayist, a member of a literary tribe that seems to have disappeared during World War II. His monthly articles in The Rock and the weekly column that he contributed for years to the South China Morning Post under the title ‘The Student’s Window’ might be in turn grimly earnest, genially informative, and gaily trivial, but they were always written in urbane and rhythmic English that carried the reader unprotestingly to the last full stop.

Despite these numerous public activities, he was probably best known as an adviser. During the many years he spent in Ricci Hall, he was always at home to the great numbers of people of all kinds - lay and cleric, Catholic and non-Catholic, men and women, young and old - who came seeking the solution of intellectual, religious, or personal problems from one who they knew would be both wise and kind.

Father Byrne was in Hong Kong in the early days of the war and displayed remarkable courage and physical energy in defending Ricci Hall against a band of marauders. By this time he was no longer superior, and he was already over 60. He went, therefore, to Dalat, Vietnam, where he spent the rest of the war years, Soon after the war, he went to Ireland for medical treatment and, though still capable of a hard day’s work, was advised on medical grounds that he must not return to the Far East.

This was a blow, but he did not repine. He retained his interest in and affection for Hong Kong, but he quickly set about finding an abundance of work in Ireland. Once again he found it. Not long after his arrival the director of retreats in Ireland was heard to say that if he could cut Father George Byrne in four and sent each part to give a retreat, he would still be unable to satisfy all the convents that were clamouring for him.

He still wrote and he still lectured and he still gave advice. Only very gradually did he allow advancing old age to cut down his work. As he had always wished, he worked to the end.

Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul was celebrated in Ricci Hall chapel by the warden Father R. Harris, S.J., on Monday, 8 January. In the congregation that filled the chapel, in addition to his fellow Jesuits, there were many who still remember Father Byrne even in the city of short memories. Those present included Father A. Granelli, P.I.M.E., P.P., representing His Lordship the Bishop; Bishop Donahy, M.M., Father McKiernan M.M, Father B. Tohill, S.D.B., Provincial, Father Vircondalet, M.E.M., Brother Felix, F.S.C., Father P. O’Connor, S.S.C., representative groups of Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres of the Maryknoll Sisters, of the Colomban Sisters, and many others. The Mass was served by Dr. George Choa.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 12 January 1962

RICCI Souvenir Record of the Silver Jubilee of Ricci Hall Hong Kong University 1929-1954

Note from John Neary Entry
He has nevertheless his little niche in our history. He was one of the two Jesuits - Father George Byrne was the other - who came here on 2 December 1926, to start Jesuit work in Hong Kong. Their early decisions have influenced all later Jesuit work here.

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He could be called the founder of the Irish Jesuits in Hong Kong, as most of the older institutions in Hong Kong were started under him at Ricci (1929), Aberdeen (1931 and Wah Yan Hong Kong (1933).
After his term as Mission Superior (1926-1935) he lectured, preached and wrote. He had a weekly column in the “South China Morning Post” called “The Philosophers Chair”. During the Japanese occupation he went to a French Convent School to teach Philosophy. After 1946 he returned to Ireland and taught Ascetical and Mystical Theology yo Jesuits in Dublin.
Imaginative and versatile, pastoral and intellectual, he gave 20 of his peak years to Hong Kong (1926-1946) after which he returned to Ireland to give another 20 years service.

Note from John Neary Entry
In 1926 Fr John Fahy appointed him and George Byrne to respond to the request from Bishop Valtora of Hong Kong for Jesuit help.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927

Fr Pigot attended the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo as a delegate representing the Australian Commonwealth Government. He was Secretary to the Seismological Section, and read two important papers. On the journey home he spent some time in hospital in Shanghai, and later touched at Hong Kong where he met Frs. Byrne and Neary.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

Leeson St :
We were very glad to have several members of the Hong Kong Mission with us for some time: Frs. P. Joy, T. Fitzgerald, and H. O'Brien, while Fr. George Byrne has joined us as one of the community.

Irish Province News 37th Year No 2 1962

Obituary :

Fr George Byrne (1879-1962)

Few men in the history of the Irish Province for the last sixty years have seen so many aspects of the life and development of the Province as did Fr. George Byrne, who died in Dublin on 4th January at the ripe age of 83, of which 67 were spent in the Society. Born in Cork in 1879, he received his early education first at Clongowes (where he was in the Third Line with a boy three years younger than him called James Joyce!) and later at Mungret. He entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1894; made his philosophy at Vals, in France, taught for seven years as a scholastic in Riverview College, Australia; then back to Milltown Park, Dublin, for theology where he was ordained in 1911. His tertianship was made in Tullabeg, and he remained on there in the following year as Socius to the Master of Novices, but after a few months Australia claimed him again.
Early in 1914 he was named Master of Novices of the resuscitated Australian novitiate at Loyola, Sydney, combining this with the office of Superior of the House until 1918. A year later, in 1919, he is on the high seas again, this time returning to be Master of Novices at Tullabeg from 1919 to 1922,
In 1922 he became an operarius at St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, and during the next four years, among his other ministeria, was the first chaplain to the first Governor-General of the newly-established Irish Free State, Mr. Timothy Healy, K.C.
With 1926 came the decision that the Irish Province establish a Jesuit mission in Hong Kong at the invitation of the Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Henry Valtorta. Fr. Byrne, with Fr. John Neary, arrived in Hong Kong on 2nd December of the same year. Shortly afterwards Fr. Byrne became the Superior of the young mission. The years that followed, until his retirement to Ireland for health reasons in 1946, will undoubtedly be the period of Fr. Byrne's life that will establish his important standing in the recent history of the Irish Province. It is therefore fitting that we should allow them to be dealt with from Hong Kong sources. We take the following from The South China Morning Post for 5th January, 1962:
“News has just been received from Dublin, Ireland, of the death there of Fr. George Byrne, S.J., who was well known in Hong Kong for many years. He was the first Superior here of the Irish Jesuits. He was 83.
Fr, Byrne, with one other Jesuit priest, came to Hong Kong in Dec ember 1926. It was under his direction that arrangements were made for the various forms of work undertaken by the Jesuits in the Colony. The first of these was the Regional Seminary in Aberdeen, which was under the direction of the bishops of South China, and was intended for the education and training of candidates for the priesthood in their dioceses. The staffing of it was entrusted to the Jesuits.
Fr. Byrne also arranged for the building of Ricci Hall, a Catholic hostel of the University of Hong Kong. He lived there for many years and always maintained a close contact with the university. He was a member of the Court and deputised, during periods of leave, for the Professor of Education and the Professor of History,
He was prominent in the years before the war as a lecturer and broadcaster and writer. He re-started the publication of the Catholic monthly magazine, The Rock, to which he was a regular contributor. He also for a long time contributed a weekly article, "The Student's Window", to The South China Morning Post.
He took an active part also in educational matters. He was a member of the Board of Education, and he arranged for the taking over of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, from its original founders. He had many associations with the religious institutions, where he was much in demand for conferences and retreats, He spoke with equal fluency in English, French and Latin.
During the war he was in Dalat, Indo-China, and soon after his return to Hong Kong got into bad health and returned to Europe for medical treatment. His recovery was more complete than was expected, but medical advice was against his return to the East.
During recent years, though old and in failing health, he was still very active as a writer in Catholic periodicals, and he always maintained his interest in Hong Kong. He left here many friends who remember him as a man of great kindness and universal sympathy, who carried lightly his wide scholarship, and who was always unchanged in his urbanity and good humour. Many professional men remember him too for his wise guidance in their student days and they, with a host of others, will always recall him with respect and affection”.
It only remains to say that though medical authorities refused to allow his return to Hong Kong, the years from 1946 until his death were as full of activities as ever. He continued to write and to lecture and to direct souls as of old. He filled the important post of Instructor of Tertians for years at Rathfarnham and from than until his death he was Professor of Ascetical Theology and spiritual director to the theologians at Milltown Park. Only very gradually did he allow advancing years to cut down his work. As he had always wished, he worked to the end.

From the Bishop of Hong Kong

16 Caine Road,
Hong Kong
10th January, 1962.

Dear Fr. O'Conor,
The news of the death of Rev. Fr. George Byrne, S.J., caused deep regret among all the many friends he left in Hong Kong, among whom I am proud to count myself.
His pioneer work here was that of a great missionary and of a far sighted organiser. His memory and the example of his zeal will be cherished in Hong Kong.
While expressing to you, Very Reverend Father, my sympathy for the great loss of your Province and your Society, I wish to take the opportunity of assuring you of tne grateful appreciation by the clergy and laity of Hong Kong for the generous collaboration your Fathers are offering to us in carrying the burden of this diocese.
Asking for the blessing of Our Lord on your apostolic work,
Yours very sincerely in Christ,
+Lawrence Bianchi,
Bishop of Hong Kong.

The Very Rev. Charles O'Conor, S.J.,
Loyola,
87 Eglinton Road,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin,
Ireland.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father George Byrne SJ 1879-1962
Few men in the history of the Province for the last 60 years have seen and contributed to so many aspects of the life and development of our Province than Fr George Byrne, who died in Dublin on January 4th 1962.

He was born in Cork in 1879, educated at Mungret at Clongowes, and he entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1894.

In 1914 he was named Master of Novices to the resuscitated Novitiate at Loyola, Sydney, Australia, returning from that post to take up a similar one at Tullabeg from 1919 to 1922.

On the foundation of the Irish Free State he became chaplain to the first Governor-General, Mr Tim Healy.

When we started our Mission in Hong Kong, Fr Byrne went out as founder and first Superior. These were creative days,. He built Ricci Hall, negotiated the taking over of the Regional Seminary at Aberdeen, and he took over Wah Yan College from its original owners. At the same time he was prominent as a lecturer, broadcaster and writer, as well as part-time Professor in the University. He started the Catholic magazine “The Rock”, and for a long time contributed to the “South China Morning Post”

For health reasons he returned to Ireland in 1946. During the remaining years of his life he was Tertian-Instructor at Rathfarnham and Spiritual Father at Milltown. He continued to write, give retreats, thus keeping in harness till the end, as he himself wished.

Truly a rich life in achievement and of untold spiritual good to many souls. As a religious, he enjoyed gifts of higher prayer and was endowed with the gift of tears.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1929

Our Past

Father George Byrne SJ

Fr George Byrne SJ, who was in Mungret for some years in the nineties, is bringing glory to the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus. Under him as Superior the little band of pioneer missionaries of the Irish Jesuits at Hong Kong, Canton, and Shiuhing are doing wonderful work for the Church. In addition to his business of organisation, Fr George frequently contributes to “The Rock” and to a new Chinese monthly, the “Kung Kao Po”. His articles are usually reprinted in many of the local papers, with the result that Fr Byrne has gained a great reputation in Hong Kong. He is constantly giving retreats and missions. Two retreats were given by him in Latin to groups of Chinese priests, Fr Byrne is at present attending to the building of Ricci Hall, the new Hostel for Chinese University students. At the laying of the foundation stone by the Governor General, Fr George made a brilliant speech. Plans are being drawn up for the building of a new Regional Seminary. This building will be completed in 1930, and Fr Byrne will have an additional burden thrust upon him. May God give him strength to continue his wonderful work.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1930

Three Years in China : Impressions and Hopes

Father George Byrne SJ

The Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to China, Very Rev George Byrne SJ, visited us in March, and gave us a very interesting lecture. We expected great things from Father George, and were not disappointed. He gave a very clear account of the present position in China, of the Customs and mentality of its people, and of the working of grace amongst them. The many anecdotes told by Father Byrne and the beautiful illustrations he showed us kept our interest alive. Throughout the lecture We heard the call of China - the call of Christ the Redeemer of the world, appealing for helpers to bring those who are in the valley of the shadow of death to the Life that comes by knowledge and love of the Son of God.

We experienced no little joy when we heard of the work that has already been accomplished by the thirteen missionaries who have gone to China during the past three years. Their first task was, of course, study of the Chinese language, and in this they have already made progress sufficient to enable them to under take some missionary work through the medium of that language. The work of editing a Catholic monthly magazine called”The Rock” was entrusted to them by His Lordship the Bishop of Hong Kong; but their biggest undertaking has been the erection of Ricci Hall, a hostel for students attending the University of Hong Kong. When their numbers and resources increase, they hope to undertake a still more important work, namely, the management of the new Regional Seminary which is at present in course of erection, and in which the native clergy of Southern China will be educated and prepared for the priesthood. God's grace is manifestly assisting them in their labours.

Mungret rejoices in these achievements, especially as three of her old pupils and one old master are amongst the thirteen. Father G Byrne SJ, the Superior, was here in the nineties. Father J McCullough SJ, a boy of 1912-14 and a master here a few years ago, is working in Canton. Rev R Harris SJ, who left us in 1922, is teaching in Shiu Hing. Father R Gallagher SJ, who is remembered by many Old Boys, is the zealous Editor of “The Rock”. Anyone who knew Father Dick will not be surprised to hear that in addition to the burden of editorship, he cheerfully shoulders many other burdens.

The interest of Mungret boys in the Mission can be very practical. Help is needed. Perhaps those who read may help in one or many of the following ways: (1) By prayer ; (2) by sending books to stock the libraries of the Hostel or Seminary (Ricci Hall, Hong Kong, China); (3) by collecting old stamps and tin-foil, and forwarding them to Treasurer, Ricci Mission, Milltown Park, Dublin ; (4) by subscribing to The Rock (Editor, PO Box 28, Hong Kong); (5) by contributing to the Ricci Mission Fund (The Treasurer, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin). Those who cannot be with their friends in the front trench, as it were, where Paganism meets Christianity, can help them greatly. Spiritual and material help are necessary. By helping them, you give them strength and courage, and will have the privilege of consoling your Greatest Friend.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1962

Obituary

Father George Byrne SJ

It is with great regret we chronicle the death of Father George Byrne, which took place in Dublin on January 4, at the 1 age of 83.

Father Byrne was born in Cork. After leaving Mungret he entered the Society of Jesus. He taught in Australia for seven years as a scholastic, and then returned to Milltown Park for his theological studies.

After ordination, he was recalled to Austrialia, where he became Master of Novices and Superior of the House. After a few years he was back in Ire land again, this time to Gardiner St, While in Gardiner St he became first Chaplain to the first Governor-General of the Free State, Mr Tim Healy, KC.

In 1926 came the decision to establish a Jesuit Mission in Hong Kong, Father Byrne was appointed Superior of the newly-formed Mission. On him fell the burden of much of the organisation. He arranged for the staffing of the Regional Seminary. He also arranged for the building of Ricci Hall, a University Hostel. He was also instrumental in taking over Wah Yan College from its original founders.

In Hong Kong he was a well-known broadcaster, writer and lecturer. He was always prominently associated with education.

In 1946 he returned to Ireland for health reasons. He continued active work. He was Instructor of Tertians for a number of years and after that, until his death, he was Professor of Ascetical Theology and Spiritual Director of the Theologians at Milltown Park, He worked until the end. RIP

Born: 24 January 1843, Piersfield, County Westmeath
Entered: 16 March 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1891, Australia
Died: 10 September 1923, Mater Hospital, Sydney Australia

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

Came to Australia 1889 for Regency

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had already been Ordained for the Meath Diocese and was working there before Entry.
He made his Novitiate at Milltown under Charles McKenna.
1882 He and (Thomas) Keating arrived in Australia
On arrival in Australia he was sent to work at North Shore, Sydney, and with the exception of a couple of years teaching at Riverview and Kew, he spent the rest of his life there.
He was Minister at St Mary’s Miller St more than once and Superior from 1893-1902.
He was about medium height and of ascetic appearance, wore a beard and was sufficiently active as a Missioner. Occasionally he wrote a little for pious publications such as the “Messenger of the Sacred Heart”. - James Rabbitte.
Note from Thomas Keating Entry :
1881 He returned to Milltown. he had offered for the Australian Mission, and sailed there with Joseph Brennan, who was a Novice Priest at the time.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He studied Philosophy and Theology at Maynooth before he entered as a Priest Novice in Milltown 16 March 1880.

1882-1887 After First Vows he was sent to teach in Australia at Xavier College, Kew and St Ignatius Riverview 1882-1883 and 1895-1897, then at the beginning of a relationship with St Mary’s, North Sydney 1883-1885.
1887-1923 He returned to St Mary’s, North Sydney, where he travelled around the vast parish, chiefly on horseback. He died there after an illness of a few weeks from a serious kidney complaint.

While in Sydney he held most offices including Minister, and Superior 1893-1902. he was also confessor to Jesuits in the Sydney Parishes when he was not Superior, and also served as a Spiritual Director. he was Moderator of the “Holy Childhood” from 1913, and the “Association for the Propagation of the Faith” and the “Eucharistic League” from 1917. He was a small man but a great worker. During his time as Parish Priest he built a school for girls and also additions to the church. In his latter years, when age hampered him, he spent more time in the confessional and baptising.
He was widely read in Theology and History - especially the history of Ireland. Cardinal Moran, Archbishop of Sydney, claimed that enjoyed reading anything that Brennan wrote. He wrote an article on the history of the parish of the North Shore in “Our Australian Missions”, and one entitles “France and the Frenchmen” in the “Austral Light”, June 1898.

He had a kindly and lovable disposition, meek but not weak. he had a ready wit and was often the source of great joy in company. There were two subjects upon which one could never joke, the Church and Ireland.

Born: 12 February 1904, Limerick
Entered: 23 November 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 02 February 1913
Died: 29 April 1931, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, 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 :
His early education was at Belvedere College SJ. He then studied Pharmacy and worked as a qualified Chemist in Dundalk.

1926-1930 After First Vows at St Stanislaus Tullabeg, he went to Rathfarnham as Infirmarian and in charge of the servants
1930 He became ill and was sent to Australia, stationed first at Riverview, then at Sevenhill and finally at Norwood, Adelaide, where he died.

Brother of Brendan Bracken (1901–58), politician.

◆ Irish Province News :
Irish Province News 6th Year No 3 1931

Obituary :
Br Kevin Bracken

Br. Bracken died at Norwood, Australia, on Wednesday 29 April 1931. His unexpected death, at the early age of 27, was a shock to all his friends in Ireland. Since the sad news arrived one of our Scholastics received a letter written by Br. Bracken 29 March. It is showed him to be in excellent health and as energetic as ever. Unfortunately, no details of the sad event have yet come to hand.

Br. Kevin Bracken was born 12 Feb. 1904. educated at Belvedere, and on leaving school, spent some time in the world as a chemist. For good reasons he preferred to join the Society as a Lay Brother, and began his noviceship 23 Nov. 1923 at Tullabeg. The noviceship over he get a hospital training in England that made him - when he returned to Ireland - a very efficient infirmarian at Rathfarnham. In addition to his work as infirmarian he had charge of the general up-keep of the house, and it was often remarked that under his care Rathfarnham was second to no house in the Province in neatness, and general material order. It came as a surprise to many that Br. Bracken sailed for Australia with the party that left Ireland in 1930.
Having spent a short time at Riverview he was sent to Sevenhill to nurse Fr. Fleury, and, when the patient died, was changed to Norwood to look after the material up-keep of the house. Here he died 29 April.
Br. Bracken was indeed a conscientious religious and attended as carefully to the interests of his own soul as he did to the various household duties that he discharged so thoroughly and so well. RIP

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Kevin Bracken SJ 1904-1931
Br Kevin Bracken was born in 1904. His family resided first at Kilmallock and then at Templemore. He was a brother of the famous Brendan Bracken, who was Minister of Information in Churchill’s Cabinet in World War II.

Kevin was educated at Belvedere College and spent some years after school training to be a chemist. He entered the Society in 1923 as a temporal coadjutor, declining the priesthood., He was of large stature, powerfully built with a luxuriant shock of red hair, cheerful nay even gay in manner, following that dictum of WB Yeats “For the good are always the merry save by evil chance…”

He was very popular with generations of Juniors in Rathfarnham, where he acted as Infirmarian. In September 1930 Br Kevin went to Australia where, to the surprise of all, he died the following year on April 29th 1931, young in years, but rich in merit.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1931

Obituary

Brother Kevin Bracken SJ

It was only last August that Brother Bracken, full of buoyancy and health, left us for Australia. He was then in his twenty-seventh year. Bidding him farewell his many friends wished him every blessing during the long years of service that seemed in store for him under the southern skies. How great then was the shock with: which, at the end of April last, we received the sad announcement of his death. Few could have dreamt that God had destined to call him so soon from our midst. As we write, details of his death are not yet to hand. Having left Belvedere, in 1919, Kevin Bracken, the son of the late J K, and Mrs Bracken of Ardvullen, Kilmallock, and of Templemore, for some time studied pharmacy and worked as a qualified chemist in Dundalk. In 1923, however, he abandoned his position and at his own special request was admitted as a lay-brother postulant into the Society of Jesus. He did his noviceship in Tullabeg College, Offaly, and went afterwards as infirmarian to Rathfarnham Castle where he remained until his departure for Australia last August. In Australia he spent some time at St. Ignatius' College, Riverview, at St Aloysius', Sevenhills, and went finally, to Norwood in Adelaide, where he was stationed at the time of his death. He was the first Jesuit lay-brother ever attached to the house of the Society there and, as he said himself in a letter, tragically received some days after the announcement of his death, was the . cause of “a lot of curiosity”, at the time of his arrival. In his care of the sick none could be more devoted, while his previous training and experience as a chemist made him most efficient in every way. Deeply do we regret his early death; and to the sorrowing members of his family most truly offer our sincere sympathy. RIP

Born: 02 September 1906, Moss Side, Manchester, Lancashire, England
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1940
Died: 28 November 1990, Kostka Hall, Melbourne, Australia

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1929 in Australia - Regency

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
Mayne, Charles (1906–1990)
by John N. Molony
John N. Molony, 'Mayne, Charles (1906–1990)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mayne-charles-14953/text26142, published first in hardcopy 2012

Catholic priest; religious writer; theological college head; theological college teacher

Died : 28 November 1990, Kew, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Charles Mayne (1906-1990), Jesuit priest and teacher, was born on 2 September 1906 at Moss Side, Manchester, England, son of William Mayne, clerk, and his wife Norah, née Mulvey. Charlie was reared in Ireland and educated by the Christian Brothers in North Dublin. In 1924 he joined the Society of Jesus and in 1927 ill health prompted him to take a teaching position at St Ignatius College, Riverview, New South Wales. He remained there until returning to Ireland in 1931 to complete his studies. On 24 June 1937 he was ordained a priest.

Voyaging back to Australia in 1939, Mayne taught English to several Jewish refugees, one of whom remained his friend for life. After a further two years at Riverview, in 1942 he was appointed dean of discipline at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, a seminary serving Victoria and Tasmania. From 1947 to 1958 he was rector of the college, although a less likely administrator is difficult to imagine. He was so painfully shy (while also aware of his responsibilities as a disciplinarian) that he habitually averted his eyes when passing students lest he observe them engaged in behaviour judged to be unbecoming in young men destined for the priesthood.

Despite his seeming ineptness, Corpus Christi flourished under Mayne, both at Werribee and following its transfer to Glen Waverley, where he was rector in 1960-68. He was determined to form men who would become good priests, rather than good priests who happened to be men. He trusted students to follow their interests and manage their own engagement with the community; he encouraged laymen and women to address the student body; and he taught seminarians to value the fundamental role of the laity in the Church.

Concerned with social issues, Mayne discussed in Exit Australia (1943) the declining birth rate and proposed practical policies in support of large families. As professor of Catholic Action and moral theology, he advocated the role of small groups in Christianising their environments, but insisted that any involvement in politics by Catholic Action was injurious to the divine mission of the Church. He almost physically abhorred B. A. Santamaria’s Catholic Social Studies Movement.

After retiring from Corpus Christi, in 1971 Mayne embarked on work in Papua New Guinea, leading the clergy and laity in spiritual formation. Back in Australia from 1976, he advised Archbishop James Gleeson in Adelaide on the development of parish councils and wrote Parish and Lay Renewal (1979) with Fr Bob Wilkinson. Returning to Melbourne in 1985, he assisted in the Ministry to Priests program.

A man of unflinching integrity and decency, Mayne urged all he met to fulfil their destiny. He could never be stereotyped: no one knew where he was likely to turn up next, brimming with new ideas. No priest exercised a greater influence on the Catholic Church of his time in Australia. He died on 28 November 1990 at East Kew and was buried in Boroondara cemetery. In his funeral homily Archbishop Frank Little, a former student, honoured Mayne’s ‘outstanding contribution’ to his church.

Select Bibliography
D. Strong, The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography (1999)
Footprints (Fitzroy), vol 8, no 1, 1991, p 1
private information and personal knowledge.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Charles Mayne was raised in Ireland and educated by the Christian Brothers in North Dublin. He joined the Society, 1 September 1924, and was sent to Australia in 1927 as a scholastic to teach at St Ignatius' College, Sydney, where he remained until 1931 when he returned to Ireland to continue his philosophical studies. He was ordained a priest, 24 June 1937.
He returned to Australia in haste in 1939 aboard a ship carrying a number of Jewish refugees fleeing Europe. He taught some of them English, and retained friendships with them.
His first appointment was to teach at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, 1940-41, but in 1942 he was appointed to teach at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and this began his 27 year association with the seminary formation of priests for Victoria and Tasmania. For twenty years he was rector of the seminary, first at Werribee, and later at Glen Waverley. During the years of the Vatican Council he was a wise guide to both staff and students, advising bishops about the needs of priests in a changing era.
Mayne blended the human touch with a wise, firm spiritual direction. He had the gifts of discernment and of encouraging people. He would urge everyone to develop any special gifts
and interests that might help future ministry in the Church. Students were also advised to read widely, to investigate ideas, and familiarise themselves with all kinds of movements taking place in the Church. Visiting women lecturers were also welcomed long before the role of women in the Church was topical.
He did much to humanise seminary life and training. He treated students with trust and gave them responsibility. He strongly defended the integrity and freedom of the person. He inspired all with a missionary vision of what was possible in the Church. He constantly proposed to priests that they be role-determining rather than role-deterrnined, and enabled priests to escape an identity crisis by convincing them that they had to be themselves.
During his years as rector he wrought many changes to the seminary. He opened the seminary doors to visiting speakers, lay and clerical, male and female, believers and non-believers. He was closely associated with bringing the Cluny nuns into seminary life.
His former students appreciated him for his freshness of mind, breadth of vision and ability to inspire. He was not an academic, but a good practitioner who taught many subjects - theology, philosophy, canon law, languages, spirituality, and “Catholic Action”. It was in this last field that he had great impact in Australia, the involvement of laymen and women in the apostolate of the Church.
For 50 years and more he was constantly lecturing, writing, and guiding groups of people in the lay apostolate. He helped the seminarians in their work with their future parishioners. He was involved with such bodies as at the Young Christian Workers, Young Christian Students, the National Catholic Rural Movement, and the National Catholic Girls' Movement. Training for leadership in the Church was important for Mayne long before VaticanII, he followed the Cardijn programme of “see, judge and act”.
At the age of 65, Mayne undertook a missionary~type assignment in Papua New Guinea in 1971, working especially with the Indigenous congregation, “The Handmaids of Our Lord” in their renewal programme, and at the Xavier Institute for the Sister Formation Course, living in Boroko. For four years he worked in that country with many religious congregations in spiritual formation and leadership courses. These initiatives reached people from many countries of the Pacific.
For the following ten years, from 1976, he lived mainly in Adelaide, where he became a resource person for the archbishop in the development of parish pastoral councils and the development of lay ministry in the Church. While in Adelaide, he co-authored, with Father Bob Wilkinson, a small handbook, “Parish and Lay Renewal”, for use in the archdiocesan renewal programmes.
In the 1980s he was involved with renewal programmes for priests at the St Peter Centre in Canberra and much appreciated by both the director and participants in the enterprise.
From 1985 he continued his interest in working with diocesan priests. He lived in the presbyteries of East Keilor, Cheltenham and East Kew, supporting the clergy, and giving spiritual direction to his many friends. He read books and wrote letters continually, keeping up a wide network of contacts until he died in his chair.
Mayne was a priest of vision, a prophetic person of zeal and youthful hope, yet a very private man. He was appallingly shy, nervous, and diffident person, often ill at ease with people. Yet these qualities gave him a great sympathy with the shy, anxious, introverted and sensitive, those who were struggling with life themselves, or troubled in their vocation.
In Mayne, one could discern a man of prayer, deeply humble, with a great respect and love for everyone he encountered. He was a missionary at heart, keen to communicate the means of spreading the Kingdom. Throughout his life he responded to God's call to explore new and richer ways of being a priest. He believed he was called to challenge and support the laity to be more active in spreading the divine Kingdom. By working with men and women in the lay apostolate he discovered the effectiveness of gathering people into small groups, to reflect on their lives, and to discern and respond to the call of God. He once remarked that he would like to be remembered as one who had been able to inspire others to action. He achieved that goal.

Born: 28 August 1897, Ardglass, County Down
Entered: 31 August 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1929, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1933
Died: 20 October 1990, Nazareth House Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Immaculate Conception Church, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger brother of Henry A Johnston - RIP 1986

by 1932 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
Thomas Johnston, brother of Henry, and the youngest of nine, received his secondary education at Mungret College, Limerick, and entered the Society at Tullabeg, 21 August 1915. His juniorate and university studies, 1917-21, were in classics, English, French and ancient history, and he gained a BA with honours. Philosophy and theology were at Milltown Park, and tertianship was at St Beuno's, Wales, 1931-32. He taught religion and the classics at Clongowes, 1924-27.
Arriving in Australia in 1932, he was appointed to Xavier College, Kew, where he taught religion, Greek and Latin. From 1933-38, he lectured in philosophy at the diocesan seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee. His lectures and spiritual talks were concise, clear, well reasoned and easy to listen to. He was dean of Newman College, within The University of Melbourne, 1939-45, and tutored in philosophy. For two years he was rector of St Ignatius' College, Riverview, teaching Latin and religion.
From 1948 to 1952 he was rector of the Holy Name Seminary, Christchurch, New Zealand, and taught Latin. During this time some considered him aloof and unfriendly in his dealings with students and priests.
After a year at Werribee teaching moral theology, 1953, he was appointed rector of St Leo's College, University of Queensland, 1954-66. From 1967-74 he was minister and assistant pastor at the parish of St Ignatius' Toowong within the archdiocese of Brisbane. During these years in Brisbane, Johnston was confessor and confidant to the archbishop. He preached on the occasion of the archbishop's diamond jubilee in the priesthood, 19 September 1956.
When he left Queensland in 1975, he worked in the Sale diocese until 1983, when ill health finally forced his retirement from active ministry. His presence in the diocese was greedy
appreciated by the bishop and the priests he assisted. The people appreciated his to the point homilies for their brevity and clarity.
As a teacher and lecturer he was clear and interesting, with an economy of words. As dean of discipline at Werribee, he was always kind, gentle and supportive. His exposition of the Spiritual Exercises was precise and brief, but challenging. He believed in the work of the Holy Spirit.
His life style when engaged in parish duties was very regular. He rose at 5.30 am and liked to say the early Mass. He had breakfast at 8 am and by 9.30 he was visiting parishioners. Following a siesta after lunch, from 4 to 6 pm he resumed visiting the parish. The Rosary was said after the evening meal in common when possible, and he retired to bed by 9.30 pm.
Eventually he retired to Hawthorn, but for the last four and a half years of his life resided at Nazareth House, a home for the aged.

Born: 28 March 1907, County Waterford
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942
Died: 16 October 1996, Marycrest, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Manresa, Toowong, Brisbane, Australia community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1929 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at the Christian Brothers Waterford before Entry at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg.

1925-1928 He studied at University College Dublin gaining a BA in Latin, Greek and English.
1928-1931 He was sent to Chieri, Italy for Philosophy
1931-1935 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview for Regency
1935-1939 He was back in Ireland and Milltown Park for Theology
1939-1940 He made tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle Dublin
1940 He was sent to work at Gardiner St Parish in Dublin
He then returned to Australia at the Toowong Parish
1950-1961 He was then sent back to Riverview as Minister. He was remembered for his kindness, patience and equanimity, as well as for his efficiency and his Irish stories. The boarders well remember his supervision of the refectory and ringing the bell.
1962-1972 He was sent back to Toowong as Parish Priest at St Ignatius, Toowong
1972-1975 He was sent to Lavender Bay parish in Sydney
1975 He came back and spent the rest of his life in Brisbane. He was chaplain at the hospital and nursing home at Nundah. He eventually settled into the Marycrest Retirement Centre at Kangaroo Point.

He was respected by many for his pastoral work, his preaching, administration of the sacraments, his wise counsel especially to many religious sisters throughout Brisbane. he was also a practical administrator, erecting a purpose built school at Toowong to replace the hall below the Church.
He was also responsible for erecting a second Church in the Toowong Parish - Holy Spirit Church, Auchenflower, a modern construction intended for the post Vatican II liturgy. He is remembered there for his dedication and friendliness, his willingness to help anyone in trouble and for his interest in the youth.
He found the new theology after Vatican II quite hard to accommodate, especially in preaching, and he was grateful to the Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Rush, for asking him to become chaplain to the Sisters of St Joseph at Nundah. The sisters there were very good to him, and he gradually regained some confidence in his ability to be a pastor and preach again. He loved the pastoral care of the sick and the rose garden there.

He died a happy and contented priest. he enjoyed the Jesuit weekly gatherings at Toowong in his latter years.

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 92 : August 1996

Obituary

Fr Maurice Fitzgerald (1922-1997)

1907: Born in Waterford
1923: Entered the Society at
1925 - 1928: Tullabeg Juniorate (National University of Ireland)
1928 - 1931: Philosophy at Chieri, Italy
1931 - 1935: Regency at Riverview
1935 - 1939: Theology at Milltown Park
31st July 1938: Ordained a Priest
1939 - 1940: Tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle
1941: Parish work at Gardiner Street
1942 - 1949: Parish work at Toowong, Brisbane
1950 - 61: Minister at Riverview
1962 - 1971: Parish work at Toowong. Superior/Parish Priest
1972 - 1975: Parish work at Lavender Bay, Sydney
1976 - 1993: Chaplain at hospital and nursing home, Nundah, Brisbane
1994 - 1996: Chaplain at Marycrest Retirement Centre

Fr. Maurice Fitzgerald was born in Ireland in 1907 and entered the Society there in 1923. Like a number of others from the Irish Province, he was transferred in 1931 to what was then the Australian Vice-Province, where, apart from Theology and Tertianship, he spent the rest of his life. Apart from over ten years in St. Ignatius' College, Riverview, his ministry was in parish or chaplaincy work, chiefly in Brisbane. For over 17 years he was on the staff of the Toowong parish, chiefly as parish priest, where he endeared himself to the people by his dedication, friendliness and willingness to help anyone in trouble. He was responsible for the building of a new Church in the parish. Due to ill health he had to retire from the strenuous activity of parish work and the last twenty years of his life were spent as Chaplain to a hospital and nursing home, conducted by Sisters. Here, too, he was much beloved. He delighted to keep in touch with his Jesuit brethren. At the time of his death, he was 89 years of age and had been a member of the Society for 73 years. The Australian Province owes a great debt of gratitude to Irishmen like him who left home and country to minister in a distant land.

Australian Provincial's Office

Born: 27 July 1894, Terryglass, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1927, Redemptorist Monastery, Pennant Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died: 27 December 1933, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia - Australiae Province

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931
by 1923 in Australia - Regency
◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He Entered the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg in 1912.

1914-1918 He was a Junior at Rathfarnham Castle
1918-1920 He was sent teaching to Mungret College Limerick for Regency
1920-1921 He was sent to teach Philosophy at Milltown Park
1921-1924 He was sent to Australia due to ill health with TB and he was sent to Xavier College Kew as Prefect of Discipline and a Teacher
1924-1925 He spent a little time caring for his health at a hospital in the Blue Mountains
1925-1931 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview. The Rector there at the time was William Lockington and he tried to take him in hand endeavouring to effect a cure, and not entirely in vain. At first he was engaged in trying to get enough Theology to be Ordained, which did take place at the Redemptorist Monastery, Pennant Hills on 15 August 1927. He undertook various activities in Prefecting, and in 1930 it was hoped that he might be appointed First Prefect, but this was too much for him. His students appreciated him for his interest in them and his gentleness and kindness. In 1931 he suffered a relapse and was sent to Sevenhill.

He bore his physical sufferings with much resignation

He had a fine mind and showed himself to be a strong and balanced character, with a shrewd and kindly discernment, a wide sympathy and genuine spirituality. He was a quiet and sensitive man, urbane, affectionate and selfless, compassionate and warm and one of nature’s gentlemen.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 9th Year No 2 1934
Obituary :
Father James Farrell

Mr. G. Ffrench, who knew Father Farrell intimately, has kindly sent us the following :
Father Farrell was born 27th July, 1894. He came first into touch with our people when, in 1908, he went to Mungret from his home in Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary.
School friends remember him as taking a full part in the life of the School, prominent at work, in games in the plays. Here as everywhere, he was liked by everyone. He was a Sodalist and became Prefect of the junior Apostolics. In 1912 he began his noviceship in Tullabeg, and in 1914 passed on to Rathfarnham, where he did a year's rhetoric previous to attending the University for three years. He took a classical degree, won prizes, and was the first to preach at the Castle the Latin sermon on St. john Chrysostom. He returned to Mungret in 1918, taught there for two years, and in 1920 was on the status for Philosophy at Milltown. However, the lung trouble, which eventually carried him off, had appeared, so a period of rest at Petworth and private study were decided on.
The hoped for improvement was not shown, and in 1921 he went to Australia. He never came home, but during his long absence never lost touch with his contemporaries. He wrote long, bright letters, full of humour, even in the last weeks of his life.
During his thirteen years in Australia he managed, despite some relapses, not only to complete his priestly studies, but to do valued work in the Colleges. In 1924, 1926 and 1931 were more periods in hospital or the Blue Mountains. His active service consisted in being II Div. Prefect in Xavier in 1922 and 1923, Prefect in Studley Hall for a time in 1925, III Div. Prefect in Riverview for the second half of 1928, I Div. Prefect there for the two years 1929, 1930. For the rest of the time he was mostly in Riverview studying privately and doing some light work in the school.
He was ordained on August 15th, 1947, by the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Cattaneo, at Pennant Hills, the Redemptorist theologate, near Sydney. A serious relapse at the end of 1930 sent him again to the Blue Mountains, whence after a year, he went to Sevenhills. But the last decline had set in, and after lingering for two years, unable to say Mass in the last months, he died on December 27th, 1933. Such was his life.
Given health and the opportunities normal in the Society, Father Farrell, with his fine mind, his strong and balanced character, his discernment shrewd and kindly, his wide sympathy, his genuine spirituality would have done rare work for God. One is apt to estimate him, like all men whose gifts are largely frustrated, by what he would have done in other circumstances. There is no need to do so. Merely to have borne his physical sufferings with resignation would have been a life not lived in vain. To have made one's way through philosophy and theology to the priesthood without the usual helps and in infirmity to have, furthermore, lent an ever willing always capable hand where help was needed, would have been a stewardship many would have been glad to account for. To have done all this with a disregard of self that was utter, with no suggestion of the extraordinary, still less of the heroic or of the tragic with an exquisite simplicity, with the cheerfulness of a boy, with the courage of a man - that is what Jimmy Farrell did. That is why his brethren gave him their affection, his superiors their trust, his boys their reverence.
And they did revere him. The seniors were old enough to suspect how much all he did for them was costing him. He was popular and had good order. Even the younger boys felt “he was too decent a man to muck-up on”. One of his boys wrote of “his gentleness and kindliness.........He was always the same........approachable.......made us feel he was interested in us personally, the muff felt he was someone after all whenever he had a talk with Father Farrell.”
The last words of one of his letters will best enshrine his memory for us. “I have not said Mass since July - God help me - but D.V., I hope to gather my energies together again soon and say a few more Masses of thanksgiving for God’s Goodness”.
His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Killian, Coadjutor Archbishop of Adelaide, presided at Father Farrell's obsequies, and at the conclusion of the Mass addressed the congregation. He referred to the fact that Father Farrell, like himself, was educated at Mungret College, as well as some priests present and many more in the far flung Diocese, who were not there because the distance made it impossible. He stressed the admirable patience of Father Farrell, his zeal, which even in his sickness, urged him constantly to be doing any little thing he could to help on the spread of the Kingdom of Christ on earth. Especially noted, too, by him was the constant cheerfulness of Father Farrell, how always he was not merely one of an assembly of gathered friends, but the like of that gathering with his wit, banter, interesting conversation and deep sympathy, his grasp of the important aspects of any question under discussion, and the edification he carried about with him, a kind of spiritual aroma shed round him, coming from his soul filled with sanctifying grace.
“Everywhere he went”, said His Grace, “he came like a ray of sunshine fit to pierce the deepest fogs or clouds of depression. He was a model priest, and though cut off in the years when men reach their prime, God surely knows that he had served Him as a faithful servant, and in the short span allotted him, had fulfilled the works of a long life, and though now we pray for him, we cannot but feel that he personally has little need of our prayers, but that, if God so willed, the graces that such prayers win for him will be there as a reservoir of grace for Father Farrell to dispense, through God's hands, to those objects and persons which were his special care on earth and will still remain so to him in heaven.”
After his affecting discourse, His Grace gave the Final Absolution, and the remains of Father Farrell were placed beside those of the great pioneers, Fathers Tappeiner, Pallhuber and Rogalski. The comrade we loved so well lies awaiting his Resurrection in one of the holiest spots in Australia.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1934

Obituary

Father James Farrell SJ

It is with sincere sorrow that all his contemporaries will read of the death of one, they all knew as a genuinely holy and lovable character, Father Jimmie Farrell.

He was born at Terryglass, Co. Tipperary, in 1894, and came to Mungret in 1909.. Having matriculated there, he passed on to the Jesuit noviceship at Tullabeg in 1912. After the usual two years of noviceship, he passed on to Rathfarnham Castle, where he spent three years, taking out his BA degree in 1918. Instead of going on to Philosophy, as is the usual course, he was sent down to Mungret to teach. This, evidently, was owing to some weakness of health or tiredness of head following on the sustained years of intense study. In September 1921, he was sent to Australia with the idea that the warmer climate would be more beneficial to his health. Superiors there allocated him to Xavier College, Melbourne, where, besides teaching, he filled the exacting post of Prefect of Discipline and succeeded in combining strict fulfilment of his duties with the winning of the affections of the boys a rare accomplishment and an eloquent testimony of his character.

In 1925 he was transferred to Sydney. Having concluded his Theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood by His Excellency, Dr Cattaneo, Apostolic Delegate, at the Redemptorist House of Studies, Pennant Hills, on August 15th, 1927. He was appointed First Prefect at Riverview College, Sydney, in 1929. Here he laboured until 1932, when he was advised by his doctor to take a good rest. His zealous fulfilment of his duties had not been calculated to give his delicate constitution that care and attention it needed. At St Aloysius', Sevenhills, he improved somewhat, for a time, owing to the change of air and his healthy surroundings. But it was only for a time. God had found him ripe for his reward, and he passed away, rather suddenly, in the early hours of the morning of Wednesday, 27th December, 1933.

It is no polite conventionalism to say that Father Jimmie was a holy and a lovable soul. Any one who lived with him will say that and mean it. His was a life of steady, unobtrusive, cheery, self-sacrificing lab our. That the sincere and solid nature of his service was not unnoticed or unappreciated is testified by the numerous and representative gathering that assembled for his Obsequies. His Grace, the Most Rev Dr Killian, Coadjutor Archbishop of Adelaide, presided in person and preached his Panegyric before giving the Final Absolution.

“Everywhere he went”, said His Grace, “Father Farrell came like a ray of sunshine to pierce the deepest fogs or clouds of depression. He was a model priest, and, though cut off in the years when men reach their prime, God surely knows that he had served Him as a faithful servant”.

Father Farrell lies buried in the vault beside those Jesuit pioneers of Australia, Fathers Tappeiner, Pallhauber and Rogalski. May he rise with them, in the end, to enter on his glorious reward!

Born: 09 June 1855, Roebuck, Mount Nugent, County Cavan
Entered: 14 September 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1888
Final Vows: 02 February 1892, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 18 August 1913, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Younger brother of James Lynch - RIP 1897

by 1886 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1891 at Drongen (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1896

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Younger brother of James Lynch - RIP 1897

Thomas Wheeler’s account of Henry Lynch written the day he died and published in the Freeman’s Journal :
“We have to record the death of another well-known and distinguished Jesuit Father at Gardiner St. Henry Lynch passed away after a tedious and painful illness. Up to then he had enjoyed vigorous health which enabled him to perform with rare efficiency the duties of his holy ministry in the confessional and the pulpit. many, especially among the poor, will miss his kindly smile and genial word, for he was greatly beloved and esteemed by everyone with who he came in contact. His fine presence and distinguished bearing made him for many years a conspicuous figure in our midst, and it is a matter of general regret that he has been called from his labours while still in all the vigour of his powers, when he had just completed his 58th year. Next month, his many friends had looked forward to celebrating his jubilee in the Priesthood, but Providence has willed that they should be deprived of this satisfaction.
He was the youngest son of the late Mr Lynch of Roebuck, the head of a well-known Catholic family of Meath, whose sole survivor is Mr P Lynch, Land Commissioner. Having finished his studies in Carlow College, he joined the Society of Jesus at an early age, following in the footsteps of his brother James, who predeceased him. He continued his Philosophy studies in Louvain, and in due course returned to Ireland, where he was occupied for some years teaching at Tullabeg and Clongowes. Being Ordained Priest, his gifts as a Preacher were soon made manifest, and for some years he was engaged in missionary work in various parts of Ireland. Later on he was called upon to transfer his labours to a wider field. For some five or six years he laboured with distinguished success in various dioceses of Australia and New Zealand, and eventually he was recalled to Ireland. Since his return he has been attached to the Church at Gardiner St, where his zeal and genial kindliness gathered round him many friends whose life will be less bright now that he has been called to his reward. His retiring disposition and reserve prevented him from showing to the full his gifts and power as a Preacher, but they in no way marred the sweetness and dignity of his character, which were manifested to those who knew him in the intercourse and intimacy of private life.”
Henry Lynch accompanied Thomas Wheeler when the latter was going for a severe operation to Leeds. When he returned before Thomas, he became unwell himself.

Note from James Lynch Entry :
His last letter, written on Christmas Day 1896 was to his brother Henry M Lynch. He wished him a “Happy New Year” and then added “Before this letter reaches you I shall have left this world”. It was all too true.

Note from John Gateley Entry :
1896 He was sent to Australia with James Colgan and Henry Lynch.

Note from Nicholas Walsh Entry :
Note Henry Lynch's obituary of Nicholas Walsh in that Entry

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Henry Lynch entered the Society, 14 September 1872, but did not come to the Australia Mission until 1897, coming via Xavier College to spend four years at Riverview, most of it preaching and giving missions in various dioceses in Australia and New Zealand. He apparently did little teaching, but a good deal of prefecting and was a house consultor. Four years was enough, and he returned to Ireland and was posted to Gardiner Street.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Henry Lynch 1855-1913
Fr Henry Lynch was born in 1855 the son of a well known Catholic family on Roebuck County Meath. His early studies were carried out at Carlow College, and he entered the Society at an early age, following in the footsteps of his elder brother James, who predeceased him in the Society.

After his ordination he was appointed to the Mission Staff, and gave many successful Missions throughout Ireland. He also laboured on the missions in Australia and New Zealand for 5 or 6 years.

On his return to Ireland he was attached to Gardiner Street for the rest of his life. He died there on August 21st 1913.

Notwithstanding his experience as a Missioner, he was of a rather shy and retiring disposition, with a reserve which prevented him from showing to the full, his gifts as a preacher. This lack was balanced by a rare dignity and sweetness of manner.

Born: 12 September 1896, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 29 September 1913, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1933, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 13 July 1985, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

by 1924 in Australia - Regency
by 1932 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
Edward Andrews came to Australia at the end of his philosophy studies in 1922 and was sent to Riverview. From 1923-25 he was third division prefect, taught in the classroom and assisted with cadets, He seemed to be a born teacher and he enjoyed his time in Sydney.
His subsequent work in Ireland included being prefect of studies in The Crescent and Galway, as well as being rector at The Crescent, finally teaching for 42 years in schools. Andrews was an outstanding Irish scholar, and a fine musician.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 60th Year No 4 1985

Obituary

Fr Edward Joseph Andrews (1896-1913-1985)

Born on 12th September 1896. 29th September 1913: entered SJ. 1913-35 Tullabeg. noviciate. 1915-19 Rathfarnham: 1915-16 home juniorate, 1916-19 studying at UCD. 1919-22 Milltown, philosophy. 1922-25 Australia, regency at Riverview, Sydney. 1925-29 Milltown, theology. 1929-31 Galway, teaching 1931-32 St Beuno's, tertianship.
1932-40 Crescent, prefect of studies. 1940-42 Rathfarnham, minister of juniors. 1942-56 Galway, prefect of studies. 1956-62 Crescent, rector. 1962-85 Galway: teaching till 1972 doc. an. 42); house confessor; 1963-98 spiritual father to community; 1971-85 church and parish confessor.

Edward Joseph Andrews was born in Dublin on 12th September 1896. He was educated at Belvedere and entered the noviciate at Tullabeg on 19th September 1913. During his juniorate in Rathfarnham he took his degree in modern languages, and then went on to philosophy in Milltown. His first experience of college work was in Australia, at Riverview college, where for three years he was Third Prefect. He also taught and was in charge of the junior cadets. He returned to Ireland for theology and was ordained at Milltown Park in 1927.
After tertianship at St Beuno's Fr Eddie went to the Crescent as prefect of studies. He is recalled as having been very active, dedicated and successful. The number of pupils in the school had gone down considerably in previous years: he was responsible for building it up noticeably, especially by giving great attention to the junior classes. He established friendly relations with the parents, and enlisted their aid in securing that sufficient time was given to homework.
In 1940 Fr Eddie was appointed Minister of Juniors, but after two years was transferred to Galway as prefect of studies, which position he was to hold for the next fourteen years. This was probably the happiest and most successful period of his life. His eight years at the Crescent had given him valuable experience, and he was still young enough to undertake his new assignment with enthusiasm. The level of the Irish language was at its highest during these years, largely due to his efforts, and, as previously in the Crescent, he was on intimate terms with both the boys and their parents.
In 1956 he was appointed Rector of the Crescent. He held this position for six years with considerable success, but one gathers that the expectations aroused by his previous success as prefect of studies were not completely fulfilled. It was thought that there were changes in the air which he did not understand, and that his mentality was too greatly influenced by his long sojourn in Galway. At this time also his health began to deteriorate, arthritis making itself clearly shown.
In 1962 Fr Eddie returned to Galway, and was destined to give service to school and church for over twenty more years. For the first few years he did some teaching, but later devoted himself to work in the church, which he was able to continue, though on an ever-diminishing scale, to the end of his life. He had in this period several heart attacks, and his arthritis become more and more crippling. During the last year or so he became almost a complete invalid, and at this time was the recipient of most kind care from Br William McGoldrick and Sr Mary of the Little Sisters of the Assumption.
Towards the end of this year there was a noted deterioration in his condition. On 1st July (a Friday) he had been feeling particularly unwell, and decided not to offer Mass. Later in the evening he felt better and offered Mass at 8 pm, after which Br McGoldrick assisted him to bed. About 1.30 am he rang the emergency bell for assistance, and it was seen that he was near the end. He received the sacrament of the sick, and the doctor was immediately summoned but came only in time to certify death.
Looking back over the long and full life of Fr Eddie Andrews, one sees three outstanding points. Firstly, there was his love of the Irish language. He devoted much time to its study, and made frequent visits to the Gaeltacht, often accompanied by groups of his pupils, to whom he communicated his own genuine enthusiasm. Then there was his great musical talent. He was a good pianist and cellist, had a fine tenor voice, and was the leader of the Milltown choir during philosophy and theology. He encouraged music amongst his pupils, and, during his long period as prefect of studies in Galway, staged, in collaboration with Fr Kieran Ward, a whole series of musical plays. Lastly, one recalls with affection his cheerful and courageous disposition, which remained unchanged during his later years when ill-health made life so difficult for him.
Suaimhneas Dé dá anam.

Born: 20 October 1873, Cloghan, Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1908, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912
Died: 14 February 1962, County Waterford

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

by 1896 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1897 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1898
by 1911 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Garahy spent part of his schooling at Mungret, and joined the novitiate in 1893. He did philosophy at Valkenburg, 1895-98, and then sailed to Australia and to Riverview, 1899-1904. He taught, looked after boarders and the Sodality of the Angels, all apparently well. When he was moved suddenly from the one class to another, the students of the class protested to the prefect of studies that they wanted him to stay and said, “My word sir, he does get you on”.
Returning to Ireland, his main work as a priest was preaching and parish work.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 12th Year No 4 1937

Rev. Michael Garahy, S.J., and Rev. Ernest Mackey, S.J. have been invited by the Most Rev. Bishop Francis Hennemann, P.S.M DD., to preach at the approaching Centenary Eucharistic Congress - which has already met with a good deal of opposition - to be held at Capetown, South Africa. Dr. Hennemann is Vicar Apostolic of the Western Vicariate of Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope.
Word has come to say that His Lordship is to send full Faculties to the Fathers by air-mail-including power to confer the Sacrament of Confirmation-for the Catholics on Ascension Island and the Island of St, Helena, both of which fall under bis jurisdiction.
They will preach during Congress Week at the Pontifical High Mass and at the Mass Meeting for Men. There will be an official broadcast of these functions, which are to be held in the open air at a short distance from St. Mary's Cathedral.
During the course of their stay in South Africa they are due to deliver special lectures on Catholic Action and kindred subjects to Catholic Men's Societies and to Catholic Women's Leagues. Their programme includes also a series of missions and parochial Retreats throughout the Vicariate beginning at the Cathedral Capetown, as a preparation for the Congress, which is fixed to take place from January 9th-16th, 1938. A special Congress Stamp has been issued to commemorate the event.
At the close of the January celebrations they intend to continue their apostolic labours in the Eastern Vicariate at the request of the Most Rev. Bishop McSherry, D,D,, Senior Prelate of South Africa.
Father Garahy is well-known throughout the country since he relinquished his Chair of Theology at Milltown Park in 1914 to devote his energies to the active ministry.
Father Mackey has been Superior of the Jesuit Mission staff in Ireland since 1927. During his absence in South Africa, Father J Delaney, S.J., Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, will take over his duties. Fathers Mackey and Garahy leave for Capetown on Tuesday, 24th August, 1937, and are expected back in Ireland about Easter, 1938.
Father Mackey has just received a cablegram from Bishop Hennemann asking him to give the Priests' Retreat at Cape Town

Irish Province News 13th Year No 1 1938

Our two Missioners to South Africa, Fathers Mackey and Garahy reached Cape Town on 23rd September.
The voyage was uneventful. They landed at Las Palmas and visited the centre of the Island.
Writing about the road, overhanging a steep precipice, over which they travelled, Father Garahy tells us : “I realised there was nothing between us and eternity except a few feet of road. It seemed to be a matter of inches when we crawled past other cars coming down.” They paid one more visit before reaching Cape Town, and Father Garahy's description is : “A spot of earth more arid than Ascension it would be hard to find outside the Sahara, and yet it grazes about 400 sheep and some cattle on one spot called the Green Mountain.”
Work began the very day after their arrival at Cape Town - a Retreat by Father Mackey to Legion of Mary, with five lectures a day. On the next Sunday, Father Garahy preached at all three Masses in the Cathedral, and again in the evening, The Mission began on Sunday, 3rd October, and from that date to Christmas the missioners had only one free week.

Irish Province News 13th Year No 2 1938

Our two Missioners, Fathers Mackey and Garahy, continue to do strenuous and widely extended work in South Africa. A source of genuine pleasure to them, and one that they fully appreciate, is the very great kindness shown to them by all the priests, not least among them by the Capuchins from Ireland. In the short intervals between the Missions the two Missioners were taken in the priests cars to every spot in the Cape worth seeing. They are only too glad to acknowledge that they will never forget the amount of kindness lavished on them.
In spite of fears the Eucharistic Congress in South Africa was an undoubted success, A pleasant and peculiar incident of the celebration was an “At Home” given by the Mayor of Capetown Mr. Foster, a Co, Down Presbyterian, to the Bishops, priests and prominent laymen. About 600 were present.

Irish Province News 13th Year No 3 1938
South Africa :

A very decided and novel proof of the success of the South African Mission is given by the letter of a certain Mr. Schoernan, a Dutch Protestant, who owns an extensive estate near Johannesburg. This gentleman wrote directly to the Apostolic Delegate for the Union of South Africa requesting that Fathers Mackey and Garahy should be invited to give a series of sermons and lectures to the non Catholics throughout the Transvaal. He had heard the sermons of these two Jesuit Fathers at the Catholic Congress at Cape Town, and concluded at once that the method and style of treatment of their sermons would make an immense appeal. He himself would be prepared to assist in the financing of such a scheme. “Surely”, he concluded, “Ireland could easily afford to forgo their services for a few months longer.”
The Delegate sent on the letter to Dr. O'Leary, Vicar Apostolic of the Transvaal. to answer. Dr, O'Leary explained that the two Fathers had to cancel many other invitations owing to pressure of work at home.
Mr. Schuman answered the Archbishop through Dr. O'Leary still pressing his own proposal.
The Press, including the Protestant Press, has been equally emphatic as to the success of the Mission. A contributor to “The Daily Dispatch”, a Protestant paper writes :
“A mission for Catholics in East London is now in progress at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It is being conducted by two Jesuits, Father Mackey and Father Garahy, members of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus..... Hitherto, missions in this diocese have been preached, almost exclusively, by members of the Redemptorist Order.... , A Jesuit mission, therefore, is a change, because the methods and style of the Jesuits are different from those of the other Orders in the Church. There is not so much thunder about the Jesuits. They preach more the mercy of God than His anger and His justice. They appeal more to one's intellect and sense of reason than to the emotions.
It has been essentially a mission to Catholics. Controversial subjects have been avoided, but in the sermons there has been a wealth of information and teaching invaluable even to those firmly established in the Catholic faith. To those not of the faith who have attended the mission, the discourses of the two eloquent Jesuits must have been a revelation. I, a practising Catholic all my life, have heard many missions, both in this country and throughout Great Britain, but I cannot recall one in which the teaching of the Church has been so simply and so convincingly substantiated, or one in which the sinner has been so sympathetically, yet effectively, shown the error of his ways. The sermons were all magnificent orations in which facts, arguments, and reasoning were blended into a convincing whole.”
In another place the same contributor writes :
“Masterly sermons were preached by Father Mackey and Father Garahy explaining, as they have never been explained to the people of East London before, the object of man's life in this world, the difficulties he has to contend with......they have shown how the evils of the present day have all arisen from the misuse of men's reason, how the abandonment of God, and the development of a materialistic creed have set class against class and nation against nation, how man's well-being on earth has been subordinated to the pagan ideas of pleasure and financial prosperity........There has been nothing sensational or emotional in any discourse, but the malice of sin has been shown in all its viciousness.
It has been an education listening to these two Jesuits. The lessons of history, biblical and worldly, have been explained in language that carried conviction, and the teaching of the Church on the problems discussed has been put forward with unassailable lucidity.”

Irish Province News 37th Year No 2 1962

St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street

The passing of Fr. Michael Garahy from amongst us has left quite a big gap in the lives of many amongst the community and staff of Gardiner Street. For some five months the care of him. day and night, had become a constant occupation for many and despite the attention he required and the trouble he could make at times, he won and held to the end the love and affection of all who were so devoted to him by his simplicity and personal charm which stayed with him until his death. He died on Wednesday, 14th February. He was with us all through his declining years except for the last five days when, where he was, meant little to him and the best that could be done became inadequate. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anant. We take this opportunity to thank Fr. Mark Quigley for his appreciation of Fr. Garahy's life's work which is given elsewhere in this issue of the Province News, Very Rev. Fr. Visitor was present at the solemn Requiem Office and Mass at Gardiner Street on 16th February, having travelled up from Tullabeg where he was then on visitation; Fr. Provincial presided; Fr. Superior was celebrant of the Mass; Fr. Tyndall deacon; Fr. Mac Amhlaoibh sub-deacon; Fr. Raymond Moloney, Milltown, M.C. To Milltown Park we are indebted also for supplying the choir. We wish to record our thanks to them for their generous help on all occasions.

Obituary :

Fr Michael Garahy (1873-1962)

Fr. Garahy passed away peacefully on the morning of 14th February. On the 16th a very fitting tribute was given him by the presence of Fr. Visitor, the Very Rev. John McMahon, S.J., by a large attendance from the Dublin houses of the Society and by a great concourse of people. The Solemn Requiem was sung by Very Rev. Fr. M. Meade, Superior, with Fr, Tyndall as Deacon and Fr. McAuliffe as Sub-Deacon. Mr. Oliver O'Brien performed at the organ and rendered the Dead March as the coffin was carried out of the church.
Fr. Garahy was born on 20th October, 1873. He was a native of Cloghan, Offaly, and lived for a time with his grandmother in Birr while attending the Presentation Brothers school. He was also at Mungret during Fr. Vincent Byrne's rectorship, and at Mount Melleray. He entered the Noviceship in 1893, did Philosophy at Valkenburg from 1895 to 1898, was six years teaching at Riverview and one year at the Crescent, Limerick. He went to Milltown for Theology in 1905, and taught the Short Course there for a year before going to the Tertianship at Tronchiennes in 1911. He taught at Milltown again for two years till 1914 when he became Miss. Excurr, and was stationed at Tullabeg. In 1918 he went to Rathfarnham and was there till 1941 when he went as Operarius to Gardiner Street.
It was in 1914 the present writer knew him first. Of his previous life those of our time only knew of him by hearsay. For example we remember Fr. Martin Maher tell that when Fr. Garahy as a scholastic in Riverview was changed from a certain class, the class came to Fr. Maher, who was Prefect of Studies, to ask to have him left with them. “My word, sir”, they said, “he does get you on”. During the past fifty years and more, I think that as a great personality and because of his very distinguished work, Fr. Garahy has filled a very special place in the Province. As a preacher he was quite outstanding. His voice was powerful and melodious, a perfect instrument for the earnestness and conviction with which he spoke, His message was given in a straight-forward style with plenty of clear and solid doctrine. I think the subjects touching on the Incarnation and the Passion showed him at his best and most typical. Once when some of us went to University Church to hear his Seven Words, we heard a priest who had come in only for the last sermon or two say to another, what a pity they had not been there for them all. Eloquent and thundering in some mission sermons, he had a very intimate, conversational and pleasant way in instructions, and also in enclosed retreats, if one can judge by one retreat he gave to the community at Milltown. He was widely known and appreciated for his retreats to the clergy. Fr. C. Mulcahy once told us of the delight of the parish priest of Rahan, who said that Fr. Garahy had given them in Meath “a retreat full of new thoughts”.
His friendly way made him a great favourite with the parish clergy and with many of the bishops of his time. He found it easy to join in conversation with them, and to be interested in the lives and doings of ordinary people. He had no side and would discuss or argue a question with the simplest of people. He once brought me to Cloghan to visit his mother, a very old lady then. They were discussing the war and she was lamenting some act of the Germans in France. “Wasn't that vandalism now”, she said, “It was not, mother”, said Fr. Michael, and proceeded to explain and to defend the Germans' action. He had always a love for the Germans and would recall with pleasure his days in Valkenburg, and sing or quote songs he had learned there.
In our own communities Fr. Garahy was always a centre of interest, and often of liveliness and fun. He was full of interesting anecdotes of his life on the missions. As well as giving missions in Ireland and England, he had gone on a mission tour with Fr. Mackey to South Africa. He allowed himself to be easily drawn into argument, and would defend his point strongly or indignantly, but sincerely and without bitterness. He lent himself willingly to any simple fun that was going. When Fr. Eustace Boylan came from Melbourne, via Rome, full of life at eighty, and spent a memorable month or so at Gardiner Street, he found Fr. Garahy a perfectly sympathetic sharer in his ever-bubbling hilarity and good humour. On hearing that a fire took place in Newry during the evening devotions when Fr. Garahy was preaching, Fr. Boylan gave rein to his imagination in a few verses to the enjoyment of all :

    Fr. Garahy stood in the pulpit
    And spoke to the crowd below,
    And his eloquence rose to a terrible height,
    As the next day's papers show.
    But just as his soaring eloquence
    Was going to soar still higher,
    A puff of wind caught the last few words,
    And the neighbouring house took fire,
    And so in Newry nowadays
    They brighten the streets at night
    With prints of Garahy's fiery words
    Instead of electric light
    And watchmen heat their tea-cans
    At funnels of gramophones
    Fitted to discs that thundered forth
    The missioner's fiery tones.
    And later when 'twas learnt that 'twas
    The Bishop's strong desire
    That Fr. Garahy should come back
    To set the town on fire.
    The enterprising shopmen
    Advertised the coming sales
    Of fireproof frocks for the maidens
    Asbestos for the males.

The more one thinks of Fr. Garahy, the more one feels the loss of him as a source of inspiration and happiness in the Province. His strong features could at times express sternness or indignation, but it was some thing evil or mean or unjust that would rouse him in this way. And his denunciation of wrong was effective. A well-known member of the con fraternity in Gardiner Street used to call Fr. Garahy “the hammer of the Society”. His normal expression, however, was one of kindness and the most natural, smiling friendliness.
Apart from the preaching activities already referred to, Fr. Garahy achieved the highest standards in preaching on special occasions. One recalls his Lenten Lectures, published in pamphlets under the title of Idols of Modern Society and a fine sermon on St. Peter Canisius. He gave a weekend retreat in Irish in Milltown many years ago, with Fr. Michael Saul, and gave at least one mission in Irish in Co. Kerry with Fr. Michael McGrath,
All his achievements left him the simplest of men, a man without guile. For the last two years Fr. Garahy's life has been one of inactivity because of his great age. He has needed special help. But in his decline he was gentle, serene and happy.
This grand man, Fr. Michael Garahy, goes from amongst us full of merits, to be greeted by a smile more winning than his own, of the Master he served so happily and so well.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1923

Our Past

Father Michael Garahy SJ

Fr Michael Garahy SJ (M L S, '89-'93), writes to tell us of an exciting journey to Bantry last summer, whither he went to conduct a retreat in the Convent. The railway from Cork to Bantry being torn up and several bridges blown down, he luckily happened on an inhabitant of that town, a man from New Zealaud settled in Bantry. This gentleman he met in a hotel in Cork, and learned from him that he purposed running down in his motor to Bantry that day. He agreed to give Fr Garahy a lift, the only other occupant being an old nun. A mile outside Cork the fun began. From this point for nearly twenty miles the road. lay through boreens, through fields, and, getting near to Bantry, they were forced to take to the railway line, and bump along over the sleepers. The old lady took it with marvellous sangfroid, and appeared to be quite fresh at the end of the seventy miles ride. Bantry presented the appearance of a Mexican town during the late civil war, Every house of any size was sandbagged and bullet spattered. Day and night sniping went on during the retreat, the Republicans usually firing from a wood near the convent down into the town. The firing was so intense one evening that the usual lecture had to be abandoned, and Fr Garahy, on his way home to the PP's house, had to convoy a party of ladies from the convent to their homes into the town amidst a perfect inferno of machine-gun fire..

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1933

Sermon for the Golden Jubilee of Mungret College SJ

Father Michael Garahy SJ

“In the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed”. (Ecclesiasticus xxiv 3-4).

Your Grace, My Lords, Very Rev Fathers, and Dear Brethren -

The presence within the halls of Mungret of this distinguished gathering of her sons at to-day's celebration is not only a graceful tribute of their respect and a'ection for their old college; it is, I venture to say, a singularly felicitous testimony to the part played by Mungret in laying well and truly the foundations of the success which so many of her students have achieved. To anyone curious to learn what your. Alma Mater has accomplished within the half-century since her foundation the Rev Rector of Mungret might reply without fear of appearing unduly boastful : “Si monumentum quæris circumspice hodie”.

A Happy Coincidence
It is certainly a happy circumstance, that the golden jubilee of Mungret as an ecclesiastical and lay college has synchronised with the most splendid event in the history of the Irish Church, the celebration of the great Eucharistic Congress in the capital of Ireland. That it should also coincide with the fifteen hundredth anniversary of the coming to Ireland of her great Apostle, Saint Patrick, is a matter of more than passing interest to the students whom Mungret has sent forth to preach and uphold the Faith of St. Patrick in lands beyond the seas. Yes, Providence has dealt kindly by Mungret in this year of her golden jubilee by bringing together from near and far, some of them from the far distant outposts of Christ's Empire, the illustrious audience of her sons which I am privileged to address to-day. Mungret welcomes them with the joy of a mother proud to see gathered around her again the men whom she strove to form in the spirit of Christ, whom she sent forth from her halls to play the part of Christian gentlemen, whether as priests or laymen, and her welcome could not be otherwise than heartfelt and proud when she remembers how magnificently her hopes have been realised.

Fifty years is not a long span by which to measure the work done by your college, and yet so much history has been made within that half-century that one is tempted to apply to her the well-known quotation from the Book of Wisdom : “Being perfected in a short space; she has accomplished the work of a long period of years”. Of the nature of that work, of its importance both to Church and State, it is sufficient for the moment to say that from its foundation in 1882 the College of Mungret has served as a training ground for young aspirants to the priesthood and for Catholic boys destined for the lay professions or a business career. I shall speak later of the immense importance of a thoroughly Catholic education to the latter class.

The work of the Apostolic School, concerned with the formation of those whom Christ has called to assume the tremendous responsibilities of the priesthood, naturally claims pride of place in any survey of Mungret's activities.

The Founder Father Ronan SJ
How the idea of founding such a school took root in the mind of the man whose name is imperishably linked with the story of Mungret, is easily explained. Father Ronan, who planned it, and
worked for it, and lived to see the tiny mustard seed he had planted grown to a goodly tree, was first and fore most and all his life through a man of God. He was also a member of an Order whose founder, St Ignatius, had been quick to see the enormous importance of providing the Church, battling for her life against the Lutheran heresy, with learned and holy priests, and had worked with such success towards that end that from the colleges he had established there poured forth the shock troops who held up the sweeping advance of the Protestant heresy in the sixteenth century. For twenty years previous to the founding of the Apostolic School, Father Ronan had been employed in giving missions up and down through Ireland. His missionary work had made him intimately acquainted with the lives and character of the people. He had always taken a deep interest in the young folk of the various parishes in which he had work ed, for the reason that his special line as a missioner had brought him much into contact with them. Father Ronan usually asked for and was allowed to take over the catechising of the young people in the missions in which he took part. He was not slow to see that amongst the boys who attended his instructions, both in town and country, there was an abundance of excellent material to draw upon for the supply of priests so sorely needed on the foreign missions. It was, however, to the poorly staffed dioceses in the English-speaking countries beyond the seas that his thoughts chiefly turned. He had learned how grave was the need of truly apostolic priests in these remote territories where the Catholic population, comparatively small in numbers, and living in an atmosphere either fanatically Protestant or religiously indifferent, were in serious danger of drifting from the faith. The homes of Ireland bred young men admirably fitted to take on this arduous work, but the establishment of a school to prepare them for the priest hood was not to be lightly undertaken, without the necessary financial backing, and the problem that troubled his mind for many years was how to procure the wherewithal to found. such a school. He was already well advanced in years, and at his time of life to set about collecting the money necessary to the success of his project appeared to him to be a task beyond his ability. At the same time he felt that some small beginning ought to be made.

Fr Ronan’s Opportunity
The opportunity offered when Father Ronan was appointed Rector of the Sacred Heart College, Limerick. Here was a school with a staff of professors already in being. He needed only to
rent a house adjoining the Crescent College. His young students would thus be enabled to follow the course of studies in the College, and for their upkeep and educational expenses he trusted to find the necessary funds from the pensions of the students, supplemented where necessary by donations from generous benefactors. His hopes in this direction were more than realised, Beginning with eight students in 1880 the number soon grew to thirty. The Bishop of Limerick Dr Butler, Dr Croke Archbishop of Cashel, and a number of distinguished lay gentlemen - amongst them Lord Emly, Sir Aubrey and Sir Stephen De Vere - gave their wholehearted support to the undertaking, while many of the Irish clergy contributed generously for several years to the funds of the Apostolic School.

Fr Ronan’s Deeptest Concern
But the formation of his students on the right lines was naturally a matter of deeper concern to the founder of the Apostolic School than the money question. The nature Concern of the work he had in view for them called for strong men - strong in character, strong in faith, strong in the love of God, with a clear conviction of the responsibilities of their vocation, and trained to bear the hardships and withstand the temptations that beset the priest in lands where the faith has a hard struggle, and survive in an atmosphere reeking with materialism and unbelief. Father Ronan rightly felt that the young men destined for missions such as these needed a special character formation, needed to be deeply grounded in piety, to be solidly educated. Above all, he saw the necessity of placing them under the watchful care of : a holy and prudent director, so that undesirables might be weeded out, and only those who gave fair promise of doing the work of God conscientiously should be entrusted with the care of souls in these dangerous surroundings. He had heard of and was deeply impressed by the system of training followed in the Apostolic Schools conducted on the Continent by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. He visited several of these schools, and saw for himself how the young men were prepared for the foreign missions at Tournhout in Flanders, at Poitiers, Monaco, and Anjou.

Fr René’s Services
Father Ronan was fortunate enough to meet at Paray-le-Monial a young French Jesuit who had in the preceding year filled the office Services. of director of the Apostolic School at Poitiers. From their first meeting Father Ronan seemed to see in him the right man to undertake the work of piloting the new school through its first difficult years.

Father René, with the approval of his superiors, gladly consented to accept the direction of the school in Limerick, and was duly installed at the Crescent College in 1887. A couple of years after the school had been transferred to Mungret he was appointed Rector of the College, and it was under his direction that the system of training peculiar to Mungret gradually took shape. Father Réné was a man of unusual ability, a born organiser with a great store of common-sense, a little hard, perhaps, in his methods of government, and with rigid views as to discipline that did not always commend themselves to the freedom-loving young Irishmen committed to his care. But of one thing there can be no doubt : he possessed in a high degree the qualities especially considerate in the young men with whose formation he was entrusted zeal for the glory of God, and a spirit of self-denial that led him, when his work in Mungret came to an end, to volunteer for the terrible mission of Alaska, where he laboured for several years until his health broke down. To Father Réné and the devoted French Fathers who worked with him from 1882 till their return to France in 1888, most honourable mention is due for their distinguished services to the school whose Golden Jubilee we celebrate to-day. Another French gentleman prominently identified with the history of Mungret, a great benefactor of the College and beloved of all the students who knew him, Monsieur l'Abbé l'Heritier, also deserves very kindly mention for his services as professor of science during the many years he filled that office in Murgret.

Founder’s Expectations Realised
Time does not allow me to trace the history of the Apostolic School in the years that followed. It is enough to say that the system adopted in Mungret fully justified the most sanguine
expectations of its founder, Within a few years Mungret began to be favourably known as a school where the boys received an excellent education. In the University examinations, in competition with the highly endowed Queen's Colleges, Mungret students were well to the front, and carried off a goodly proportion of the most coveted distinctions in Classics in English Literature, and in Philosophy. But what gladdened the heart of Father Ronan and the superiors of the College more than anything else were the highly complimentary reports that began to pour in from the heads of colleges where the Mungret students had been sent to complete their studies. It became a sort of tradition in the Propaganda and the American Colleges in Rome, as well as in All Hallows and Carlow, to expect big things of the Mungret men. Their spirit of piety, of hard work, self-reliance, and observance of discipline, could not fail to attract notice, and it was quite a usual thing for the students of Mungret to be promoted to positions of trust in their colleges during their Divinity course. It could hardly be otherwise when one remembers that character formation and the habit of prayer had been carefully cultivated during their years in Mungret.

The System of Training
The system in vogue in the College is roughly modelled on that adopted by the Society for the formation of its own novices and scholastics. It undoubtedly exacts much of the young men to whom it is applied, but if it does, it certainly helps to make men of those who take the training. Perhaps the most eloquent testimony to the efficiency of the system is the fact that the Apostolic School in the comparatively short period of its existence, and with a student roll that has rarely exceeded sixty, has already given to the Church an archbishop and six bishops. Several of her students occupy the responsible positions of heads of colleges - one of them at least as large as Maynooth - in America and Australia, while amongst the prominent Churchmen in the United States and in the British Colonies, Mungret is well represented. Finally, it is worthy of note that a number of her students have won distinction as writers - in philosophy, apologetics, ecclesiastical history, and social science. The chief merit, however, of the Mungret training is that it has given to the ranks of the secular clergy and to the religious Orders so many priests esteemed for their blameless lives, their solid piety, and their devotion to duty, When one considers under what unfavourable conditions these priestly virtues have been exercised, one sees how wisely Father Ronan and his successors builded, how every stone in the edifice was tested, and how the completed work stands as a splendid monument to the zeal and courage of those who made Mungret what it is. In late middle life Father Ronan did not shrink from the hardships of a journey to America to raise funds for the extension of the college buildings. He brought back with him not only the money necessary for that purpose, but a considerable sum to found a number of burses. His work as a missioner often kept him away from Mungret for long intervals, but his heart was always there. He loved every stone in its walls, and when the Winter of his life drew on, and the old man came to rest from his labours, his last years were spent in the midst of his beloved apostles. Too old for active service, he could still pray. Indeed, his days were spent in prayer till the end came and Christ called him to receive the Crown of Justice for which he had worked so faithfully through all the years of his long and faithful life.

Removal of the Apostolic School
When the Apostolic School was removed from the Crescent College to Mungret, Dr Butler, the Bishop of Limerick, who was a great admirer of Father Ronan, and had taken a deep interest in the new foundation, decided to entrust the education of his own diocesan students to the care of the Jesuit Fathers in Mungret. This arrangement, as well as the opening of the new college to lay boys, evidenced the working of the school on efficient lines, for it was obvious that the expense entailed in providing a competent staff of teachers could not be met if the Apostolic School, which only numbered thirty students at that time, were to be run as an independent unit. The Seminarians as the diocesan students were called, followed the course of studies in Mungret for six years, until Dr O'Dwyer, desirous of providing his diocese with a seminary under his own management, withdrew his students to the present St Munchin's College. Their connection with Mungret, brief as it was, won for the College a number of devoted friends amongst the Limerick priests. Mungret is proud to know that they are amongst the most respected priests of the diocese, and she welcomes them here to-day no less warmly than the past students of the Apostolic and Lay Schools.

Jesuits as Educators of the Laity
The foundation of a Lay School in con junction with the Apostolic College had entered into Father Ronan's plans from the beginning. If he looked for great things from the latter as a feeder of the missions, he was also keenly alive to the importance of providing educational facilities after the Jesuit plan to boys intended for a career in the world. In this he was true to type, to which Father Ronan belonged, had from its earliest days devoted itself enthusiastically to the education of the laity. This is not to be wondered at when one considers the motives that led Ignatius to found the Society of Jesus. The dream of his life is embodied in the great meditation of the Spiritual Exercises, “The Kingdom of Christ”. His sure grasp of the realities convinced him that the simplest as well as one of the most effective means of realising that dream was the establishment of schools for the education of Catholic youth. These schools would put into the hands of his Society a powerful instrument for forming the rising generations on the principles of Christ, for training them in habits of virtue, for instilling into their souls at the most impressionable period of their lives a love for God and a respect for His holy law. As a matter of fact, so successful were the Jesuit schools in furthering these ends, and at the same time so high was the standard of excellence reached even in the teaching of secular subjects, that in every country when the Society was permitted to open schools, higher training of the Catholic youth to a large extent passed into their hands. For this success the Jesuits have had to pay a heavy price. It will hardly be disputed that one of the chief reasons why the Society has incurred the mortal hatred of the enemies of Christ, why her schools have been suppressed and her members driven into exile on so many occasions in the various countries of Europe, is that, taking them all in all, the young Catholics trained in their colleges have been the most influential as well as the most determined opponents of the anti-Christian organisations.

Fortress of Christianity
In this connection it is not out of place to call attention to the tremendous pressure that is employed to-day in many countries to close down the schools in which religion is taught to the laity. The enemies of God have learned by experience that the most potent weapon in their armoury to destroy all faith in the supernatural, to uproot Christianity, and establish the reign of materialism, is the Godless school. They are equally persuaded that the religious, schools are the fortresses of Christianity, that wherever religion is inter 'woven with education the materialist advance is held up. One need not be an alarmist to see how the storm clouds are gathering that threaten to engulf our Christian civilisation, and there can be little doubt that the issue between Christ and anti-Christ will be decided in the schools. If the Church in these critical times has need of holy and zealous priests to teach the people the truth, to strengthen them in their faith, to encourage them by their example, she has even more urgent need of brave and resolute men, men of faith and men of action, in the ranks of the laity.

Ideals of the Lay School
I have been at pains to show what the training given in Mungret has been able to effect in the case of the Ideals Apostolic School. I may now be permitted to set. forth the ideals aimed at in
the training of the lay scholars. Stated briefly, these ideals are to make them not only educated men in the common acceptation of the term, but, before all else, to fashion them into good Christians and good citizens. And here is the place to state that education, as we Catholics conceive it, is a much wider thing than the training and perfecting of man's natural faculties. We do not seek to minimise the importance of this training; on the contrary, we demand that the greatest care be taken to bring out all that is naturally good in man. Catholic education looks to the development of the body. It looks more closely to the improvement of the mind. It would bring to bear on the pupil all those civilising influences that help to form the character and refine the mind. It considers a thorough grounding in the classics, in literature, in history, in the arts and sciences, indispensable to a finished education, and it recognises the great importance of cultivating in the pupil a respect for the natural virtues - for truth and justice and honour and temperance. But it does not stop there. This, after all, is only a part, and the least important part, of a man's education, and the reason is obvious, once it is remembered that man is something more than a being composed of a natural body and a spiritual soul, that he has been by the act of God raised above his natural to a supernatural state, that his final end is something immeasurably more splendid than the winning of worldly success, that it is to win the favour and love of God in this world and the kingdom of God in the world to come. Now, since a religion supernaturally revealed and attested by the authority of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been given to men to enable them to realise this end, to know and love and serve God, it follows that a knowledge of this religion, a respect and love for this religion, is the most necessary element in this education. In a word, true education will aim at making man before all else a good Christian, and in doing that it will also contribute powerfully to mould him into a good citizen.

Definition of a Good Citizen
And first let us be clear as to what we mean by a good citizen. I think it will be generally agreed that these are the broad outlines of his character. He is above all things an upright, honourable man, a man who respects the rights and feelings of others, a man whose conduct is ruled by principle, not by self-interest, a man who is clear in his conscience, and master of his passions. Now, men of this type are not born into the world. These qualities are no natural inheritance. They are the fruit of many a hard and bitter struggle against human passion. Some tremendous power other than mere strength of will or fire of character is required to produce men of this stamp. Catholics know that this power is the grace of God, and that religion is the avenue to the storehouse of God's grace. Leave out religion and you rob man of the most helpful means to fashion himself into a good citizen. Experience goes to show that this reasoning is sound, for the really religious man is invariably a witty member of society, and, contrariwise, a huge percentage of the wastrels of society, the criminal class, the crooks and swindlers and anarchists, are, as a rule, destitute of religious beliefs, and for the most part products of the Godless schools.

It was to offer another training ground for the attainment of these ideals that the Lay College in Mungret was founded. It was felt that association with the brilliant, hard-working students of the Apostolic School could not but have a stimulating effect upon the lay students religiously and scholastically, and looking back at the history of the Lay School, it may be fairly said that the experiment has worked success fully. The lay students of Mungret have reflected credit on their teaching. They are honourably represented in the professions. Many of them have won successes in business, and a very fair proportion are working to-day as zealous priests both on the secular mission and in the religious Orders.

Words of Gratitude
In conclusion I believe I am voicing the feelings of the Society when I offer grateful thanks to this distinguished gathering of students who have honoured us with their presence here to-day; to the many students of Mungret who, though far away, are with us to-day in spirit; to all the benefactors of Mungret, both living and dead; and chief amongst these to the St Joseph's Young Priests' Society; to the Rectors and professors of Mungret, who worked so strenuously to make the College worthy of the object for which it was founded. To each and to all the Society tenders devoted thanks, to those who planted, and to those who watered. Finally, to Him Who blessed their labours, Who gave the increase, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for Whom greater glory the College of Mungret was founded, the Society of Jesus and the students of Mungret unite in offering glory and honour and benediction. Amen

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1962

Obituary

Father Michael Garahy SJ

We regret to announce the death of Fr Michael Garahy, which took place on February 14th.

Fr Garahy was born in Cloghan, Offaly. After leaving Mungret he spent some time in Mount Melleray. He did some of his studies in the Society in Germany, and was ordained in Milltown Park in 1908.

He was attached to the Mission Staff from 1914 to 1941, and a well known and distinguished preacher both in Irish and English. His retreats were also much appreciated by the clergy.

Earlier in his career he spent about six years teaching in Australia, and was Professor of Theology in Milltown Park for three years prior to 1914. In 1937 he was invited to make a special preaching tour in the Union of South Africa, which he did with distinction. For the last twenty years he was a member of the St Francis Xavier Community. RIP

Born: 05 October 1900, Slaney Street, Wexford
Entered: 07 October 1918, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1934, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1937
Died: 15 May 1964, Talbot Lodge, Kinsealy, Dublin

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

by 1929 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
1927-1929 Sent to Australia, being assigned to St Ignatius College, Riverview as a teacher and Prefect of the Chapel.
1929-1931 Xavier College, Burke Hall as Prefect of Discipline and assistant Master of Ceremonies.
1931-1935 Returned to Milltown Park for Theology
1935-1936 Tertianship at St Beuno’s, Wales
1936-1938 He returned to Australia and St Aloysius College, Milsons Point as Minister and Director of the Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament. He also edited the “Aloysian”.
1939-1946 He was appointed to Burke Hall teaching and Prefect of Discipline.
1947 Back in Ireland and spent the rest of his life as assistant Director of the “Ricci Mission unit”, helping with the periodical “Irish Jesuit Missions”.

He was a man noted for his wit and acting ability, but did not seem happy or successful as a classroom teacher.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 22nd Year No 2 1947
Clongowes :
Fr. W. Allen, of the Viceprovince of Australia, arrived in Dublin on 16th March, and is now teaching at Clongowes.
Irish Province News 39th Year No 4 1964
Obituary :
Fr William Allen SJ (1900-1964)

Fr. Allen was born in Slaney Street, Wexford, on 5th October 1900. He went to school first at the Mercy Convent, and later, when the family moved to Dublin, to the Christian Brothers School, Synge Street.
It was at a mission given by Fr. Tom Murphy, S.J. in St. Kevin's, Harrington Street, that Fr. Allen decided to become a Jesuit. Fr. Murphy arranged for him to see Fr. Michael Browne, of whom he wrote long after: “I was at once impressed and captivated by the sanctity of the priest”.
Fr. Allen entered in Tullabeg on 7th October 1918. After the noviceship he spent a year in the Juniorate before going to Rathfarnham and U.C.D., where he took his B.A. degree in 1924. For the next three years he studied philosophy in Milltown Park. In 1927 he went to Australia for his teaching, first in Riverview, then in Burke Hall, the preparatory school for Xavier, Melbourne.
In 1931 he returned to Milltown for theology, and was ordained on 31st July 1934. In 1935 he went to St. Beuno's for his tertianship, and in 1936 returned to Australia, teaching at St. Aloysius College, Sydney. In January 1937 he became Minister there, teaching, and in charge of the Crusaders and the Holy Angels Sodality. After some years he was changed to Burke Hall, prefecting and teaching, and in charge of the Apostleship of Prayer.
Fr. Allen returned to Ireland at Easter 1947, and went to Clongowes where during the summer he worked in the people's church. His Sunday sermons were appreciated by the people. However, already he was experiencing the defective hearing and consequent anxiety about Confessions, which were to restrict his work in the coming years. On the Status he was changed to Tullabeg, engaged in the work of the Ricci Mission Unit, as the Stamp Bureau was then called. He remained at this post till the end of his life, nearly seventeen years later. His heart was in Tullabeg, and although he greatly missed the philosophers when they went abroad in 1962, he was grateful to have been left in the place he liked best.
Shortly before Easter of this year he became unwell. An operation was found necessary, and was successfully undergone early in April. Throughout, he was in good spirits, “won all our hearts”, as the surgeon put it. He was sincerely appreciative of the kindness shown him during his illness by Fr. Rector, the doctors, nurses, and by Ours who visited him and supported him by their prayers. A good recovery followed. While waiting for a room in the convalescent home at Talbot Lodge, he spent some days in Milltown Park which he greatly enjoyed. He then went to Talbot Lodge, where every day he was up and about, and able to go out. But on Friday, 15th May, he collapsed and died.
Fr. Allen came of a family of whom two became priests - an Oblate Father, and himself a Jesuit - three became Christian Brothers, and three sisters became nuns in the Convent of the Incarnate Word, Texas.
He was a man of deep faith and simple piety. As a small boy, he used to serve Mass in the Franciscan Friary in Wexford. All his life he remained devoted to the service of the altar, training acolytes in the colleges, and later, when the scholastics left Tullabeg, instructing the small boys from around to serve in the people's church. It was with such younger boys that his work had mostly brought him into touch. His kindly ways, his jokes, won them to him, though their collective exuberance sometimes eluded his control.
The boys valued his kindliness. Some of them, some of their parents, kept in touch with him since his earliest days in Australia. Through the Advocate, coming each week from friends in Melbourne, through the college magazines carefully preserved in his room, through the catalogues and the Australian Province News, he followed with interest the careers of boys he had known, and the work of our Fathers in Australia.
In community life, he was always kindly, and, when in good spirits, cheerful even to infectious hilarity over stories, jokes, verses, sometimes of a nursery rhyme variety.
He preserved to the end and mellowed in that simple piety of childhood, a piety reflected in an exact observance of rule. In times of depression in these latter years, he sometimes, though always without a trace of bitterness, contrasted the little he seemed to himself to have achieved in life, with the accomplishments of others busy in active apostolate. He was consoled by the assurance that a hidden, prayerful life like his own, could do as much for God and souls as any absorbing apostolate.
He had learned well the lessons of his noviceship in Tullabeg, particularly about fidelity to the spiritual duties of rule. His day began with morning oblation and closed with visit after night examen.
In the people's church, which he loved so well and where he usually: said Mass, he celebrated with a prayerful reverence by which he will be best remembered.

Born: 18 September 1858, Dundrum, Dublin
Entered: 10 June 1885, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 1899
Professed: 01 March 1901
Died: 22 May 1929, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

by 1893 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1894 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1895 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1900 at St Joseph, Yang Jin Bang, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1904 in St Ignatius, Riverview, Sydney (HIB)
by 1905 at ZI-KA-WEI Seminary, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1910 in Australia

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online
Pigot, Edward Francis (1858–1929)
by L. A. Drake
L. A. Drake, 'Pigot, Edward Francis (1858–1929)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pigot-edward-francis-8048/text14037, published first in hardcopy 1988

astronomer; Catholic priest; meteorologist; schoolteacher; seismologist

Died : 22 May 1929, North Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Edward Francis Pigot (1858-1929), Jesuit priest, astronomer and seismologist, was born on 18 September 1858 at Dundrum, near Dublin, son of David Richard Pigot, master of the Court of Exchequer, and his wife Christina, daughter of Sir James Murray, a well-known Dublin physician. Descended from eminent lawyers, Edward was educated at home by tutors and by a governess. The family was very musical and Edward became a fine pianist; he was later complimented by Liszt. He studied arts and medicine at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1879; M.B., B.Ch., 1882) and also attended lectures by the astronomer (Sir) Robert Ball. After experience at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, he set up practice in Dublin.

In June 1885 Pigot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore, County Down. He began to teach at University College, Dublin, but in 1888, on account of ill health, came to Australia. He taught at St Francis Xavier's College, Melbourne, and from August 1889 at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney. Returning to Europe in 1892 he studied philosophy with French Jesuits exiled in Jersey, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin. He was ordained priest on 31 July 1898. In 1899 he volunteered for the China Mission and was stationed at the world-famous Zi-Ka-Wei Observatory, Shanghai. In 1903, again in poor health, he spent some months working in Melbourne and at Sydney Observatory, and taught for a year at Riverview before returning to Zi-Ka-Wei for three years. Tall and lanky, he came finally to Sydney in 1907, a frail, sick man. He had yet to begin the main work of his life.

On his way back to Australia Pigot visited the Jesuit observatory in Manila: he was beginning to plan an observatory of international standard at Riverview. He began meteorological observations there on 1 January 1908. As terrestrial magnetism could not be studied because of nearby electric trams, he decided to set up a seismological station as the start of the observatory. The Göttingen Academy of Sciences operated the only fully equipped seismological station in the southern hemisphere at Apia, Samoa: a station in eastern Australia would also be favourably situated to observe the frequent earthquakes that occur in the south-west Pacific Ocean. Assisted by the generosity of L. F. Heydon, Pigot ordered a complete set of Wiechert seismographs from Göttingen, and visited the Apia observatory. Riverview College Observatory opened as a seismological station in March 1909. Seismological observations continue to be made there.

A great traveller despite his teaching duties, Pigot visited Bruny Island, Tasmania (1910), the Tonga Islands (1911) and Goondiwindi, Queensland (1922), to observe total solar eclipses; and observatories in Europe in 1911, 1912, 1914 and 1922 and North America in 1919 and 1922. He made observations of earth tides in a mine at Cobar (1913-19), collaborated with Professor L. A. Cotton in measurements of the deflection of the earth's crust as Burrinjuck Dam filled (1914-15) and performed Foucault pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market building, Sydney (1916-17). On 1 September 1923 F. Omori, a leading Japanese seismologist, observed with Pigot a violent earthquake being recorded in the Riverview vault; it turned out to have destroyed Tokyo, with the loss of 140,000 lives.

Fr Pigot was a member of the Australian National Research Council from 1921, president of the State branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923-24 and a council-member of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1921-29. On his way back from the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo (1926), he visited the observatory at Lembang, Java, where he planned a programme of study at Riverview Observatory of variable stars. Between 1925 and 1929 Pigot measured solar radiation at Riverview and Orange, particularly in relation to long-range weather forecasting. He was seeking a site of high elevation above sea-level for this work, when he contracted pneumonia at Mount Canobolas. He died at North Sydney on 22 May 1929 and was buried in Gore Hill cemetery.

Sir Edgeworth David paid tribute to Pigot:
It was not only for his profound learning that scientists revered him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health, he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful manner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth. Surely there never was any scientific man so well-beloved as he.

Select Bibliography
Royal Society of New South Wales, Journal, 49 (1915), p 448
Riverview College Observatory Publications, 2 (1940), p 17
S.J. Studies, June 1952, p 189, Sept-Dec 1952, p 323.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Paraphrase/Excerpts from an article published in the “Catholic Press” 30/05/1929
“The late Father Pigott, whose death was announced last week in the ‘Press’, was born at Dundrum Co Dublin 18/09/1858, of a family which gave three generations of judges to the Irish Bench. He himself adopted the medical profession, and having taken his degree at Trinity, he practiced for a few years in Dublin and at Croom, Co Limerick. While studying at Trinity he made his first acquaintance with astronomy, when he heard a course of lectures by the famous Sir Robert Ball, then head of the Observatory at Dunsink, and Astronomer Royal of Ireland.
In 1885 the young Doctor, already noted for his charming gentleness and self-sacrificing charity entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore. he made his first visit to Australia as a Scholastic in 1888, and he taught for four years at Xavier College Kew, and Riverview Sydney. Naturally his department was Science.
In 1892 he was sent to St Helier in Jersey to study Philosophy with the French Jesuits who had been expelled from France. It was here that he began his long battle with frailty and illness, during which he achieved so much for scientific research over his 70 years. He did his Theology at Milltown and was Ordained 1899. Two years later he volunteered to join the French Jesuits in China, and this required of him not only his scientific zeal, but also his spiritual and missionary ones. he did manage to master the Chinese language for his work, and he used to tell amusing stories of his first sermons against himself and his intonations. His health was always threatening to intervene, and so he went to work at the Zi-Kai-Wei Observatory near Shanghai. The work he did here on the Chinese Mission was to reach his fulness in the work he later did over many years in Australia, and where he went to find the climate which suited his health better. He received much training at Zi-Kai-Wei and in photography and study of sunspots at Ze-se, which had a twin 16 inch telescope.
1907 saw him back in Australia and he set about founding the Observatory at Riverview, while teaching Science. By his death, this Observatory had a range and capacity, in terms of sophisticated instruments, which rivalled the best Government-endowed observatories throughout the world. Whilst he had the best of equipment, he lacked the administrative personnel necessary to record all the data he was amassing. His great pride towards the end was in his spectroscope for the work on Solar Radiation where he believed that ‘Long-distance weather forecasts will soon be possible, though not in my time’ (Country Life, 29/04/1929). Current farmers and graziers will owe him a lot in the future.
The scientific work at Riverview has received recognition in Australia. Edward’s interests in the Sydney Harbour Bridge, his experiments in earth tremors at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, geophysics at the Cobar mines, pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Markets of Sydney. In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania, and in 1911 on the ship Encounter a similar trip to the Tongan Islands, and the Goondiwindi Expedition of 1922.
In 1914 he was appointed by the Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St Petersburg, though war cancelled that. In 1921 he was a member of the Australian National Research Council and sent to represent them to Rome at the 1922 first general assembly of the International Astronomical Union and the International Union of Geoditics and Geophysics. He was president of the NSW branch of the British Astronomical Association, and a member of the Royal Society of NSW. In 1923 the Pan-Pacific Science Congress was held in Australia, and during this Professor Omori of Japan was at Riverview watching the seismometers as they were recording the earthquake of Tokyo, Dr Omori’s home city. In 1926 he went to the same event at Tokyo, and later that year was elected a member of the newly formed International Commission of Research of the Central International Bureau of Seismology.
From an early age he was a passionate lover of music, and this came from his family. he gave long hours to practising the piano when young, and in later life he could play some of the great pieces from memory. He was said to be one of the finest amateur pianists in Australia. It often served as a perfect antidote to a stressful day at the Observatory."

Many warm-hearted and generous tributes to the kindness and charm for Father Pigott’s personal character have been expressed by public and scientific men since his death. Clearly his association with men in all walks of life begot high esteem and sincere friendship. Those who knew him in his private life will always preserve the memory of a kindly, gentle associate, and of a saintly religious.”

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward Pigot's family was of Norman origin and settled in Co Cork. Ireland. The family was a famous legal family in Dublin. He was the grandson of Chief Baron Pigot, son of judge David Pigot, brother of Judge John Pigot. He was the fourth of eight children, and was educated at home by a governess and tutors. The family was very musical, Edward playing the piano.
Pigot went to Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated BA in science in 1879. His mentor at the university in astronomy was Sir Robert Ball, then Royal Astronomer for Ireland and Professor of Astronomy. Pigot then studied medicine and graduated with high distinction in 1882, and after postgraduate studies practiced in Baggot Street, Dublin.
However, Pigot gave up this practice to join the Society of Jesus, 10 June 1885, at the age of 27.
After a short teaching period at University College, Dublin, Pigot was sent to Australia in 1888 because of constant headaches, and he taught physics and physiology principally at St Ignatius College, Riverview, 1890-92. He returned to Europe for further studies, philosophy in Jersey with the French Jesuits, 1892-95, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained priest in 1898. Tertianship followed immediately at Tullabeg.
At the age of 41 and in ill health, Pigot volunteered for the Chinese Mission in 1899, and was stationed at Zi-ka-Wei, near Shanghai, working on a world famous observatory, where
meteorology, astronomy and terrestrial magnetism were fostered. Pigot specialised in astronomy and also studied Chinese. Like other missionaries of those days, he grew a beard and a pigtail. However, his health deteriorated and he was sent to Australia in 1903 for a few years. He then returned to Shanghai, 1905-07, before returning to Riverview in 1908.
After visiting the Manila Observatory, he formulated plans for starting an observatory at Riverview, an activity that he believed would bring recognition for the excellence in research that he expected at the Riverview observatory He believed that seismology was best suited to the location. Pigot obtained the best equipment available for his work, with the gracious benefaction of the Hon Louis F Heydon, MLC. He personally visited other observatories around the world to gain ideas and experience, as well as attending many international conferences over the years. One result of his visit to Samoa was the building and fittings for the instruments in the half-underground, vaulted, brick building at Riverview. Brs Forster and Girschik performed the work. Some instruments, called the Wiechert Seismographs, came from Germany.
He became a member of the Australian National Research Council at its inception in 1921, and foundation member of the Australian Committee on Astronomy, as well as that on Geodosy and Geophysics. He served on the Council of the Royal Society of NSW, and was President of the British Astronomical Association (NSW Branch), 1923-24.
The upkeep of the Riverview observatory was borne by the Australian Jesuits and Riverview. Family and friends also gave funds for this work. When he died from pneumonia, he left at the Riverview observatory five double-component seismometers, two telescopes fully equipped for visual and photographic work, a wireless installation, clocks specially designed for extreme accuracy, an extensive scientific library, a complete set of meteorological instruments, and a solar radiation station, possessing rare and costly instruments.
Pigot's work at Riverview included working on scientific problems of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, experiments at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, geophysics at the Cobar mines, and pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market Buildings in Sydney In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania. In April 1911 he went with the warship Encounter on a similar expedition to the Tongan Islands in the Pacific, and was prominent in the Goondiwindi Solar Eclipse Expedition in 1922.
Pigot was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St Petersburg in 1914. He was secretary of the seismo-
logical section of the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Sydney, 1923, and in 1926, once more represented the Commonwealth Government as a member of the Australian Delegation at the Pan-Pacific Congress, Tokyo. In 1928 he was elected a member of an International Commission of Research, which was part of the International Bureau of Seismology, centered at Strasbourg.
He was highly esteemed by his colleagues for his friendship, high scholarship, modest and unassuming demeanour, and nobility of character. Upon his death the rector of Riverview received a letter from the acting-premier of New South Wales, describing Pigot as one of the state's “most distinguished citizens”, and Sir Edgeworth David praised his magnetic personality and eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth.
Edward Pigot, tall and lanky, frail and often in weak health, was also a fine priest, always helper of the poor, and exemplary in the practice of poverty. He did pastoral work in a quiet way. On his scientific expeditions, he was always willing to help the local clergy and their scattered flocks. He was genuinely modest, humble, and courteous to all. Yet he was naturally a very sensitive and even passionate man, with a temperament that he did not find easy to control. He disagreed strongly with Dr Mannix on the issue of conscription - the Pigots were decidedly Anglo-Irish - and positively refused to entertain the idea of setting up an observatory at Newman under the archbishop's aegis.
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.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927
Fr Pigot attended the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo as a delegate representing the Australian Commonwealth Government. He was Secretary to the Seismological Section, and read two important papers. On the journey home he spent some time in hospital in Shanghai, and later touched at Hong Kong where he met Frs. Byrne and Neary.

Irish Province News 3rd Year No 1 1927

Lavender Bay, Sydney :
Fr. Pigot's great reputation as a seismologist was much increased during the present year by his locating of the Kansu earthquake within a few hours of the first earth tremors. “Where he deserted medicine,” the Herald writes, “that profession lost a brilliant member, but science in general was the gainer. Dr Pigot is one of the world's leading authorities on seismology, and can juggle azimuths and seismometers with uncanny confidence”.

Irish Province News 4th Year No 4 1929

Obituary :
Fr Edward Pigot
Fr Pigot died at Sydney on May 21st. He caught a slight cold which in a few days developed into T. B. pneumonia. He was very frail, and had no reserve of strength left to meet the attack. The Archbishop presided at the Requiem. The Government sent a representative. The papers were all very appreciative.

Fr Pigot was born at Dundrum, Co. Dublin on the 18th September 1858, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied medicine, and took out his degrees - MB, BCh, in 1882. For the three following years he was on the staff of Baggot St Hospital, Dublin, and was Chemist with his uncle, Sir James Murray, at Murray's Magnesia works. He entered the Society at Loyola House, Dromore, Co. Down on the 10th June 1885. He spent one year at Milltown Park as junior, and then sailed for Australia. One year at Kew as prefect, and three years at Riverview teaching chemistry and physics brought his regency to an end. Fr. Pigot spent three years at Jersey doing philosophy, as many at Milltown at theology, and then went to Tullabeg for his tertianship in 1898. At the and of the year a very big event in his life took place. He applied for and obtained leave to join the Chinese Mission of the Paris province. For a year he worked in the Church of St. Joseph at Yang-King-Pang, and for two more at the Seminary at Zi-Kai-Wei, but the state of his health compelled a rest, and in 1913 we find him once more at Riverview teaching and trying to repair his shattered strength. He seems to have, in some measure, succeeded, for, at the end of the year he returned to his work at Zi-kai-wei. The success however was short lived. He struggled on bravely for three years when broken health and climatic conditions forced him to yield, and he asked to be received back into the Irish Province. We have it on the highest authority that his reasons for seeking the Chinese Mission were so a virtuous and self-denying, that he was heartily welcomed back to his own province. In 1907 he was stationed once more at Riverview, and to that house he belonged up to the time of his happy death in 1929.
It was during these 22 years that Fr. Pigot's greatest work was done - the founding and perfecting of the Riverview Observatory. The story is told by Fr. Dan. O'Connell in the Australian Jesuit Directory of 1927.
Fr. Pigot's first astronomical training was at Dunsink Observatory under the well known astronomer “Sir Robert Ball”. Then, as mentioned above, many years were passed at the Jesuit Observatory at Zi-kai-wei.
For some years previous to his return to Riverview, earthquakes had been receiving more and more attention from scientists, Excellent stations had been established in Europe and Japan, but the lack of news from the Southern Hemisphere greatly hampered the work of experts. It was the very excellent way in which Fr. Pigot supplied this want that has won him a high place amongst the worlds scientists.
Thanks to the kindness of relatives and friends, and to government help, Fr. Pigot was able to set up at Riverview quite a number of the very best and most up-to-date seismometers, some of which were constructed at government workshops under his own personal supervision. At once, as soon as things were ready, Fr Pigot entered into communication with seismological stations all the world over. When his very first bulletins were received in Europe, Riverview was gazetted as a “first-order station”, and the work done there was declared by seismologists everywhere as of first-rate importance. At the time of his death Fr Pigot had established telegraphic communication with the International Seismological Bureau at Strasbourg.
The study of earthquakes was only one of Fr. Pilot's activities, He was able, again through the generosity of his friends, to put up at Riverview, a first class astronomical observatory. It has four distinct lines of research :

1. The photography of the heavens.
2. Photographs of sunspots
3. Study of variable stars.
4. Micrometre measurements of double stars.
   Fr Pigot also took part ill a number of solar eclipse expeditions to Tasmania in May 1910, in April 1911 to Tonga, and to Goondiwindi in 1922.
   Finally, and perhaps most difficult of all, he established at Riverview a solar radiation station. The object of such a station is to determine the quantity of heat radiated out by the sun. This quantity of heat is not constant, as was thought but variable. The work is expensive, and of a highly specialised nature. It was hoped that in course of time it would have very
   practical results, amongst them being the power of being able to forecast changes in climate and weather over much longer periods than is at present possible. The necessary funds were collected by a Solar Radiation Committee formed at Sydney, Supplemented by a legacy from a relative of Fr Pigot's.
   Fr Pigot's ability as a scientist is shown by the number of important positions he held, and by the number of missions entrusted to him. He was elected President of the N. S. W. branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923 and 1924.
   He was a member of the Council of the Royal Society of NSW for several years. On the occasion of the International Seismological Congress to be held at. St. Petersburg in l914 he was appointed by the Commonwealth Government as delegate to represent Australia. Owing to the war the Congress was not held. It was on this occasion that Fr Pigot was sternly refused permission as a Jesuit to enter Russia. Even the request of the British ambassador at St Petersbourg for a passport was of no avail. It was only through the intercession of Prince Galitzin the leading Seismologist in Russia and a personal friend of the Russian Foreign Minister that the permit was granted.
   He went to Rome in 1922 as delegate from the Australian National Research Council to the first General Assembly of the Astronomical Union.
   He was Secretary of the Seismological Section at the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Australia 1923.
   He was appointed by the Commonwealth Government as one of an official delegation of four which represented Australia at the Pan-Pacific Congress in Tokyo 1926.
   Fr Pigot was a great scientist he was also a fine musician an exquisite pianist and a powerful one. He was said Lo be amongst the finest amateur pianists in Australia. Once during a villa he was playing a piece by one of the old masters. In the same room was a card party intent on their game. Fr Pigot whispered to a friend sitting near the piano “mind the discord
   that's coming”. It came, and with it came howl and a yell from the card players. In the frenzy of the moment no one could tell what was going to come next. But, as Fr Pigot continued to play a soothing bit that followed, a normal state of nerves was restored, and the players settles down to their game.
   He was a great scientist, and a fine musician, but, above all and before all, he was an excellent religious. In the noviceship too much concentration injured his head, and he felt the effects ever afterwards. It affected him during his missionary work and during his own studies. His piety was not of the demonstrative order, but he had got a firm grip of the supernatural, and held it to the cud. He knew the meaning of life, the meaning of eternity and squared his life accordingly.
   His request for a change of province was in no way due to fickleness or inconstancy. He had asked a great grace from Almighty God, a favour on which the dearest wish of his heart was set, and he made a supreme, a heroic sacrifice to obtain it. That gives us the key note to his life, and it shows us the religious man far better than the most eloquent panegyric or the longest list of virtues that adorn religious life could do. Judged by that sacrifice he holds a higher and a nobler place in the world of our Society that that which his genius and unremitting hard work won for him in the world of science.
   A few extracts to show the esteem if which Fr. Pigot was held by externs :
   Father Pigot's death “removes a great figure not only from the Catholic world but also from the world of science. His fame was world-wide. He was one of the worlds' most famous seismologists”.
   “By his death Australian science and the science of seismology have sustained a loss that is almost irreparable. He initiated what now ranks among the very best seismological observatories in the world”.
   “He was able to secure the best instruments for recording the variations in heat transmitted from the sun to the earth for his Solar observatory at Riverview, and to make observations, which science in time will rely upon to put mankind in the possession of long range forecasts as to future rainfall and weather in general”.
   “Dr. Pigot told me that after some years it would be possible to forecast the weather' two seasons ahead”.
   “ Dr. Pigot was one of the brightest examples of simple faith in a Divine purpose pervading all the universe”.
   “It was not only for his profound learning that scientists reverenced him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful manner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the pursuit of scientific truth. Surely there never was any scientific man so well beloved as he”
   “Those who knew him in his private 1ife will always reserve the memory of a kindly, gentle associate, and of a saintly religious”.

Irish Province News 5th Year No 1 1929

Obituary : Fr Edward Pigot
The following items about Fr. Pigot's youth have been kindly supplied by his brother.
“He was born the 18th Sept. 1858 at Meadowbrook, Dundrum, Co. Dublin His first tuition was at the hands of governesses and private tutors, after which he attended for some years a day school kept by H. Tilney-Bassett at 67 Lower Mount St.
Concurrently, under the influence of his music Master, George Sproule, his taste for music began to develop rapidly. Sproule had a great personal liking for him, and took him on a visit to Switzerland. Many years afterwards Fr. Pigot heard that Sproule (who had taken orders in the Church of England) was in Sydney. He rang him up on the telephone, without disclosing identity, and whistled some musical passages well known to both of them. Almost at once Sproule knew and spoke his name.
Even as a schoolboy, I can recall how he impressed me by his superiority, by his even temper, command of himself under provocation, his generosity, his studiousness and his steadiness generally.
He entered Trinity about 1879. In the Medical School, he had the repute of a really serious student. He was especially interested in chemistry and experimental physics. Astronomy was outside his regular course, but I remember visits to Dunsink observatory, His studies seemed to he regulated by clockwork.
Before setting up as a doctor in Upper Baggot Street, he was resident medical attendant at Cork Street Fever Hospital, and the Rotunda Hospital, and at the City of Dublin Hospital. When in private practice at Baggot Street, he was not financially successful. I have the impression that his serious demeanour and grave appearance were against him, But I have better grounds for believing that his work amongst the poor, his unwillingness to charge fees to the needy, operated still more in the same direction. We often heard, but not from him, of his goodness to the poor. This was the time that he announced to us his desire to join the Jesuit Order. May I add that if there was one event in Ned’s life for which I have long felt joy and thankfulness, it was his desire to enter your Order.
Years after he had left Dublin, one of his prescriptions had become locally famous, and was ordered from the chemist as “a bottle of Kate Gallagher, please”, Kate having been one of his poor friends”.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Australia :

Riverview :

In 1923 Fr. Pigot built a Solar Radiation Station at Riverview, and started a programme of research on the heat we receive from the sun. This work has now been finally wound up. The valuable instruments, which are the property of the Solar Radiation Committee, were offered on loan to Commonwealth Solar Observatory, Mt. Strombo, Canberra. The offer was accepted and the instruments were sent by lorry to Mt. Strombo on February 7th. The results of the work have been prepared for publication and are now being printed. This will be the first astronomical publication to be issued by the Observatory since December 1939. Shortage of staff and pressure of other work during the war were responsible for interrupting that branch of our activities. Another number of our astronomical publications is now ready and about to be sent to the printer. We have started a new series of publications: Riverview College Observatory Geophysical Papers." The first three numbers are now being printed and will be sent to all seismological Observatories and to those scientists who may be interested.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Edward Pigott 1859-1929
Fr Edward Pigott was born in Dundrum Dublin on September 18th 1858, of a family which gave three generations to the Irish Bench. Edward himself became a Doctor of Medicine, taking a degree at Trinity College, and practising first in Dublin, then in Croom County Limerick. In 1885, the young doctor entered the Society at Dromore, and made his first visit to Australia in 1888, where he spent four years teaching at Xavier College.

Ordained in 1899, two years later he volunteered for the Chinese Mission. He learned the Chinese language in preparation for his work, and for a while tested the hardships of active service with the French Fathers of the Society. He used recall afterwards with a wry smile his efforts to preach in Chinese, and how he hardly avoided the pitfalls on Chinese intimation. I;; health, which dogged him all his life, sent him to the less arduous work of Assistant at Zi-Kai-Wei Observatory, near Shanghai. This was the beginning of his brilliant career as an astronomer.

After six years in Shanghai, during which he mastered his science, he returned to Australia in 1907 and started the Observatory at Riverview. He started with a small telescope and a few elementary instruments for recording weather changes, and finally made of Riverview, one of the leading Observatories of the world. Honours and distinctions were showered on him. He was appointed by the Government to represent Australia at St Petersburg in 1914, in Rome in 1922, at the International Astronomical Union, and the Pan Pacific Science Congress in 1923, held in Australia.

In spite of his prominence in the scientific world, Fr Pigott remained always to his brethren a kindly and gentle associate and a saintly religious.

He died on May 22nd 1929, aged 70 years, battling with ill health all his life. A strong spirit housed in a frail body.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1912

Father Pigot’s Return

On April 11th, the Community and boys went down to the College Wharf to welconie Father Pigot SJ, back to Riverview, after his extended tour through Europe. He had been absent about seven months, and during that time visited most of the leading seismological observatories on the Continent and in the British Isles. He had purposed visiting also some other observatories in the United States, Canada and Japan, on his return journey to Sydney; but a severe attack of pleurisy in Italy, during the trying mid-winter season, obliged him to hasten back to the warm Australian climate, without even being able to accept the kind invitation of Prince Galitzin to spend a few days as his guest at St Petersburg. All have heard of Father Pigot's application to the Foreign Office, London (on hearing accidentally, a day or two before, of the existence of a Russian law prohibiting members of the Jesuit Order. from entering Russia) to obtain from the Russian Government the necessary permission, in view of a short visit to Prince Galitzin's Seismological Observatory at Pulkovo. The request of the Foreign Office was refused, as everyone knows, but apparently the sequel of the story is not so generally known.

It was during liis stay at Potsdam (Berlin) that Father Pigot received the unfavourable reply from Westminster. He at once acquainted Prince Galitzin with the refusal, whereupon the distinguished seismologist made a strong representation, resulting in his Government inimediately withdrawing the prohibition. His kind letter to Father Pigot acquainting him with the Russian Government's concession, and a formal communication to the same effect from the British Foreign Office, arrived during Father Pigot's convalescence, but a delay in Europe of three months would have been necessary to allow the severe winter in St. Petersburg to pass before he could, without risk of relapse, have availed himself of the concession and kind invitation.

Father Pigot has asked us to record his deep feeling of appreciation of the cordial greetings of the Community and boys, when they most kindly came down to welcome him at the wharf,

We give a photograph of Father Pigot, and another of a group of distinguished seismologists assembled together from various parts of the world, at Manchester, for the International Seismological Congress (1911).

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1922

Fr Pigot’s Visit to Europe : The InternationalAstronomical Union - First General Assembly, Rome, May 1922

The First General Assembly of the Inter national Astronomical Union commenced its deliberations in May this year, in the Academy of Science (the old Corsini Palace), at Rome. That Australia in union with the other nations, might be represented at the two main conferences (Astronomy, and Geodesy and Geophysics), the Commonwealth Government having paid the necessary subscriptions, three delegates - Dr T M Baldwin (Government Astronomer for Victoria), Mr G F Dodwell (Government Astronomer for South Australia), and Father Pigot represented the Australian National Research Council at the General Assembly.

The purpose of the Union, as set forth in this report, is - (I) “To facilitate the relations between astronomers of different countries where international co-operation is neces sary or useful; and, (2) To promote the study of astronomy in all its departments”. Each country adhering to the Union has its own National Research Council, which forms the National Committee for the promotion and co-ordination of astronomical work iul the respective countries, especially regard ing their international requirements. The countries at present adhering to the Union are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, · Itály, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.
When Father Pigot left us suddenly in March, we felt that indeed there must be “something on” in the scientific world to draw him away at short notice from his beloved observatory. But the meetings of the Astronoinical Union, despite their international importance, were not his only objective. His itinerary, as we shall see, was a long one, and one of his chief aims while in Europe and America, was to inspect the principal Astronomical, Seismological and Solar Radiation observatories, and to get in personal touch with the foremost scientists. of the northern hemisphere.

Upon arrival in Europe he spent some time, successively, in the observatories of Marseilles, Nice, Geneva, and Zurich, In April he attended the Seismological Congress at Strasbourg, and then went on to Rome, taking in on his way, the Arcetri Observatory at Florence (situated, by the way, a stone's-throw from Galileo's house). While in Rome at the Conferences of the Astronomical and Geophysical Unions, he was, of course, in constant touch with Father Hagen S J, the Director of the Vatican Observatory, and though he does not say so, we may well imagine that his feelings were not untinged with sadness as he ascended the great staircase of the Government Observatory-the great Roman College of the Jesuit Order, before a Ministry more sectarian than honest usurped it.

Before the Conferences of the General Assembly were over, the delegates were in vited by His Holiness the Pope to a special audience in the Throne Room of the Vatican. It was accepted by all. Before congratu lating themselves on the splendid success of their meetings, His Holiness spent some time in chatting freely with most of those present, shook hands with them all, and be fore their departure, had a photo taken by the Papal photographer in the Court of St. Damasus.

The Roman Conferences over, Father Pigot lost no time in getting on his way. His first call was at the Geophysical Institute of Göttingen. Then on to Munich, and to Davos Platz for a private meeting on Sky and Solar Radiation with Dr Dorno (Head of Davos Observatory), Professor Maurer (Head of the Swiss Weather Bureau), and Professor Kimball (of the Solar Radiation Station of the Washington Weather Bureau).

The Paris Observatory - one of the largest in Europe - came next, and after spending some time here, he went on to the Royal Observatory at Brussels. Before leaving Beigium, he had time to run down to the Jesuit Observatory at Valkenberg, near the Dutch frontier, after which he returned to Greenwich. At a dinner of the Royal Astronomical Society, at which nine of the delegates were entertained, Father Pigot's health was proposed by Father Cortie SJ, of the Stonyhurst Observatory.

After a brief visit to Ireland, Father Pigot started out on his return journey, via America. One of his first visits on the other side was to the Jesuit Seismological Observatory at Georgetown University, Washington. While in the Capital, he spent some time at the Carnegie Observatory (Terrestrial Magnetisın), the Weather Bureau Solar Radiation Station, the Astro-physical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institute (where he renewed acquaintance with a valued friend, Dr Abbot, the President), the Bureau of Standards, and the Office of the Geodetic Survey. He was much impressed, as in 1919, with the up-to-date appliances of the Americans, and with the thoroughness of their scientific work.

Leaving Washington, he called at The Observatory of Harvard University (Boston, Mass.), and at the University of Detroit, where he found Professor Hussey, who knows Riverview well and has been in Australia more than once on scientific work. Yerkes Observatory, near Chicago, where is installed the largest Refractor in the world, claimed him next, after which he proceeded to the famous Mt Wilson Observatory at Pasadena (near Los Angeles, Col.). Here Father Pigot was in his element, for it is with Dr. Abbott, more especially than any one else, that he has discussed the details of the projected Solar Radiation Observatory at Riverview, and from him received the most valuable assistance.

Passing on to the Lick Observatory (Mt Hamilton, N Cal), he just missed Professor Campbell, who had left for Australia four days before as a member of the Wallal (WA) Eclipse Expedition. Professor Tucker, however, the locuin tenens, showed hiin every kindness.

Father Pigot's final visit before embarking for Australia was to the Canadian Government Observatory (Victoria, BC), which possesses the most powerful telescope in the British Empire (73in. Reflector). In the realm of instrumental astronomy Canada has outstripped all the other Dominions, and even the Mother Country herself.

It is superfluous to emphasise the im tiense value Father Pigot derived from his visits to the leading scientific men of the world, picking up hints, seeing new methods, and the most modern appliances for the subject nearest and dearest to his heart.

That the Riverview Observatory will gain by his experiences, and that the new Solat Radiation Observatory will receive a new fillip, goes without saying:

◆ Our Alma Mater Riverview 1929

Obituary

Edward F Pigot

Father Pigot was born at Dundrum, County Dublin, on September 18, 1858. He adopted the medical profession, and practised for a few years in Dublin. In 1885 he entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore, County Down. He made his first visit to Australia as a Jesuit scholastic in 1888, and taught for four years at Xavier College, Melbourne, and St Ignatius' College, Sydney. Naturally, his department was science. He completed his theological studies in Milltown Park, Dublin, and was ordained in the summer of 1899. Two years later he volunteered for the arduous China Mission, where the French Fathers of the Society of Jesus were endeavouring to Christianise the vast pagan kingdom - an act revealing fires of missionary zeal and personal devotion probably unsuspected by those who knew only the retiring scientist and scholar of later years. His sacrifice was accepted, and recompensed in a striking manner. He did, indeed, master the Chinese language in preparation for missionary labours, and for a while tasted the hardships of active service.

He returned to Australia in 1907, and immediately set about founding an observatory at Riverview, while teaching science on the college staff. When death called him he had gathered at Riverview five double-component seismometers, two telescopes fully equipped for visual and photographic work, a wireless installation, clocks specially designed for extreme accuracy, an extensive scientific library, a complete set of meteorological instruments, and what he most valued in his later years, a solar radiation, station, possessing rare and costly instruments, such as are possessed by only a few other, and these Government-endowed, stations throughout the world.

Fr. Pigot's in terest in the scientific problems of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, his experiments at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, in geophysics at the Cobar mines and elsewhere, his pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market Buildings in Sydney, are well known. In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania; in April, 1911, he went with the warship Encounter on a similar expedition to the Tongan Islands in the Pacific, and was prominent in the Goondi windi Solar Eclipse Expedition in 1922.

Father Pigot was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St. Petersburg in 1914. The outbreak of war prevented the Congress being held. In 1921 he was chosen as a member of the Australian National Research Council, and in 1922 went to Rome as its representative at the first general assembly of the International Astronomical Union, and of the International Union of Geodetics and Geophysics. He was elected President of the NSW branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923 and 1924. For many years he was a member of the Council of the Royal Society of NSW.

At the Pan-Pacific Science Congress, held in Australia in 1923, Father Pigot was secretary of the seismological section. In 1926 Father Pigot was once more chosen by the Commonwealth Government as a member of the Australian Delegation at the Pan-Pacific Congress, held in Tokyo, in October, 1926. In December of last year he received word from the secretary of the Central International Bureau of Seismology, Strasburg, that he had been elected member of an International Commission of Research, formed a short time previously at a congress held in Prague, Czecho-Slovakia.

Many warm-hearted and generous tri butes to the kindliness and charm of Father Pigot's personal character have been expressed by public and scientific men since his death. Clearly his associa tion with men in all walks of life begot high esteem and sincere friendship. Those who knew him in his private life will always preserve the memory of a kindly, geritle associate, and of a saintly religious. RIP

-oOo-

The Solemn Office and Requiem Mass were celebrated at St Mary's North Sydney in the presence of a large congregation. His Grace the Archbishop presided, and preached the panegyric, and a very large number of the priests of the Diocese were present. Representatives of all classes were amongst the congregation, as may be seen from the list, which we cull from the “Catholic Press”.

The Government was represented by Mr J Ryan, MLC, and the Premier's Department by Messrs. F C G Tremlett and C H Hay. Other mourners included Professor Sir Edgeworth David, Professor C E Fawcitt (Dean of the Fa ulty of Science in Sydney University), Professor H G Chapman, Professor L A Cotton (president of the Royal Society of NSW), Professor T G . Osborn (chairman of the executive committee of the Australian National Research Council), Dr and Mrs Conrick, Dr P Murray, Dr Noble, Dr Murray Curtis, Dr H Daly, Dr Armit, Dr G H McElhone, Dr Wardlaw (president of the Linnean Society), Dr Robert Noble, Dr James Hughes, Messrs Cecil O'Dea, M J Mc Grath, H W and J N Lenehan, Austin Callachor (St Aloysius' Old Boys' Union), J Boylan (St Ignatius' Old Boys' Union), K Ryan, J Hayes, I Bryant, G E Bryant, K Young, R W Challinor (Sydney Technical College), James Nangle (Government Astronomer), O J Lawler, V J Evans, K E Finn, F W Brennan, J and I McDonnell, J Burfitt, and W S Gale, E Wunderlich, Dr Bradfield, Messrs L Campbell, L Bridge jun, Harold Healy, J Edmunds, E P Hollingdale, T Thyne, H Tricker (German Consul, representing the German Scientific Societies), W H Paradice, J. J. Richardson, W Poole (representing the Council of the Royal Society), K M Burgraaff (German Geographical Survey), E W Esdaile, A P Mackerras, E Gardiner, F S Manse (Under-Setretary for Mines), E C Andrews (Mines Department), W S Dun (Geological Survey), E H Matthews, F K Du Boise, Herbert Brown, R H Bulkeley, FRAS, M B Young, O S Cleary.

Letters of condolence were received from the following :The Old Boys' Union, NSW Chamber of Agriculture, The Shires Association of NSW, Dr C J Prescott (Headmaster, Newington Coll ege), Lane Cove Municipal Council, British Astronomical Association (NSW Branch), Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Chemical Society of the Sydney Technical College, the Royal Society of New South Wales, The Hon Sir Norman Kater, Kt, MLC, and many others.

The following letter was received from: the New South Wales Cabinet:

Premier's Office, Sydney, N.S.W.
22nd May, 1929.
Dear Sir,
At a meeting of the Cabinet this morning mention was made of the sad loss this State has sustained in the death of Reverend Father Pigot, one of its most distinguished citizens. I was invited by my colleagues to convey to you, as Principal of the eminent educational establishment, with which Father Pigot had the honour to be associated, an. expression of the deepest sympathy from the Members of the New South Wales Ministry.

The memory of Father Pigot, who was a per sonal friend of many of us, will be kept ever green by reason of his high scholastic and scien tific attainments, modest and unassuming demean our, and ni sy of character.
Yours faithfully,

E. A. BUTTENSHAW,
Acting Premier,

The Rev Father Lockington SJ, StIgnatius' College, Professor

H, H. Turner, of the British Association and the International Seismological Summary, speaks of “the splendid work done by Father Pigot in seismology; Riverview has been for many years our standby in the discussion of earthquakes near Australia”.

Professor Sir Edgeworth David, quoted in the “Catholic Press”, writes:

“By his death Australian science and the science of seismology have sustained a loss that is almost irreparable. He initiated what now ranks among the very best seismological observatories in the world. He was able to secure the best in struments for recording the variations in heat transmitted from the sun to the earth for his solar observatory at Riverview, and to make observa- . tions. This science in time we will rely upon to put mankind in possession of long range forecasts as to future rainfall and weather in general.

He was well known to all leading physicists and astronomers, and entirely because of his great reputation the University of Sydney was able to borrow for a period of six years some extremely valuable pendulums from Germany for measuring small displacements of the earth's crust at the great reservoir at Burrenjuck.

It was not only for his profound learning that scientists reverenced him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health, he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful man ner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of seien tific truth. Surely there. never was any scientific man so well beloved as he”.

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

The New Seismographs at Riverview

That Seismology, and especially Seismographs, are in the air at pres ent, there can be no doubt. We have recently experienced in Sydney such a series of earthquake tremors, some of which have been usually large, and all coming on top of one another, as it were, that the subject was a common topic of conversation for several weeks. But the greatest interest centred not so much on the earthquakes as on the Riverview Seismograph that recorded them. When, a few weeks ago, the papers announced that a big and destructive earthquake had occurred so many thousands of miles away, "A big earthquake somewhere," one Melbourne Daily headed the re port-the safe announcement following that it was possibly in the sea somewhere, did much, we are sure, to nullify any exciting effect the tid ings might have had on even unsceptical readers. The news two days later, however, that a severe earthquake had taken place in Sumatra, and that 250 people had been killed, made the Riverview Seismograph not only known, but famous. With Father Pigot's permission (or, shall I say, with out Father Pigot's permission?) I purpose giving a short account of the Seismographs to accompany our illustrations,

The idea, as a mere remote possibility, of starting a Seismographical Observatory at Riverview, occurred to Father Pigot a few years ago at Zi ka-wei (Shanghai), just when leaving for Australia, where he was oblijed by ill-health to return, and received a fresh impetus when he was passing through Manilla on the voyage south. The splendid seismographical work done by the Fathers for many years at these two great Jesuit Observator ies of the Far East (not to speak of all that they have achieved in their other departments, viz., Meteorology, Terrestrial Magnetism, and Astro nomy, above all, of the tens of thousands of lives saved by their typhoon warnings during the last thirty years), was a sufficient incentive to Fr Pigot, who had been on the staff of the former Observatory for some time, to attempt a small beginning of at least one branch of similar high class work in Australia. No doubt excellent records had been obtained for several years in Australia and New Zealand by the well-known instrument of the veteran Seismologist, Professor Milne; but it was interesting to see what results would be obtained by a more modern type of Seismograph of one or other of the recent German models. Those of Professor Wiechert, of Gottingen University, were decided upon, if funds would per mit. The decision was most unexpectedly confirmed by the arrival in Syd ney shortly after, on his way home to Germany, at the expiration of his term of office as Director of the Samoa Observatory, of Dr Linke, who showed his Wiechert earthquake records to Father Pigot, at Riverview. Dr Linke, who now, by the way, is Director of the Geophysical Institute in Frankfort (Germany), has since taken the kindliest interest in our embryo Observatory.

But where was all the necessary money to come from? Needless to say, a lot of expense was involved. As two of the principal instruments are now installed, we may say that nearly the whole of the expense of the larger (horizontal) Seismograph was defrayed by our kind and generous friend and neighbour, the Hon Louis F Heydon, MLC - a man whose charity is equalled only by his love of learning and scientific progress ad majorem Dei gloriam. To the Hon Mr Heydon, therefore, for the great pioneer part he played in giving Seismology a foothold in Riverview, not Father Pigot's alone, but Riverview's warmest thanks are due. But though Seismology has certainly got a foothold in Riverview, it must be remembered that at present our Observatory is only in an embryonic con dition. Space has been provided in the building for other Geophysical re search work, to be carried out later on, when, like the Hon. Mr. Heydon, other lovers of scientific research shall have recognised in the Riverview Observatory, a work deserving of their patronage and generosity.

In July, 1908, Father Pigot paid a visit of three weeks to Samoa, where, through the kindness and courtesy of the Director of the Observa tory, Dr. Angenheister, and his assistants, he was able to study the con struction and working of the various instruments, the methods for the reduction of the records, etc. On his return, he set about erecting the building and fittings for the instruments the half-underground, vaulted, brick building (not as yet covered with its protecting mantle for tem perature), and woodwork fittings. These were admirably constructed respectively by Brother Forster SJ, and Brother Girschik SJ, with their usual indefatigable care. In the early autumn the instruments arrived from Germany, and soon afterwards they were recording tremors and earthquakes. The instruments are amongst the most modern in use at the present day, and are known as the Wiechert Seismographs or Seis mometers, named from their designer, Professor Wiechert. Until quite recently they were not numerous, being confined, with the exception of the Samoa instrument, to European Observatories. Now, however, they are being installed in various regions of the globe. The extreme delicacy of the instruments is almost incredible; an unusual weight on the floor of the Observatory (a party of visitors, for example), even at some dis tance from the instruments, would be sufficient to cause serious derange ment of the recording pens; the ocean waves dashing on the coast six miles away on a rough day are frequently recorded. It is in this extreme delicacy that the value (and, incidentally, the trouble) of the instruments consists. As a consequence they demand the most careful handling, and almost constant attention.

There are two instruments: a Horizontal Seismograph and a Vertical Seismograph, to receive, as the names suggest, the horizontal part (or component, as the scientists call it), and the vertical part respectively of the earth-waves set up by any seismic disturbance. The Horizontal Seismo graph, however, consists practically of two Seismographs in as much as it separates the waves it receives into two directions; NS and EW, giving a separate record for each, as may be seen from the two recording rolls hang ing down in front.

The horizontal is an inverted pendulum whose bob is a large iron cylindrical (or drum-shaped) mass of 1000 kilograms, or a little over a ton weight. This mass is supported on a pedestal which is poised on four springs set on a large concrete pillar built on the solid rock, and separated from the surrounding floor by an air-gap one inch wide. When an earth quake occurs in any place, that place becomes the centre from which earth waves travel in all directions, through the earth and round the earth (surface waves). These waves on reaching Riverview disturb our concrete pillar, and set the pendulum in motion. The iron mass is reduced to a "stable equilibrium” by a system of springs, so that when the base is disturbed, the large mass will not fall over, but will oscillate or swing backwards and for wards till it comes to rest again. Now, a very ingenious air-damping arrangement (the two drum-like structures over the mass) destroys the oscillation or swing set up in the mass by the first wave, so that the second and third and succeeding earth-waves will not be affected by the oscillation of the mass itself, but each wave, no matter how quickly it comes after the others, will have its own effect on the mass. Consider, for illustration sake, one of those now-antiquated punching-ball apparatus that consist of a heavy leaden circular base, into the middle of which is inserted a stout four or five-foot cane, on the top of which is fixed the punching ball. When you punch this ball it and the cane oscillate, or swing backwards and forwards (the heavy base remaining stationary). If you determine to hit out at this ball at a fixed rate, say thirty punches a minute, you cannot be certain that every blow will have its full effect on the ball-in many cases you may not hit the ball at all. But if you contrive to make the ball stationary, so that it keeps still, or moves very little, when you punch it, every punch, no mat ter at what rate you punch it, will catch the ball and have its full effect upon it. In somewhat the same way our large iron mass is kept as station ary as possible, by the damping cylinders, while each earth-wave has its full effect upon it. This effect is received by the arrangement of levers above the mass, and magnified enormously, which magnified effect is traced by the recording stylus or pen--a tiny platinum pin-on the smoked re cording roll of paper, Waves coming in a N or S direction are recorded on one of the rolls; those in an E or W direction are recorded on the other, while waves coming in any other direction are recorded on both.

The Vertical Wiechert Seismograph is a Lever-Pendulum, consisting of an iron mass of 160lbs. weight at the end of an arm (under the wooden temperature-insulation box), and a spiral spring (enclosed in the box) be tween the weight and the fulcrum, the weight and the spring keeping the arm of the lever in equilibrium. Hence this pendulum can move only up and down, only by the vertical part of the earth-waves. The effect, as before, is highly magnified and recorded by the stylus. The damping (drum-like) arrangement in this instrument is seen at the left-hand back corner of the table. The temperature-insulation box is simply a double-walled wooden jacket packed with carbon, to protect the spiral, as well as a zinc-steel grid iron compensation, from change of temperature. One of the greatest diffi culties with these instruments is keeping the instrument room at the same temperature always. For this reason the brick building is not yet nearly completed, as it will have to be covered by a thick layer of protecting material, which will finally have to be covered by a proper roofing. Again, scientifically inclined and generously disposed friends, please note!

To lessen any disturbance from the room itself (visitors, etc.) the floor of the building is covered with sand to the depth of a few inches, and in the case of the Horizontal, an air gap to the depth of a few feet sepa rates the instrument from the surrounding floor.

The records, which are changed every twenty-four hours, are traced on specially-prepared smoked paper, and can be fixed at once with a suitable varnish. On the instruments, the records are stretched by drums which, by a very nice clock-work device (c.f, weight and escapement) are rotated once every hour, and moved to the right at the same time. Fur thermore, by an ingenious electro-magnetic contrivance connected with a Wiechert contact-clock (seen with the Vertical Seismograph), the hours and minutes are accurately recorded on the earthquake tracing itself, and not at the side. Consequently, the exact second almost at which a distur bance begins is known. The rate of tracing is about fourteen millimetres per minute for the Horizontal, and ten millimetres per minute for the Vertical Seismograph.

To the uninitiated, at least, the results in the matter of records are really marvellous. They are worth the trouble they entail, and they do en tail lots of trouble. So far, there have been records of at least four con siderable earthquakes (one of which has been already identified), as well as eight or nine smaller ones. Some of these have probably been subma rine, and can be localised when reports come in from other distant Obser vatories. There is one more point to be treated in this rather crude explanation, and it will explain the last sentence. How is the distance of the earthquake ascertained? Well, in a large seismic disturbance, if situ ated at a considerable distance, preliminary earth tremors or short waves precede the long earthquake-waves. The distance of the centre of the dis turbance (which usually lasts for an hour or two) can be calculated from the time elapsing between the first preliminary tremors, and the beginn ing of the long waves. Consequently when three Observatories sufficiently distant and suitably situated calculate the distance of a particular shock, say, in mid-ocean, the actual centre can be found by simple geometry.

I have tried to give a simple, straightforward, unscientific explanation of the instruments, without going into more detail than was absolutely necessary. In fact, it would be unwise to go into much detail, for, if I did, I should probably become helpless very soon, and should require a kind and helping hand from Father Pigot to extricate me. But the calculations in volved are terrific—a fact that will appear plausible when we say (I have it on Father Pigot's word) that the pressure of the stylus on the record, equivalent to a weight of one milligram, must be allowed for in the reductions of the observations.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1902

Letters from Our Past

Father Edward Pigot SJ

China

Father Pigot SJ, whom our past students of late years will remember, writes from the Shanghai district: to somewhat the same purport :

“Oh, if we only had a few thorough-going Irish priests here, how many more poor Chinese could be received into the Church! In some parts, as in the North, and in Father Perrin's section, one priest more would nean the certain conversion of hundreds and hundreds of Pagans. But Father Superior is at the end of his tether and can not send any more men just now; for the Christian villages around here cannot be left without their missionaries”.

In another letter, dated October of present year, Father Pigott writes :

“Here in our mission, as indeed throughout nearly the whale of China, things are quiet enough : how long it will last I do not know, The Boxers have lately broken out again in the south-west. We had many deaths this past year among our missionaries, and are badly in want of men, especially in the newly opened up districts in the north and in parts of the west of our mission. I send you the lately published yearly “Resumé” of the Kiang Nan. It is, above all, in the Sin-tchcou-fou (Western) Section that the greatest movement of conversion has taken place recently among the people whole villages sometimes asking to be received for instruction for baptism. But how receive them? The means are wanting - above all men. If Fathe

Born: 29 March 1897, Sandymount, Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 22 December 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1932, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 05 March 1988, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia (McQuoin Park Wahroonga)

Part of the Manresa community, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia at the time of death, and died there on a visit whilst living at McQuoin.

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1921 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1924 in Australia - Regency
1930-1931 At St Beuno’s for Tertianship
by 1931 fifth wave Hong Kong Missioners
1937 Returned to Ireland to teach Philosophy at Tullabeg
by 1946 in Australia

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

1916-1920 After First Vows he went to UCD and graduated BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Physics
1920-1922 He was sent to Leuven Belgium for Philosophy
1922-1926 He was sent to Australia and first to Riverview and then Xavier College Kew for Regency, teaching Mathematics, Latin and Greek, and he was Second Division Prefect at Xavier.
1926-1929 He was back in Ireland and Milltown Park studying Theology and was Ordained in 1928.
1930-1931 He was sent to St Beuno’s Wales to make Tertianship
1931-1937 He volunteered for the Hong Kong Mission and first went to Shiuhing for language studies. After that he taught Mathematics at Wah Yan College Hong Kong, and Theology at the same time in the Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen.
1937-1946 His health broke down and so he returned to Ireland and was teaching Ontology and Anthropology to the scholastics at Tullabeg
1946-1951 After the war he went back to Australia and to Riverview to teach Chemistry, Mathematics and Religion. While there he also wrote “Faith and Morals”.
1952-1967 He was sent to Canisius College Pymble to teach Theology
1969-1985 After a year back in Ireland he returned to Australia and this time to the Hawthorn Parish.

While he was teaching Theology he prepared meticulously for classes, lectures, sermons, retreats and normal sacramental work. He had a quick mind, but it was said that he was not particularly interested in exploring ideas too deeply. He was more interested in the dialogue for and against issues. He was very good at explaining what he taught - clear and logical. Once he took a position, little could move him. He had by this stage written a book on apologetics. He was awarded a PhD from the Gregorian in Rome for his studies and work.
He was known to argue with people at the Domain in Sydney from the platform of the Catholic Evidence Guild. For years he spent Sunday afternoons at the Domain, enjoying showing the truth of his faith to those who didn’t share it, and he loved the arguments, being quite a skilful and hard hitting debater.

At Hawthorn he took quite a different approach. he was known to be sympathetic, kind and shrewd. His somewhat sardonic sense of humour helped make him a popular retreat giver. Being quite set in his ways and thinking, he found the changes of Vatican II quite difficult to accept. He was more at ease with older people and enjoyed administering the sacraments to them and also doing visitations.

He was thought to have a somewhat idealised notion of what being Irish meant, and had a somewhat superior sense of the religious, moral and intellectual character of the Irishman - and this didn’t always square with his estimation of Irish people, lay and clergy, whom he met daily.
He was also a keen golfer - very good, but not patient enough to be excellent. He also found his love of football revived at Hawthorn, having loved it at Xavier when he was a scholastic there.
He gave of himself fully to his priestly ministry, understanding himself as commissioned to teach and defend the Faith, as well as bringing its comforts to those in need.
His last couple of years were spent at McQuoin Park in Hornsby, but he actually died at Hawthorn while on a visit.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

Australia :
Frs. Fleming and Mansfield (who is a member of the Australian Vice-Province) were able to leave for Australia via America in July.
Frs. Lennon and Morrison are still awaiting travel facilities.
Fr. Fleming, on board S.S. Marine Falcon, between U.S.A. and Honolulu, 3-8-46 :
“We arrived in New York on July 20th. Fr. Provincial McQuade was extraordinarily friendly and provided me with even more dollars than I asked for. I had been informed that my boat would leave San Francisco on July 31st (with no other boat for a few months) so I spent only a day in New York. As I had been told that train and plane were about the same price, in order to gain time I sent my luggage ahead by rail and then flew from New York to San Francisco, breaking the journey for a week at Chicago to meet relatives who gave me a wonderful time. The speed at which people move here is almost incredible. The plane from New York to Chicago (44-seater) had an average speed of 222 miles per hour for the 800 miles. In a trip to Eau Claire the train did up to 124 miles per hour without any vibration or discomfort. Food is plentiful and good though very dear. A mere hair-cut costs 1.25 dollars (over 6s.). We are due in Sydney on August 20th, so that I shall have arrived before Fr. L. O'Neill. So far the journey has been very pleasant, though we have had to rough it on this boat which was a troop transport during the war. Food excellent and very plentiful. Seven other priests on board and three Mass kits”.

Born: 10 April 1857, Dunmore, County Galway
Entered: 08 September 1885, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 1880, St Patrick's College, Maynooth
Professed: 15 August 1902
Died: 02 August 1940, Coláiste Iognáid, Sea Road, Galway

by 1888 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
Came to Australia 1889

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
James Rabbitte was a diocesan priest when he entered Loyola House, Dromore, in 1885 for the novitiate, and then went on to Louvain to revise his theology. In 1889 he was sent to the Australian Mission, where he taught at St Patrick's College and did some pastoral work until 1893, followed by some time at St Aloysius' College. He then taught at Riverview, 1896-98. He returned to Ireland in March 1898, teaching mainly in Galway, with a period of time as province archivist, living at Gardiner Street.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 15th Year No 3 1940

Obituary :
Father James Rabbitte

1857 Born at Dunmore, Co Galway10th April. Educated at St. Jarlath's Tuam and Maynooth College
1880 Ordained at Maynooth for the Ahdiocese of Tuam. Served as Curate at Roundstone, Inishbofin, and Ballyhaunis
1885 Entered the Society at Dromore 8th September
1887 Louvain, Recol. Theol.
1888-1897 Australia - Worked in St Patrick’s Melbourne, St. Aloysius and Riverview, Sydney Was “Cons. Dom,” in all three Colleges.
1898-1899 Crescent, Doc., Cons. Dom.
1900 Galway, Miss Excurr Oper
1901 Crescent, Minister, etc
1902-1904 Crescent, Doc., Oper
1905 Belvedere. Doc
1906-1908 Crescent, Doc., Oper
1909-1910 Tullabeg, Praef. Spir., etc
1911-1922 Galway, Doc., Oper
1923-1929 Gardiner St., Cust. Archiv. Prov.. etc
1930-1931 Galway, Praes. Coll. Cas., Oper
1932-1940 Galway, Cens. lib., Conf. dom

Died at Galway, Friday, 2nd August, 1940. Was 31 years Mag according to Catalogue of 1919

As will be seen from the above catalogue of dates, Father Rabbitte spent nearly half of his life in the Society at St Ignatius', Galway, where, in 1936, he celebrated the Golden
Jubilee of his entrance into the Society, and where he quietly passed to his reward on 2nd August of the present year, 1940.
A quiet man, Fr. Rabbitte lived a retired life, but he had many qualities that endeared him to those who came his way. Intimate with few, he had a host of friends - no enemies. He had an astonishing love of children, and even in his last years of life when he had no direct contact with the boys in the College he seemed to know most of them personally, and, of course knew most of their fathers unto the third generation. He was a keen and accurate observer, and was a lifelong student of History and Irish Archaeology. Both of these subjects were arenas in which a moderate iconoclast can do a lot of good, and Fr. Rabbitte was a moderate iconoclast. As a critic, he was undoubtedly severe, but at the same time he was just and always very courteous. Over a controverted point he would “sit as a refiner of silver”, and when, at length an article left his crucible for publication, one could rest assured that it bore little, if any, of the dross of fable under the guise of History. It was perhaps this desire for absolute accuracy that prevented Fr. Rabbitte from writing more, and it may be that his undoubted aversion to speaking Irish may have had its roots in that same trait of character.
But if we ask ourselves what struck us most in Fr. Rabbitte's ordinary life, I should answer without hesitation the regularity of his religious life. He rarely accepted, and still more rarely
sought exemption from Common Life. Up to the very end he never missed a visit to the Blessed Sacrament after his breakfast or his lunch, even though such a visit meant a weary journey up the stairs to the Domestic Chapel. During the last few years, after a stroke or fall had deprived him of the sight of one eye, he was (more praise to him for it) a little careful of himself. He never wore spectacles, but during Mass would use a large magnifying glass. During this period he found Community Recreation. a little trying, and asked to be exempted. When the community went into the Dometic Chapel for Litanies Fr. Rabbitte was sure to be there before, having come down from his room above in time.
His great anxiety after the stroke in June of 1938 was that he should be enabled to celebrate his daily Mass. God granted his request, and Fr. Rabbitte had the happiness of saying Mass almost to the end. His last Mass was on the Sunday before he died, and apparently he had some premonition of his coming illness, for he turned to his faithful server after Mass and said, “I shall not say Mass to-morrow”.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father James Rabbitte (1857-1940)

Was born at Dunmore, Co Galway and educated at St Jarlath's, Tuam. He was accepted for the Tuam archdiocese and sent for his ecclesiastical studies to Maynooth where he was ordained in 1880. After five years' service in his diocese, he entered the Society in 1885. He continued his studies at Louvain and spent some nine years on the Australian mission. On his return from Australia in 1898, he was appointed to the teaching staff at the Crescent but after a year was changed to the mission staff. He returned to Limerick, however, a year later and spent four years either as minister, master or assistant in the church. His last association with the Crescent was from 1906 to 1909. His teaching career ended in the early 1920's when he was assigned to the curatorship of the archives of the Irish Province at Gardiner St, a post suited to his interests in Irish History. The last decade of his life was spent at St. Ignatius', Galway. Father Rabbitte was a native Gaelic speaker and a keen student of Irish history.

Born: 26 December 1886, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1906, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 August 1920, St Mary's College, Hastings, England
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome Italy
Died: 15 August 1958, Cork City, County Cork

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

Younger Brother of John - RIP 1962

by 1910 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1912
by 1919 at St Mary’s, Kurseong, West Bengal, India (BELG) studying
by 1920 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying
by 1925 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1930 at Rome, Italy (ROM) teaching

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Denis Nerney entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1906, and after philosophy at Louvain, 1909-12, arrived in Australia for regency at Xavier College as a teacher and director of debating, 1913- 14. He was moved to Riverview in 1915, teaching, debating, organising the junior boats and was assistant prefect of discipline. After tertianship, Nerney spent the rest of his life teaching theology, firstly at the Gregorian University in Rome, and then at Milltown Park, Dublin.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 34th Year No 1 1959
Obituary :
Fr Denis Nerney (1886-1958)
Fr. Denis Nerney entered the Society in 1906, did his noviceship in Tullabeg and then remained there for one year's juniorate. At this period he already gave evidence of that intellectual interest and scientific precision which characterised his work of later years. He began investigating the history and archaeology of the district around Rahan in order to increase the interest of the weekly walks of the novices and juniors. This work he continued during his tertianship and it resulted in an unpretentious typescript volume which bears the title Notes on the History of the Tullabeg District. This interest in precise and accurate information later led him to compose a masterly account of the sequence of events on the morning of the Milltown Park fire.
In 1909 Fr. Nerney was sent to Louvain for Philosophy. There he came in contact with the early stages of the Thomistic revival which was to lead quite soon to the abandonment by a large part of the Society of many of the traditionally held Suarezian positions. In due course, Fr. Nerney himself was very influential in introducing this type of philosophy into the Irish Province when, with Fr. Canavan, he taught Philosophy at Milltown Park. As a theologian too Fr. Nerney was a convinced Thomist with traces of the influence of Cardinal Billot.
In 1912 Fr. Nerney was sent to Australia, where he taught for six years; two years at Xavier College and four at Riverview. During his period at Riverview he was in charge of the rowing club and the debating society; and for one year was editor of the college annual Alma Mater. He brought back from Australia a keen interest in all kinds of sports and athletics, including Rugby football, This last was in later years eclipsed by his interest in Gaelic games, but it was never completely ousted. He was even known to inform some over-enthusiastic followers of Rugby that he had expert knowledge of both the amateur and professional game and that he was, as far as he was aware, the only Jesuit of the Irish Province who was an officially-recognised referee for championship matches. He always maintained a lively interest in Australia and was particularly kind to Australian scholastics who came to Ireland for their studies.
In September 1915 the following sonnet appeared in Studies over the name D. S. Nerney, S.J.; possibly a juniorate composition, although we have now no way of ascertaining the precise date at which it was written:

OUT OF THE NIGHT
And seeing them labouring . . . about the fourth watch of the night He cometh to them walking on the sea. ...

Our life were surely but an idle thing
If there were naught beneath the arch of years
But life and death - a little space of tears
And foolish laughter-a poor winnowing
Snatched from the idle promise of the spring;
If all our hope a cry that no god hears,
And we of the dead past the last compeers
That time from out the blackest night shall bring.
While thus I thought and sorrowed for a space
Where darkness lay like death upon the sea,
A vision came: I knew Him by his face
Of glory: “Stretch thou forth thy hands to Me”,
He said; and Christ was in the place,
The final hope of immortality.

In 1918 Fr. Nerney left Australia in order to begin his theology, the very year in which his brother, Fr. John Nerney, was assigned to the Australian mission. However, he did not reach Europe that year but did his first year's theology in Kurseong, the missionary theologate of the Belgian Province. It was in this period that he formed an opinion which he afterwards expressed in his tract De Deo Uno concerning the extent to which man unaided by revelation does in fact attain to some degree of knowledge of the true God. His observations of what occurred in the pagan shrines of India convinced him that, at least, the ordinary people were not worshipping some vaguely apprehended attribute of God symbolised by their idol but that they were practising pure fetishism, by which they adored the idol itself as though possessed of divine powers.
In 1919 he went to continue his theology in the theologate of the Lyons Province which was then at Hastings. He was ordained there in 1920 and remained there for his third and fourth years' theology. After tertianship in Tullabeg under Fr. T. V. Nolan he was sent to Rome to do a biennium in Theology and in 1926 returned to Milltown as Minister of Philosophers and Professor of Logic and Psychology. The philosophers of those days all retain the most pleasant memories of the kindness and consideration which he always showed in his dealings with them.
In 1930 he was summoned to Rome to teach Dogmatic Theology in the Gregorian University; and he remained there for three years. He made many friends there and also among the staff and students of the Irish College, where he was a frequent visitor. He had been assigned the tract De Sacramentis and did much personal study on the difficult question of the history of the administration of the Sacrament of Penance. He noted with regret that there was no account available of the Penitentiaries of the Irish Church and he always felt that an important contribution would be made by anyone who would undertake research in that neglected field.
In 1933 he returned to Ireland on account of ill health. At this time a decision had been made to bring the Dogma course in Milltown into line with the practice of other Provinces by introducing a separate Apologetics course for the first year and consequently reducing the old four-year cycle of Dogma to a three-year cycle. So Fr. Nerney was assigned to teach De Ecclesia and Fr. Gannon, taken from the short course, to teach De Vera Religione; and Fr. Canavan was brought back from Tullabeg to teach the short course. In 1936 Fr. Nerney was changed to long course Dogma and he remained at that post until his sudden death in 1968. He also acted as Prefect of Studies from 1953 to 1956.
An estimate of Fr. Nerney must be based primarily on his achievements as a Professor of Theology, because this was the principal work which was assigned to him by the Society. Of the value of this work. there can be very little doubt. It is generally accepted that he rendered incalculable service to the faculty in Milltown and so to many hundreds of Jesuits of many Provinces. He was an excellent lecturer; precise and methodical with a masterly command of Latin. He is not known ever to have pronounced a single sentence in English and yet his class invariably followed him with ease and pleasure. His lectures were based on one of his four codices which he followed closely but not slavishly, with the result that, reading a page or so of typescript, one found an accurate summary of his entire lecture. He kept strictly to the scholastic method of presentation and always indicated the difficult points of his position by a series of penetrating objections.
He was much liked as an examiner. He indicated clearly the precise point of a thesis he wished the candidate to treat, listened patiently to his exposition, brought him back over his exposition in order to secure expansion or correction of points which were unsatisfactory and then urged fair but telling objections in strict scholastic form. He always received the candidate's answers without violent reaction, no matter how bad they were; he seemed to be unwilling to influence the other examiners against him, preferring to leave them to form their own judgment on the basis of the evidence he had elicited concerning the state of the candidate's knowledge.
His treatment of scripture texts was a model of method. He always indicated clearly the precise argument he was drawing from the text he had quoted. He may not have had a very great interest in the results of modern scripture scholarship but the positions he adopted were always clearly defined and capable of strong defence. In general, he did not show much interest in patristic theology, although on many points he was extremely well informed, e.g., the early history of the Sacrament of Penance. His favourite amongst the Fathers was St. Ambrose, possibly on account of the connection existing between him and the Celtic church. He was sometimes criticised for over-simplifying theology. This is a permanent difficulty facing a Professor of Theology, viz., how to present a complex problem to a class without plunging into a mass of detail out of all proportion to the importance of the topic in question. If he erred on the side of over-simplification, his error was inspired by consideration for his class and was by no means a confession of ignorance nor a proof of lack of diligence. But it would be a rash conclusion that he did so err. His estimate of what constituted an adequate treatment of a particular subject was based on long years of teaching experience and cannot easily be challenged.
He could perhaps be more justly criticised for giving too much attention to purely scholastic discussions of such topics as the mode of the Real Presence in the Blessed Eucharist or the question of Natura and Persona in the Hypostatic Union. But he held that there was no better way of judging the quality of a theologian than by testing his ability to handle such problems with accuracy and confidence. Fr. Nerney was sometimes accused of marking time, or rather wasting time, in class; and it is true that when he was a little ahead of his timetable he reduced his rate of progress but many of his class found the respite very welcome. Towards the end of his life there were periods in which, due to poor health, his physical and mental vigour were below normal. This happened more frequently than was generally realised. One final point cannot be omitted, viz., his fairness and charity towards those whose opinions he felt he could not share. This was certainly the result of a conscious effort on his part, because it was widely felt that in some matters outside the realm of theology he could be very vehement and not always completely free from prejudice.
Fr. Nerney had many interests outside theology. These included motor engineering and wireless telegraphy; but undoubtedly the greatest of these was things Irish, games, history and language. He took up the serious study of Irish during his period as Professor of Philosophy in Milltown Park. He was a gifted linguist, speaking French and Italian with fluency and accuracy, so it is little wonder that he attained a proficiency in Irish, which was very remarkable in a man who began rather late in life. He spoke Irish with a slightly exaggerated precision of pronunciation and idiom but with genuine fluency and a great wealth of vocabulary. He was particularly interested in turns of phrase which were current in his native County of Cork but he was very observant of variations of pronunciation and idiom occurring in Connacht and Donegal. He prided himself on being able to define the precise locality of the origin of the Irish, spoken by the various announcers on Radio Eireann. For many years he spent part of the summer vacation in one or other of the Gaeltachts. Although he spoke Irish on all possible occasions, he was always most willing to speak English with those who were unable to fall in with his known desire to speak Irish.
The esteem in which Fr. Nerney was held by the Irish Province can be gauged by the number of occasions on which he was elected by provincial congregations to represent the Province in Rome. Hence it was with the most sincere regret that we heard the news of his sad and completely unexpected death. The whole Province owes him a very deep debt of gratitude and extends its sympathy to the surviving members of his family, and particularly to his brother, Fr. John Nerney from whom he had been separated for nearly forty years.

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

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

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

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

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

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

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

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

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1957

Obituary

Father Esmonde White SJ

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

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

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

◆ The Clongownian, 1957

Obituary

Father Esmonde White SJ

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

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

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

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Esmonde White (1875-1957)

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

Born: 29 December 1882, Tramore, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1898, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1917, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 06 January 1980, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

William was a relative of Patrick Stephenson (RIP 1990) of the Australian province, and entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1898.

by 1903 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1905

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William was a relative of Patrick Stephenson of the Australian province, and entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1898. After juniorate and philosophy at Jersey, he arrived at Riverview in October 1905. He remained there until early in 1911, teaching, being assistant prefect of discipline, and for a couple of years, junior rowing master. He spent most of the rest of his life working in parish ministry and doing some pamphlet writing in Ireland.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 55th Year No 2 1980

Obituary

Fr William Stephenson (1882-1898-1980)

The memorial card of Fr Willie Stephenson, which has been distributed to the whole Province, gives one a glimpse of the life of the man whose obituary I have been asked to write. He died at night on 6th January 1980 in his 98th year.
At the time of his death he had completed and sent to his printers a revised edition of one of his many booklets, Days with our Lady. Ninety six pages which he wrote in clearest manuscript before having it typed and corrected before sending it first for censorship and then to his printers. He died before the estimate for printing was returned. While engaged in this gigantic task, he was also coping with his usual “fan mail”, his Christmas post, and meeting a continuous stream of visitors.
He had a set routine of life: breakfast, meditation, Mass, divine Office, spiritual reading, recreation. From this routine he never diverged until about the Friday before the Sunday of the Epiphany. Then he was confined to bed and began to go downhill rapidly, but still fighting and believing that he would get back on his feet again to continue his life's work.
Though fighting for life, he had no fear of death and was fully aware that it might be at hand for him. After his doctor had seen him on the Saturday, I approached him and suggested that I would anoint him. He immediately said, “Very well, I was going to ask you yesterday to do it”, and he immediately put out his two hands over the blankets. I had brought the holy oils with me, and without any ordeal I proceeded with the anointing. He thanked me for it and went on without any sign of distress or emotion,
In the same way he regarded the announcement of other people's deaths, no matter how closely related they might have been to him. It was a matter of fact: a fact of life. I accompanied him to visit the remains of his sister at her home not many years ago. He mounted the stairs, went over to the bedside, took a brief glance at the remains, beautifully laid out, and then turned away saying to me, “She's the image of my mother”. There wasn't another word. He came to the church, did not meet many people or look for any sympathy. The words “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” were a reality both for himself and for those near and dear to him.
A letter written to him by a university student in London arrived after his death. It gives a very true picture of a younger Father Willie and shows the influence he had on many young men who had gone away from the Church and from religious practices. The letter begins, “Dearest Willie”, and the writer goes on to say: “My only sadness, my dear Willie, is that I never knew you as an adult. I feel sadness within me that I missed a guiding light in this sea of currents that can sweep one away to shores one did not consciously choose. I feel that you are a true man of God, even though I do not practise the faith. I know that you remember me, but I don't have such a clear picture of you. I remember walking up by Murray’s forge with you one day when I was about seven years old and you were reading your black book. The cuffs of your jacket were thread bare, and you were tall and thin with piercing eyes. I knew that you were a nice man, but I was also frightened of you. I see you now as a light. I know that I am out in the Arctic circle in terms of Catholic faith, but I see your light, Willie: I see it shining out there in the darkness, but it's a long way off”.
Monsignor Tom Cullen, a past pupil of Mungret and taught there by Father Stephenson, also wrote to him: “You are one of the greatest priests I have known in all my life. You are the very best. I remember you in Mungret: you were great to the Apostolics”.
Father Stephenson knew no barriers of class, creed, age or life-style. He was the friend of all and was truly “all things to all men”. In the prime of his life he worked in Galway, and was a “live wire” both in the school and in the church for twenty-five years; his principal work being the Holy Hour and the men’s sodality of our Lady. He spent the last thirty years of his life in the Rathfarnham community. Here he is greatly missed, both as a member of the community and as a confessor ad jan., and by a countless number of clients both young and old who constantly visited him. In the room which he occupied, everything spoke of centuries past. The older and more worn-out his garments became, the more he became attached to them - almost in every sense. He loved his game of cards, and we feel particularly indebted to his young friends in the Society who were so good to him and dropped in occasionally for a game'. .
Finally, of all the places he dwelt in during his long life - Jersey, where he did his philosophy; Sydney, his regency; Galway; Mungret, where he was first as pupil and later as sub mod of the Apostolic School, etc., - Tramore, his native spot, took pride of place. The following letter, signed by Michael Cullen, town clerk, came from Tramore Town Commissioners:
“Dear Father,
At the meeting of the Commissioners on 8th January, a vote of sincere sympathy was adopted to you and the Jesuit order on the regretted death of the late Father William Stephenson, SJ RIP.
Not alone did the Commissioners express their own regret but also the sense of loss of the whole community here who knew, respected and loved Father Stephenson who was born here and always expressed his affection for the town: he was one of our most valuable tourist ambassadors.
He was a personal friend to me and my family, and we were very closely associated with him during his holidays each summer: we shall never forget him.
The County Manager asked to be associated with this expression of sympathy,
May God grant Father Willie eternal rest, and consolation to all who mourn him.'

No account of the life of Fr William Stephenson would be complete without putting on record his vast contribution to the Province through his writings published by the Irish Messenger Office. In all, he had fourteen booklets published, many of which went into several editions. His great work, however, was the Child of Mary Prayer Book, which has seen forty editions, twelve of which he edited (1930-1975). He not only edited and compiled these booklets, but in many cases - especially in his latter years - contributed substantially towards the printing. His object in devoting his time and energy to this work was to do good and to help the seminary fund for the education of Jesuits.
He was always interested in finding and helping candidates for the priesthood, and kept up contact with them and with their families all through life. With youth of all kinds he had a special charism and could make instant contact with them when much younger men would be utterly inadequate. About six years ago, when he was ninety-two, an incident occurred which brought this home to me. I was called to the parlour to meet four youths. They had finished school and were just “browned off”, as they put it. Obviously I was not their man: after all I was over sixty. They asked me if there was any younger man they could talk to. I made an arrangement with them for the following day. They were satisfied, and as I was showing them out I saw the Old Man in the distance. He was coming up the avenue with a bundle of sticks for his fire under his arm.
I pointed him out to the youths and told them that only a few days previously he had celebrated his sixtieth year in the priesthood and was ninety-two years of age. I told them to stop him and congratulate him. Soon I saw a huddle down the avenue. He had his arms on their shoulders and was in deep conversation with them. I did not wait. Next morning I asked him “How did you get on with those lads you met on the avenue last evening?” “Great lads”, he said. He had all their names; knew where they lived and where they had been at school. “They are all going to Mass and holy Communion this morning”, he added. “How did this happen?” I asked him. “I asked them were they saying their prayers (no!); were they going to Mass (no!). I brought them in behind the laurel bushes and heard their confessions. They are going to Mass and holy Communion this morning, and tonight they are coming up to me for a game of Switch.
Fr Stephenson's life was not without its trials. He went through some very rough times and was let down by some who were his friends and to help whom he had gone to endless trouble. One of these robbed him of all his savings. But he had a maxim which he frequently repeated: “let nothing disturb thee”. This may be more easily said than done. He did it. He could shut out from his mind anything that was beyond his power to remedy and never refer to it once it was over. This gave him constant serenity of mind and the power to help troubled souls. He radiated peace and cheerfulness and optimism. This was the Great Old Man - the true man of God. RIP

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1949

Our Past

Father William Stephenson SJ

Father William Stephenson SJ (95-98), celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit last year. Father William came here as a small boy and was the youngest of that group of novices to join the Society of Jesus in 1898. A mature boy he plumbed the depths of spiritual wisdom under the direction of Fr James Murphy, the famous novice master, He went to Jersey for his philosophy where he acquired a great facility in the happy French idiom. Repairing to Australia for his regency, there, he spent three years having a magnetic influence for good over the boys who were under his charge. He returned to Milltown Park for theology and was ordained there in 1915. His next appointment was to the Crescent College, and Mungret was privileged to have him on the staff the following year. He was responsible under God for the vocations of many of our Past. In 1920 he was transferred to St Ignatius, Galway, where he remained for 25 years. During that quarter of a century he built up a great Men's Sodality-one of the finest in Ireland. The memory of his fruitful work in Galway occasioned a striking presentation of a gift of a chalice from those whom he had guided so zealously. His name is familiar as an author of spiritual works. Innumerable pamphlets, prayer-books and leaflets by his hand grace the book-stalls of our churches. We congratulate him on his more recent book “Christ Our Light”, a review of which we publish in this issue. Fr Stephenson is now a member of the Community at Manresa, Clontarf - the retreat house for workmen. We offer him wealth of blessings.

Born: 18 October 1910, Kilmainham, Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1941
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 01 August 1976, St Joseph. Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

Early education at CBS Synge Street, Dublin

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William Saul was educated at the Christian Brothers school, Synge St, Dublin, 1920-28, and entered the Society at St Stanislaus', Tullabeg, 1 September 1928. Philosophy studies were at Tullabeg, 1932-34, and his juniorate studies in mathematics, chemistry, physics, and Irish, were at the National University Dublin, 1930-31. Regency was at Mungret College, Limerick, 1935, and Clongowes Wood, 1936-37. His theology was at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1938-41, and tertianship at Rathfarnham, 1942.
Before arriving in Australia in 1948, he taught at the Crescent, Limerick, and at Clongowes. From 1955-61 Saul taught mathematics and music, as well as directing the military band at Xavier College, Kew. Then he taught religion, mathematics and music at Riverview, 1962-71. After a year at Canisius College, Pyrnble, 1972, he spent the last years of his life at the provincial residence, Hawthorn.
Saul was a highly talented musician and could play any instrument in the orchestra. He created an arrangement of “Galway Lullaby” from which he received royalties. He was not an easy man to know, and was considered irascible. In his latter years, he did not appreciate superiors, whom he considered were not friendly towards him. He did not always appear to be the happiest of men.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Kennedy G., O'Flanagan and Saul leave for Australia on 9th July.

Irish Province News 51st Year No 4 1976

Obituary :

Fr William (Bill) Saul (1928-1976)

Fr. J. A. Mac Seumas writes:
It was with a heavy heart that I heard last July of the death of poor Willie Saul. I call him Willie as that is how we knew him long ago in Synge Street, in the 1920s. In those days we walked to and from school, only travelling by tram when the weather was too bad. And so we usually walked, especially home, with the same people. In my case I walked back with Willie Saul, During those years we came out to Rathfarnham Castle on a three-day retreat once a year. I was on retreat with Willie Saul four times, in the years 1924 to 1928. One cannot emphasise sufficiently what good these retreats did in helping young lads to go on for the priesthood, not only in the Society, but also to other religious orders and the diocesan clergy.
In due course Willie and I, and some others, having applied to the Society to be admitted, left Dublin on the afternoon train on September 1st for Tullamore. We were met by the socius to Fr Martin Maher, Fr Henry King and made the uninspiring trip out to Rahan College, otherwise known as St. Stanislaus College. After the period of first probation, we began the two years of the novitiate and, looking back on it now, I can say that we enjoyed that period of our lives a little more than we might admit.
The two years passed quickly enough, and the Vow Day came along. We then entered the Society as scholastics, bound by yow to spend our lives in the same Society until God would call us to Himself.
When Willie reached the colleges, in Mungret in fact, the pattern of ill health in his life began to show itself. He suffered from severe stomach pains which often left him very weak. This persisted, and a year in Clongowes when he was Study Prefect showed no improvement, in fact he never recovered from this malady of the intestines.
Whilst he was in the study he had a very quiet systematic method of dealing with any disturbance. He kept an exact record of any breach of the study rules. For these offences he did not punish. Later if any concerted breach of discipline occurred, he would read out the list of minor infringements, which he had kept, and remark that the offenders would receive their due punishment unless quiet was restored. This usually had the desired effect.
He was very loyal to his family. His brother, Paddy, died at an early age. Fr James was an SMA. Myles was a founder of the Photographic Section of the Garda Siochana. Willie himself was blessed with a very quick mind, and was very good at mathematics. He taught Leaving Certificate in this subject. He was also talented in a high degree in music, and more about this later.
But above all else he was solidly spiritual. It was only a solid spirituality that sustained him in Milltown. He suffered severely from pains in his stomach. The house physician was not ideal for religious. He was known to have told his students in UCD that religious were prone to be hypochondriacs. It would seem that he had put Fr Willie into that category, because all the comfort given him on his first visit was “You are suffering from flatulence”, and on a second visit months afterwards he told Bill Saul, “Take plenty of exercise”. Needless to say the medical report was accepted and acted on by his religious superiors, and Fr Willie soldiered on. It took peritonitis and an ambulance in the early hours of the morning and an emergency operation to prove that Fr Willie was a genuinely sick man.
A second major operation followed, both of which, coupled with some time convalescing, meant that Fr Saul missed a sizeable share of the scholastic year. He was now told that he could not be ordained because the requirements of Canon Law had not been met.
With only weeks to go before ordination day Fr Willie was able to show the fallacy of the so-called canonical obstacle, and was then presented with the final hurdle : his exam, and if you make it you are acceptable. He rose to it like Eddie Macken on Boomerang.
Willie had loyalty to his friends in a high order. With a serious turn of mind he was dependable and true. This seriousness showed itself in his reading, his taste was intellectual and heavy, rather than frivolous. He loved a good problem, be it in maths, chess, bridge or anything. Incidentally, he played a good hand at bridge, sized up the situation in a brief time, and then played without any further hesitation, and always got full value from a hand.
He enjoyed more than anything a good musical evening, and he put much work into organising both the instrumental and the singing side of such a get-together. He himself was very talented in violin, flute and piano.
He had a quick mind and was a clear thinker. He had, moreover, the gift of making clear to us slower ones in philosophy and theology what his alert mind had grasped in a flash. And most important of all he was most generous in using this gift.
In these days of comfort and carpets one small point deserves mention. Many a theologian in those days studied in less discomfort because of his skill as a carpenter. Fr Saul’s speciality was an armchair of his special design. The music-stands in the Crescent, still in use, if I mistake not, are his handiwork. The revival of the Caecilians was in no small part due to his inspiration and hard work.
We lost touch with Willie when he left us for Australia in 1948. May he rest in peace.

Fr Hugh O'Neill adds the following details concerning Fr Bill Saul’s life as a Jesuit:
From 1943 (after his tertianship) till 1947 he taught in the Crescent; then, after another year or so in Clongowes, he went to Australia around 1948. After he left Ireland, Fr Saul worked in the following places: 1948 56: St. Louis School, Claremount, Perth; 1956-62: Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne; 1962-72: St. Ignatius College, Riverview; 1972-74: Canisius College, Pymble; 1974-76: Director of Jesuit Seminary Association.

Born: 27 October 1849, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 22 April 1879, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Ordained: 1872, Rome, Italy - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1890, Australia
Died: 14 July 1922, Malvern, Melbourne, Australia

Part of the St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia community at the time of death.

Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission : 30 September 1894; 11 February 1901-1908; 09 April 1913-1917

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
Ryan, John (1849–1922)
by Daniel A. Madigan
Daniel A. Madigan, 'Ryan, John (1849–1922)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ryan-john-8314/text14581, published first in hardcopy 1988

Catholic priest

Died : 15 July 1922, Malvern, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

John Ryan (1849-1922), Jesuit priest, was born on 27 October 1849 at Limerick, Ireland, only child of Thomas Ryan and his wife Catherine, née Butler. He was educated at The Crescent, Limerick, and, having begun in 1869 his ecclesiastical studies at the Irish College, Rome, was ordained there on 1 November 1874. The training Ryan received there under Monsignor Tobias Kirby rooted him firmly in the tradition of Ireland's Cardinal Cullen and gave him much in common with Australia's Irish episcopacy. Early in 1872 he had been recruited for the diocese of Maitland, New South Wales, by Bishop Murray, but soon after his arrival there in August 1875, he was appointed president of the new St Charles' Seminary at Bathurst. To the delight of its founder, Bishop Matthew Quinn, he set about recreating his Roman Alma Mater in Bathurst. Ryan, who since 1873 had been considering joining the Society of Jesus, was accepted as a novice on 27 March 1879. He made his first vows on 27 April 1881.

By temperament and training Ryan had a concern for order and a talent for administration which proved a windfall for the Jesuit mission in Australia. Considerable expansion in the late 1870s, a shortage of capable manpower from Ireland and the financial burdens brought about by the depression of the 1890s all contributed to the poor state of the mission at the turn of the century. Quite soon after becoming a Jesuit, he was put in positions of authority and responsibility as rector of St Patrick's College, East Melbourne (1886-90), of St Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney (1890-97) and of Xavier College, Melbourne (1897-1900). He was often exasperated by the careless administration of his predecessors. During his two terms (1901-08, 1913-17) as superior of the Australian Jesuits his competent administration proved crucial to the survival of their enterprise.

At the same time Ryan continued to serve the Australian Catholic Church at large, which was also facing a period of consolidation. He shared Cardinal Moran's vision of a firmly established and organised Church in which the clergy were well trained and obedient to their bishops, and the laity were adequately cared for and regular in their religious practice—a similar transformation to that wrought by Cullen in Ireland after the famine. With Michael Watson, S.J., Ryan began a devotional magazine, the Australian Messenger of the Sacred Heart, in 1887. His help was enlisted by the Presentation Sisters and later by the Sisters of Mercy in attempts to amalgamate their disparate convents, which the bishops had founded rather haphazardly with sisters recruited ad hoc from Ireland. He was committed to the spiritual formation of the clergy and the religious, through an extensive retreat ministry, and of lay people through the fostering of sodalities and popular devotions. Although Ryan and Daniel Mannix held very different views, Ryan won the respect of the wily prelate in negotiations for the foundation of Newman College at the University of Melbourne. 'Ripe in years and ripe in work', said Mannix, he died at Malvern on 15 July 1922 and was buried in Boroondara cemetery, Kew.

Select Bibliography
U. M. L. Bygott, With Pen and Tongue (Melb, 1980)
Argus (Melbourne), 17 July 1922
Advocate (Melbourne), 20 July 1922
D. A. Madigan, John Ryan, S.J.—a Contribution to Australian Catholicism 1875-1922 (B.A. Hons thesis, Monash University, 1977), and for bibliography.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Taken from the “Advocate” 20 July 1922
“Born in Limerick 1849, Father Ryan studied at the Irish College Rome, and on the completion of his ecclesiastical studies he came to Australia. There he was appointed President of St Stanislaus College Bathurst before that was handed over to the Vincentians. In April 1879 he was admitted to the Society of Jesus. While Rector in St Patrick’s College Melbourne in 1886, he took charge of a flourishing Sodality there, which included among its members many of the prominent Catholic laymen of the day. During his Rectorate he also established the :Messenger of the Sacred Heart”, which he supervised for many years, which owes much of its success to his careful management.
In 1890 he was transferred to Riveview, and was Rector there until 1897. In June of 1897 he was appointed to take charge of Xavier College, Kew. His period of office there coincided with the difficult times of the land boom, but he triumphed ..... by his sound administration and careful financing.
From 1901-1907 and again 1913-1917 he was Superior of the Australian Mission, and he carried out this office with conspicuous success.
When he finished as Mission Superior he worked in Parishes at Sydney and Adelaide.
In failing health he returned to Melbourne, and he died at Malvern. His friendliness and unfailing kindness won him many friends, and he commanded the respect of all with whom he came in contact. His long experience and Theological attainments made his opinion of Church, education and general matters much sought for, and he was able to be of great service to the work of the Religious Orders and Church in Australia.
Dr Daniel Mannix, Archbishop of Melbourne, presided at the Requiem in Richmond, and at the conclusion said ‘If Father Ryan had his own wish, no words would be uttered over his coffin but the words of the Liturgy. I am not going to violate the spirit of his desire. In Father Ryan we feel that we have all lost a wise counsellor and a trusted and faithful friend. He was well known to the people and Priests of Melbourne, and wherever he was known his character was revered and he was respected. He was not a man to seek popular applause or to attract attention, but, like his Master, he went about doing good unostentatiously and unselfishly, wholly devoted to the work to which his life was consecrated.
He was not an Australian by birth, yet I think that never have I come across any Australian who loved Australia more, or who had more hop in Australia’s future. He was not a Jesuit in the first years of his Ministry, yet I have never come across anyone more truly a Jesuit in heart, mind and soul, and more devoted to the interests of his Society. Were Archbishop Thomas Carr presiding here in my place, I can imagine the words of tender affection in which he would speak of his departed friend. Father Ryan and Archbishop Carr were closely united in their work for many years, and they were closely united in affection. I hope they have now met in a better land where there is no parting. Several times Father Ryan was raised by his own Superiors to the highest position in his Order here in Australia, and when the time came to lay down the burden of Office, he went back into the ranks, the humblest and most zealous of the Priests of the Society.
And so when the last call came for Father Ryan, there was no clinging to life. There was no desire to linger upon the stage when his part had been played. He felt that his work for his Master was done. .......... May we all, but especially the priests of the Society and Melbourne always revere his memory and profit by his example’.”

Note from John Francis O’Brien Entry :
1902 He succeeded Carl Dietel as Superior at Sevenhill. John Ryan Sr wrote “He is very kind and gentle and will look after the old men. He was Superior until 1906.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Among the outstanding Jesuits who established the Society in Australia during its early years was John Ryan, a former priest of the Bathurst diocese who joined the Jesuits on 22 April 1879 at the age of 30. He had been principal of St Stanislaus' College and St Charles Seminary and had studied for the priesthood at the Irish College, Rome.
In his earlier days he had been educated at the Crescent, Limerick, and studied for the secular priesthood at the Irish College, Rome, where he was ordained in 1872. and then returned to Ireland. In 1875, Dr Matthew Quinn, bishop of Bathurst, being in Ireland looking for priests persuaded Ryan to volunteer for Bathurst and to be principal of his projected college and seminary.
Ryan did his noviceship at Sevenhill, 1880-81and then taught at Riverview 1881-1883. After a year living in the parish of North Sydney preparing for his ad grad examinations, he returned to to Riverview teaching Latin, Greek and Italian. However his administrative and financial talents were quickly recognised and he was appointed rector of St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, 1885-90, where he was also prefect of studies and director of the Apostleship of Prayer and the Sodality of Our Lady He also founded the “Australian Messenger of the Sacred Heart, a periodical that continued until the 1970s, and the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary for gentlemen.
He was next appointed rector of Riverview1890-97where he taught for the public examinations and was a mission consultor. From there he went as rector to Xavier College, Kew 1897-1901, and was then appointed superior of the mission1901-08, living at Richmond. After five years working in the parish of Richmond he was appointed superior of the mission for a second time, 1913-17, and then returned to Richmond and parish duties for a second time.
His final residence was in the parish of Norwood where he worked during 1921-22. During his administrative years he also controlled the finances of the college or mission. Few men in the Society were given so many administrative responsibilities.
Ryan's leadership of St Ignatius' College Riverview which coincided with the 1890s Depression, was a time of academic achievement and sporting success. He founded the debating society in 1881. However, there were declining numbers and in 1890 a debt of£25,000 which lasted for many years.
The transfer of Ryan to Xavier College came at one of the most difficult periods in the history of the school. There were only 34 boarders and 40 day boys in June 1897, as well as a debt of £204,000, and an annual deficit of£2000. In a short time the debt was reduced and the number of students increased. He avoided the mistake that a smaller man might have made. He did not check development in the pursuit of economy The grounds were improved and a new pavilion was built. The college joined the Public Schools of Victoria at this time displacing St Patrick’s College. Ryan also launched a new school journal the Xavierian and began the Old Xaverians' Association.
In dealing with the boys, we are told that he was “firm but urbane”. He impressed all by the quiet strength of his manner and though he made a point of leaving details to his subordinates, when he saw fit to act he was determined and unswerving in his decisions. He kept contact with former students, and had a sound knowledge of their future careers.
As superior of the Irish Mission he negotiated due amalgamation of the Austrian and Irish missions, established the Jesuits in the parish of Toowong, Brisbane and founded Newman College, The University of Melbourne. In addition, he moved St Aloysius' College from Bourke Street, Sydney, to Milsons Point, and negotiated very complex and sensitive questions with the Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney without making an enemy of Cardinal Moran, which showed great wisdom and tact.
Ryan never considered himself suitable for work in schools and asked to be relieved of his leadership position several times. He preferred parish work and enjoyed a fine reputation as a preacher. At these times he particularly worked as a canonist for various religious orders, especially the Sisters of Mercy. He gave retreats and missions as often as the demands of his position permitted.
His main skills were administrative and financial. He was an extremely meticulous person, and even considered himself “fussy” by insisting on correct procedures and religious discipline among the Jesuits. Ryan capably dealt with the financial problems in every house, and highlighted the problems of manpower and staffing. His work contributed significantly to the consolidation of the Irish Mission at the turn of the 20th century.
As a person he defended those in need and, while even severe with himself, was generally large-hearted with others. He was also a man of great faith and devotion. Finally, he had an eye to history, leaving excellent diaries and notes, encouraging Michael Watson to write a history of the mission. He, himself, wrote the narrative of the Richmond Mission. He was a priest of no mean stamina.

Note from Patrick Keating Entry
John Ryan, mission superior, did not lavish praise upon him. He believed him to be good at administration, but not with finances, not overly strict in discipline; firm and decisive, but easily influenced by anyone of strong mind, cool of temper, but not fatherly or sympathetic, somewhat superficial, cold and at times sarcastic, discouraging more than encouraging.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 6th Year No 1 1931

From 23 to 27 August, Riverview celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its foundation... The College was founded in 1880 by Fr. Joseph Dalton, He was “wisely daring enough” to purchase a fine property on Lane Cove from Judge Josephson, The property consisted of a cottage containing eight or nine rooms with substantial out offices, and 44 acres of land, at a cost of £4 500. 54 acres were soon added for £1 ,080, and an additional 20 acres later on completed the transaction. This little cottage was the Riverview College of 1880. The modesty of the start may be measured by the facts, that the founder of Riverview, and its first Rector, shared his own bed-room with three of his little pupils , and when the College played its first cricket out match, it could muster only ten boys to meet the opposing team. By the end of the year the number had increased to 15.
In addition to Fr. Dalton's, two other names are inseparably connected with the foundation of Riverview. The first is that of His Grace, Archbishop Vaughan, who invited the Jesuits to Sydney, formally opened the College and gave the Fathers every encouragement.
The second is the name of the great Australian pioneer, the Archpriest Therry. “One hundred years ago”, says one account : “Fr Therry was dreaming of a Jesuit College in Sydney... and when he went to his reward in 1865 he gave it a special place in his final testament”. Fr Lockington called Frs. Dalton and Therry the “co-founders” of Riverview, and added
that it was the wish of the latter to see Irish Jesuits established at Sydney.
An extract from the Catalogue of 1881 will interest many. It is the first time that Riverview is mentioned as a College in the Catalogue :
Collegium et Convictus S. Ignatius
R. P, Josephus Dalton, Sup a die 1 Dec 1879, Proc_ Oper
P. Thomas Gartlan, Min, etc
P. Joannes Ryan, Doc. 2 class. etc
Henricus O'Neill Praef. mor. etc
Domini Auxiliairii duo
Fr. Tom Gartlan is still amongst us, and, thank God, going strong. Soon a brick building (comprising study hall, class rooms and dormitories) wooden chapel, a wooden refectory, were added to the cottage, and in three years the numbers had swelled to 100, most of them day-boys.
The first stage in the history of Riverview was reached in 1889, when the fine block, that up to a recent date served as the College, was opened and blessed by Cardinal Moran.
The second stage was closed last August, when, amidst the enthusiastic cheering of a great gathering of Old Boys, the splendid building put up by Fr. Lockington was officially declared ready to receive the ever increasing crowd of boys that are flocking into Riverview. The College can now accommodate three times as many students as did the old block finished in 1889. Not the least striking part of the new building is the Great Assembly Hall erected by the Old Boys as a memorial to their school-fellows who died during the Great War.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Ryan 1849-1922
Born in Limerick on October 27th 1849, Fr John Ryan studied in the Irish College Rome, and on the completion of his theological studies, came to Australia. He was appointed President of St Stanislaus College Bathurst, before that institution was handed over to the Vincentian Fathers.

In April 1879 he was admitted to the Society of Jesus. While Rector of St Patrick’s College Melbourne in 1886, he took charge of a flourishing Sodality there, which included among its members, many of the prominent Catholic laymen of the day. During his Rectorate he also established the “Messenger of the Sacred Heart”. He became successively, Rector of Riverview and Xavier Colleges. He was Superior of the Mission for two periods, 1901-1907 and 1913-1917. On relinquishing office he returned to parochial work at Richmond and Adelaide.

His geniality and unfailing kindness won him many warm friends, and he commanded great respect in all ranks of society. His long experience and theological attainments made his opinion on Church, educational and general matters much sought for, and he was of great service to the work of the Religious Orders and the Catholic Church in Australia.

Archbishop Mannix said of him in his funeral oration : “He was not a Jesuit in the first years of his ministry, yet I have never come across anyone more truly a Jesuit in heat, mind and soul, and more devoted to the interests of the Society”.

He died at Melbourne in July 1922.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1922

Obituary

Father John Ryan SJ

Father John Ryan was a native of Ireland, having been born at Limerick in 1849. He made his studies for the priesthood at the Irish College, Rome, and after his ordination he came to Australia. He had experience in administration at St Stanislaus' College, Bathurst, of which he was appointed President before the college was handed over to the direction of the Vincentian Fathers. In April, 1879, he entered the Society of Jesus. In 1886 he became Rector of St Patrick's College, Melbourne, where he took charge of the sodality, which included amongst its members many of the prominent Catholic laymen of the city. There he founded the “Messenger”, a permanent apostolate that lives after him. In 1890 he went as Rector to St Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney, where he remained for seven years. In June, 1897, he was appointed Rector of Xavier College. He came at a time when his administrative ability was particularly called for. The Melbourne schools were all suffering as a result of the depression consequent on the land boom. Numbers had fallen with startling suddenness, and financial difficulties were grave. He brought the school through these difficult years with the greatest skill, and in a short time under his government, difficulties were overcome and the school began to grow again. But he avoided the mistake that a smaller man might have made. He did not check development in the pursuit of economy, Believing that the future of the school was assured, he did not hesitate to make ready for the coming years. Under his Rectorship the grounds were greatly improved. The new pavilion was built near its present site. The staff was also steadily strengthened. It was during his time that the step was taken of joining the Associated Public Schools of Victoria and finding that the school journal, “Our Annals”, had ceased to appear, he brought “The Xaverian" into existence and was practically Editor of the first number. He also promoted the foundation of the Old Xaverians Association and was present at the gathering which brought it into being. It is only in these later years that one can see how far-sighted he was and how thoroughly he appreciated the place the school was destined to hold. Īu all these efforts he had the constant help of Mr, now Fr Bernard Page SJ, who shared with him his wide views of the school's future. With the boys he was firm but urbane. While he lacked the dignified presence of his predecessor, the Rev Thomas Browne SJ, he impressed by the quiet strength of his manner, and though he made a point of leaving details to his subordinates, when he saw fit to act, he was determined and unswerving in his decisions. In 1901, after four years of fruitful work, he was appointed Superior of the Australian Jesuits, a post which he held till 1907, and which he again filled from 1913 to 1917. During these years he remained in very close touch with the school, and took the greatest interest in its general and athletic progress. He kept always a great interest in the boys who had passed under him, and had a most accurate knowledge of their careers.. When not engaged in government, he was occupied in the parishes of Richmond and Norwood, and had much to do as a canonist with the work of various Religious Orders. His health failed in Adelaide, and he was for some time seriously ill. When better he was transferred to Sydney, but while in Melbourne on the way to Sydney he again became seriously ill. He was placed in St Benedict's Hospital, Malvern, with the Sisters of Mercy, in whose work and organisation he had always been specially interested. There he sank gradually and died on July 15. A very large gathering attended the Office at St. Ignatius' Church, Richmond, the boys being represented by the school prefects. After the Requiem, His Grace the Archbishop spoke feelingly of the work Fr Ryan had done for the Church in Australia, and then gave the Final Absolution. Fr Ryan was buried in Booroondara Cemetery, Kew, May he rest in peace.

Born: 10 May 1826, Booterstown, County Dublin
Entered: 20 September 1850, Avignon, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1863
Professed: 02 February 1867
Died: 11 January 1893, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

by 1858 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy
by 1859 at Vals France (TOLO) Studying Philosophy
by 1860 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying Theology
Early Australian Missioner 1866

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He collected the greater part of the funds for the beautiful Church at Hawthorn, and superintended the construction of the edifice.
For several years he was Rector at Xavier College, Kew, and also worked at different intervals at St Patrick’s, Melbourne.
He was a Priest of great energy and zeal, and his death was regretted by a wide circle of friends. He died at Hawthorn 11 January 1893.

◆ Immaculate Conception Church, Hawthorn Australia, 150 Celebration : https://www.immaculateconceptionaust.com/150anniversary https://f695c25f-f64b-42f7-be8b-f86c240a0861.filesusr.com/ugd/347de3_60d458105476441d9043f3674789a4af.pdf

Fr Nolan SJ, Founder of the Immaculate Conception Church, Hawthorn
Edward Nolan was born in Dublin on 10th May 1826. At an early age he attended college in Dublin with the intention of studying for the priesthood. He made his novitiate at Angers (France), took his degrees of theology at Louvain (Belgium), and entered the Society of Jesus on September 20th 1850.
After long and active service in teaching at different colleges in Ireland, he arrived in Melbourne in 1866, where he was assigned to teach at St. Patrick’s College, East Melbourne. On weekends he ministered to the people of Hawthorn. Here he came in contact with the redoubtable Michael Lynch who was determined to have a proper church built in Hawthorn and he had friends with wealth. In Fr Nolan he found someone who would extract it from them. With the land already donated by Mr. Lynch, fundraising plans to build a church were swung into action. Subscriptions flowed in, not only from the enthusiastic and generous Hawthorn Catholics, estimated at only 60 households at the time, but from non Catholics and from those outside the area. On this basis, the farsighted Fr Nolan planned a church to seat 1200.
Fr Nolan had little taste for set sermons in big churches, but had the quiet knack of addressing small groups in any situation. He had considerable knowledge of botany and some ability at medicine. Of engaging address, he had the knack of accommodating himself to all classes, and was equally at home in the mia-mia of the fossicker and the mansion of the squatter. He rode a horse called “Tobin”, which carried him everywhere. “Tobin” had a peculiar amble, which was a well-known warning to Catholics who were not what they ought to be. Father Nolan was a good religious man but it was his zeal, gentle piety and simplicity that won over the people of Hawthorn.
In 1871-72 Fr Nolan was sent on a begging mission to raise money for the new Xavier College to be built in Kew. He toured eastern Australia and even New Zealand, raising substantial funds and persuading many families to commit their sons to the new college. After 6 years as the first Rector at Xavier, and a short time in Sydney, he returned to Hawthorn as Procurator. Strange to say, he was never Superior of the Hawthorn community.
Even when in his declining years, he collected enough money to purchase a peal of bells to ring out across Hawthorn. When he died on January 11th 1893, from a ‘disease of the heart’ the bluestone church of the Immaculate Conception was as fitting a memorial as anyone could wish. Fr Nolan is recognised as the founder of the church, with an inscription in Latin on the front of the altar.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward Nolan entered the Society at Tullabeg, 20 September 1850, as a priest, where he also studied theology, was director of the Sodality of Our Lady and taught writing and bookkeeping. He was a founding father to Australia in 1866 with Joseph Dalton, taught at St Patrick’s College and performed pastoral work. During 1871-72 he toured Victoria
and New Zealand seeking funds.
He went to Xavier College, Kew, in 1878, teaching bookkeeping and being minister. He was appointed rector in 1880. and was also a consultor of the mission As rector, he was recognised as a financial manager and was experienced as a strict disciplinarian. He built the South Wing and developed the farm, hoping that the College would be self-sufficient. He shared his hobby of amateur pharmacy with the boys, and was responsible for making a clear separation of dayboys and boarders - neither group mixing except during class time.
After completing his term as rector in 1886, he spent three years at Riverview, as procurator and consultor, and he also had care of the garden and farm. From 1889-93, he was engaged in pastoral work within the parish of Hawthorn, Vic., where he was at various times, procurator, consultor, admonitor and finally, spiritual father.
He was acknowledged as a very zealous and hardworking priest, but over-absorbed in money matters. Superiors obviously made use of his financial expertise or interest, even though his accounts were not always left in the best condition. His fund raising techniques did not always please diocesan priests. One monument to him was the parish church at Hawthorn.

◆ 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.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1893

Obituary

Father Edward Nolan

Our obituary list this year is, sad to say, fairly numerous. The first name we have to refer to is that of the late Father Edward Nolan SJ, formerly Rector of the College, who died a holy death in January last at Manresa, Hawthorn, the residence of the Jesuit Fathers who conduct that parish. As many of his old pupils will be looking out for some information regarding the life and death of Father Nolan, we subjoin a sketch of his meritorious career as a member of the Society of Jesus. He was born in Dublin, on May 10th, 1826, received his early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare, Ireland, and entered the Society of Jesus after having received a sound education, on Septeinber 20th, 1850. He made bis higher studies at various places on the Continent, spending a considerable time at the University of Louvain, in Belgium. After his ordination he was employed in several capacities previously to the year 1863, in which year he became Prefect of Dicipline in Tullabeg College. He continued in that position tili early in 1866, when, accompanied by Father's Dalton and McKinniry, the second batch of Jesuits sent to the “Antipodes”, he sailed for Melbourne. He took his place on the teaching staff of St Patrick's College, and at the same time attended to parish work in Richmond and Hawthorn. It may here be mentioned en passant, that the first child baptised by Father Nolan, in Hawthorn, was the Rev J Brennan SJ, late member of the College staff, and now continuing his studies in Europe). Very soon after his arrival Father Nolan was appointed by his superiors to superintend the building of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Hawthorn, and to raise funds for the same, This work, most uncongenial to the man who, a few years before, had renounced some thousands of pounds which he handed over to his superiors for the improvement of Tullabeg College, was uudertaken by him in the spirit of holy obedience. He set about the work with gigantic energy, and though always of weakly health, was untiring in his efforts to collect money. He travelled much in Australia and New Zealand, and though he was well satisfied with the result of his exertions, his superiors and his friends used to say that his health was sold cheap, and that if a penny was a pound in the eyes of any man, it ought to have been so in the eyes of poor Father Nolan. Doubtless our Blessed Lady will have given a loving reception to the worn out priest whose zeal raised up the beautiful memorial of her dearest privilege, which now stands at the intersection of Glenferrie and Burwood Roads. His attention, however, was not wholly concentrated on the church. He was occupied during most of his time as master in St. Patrick's College, besides which, the task of collecting for this college also devolved upon him. He had, in addition, to clear the grounds, then thickly wooded, and lay out and plant the gardens. The present avenue is almost as he laid it out, but has been somewhat spoiled since by the promiscuous scattering of seeds and cutting's as from a pepper caster. Continuing his labours, Father Nolan succeeded, after having had the foundiation stone of St Francis Xavier's College laid in 1872, in opening the College for boarders in 1878.

Father Thomas Cahill SJ, now stationed at St Ignatius' Church, Richmond, was the first Rector of the College, and offered the Holy Sacrifice in the upper corridor of the present South wing, for the first time, on January 22nd, 1878. There were about 50 boarders during the birst year, and still more during the second. Father Nolan was a member of the Community during these two years, but at the end of 1879 he was appointed Rector of the College. He then rapidly improved all its departments, and the building now known as he South Wing, was completed in 1884. In that year there were over 100 boarders, and the College had already attained some very high distinctions at the University Examinations, while already some of its students began to exbibit their prowess as undergraduates. A glance at the list of old boys will show that the system which has developed that already famous band was not by any means in a raw state. No, there were then students as capable as our Wyselaskie scholarship winner of to-day. Many of the professional gentlemen, were guided oy the advice of Father Nolan in the choice of a profession, and the number of them who have attained prominence is a sufficient proof of his sagacity. All his old pupils remember his shrewdness; all remember his firmness, ind some have experienced his strictness; put in the inmost hearts of all there is a deeply-rooted reverence for the dead priest which will last for ever. All concur in saying hat if he was sometimes a little hard with them, he was always very hard with himself. In 1885 Father Nolan ceased to be Rector if Kew College, and as his health was on the decline, he was sent to Riverview College, Sydney. There he indulged his natural astes, and spent his time usefully between laying out the College grounds and giving himself up to profound study. He was a very cultured man, but the duties imposed on him by his superiors were such as to exhibit in him qualities of a totally different description. His knowledge of botany among other things ras very extensive. Once upon a time he fell in with the Curator of the Sydney Botanical Gardens and another gentleman, ho had been recently appointed as represenitives of NSW at a flower, fruit and botanical exhibition at Milan. The conversation turned on Australian Flora, and so minute and extensive did the knowledge of Father Nolan appear on the subject, that his two fellow travellers at once became pupils as it were, and the rest of the journey was occupied by Father Nolan in answering the numerous questions put him by the NSW Government experts. When he had spent about four years in Sydney, Father Nolan returned to Victoria, and was stationed at Hawthorn, where he remained till his death. He had been ailing for some years, his fatal complaint being disease of the heart, which he contracted as the result of frequent attacks of rheumatism which he necessarily suffered from in the course of his ceaseless travels. He had many warm friends, who constantly visited bim from the time when he returned from Sydney to Hawthorn, till his superiors decided that he could receive visitors no longer. He passed quietly away on January 12th, 1893, and was followed to the quiet little plot iu Kew Cemetery where his remains now lie, by a multitude of truly sorrowiul friends.

His works, however, remain as a testimony of his zeal and devotion, and his kind soul will, we trust, leap from them, eternal fruits. As a fitting finish to this sketch, all unworthy of the subject, we cannot do better than quote part of a letter written of him by a brother Jesuit : “Some of his early writtings in prose aud verse came before us a short time before his death. They appeared to furnish one more proof of how much endowment and culture is often unavoidably buried beneath the exigencies of duty, and how little the world dreams of the sacrifices of heart and intellect that are often submerged in the current of a life of common calls in external action. I am perfectly well aware that some features of his robust character meanwhile let me remember that his was a life of sickness and toil - were not agreeable to every temperauent, but I wish for my part to record that I always found him a sociable and genial gentleman. May his earnest life, his lively conversation and his pleasant witticisms, teach us all to be as good and brave to the end. Amen:. RIP

Born: 04 October 1860, Toomevara, County Tipperary
Entered: 10 September 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1895
Final vows: 02 February 1889
Died: 31 May 1925, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1898 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1898

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Clongowes.

He studied Philosophy at Milltown and then Mungret for with three other Philosophers , Edward Masterson, Francis Keogh and Patrick Barrett.
He was sent to Tullabeg teaching, and later similarly at Clongowes and Belvedere for Regency.
He then studied Theology at Milltown.
1898 He was sent for Tertianship to Holland.
Some time after that he sailed to Australia, where he taught in various Colleges in Melbourne and Sydney.
He died rather suddenly 31 May 1925.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Francis Ryan entered the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, 10 September 1880, and completed his juniorate studies at the same place, 1882-83. He was sent to teach French and arithmetic, and was prefect of discipline at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, 1883-86. His philosophy studies followed at Milltown Park and Mungret, 1886-89.
This was followed by teaching German and French at Clongowes, 1889-91. Seven years of regency was common in those days. Theology was at Milltown Park, 1891-94, followed by four years teaching French and Italian at Belvedere College, Dublin. Tertianship was at Wijnandsrade, Limburg, Holland, 1897-98, before he left Ireland for Australia in 1898.
He taught at Riverview for some of his time in Australia, 1898-99, and again, 1917-25, but also at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, 1899-1917. In both places he was spiritual father, and was minister at St Patrick's, 1909-13.
Ryan was a linguist of considerable attainments, and was said to have been a good teacher, and a noted amateur gardener. He was also much prized as a giver of retreats. The boys at St Patrick's College were said to have “idolised” him. He collapsed and died at Riverview while running to drive some cattle out of the garden on an Old Boys day.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1925

Obituary

Father Francis Xavier Ryan

On Pentecost, Sunday, May 30th, Fr. Ryan celebrated Holy Mass at the College, and afterwards went out into the garden, and while there, suddenly collapsed. Fr Pigot passing by soon after was attracted by a moaning sound, and hurrying to the spot, found Fr Ryan lying in the long grass, alive, but evidently dying. Having given him absolution, Fr Pigot ran for assistance, and immediately all was done, spiritually and otherwise. But Fr Ryan was beyond human aid.

The passing of dear Fr Ryan was just what he would have wished. He hated giving trouble to others, nor did he ever allow one to do for him anything he could possibly do for himself. Yet he was most unselfish and obliging, and always cheerful. Few were: admitted to the inner shrine of his intimacy, but those who were so privileged, knew him to be a partcularly affectionate friend, a sincere, honest, candid man, a very holy priest, grateful for the smallest civility or favour, learned in many modern languages as well as in ancient classics, a historian, a litterateur, a botanist, a wit - in short, a man possessed of a vast fund of information which was always at the disposal of those fortunate enough to come under his . benign and beneficial influence. The public press gave the details of his funeral obsequies, Here let us note that he left a gap at Riverview, which, for those of us who knew him as he was, will never be filled. His death having taken place in vacation time, the "Month's Mind" gave us the first opportunity of commemorating our beloved friend in force, which we were able to do when Rev. Fr. Rector celebrated Requiem Mass for him. RIP

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1929
Obituary

Father Frank Ryan SJ

It is not a simple matter to do justice to Fr Frank Ryan in the short notice which is required in this part of the Magazine. What struck one most about Fr Frank was his great clearness of mind. He saw men and things, and truths with an amazing lucidity. This quality explains, I think, his wonderful popularity with a staff of some twenty professors, his success in the material organisation of the school, and the brilliance of his brief addresses to the classes as Prefect of Studies. It also accounts for the methods he employed in the administration of the school.

While he took a keen interest in the upper and honour classes, he suffered the “little children” - the junior school- to come unto him with great gladness and rare kindness.

“Fr Ryan could get you to work with out your realising it”, said one of the senior boys to the writer one day.

“He was great at explaining maps, and he gave the best boys sweets”, said a junior member the day after his lamented death.

It is a good thing for the boys to know that he was always the centre of any fun and pleasant banter at recreation. He could and did compose many a topical song or: Limerick, which hit off the situation or the man to perfection. But, the humour was always sweet, though telling, During the last years of his life he had to drink from the holy chalice of suffering in many ways. And, he was very brave, beautifully brave through it all. He was not a Belvederian. However, he concluded his life with an act which, I trust all Belvederians will remember with gratitude. In his last illness he offered his life for the soul of an old Belvedere boy who had been a very great friend of his. He bore up against the terrible inroads or disease with uncommon fortitude. He rose from bed, dressed himself, and sat in a chair until physical weakness over came his strength. To the end, when his frame was all that remained, his wonderful spirit, was strong and serene. He passed to the Better Land very quietly and peacefully.

The Requiem Mass is over; the funeral with all the five hundred boys marching in front of the hearse is at an end; the Benedictus has been beautifully rendered by many who had been novices under him; the last prayers have been recited; but a little spontaneous tribute to the dear departed you was yet to be given. A brother Jesuit began the Holy Rosary of Our Blessed Mother, the boys made the responses. Another Jesuit followed with the second decade, and so on to the fifth decade.. One had taught him; another was many year's senior to him; one was a contemporary; and two were junior to him. They were all united in a common feeling: they loved him. He was the beloved disciple amongst his own brethren. May his noble spirit rest in peace!

Born: 12 July 1888, Walker Street, North Sydney, Australia
Entered: 01 April 1908, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 11 June 1919, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia

by 1912 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1915 in Australia - Regency

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Riverview, to which his father, Dr Rorke, was physician.

After his Noviceship at Tullabeg, he remained there to study Rhetoric.
He was then sent to Stonyhurst for Philosophy.
1914 he returned to Sydney and was stationed at the Day School, Milson’s Point, Sydney (St Aloysius).
He died in Melbourne 11 June 1919.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Gordon Rorke was educated at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and spent some time at Wagga Agricultural College before entering the Society at Tullarnore, 14 April 1908. After the juniorate, he studied philosophy at Stonyhurst, 1911-14, and then did regency, first at St Aloysius' College, then at St Patrick's College, and finally at Xavier College, until 1919.
Rorke was universally known as “Bully”, because of his very powerful physique, but he was actually a very genial and generous man. All who knew him spoke highly of him. He died during the great influenza epidemic that followed the First World War, though his actual death seems to have been due to pneumonia.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1919

Obituary

Gordon Rorke SJ

We doubt is a greater shock ever met the boys on their return at the beginning of a term than that caused by the sad news that during the vacation Mr Rorke SJ, had passed away. He caught cold on Ascension Thursday, the day following the break up of schools. It was taken in hand right away, but notwithstanding treatment it grew worse. By the close of May it had developed a serious aspect, and pneumonia had set in. Everything that skill and care could do was done, but it was of no avail, and on Monday, June 9th, he passed quietly away to the reward of a better life.

His going will be felt by many - by all who had the happiness of knowing and feeling the influence of his kindly feature for he was ever ready to help anyone at any time and in anything that was in his power. . He was not one to see and pass by. No, like the good Samaritan he always pulled up and by a kindly word and a helping hand lifted things cheerily along. He was one of those ready seven days in the week to help another - no mean tribute to a man in these times of stress and bustle in which there is a danger of holding to the maxim - “Every one for himself and God for us all”. Akin to his readiness to help others was an equal readiness to share his own. Most people who are earnest and energetic in getting up things are often cursed with the desire to preserve a “closed borough”. “Don't poach on my preserves” is the fly in their otherwise beautiful amber. With him it was far otherwise. Quite ready to do all himself, yet he ever welcomed help from others in the preparation, and his joy grew in proportion to the numbers that shared the success of the venture. Such action marked absence of pettiness, a genuine desire to disseminate happiness and a fundamental humility of which loveable and rare quality Gordon Rorke had, in his own way, a big store..

It is, however, by those closely connected with him that he will be most missed - by the boys of his division for whom he worked so unselfishly guarding their interests, securing their enjoyment and always seeking their betterment. He was never so happy as when preparing a concert, an illustrated lecture and even a picture show (his ingenuity provided a regular series of them) for his boys. But great and keen as the loss of all these, yet it is nothing to that experienced by his near and dear ones, especially by his sorrowing mother. His long course of studies in the Society of Jesus was nearing completion, and it was about to be crowned by the grace of the priesthood when the call came. To lose a dear friend at any time is hard, but to be parted from him just when the cup of bliss that meant so much to him and to others, was in his hands that was hard indeed. Their consolation, however, was it his unselfish sacrifice of it all. His generous and zealous soul had hoped to do much good work for God on earth. and to that end he had worked much and long. God, however, in His living providence willed otherwise, and, realizing that, he calmly said the highest yet hardest of prayers. “Thy will be done”, and, praying thus, passed away. May She who stood beneath the tree whereon the best of Sons died in agony, comfort yet another mother and all dear to her, left to mourn a good, great-hearted and much-loved son and brother. May he rest in peace.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1919

Obituary

Gordon Rorke

Among the victims of the deadly pneumonic influenza, it is our extremely sad. duty to include an Old Boy Jesuit, Gordon Henry Rorke SJ, the third son of the late Dr Charles Rorke and Mrs Rorke, of “La Vista”, Walker Street, North Sydney. He fell ill on Ascension Thursday, was anointed on the following Tuesday, and died on Monday, the 9th of June, at Xavier College, Kew. Though specialists were called in, and he was cared for and watched with tender solicitude, nothing could be done to arrest the course of the dread malady. But his mother had the consolation of seeing him die perfectly conscious, after many days of intense suffering. A sad feature of his death was the fact that the week he contracted the flu, he was to have spent with his relatives in Sydney; preparatory to sailing towards the end of July for Ireland, to begin theology and be ordained. Coming to Riverview in 1897, he passed his Junior and left in 1904 to spend two years at Wagga Experimental Farm. He then took up some land in the Bellinger district, but only remained there a couple of years. Feeling himself called to higher things, he went to Ireland with Father Conmee, and joined the Jesuit Novitiate at Tullabeg: His noviceship and juniorate completed, he studied philosophy at Stonyhurst, and returned to Australia just before the war. He taught at St Aloysius' College, Milson's Point, St Patrick's, Melbourne, and lastly at Xavier.

-oOo-

Gifted with a bright and genial disposition, he was beloved by both masters and boys, to whom he was always “Bully” Rorke. A man of splendid physique, a great sport, and possessed of a beautiful voice, his loss will be felt in the Order. He had the makings of a fine priest, a broad minded man, with strong faith, and a zealous enthusiasm for priestly work. To his sorrowing mother, to his only sister, Mrs Richard Loneragan, and to his brothers, Dr Syd, of Wellington, NSW, Dr Fred, of Hughenden, Q, Harold, Charlie, and Breffni, we extend our, utmost sympathy.-R.I.P.

Born: 02 April 1897, Roscrea, County Tipperary
Entered: 31 August 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1932, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Clane, County Kildare
Died: 22 December 1980, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Early education at Mungret College SJ

by 1923 in Australia - Regency at Riverview, Sydney, Xavier College, Kew and Studley Hall, Kew

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Mark Quigley entered the Society in 1914 at Tullamore, and in 1921 arrived at Riverview for regency, teaching and assisting the prefect of discipline. In late 1923 he moved to Xavier College where he was hall prefect, and as he had a brilliant singing voice, he looked after the choir. After a year he was sent to Burke Hall again teaching as well as assistant prefect of discipline. During his priestly life he worked mainly at Gardiner Street, engaged in pastoral ministry.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 56th Year No 1 1981

Gardiner Street
A week after Dermot Durnin’s death, we are still stunned by the fact. He and his quick wit will be missed very much, not only by his brethren here but also, grievously, by his “ladies” in St Monica’s. He had built up such a cheery relationship with every one of them and used to give them so much of his time that the news was really shattering and has left them still bewildered. At least they must have been comforted by the send-off we gave him: 65 priests concelebrated the Mass in a crowded church. One of the congregation remarked that the ceremony was “heavenly”. (One of the community was overheard wondering aloud if Dermot was digging his friend Pearse O’Higgins in the ribs and begging him to “tell that one again”.) His totally Christian attitude towards death, an attitude of joyful anticipation, prevents us from grudging him his reward, though this doesn't diminish our sense of loss.

On 22nd December, Fr Mark Quigley slipped away from us to make his way to Heaven: requiescat in pace! It was typical of him that his departure was so quiet and peaceful as to be almost unnoticed. When he did not get up that morning, it was found that he was only half-conscious and had the appearance of approaching death. The doctor confirmed that he had only a few hours to live. Many of the community visited him during the morning and prayed with him and for him. Though he could not speak clearly, when asked if he would like the prayers for the dying to be said, by nodding his head he acknowledged his awareness of imminent death. Just about half an hour before he died, he succeeded in pulling his crucifix up to his lips and kissing it. Three of us were with him when he breathed his last gentle breath, without the slightest sound or struggle.
Go ndéanaí Dia trócaire ar a anam mín mánla.

Irish Province News 56th Year No 2 1981

Obituary

Fr Mark Quigley (1897-1914-1980)

Fr Mark Quigley died at St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin, on 22nd December 1980, in his 84th year, His death was neither sudden nor unexpected. For over a week before he took to his bed he was feeling sick, very confused in mind, and looking poorly, He was well prepared for death. The Superior, Fr Dan Dargan, along with some of the community was reciting the Prayers for the Dying, and Fr Mark had kissed his vow-crucifix when he quietly yielded up his soul to his Saviour, whom he had served for 66 years in the Society of Jesus.
Fr Mark was a Tipperaryman and was always ready to make friends with people of Tipperary extraction. He was born in Roscrea (11th April 1897) but spent most of his childhood in Cloughjordan and Borrisokane. He was educated at Mungret College and entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on 31st August 1914, one of a group of twelve novices who came to be known as the Twelve Apostles. Along with him from Mungret College came Joseph McCullough, Fred Paye and Charles Devine. World War I was only a month old, and his vow-day (1st September 1916) came in an exciting year, an era of resurgence, when the Twelve made their commitment to the King of kings.
After the noviceship there followed a year of Home Juniorate as was then the custom, a year which Fr Bodkin used to describe as one of much high thinking and plain living. The season, Christmas 1916 to Easter 1917, was bitterly cold. The Grand Canal was frozen over for a long period and deep snow covered ground for several months. The only available fuel was turf, and rather damp turf at that. The 1914-18 war entailed sacrifices; hence the regime was spartan. On a visit to Tullabeg Fr T V Nolan, then Provincial, arranged that the novices and Juniors - “big growing men” - should as far as possible be exempt from the food restrictions published in the newspapers. On the intellectual side of life the Juniors were fortunate in having the splendid services of Mr Harry Johnston, SJ, who taught Greek, Latin and English.
After his Home Juniorate Mark moved to Rathfarnham Castle to do First Arts. In 1918 came a threat of conscription being extended to Ireland, so to make sure that as clerics they would be exempt from military service, all who had taken their vows received minor Orders. After his year in Rathfarnham, Mark spent three years at philosophy. A section of the buildings at Milltown Park was assigned as the philosophate, and with the Irish philosophers recalled from abroad, his community numbered 22 philosophers and 21 theologians. In 1921 (the Anglo-Irish truce just having been agreed) the Status brought something of a surprise, if not consternation, for Mark when he found himself among the scholastics assigned to sail for the Australian missions. The five-week sea journey was particularly trying for Mark, He was so reserved and retiring nature that he kept very much to himself or at least to the company of the Jesuits aboard the ship. Although he was a good athlete and had a splendid tenor voice, he refrained from mixing with the hundreds of passengers in their social entertainments. At the first port in Australia, a letter which had been sent by the Superior of the Mission, Fr W. Lockington, allotted the scholastics of the group to various colleges. Mark was to go to Riverview College, Sydney, as teacher, with charge of the junior cadets. This was a new trial for him. The Australian boys were difficult to control, and he discovered that - “take one consideration with another - a prefect’s lot is not a happy one!”
In 1923 Mark was moved to Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne - one of the public schools. He was appointed teacher and hall prefect. Into this great hall, at class break, there would flow a sea of boys - some hundreds of them. Mark had friends among the boys, and they admired his gentle tolerance. Perhaps the happiest time of his regency was his fourth year when, still in Melbourne, he was assigned to the preparatory school. He had a fellow-Tipperaryman, Fr James O'Dwyer, in the community, and they had much in common to talk about. In 1925 the Irish Provincial recalled Mark for theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained (31st July 1928). For tertianship he was sent to St Beuno's, north Wales.
It was very appropriate that Fr Mark and should die at St Francis Xavier's,Dublin, where he had worked for nearly 45 years. Except for three years in the Crescent, Limerick, two in Clongowes and one in Mungret, as a priest all his activity was associated with Gardiner street. Over the years he directed different Sodalities of our Lady and Conferences of St Vincent de Paul, including one for Irish-speakers. Fr Mark was a competent speaker of Irish and for many years celebrated Sunday Mass in Irish. For a number of years he was Minister, But his church choir, composed of men and boys, which he conducted for 26 years (1935-61), was perhaps his most successful achievement. To support him Fr Mark had the distinguished organist Mr Joseph O’Brien: they became close the friends. The choir became an undoubted attraction at the Sunday Mass. On Christmas mornings the faithful, coming to hear the choir's rendering of Christmas carols, used to flock in, so that the church was already thronged by 6.30. During Holy Week the choir created an atmosphere of reverence and suspense, especially during the Seven Words from the Cross on Good Friday, when the congregation remained for the three hours. Perhaps the climax of the choral year came on Easter mornings when the window-curtains were withdrawn, revealing the light, the illuminated canvas of the risen Christ over the high altar was unveiled, the organ thundered, and the choir sang Resurrexit, sicut dixit. To maintain this choir over the years Fr Quigley had to recruit new members, visit the homes of prospective candidates, train new voices and hold frequent practices.
To these labours must be added his work in the church as preacher and confessor. He took his turn on call (domi, ie, the twenty-four-hour tour of duty 2.30 pm to 2.30 pm - ready for all comers). He visited the sick members of the sodalities. In the neighbourhood he was a respected and familiar figure. To the secular priests he was well-known, and in his own quiet way he made many friends amongst them.
It is true to say that Fr Mark's health began to fail in the last five years of his life. With his weakening eyesight he could not read with any comfort, and as for walking, even with the aid of a stick, he felt insecure if he ventured out on the streets. His memory, which in former times was most remarkable and reliable, showed signs of failure. Gradually he had to withdraw from many of the church activities. At times he had periods of depression and a feeling of loneliness. He was by nature a shy and most sensitive man,
His requiem Mass took place on Christmas eve, a very busy day for professional and businessmen and secular priests. The attendance was impressive but not what it would have been had it occurred on a less busy day. Even relatives and priests from Tipperary were unable to be present and had to be content with sending telegrams of sympathy and regret at not being able to travel.
To those in the Society and outside it he will always be remembered as the quiet man with a marvellous memory for faces and facts: a mine of information about people he had met. In community recreation, if he heard someone assert something which he knew was incorrect, he remained silent, or if asked might reveal the truth with amazing details. In death he made no protest, but quietly, as became the man, yielded up his gentle soul to his Creator.

Born: 30 September 1913, County Limerick
Entered: 30 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 21 April 1976, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

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

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Purcell entered the Society at Emo, Ireland, 30 September 1933, did his juniorate at Rathfarnham, 1935-38, studied philosophy at Tullabeg, until 1941, and then gained a BA and a diploma of education from the National University, Dublin. Regency was done at Belvedere College, Dublin, 1941-42, and theology at Milltown Park, 1943-47. Tertianship followed immediately.
Purcell taught at Limerick and at Mungret College, 1948-62, and then went to Australia, and the parishes of Hawthorn and Richmond, 1963-64. From 1965-68 he taught religion and Latin at St Louis School, Claremont, WA, but this was not a successful appointment. Purcell found it hard to adapt to the culture of Australian schoolboys. His final appointment in Australia was at St Francis' Xavier parish, Lavender Bay, Sydney During this time he became ill with cancer and returned to Dublin.
He was very Irish, a simple priest, pious and unworldly He was happiest and more successful in parish work, where he showed pastoral zeal. He enjoyed preaching, but his sermons were long and poetic, and did not relate well to an Australian congregation. There was sadness that when he decided to return to Ireland he was already unwell.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 51st Year No 3 1976

Obituary :

Fr John Purcell (1933-1976)

Fr John Purcell, a Dublin man, entered the Society at Emo on 30th September, 1933, his twentieth birthday. Nearly thirty entered that year, and John, I should think, was as “unusual” a character as any. Let me admit straight away that suavity or blandness of manner was not very outstanding in him; nevertheless the longer we lived with him and the more we came to know him, the more he gained our respect and endeared himself to us. He was a man of deep humility and transparent honesty, combined with a persevering courage in the face of difficulties. As Fr Rodriguez might say, let me illustrate the foregoing with examples.
Very few of us, I imagine, have had to contend with the difficulties of speech and articulation which afflicted John. At times of stress or excitement, when for instance he had to preach or read in the refectory, very often his vocal chords would seize up with nervous tension. It was embarrassing for his audience: it must have been an excruciating embarrassment for himself. A lesser man would have given up. John persevered through several years of this until he gained reasonable control over it. Again, his eyesight gave him difficulty in embarrassing ways. How well we can recall the thick, heavy lenses, and John's myopic peering around on the football field, wondering where the ball had gone. But again he persevered, and took his part in this as in all else that was part of community life. Indeed, he loved those various activities, and was a very friendly and sociable companion, full of innocent jokes and quaint sayings, some of which have passed into the folklore of the province. He took a simple delight in ordinary things, loved our Irish countryside and was always ready for an excursion anywhere, especially to unusual or out-of-the-way places. Many of us are indebted to his enthusiasm for some very noteworthy outings.
In studies he was equally dedicated, and plodded away with the best. He was probably too original in some of his ideas about history, literature and suchlike, too far off the beaten track to be acceptable for higher academic honours, but his intelligence and devotion to work were never in doubt. Very early on he showed an interest in meteorology and quite a remarkable natural flair for weather forecasting. Though he suffered many a goodnatured leg-pull over his hobby, there is no doubt that he was quite outstanding as a 'weather man', and I should imagine that a present day scholastic with his talent might easily be sent on some kind of travelling scholarship or special course in the subject.
A year of teaching in Belvedere followed by another in the Crescent preceded theology in Milltown Park, 1943 to 1947, and tertianship in Rathfarnham Castle, 1947-48. They were, if you like, uneventful years, but all the time they were having their formative influence. Fr John returned to teaching after tertianship, with ten years at the Crescent and four at Mungret before his departure for Australia. I feel sure the classroom must have provided many a penitential hour for him, as his sense of duty, his seriousness of purpose together with his mild external foibles would have left him a natural butt for boyish “humour”. Yet even the boys appreciated his genuineness and sincerity and were happy to join him in bicycle rides all over Limerick and Clare. And it was quite extraordinary the influence he had with parents, especially those in sorrow or tribulation. In most unexpected ways I have come across instances of his power of consoling them which surprised even me who knew him so well. No doubt his long years of faithful effort in the spiritual life earned him this grace of being able to help others.
In 1962 he left for Australia with Fr Nash. He began with church work in Hawthorn and Richmond, followed by teaching in Claremont and Riverview, and finally church work again from 1971 on, at St Francis Xavier's in Sydney. I remember how he wrote to me at one stage explaining that “the die was cast, and he was to leave his bones under the Southern Cross”. His letters were always cheerful, full of news and shrewd comment, and showing an undiminished zest for life. It was in these years that he founded and ran a one-man apostolate that was as unique as himself. He was distressed and deeply concerned at the number of those giving up their priesthood, and he decided to start a campaign to have Masses offered for these “stray shepherds”. How many of us - Jesuits and others - he contacted all over the world, God alone knows, but John's zeal was very great. We were invited to offer Mass once a year for this intention, indicating the month of choice. If you signed on, John would send you a reminder at the beginning of that month, never failing in all the years. One can only marvel at his zeal and perseverance. The labour of letter writing must have been enormous, but who can say what were the limits of the spiritual good he did by his campaign? We must only wait to read the Book of Life.
In recent years his letters mentioned in a very cheerful way that his health had disimproved; but as late as September, 1975, he still had no inkling that the end was drawing near, and informed his family that he was coming to Ireland for a holiday in June. As always, he was full of zest for the project, and had plans for borrowing a bicycle and cycling around Limerick “to revisit past scenes of delight”. However, his health deteriorated so rapidly that his superiors sent him home much earlier, knowing he might not live to see the summer. One is happy to know that he found the few weeks in Ireland very consoling, meeting his relatives and his fellow-Jesuits, and comforted by Br Cleary's devoted nursing until he was moved to St Vincent’s hospital on Holy Thursday. He died six days later, We have lost a good and upright man and a true religious: but we who knew him will continue to draw inspiration from this Jesuit in whom there was no guile. Suaineas síoraí dá anam.
T Mac Mathúna, SJ

An tAthair Proinsias Ó Fionnagáin has sent us from Nantus some memories of Fr John Purcell:
John was a man of burning sincerity and liable, inevitably, to see things in black and white. For him there were no beige or pastel shades - God love him - and his religious colleagues, when desirous of a little amusement, had no difficulty in drawing him out. His likes and dislikes - all strictly based on justice! - were known to all his fellows, and it is to be feared that many, one time or another, succeeded in making him ring the changes on his personal enthusiasms or pet aversions.
He was convinced that the First Principle and Foundation of the Exercises should be meditated on only once in a man's lifetime. And one long-table morning at the Crescent, there were four of us, including John, at the end of a table. One of the fathers unobtrusively shifted the subject of conversation from the Junior Cup to the First Principle. Soon voices were slightly raised, and bit by bit there was some increase in the tension. At the other end of the table a foursome broke up to attend early classes, but one member of it, who was still free, moved up beside us to finish his coffee and draw some profit from a now rather unspiritual conversation. When he got an opening he calmly advanced the respected authority of Fr Hugh Kelly, who advocated strongly the desirability of an annual repetition of the First Principle. For Fr Hugh had recently been on business in a wealthy diocese and learned there that one of the Province's missioners had conducted with marked success, sometime before, the clergy retreat. That missioner, Fr Kelly learned, was able by his eloquence and fervour to move to tears of devotion the wealthily beneficed parish priests by his expose of the First Principle. We did not get time to hear John's rejoinder. I remember vividly that the rector moved swiftly over from his table to say that the domestic staff needed all the tables cleared instantly to prepare the refectory for lunch,
In those now far-off days, John was devoted to the Sunday bicycle-outings with the younger boys. I don't think he enjoyed these outings - he was much too seriously minded - but his strong sense of duty urged him to bring to the healthy country surroundings those youngsters who might easily have got into mischief in the streets. He studied industriously for his classes and was rigorous only with himself. His pupils, no doubt, from time to time imposed on him but knew they could turn to him in time of trouble.
When vacations came round he left his books aside and tried to relax. I can vividly recall our first Christmas Vacation together in the Crescent. When other masters were out and about in the pre Christmas rush, John was at his table with a novel of P G Wodehouse. Raucous sepulchral laughter could be heard issuing from his room, and then at table we all benefitted from the recital of all the ridiculous Wodehousian situations he had read during the morning.
He was hard on himself but was never (intentionally) hard on others. There were some of his colleagues who found his company irritating but I think that with the passing of the years they learned to take a kindlier view of John. He was not unfeeling, as some supposed, and stories percolated back to us of his secret apostolate amongst the sick, the disappointed, the unpopular. There was the story of a family in deep affliction over the tragic death of their eldest child, a very promising young pupil at the Crescent. The jury brought in a very charitable verdict, but in professional circles the term 'dementia praecox' was whispered. Where others failed, John succeeded in bringing lasting consolation and resignation to the mourning parents. After a long absence from the Crescent - in Clongowes, then India - I recall that when I mentioned that family to John, he told me that thanks to God's grace and the help of our Lady, comforter of the afflicted, all the members of that family were leading a normal life and able to mingle naturally with their neighbours and acquaintances. I think John's own good prayers and mortifications had much to do in winning the desired grace.
When he went to Australia, a member of the community (I was then at Leeson street) on the eve of John's departure, remarked: “The province is losing a man of God”. There was no comment: the sincerity of the remark was appreciated by all present.

Fr John Williams of the Australian province, who entered the Society in Tullabeg and spent most of his years of formation in Ireland, had Fr Purcell as a member of his community (Jesuit Residence, Claremont, Perth, Western Australia), 1965-70:
The teacher. As a teacher he was very conscientious in the preparation of his classes. Chesterton once defended the lot of the schoolmaster facing the untamed thing called a class. Fr John was not equipped by nature to tame such. Hence confrontation was frequent and so was the exhibition of muscular Christianity. John had a brawny arm! He had visited Riverview and liked the surroundings, hence his request to be sent there. It was forecast that those scamps there would have him for breakfast! He did not last a term, and was posted to St Francis Xavier's parish (Sydney).
Spiritual father.
Needless to remark, his duty in this respect was most conscientiously carried out. His domestic exhortations were given in an attractive style. His English expression was excellent. They were looked forward to as they wittingly or otherwise were tinged with humour and sometimes with drama.
The priest. During vacations Fr John used to supply in St Mary’s cathedral, where he was much appreciated. One could not but be impressed by his devotion to the blessed Sacrament. The hours of the divine Office were divided and said in the chapel. The late Archbishop Prendiville had a high opinion of Fr John, who attended him in his last hours.

Like Fr Williams, Fr Thomas F (Frank) Costelloe is of the Australian province and also spent much of his time of formation in Ireland. He came to know John Purcell in the parish apostolate at St Francis Xavier's, Lavender Bay, North Sydney:
He was a curate in this parish during the last six years of his life (1970-76). A man of retiring disposition, he did not mix freely with the people of the parish. They, nevertheless, admired him for his dedication to his work for them and especially for his kindness to the sick and the aged. As a Jesuit, he was what I would call one of the old school, and had doubts of the worth and usefulness of the changes in the liturgy and in religious life. A man of great faith, with a great love of the Society, he showed his fine religious spirit in the willing acceptance of the severe illness from which he died. In a letter to me a short time before his death, he expressed his gratitude to the community at Milltown Park and especially to Brother Cleary for their unfailing kindness to him during his last days there.

Born: 29 March 1911, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 06 January 1945, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 02 February 1948, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 27 July 1955, Crescent College, Limerick

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1939 at Loyola Hong Kong - studying
by 1948 at Australia (ASL)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Cyril Peyton entered the Society at Emo Park, Ireland, 12 November 1932, was a junior at Rathfarnham, philosopher at Tullabeg, and then went to Hong Kong, 1938, to study Chinese. He went to Australia and Canisius College, Pyrnble, for theology, 1941-44, and then returned to Ireland where he did tertianship at Rathfarnharn, 1946-47.
He returned to Australia and the parish of Hawthorn in 1948, did pastoral work residing at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1949, spent a few years teaching at Riverview and then returned to Ireland in 1953. He was stationed at the Crescent, Limerick, and died when he took some medicine, intended for external application, internally.
Peyton was a,very eccentric person, though this was not obvious in his outward appearance or behaviour. When at Riverview he seemed to be altogether erratic and unreliable. He was a man who found ordinary living difficult.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Frs. John Carroll, Kevin O'Dwyer and Cyril Peyton, of the Hong Kong Mission, who completed their theology at Pymble recently, left, Sydney on December 9th on the Aquitania for England via the Cape. They hope to be home by the end of January. They are accompanied by Fr.. Vincent Conway, an old Mungret boy, member of the Vice Province. All four will make their tertianship in Rathfarnham next autumn.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 1 1948

Fr. Peyton left for Australia on the “Mauretania” on 31st October in company with Fr. Conway, a member of the Viceprovince. Fr. Kevin Carroll, also a member of the Viceprovince, left Shannon Airport on 3rd November for New York, bound for San Francisco and Sydney. Mr. Monahan left Southampton on the “Queen Mary” on 20th November for New York; he took boat at San Francisco on 12th December for Sydney which he reached on 4th January. He will be doing his first year's philosophy at Loyola, Watsonia in the coming year.

Irish Province News 30th Year No 4 1955

Obituary :

Father Cyril Peyton 1911-1955

Cyril Peyton was born in Dublin on 29th March, 1911. He was an only son and had only one sister, whom he predeceased. He spent six years at the Dominican Preparatory School, Wicklow, before going to Clongowes, where he remained for five years. In 1928 he went to Trinity College, Dublin, where for two years he studied Experimental Science and where he obtained Honours in all his exams,
He entered the Society on 12th November, 1932. He finished his Science Degree in Rathfarnham in two years and after two years Philosophy he was sent on the Chinese Mission. While he was in Hong Kong, war broke out, so that he went to Australia for Theology and Ordination. Returning to Ireland after the war, he spent some time in Belvedere before Tertianship, after which he returned to Australia to labour as operarius and master in Melbourne and Sydney. He came back to Ireland in 1952, and was assigned to the teaching staff of the Crescent, where he remained till his untimely death on 27th July, 1955, at the age of 44.
On the Sunday morning on which he was taken ill, Fr. Peyton had said the seven o'clock Mass in the Church. After his thanksgiving he came to the refectory as usual to tell the servant that he would be back in ten minutes for his breakfast. He did not come back until half an hour later, when he told some of the Fathers that he was feeling very ill. They helped him back to his room, and summoned the doctor and Fr. Minister. He was anointed before being brought to hospital, where in spite of every medical attention he died on Wednesday, fortified by the rites of the Church. From what Fr. Peyton told the doctor and Fr. Minister, it is clear that a tragic mistake had caused his death. Instead of his morning dose of salts he had selected from the many powders on his shelf an irritant disinfectant powder, which quickly caused the uncontrollable haemorrhages from which he died.
Fr. Peyton's death came as a great shock to his community. For though he never was one to shine in community life, he was always kindly, quiet and reserved, considerate and sympathetic to those in difficulties. Always most regular in his observance, he was an early riser, and was frequently to be seen in the chapel at odd moments during the day. He was zealous for the honour of Our Lady and was very devoted to Our Lady of Fatima. Up to his death he was chaplain to a Praesidium of the Legion of Mary. Ever eager to do spiritual work, he was ready at any time to hear confessions in the church. In his work in the classroom, he was patient and kind, well liked and respected by the boys.
Fr. Peyton was a fine athlete, and an expert at tennis and golf. Golf was his chief recreation, and we may quote from the Limerick Leader to show how he was appreciated by his fellow golfers :
“Fr. Peyton was an enthusiastic member of the Limerick Golf Club, with whose members he was highly popular and respected, for his courteous, gentle and amiable disposition. No more pleasant partner nor opponent could be found, and he brought all the great characteristics that were his in private life on to the course. His company was eagerly sought and time passed speedily and pleasantly during a game with Fr. Peyton. His absence will long be felt by those fortunate to have known him”.
One of the priests of St. Munchin's College said that there was no member of the Crescent community so well known and liked in St. Munchin's as Fr. Peyton. Indeed it was only after his death that one realised how many friends he had made during his few years in Limerick. And we may add that many of his friends were poor and simple people. One poor man and his wife said that they would pray for him to the end of their days, for his great kindness to them for the last few years.
Fr. Peyton's funeral was attended by great crowds of both clergy and laity, and by most of the boys of the College. He was laid to rest in Mungret by the old Abbey of St. Nessan. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1956

Obituary

Father Cyril Peyton SJ

Cyril Peyton came to Clongowes in 1923, from the Dominican Preparatory School, Wicklow. He spent five years in Clongowes, before going to Trinity College, Dublin, in 1928. There he studied Experimental Science, obtaining Honours in all his examinations.

He entered the Society of Jesus in November, 1932, and after having finished his Science Degree and done two years Philosophy, he went on the Chinese Mission. While he was in Hong Kong, war broke out, so that he went to Australia for Theology and Ordination. Returning to Ireland after the war, he spent some time in Belvedere and later went back to Australia to labour as master in Melbourne and Sydney. He came home in 1952 and was assigned to the teaching staff of the Crescent, where he remained until his untimely death on 27th July, 1955, at the age of forty-four.

Fr Peyton's death came as a great shock to his community. For though he was never one to shine in community life, he was always kindly, quiet and reserved, considerate and sympathetic to those in difficulties. He was an early riser and was frequently to be seen in the chapel at odd moments during the day. He was zealous for the honour of Our Lady and was very devoted to Our Lady of Fatima. Up to his death he was chaplain to a Praesidium of the Legion of Mary. Ever eager to do spiritual work, he was ready at any time to hear confessions in the church. In his work in the classroom he was patient and kind, well liked and respected by the boys. Fr Peyton was a fine athlete, and an expert at tennis and golf. Golf was his chief recreation, and we may quote from the Limerick Leader to show how he was appreciated by his many friends.

“Fr Peyton was an enthusiastic member of the Limerick Golf Club, with whose members he was highly popular and respected, for his courteous, gentle and amiable disposition. No more pleasant partner or opponent could be found, and he brought all the great characteristics that were his in private life on to the course. His company was eagerly sought and time passed speedily and pleasantly during a game with Fr Peyton. His absence will long be felt by those fortunate to have known him”.

One of the priests of St Munchin's College said that there was no member of the Crescent Community so well known and liked in St. Munchin's as Fr Peyton. Indeed, it was only after his death that one realised how many friends he had made during his short time in Limerick. And we may add that many of his friends were poor and simple people, One poor man and his wife said that they would pray for him to the end of their days, for this great kindness to them for the last few years.

Fr Peyton's funeral was attended by great crowds of both clergy and laity, and by most of the boys of the College. He was laid to rest in Mungret by the old Abbey of St Nessan. May he rest in peace.

Born: 19 March 1869, Ranelagh,Dublin
Entered: 30 October 1886, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 27 July 1902, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 16 April 1939, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg & Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1891 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1905 at St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA) making Tertianship

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
O'Leary, William J.
by David Murphy

O'Leary, William J. (1869–1939), Jesuit priest and scientist, was born 19 March 1869 in Dublin, son of Dr William H. O'Leary (qv), MP for Drogheda 1874–80, surgeon, and professor of anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Rosina O'Leary (née Rogers). Educated at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, King's Co. (Offaly), and Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1886, completing his noviciate at Dromore, Co. Down. He studied philosophy and astronomy at Louvain and theology in Dublin, and then taught science at Clongowes. In 1908 he travelled to Strasbourg and studied seismology under Prof. Meinka, and on his return to Ireland he set up a meteorological and seismological observatory at Mungret College, Co. Limerick, remaining as its director until 1915. At the request of a joint committee of the British Association and the Royal Meteorological Society, he carried out a series of upper-air investigations using sounding balloons (1911–14). This was the most westerly series of observations taken in Europe, and the results of O'Leary's research were published in the journals of both societies. By 1911 he had also completed a new seismograph, and this instrument was later praised by the astrophysicist and cosmologist, (Edward) Arthur Milne (1896–1950).

In 1915 he moved to the Jesuit community at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, and founded a seismological observatory there. He constructed his own seismograph, which had a moving mass of one-and-a-half tons. This instrument was still giving excellent service in the 1940s. He had also become aware of the need for extremely accurate timing in seismology and, turning his attention to chronometry, developed a free-pendulum clock which he patented in 1918.

In 1929 he went to Australia, where he became director of the observatory at Riverview College, New South Wales. In conjunction with the Lembang observatory in Java, he began a programme of photographic research on variable stars. He discovered several new variable stars, and the results of his research were published in the journals of the Riverview and Lembang observatories and also in the Astronomische Nachrichten. An accomplished and humorous speaker, he was extremely popular as a lecturer at scientific and public meetings. He supervised (1933–4) the construction of one of his free-pendulum clocks for Georgetown University. The clock was built by E. Esdaile & Sons in Sydney and shipped to Washington DC in August 1934, and O'Leary visited Georgetown in 1938. He was a leading member of several scientific societies, including the RIA (elected 1919), the Royal Society of New South Wales, the Société Astronomique de France, and the Seismological Society of America. He was also a member of the Australian National Committee on Astronomy and was elected (January 1938) a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

He collapsed and died of a heart attack while playing golf (16 April 1939), and was buried at the Gore Hill cemetery, Sydney. There is a collection of his papers in the Irish Jesuit archives in Dublin, including seismological journals that he kept while at Rathfarnham. In February 1959 Georgetown University donated to the Smithsonian Institution its O'Leary free-pendulum clock and the collection of letters relating to its construction.

Fr William J. O'Leary, SJ, files in Irish Jesuit Archives, Dublin; The Catholic Press, 20 April 1939; Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 100, no. 4, February 1940; Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, vol. 28, no. 240, February 1986, 44–51

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-earth-shakers-2/

JESUITICA: Earth-shakers
In the days when Rathfarnham Castle was still a residence for Jesuit university students, there was a seismograph (pictured here) housed in a small building off the drive. It was the creation of Fr William O’Leary, a Jesuit scientist with an avid interest in pendulums, who had already constructed a seismograph in Mungret in 1909. He had to keep air currents and spiders at bay, since their delicate vibrations could simulate the effect of major earthquakes on the sensitive instrument. He had dreadful luck in September 1923 when his seismograph was temporarily out of order during a catastrophic (over 100,000 dead) earthquake in Japan. But his pioneering work introduced generations of Jesuit students to the rigorous measurement and technical skill required in scientific research.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William O'Leary was educated at Tullabeg and Clongowes; his father was a surgeon and a Member of Parliament. While at Tullabeg he developed an interest in science. He entered the Society at Dromore, 30 October 1886, did his juniorate at Tullabeg, 1888-90, studied philosophy at Louvain, 1890-93, where he did much experimental work with the inverted pendulum. He later taught mathematics and physics at Clongowes, 1893-99, studied theology at Milltown Park, 1899-03, and finished his studies with tertianship at Mold, Wales, 1904-05. In 1900 he published a textbook on mechanics.
In an obituary notice in the “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 100, No. 4,” 1940, it said that O'Leary's “mind ran on original lines. He was never content with stereotyped textbook solutions, he had to work out each problem for himself from first principles. In this way he was able to study many questions from a fresh angle and to develop original lines of research various branches of science. Combined with this was a highly developed inventive talent and the ability to design new instruments and the skill to construct them”.
After studies, O'Leary taught physics, chemistry and mathematics, and was assistant prefect of studies at Mungret, 1905-15, as well as director of the seismological and meteorological observatory At the request of a Joint Committee of the British Association and the Royal Meteorological Society he carried out a series of upper-air investigations by means of sounding balloons. These were the farthest west observations had been made in Europe at the time.
One problem in seismometry was to obtain an instrument with a fairly long period and consequent high sensitivity O'Leary provided a satisfactory solution by constructing a two
component horizontal seismometer with trifilar suspension. One of these instruments was completed in Mungret in 1911. Later, he lectured in mathematics to the juniors at Rathfarnham, 1915-18, and started seismological observatory His “O’Leary Seismograph” was at that time the first and only one in the world. He also worked with Professor John Milne at the Shide Observatory in the Isle of Wight, and from whom he acquired the Milne-Shaw seismograph for his own seismography station at Rathfarnham. With these two seismographs, O'Leary was able to supply earthquake information to the whole country. The need for accurate timing in seismology turned O'Leary's attention to chronometry He saw that the secret of precision timing was to be sought in a free pendulum. He was one of true pioneers in the development of the free-pendulum clock in 1918.
O’Leary was minister, procurator and teacher at Belvedere, 1918-19, and then lectured mathematics and physics to the philosophers at Milltown Park, 1919-29.
He was was appointed to the Riverview observatory in July 1929. Besides introducing various improvements in the seismological department, he initiated a programme of photographic research on variable stars in collaboration with the Boscha Observatory, Lembang. He also invented and built a blink comparator, which proved successful in searching for new variable stars. He discovered many new variable stars and published several papers on variables in “Publications” of the Riverview and Ban Len Observatories and in the “Astronomisrlne Nachrichten”. Other inventions included a recording anemometer and a petrol gas plant.
Scientists and the general public appreciated O’Leary's lectures on astronomy and seismology His light and humorous touch combined with his clarity of exposition to render topics intelligible and interesting. Together with his scientific work, he found time to do good work as a priest. Many found him a wise counselor, and a humble and lovable priest and colleague. He was a little man, happy, charming, and quite unassuming in spite of his deep knowledge and high reputation.
He remained at Riverview until his death in 1939, directing the observatory until 1937 when Daniel O'Connell became director. The end of his life occurred when he collapsed and died on the golf course just after driving off. The suddenness of his death was a shock to the community, but he had had a heart condition for some time. This did not prevent him from planning fresh research and for new instruments. The day before he died he discovered a number of new variable stars with his newly completed comparator, and that night worked at the telescope taking star photographs. O'Leary was a member of the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Society of NSW, the Société Astronomique de France, the Seismological Society of America, Past President of the NSW Branch of the British Astronomical Association, and a fellow of the Australian National Committee on Astronomy.

Note from Daniel O’Connell Entry
At this time he came under the influence of William O'Leary, the Irish Jesuit astronomer and seismologist, who at that time was director of Rathfarnham Castle Observatory in Dublin. While at the Riverview Observatory, working under William O'Leary.........

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.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926

SCIENTIFIC WORK AND INVENTIONS - Fr William O'Leary :
1909 Seismological observatory established at Mungret
1910 New type of seismograph invented and constructed at Mungret; A meteorological station in connection with the Meteorological Office established at Mungret; A complete set of recording instruments was installed; New type of anemometer, recording average and wind direction, invented and erected.
1912 The systematic investigation, by sounding balloons of the upper atmosphere over Ireland was begun. This important work was entrusted to Mungret by a joint committee of the Royal Meteorological Society and the British Association, as representing the International Upper Air Investigation Society, with headquarters at Strasburg. Mungret was the only Irish station entrusted with this work; The Erin Petrol Gas Generator invented by Messrs Maguire & Gatchell took over the construction of those machines, and erected a large number of them throughout Ireland.
1916 The Rathfarnham Seismological Station was established. The instrument, of the Mungret type, but of an improved design, was constructed at Rathfarnham.
1918 Precision clock invented, embodying the principle of a free pendulum. A model of a “Vertical Component” Seismograph invented some 3 years previously, was exhibited at the British Association Meeting at Edinburgh.

Irish Province News 9th Year No 1 1934
An Australian contemporary gives the following welcome news :
The Rev William O'Leary, SJ., Director of Riverview Observatory has been elected President of the New South Wales branch of the British Astronomical Association. in succession to Mr. W. F. Gale. Father O'Leary is a famous scientist, with a special knowledge of earthquakes. He studied astronomy in Louvain, Belgium, and succeeded the late Father Pigot to the charge of Riverview Observatory in July, 1929. Formerly he was Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the Jesuit College, Milltown Park, Dublin.

Irish Province News 12th Year No 2 1937

Rathfarnham :
Seismological Station : A change was made in the method of recording un the O'Leary seismograph. The records are now made on smoked paper by a stylus which gives a very clear, delicate trace. This method replaces the former ink inscriptions and is calculated to give much greater sensitivity, The improvement was carried out at the suggestion of Father O'Leary, Director of Riverview College Observatory, who sent all the necessary detail of construction. On January 7th the first big earthquake of the year was recorded and the success of the new method was assured.

Irish Province News 14th Year No 3 1939
Obituary :
Father William O’Leary
Born, Dublin, 19th March , Educated Tullabeg, Clongowes
1886 Entered, Dromore, 30th October
1887 Dromore, Novice
1888-89 Tullabeg, Junior
1890-1892 Louvain, Philosophy
1893-1898 Clongowes, Doc
1899-1902 1899-1902 Milltown, Theology
1903 Clongowes, Doc
1904 Mold, Tertian
1905-07 Mungret, Doc. Adj. Praef. stud, Cons. dom.
1908-09 Mungret, Doc. Doc. Praes. Sod. B.V.M., Cons. dom.
1910-12 Mungret, Doc. Doc. Praes. Sod. B.V.M., Cons. dom.; Dir obser, seismol, et meteorology
1913-14 Munget, Doc an 17, Praes. Sod. SS Angel; Dir obser, seismol, et meteorology
1915 Rathfarnham, Lect. Math., Conf. N.N. ; Cons. dom. an 1
1916 Rathfarnham, Praef Spir, Lect. Math.; Cons. dom an 2.; seismol
1917 Rathfarnham, Praef Spir, Lect. Math.; Cons. dom an 3.; Dir obser
1918 Belvedere, Minister. Doc..' Cons. dom.
1919-23 Milltown, Lect. Math. et Phys. , Conf. dom.
1924 Milltown, Lect. Math. et Phys.; Conf. N.N.
1925-26 Milltown, Lect. Math. et Phys.; Praef ton; Theol et Phil
19277-28 Milltown, Lect. Math. et Phys.; Praef ton; Theol et Phil; Conf. dom.
1929 Australia, Riverview, Dir obser, seismol; Astron meteor
1930-37 Australia, Riverview, Dir obser, seismol; Astron meteor; Conf dom
1938-1939 Australia, Riverview, Adj Dir Spec; Dir sect seismol; Conf dom

Father O'Leary died in Australia, Sunday, April 16th, 1939
Father O'Leary was born in Dublin, 1869. His father William O'Leary, well known for his medical ability, and for time a Home Rule M.P. in the party of Isaac Butt. Father O'Leary was educated at Tullabeg and Clongowes. He was best known as a teacher of physics and astronomy in the Colleges and Scholasticates, and for his work on seismology. His scientific work tends to make us forget his other gifts as a preacher and Retreat-giver, in which he was remarkably successful. As student at Louvain he developed an interest in pendulums, which was the basis of his seismological activities. A full account of his work in that department has been given in the “Irish Jesuit Directory” for 1938. A visit to Prof. J, Milne's observatory at Shide, Isle of Wight, was the occasion of his applying his knowledge of pendulums to the construction of his first instrument at Mungret. During the following years he constructed and equipped a really good seismological and meteorological station there, which he left behind him as a monument to his energy and activity when he was transferred
to Rathfarnham. Here, with characteristic perseverance, he continued his work, and set about designing and constructing the instrument now in use at Rathfarnharn, in conjunction with a standard Milne-Shaw seismograph added to the Observatory in 1932. This instrument was not meant to replace the “O'Leary Seismograph”, but to give greater accuracy in the recording of earthquakes. The horizontal pendulum of the latter has a mass of 1 lb. , the O'Leary pendulum has a mass of 1.5 tons. This is the only instrument of its kind in existence, and gives an exceedingly large and clear record.
An essential element in the recording of earthquakes is a very accurate clock, which enables the exact time to be recorded on the chart. Father O'Leary designed such a clock, which includes features of great novelty. In connection with this instrument Father O'Leary paid a visit to the United States. The clock has been described by the director of a well-known observatory as “a piece of first-class and most original work”. It is of interest to put on record that Father O'Leary not only designed both clock and seismograph, but made almost every part of each, and erected them himself. In addition to these instruments he designed a system of supplying petrol-gas for laboratories far from a supply of coal gas. This apparatus had a considerable success, and for some years was on the market, until trade difficulties stopped the sale. In addition to the records of his observations, Father O'Leary wrote a text-book on mechanics.
When Father Pigot died in Australia, in 1929, then a portion of the Irish Province, Father O'Leary was chosen to succeed him as director of the Riverview College Observatory, which included astronomy, seismology and meteorology, where his knowledge and experience enabled him to do much valuable work.
His death came suddenly and unexpectedly, as he had been working in the observatory only the night before. The Australian and home newspapers contained most appreciative notices of his work. An indication of the esteem in which he was held may be gathered from the Press account of his funeral. Archbishop Gilroy presided at the Mass, at which were present Archbishop Duhig and Bishops Coleman, Dwyer and Henscke, together with some 200 priests and many representatives of Catholic schools. The laity included many distinguished scientists and representative men, such as the Attorney-General, etc. Father O'Leary was an F.R.A.S., and past-President of the British Astronomical Association.
Those who knew Father O'Leary will miss him not only as a worker, but still more for his great charm and his many gifts, which made him an excellent community man and endeared him to all by his cheerful companionship and great sense of humour. He was noted for his punctilious observance of all his spiritual duties, and died as he had lived, working for God. RIP
The following came from an Irish priest :
"During the last few weeks I have felt that I would like to write and offer to you and your distinguished Order my sympathy on the death of Father O'Leary. Many, I am sure, have written many others, too, better equipped than I, shall write about him but as a humble priest, I would like to add my humble tribute to the memory of a saintly priest and a learned Jesuit.
When I took up the paper a few weeks ago and read the cabled account of his death, I could read no further. I was truly grieved, for I felt I had lost a great friend, a friend who was, I thought, in perfect health, when I met him only a few months ago. Our friendship began ten years ago on the emigrant ship that was relentlessly taking both of us to Australia. He, fairly advanced in years, I, a young priest just ordained. He, the eminent scientist and inventor, on his way to take up one of the highest and most important positions in Australia, I an obscure priest, to take up duty as a curate in some parish in the Diocese of Sydney. None of us young priests realised that we were travelling with such a distinguished man. There was nothing that led us even to suspect it. He moved among us, spoke freely to us offered us his sympathy for he knew our hearts were full. His heart, too, was full, for he felt then that he would never see again his beloved Ireland. I often thought it was a pity that he should have to leave Ireland at his time of life, for he loved Ireland with a love that was passionate, yet tender. Whenever I visited him at Riverview, that College so beautifully situated on an eminence overlooking Sydney's wondrous harbour, his thoughts ever wandered back to Ireland. Like every exile. as he wrote himself, he hankered for the green hills of holy Ireland. Others shall appraise his work as a scientist and astronomer - to me he was always the humble, sympathetic, priestly friend. With his passing I have lost a great friend, and Australia has most certainly lost an able and scholarly Jesuit, and saintly priest.
I am sure that his soul passed through Ireland on its way to Eternity. May he rest in peace".

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father William O’Leary SJ 1869-1939
The name of Fr William O’Leary will go down in the Province as the founder of the seismograph at Rathfarnham Castle. He was also the inventor an ingenious clock and numerous other scientific devices, as well as author of a textbook on mechanics. But these achievements as a scientific inventor were hardly half the man.

He had a remarkable oratorical ability, and many a priest of the Province will recall his elocution classes … “O Mary, call the cattle home, call the cattle home across the sands of Dee”. He was a preacher and retreat giver of no mean order,

In 1939 he was appointed to the Directorship of the Observatory at Riverview, Australia. His end came suddenly on April 16th 1939, but found him not unprepared, for he was a religious of punctilious observance and scrupulous even to a fault in the matter of poverty.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 109 : Summer/Autumn 2001

LEST HE BE FORGOTTEN : FR WILLIAM O’LEARY

Kevin A Laheen

There is a rumour doing the rounds in Rathfarnham at present that the building that once housed the seismograph will shortly be used as a snack-bar and tea room. Just in case there may be some truth in this rumour it would seem opportune to recall the name of Fr William O'Leary, SJ whose pioneer work in recording earthquakes won international acclaim for the seismograph station at Rathfarnham Castle.

Willie O'Leary was born in Dublin on 19 March 1869. The O'Leary family lived in Ranelagh. His father was a distinguished doctor, a Member of Parliament, and a personal friend of Isaac Butt. Willie spent the early years of his schooling in Tullabeg and then moved off to Clongowes when the two colleges were amalgamated in 1886. After his novitiate in Dromore he moved, back to Tullabeg to begin his Juniorate studies. In Tullabeg he manifested a great interest in and aptitude for science. It was during his philosophy years at Louvain that he did some experimental work on the inverted pendulum. This was the beginning of a lifelong work in the study of seismology which won for him an eminence in that science and in meteorology, and also, to a lesser degree, in astronomy.

During his years in Mungret College, 1905-15, his theories about earthquakes began to take practical shape. He built a house of solid stone some distance from the main building and in it he continued his study and experiments. His work during those years is well documented in the MUNGRET ANNUAL. However, it was in Rathfarnham Castle during the years 1915 17 that he built his own seismograph and the clock that recorded the time at which an earthquake took place. The famous “O'Leary Seismograph” was the only one of its kind in the world at that time and widespread interest in it was evident in international science circles.

He was on personal friendly terms with Professor John Milne, whose observatory in Shide, the Isle of Wight, he had visited on more than one occasion. Through this contact he acquired the Milne-Shaw seismograph for the station in Rathfarnham Castle. This instrument was not a substitute for Fr O'Leary's one, but both worked in tandem, recording the same earthquake though by different methods. The O'Leary seismograph recorded the quakes on a sheet of smoked paper on a large revolving drum, while the Milne-Shaw instrument recorded them by photography. It was interesting to watch the white lines being traced on the smoked paper as the drum revolved slowly while every minute the two glass pen nibs gave a tiny kick to the right in order to record the time.

Fr O'Leary's work received widespread notice in scientific publications. He was a Feilow of the Royal College of Science, and also a President of the British Astronomical Association. His reputation was so outstanding that when Fr Edward Pigot, SJ died in Australia in 1929, Fr O'Leary was requested to take his place as Director of the Observatory at Riverview College - “one of the highest and most important positions in Australia”. It was there during his early sixties that his work was highly appreciated and where at the same time he had an opportunity to further his own knowledge of astronomy.

Research and experimental work such as was done by Father O'Leary, is a very lonely occupation, and few people outside the researcher's field will manifest much interest. Fr O'Leary was fortunate in the fact that Fr Thomas V Nolan, SJ who was his Rector in Mungret College, appreciated his work and gave him every encouragement and support. Later Fr Nolan was appointed Provincial and in that office continued his sponsorship of Fr O'Leary's work. Providence was again on Fr Willie's side when they were both assigned to Rathfarnham Castle, Fr Nolan being the Rector and again continued to support him, especially in the erection of the seismograph station. He also encouraged Fr Willie to maintain his friendship with Professor Milne and to visit him at his observatory at Shide. Without this support one might be justified in asking if Fr O'Leary's experiments would ever have bome the fruit they eventually did.

In addition to his eminent place in the international community of scientists he was also a gifted preacher. He was much in demand as a retreat director, and was especially skilled in directing retreats to the clergy. His contemporaries found him a most affable companion who gladly shared his knowledge with anyone who manifested even the slightest interest in it. He died in Australia in 1939 in his seventieth year. Present at his funeral two archbishops, three bishops, over two hundred priests, and representatives from various branches of science. A priest who first met him on the ship en route for Australia, on hearing of his death, wrote, “In his passing I have lost a great friend, and Australia has certainly lost an able and scholarly Jesuit and a saintly priest”.

Should the building, which housed his seismograph station in Rathfarnham, ever become a snack-bar, it would certainly be appropriate to have a plaque or other memorial put up there. This would record the significant contribution to science that was made in that building, and would prevent the name and work of this great Jesuit from being forgotten.

I feel it is appropriate to conclude with a personal memory. One morning, midway through the Second World War, Dick MacCarthy and I were working in the seismograph station. Suddenly I noticed that the glass pens on the great revolving drum began to register a quivering motion. I called Dick and, in a matter of seconds, the pens went off in a swaying motion from left to right. We both realised that we were witnessing the great O'Leary seismograph recording an earthquake. Before the pens settled down, Dick had calculated that the epicentre of the earthquake was in the Pacific Ocean. In those days the house telephone was definitely off limits for all of us except Dick, who was allowed to use it for business connected with the station. He telephoned the Dublin newspapers with the news. An hour or so later we both cycled to the university for the morning lectures. Standing at the gates of the building was a newsboy crying out the greatest piece of misinformation ever heard, “Stop press! Stop press! Earthquake at Rathfarnham Castle!” We both had a laugh, and Dick said, “I bet the Rector will blame the pair of us for that”.

During the days of the war when news of any sort was censored and generous blackouts were imposed on any type of information, we were a real sensation among our fellow students for bearing the first bit of uncensored news to reach Dublin that day. Dick, who remained a close friend of mine all his life, died in Hong Kong a couple of years ago.

◆ The Clongownian, 1939

Obituary

Father William J O’Leary SJ

Father O’Leary was born in Dublin on March 19th, 1869. His father was Dr W O'Leary, a well-known doctor and a Home Rule MP in Isaac Butt's party. Father O'Leary was educated at Tullabeg (1880), but came to Clongowes at the amalgamation for a few months in the summer of 1886 to prepare for the “Autumn Matric”. He was a master at Clongowes 1893-'98, and again in 1903; after his ordination. Practically his whole life was occupied in the teaching of science and mathematics at Clongowes and Mungret, and in the Scholasticates of Rathfarnham and Milltown Park. During his philosophical studies at Louvain he became interested in pendulums, and did some very interesting experiments with compound pendulums, obtaining some beautiful curve records. This interest seems to have been the occasion of his interest in seismology later on. A visit to the observatory of Prof J Milne FRS., at Shide IOW., was the beginning of his work in that departinent. At Mungret he created a seismological and meteorological station which he fitted up with instruments of his own design. During this time he also made observations on high-altitude conditions by means of balloons. He was transferred to Rathfarnham in 1915, where he still further improved his apparatus, Here he designed and constructed one of the instruments still in use in the present station. This instrument is the only one of its kind in existence and gives a very open record. It is of the inverted pendulum type, and the “bob” weighs 1.5 tons! It was designed, constructed all except the “bob” and erected by Father O'Leary himself, who, in addition to his other gifts, was a skilled mechanic. Later on he was professor of Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy to the Jesuit philosophers at Milltown Park.

On the death of Father Pigot SJ, Director of the seismological and astronomical observatory of Riverview College, Sydney, he was appointed as his successor, and went to Australia in 1929. His previous studies and practical experience had fitted him for this position, and enabled him to do splendid work in his new post. Here, in addition to seismology, his work included such branches of astronomy as observations on solar radiation, and on variable stars. It is to be hoped that a full account of his work in Australia will be given us. As an inventor he also designed a method of supplying laboratories not in possession of coal gas, with petrol gas, both for illumination and heating. He published a text-book on mechanics, but, with the exception of the records of his observation, does not seem to have written anything else. Reference must be especially made to an accurate clock which he designed and constructed on principles first applied by him, which was for use in connection with his seismograph. Such a clock is an essential element in the recording of earthquakes, for it is necessary that a mark be made on the chart very accurately every minute. His clock combined the properties of extreme accuracy with the means of recording the minutes on the chart. Referring to this clock, Father D O'Connell SJ, the present director of the Riverview observatory, says that it is a most excellent and original piece of work. Except in the patent specification, the details have never been published. It is to be hoped that this will be included in an account of his scientific work.

But it would be a mistake to allow the record of his work as a scientist to render us oblivious of his other and far inore important qualities. All who knew Father O'Leary as a friend and companion need no reminder of his wonderful charm and gifts of character which made him popular with all. A great love of his country, and a strong sense of humour were characteristic of him. He has a fine voice, and as a preacher he was no less in demand than as a lecturer and giver of retreats. His friends have lost one who will not easily be replaced.

Himself the most unassuming of men, he was honoured by his scientific brethren, no less than he was loved by his brethren in religion. He was a member of the British Association, and more than once was special preacher at their meetings; he was also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Past President of the NSW branch of the British Astronomical Association.

His death came suddenly. He had been suffering from his heart, but this did not interfere with his work, and he had been working in the observatory only the night before. An indication of the esteem in which he was held in Australia may be gathered from the press account of his funeral. Archbishop Gilroy presided at the Requiem Mass, at which assisted Archbishop Duhig, and Bishops Coleman, Dwyer and Henscke. In addition, there were 200 of the clergy, as well as representatives of the Catholic educational establishments. A large number of distinguished laymen were also present, including the Attorney-General, members of the University and the president of Astronomical Society and Government Astronomer. RIP

H V Gill SJ

-oOo-

The following appreciation is from the pen of one who for many years taught in the same college as Father Willy :

For many years after his ordination, Father O'Leary taught in Mungret, and for a considerable portion of that period acted as Prefect of Studies. A splendid master, be had the gift of imparting knowledge clearly and of getting the boys thoroughly interested in their work. His subjects were Science, Mathematics and Latin. His lessons in Geometry were particularly fascinating - his own consummate skill in the use of instruments and the beautifully accurate figures which graced his blackboard made his pupils quite enthusiastic in their efforts to imitate and emulate him. He made the dry bones of that subject live -no easy task where boys are concerned.

He was highly popular with all the boys, though he never showed any undue leniency. He was strict, but not severe, just and impartial. All these features were prominent in another sphere of school life; Father O'Leary possessed histrionic talent in a high degree. His production, in conjunction with the late Father Willie Doyle, of the “Mikado” inaugurated the revival of theatricals in Clongowes. In Mungret he staged the “Private Secretary”, a very successful performance, one of many similar triumphs.

In the spiritual sphere he did untold good. He was director of the sodalities, a superb preacher, being a first class orator. Only those who lived with him could appreciate to the full the power of his example. He was popular, as we have said, but he used this as a powerful influence for good.

Boys are proverbially prone to hero worship, and this small, though tremendously strong, straightforward, cheerful and great hearted priest won their affection and admiration. They appreciated his great qualities in life, and we trust they will not forget him in death. Requiescat.

John Casey SJ

-oOo-

Father H V Gill has mentioned above that Father O'Leary had a great love for his country; here is an extract from a letter of Father Willy's to a friend in Ireland, written for the New Year :--

“Dear Ireland, how I wish I could see you again. I am too old to fall in love with strange lands and I love you alone. May God bless every tree and every blade of grass in you, may God bless every mother's son in you, and may God keep the Old Faith in you”.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1937

Obituary

Father William O’Leary SJ

The death of Father O'Leary in Australia will be deeply regretted by many of his past pupils. An old Mungret boy of Father O'Leary's time there writes to the Editor :

“I was at Mungret for five years, and during all that time Father O'Leary was a master there. He taught us Latin, Religious Knowledge, Mathematics and Science. But he taught us many others things besides these. I don't think there was any master of my time there the boys thought more of, or who had more influence with them. For all his lack of inches - he only looked about 5ft. 4ins, in spite of the black hair brushed straight up from his forehead - he was a most virile personality. I will always carry with me as one of the clearest memories of Mungret the picture of Father O'Leary pacing up and down the stone corridor as we went on our way to Mass, wearing his biretta and with his head sunk on his chest for all the world like Napoleon”.

For a man of his intellectual attainments allied as they were in him with a natural agility of mind and speed of accomplishment - it must have been a heart-breaking task to expound the elements of euclid to a junior grade class not specially gifted above their fellows. Only once in my time did I ever see it overcome him, and that was an occasion that none who saw will ever forget. One day in dealing with a boy whom the Lord never meant to learn euclid, he allowed himself to be betrayed into one or two natural expressions of impatience - just so much and no more. It made no impression on us nor on the boy concerned - we were I fear a thick-skinned lot - but next day when the class began, Father O'Leary called out the boy and apologised to him coram publico in terms which penetrated to our subconscious preceptions far deeper than any sermon. Talking of sermons reminds me that he was the boys' favourite preacher and confessor. He had a deep musical voice and a gift of oratory and also an ability to teach elocution which were all his own. I don't know if elocution is still taught in the schools or if it has been crowded out by the modern programme : to judge by the sort of thing one hears in “talks” from Radio Éireann even from possessors of University Degrees - the art of speaking and reading aloud is a lost one. Anyone who ever was in Father O'Leary's class or in one of his plays learned how to open his mouth and sound his consonants. He used to teach us Byron's poem about the Assyrian coming down like a wolf on the fold - I have every word of it yet - and when you came to the line ‘With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail’ - woe betide you if you put a ‘Jew sitting on the poor man's brow’.

Science was, of course, his first love, but even that gave way before his love for Ireland. To hear him speak of Irish history or to listen to him sing ‘The West's Awake’, as we so often did was to know that the fire that burned in the breast of his distinguished father burned just as fiercely in his own. He must have known when he left Ireland in 1929 that the chances of his ever seeing home again were very small how hard that thought must have been those of us who knew him can well realise. He went like so many other Irishmen - and Mungret men have gone - where duty called him, and if he rests at last far from his own land that he loved so well, there lie around him the bones of many of his kith and kin to foregather at the resurrection. All the boys of his time in Mungret will join with me in a prayer for one than whom no one stood higher in our affections as a priest, a master, or a friend”.

D Gleeson

Born: 10 April 1898, Lahinch, County Clare
Entered: 31 August 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1930, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 23 September 1974, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Brother of Bishop Dermot R O'Flanagan who Entered the Irish Province in 1917 and LEFT as a priest in 1932. He then went to Alaska in 1933 and was appointed first Bishop of Juneau, Alsaka 9th July 1951

by 1922 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1924 in Australia - Regency
by 1933 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
Already with a BSc, Paul O'Flannagan arrived in Australia as a regent at Riverview, 1923, teaching, organising cadets and directing debating. In 1926-27 he was first division prefect, and looked after rowing before returning to Ireland for theology He later returned to Australia, working with Victor Turner, 1949-50, in the Australian Mission team.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Kennedy G., O'Flanagan and Saul leave for Australia on 9th July.

Irish Province News 49th Year No 4 1974

Obituary :
Fr Paul O'Flanagan (1898-1974)
The recollection evoked by the sad, sudden demise of Fr Paul O'Flanagan on September 23rd, of the severe heart seizure and consequent sickliness he had been visited by eight or nine years since, and before his advent to Gardiner Street, reconciled some what for his loss - his death might have been anticipated by years and yet during the years in Gardiner Street he undertook and fulfilled the chores thrust upon him with admirable regularity and efficiency. A comment, attributed to Fr P O'Mara in his latter days when age compelled him to seek Fr O’Flanagan's aid in running his Ladies' Sodality : “Don’t deprive me of my friends” was not totally whimsical ... Fr Paul did make a notable success of the succession
He was approachable, punctual, unassuming; popular with the house staff (competent critics), and among the Community and with externs a counsellor confidently consulted.
The obsequies took place on Wednesday, September 25th. Fr David Murtagh, CC, a nephew of Fr Paul’s was principal celebrant assisted by Fr Provincial and upwards of twenty others, Ours and externs, familiar friends. Fr Murtagh again later officiated at the graveside.
We offer sympathy to Mr Frank O'Flanagan and Mrs Murtagh, the surviving members of Fr Paul’s family....and their families.

We offer an appreciation by one long associate with the deceased :
I first met Fr Paul O'Flanagan a few months after his ordination; and I spoke to him for the last time about a day and a half before he died. We chatted for over an hour.
In the intervening years, time had lined his face and flecked his hair with grey. In my view, however, though greatly matured by the experiences of a very active life and a good deal of suffering in his latter years, I found him the very same Paul I had known in the far-off days. His conversation was refreshingly youthful, and he was as mentally alert as ever-optimistic, full of humour and boyish mischief. The idea that he was so soon to die never crossed my mind; I wonder, if it did his?
Paul was born in Lahinch in 1898, went to school in Belvedere College and entered the novitiate at Tullabeg in 1915. Having gained his BSc degree in University College, Dublin, and studied philosophy with the German Jesuits in Valkenburg, Holland, he was sent to Riverview College, Sydney, to teach. Returning to Milltown Park for theology, he was ordained in 1930.
Most of his life as a priest was spent on the mission-staff, and it was there I came to know him, both as a colleague and as a friend. In the work we did together, he appeared to me to have preserved his boyhood ideal of what a Jesuit should be, and I never detected any trace of - as it is now the fashion to call it! - “crisis of identity”! He was possessed of all the natural qualities that go to the making of a good Jesuit, holding the Society in high esteem and regarding it with affection. He was interested in its welfare and in that of our Province; as also in the success of his Jesuit friends. As a community man, he was unrivalled. He brought joy to all his work, and shared it with the members of the house to which he happened to be attached. His pleasures were simple a game of bridge, which he took seriously; a day's golf or a session of story-swopping. When in the mood, he was a delicious raconteur, notably about his adventures under the Southern Cross, about Archbishop Mannix of Melbourne or Archbishop Kelly of Sydney. His warmth of character won him many friends, both inside and outside the Society. Amongst the laity, he was the special friend of the men. On missions they would call him on the telephone, wishing to enjoy again his warm, human companionship. Some were past pupils, some school friends, and others, men to whom he had lent a helping, priestly hand.
Paul was an outstandingly good, even exemplary priest, and he distinguished himself over many years as an excellent missioner and retreat-master. All through his life he preserved his youthful, high ideal of the priesthood, and in his last years he edified us all by his incredible bravery, as he fought for health and life. I cannot speak for others, but I never heard a word of complaint or self pity escape his lips. Practising what he had preached so often, he took his suffering tanquam de manu Dei, as indeed he took every thing in life.
From glimpses I had of him on missions, I guess he must have helped thousands yearly, both by his advice and by example: But he never spoke of this work, his cases or of those who had come to him. In this he showed no sign of self-glorification or self seeking; certainly no trace of worldly ambition. He was always ready with prompt obedience, whatever the task or office assigned him. And, as already mentioned, in the allotted work he made himself happy, and by so doing, contributed greatly to the happiness of all concerned.
It would be an incomplete and phoney picture of Paul, if I did not refer - I hope, gently and with kindly intent?....to his likeable foible! He was pre-possessed about his BSc degree, and sometimes referred to himself as a “scientist”! However, he was open to a bit of leg-pulling on the subject, provided it came from the right quarter! He was proud of Bishop Dermot, his brother, and one might sometimes lead him on, to discourse on Dermot's successes. He was most vulnerable, however, on the subject of Australia. This was a favourite theme of his conversation, for, besides his years teaching in Riverview, he had done a two-year stint as a missioner there. Right to the end, he never lost his interest in the Aussies, more especially in their cricket. When a Test Match was in progress, he would listen assiduously to the ball-by-ball account on the radio, and was ever ready to explain the intricacies of the game and the prospects of an Australian victory to any interested party. Some of the boys who had been introduced to cricket by him, later won places on Test teams, and he could often be drawn on this subject. If I remember rightly, one of their number was the well-known and very successful player, Fingleton. It has been suggested to me that Sir Don Bradman was another; but there, I am open to correction!
Paul was ever one of Belvedere's most loyal past pupils. Even to the last days of his life, he was proud of the college and took keen interest in its successes in studies or at games; in Old Belvederians, the Newsboys' Club, as it formerly was, but more especially in the Old Belvedere Rugby Football Club. . If an acquaintance were to judge merely by Paul’s manner, he might conclude, that he never faced a crisis in his life. I am sure such a conclusion would be incorrect, since most of us do. But he never lost his cool in any circumstance that I saw, and appeared calm and unperturbed at all times - the completely unflappable man!
He showed little of his real self, either to the outside world or to his fellow Jesuits. I have, however, reason to believe, that underneath, he was possessed of a very strong, deep faith, and a great reverence for the things of God, Reserved and silent regarding his interior life with God, I strongly suspect him to have been as truly a pious man as he was a sincere and staunch friend.
As one who worked side by side with him on many occasions, I am happy to be able to bear witness, and pay tribute to his gracious charity, his kindness and thoughtfulness. He was generous in praising and encouraging others, and his memories of any mission concerned either its success, or the amusing incidents which cropped up from time to time. As we sat together thirty-six hours before his death, a smile often played about his lips, as he recounted the pleasant happenings of a mission in Mullingar Cathedral, in which he and I were engaged, just over thirty years back. That is my last memory and picture of him,
It is sometimes said, that every human life is like an Unfinished Symphony; to this statement, I am afraid, I cannot subscribe. Colleagues of mine who worked for God all the days of their lives, and aspired to union with Christ through his grace, seemed in their latter years, to be anything but the Unfinished Symphony. If I may say so, each life-work appeared perfectly rounded off, ending in a rising crescendo of faith, trust, joy, hope and expectation of life eternal. For these men we have prayed, that that crescendo would end in a paean of glory with the Risen Christ. In their number we, Paul’s friends and colleagues, would wish to include him by heartfelt and earnest prayer. I should like to think, that no one who ever met him would wish otherwise, and that without exception they would gladly join us as we pray: Solus na Soillse agus radharc na Tríonóide dá anam!

Born: 01 March 1841, Nash, County Wexford
Entered: 07 September 1861, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1873
Final vows: 02 February 1881
Died: 08 November 1921, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia

by 1864 at Roehampton, London (ANG) studying
by 1871 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1872 at Roehampton, London (ANG) Studying
by 1873 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) studying
Came to Australia with Joseph Tuite, George Buckeridge and Scholastic John O’Neill 1886

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent the greater part of his religious life before going to Australia in the Clongowes and Tullabeg Colleges.
1872 He was Minister at Clongowes.
1878 He was Prefect of the Study Hall at Tullabeg, and Confessor at the Public Church.
1879 He made his Tertianship at Milltown.
1880-1885 He returned to Tullabeg and was Minister there for 1884-1885.
1885-1886 he was sent to Clongowes.
1886 He was sent to Australia, and sailed with Joseph Tuite, George Buckeridge and Scholastic John O’Neill.
From the time of his arrival in Riverview, he spent seven years at Riverview, and some years at St Patrick’s Melbourne.
1895 He was sent to Xavier College, Kew and remained there until his death 08 November 1921.

He was forty years in the HIB Colleges in Ireland and Australia, and he led a very uneventful life. He was never involved in Preaching.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
James O'Connor was educated at Clongowes Wood, 1858-61, and entered the Society, 7 September 1861. He studied philosophy at Stonyhurst and theology at St Beuno's. Tertianship was at Milltown Park, 1879-80.
He taught at St Stanislaus College, 1880-85, and at Clongowes, 1885-86, before arriving in Australia in 1886. He taught at Riverview, 1886-88 and 1891-93; St Patrick’s College, 1889-90 and Xavier College, 1894-1921. Here he was in charge of the farm, 1898-1913. He was also, at various times, hall prefect, prefect of discipline, and spiritual father. By 1921 he had been teaching for 40 years. His work in the schools fell into two parts. For many years he was in charge of the first class, teaching the small boys in their first year in the school. He was known as a land teacher. His attitude to the boys was more paternal than magisterial, and his class was very informal. He was a man of infinite patience, and enjoyed teaching boys the elements of learning. Backward learners had a special share of his attention. He loved cricket, played it himself as a youth, and enjoyed watching games.
The other side of his work for the school was his special contact with the boys as confessor. The boys showed genuine sadness when they learnt of his death, and were permitted to pay their last respect to O'Connor by viewing his body in his bedroom. O'Connor was little known except by the boys and his religious community He rarely left the college grounds, and he respected the privacy of his students in their daily life. Likewise. he was respected for his charm of manner, his humor and great kindliness. Otherwise, he led a very uneventful life and never preached.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1921

Obituary
Father James O’Connor SJ
Father O'Connor died on Tuesday, November 8th, having spent nearly thirty years in the service of the school.

Father O'Connor was born in County Wexford, Ireland, on March 1st, 1841, He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Ireland, and entered the Society of Jesus on September 7th, 1861. His philosophical studies were made at Stonyhurst, and he then acted as Master and Prefect at Clongowes. His theology was done at St Beuno's College, North Wales, where he was ordained in 1884. He came to Australia in 1885, and was for a short time on the staff of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Hawthorn. Thence in 1886 he was transferred to Sydney, where he was on the staff of St Ignatius College, Riverview. Next he went to St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, whence he was transferred to Xavier in March, 1893, and remained there till his death.

His work in the school fails into two parts. For many years he was in charge of the first class, teaching the small boys in their first year in the school. For this task he was by character eminently fitted. His kindly nature showed itself in his sympathetic understanding of his young charges. His attitude to them was more paternal than magisterial, and there was about his class an informality which made small boys at home. He was moreover a man of infinite patience, and through all this years of service seemed never to grow weary of the labours involved in grounding boys in the elements of learning. Backward boys had a special share of his attention, and for many years he made it a practice during evening studies voluntarily to take shy small boys into his room, and there by private coaching, assist them to keep up with the class. And how his small friends loved him The boys of first class used to have the privilege of recreation during the third period of morning school, and it was his practice to accompany them down the grounds, set their games in motion, and while one side was batting you would be sure to see a crowd gathered about him, pouring out all the inconsequential chatter that he loved, asking hm every conceivable question and enjoying his slow, quiet banter. For some years failing sight made him unable to continue in full work, but an operation performed by Dr Edward Ryan was most successful, and till last year he continued to conduct an informal class for the very small boys of the school. Their transfer to Studley Hall robbed him of much of his interest in life, and one could not but remark how he began to fail when his active life amongst them came to an end.

The other side of his work for the school is what brought him most in contact with the boys, but it was work the effect of which is known only to God and those he served. For very many years he was confessor to a large proportion of the boys of the school. In this duty he was untiring, and in spite of failing health, he was never absent from his post till in the last few weeks of his life he was unable to leave his room. As we have said, the work which he did cannot be measured in our human scales, as it was done for no human reward. But we can realize that it was no small thing to have been for close on thirty years the confidant, guide and minister of grace to so many of the sons of the school. What the school thought of him could be gathered after his death. From the moment after Mass when it was announced that he was dead, the boys went spontaneously to his room, and all day at frequent intervals they thronged round the bedside to pray for the repose of his soul. And they came round him with words of reverence on their lips. There's was nothing morbid or emotional in the thoughts one heard expressed in so many different ways; the feeling of envy of one whose life had been so silent, and yet in the eyes of all so saintly, and whom all felt had surely gone to the rewards of the faithful servant. It was a beautiful tribute from Catholic boys to one whose great claim on them was that he had done amongst them the work of a Catholic priest.

We have said something of Fr O'Connor's work, but more than the work was the man. He was known to very few outside the boys and his religious brethren. By nature of a retiring disposition, he loved to efface himself. He rarely left the College grounds, and made it a practice perhaps because of the confidential position in which he stood, to mingle as little as possible with the boys in their daily life. But under this retiring nature there lay a very deep human sympathy and understanding. Though he stood aside, he was a close observer of life around him, and to those who knew him was ever ready with his humorous half-expressed appreciations of men and things. But his humour was typical of him, utterly kindly. Those who knew him for manly years can bear witness that unkindly criticism or wit more clever than charitable was foreign to him. Beyond necessary reports to responsible persons, he would not even criticise to others the school work of the smallest boy in his charge. It was this combination of kindliness and humour that made him such delightful company to those amongst whom his more intimate life was spent.

One other feature that many may not have known was his intense interest in the school. He had been a fine cricketer in his day. As a boy he was in the Clongowes XI., and he followed up the school sport, and especially cricket, with keen interest, and his judgment was shrewd and valuable. He loved to get into a quiet corner of the grounds, or in later years to stand on the balcony near his room and watch cricketers from small boys to members of the XI, and afterwards to discuss every feature of the play. For many years his love of the game showed it self in his care of the oval, where he took his daily exercise in weeding the outfield and working with a hoe on the turf.

So the years passed quietly. In September he celebrated the both anniversary of his entrance into the Society of Jesus, and was much gratified at receiving the Benediction of Rev Fr General together with the promise of 60 Masses in memory of his 60 years. He was visited on the occasion by His Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Mannix, and His Grace the Archbishop of Hobart, Dr Barry. But for some time he had obviously been ailing, and a heart affection which had troubled him for some time, and a persistent cold, weakened him considerably. He gradually grew more feeble, and in October had to give up saying Mass. He was anointed at the end of the month, and quietly passed away at 2 am, on November 8tlı. That evening the body was removed to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Hawthorn, Next morning a large gathering of priests, presided over by His Grace, the Archbishop, attended the Office and Requiem Mass. The boys, a number of the girls from Genazzano Convent, and a number of the faithful filled the church. The High Mass was sung by Fr Fleury SJ, with Prior Kindelan, OCC as deacon and Fr Wilfrid Ryan SJ, as sub-deacon. Absolution was Pronounced by His Grace, who then addressed those present, and in particular the boys, pointing out the lessons of this life of quiet work for God, and asking for prayers for Fr O'Connor's soul. The funeral they took place to Booroondara Cemetery, where all the boys assembled, and the last prayers were read by the Rector. May the kindly soul of Fr. James O'Connor rest in peace,

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Golden Jubilee 1880-1930
Riverview in the ‘Eighties - A McDonnell (OR 1866-1888)

Fr O'Connor was the third Father who came to the College at the end of 1886. He was a very good, solid teacher. He was a very quiet, retiring man, and was mild and kindly in his dealings with the boys, all of whom were fond of him, and most of those who knew him could not do enough for him. He used to live at the infirmary. Of course some of his pupils used to kick over the traces at times, when Fr. O'Connor would threaten them with “ferrulas”, but the matter never progressed beyond a threat.

◆ The Clongownian, 1922
Obituary
Father James O'Connor SJ

Thirty-seven years ago Father O’Connor went to Australia; so that even his name: will be unknown to recent generations. But Clongownians and Tullabeg boys for many years previous to 1885 will remember him well. Father O'Connor was born at New Ross, County Wexford, in 1842. He entered Clongowes in 1858, and passed from there to the Jesuit Novitiate at Milltown Park, Dublin, in 1861. Here he came under the saintly and skilful direction of Father Daniel Jones, the Master of Novices, and Father Aloysius Sturzo, Socius to Father Jones. On the completion of his Novitiate, Father O'Connor was sent to Roehampton, England, to continue his studies of the Classics ; but one of his life-long troubles - severe head aches-ħad begun, and the next year we find him a Prefect in Clongowes. A year later he was transferred to Tullabeg, where he occupied various posts as Prefect and Master up to 1870, when he began Philosophy at Stonyhurst. Then followed Theology at Roehampton, and after ordination to the priesthood he became Minister at Clongowes. This post he held for three years; and as Fr Robert Carbery, the Rector during that time, broke down in health, a heavy weight of responsibility fell on Father O'Connor's shoulders. He was more than pleased when relieved from the burden in 1876, and transferred once more to Tullabeg, where he remained as Prefect, Master, and finally as Minister, till 1885, the year he went to Australia.

If we confined ourselves to a bare record of events, there is little that, to the outward eye, would be startling in the career of Father O'Connor during his thirty-seven years in Australia. When we have stated that he was Master of junior forms in St Patrick's College, Melbourne, in Riverview College, Sydney ; and, for the last twenty-eight years of his life in Xavier College, Melbourne, we have set down all that the world in general knows about Father James O'Connor. Dr Mannix, the Archbishop of Melbourne, standing beside the corpse of Father O'Connor, used these words : “His life might be called uneventful. He was a quiet, retiring, gentle soul, and nothing was heard of him outside the College he loved so well”.

His life was a long one; for he had reached his.eightieth year when God was pleased to call him on November 8th, 1921. Sixty of those years he had spent in the Society of Jesus. They were sixty years of suffering, for the most part, from violent headaches. More serious ailments came towards the close of his life; but all his sufferings were most patiently borne. We have rarely known of one who did ignore to conceal his illnesses.

Those who knew him intimately were wont to regret that poor health was a bar to the full exercise of his naturally fine mental ability. Yet in spite of such a handicap, Father O'Connor was a well-informed man, and very accurate - dangerously so, in fact, for any who were inclined to looseness of expression. When amongst strangers he was singularly reserved - indeed he shunned all but the company of his fellow-religious. Hence it is that many of his fine qualities were unsuspected. He had a rare sense of humour; his wit was keen but kindly and not caustic. Amongst the Jesuits who knew him long ago in Clongowes or in Tullabeg, as well as amongst those who lived with him in Australia, there will live many a good story connected with his name. His freshness of interest in all things affecting his pupils was remarkable - their studies, their games while at school, their success in their various under takings later on-ail claimed his attention. We insert here an excerpt from the Xaverian, the magazine issued by the school where Father O'Connor spent the last twenty-seven years of his life.

"One feature that many may not have known was his intense interest in the school. He had been a fine cricketer in his day. As a boy he was in the Clongowes XI, and he followed up the school sport, and especially cricket, with keen interest, and his judgment was shrewd and valuable. He loved to get into a quiet corner of the grounds, or in later years to stand on the balcony near his room and watch cricketers from small boys to members of the XI, and afterwards to discuss every feature of the play. For many years his love of the game showed itself in his care of the oval, where he took his daily exercise in weeding the outfield and working with a hoe on the turf. The other side of his work for the school is what brought him most in contact with the boys, but it was work the effect of which is known only to God and those he served. For very many years he was confessor to a large proportion of the boys of the school. In this duty he was untiring, and in spite of failing health he was never absent from his post till in the last few weeks of his life he was unable to leave his room. As we have said, the work which he did cannot be measured in our human scales, as it was done for no human reward. But we can realize that it was no small thing to have been for close on thirty years the confident, guide and minister of grace to so many of the sons of the school

Born: 31 March 1897, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1929, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, t Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 05 December 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin

Early education at Belvedere College SJ & Clongowes Wood College SJ

Studied for BA Classics, 1st Class Honours at UCD

by 1924 in Australia - Regency at Riverview, Sydney
by 1932 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
As a regent, Arthur Little taught at Riverview, 1923-26, where the bright and brash Riverview boys turned his classes into chaos. After tertianship at St Beuno's, Little spent the major part of his life as a philosophy professor at Tullabeg. He was a very skilled thinker as well as being an excellent musician and wrote on aesthetics and poetry.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 25th Year No 1 1950

Obituary

Fr. Arthur Little (1897-1914-1949)

Fr. Arthur Little was born in Dublin on 31st March, 1897. He was educated at Belvedere and Clongowes. His early life in the Society followed the usual course : Noviceship (Tullabeg) 1914-16; then Juniorate (Tullabeg 1 year, Rathfarnham 3 years) where he obtained a first class Honours M.A. in Classics ; Philosophy (Milltown) 1920-23 ; Colleges (Riverview) 23-26; Theology (Milltown) 26-30, where he was ordained Most Rev. Dr. Goodier, S.J; Tertianship (St. Beuno's), his Instructor being Fr. Joseph Bolland, the present English Assistant.
Prior to Tertianship he taught for one year in Clongowes; after it he professed Philosophy - Psychology and Theodicy - for 14 years in Tullabeg (1932-46). From 1946 to his death he was in Leeson St, as “Scriptor”. The mortal disease which brought about his premature death at the height of his powers, prevented him from taking up a professorship of Theology at Milltown Park, to which the 1949 Status bad assigned him. He died on 5th December.

Works :
An Epic Poem on the Passion : “Christ Unconquered”.
Broadcast talks on Catholic Philosophy : “Philosophy without Tears”
“The Nature of Art or The Shield of Pallas”.

Shortly before his death he had completed a detailed study of Plato's influence on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas : “The Platonic Heritage of Thomism”. This book will be published shortly. An advanced copy of it reached Fr. Little a few days before his death. He was a regular contributor to “Studies”, “Irish Monthly” and other periodicals.

An Appreciation :
In the premature death of Fr. Arthur Little, after months of severe suffering, the Province has lost its most brilliant member. He possessed a remarkably wide range of gifts and some of them in a high degree. He was a classical scholar, a philosopher, a poet, a musician, a critic of art, a writer, a wit. So remarkable an endowment could easily have made him a rather formidable person one to be admired from a distance, were these gifts not completed and balanced by an irrespressible sense of humour and an oddity and whimsicality of manner and demeanour which made him. emphatically a “character”, and a most loveable one at that. For twelve years he was professor of philosophy at Tullabeg, and he did more than any other one man to build up in that infant scholasticate a tradition of sound, solid doctrine. His first subject was psychology, but he soon came to theodicy which was his favourite treatise. He had arrived in Tullabeg without any very definite system but with a certain leaning to Scotism. But, after a short contact with the senior member of the staff he was suddenly converted to Thomism. The conversion was complete and final. He entered into the thought of St. Thomas not merely without any difficulty but with enthusiasm. He was an “anima naturaliter Thomistica”. But he was singularly free from the acrimony of a convert to his abandoned oracle.
He gave himself entirely and untiringly to his work as a professor, and he was perfectly happy as a lecturer. It might be thought that a man of such imagination, a man with the sensibility of a poet, might have given play to these gifts in his treatment of philosophy. But the truth was that when he lectured on psychology or theodicy he was always the metaphysician. He gave his class pure undiluted Thomistic thought. He spared them nothing of the most rigid, the stiffest scholastic method. His lectures were close reasoned, exacting, with no appeal to the imagination. His codex was as forbidding to the unintiated as the Metaphysics of Aristotle, and it needed the comment of the master to draw out its riches. He paid his pupils the formidable compliment of considering them to be on the level of his own austere height of thought and method. And his pupils appreciated the compliment and had for him an admiration that was often an enthusiasm.
In his lectures on the history of philosophy his literary powers could find scope, and what an entertaining subject he could make of it can be judged from his broadcast talks, published as “Philosophy Without Tears”, and from his articles in Studies. He did not read widely and that was a weakness in his position, but he thought out every point in his system and had made a coherent synthesis. He was an indefatigable worker and always sat at his desk. One wondered where he got the energy for this unremitting thought on so difficult a subject. It did not seem to come from the usual sources, because he ate about as much as a robust sparrow and for weeks at a time did not stir out of the house. That devotion to his work was not the lest debt which Tullabeg owes to Fr. Arthur.
But this metaphysician was also a poet. His “Christ Unconquered” is an ambitious epic poem on the Passion. He deliberately followed the tradition of the epic, especially as handled by Virgil and Milton, with its speeches, councils, episodes. He professed to have made Virgil his model, but actually the resemblance to Milton in diction, metre and general style was evident in every page and caused the professional critics to see in it an amazingly clever imitation and thus succeeded in closing their eyes to the great merits and the true individuality of this remarkable poem. The main defect is that he has put too much theology into it and theology is a recalcitrant medium for the poet, and certainly parts of it are heavy going. But on the whole it has a great distinction of style ; and there are many passages of great beauty which will not easily die. In fact such passages suggest that his truest vein was the lyric.
But some will think that be was still greater as a prose writer. Certainly his prose, so much of which appeared in Studies and the Irish Monthly, was of a high order, strong, distinctive, brilliant, witty.
If he had been put at writing as his professional work, he would undoubtedly have become a man of wide reputation, of the eminence of Fr. D'Arcy or Mgr. Knox. But even as things fell out it looked as if his day as a writer had come when he was taken away from philosophy. He seemed to be about to reap the harvest of the long years thought and study in that little room on the top storey in Tullabeg. Books and articles began to come from his pen in the short time he spent at Leeson St. He was a regular contributor to Studies. He finished a profound philosophical study on aesthetics, “The Shield of Pallas”, and up to the last he was engaged on a study of the Platonic element in St. Thomas, an advanced copy of which was put into his hands on his death bed. The book is a genuine contribution to the subject and is the fruit of a long study of his two favourite masters. All things then pointed to a rich yield of the labours of years, when God called him.
And what can one say of those personal gifts which made him so pleasant a companion - the originality of mind, the power to see sudden and often absurd resemblances, the brilliance and wit of his conversation? His wit bubbled up spontaneously and played about all subjects and his sense of humour was irrepressible. How inadequate are a few remembered examples to convey these things to those who did not know him! He is lecturing on the nature of a spirit and has shown that they have not even the principle of extension a punctum, and then he says solemnly “We must admit reluctantly that the Angels are most unpunctual beings”. He meets a Tullabeg colleague away from home and says “Dr. Livingstone I presume”. He used to say that in a detective story and he was a regular reader of them - he hated to be fobbed off at the last page with an accident or a suicide but wanted a decent clean murder. And to the end his good humour and wit did not neglect him,
“A fellow of infinite jest, Horatio”.
We may safely conjecture that in Heaven he will spend much of his time - he would correct me and say his aevum - in the company of two St. Thomases - the Angelical Doctor and St. Thomas More.
His joyous temperament lifted him above all bitterness and there was not a grain of malice in his make-up. He was an exemplary religious. He was highly esteemed as a giver of retreats. He was a man of the highest spiritual principles, and the sufferings of the last months of his life, borne with a patience and a joyous resignation which produced a deep effect on all who came near him were a manifestation of what his religion and vocation meant to him.
“Anima eius in refrigerio”. R.I.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Arthur Little 1897-1949
In the premature death of Fr Arthur Little on November 5th 1949, the Irish Province lost its most brilliant member. He was Professor for fourteen years in Tullabeg, where he built up by his zeal and talents, a tradition of solid doctrine after the mind of St Thomas.

Born in Dublin on March 31st 1897, he entered the Society in 1914, having received his education at Belvedere and Clongowes. He taught as a scholastic at St Ignatius College Sydney from 1923-1926. Having returned to Ireland for Theology, he was ordained to the priesthood at Milltown Park in 31st July 1929. He did his tertianship at St Beuno’s and was professed of four vows in 1934.

Besides lecturing in Philosophy, he wrote many works, three ofn which are well known :
“The Nature of Art” or “The Shield of Pallas”, “Philosophy without Tears” and “The Platonic Heritage in Thomism. He also published an epic poem on the Passion entitled “Christ Unconquered”.

Besides being a man of remarkable literary gifts, he had a keen sense of humour and a ready wit. A man of simple piety, a model of religious life. He was lively and joyous even in his suffering, which ended in his death died on December 5th 1949.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1950

Obituary

Father Arthur Little SJ

My first impression of Arthur dates back to more than forty years ago, and the scene was the Belvedere Theatre during a still-remembered production of “David Garrick”. In those spacious days the audience were entertained to tea during the interval “on the floor of the house”. Arthur, in more than usually unbecoming Etons, was a “tea-boy”. I, armed with milk and sugar, was boatswaints mate. Tea-boy is, however, not the correct word. Out of the silver pot flowed a clear stream of boiling water. It may, of course, have been an accident but if so, why was Arthur so persistent in offering it to so many guests? And it may be a fraud of memory that gives me a picture of his delighted smile at the variety of their reactions. It is surely such a trick that depicts him with free finger fluttering at the lip in a gesture of mingled consternation, delight and apology. At all events, it was the first experience of a practical joker of child-like seriousness, inexhaustible zeal and fresh imagination. He retained that sense of humour to the end. A week or two before the final sickness declared itself he had been appointed to the Professorship of Theology vacated by Fr Canavan who was similarly stricken. In hospital he commented : “I suppose this goes with the job”, and to another friend : “A chair of theology did you say? A sofa or a bed of theology is what you mean”.

One recalls these trivial jokes which like all jokes on paper lose their lustre as surely as a drying pebble, simply because at the very beginning of one's memories of this deep thinking, learned and truly ascetic character there come thoughts of his simplicity, his gaiety his child-like zest. Neither time nor studies nor pain nor illness dimmed this gleam, Arthur was most certainly gifted with a double measure of individuality. All men are unique but he was unique in a special degree and oddly enough this marked difference between him and the rest of men was changeless and perfectly true to form from beginning to end. He was not a baffling or uncertain character. When you knew Arthur, you knew not only that his reaction to any given stimulus would be original, unpredictable and exciting, but that it would also be so characteristic that when it disclosed itself you would comment - “How like Arthur!”

This, I think, came from an eccentricity which was totally without pride or pretence, and though it gloried in a very definite sort of affectation and vanity, it was at the heart's core absolutely sincere and founded on a passionate love of truth and an . instinct to "beauty.

He was at Belvedere when I came and survived me. We had later, a couple of years in Clongowes and he went thence to TCD. No one could have been less affected by the last experience of which he never spoke and personally I think of him as a product of BCD and UCD. I believe he thought so himself. At UCD he was an exceptionally brilliant student. He had only taken up Classics after his noviceship, yet his Greek mark in his BA was a record one. He had an extraordinary gift for the acquisition of the elements of any language : French, German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, English and Irish. His reading was deep as it was wide. His bedside book would be a Greek drama. In his last illness I cited an epigram written by St Peter Canisius about Bl Peter Faber: It is given in English in Fr Broderick's work and I did not know if it was originally in German or Latin. “Neither”, said Arthur off-hand - “The Greek Anthology”, and he quoted the couplet from memory as a matter of course though Canisius’ use of it was new to him. Naturally, then at College, he began to write a florid but rich prose and a great quantity of jewelled, rather exotic verse. A little life of St Isaac Jogues written at this time remains, perhaps, unsurpassed.

He went next to the study of a lifetime, his almost passionate preoccupation till the end : Philosophy. Despite his literary imagination he proved a fine metaphysician and was, of course, constantly delighted in the search for the ultimate reasons of things. Most of his working life was spent as an inspiring and industrious professor, communicating an art in which he was absorbed, and communicating it with exceptional inspiration method and success. That most important, aspect of his work and of the books that bequeath it to us I cannot hope to treat adequately here. His poetry remained a true part of him if now a sub ordinate part. With the publication of “Christ Unconquered”, an epic of the Passion of Our Lord, he challenged recognition on the very top level, to succeed in this being to succeed with the greatest and most important theme. The poem's appearance was unfortunately delayed and it was first read by an audience sated with war-suffering and definitely tired. It was much praised, but not enough. Arthur himself laughed at critics who scolded him for writing like Milton. (One of our greatest Irish Scholars reading it in MSS. exclaimed “the thought of Dante in the language of Milton”). But the poem will survive and be quite possibly more widely read a hundred years from now.

Arthur's memory too, will survive as long as any live who knew him well. For all, truly all who knew him well, loved him well and he was so sharply drawn a personality as to be quite unforgettable. Nor yet among all the wide circle who knew him and loved him could one be found who would deny that in Arthur they recognised a spirit made for another world, a being totally unworldly, lighting and warming this alien atmosphere in which God placed him for a while but to which he scarcely belonged, so that he beckons to us from that home-land where he was always at home, the country of which the Lamb is the light and His love the food and drink of one who hungered and thirsted for justice and truth,
May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1950

Obituary

Father Arthur Little SJ

It is, I presume, a pathetic fallacy for Old Clongownians to believe that the generation in which they passed their days in Clongowes was far and away the best in the history of the College. Anyone who lived during the years 1911-1914 in Clongowes has more than ordinarily good reasons for thinking that there never was such as period in the history of the College. The happy death of Fr Arthur Little brings this whole period of leisured and spacious times back to memory.

He came to Clongowes in September, 1911 having already spent six years in Belvedere and arriving in Clongowes trailing all the clouds of glory which a Preparatory Grade Exhibitioner enjoyed in those days. He was placed in First Junior which included that year names which have since achieved some small celebrity. Mr Justice Sheil of Northern Ireland is rubbing shoulders in the school list with Alban O'Kelly of Turf Board fame, and Mattie Bodkin, the Jesuit missioner, who join hands with Herbert Mooney from the Forestry Service in India and Con Maguire from the Head office of the United Nations in Geneva, while Tom Fleming is in Australia as a Jesuit and Maurice Dowling in Northern Rhodesia. Among the upper community who helped to form Arthur in these years were Fr “Jimmy” Daly, Fr George Roche, Fr John Sullivan, whose Cause for Canonisation has now been introduced, the late Fr J E Canavan, Fr John Joy and the present Irish Ambassador to the Vatican.

Arthur won an Exhibition in the Modern Literary Group in the Junior Grade that year, 1912, and in the following year went up with his former companions to Poetry. In the Intermediate Examinations that year he won a Modern Literary Scholarship in Middle Grade but did not return in September, 1913 to Clongowes for Senior Grade as would have been the normal course. Instead, he entered Trinity College Law School with the idea of becoming a barrister.

While at Clongowes his genius, perhaps to us boys somewhat of an eccentric type, was recognised. Even then he was intensely interested in music and poetry and I have a distinct recollection of one of my earliest conversations with him in which he casually quoted a junk of Froissart's Chronicles as being something with which I should be (at the age of 14) completely familiar - which I was not. He had an unusual flair for drawing and the number of narrow escapes which he had while practising this skill with his class master at the blackboard as unwitting model, were numerous. I believe that he had learned the violin at the age of six and I know that he never abandoned the playing of that instrument and amongst his papers after his death, a very substantial pile of violin and piano compositions, written by himself, were discovered.

There was a legend in his family that he had learned to read without being taught and one of the most vivid memories of him is of a long, lanky boy curled up in a large armchair wrapped in some book. He was tall and thin all his life and rather on the delicate side and consequently he did not take much part in the games at Clongowes. But all his life long, even during his early days, he loved long solitary walks and his brother remembers “his great ingenuity in getting into difficulties in these walks which he subsequently dubbed extraordinary adventures”. History was to repeat itself in this matter for when he was a Professor in Philosophy at Tullabeg College one of his favourite recreations was to go striding along the bleak bog roads clothed in an old raincoat with, if I remember rightly, a kind of deerstalker cap on bis head and a huge leather cylindrical case slung across his back which might easily have contained a small tommy gun but actually contained only a thermos flask. He was, however, a very good tennis player with an extraordinarily graceful style and a very effective technique. In his youth, strange as it may seem to those who knew the gentle Arthur later on, he was more than a bit of a boxer. His literary ability, like the sanctity of the Saints, showed early : for while at Belvedere he founded and published a magazine entitled “The Comet” duplicating it on a primitive jelly machine which left more ink on himself than on the paper.

While at Trinity in the year 1913-14 both the labour and the political world were in an exciting state, Arthur's politics had always been extremely nationalistic and the moment the National Volunteers had been founded he joined them in Larkfield, early in 1914. He became a fluent speaker of Irish, a loyal holder of the Fáinne, and spoke and wrote Irish at every suitable opportunity. If things had turned out somewhat differently he might easily have been yet another poet who would have died in 1916, as, indeed, more than one Belvederian and Clongownian poet in these days did die. In September, 1914, Arthur turned his back on the world, the Bar, and Trinity College, and entered the Jesuit Noviceship at Tullabeg, meeting there once again many of his former companions of Junior and Middle Grade in Clongowes. He remained in Tullabeg for the two years of his noviceship and went through the Juniorate, which was marked for him by his introduction to Greek. He only commenced to learn Greek in 1916 but : four years later, in 1920, he took first place with First Class Honours in the BA Classical Group at UCD. He spent his three University years in Rathfarnham Castle where he had the saintly Fr John Sullivan as Rector, and then, in September, 1920, went to Milltown Park where he was introduced to the subject in which he was afterwards to display such brilliancy and profundity - Scholastic Philosophy. After his three years Philosophical Course he was sent to Riverview in Sydney, Australia, where he taught in that “Clongowes of Australia” with notable success. He returned to Ireland in 1926 and began his Theological studies at Miltown Park where he had as Professors, Fathers Peter Finlay, M Devitt, P J Gannon, John Hannon, J E Canavan and as spiritual Father, Fr “Tim” Fegan. He always considered himself blessed in having been fortunate enough to come to Milltown Park when this galaxy of brilliant Professors were at their prime. He was ordained in July, 1929 and finished his course in Theology the following year, 1930, doing a brilliant examination which led to the conferring on him of the DD from the Gregorian University.

That summer he went to Valkenburg, the famous Jesuit House of Studies in Holland, to improve his German and to further studies in Philosophy. In 1931 he spent an ecstatically happy year at Clongowes as Master and left it the following June almost hidden by the explosion and smoke of a final pyrotechnique display which, as Editor of the “Clongownian”, he provided for a delighted public in the only issue he ever produced. In September, 1932 he went to St Beuno's in North Wales for his Tertianship and it is of some interest to know that he had as one of his companions yet another Clongownian who has made, a name for himself in the Jesuit Mission field, Father Jack O'Meara (12-15) at present in Canton in Red China, while with him also was a Belvederian former companion, Fr Don Donnelly, whose meteoric adventures in China and India during the last war deserve a passing mention. In 1933 he was sent to the Jesuit Philosophate at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg. Here he was Professor of Natural Theology for fourteen years and of Psychology for eight years as well as teaching the History of Ancient and Modern Philosophy for seven years.

At Tullabeg he came in contact once more with Fr J E Canavan, hiniself a brilliant Metaphysician of the Thomistic school. Up to this, Arthur had been a Theologian and Philosopher of considerable ability but his contact with Fr Canavan produced something like a “revelation” in him and he became suddenly very much more than a mere able Philosopher. Maritain tells somewhere of an experience which he had in which he seemed suddenly to get an intuition of “being”. Something like this happened to Arthur in that year and from then on he both spoke and wrote on Philosophical questions with an extraordinary sureness of touch, depth of insight and clarity of view. He was a most inspiring lecturer and although some of the students must have found him at times difficult to follow, yet they all appreciated the fact that they were being taught by someone who was something more than talented - there was always a flash of genius in his treatment of Philosophical questions. He led a typical “woodland philosopher's” life absorbed in his leading of St Thomas and in his philosophical meditations but emerging now and again to go striding across the bogs or to take his fiddle up to some remote part of the house and play Beethoven.

He was an extraordinarily holy man and a religious of exemplary regularity. Any one who heard his Retreats would know that the man was preaching the very highest and most sincerely held principles and doctrine, but preaching nothing which he himself did not practise or, at least, never abandoned the effort to practise. As he himself used to put it in a Retreat, “If the just man falls seven times a day, he can only fall on the seventh time if he has got up six times before, and it is the six getting ups that make him just, not the seven fallings”.

Meanwhile he was writing articles constantly for various periodicals, chiefly “Studies” and the “Irish Monthly” on History, Music and English Literature. He published a number of lyric poems and his little life of Isaac Jogues is a masterpiece of biography

In 1946 he published the long epic poem on the Passion of Our Lord, “Christ Unconquered” which was held by “The Tablet” as “the best book on the Passion published in England in recent years”, while the Times Literary Supplement paid tribute to the beauty, sincerity and forcefulness of his writing. The poem is almost as long as “Paradise Lost” and is actually very much influenced by Milton. It contains passages of brilliant theological and philosophical argument and some wonderful analysis of the chief characters of the Passion, while certain of its descriptive passages are of quite unusual artistic beauty. The following year, 1946, he published a small book called “Philosophy without Tears” which contained a series of broadcasts from Radio Eireann. This book received two Book Society awards in America and was welcomed by a wide circle of critics with high praise. It contains some of the most typical “Arthurian” methods of philosophical analysis and exposition his irresistible impulse to see incongruities in the solemnities of life and pomposities of persons led him nearly always into what some people would call frivolity of exposition. Like Shakespeare, he rarely resisted the temptation to make a pun, though his puns were often “thought” puns rather than “word” puns, due I imagine, to his ever-present awareness of the analogical nature of being itself.

In 1946 he also published a brilliant book “On Aesthetics” treating of the nature of Art and its relation to Morality. It was received by “The Month” with a laudatory review declaring that “the book is a substantial piece of scholarship written in a delightfully flowing style” while an Irish critic spoke of it as “A Philosophical book of European quality”. Fr. Little received numerous letters from the most varied classes of persons thanking him for this book. It was about the title of the book that one of his favourite puns was made. His name being Art Little and the book being the “Nature of Art” someone said that it should have been called “Erie or Little by Little”.

But what was destined to be his master piece was not actually published until his death although he had the satisfaction of having a specially printed and bound copy in his hands just before he died. This was “The Platonic Heritage of Thomism”. It is a study of the relation of St Thomas's philosophy to Platonism and includes an investigation into the doctrine of Participation and its function in Thomism. Actually the book is an examination of the very foundations of Metaphysics and its relation to Epistemology. It is a marvellously brilliant piece of work being a penetrating appreciation of the very quintessence of Thomism from the viewpoint of the Platonic doctrine of Participation. Fr. Little had all almost uncanny knowledge of three great Philosophers - Plato, Aristotle, and St Thomas. He began by being fascinated by Plato and his MA thesis, for which he was awarded first place and First Class Honour's in the National University, was on “The Subconscious in the Philosophy of Plato”. He kept his love for Plato all through his years of study and it was only when he became a Professor in Tullabeg that the hard gemlike quality of Aristotle's works pushed his Platonism into the background. This was helped by Arthur's profound study of St Thomas. He seems to have followed the form of St Thomas's mind and opinions by following his commentaries on. Aristotle's philosophy.

He had an extraordinary familiarity with these seldom read works and I remember him, in the course of an argument referring me by memory to passages in those commentaries as an explanation of many passages in the Summa which are really unintelligible without a knowledge of those commentaries. In the 20's and 30's two great problems in Philosophy were being debated in Catholic circles on. the Continent of Europe : the problem of the natural desire of man for God and the problem of Participation. Fr Arthur was deeply interested in both of these problems. But actually without knowing about the literature which was gathering round the second of these problems in Italy, Germany and France, he himself made a very thorough research into the origin of the doctrine of Participation in St Thomas. There is, of course, a classical problem surrounding this question of the Participation of Being as developed by St Thomas. There is some evidence that St Thomas actually misinterpreted Aristotle on this question. But this is not certain. The real problem is, seeing that St Thomas criticised the text of Aristotle with complete intellectual integrity, how was it that with all the evidence in front of him for a correct interpretation, he yet overlooked the main errors of his author. Fr Little's belief was that the historical situation, which was indeed extremely critical for St Thomas and Aristotelianism, exercised a considerable influence on St Thomas's final explanation of Aristotle's text. But it was only after the war had ended that he discovered that three other Jesuits and a Dominican had all been working on the same problem.

He found that his own book was quite worthy to stand beside any of those published already on this subject.

At the time of his death he was writing a very characteristic series of articles on the History of Greek Philosophy. He had already published articles on Descartes and Leibniz and on existentialism as well as on the philosophical problems arising from the differential calculus. One of the minor pieces of writing of which he was inordinately, but very excusably, proud was his “Metaphysical Argument Against the Possibility of Immediate Action from a Distance” published in the Gregorianum.

Shortly after the close of the last war Fr Arthur was invited to occupy the Chair of Philosophy in the University at Malta. He looked forward with keen zeal to this new opportunity for his Philosophical Apostolate. A number of circumstances, however, delayed his taking up the position and in the summer of 1949 he fell seriously ill. He had been appointed only a month before to the Professorship of Theology at Milltown Park. His last illness was woefully protracted and he suffered considerable pain with his typical Arthurian self-discipline and courage. He spent the last months of his life in the same manner in which he lived, dividing his time between prayer, the preparation of his final work “The Platonic Heritage in Thomism”, and reading an occasional detective novel, a practice which, like all his other practices, was rigidly disciplined and confined to very definite hours of the day.

He died on the 5th December, 1949, the eve of Santa Claus, at a time when the right arm of his fellow-Jesuit, St Francis Xavier, was being venerated in Ireland. In a room close beside him lay dying also his brilliant fellow - Professor, Fr J E Canavan SJ, to whom Arthur in all probability owed the occasion for the “philosophical revelation” which came to him in 1934 in Tullabeg. They were both brilliant Metaphysicians, both poets, both wits and both men of whom the Society of Jesus might well be proud, both as saintly religious and as scholars. Within two months Fr Canavan had joined Fr Little to abandon philosophical speculation for the Beatific Vision.

Born: 25 July 1896, Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Entered: 08 September 1913, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1932
Died: 14 October 1982, Borgo Santo Spirito, Rome, Italy

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1921 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1924 in Australia - Regency

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
O'Connell, Daniel Joseph Kelly (1896–1982)
by Nick Lomb
Nick Lomb, 'O'Connell, Daniel Joseph Kelly (1896–1982)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oconnell-daniel-joseph-kelly-15389/text26596, published first in hardcopy 2012

astronomer; Catholic priest; seismologist

Died : 14 October 1982, Rome, Italy

Daniel Joseph Kelly O’Connell (1896-1982), Jesuit priest, astronomer and seismologist, was born on 25 July 1896 at Rugby, England, one of four children of Irish-born Daniel O’Connell (d.1905), Inland Revenue officer, and his English wife Rosa Susannah Helena, née Kelly (d.1907). Soon after the death of his mother, Daniel was sent to Clongowes Wood College, Dublin. At 17 he joined the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg and in 1915 entered his juniorate at Rathfarnham Castle. He majored in experimental physics and mathematics at University College, Dublin (B.Sc., 1919; M.Sc., 1920; D.Sc., 1949, National University of Ireland). Subsequently he studied philosophy at St Ignatius’ College, Valkenburg, the Netherlands, where he began watching variable stars, especially eclipsing binaries that were to become the main focus of his astronomical research.

O’Connell planned to attend the University of Cambridge but, due to a lung condition, he was advised to leave Britain. In 1922 he arrived at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Sydney; he did his regency, taught physics and the next year became assistant-director at the college’s observatory. He returned to Ireland in 1926 to complete his theological studies at Milltown Park, Dublin. Ordained on 31 July 1928, he undertook his tertianship at St Bueno’s College, Wales. In 1931 he travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, to study at the Harvard College Observatory with Harlow Shapley.

Back at Riverview Observatory in 1933, O’Connell became director in 1938. At the observatory his research included seismology and the measurement of time with various kinds of clocks, as well as astronomy in the field of variable stars using the newly developed technique of photographic photometry. In 1935 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales; he served on the RSNSW council (1946-49) and as vice-president (1950-52), and became an honorary member in 1953. He was chairman from 1946 of the board of visitors of Sydney Observatory. One of the friendships he established while in Australia was with (Sir) Richard Woolley, director of Mount Stromlo Observatory. O’Connell presented radio talks, including a series of three titled ‘According to Hoyle’ on the Australian Broadcasting Commission station 2BL-2NC in March and April 1952.

That year O’Connell was called to Rome as director of the Vatican Observatory. On 26 July he left Australia, arriving in time for the Rome meeting of the International Astronomical Union. He continued his work on eclipsing binary stars, again using photoelectric photometry. A leading expert in the field, he was president (1955-61) of the commission on photometric double stars of the IAU. He published The Green Flash and Other Low Sun Phenomena (1958), which included colour photographs proving that the phenomenon, sometimes seen at sunrise or sunset, was real and not subjective.

At the Vatican Observatory O’Connell built up the staff and installed a 60/90-cm Schmidt telescope that became the observatory’s largest instrument. As objective prisms were available, the telescope was used for spectroscopy. With leading scientists he organised two study weeks—one on stellar populations in 1957 and another on nuclei of galaxies in 1970—and published the proceedings. He had personal friendships with three popes, especially Pope Pius XII. In 1970 he retired from his observatory post but continued as president (1968-72) of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

O’Connell died on 14 October 1982 at the headquarters of the Society of Jesus in Rome. He is remembered mainly for his work on eclipsing binary stars and the ‘O’Connell effect’ that relates to the rotation of the major axis of the elliptical orbit of a double star.

Select Bibliography
D. Strong, The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-1998 (1999)
Irish Astronomical Journal, vol 15, no 4, 1982, p 347
D. O’Connell personal file (Society of Jesus, Australian Province Archives, Melbourne)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Daniel O'Connell's secondary education was at Clongowes College, Dublin. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, Ireland, 8 September 1913, and juniorate followed at Rathfarnham, 1915-20. He received his diploma in experimental physics and a Master of Science in mathematics at the University of Dublin, and later a doctorate in science from the Irish National University At this time he came under the influence of William O'Leary, the Irish Jesuit astronomer and seismologist, who at that time was director of Rathfarnham Castle Observatory in Dublin.
O’Connell then studied philosophy at Valkenburg, 1920-22, and did further tertiary studies in science, gaining first class honours in most subjects. It was while in Holland that he also pursued spare time astronomical studies under world famous Jesuit scientists like Michael Esch, expert on variable stars, Xavier Kugler, world authority on Assyriology and Babylonian astronomy; and Theodor Wulf world ranking physicist.
Regency followed as assistant director of the Riverview observatory, 1922-26, as well as physics master and second division prefect. At this time he undertook to advance the local study of solar radiation.
He went to theology at Milltown Park, Dublin 1926-29, and to tertianship at St Beuno's, Wales.
O'Connell studied from 1931-33 at Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was subsequently to have studied with the famous Sir Arthur Eddington. However, because of a lung condition, he returned to Australia, and then worked first as assistant director and later as director of the Riverview observatory 1933-52. Then he was appointed moderator of the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, Rome, 1953-70. He lived in the Jesuit Curia, Rome, and from 1974 was due president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
During the years that O'Connell was at Harvard, the observatory was at the centre of major developments in astronomical research and especially those that were to lead within
the next few decades to the notion of the expanding universe of galaxies. He was thus associated with such eminent astronomers as Harlow Shapley, Cecilia Payne Gaposhkin, and others. His principal occupation at Harvard, and a pursuit which continued for the rest of his life, was the study of variable stars; but he also became known as a keen card player, especially bridge.
On his way back to Australia he visited Mount Wilson and Lick observatories in California, and then went to Japan, China, Java and the Philippines, where he visited leading observatories and advanced his practical studies.
While at the Riverview Observatory, working under William O'Leary, and in addition to his study of variable stars, he developed a keen interest in seismology and in the measurement of time with various types of clocks. This latter focus led him into a lifelong interest in the calendar and calendar reform, a study that served him well in later decades since he was asked to advise popes on both calendar reform and the cycle of ecclesiastical feasts.
In 1935 he initiated the “Riverview Observatory Publications” which enjoyed international reputation. Later, he founded the “Reprint Series” and the “Geophysical Papers” that became also well known. In the field of astronomy, O'Connell worked on eclipsing stars and Cepheid variables For the latter he used photo-electric equipment. About 15 ,000 plates on variable stars were on file at the observatory.
In the field of seismology the observatory's programme included the regional study of earthquake waves and the relationship between earthquake waves and the interior of the earth
During World War II, O'Connell collaborated with the United States government in the location of earthquakes in the Pacific zone in relation to war strategy. This work continued after the war. Each week a cabled report was sent to the United States from Riverview. The Imperial War Graves Commission also consulted him concerning possible earthquake damage to war cemetery sites in the Pacific area.
In his role as director of the Vatican Observatory, he began a career of unique service to the Church that spanned the reign of three popes, and saw immense developments in astronomical research from the initial concept of various stellar populations to an expanding universe containing active galactic nuclei and quasars. On a few occasions he organised study weeks of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, at which these subjects were discussed, e.g. Stellar Populations in 1957, and Nuclei of Galaxies in 1970. As a result of these study weeks, two books were published, both edited by O'Connell, and they became classics of astronomical literature. From 1955-61 he was president of the Commission on Double Stars of the International Astronomical Union.
Of his many contacts with popes he served, his relationship with Pius XII was especially close. He frequently advised the Pope, himself a very keen and diligent student of the natural sciences, on topics of current scientific research. In was under Pius XII that the major modern research tool of the Vatican Observatory, the Schmidt telescope, planned under his predecessors but completed under O'Connell, was inaugurated and blessed. Pius XII often visited the observatory, and on one occasion viewed the launching of the Russian Sputnik.
Paul VI viewed the landing of the first man on the Moon with O'Connell over a specially installed television, and he advised the Pope on the technical details of the mission.
In the pursuit of his scientific research, O'Connell became a close friend and collaborator of an international community of astronomers. As director of the Riverview Observatory he went to Europe in 1948 to attend the first post-war meeting of the International Astronomical Union held at Zurich, and on that occasion visited many European observatories. His visit to Utrecht was noteworthy, for there he established a lifelong friendship with Professor Marcel Minnaert who later encouraged him to issue the now famous book on the Green Flash, which, published in collaboration with Brother Karl Trench SJ, provides excellent documentation on optical effects that occur in the Earth's atmosphere when the sun is rising or setting.
However, O'Connell was best known in the international community of astronomers for his research on double stars. He discovered an effect, since known as the “O'Connell Effect”,
concerning the rotation of the line of the apsides (the major aids of the double star's ellipticalorbit). The discovery of this effect was typical of the scientific work of O'Connell. lt required a long period of painstaking observations and careful analyses over many years.
In addition to his membership in the academies and institutes already mentioned, O’Connell was a member of the National Research Council of Australia, and an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy He was also a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales, publishing three papers on earthquakes and the Galitzin seismograph. He served on council, 1946-49, and was vice-president, 1950-52. He became an honorary member of the Society in 1953.
O'Connell retired as director of the Vatican Observatory in 1970. He was president of the Pontifical Academy of Science, 1968-72. While he was an indefatigable worker and consequently very jealous of his time, he still treasured his friends immensely, and was always nurturing new friendships. Even during his last years, when he was largely bedridden, he developed new friendships among old and young alike. The students at Riverview remembered him for showing groups of boys the Moon, planets and the stars on clear nights and for his unfailing gracious word and cheery smile for staff and students.
Many were the nights that, under the then clear skies over Castel Gandolfo. O'Connell climbed the stairs to the telescope atop the papal palace passing die plaque inscribed “Deum Creatorurn Venite Adoremus. He was very intelligent, hardworking and always a gentleman genuine international Jesuit.

Note from Noel Burke-Gaffney entry
1950 He was appointed Director of the Observatory at Riverview after Daniel O’Connell was appointed to the Vatican Observatory

Note from William O’Leary Entry
He remained at Riverview until his death in 1939, directing the observatory until 1937 when Daniel O'Connell became director

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.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948
Fr. Daniel O'Connell of the Vice-province visited Ireland after an absence of many years, early in September: He has had a very busy time since he left Australia : he did some astronomical work at Leyden before going to the Vatican Observatory where he spent 6 weeks ; he attended a Meeting at Zurich of the International Astronomical Union and then went on to Oslo for the Congress of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. He has been invited to lecture to the Irish Astronomical Society at Armagh and to be the guest of Dr. Lindsay, Director of the Armagh Observatory, who is a good friend of his since the Harvard days when they spent two years together at that Observatory. Fr. O'Connell is due to sail for the United States from Southampton on 6th November and will spend some months at Harvard Observatory before returning to Australia.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
On 6th November Fr. Daniel O'Connell, of the Vice-province, who during his stay in Ireland gave evidence in Fr. Sullivan's cause, left Southampton for U.S.A. on 6th November.
Irish Province News 58th Year No 1 1983
Obituary
Fr Daniel O'Connell (1896-1913-1982) (Australia)

I met Dan O'Connell for the first time when I went to the noviciate, then in Tullabeg. I found him a quiet novice but a very pleasant companion. We both went to Rathfarnham and were together in our First Arts year (1916-17). He was a brilliant and highly intelligent man. He took a keen interest in Fr William O’Leary's seismograph, which stood in Rathfarnham grounds, and frequently inspected it with him.
We parted company in 1920, when he went to Valkenburg for philosophy while I followed the subject in Milltown. Two years later we were both posted to Australia. We did not travel there together but met in Riverview College, Sydney, where we spent our regency. In Riverview was the Irish Jesuit, Fr Edward Pigot, who had an astronomical observatory, in which Dan became keenly interested, Fr Pigot himself had erected this observatory and fitted it out with a strong telescope for watching the various stars at night. He was also an accomplished pianist and taught Dan the piano.
In 1926 Dan followed me to Milltown for theology. Together we were ordained there by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Edward J. Byrne. Later, whenever Fr Dan came back to Dublin, he stayed with Dr Byrne's successor, Dr John Charles McQuaid, who was a great friend of his, as they had been classmates in Clongowes. Twenty or so years after Fr Dan's return to Riverview, he was called to Rome to take charge of the Vatican observatory, and ended his days in Rome.

The summary notice, taken from L'Osservatore Romano (16th October 1982) and transmitted by Frs Joseph Costelloe and John P. Leonard of the General Curia, fills in some of the external details of Fr O’Connell’s life:
"Yesterday evening, Thursday, 14th October, Fr Daniel O’Connell, former Director of the Vatican Observatory and ex-President Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, died after a long illness in the infirmary of the Jesuit General Curia in Rome.
Born in Rugby, Great Britain, in 1896, he had entered the Society of Jesus in Ireland in 1913. After completing his studies in physics and mathematics at the University College, Dublin, he spent two years of special studies at the Harvard College Observatory in Cam bridge, Massachusetts, between 1931 and 1933.
He then became Director of the Riverview College Observatory in Australia, where he remained until 1952, when he was appointed Director of the Vatican Observatory, which he directed until 1970. From 1968 until 1972, he was, by the appointment of Paul VI, President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Known for his scientific labours, especially for his researches on double stars - an area in which he discovered a particular effect named after him - Fr O'Connell was a member of many international societies, including The National Research Council of Australia, The Royal Academy of Ireland, and The Royal Society of New South Wales”

Frs George V Coyne and Martin F McCarthy SJ, of the Vatican Observatory brought out a glossy four-page printed leaflet (of A4-size page) as a memorial to their fellow-astronomer and fellow-Jesuit. Five of the photographs therein show Fr O’Connell greeting in turn four recent Popes, including the present one. An interesting account is also given of his astronomical work. The editor of IPN has at his disposal at least one photocopy of this leaflet, which he will gladly send to any contemporary of Fr Dan’s or to any other interested person who might like to have it.
Fr Dan O’Connell contributed two articles to the New Catholic Encyclopedia: “Calendar reform” and “Vatican Observatory”. He featured in past numbers of The Clongownian: 1953, pp. 9-12, “Astronomer and seismologist”; 1968, pp. 42-3; 1974, p. 33 (copy of an autographed letter to him from Paul VI).

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 86 : July 1996

Obituary
Fr Daniel O’Connell (1896-1982)
Like William Keane, Daniel O'Connell was a brilliant student who devoted his life to the Lord's work in the Society. He was born at Rugby, England, on 25th July to an Irish father and English mother, At the age of 12 when his parents died, he went to Ireland and completed his secondary education at Clongowes College; in view of his examination results, I presume that he was Dux of his class, as William Keane had been. One of his masters was Henry Johnston, and one of his fellow students was John Charles McQuaid, later a famous Archbishop of Dublin. At the age of 17, he entered the novitiate of the Irish Province at Tullabeg on August 8th, 1913. A fellow novice described him as 'quiet but a very pleasant companion', qualities noted in him throughout his later life which were to win him many friends.

It may be remarked, incidentally, that although he was related to the Liberator' he was called Daniel after another member of the family.
University Studies
University studies were at the National University of Ireland where he did a brilliant scientific course with first class honours in experimental physics and mathematics, ending with a Master of Science. With other scholastics he would have commuted to the University from Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate residence and later retreat house. In its grounds was a seismograph, erected by Fr. William O'Leary, who was later to take over from Fr. Pigot as Director of the Riverview Observatory. Daniel took a keen interest in this, a fact which was not lost on Fr. O'Leary who was later to choose him as their designate'. For Philosophy, Daniel was sent to Valkenburg in Holland where the German Provinces had their house of studies, having been driven out of Germany by Bismarck's Kulturkampf. Here he pursued part-time studies in astronomy under important German Jesuit scientists. Arrangements had been made for him to enter Cambridge University to study relativity under Sir Arthur Eddington but he experienced a breakdown in health, had lung trouble, and was sent to Australia to recuperate and do Regency. He taught at the observatory in 1923 under Fr. Pigot. The latter was also a fine pianist and taught Daniel the piano.

In 1926 Daniel returned to Ireland for theology, studied at Milltown Park and was ordained on July 31st, 1928 by the then Archbishop of Dublin. Tertianship was at St. Beuno's, Wales(1930-1931).

Further Studies
Destined now to become a professional astronomer, Daniel returned to Australia and the Observatory but the following year went to Harvard for further studies and research at its Observatory, then a great centre of research under Howard Sharpley and others. His principal occupation there was the study of variable stars which he continued throughout life and through which he made his name as an astronomer. In 1948 he was awarded a doctorate in science from the National University of Ireland for outstanding services to astronomy, but he also became interested in seismology and the measurement of time with various types of clocks. (These and other scientific details are taken from a brief memorial bulletin published by the Vatican Observatory after Daniel's death in 1982.)

Riverview Observatory (1933-1952)
After visiting other observatories, he returned to Riverview as Assistant Director of the Observatory, taking over from Fr. O'Leary in 1938 when the latter died on the Riverview golf course. (Fr. O'Leary is remembered at Riverview as the inventor of a Free Pendulum clock of superb accuracy which used to stand in the corridor outside the Rector's room in the old building.)

The Observatory received a small grant (£450 in 1939) from the Australian government. When Daniel took over and for a number of years afterwards it had the only fully equipped seismological station in Australia and its reports appeared in the local papers whenever a major earthquake occurred. Its astronomical work consisted mainly in the photographing of variable stars, a work which Daniel carried out himself in the hours of darkness when others were asleep. The increasing illumination of the skies above Sydney rendered this more and more difficult but he managed to make 20,000 plates over the years.

During his years at the Observatory Daniel became a highly respected figure in astronomical circles in Australia and elsewhere, becoming, for instance, a Fellow of the Royal astronomical Society among other memberships. But he was no remote scholar. He had a gift for popularizing science when this was needed and he was called on occasionally by the ABC for broadcasts. When Fred Hoyle (of Steady State fame) delivered a number of lectures on the BBC on “The Nature of the Universe” Daniel was asked to give three lectures on the ABC on the same topic. He called his lectures “According to Hoyle” and made it very clear that his distinguished counterpart was wrong in dismissing the Creator from the origin of things. Hoyle, who must be a very old man now, is said to be now more in favour of creation, impressed by the 'fine tuning' of the universe.

Riverview
While Daniel did not teach, he was an object lesson to the boys that science and religion could be reconciled. He was also a familiar and friendly priest, whose sermons they listened to in the chapel with more than usual attention. He could get down to their level. There were occasional guided tours of the Observatory - I had some myself when I was at Riverview as a scholastic 1947-1949. He was also a 'good community man'. The only thing that annoyed him was noise, and most particularly the lowing of Brother O'Brien's cows which disturbed his sleep by day after a night of observation. But he did not have recourse to the 'ultimate deterrent' of shooting one or two. He bore it cheerfully enough as he did the loneliness of much of his work. I think of him as a very dedicated, kindly person.

Vatican Observatory
In 1952 news came that Daniel had been appointed Director of the Vatican Observatory located at the papal summer residence at Castelgandolfo in the hills 16 miles from Rome. His appointment was a 'most strict secret', which he observed most faithfully, but it was leaked out over in Rome so he was embarrassed by people asking him if it were true. Due to illness and the necessity of taking up the appointment quickly, he had little time to say goodbye to his many friends in Australia. He left by ship on July 26th, 1952, bringing to an end almost a quarter of a century at Riverview and its Observatory, both of which remained very dear to him.

From 1952 until his retirement in 1970 he was Director at the Vatican Observatory. He was President of the Pontifical Academy of Science from 1968 to 1972. He served three Popes and had close personal relations with them. Over the years he published a number of books (e.g. The Green Flash, Stellar Populations, Nuclear Galaxies) and many papers. The Vatican Observatory gave him much greater scope than he would have had at Riverview. He could do better work and was in contact with a wider group of scientists. There were times when he lamented that he had never given a retreat, but his was a full-time ministry.

Retirement (1970 - 1982)
His health, never very robust, gave him increasing problems so he had ultimately to retire from the Observatory and come to live in Rome at our Curia. The Pope wanted him to stay in Rome and keep in touch with the Pontifical Academy. In August 1973 he was allowed to make a trip to Australia to attend a conference and make contact. Of course, he had always kept in touch and delighted to meet Australian Jesuits studying in Rome. I have very happy memories of meeting with him during the 32nd General Congregation. He had a great memory for the Australian brethren and even for the boys he had known at Riverview.

His health became worse and worse so that for the last two years he was practically bed-ridden. He died in the infirmary at the Curia on October 13th, 1982. The notice in the Osservatore Romano mentioned that he had bore his long illness with marvellous serenity and was comforted by the special blessing of the Holy Father, John Paul II. One can only say that the papal blessing was richly deserved - Daniel O'Connell had been a very faithful servant of the Church in the difficult field of science.
With similar talents and in different ways, William Keane and Daniel O'Connell made very significant contributions to the work of the Province and the Society. As they were men who shared their wisdom with others we may trust that they will shine like stars for all eternity (Book of Daniel, 12:3)
John Begley
Australian Province Taken from “Jesuit Life” Newsletter

◆ The Clongownian, 1953
Astronomer and Seismologist
Father Daniel O’Connell SJ
THE appointment of Father Daniel O'Connell SJ, director of Riverview Observatory, New South Wales, Australia, since 1938, as Director of the Vatican Observatory in Rome, climaxes a long and eminent career as astronomer and seismologist.
Father O'Connell enjoys world repute as a scientist and he has contributed much to the high reputation enjoyed by the famous Jesuit observatory at Riverview.
He holds the Doctorate of Science of the National University of Ireland and the Docotrate of Philosophy of the Gregorian University of Rome, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
He was born near Rugby, England, in 1896, of an Irish father, a civil servant and a native of County Limerick, and an English mother. He had two brothers and one sister, all of whom are still living. He went to Ireland as a boy of 12, following the death of his parents, completed his schooling at Clongowes Wood College, and entered the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg at the age of 17.
His family has a 600-years-old affinity with that of “The Liberator”. He was not, however, called after “The Liberator”. The Christian name, Daniel, was traditional in his family.

His first introduction to astronomy was a year's private study with the late Father W O'Leary SJ, a famous Irish Jesuit astronomer and seismologist, who at that stage was Director of the Rathfarnham Observatory from 1929 to 1938. He began by setting up some telescopes at Rathfarnham, largely as a hobby.

Father O'Connell completed his MSc degree at University College, Dublin, in 1920, after a brilliant course of study, specialising in Mathematics and Experimental Plıysics. He topped all his examinations, graduated with first-class honoura, and was awarded a travelling student ship in Mathematics. Whilst he was still an undergraduate he was in charge of the Rathfarnham station for several years after the departure of Father O'Leary.

He completed his philosophical studies at the Jesuit House at Valkenburg, in Holland, where he also pursued spare time astronomical studies under world famous Jesuit scientists like Father Michael Esch SJ, expert on variable stars; Father Franz Xavier Kugler SJ, world authority on Assyriology and Babylonian astronomy, and Father Theodor Wulfe SJ, world-ranking physicist.

Arrangements had been made for him to enter Cambridge University on a travelling scholarship where he would have studied relativity under Eddington, when he experienced a breakdown in health and was sent to Australia by his superiors to recuperate. Prior to this, he had never dreamt of going to Australia, had thought little about that country, and had few friends there.

An interesting and significant incident occurred whilst he was studying at Valkenburg. Seemingly for no apparent reason, Father Edward Pigot SJ, Founder of Riverview Observatory, appeared at the college one day during a visit to Europe. The young Jesuit student met the veteran and conversed with him. He was later invited to accompany him to the railway station to see him off. Just before he boarded his train, Father Pigot mentioned that his real reason for coming was to see the future Director of Riverview and to “look him over”. It was no surprise when he later sought him as his assistant.

Father O'Connell was appointed to St Ignatius College, Riverview as teacher of physics and assistant to the Director of the Observatory, Father Pigot. Father O'Connell is still happy to recall that another assignment in the early days was that of sports master at St Ignatius. In 1923 he was appointed assistant director of the observatory, and one of the first tasks he undertook in his new post was to advance the local study of solar radiation.

Father O'Connell returned to Dublin in 1926 to complete his theological studies and was ordained at Milltown Park by Archbishop Byrne in 1928. After two more years of theological studies he com pleted his tertianship in St Beuno's College, Wales.

During 1931 to 1933, Father O'Connell was a member of the staff of the Harvard University Observatory, renowned for its work on variable stars, where he completed post-graduate studies and research on variable stars and other aspects of astronomy. He published numerous papers in Harvard publications, and has since acknowledged that his work at Harvard was the foundation of his later contribution to astronomy.

During his stay in the United States Father O'Connell visited Mount Wilson and Lick Observatories in California before returning to Australia via Japan, China, Java and the Philippines, where he visited leading observatories and advanced his practical studies. The Lembang Observatory in Java was one that held special interest for him.

Father O'Connell resumed his work at Riverview Observatory at the end of 1933. In 1935 he initiated the “Riverview Observatory Publications”, which now enjoy an international reputation. Later he also founded the observatory's “Geophysical Papers” and “Reprint Series”, which are also known and used internationally. In 1948 Father O'Connell spent 10 months in Europe. He was the Australian delegate at the conference of the International Astronomical Union at Zurich and that of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics at Oslo. He spent six weeks at the Vatican Observatory and visited other leading observatories of Europe.

During World War II, Father O'Conneil, working at the Riverview Observatory collaborated with the United States Government in the location of earthquakes in the Pacific zone in relation to war strategy. This work was carried on in the post-war period and is still taking place. Each week a cabled report in code is sent to the United States from Riverview. He was also consulted by the Imperial War Graves Commission concerning possible earthquake damage to war cemetery sites in the Pacific area.

In 1948 Father O'Connell received his Doctorate of Science from the National University of Ireland in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science.

Father O'Connell is a member of leading Australian and overseas societies and other organisations, and has contributed numerous research papers and other writings to their publications and proceedings.

He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the international Astronomical Union, Fellow of the Royal Astromomical Society, Vice-President of the Royal Society of New South Wales, member of the National Research Council of Australia and the National Committee on Astronomy, Geophysics and Calendar reform; Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Commonwealth Observatory, Mount Stromio; Australian representative on the Committee for Seismology of the Pacific Science Commission and member of many other scientific councils and committees in Australia. Father O'Connell resigned from 19.Boards and Committees..

Under Father O'Connell's direction, the Riverview Observatory has conducted a programme of continuous research that has been responsible for important discoveries. In the field of astronomy, eclipsing stars and cepheid variables have received special study. The photographic photometry of these stars has been one of the main aspects of the observatory's programme. Hundreds of new variable stars have been discovered, and much original research has been completed on known stars. About 15,000 plates are on file in the observatory.

Variable stars are those which are con stantly changing in brightness. Another star may move in front of them, they may expand or contract becoming hotter and brighter.

Knowledge of variable stars is highly important and basic to progress in modern astronomy. But for a knowledge of cepheid stars, for example, scientists would not have the faintest notion of the size of the universe,

One of Father O'Connell's latest activities was the use of photo-electric equipment in relation to variable stars.

Father O'Connell is reassured by the knowledge that this and other phases of the work at Riverview will continue and, naturally, it is his hope that necessary staff and equipment will be forthcoming. The fact that the direction will be in the hands of Father Burke-Gaffney gives Father O'Connell confidence in the future work and role of the observatory. Father O'Connell has taken some material on southern stars with him to Rome for completion.

In the field of seismology, the observatory's programme has included the regional study of earthquakes and the relation ship between earthquake waves and the interior of the earth.

The publications of Riverview Observatory are an important aspect of the work. They include four series - the “Seismological Bulletins”, which have appeared since 1909, the “Riverview Observatory Publications”, which began in 1935, the “Reprint” series, which date back to 1936, and the “Geophysical Papers”, which were founded in 1946. All of them are circulated and read all over the world.

The Riverview Observatory, which progressed under Father O'Connell, has never been anything but first-rate. It inherited this tradition from its founder and it was maintained by later directors. Complete accuracy has always been its aim, and all of its work has proved to be as careful and painstaking as human processes can ensure. Its equipment has always been the best available and its overhead has growii in dimension as well.

Father O'Connell left Sydney by slip for Rome on July 26 to take up his net post.

It distressed him that he was unable to make a personal farewell to many of his friends before he left Australia, due to the fact that he was confined to bed until the day before his ship sailed.
The Catholic Weekly (Sydney)

◆ The Clongownian, 1983
Obituary
Father Daniel Joseph Kelly O’Connell SJ
On October 14, 1982, the Jesuit order lost one of the best known of its modern scientists, the internationally acclaimed astronomer: Father Daniel J K O'Connell SJ. After several years of serious and confining sickness, Father O'Connell died peacefully among his Jesuit brothers at the order's headquarters in Rome, where he had settled after his retirement in 1970. In addition to directing the Vatican Observatory from 1952 to 1970, he was President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from 1968 to 1972 and President of the Commission on Double Stars of the International Astronomical Union from 1955 to 1961. He served three popes and had close personal relationships with all of them.

Born in Rugby, England, in 1896, he entered the Jesuit order in Ireland in 1913. He received his diploma in experimental physics and a Master of Science degree in mathematics at University College Dublin, and later a Doctorate in Science from the National University of Ireland. He studied from 1931 to 1933 at the Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was subsequently to have studied with the famous Sir Arthur Eddington. However, because of a lung condition, Jesuit superiors, in order to provide him with a more favourable climate, assigned him to the Riverview College Observatory, Sydney, Australia, where he became director in 1938.

During the years that Father O'Connell was at Harvard, the observatory was at the centre of the major developments in astronomical research and especially those which were to lead within the next few decades to the notion of the expanding universe of galaxies. He was thus associated with such eminent astronomers as Harlow Shapley, Cecilia Payne Gaposhkin, and others. His principal occupation at Harvard, a pursuit which he continued for the rest of his life, was the study of variable stars; but he also became known as a keen card player, especially at bridge. In fact, a story is told of how two young graduate students were duped into an evening of bridge against Father O'Connell and the famous cosmologist Abbé Georges Lemaitre on the occasion of a visit which the latter paid to the Harvard College Observatory. The students, not knowing the true identity of their challengers except that they gave a distinct impression of being neophytes at bridge, since they were overheard explaining to one another in broken English and French the names of the cards, were a bit embarrassed to accept the challenge for fear of crushing opponents to whom they were expected to show at least respectful deference. After a long evening of play the students, soundly defeated and thoroughly deflated, approached the famous Harlow Shapley for an explanation. His only remark to them was that the game must have been both an honest and an intelligent one, at least on the part of the two older gentlemen, since both of them were on the one hand Catholic priests and on the other eminent scientists.

While at the Riverview College Observatory, in addition to his study of variable stars, Father O'Connell, under the tutelage of the famous Father Wm O'Leary SJ, developed a keen interest in seismology and in the measurement of time with various types of clocks. This latter pursuit led him into a life long interest in the calendar and calendar reform, a study which served him well in later decades, since he was asked to advise popes on calendar reform and the cycle of ecclesiastical feasts.

Called to be director of the Vatican Observatory in 1952, Father O'Connell began a career of unique service to the Church which spanned the reign of three popes and saw immense developments in astronomical research from the initial concept of various stellar populations to an expanding universe containing active galactic nuclei and quasars, In fact, during his directorship, once near the beginning and once at the end, Father O'Connell organized Study Weeks of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at which some of the world's most capable astronomers discussed the topics respectively of Stellar Populations (1957) and Nuclei of Galaxies (1970). As a result of these Study Weeks two books were published, both edited by Father O'Connell, which have become classics of astronomical literature.

Of his many contacts with the popes he served, his relationship with Pope Pius XII was an especially close one. He frequently advised the pope, himself a very keen and diligent student of the natural sciences, on topics of current scientific research. The International Astronomical Society held its triennial meeting in Rome in 1952, the same year that Father O'Connell came as director to the Vatican Observatory. At an audience and reception given by the Pope, the first opportunity was given to the pontiff to appreciate what a qualified representative the Church had in Father O'Connell as an interpreter of the Church's aspirations to the culture of science. It was under Pius XII that the major modern research tool of the Vatican Observatory, the Schmidt telescope, planned under his predecessors but completed under Father O'Connell, was inaugurated and blessed. Pope Pius XII often visited the observatory and, in fact, as a gesture of his interest, came to view through the Schmidt telescope with Father O'Connell on the night when the Space Age was born with the launching of the Russian Sputnik.

Pope John XXIII showed a special affection for Father O'Connell and the observatory staff and not infrequently paid visits to Father O'Connell's office, which was located directly above the Pope's private study. At the time of the landing of the first man on the moon, Father O'Connell had the privilege of viewing the event with Pope Paul VI over a specially installed television and he advised the Pope on the technical details of the mission.

In the pursuit of his scientific research, Father O'Connell was a close friend and collaborator of an international community of astronomers. As director of the Riverview College Observatory, he came to Europe in 1948 to attend the first postwar meeting of the International Astronomical Union held at Zurich, and on that occasion he visited many European observatories. His visit to Utrecht was noteworthy, for there he established a life long friendship with Professor Minnaert who later encouraged him to issue the now famous book on the Green Flash, which, published in collaboration with Brother Karl Treusch SJ, provides excellent documentation on optical effects which occur in the earth's atmosphere when the sun is rising or setting. However, Father O'Connell was best known in the inter national community of astronomers for his research on double stars. He discovered an effect - since known as the “O'Connell Effect”, concerning the rotation of the line of the apsides (the major axis of the double star's elliptical orbit). The discovery of this effect was typical of the scientific work of Father O'Connell. It required a long period of pains taking observations and careful analyses over many years.

In addition to his membership in the academies and institutes mentioned above, Father O'Connell was a member of the National Research Council of Australia, and an honorary member of both the Royal Society of New South Wales and of the Royal Irish Academy

While he was an indefatigable worker and consequently very jealous of his time, he still treasured immensely his friends and was, as a matter of fact, always nurturing new friend ships. Even during his last years, when he was largely bedridden, he developed new friend ships among old and young alike. There was never an international scientific conference attended by Vatican astronomers in the Rome area where the participants failed to request to pay a visit to Father O'Connell. Many were the nights that, under the then clear skies over Castle Gandolfo, Father O'Connell climbed the stairs to the telescope atop the papal palace passing the plaque inscribed thus: Deum Creatorem Venite Adoremus. In serving many, of high and low station alike, he was serving but One, the Creator of all that he observed. For that Daniel Joseph Kelly O'Connell, sj. has been called to his Father and we are happy for him.

George V Coyne SJ (Maryland) and Martin F McCarthy SJ (New England), Vatican Observatory.

Born: 29 November 1876, Pallasgreen, County Limerick
Entered: 13 August 1892, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 01 August 1909, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 15 April 1957, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1898 at St Aloysius, Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1901
by 1911 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick O'Brien entered the Society in 1892, and for regency went to Xavier College in 1900 as hall prefect and teacher. In 1901 he moved to Riverview as assistant prefect of discipline, and worked with the senior students. For three years he edited the “Alma Mater”.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 32nd Year No 3 1957

Obituary :
Fr Patrick O'Brien (1876-1957)
After a brief illness Fr. O’Brien died at Milltown Park on Monday, 15th April, Though on his feet till the end, he had been feeling unwell, with a little chest and stomach trouble, for a week or so. This had not prevented him saying Mass each day, including Palm Sunday, the day before his death. Typical of his intense devotion to the Blessed Eucharist, and of his meticulous regard for the rubrics, was the earnestness with which he sought and found a way to say the Palm Sunday Mass without overtaxing his strength by the long Gospel. Years before, he recalled, when confessor to the late Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Byrne, he had been able to produce for the ailing prelate an opinion of the moralists by which a priest in bad health could say the Mass in question, by substituting a short Gospel for the Passion. The fact that the opinion had as it were been canonised by the Archbishop of the diocese did not seem enough to Fr. O’Brien, till he had traced it once more, in spite of increasing feebleness, to Ojetti and Lehmkuhl. Only then did he allow himself to make use of it for his own benefit, The next day, Monday, he felt too weak to say Mass, and sent for the brother infirmarian. A short while later, another attack of the digestive troubles which - had been a burden nearly all his life, overtaxed his heart, and he passed away quickly and peacefully. He received the last rites of the Church. He was nearly eighty-one years of age.
Fr. O’Brien was three months short of sixteen when he entered the noviceship at Tullabeg in 1892: he was born on 13th August, 1876, at Pallasgreen, Co. Limerick. His thin frail frame, especially as it appeared in later life, seemed to belie his origin in the Golden Vale, but there was a wiry energy in it which carried him through many years of indifferent health with a vigour and diligence which did honour to the rich pastures of his native heath. He had been a brilliant student at the Crescent College, and after his noviceship took up at once the task of teaching “Ours” which was to be the main occupation of his life. Having helped his fellow-Juniors with the Latin and Greek which were so signally mastered by the older members of the Province, he went on to Jersey for philosophy, and so took with him French as well as Classics on his career of teaching in Australia. Those were the days when ordination seemed to be the reward of a well-spent life, and so for six years, at Kew College, Melbourne and Riverview College, Sydney, he did his bit to set the Mission on its way to being an independent Vice-Province: He came back to Milltown for theology in 1906, and was ordained in 1909. His tertianship was in Belgium, at Tronchiennes, after which he returned to teaching Classics, for a year at Clongowes and a year once more in Tullabeg with the Juniors. He then came as Minister and Minister of Juniors to Rathfarnham, in 1913, when the Juniorate moved to within range of the University.
Fr. O’Brien returned to Milltown Park, where he was to spend the last forty three years of his life, in 1914. For four years he taught the Short Course of theology till, in 1918, he was asked to take on philosophy with the students whom the war had brought back from Stonyhurst. For the next seven years he was Minister of philosophers, and lectured in Ethics and Theodicy. In 1925, he took over the editing of the Ordo, which he continued with unflagging zeal and precision till his death. He was lecturing in psychology when, towards the end of 1929, he became director of the Retreat House, an office which he held for nine years, during which he did some of the most fruitful and far-reaching work of his life. When the late Fr. Hannon was appointed Visitor of the Irish Christian Brothers in 1938, the ever-versatile and pliable Fr. O’Brien took over the De Ecclesia tract in theology. He relinquished this office “de jure” in 1946, but except for a few brief periods, held it in fact almost continually till the summer before he died.
Methodical, precise, painstaking and utterly devoted to his duty: this is how students and retreatants saw Fr. O'Brien, and it is hard to praise too highly the self-sacrificing diligence with which he threw himself into each new task of his long and varied life. One of his pupils remembers him in the days of his youth : “His lesson was all animation. He threw all he had, gesture, expression, concentration, appeals, into the effort of getting his point across. And how delighted he was when he saw his point was grasped!” Right to the end, even in the new fields of positive knowledge to which De Ecclesia called him, after a life-time of scholastic speculation and preaching, he was labouring to master fully his new subject. Students who received from him the succinct, clarified, almost dehydrated product of his research, sometimes failed to appreciate the work that had gone into his lectures. But Fr. O’Brien was not content to repeat the text-books at second-hand. Take for instance the famous case of Pope Honorius. For his own satisfaction, as well as for the sake of scholarly integrity, he had read up the original Greek acts of the sixth General Council: he was the first to cut those pages of the Mansi edition which Milltown had acquired in 1936. He read in fact every work available to him on the treatise De Ecclesia, and if he seemed to demand almost too much precision from exam candidates, it was because he was not content with loose thought or slovenly expression on vital subjects. On the other hand, he was lavish with praise for students who had done well, and went out of his way to congratulate them on a good showing.
Some of his best work was done as Director of Retreats at Milltown. For nine years he carried the Retreat House almost single-handed, giving nearly all the priests' and laymen's retreats, even when priests' retreats lasted from Monday to Saturday, and began again the next Monday with a week-end retreat in between. Age did not wither him nor custom stale his infinite variety: he was for ever preparing new matter for the retreatants who clamoured for his services, and his clear, direct and inspiring lectures were matched by a rare quality of direction in the confessional. For many years after he had had to give up the retreats, priests and laymen returned to him year after year for confession. It is said that the praise of the Dublin priests had him named confessor to Archbishop Byrne, while one Irish bishop sent specially for him to prepare him for death. Many laymen felt they owed him so much that they could refuse him nothing, and Fr. O'Brien used their gratitude to establish many young people in business or professions, with a charity which never tired of being helpful. For the best part of twenty years, the Irish Province had the benefit of his expert services on the Ordo, and only the initiated will know the enormous extra labour which he readily undertook when nearly eighty, as the new papal decrees made radical changes in the saying of Mass and Breviary.
Though beset all his life by weak health, Fr. O'Brien was a whole-time, whole hearted worker, “as long as it was day”. In the last years of his life, when a short-handed Milltown depended so much on him, he had to husband his strength carefully. But it was always there when he was called upon; and he was a cheerful giver. He never lost his keen sense of humour, and many of his witty remarks have already passed into oral tradition. He was very gentle and kind, unassuming and retiring, a delightful conversationalist and a loyal friend, though an enemy of all that was pompous, superficial and finicky. His deep faith and warm piety were more conspicuous than ever in recent years, when he could nourish it with new developments in the theology of the Mass and Mystical Body. His many friends and indeed the whole Irish Province will hold the memory of this good worker in benediction.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Patrick O'Brien SJ 1876-1957
In the death of Fr Patrick O’Brien, the Province lost one of its most lovable, most quote characters and an inveterate worker up to his death.

For all his life as a Jesuit, he was a professor and teacher of Ours, of Juniors, Philosophers and Theologians. For well on nine years he carried on the Retreat House at Milltown single-handed and it was there he earned his reputation as a confessor which cause him to be appointed by the Archbishop of Dublin to be his own personal confessor, and to cause another Bishop to send for him to prepare him for death.

For twenty years he edited the Ordo for the Irish Province, and never was a work done so meticulously, so lovingly and with such professional pride. It was seldom indeed that one found an error in Fr O’Brien’s Ordo.

He was extremely witty and a master of the “mot just”. His lectures and conversation were rendered the more interesting and animated by his unique gestures of face and hands.

This for 65 years as a Jesuit did Fr O'Brien devote himself ceaselessly to his work for God. He died rich in good works on April 5th 1957.

Born: 31 July 1865, Borrisokane, County Tipperary
Entered: 26 October 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 02 August 1896, St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 September 1902
Died: 03 July 1915, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1893 at Cannes France (FRA) for health
by 1898 in Collège Sainte Famille, Cairo, Egypt (LUGD) working
by 1900 at Castres France (TOLO) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1900

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Tullabeg.

1897 After Ordination he was in delicate health and so he was sent to Cairo for some years.
He later did Tertianship at Castres.
1901 He was in Australia and stationed at Riverview.
He spent most of his time at the Parish in Norwood, where he was Superior in 1905 for five years, and again in 1913. He died in Office somewhat suddenly 03 July 1915.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Daniel O'Brien entered the Society at Milltown Park, 26 October 1882, was a junior and philosopher there, and then did regency at Clongowes, 1888-92. Ill health, presumably consumption, caused him to spent time in Cairo and Cannes, and he completed theology at Milltown Park, 1893-97. Tertianship was at Castres, Toulouse province, 1899-1900.
He was sent to Australia in 1900, and after a few years living at Riverview, went to the parish of Norwood where he lived for the rest of his life. He was superior and parish priest twice, 1905-10 and 1913-15. He was still superior when he died.

◆ The Clongownian, 1916

Obituary

Father Daniel O’Brien SJ

The news of the death of the Very Rev D E O'Brien SJ, Superior of the Jesuits at Norwood, early on Saturday morning, July 3rd, 1915, came as a great shock not only to the people of that extensive parish, but to the Catholic community generally. Few priests were better known or more be loved than Fr Dan O'Brien of Norwood, and the crowded congregation at the Requiem Office and Mass at Norwood on Monday morning and the large attendance at the funeral, were evidence of the sincere sorrow felt at his too early demise. It had been known to his friends for a long time that Fr O'Brien suffered from heart disease and asthma, and that his death might occur suddenly, though he was usually active and able to attend to his duties. He took to his bed only on the Thursday. On Friday night the symptoms became alarming, and he expired in the early hours of Saturday morning, at “Manresa”, the Jesuit house at Norwood.

The late Fr. O'Brien was born in Tipperary in 1865. He studied at Tullabeg College, Ireland, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1882. He taught in Clongowes College, and spent some time in the South of France. After finishing his philosophy and theology studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, he was ordained in 1897, and was for some years chaplain to troops in Cairo. He afterwards came to Australia and, with the exception of a short time he spent in the eastern States, he spent all his time in Norwood, where he laboured for upwards of 14 years. During that time he held the position of Superior, with the exception of the term during which Fr Roney SJ acted in that capacity. He was practically the priest in charge at Norwood during the whole of that time. His kindly, genial, and charitable disposition endeared him to all, and his death is very keenly felt.

“Southern Cross” (Adelaide), July gtb, 1915.

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: 27 April 1853, Portland, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 07 June 1872, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Ordained: 1885, St Beuno's, Wales
Final vows: 15 August 1887
Died: 02 February 1925, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 01 January 1901

Brother of Saint Mary MacKillop; Cousin Colin McKillop - RIP 1964, and Ken McKillop - RIP 1945

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His sister with Father Tenison-Woods founded the “Sisters of St Joseph”, and they had a convent in the North Shore Parish. Their focus is on the education of poor children, and so tend to be situated in remote bush areas, where they had very little access to Church and Mass.

Memory of James Rabbitte :
“In 1882 Donald McKillop came to Europe for studies. I met him around 1894 at Riverview. He was then Superior, having been appointed in 1890, of the Daly-River Mission - a Mission the Austrian Fathers had established for the conversion of the Aborigines in the northern territory. A considerable amount of money had been spent there, and they had schools for boys and girls, machinery for working timber etc. Donald had come south to recuperate his health and collect money for his Mission. He was accompanied by two native boys, educated in his schools. Unfortunately the money collected was lodged in a bank which closed while Donald was at Riverview.
He was a man of above average height, with a broad forehead and a flowing beard. years later his health was bad, and he died in Adelaide 02 February 1925.

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online
McKillop, Donald (1853–1925)
by G. J. O'Kelly
G. J. O'Kelly, 'McKillop, Donald (1853–1925)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mckillop-donald-4111/text6573, published first in hardcopy 1974,

anthropologist; Catholic missionary; Catholic priest; Indigenous culture recorder; schoolteacher

Died : 2 February 1925, North Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Donald McKillop (1853-1925), Jesuit priest, was born on 27 April 1853 in Portland, Victoria, brother of Mary who founded the Josephite Sisters, the largest Australian congregation of nuns. He was educated at St Aloysius College, Sevenhill, South Australia, where he entered the Society of Jesus in June 1872 and did his noviceship and studies in rhetoric and philosophy until 1877. He then taught at the college until 1882 when he was sent for theological studies to Innsbruck in 1883, to north Wales in 1884-85 where he was ordained priest and to Roehampton for his Jesuit studies. With two Jesuit companions he returned to Adelaide on 14 October 1886, all three destined for the mission to the Aborigines in the Northern Territory. This mission, conducted in 1882-90 by the Austrian Jesuits from Sevenhill, involved nineteen Jesuits and had the largest number of Aborigines of any in the Northern Territory. Anthropologists such as W. E. H. Stanner and Ronald Berndt single it out for its insights and appreciation of Aboriginal culture.

The policy adopted on the mission stations followed the model of the Jesuit Reductions in eighteenth-century Paraguay, and McKillop became its most forthright exponent. In 1887-89 he was attached to the Rapid Creek station, near Palmerston, to work and study the Mulluk Mulluk dialect, the lingua franca of the Daly region. Late in 1889 he was sent by Fr Anton Strele to found a new station at Serpentine Lagoon on the Daly. With four companions he laboured for a year among the Madngella and other tribes who had never seen whites, but with little effect.

In December 1890 McKillop was made Superior of the whole mission which then had three stations and a residence in Darwin. He was responsible for the whole venture but the financial upkeep bore heavily on him since the assistance promised by the bishops did not materialise. Deeming the stations had failed, he closed them and in August 1891 concentrated his eleven Jesuits in one new station on the Daly. Despite some successes the policy of small, self-supporting agricultural townships did not attract the Aboriginals and most converts were inconstant. The station was struck by severe poverty and his begging tours in the south and east in 1892-93 were unsuccessful because of the depression and apathy.

The continuing decimation of the tribes made the Jesuits seriously doubt the survival of the Aboriginals. McKillop clung to his policies of preserving the native culture but outside factors crowded in to produce a tragic desperation as he foresaw the end of 'the daydream of my life'. In vivid prose he often lashed out in the press at 'blood-stained Australia', at the white and Chinese population and at the government, whom he castigated for pusillanimity in granting land and finance to missions in tribal territories. Worn-out and seriously ill he was ordered south in October 1897. Leadership of the mission then became mediocre and after floods in 1898-99 the station was closed.

McKillop's direction had been realistic but his criticism of official policy probably lost him co-operation from the government. In intermittent good health he worked in Jesuit parishes in Norwood, South Australia (1898-1901), in Victoria at Hawthorn (1902-03) and Richmond (1904-10), Sevenhill (1911-13) and Norwood from 1914 until he died on 2 February 1925 in North Adelaide. His 'Anthropological Notes on the Aboriginal Tribes of the Daly River, North Australia' had been published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 1892-93. The evidence of J. L. Parsons and Charles J. Dashwood to the select committee on the proposed Aborigines' bill of 1899 suggests that the failure of the Jesuit enterprise in the territory helped to confirm the negative character of government legislation on Aboriginals for the next decades.

Select Bibliography
V. L. Solomon, N. T. Times Almanac and Directory (Palmerston, 1886-90)
Roman Catholic Mission Reports, Parliamentary Papers (South Australia), 1886-89, 1891-94, 1896-99
R. M. Berndt, ‘Surviving influence of mission contact on the Daly River…’, Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 8 (1952)
G. J. O'Kelly, The Jesuit Mission Stations in the Northern Territory, 1882-1899 (B.A. Hons thesis, Monash University, 1967)
Australian Jesuit Provincial Archives (Hawthorn, Melbourne).

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Donald MacKillop, brother of Saint Mary McKillop, was a student at St Aloysius' College, Sevenhill, 1867-71, and entered the Society there, 7 June 1872, the third Australian to do so. He also studied rhetoric and philosophy, and did his regency there as well. He left for Europe in 1882, and studied theology at Innsbruck, Mold and St Beuno's, being ordained in 1885. Tertianship followed at Roehampton, London.
He arrived back in Adelaide, 10 October 1886, and went to the Northern Territory Mission, first at Rapid Creek, 1886-89, where he worked and studied the Mulluk dialect, and then to the Daly River, 1889-90, when he was appointed superior of the mission.
This mission, founded by the Jesuits at Sevenhill, 1882-90, involved nineteen Jesuits and had the largest number of Aborigines in mission stations in the Northern Territory Anthropologists praised the Jesuits for their insights and appreciation of Aboriginal culture.
MacKillop completely reorganised the mission. He obtained a new grant of higher and more fertile land on the Daly. abandoned Rapid Creek and concentrated all the missionaries at the new station of St Joseph's or "new Uniya". He installed a pump for irrigation, obtained a sewing machine for making clothes, planted coconuts and vegetables, learned the Larrikiyah language and used it in the small school. Unfortunately, only one adult was baptised in the nine years of the mission at Rapid Creek. When the whole Northern Mission was closed, 78 adults and 197 infants had been baptised, in addition to 78 being baptised in danger of death. If success were measured in terms of baptisms only, then the value of the mission would have to be questioned. He was critical of government for not granting sufficient land and finance to missions in tribal territories.
MacKillop encountered hard times in 1892. He had few funds, was suffering from influenza, and there were food shortages. During June 1893, he went on a tour collecting money and publicising the mission, and returned to the Daly in July 1894 with £800 and a magic lantern. In time he acquired a herd of pigs and a steam engine for sawing and pumping. Tobacco and sugar cane were planted. Leather was made from goat and bullock hides. Despite all this work, the mission was closed in June 1899 after disastrous floods.
MacKillop had been a real pioneer in accumulating knowledge of the religion and customs of the Aborigines. The Jesuits shielded them from exploitation and cruel treatment. Conversions were very slow, yet the influence of the Jesuit missionaries was long remembered. MacKillop's “Anthropological Notes on the Aboriginal Tribes of the Daly River, North Australia” was published in the “Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 1892-93”.
During the last years of the mission, MacKillop became unwell and was replaced as superior, going to the Norwood parish, 1897-1901. He spent time in the parishes of Hawthorn, Richmond and Sevenhill. During his final years at Norwood, 1913-25, he was impaired in health, but was a consulter, 1914-21. He said Mass, heard confessions and preached from time to time.
At his death, he was remembered as a man of gifts and attainments, exceptional knowledge of scientific matters, an eloquent preacher, and devoted priest. It is coincidental that the first three Australian Jesuits, MacKillop and the two O'Brien's, John and Thomas, all died in 1925 within a few months of each other.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Donald McKillop SJ 1853-1925
Fr Donald McKillop was born in Western Australia on April 25th 1853. He entered the Austro-Australian Mission in 1872. His sister, with Fr Tennison-Woods founded the congregation known as “The Sisters of St Joseph”, which is widely spread in Australia.

In 1894 Fr Donald was Superior of the Daly River Mission, which had been founded by the Austrian Fathers for the conversion of the Aborigines in the Northern Territory. In 1893 he came south to recruit his health and to collect money for the Mission. He was accompanied by two native boys educated in his own schools. Unfortunately the money collected was lodged in a bank which failed while Fr Donald was at Riverview.

His health was never good and he died at Adelaide on February 2nd 1923.

Born: 19 June 1891, Carrickmore, County Tyrone
Entered: 07 September 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1924, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1928, Shiuhing, China
Died: 14 May 1957, Regional Hospital (University Hospital) Limerick

part of the Mungret College, County Limerick community at the time of death

Studied for BSc at UCD;

by 1915 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1917 in Australia - Regency at St Aloysius College, Sydney
1926-1927 Tertianship at Tullabeg
by 1928 second batch Hong Kong Missioners

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Requiem Mass at Ricci Hall Chapel
Father Daniel McDonald, S.J.

At the Chapel of Ricci Hall, Catholic Hostel at the University of Hong Kong, a solemn Requiem Mass was offered last Thursday by Father Herbert Dargan, S.J. the present Warden of Ricci Hall, for the repose of the soul of one of his predecessors, Father Daniel McDonald, S.J., whose death occurred in Ireland on 14 May 1957. He was 66 years of age.

Fr. McDonald, a native of Tyrone in Northern Ireland, was educated in Armagh, and was a student of the diocesan seminary in that city before he entered the Society of Jesus. He did his university studies in the National University, Dublin, where he took his degree in science. He spent some years in Australia before his ordination, and was one of the second group of Irish Jesuits who came to Hong Kong, in 1927.

After a period of Chinese studies in Shiu Hing, Kwangtung, he was attached to the Sacred Heart College, Canton, but on the opening of Ricci Hall as a Catholic Hostel of the Hong Kong University he was appointed its first Warden. He held this position from 1929 to 1936.

During the war in China, when the Japanese occupied Canton, a relief party was sent form Hong Kong and Fr. McDonald was put in charge of one of the welfare sections. He remained in Canton under difficult conditions as long as it was possible to continue the work.

After his return to Hong Kong it was clear that the strain had seriously affected his health, and he was sent to Ireland to recuperate. In spite of his hope of one day returning to Hong Kong this was never possible, though his interest in China and in Chinese studies continued to the end. His last appointment was Director of the Apostolic School in Mungret College, Limerick. The news of his death came as a complete surprise, as he was known to be in his usual health up to a few weeks ago.
Sunday Examiner Hong Konh - 24 May 1957

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Daniel MacDonald entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1909, a time when there were sixteen novices and 23 juniors. The place was drab and the life was stern. There was a Trappist touch everywhere. Father Michael Browne was the ascetical novice master. MacDonald was small, well proportioned, with a dark, swarthy, Spanish complexion, slightly aquiline nose, and a smile always around the corner of his mouth. He had a likeness to Ignatius Loyola. He enjoyed the noviciate, it gave him idealism, perfection and the means to attain them,
MacDonald began his juniorate studies, showing much dedication and hard work, at the National University 1911-14, gaining a BSc in mathematics and experimental physics. Philosophy studies were at Stonyhurst, 1914-16, and then he was a most popular teacher of science and mathematics, sports master, director of cadets and prefect of discipline, at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1916-22. He was considered an outstanding teacher of mathematics and also taught science part time at Riverview. MacDonald entered into school life with tremendous zest. He was well spoken about in the Aloysian, and he loved Australia.
He returned to Milltown Park, Dublin, for theology, 1922-26, and to Tullabeg for tertianship the following year. Then he began a twelve year ministry on the China Mission, which had just begun. They were hard times. He began language study during the first six months of 1928 at the Portuguese Mission of Shiuhing. Later he helped set up a language school at Taal Lam Chung and was its first superior. He showed special aptitude for the Chinese language. In response to an appeal from the harassed bishop of Canton, the Irish Jesuits undertook the temporary management of the Sacred Heart School in that city in September 1928, and MacDonald and Dan Finn were the first to bear the hardships of that ministry.
When the Irish withdrew from Canton at the end of 1929, MacDonald became the first superior of Ricci Hall in Hong Kong, a residence for university students. The following year he was acting superior of the mission. He remained at this work until July 1936. During these years he continued to study Chinese, unfortunately with a more than prudent zeal and intensity. He worked from early morning to late at night, deaf to all the remonstrances of those who saw clearly that such concentration must undermine his health. He became quite outstanding at the spoken and written Chinese. But his health so suffered in the process that he was sent back to Ireland to recuperate.
Back in Hong Kong early in 1937, he spent some months on the staff of the Regional Seminary, Aberdeen, while the new language school was being built at Tool Lam Chung in the
New Territories. When the language school opened in July 1937, MacDonald became its first superior. lt was another challenge to get suitable teachers, draw up programmes of study and provide for the new missionaries arriving fresh from Ireland.
In November 1938 Japan invaded South China and captured Canton. MacDonald went with other Jesuits to help the suffering people of the city. His knowledge of Chinese was of immense value to the joint Protestant and Catholic committee, which was sent from Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, the strain of this work once more undermined his health. Finally, in July 1939, he had to withdraw from the Hong Kong Mission and returned to Ireland, still working on a Chinese dictionary, which eventually had to be abandoned.
MacDonald developed a great love of the Chinese language and for the Chinese people. They understood that “Mok San Foo” understood them, and many came to consult him over the years. He was truly inculturated into the Chinese culture.
Upon his return to Ireland he was stationed at Emo from 1940-45, and in the latter year was transferred to Mungret College, Limerick, where he remained for the rest of his life. He had good control of a class, would punish irregularities but never with undue severity. He showed great diligence in preparation of classes, leaving volumes of notes on all his subjects. As at St Aloysius' College during regency, he entered into the life of the students, showing interest in all that concerned them, particularly sports.
After ten years on the teaching staff during which he was spiritual father to the Apostolics, he was appointed superior of the Apostolic School. It seemed an office eminently suited to his gifts of nature and grace and an outlet for his zeal for the missions He was a good community man with a quiet sense of humor and an appealing smile. All enjoyed his company He seemed to be always occupied, yet found time for everyone He worked to the end of his life. No one had any suspicion that he was not well - he kept his troubles to himself. For at least twelve months he had been unwell. but the end came quickly, after two days of considerable pain and suffering resulting from a heart attack.
MacDonald was an idealist who sought perfection. He had an amazing capacity for hard work, was kindly, and had unfailing good humor. This gave him a great capacity for making friends and keeping them.

Irish Province News 32nd Year No 3 1957

St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin
The recent death of Fr. Daniel MacDonald, at Mungret, was a big loss to Gardiner Street as well as to his own Community. For the past six years he had spent most of the summer doing Church work with us when one or other of the Community was away on retreat or Villa. His wide experience and quiet gentle manner made him very well-fitted for the many calls the “Domi” man can receive, while his zeal and patience meant that he was at the disposal of Father. Minister for any assignment at the shortest notice. May he rest in peace!

Obituary :

Fr Daniel MacDonald (1891-1957)

On Thursday, 9th May Fr. MacDonald had this concluding paragraph in a letter :
“With regard to vacation I think I should not plan anything yet, until I see how things will work out. I am very tired just now, but please God that will pass as this term is not heavy. So we shall see later, perhaps”.
This letter was answered on Saturday, 11th May, and due in Mungret on Monday, 13th May. On that Monday Fr. Dan had a severe heart attack and died next day, Tuesday, 14th May, just one month short of his 66th birthday. That was how things worked out, and there was almost a prescience of it in Fr. Dan's words - “I think I should not plan anything yet”. He felt very tired, and his friends and relatives saw the fatigue when he was in Dublin for the Provincial Congregation at Easter. Moreover, he just casually referred to pains in his chest, and waived aside any idea of their serious nature or of seeing a doctor.
The remains of Fr. Dan were laid to rest in the new cemetery at Mungret, where he had spent the last twelve years of his life. The respect in which he and his family were held was obvious from the number of very representative clergy of the archdiocese of Armagh who made the long journey to Mungret. For many years unto a ripe old age, Fr. Dan's eldest brother was P.P. of Dungannon and Dean and V.G. of the archdiocese. Another brother died as a C.C. many years ago. A nephew is Adm in Dundalk. One of his sisters, Mother Brigid, practically founded the Mercy Convent in Perth, Western Australia. There are two nieces-one Mother Provincial in the Loreto nuns. So Fr. Dan was one of a family that gave much to the Church and to its missions.
Dan MacDonald and the writer of these lines were among the nine who entered the novitiate in Tullabeg in the autumn of 1909. There were sixteen Novices and twenty-three Juniors. The place was drab, the life was stern. There was a Trappist touch everywhere. Fr. Michael Browne was the Baptist proclaiming the way of the Lord, a saintly ascetic figure. Not far behind him on the narrow path that leads to life was the Socius, Fr. Charles Doyle. The latter was more down to earth, and kept the novices hardy with long and tiring manual works. There is no doubt about it, but that Dan MacDonald, right from the start, was just as solid as a rock, as good as gold and as genuine a colleague as could be found. Small, well proportioned, dark swarthy Spanish complexion, slightly aquiline nose, a smile always round the corner of his mouth, Dan was a miniature Ignatius. Let there be no mistake about it, the sterling qualities he showed all through life were there from the beginning. Whatever he was given to do he put everything into it. The noviceship suited Dan, and Dan suited the Jesuit noviceship. There were no frills and side-shows in that novitiate. It gave this solid lad of the North what he wanted-idealism, perfection, and the means to attain them.
Proceeding from Tullabeg in the autumn of 1911, Dan began his University course at Milltown Park, and concluded it in Rathfarnham Castle in 1914, with the B.Sc. degree. Now this course in Mathematical and Experimental Physics made great demands on him. Coming as he did from a classical seminary and with First Arts in his pocket, he set about his new subjects with zest, At that time our courses were arranged by the late Rev. Dr. Timothy Corcoran. He set many of us along the scientific path because the Colleges and the needs of the modern world were calling out for Science. These courses were tough and meant long hours in the University laboratories. It was a great achievement for Dan and we all admired his tremendous capacity for study. The same spirit of hard concentrated work saw him through his abridged course of philosophy in Stonyhurst. World War I broke out in 1914 and several who were destined for philosophy on the continent were disappointed. The loss of a modern language like French or German is of no small consequence to a student of the calibre of Dan MacDonald.
On his return to Ireland in 1916 Dan set out for Australia and spent six years as a most successful teacher of science and mathematics in St. Aloysius School, Sydney. He entered into school life in Australia with tremendous zest. He mastered the games that were all new to him and won the affection of the boys. As in England so in Australia Dan kept his patriotism in its proper place. Ireland was aflame those years (1916-1922), but happenings at home either in his family or in his native land, were never allowed to interfere with his work for souls anywhere. He loved Australia because it was the mission field of the Irish Province. When in the normal course of events he would have returned for theology after five years teaching, he readily volunteered to remain. In that last year after his day's teaching in St. Aloysius he used to go up river to give Science classes at Riverview College. Having come home ir 1922 he was thoroughly equipped for his return to the mission as a priest in 1927.
Theology and tertianship concluded, Fr. Dan did not return to Australia, but set out for the newly founded mission in Hong Kong. There he laboured for twelve years with one very brief period at home due to health. This heroic pioneering work is best described by the Jesuit colleague who witnessed it.

China (1927-37)
“As I look back over Fr. MacDonald's twelve years in the Hong Kong Mission the outstanding impression is that he had an exceptionally large portion of the hardships of the mission's beginnings. He, with Fr. Gallagher, was to make our first experiments in formal language study during the first six months of 1928 at the Portuguese mission of Shiuhing. The experience then gained was later valuable when we set up our language school at Taai Lam Chung and Fr. MacDonald became its first Superior.
Though from the start he showed a quite exceptional aptitude for the Chinese language, he could not be allowed more than six months of formal study. By September; 1928, in response to the appeal of the harassed Bishop of Canton, the Irish Jesuits undertook the temporary management of the Sacred Heart School in that city. Fr. MacDonald and Fr. Finn were the first to bear the physical hardships, frustrations, and almost daily humiliations involved in that venture. (It was certainly the most trying work that Ours have undertaken in the thirty years of the Hong Kong Mission, and it was largely due to the extraordinary devotedness of these two Fathers that the Hong Kong Mission continued to administer the school for four years, in the teeth of every difficulty, relinquishing it only after the tragic deaths of Frs. Saul and McCullough which took place a few weeks before the date set for our withdrawal from the work.)
Fr. MacDonald had scarcely completed one year of the beginnings in Canton when he was called to face the beginnings of Ricci Hall, He became its first Superior when it was opened to students on 16th December, 1929 and for the next year he also acted as Mission Superior during Fr. George Byrne's absence in Ireland. It was another difficult beginning because he had to create the traditions of discipline among University students who up to then had known no hostels where rules and discipline were taken very seriously. He won the battle by winning the students' affection and Ricci Hall came quickly to be known as the outstanding hostel of the University.
Fr. MacDonald continued as Superior (or Warden') of Ricci Hall until July, 1936. During all these years he continued to study Chinese with, unfortunately, a more than prudent zeal and intensity. He was at it from early morning to late at night, deaf to al the remonstrances of those who saw clearly that such concentration must undermine his health. He became a quite outstanding adept at spoken and written Chinese. But his health so suffered in the process that in 1936, Fr. Kelly had to replace him as Superior of Ricci and he himself was sent back to Ireland to recuperate.
Back in Hong Kong early in 1937, he spent some months on the staff of the Regional Seminary, Aberdeen, while the new Language School was being built at Taai Lam Chung in the New Territories. When the Language School opened in July, 1937, Fr. MacDonald became its first Superior. It was another beginning and he had to face all the problems of getting suitable teachers, drawing up programmes of study and horaria for our young missionaries coming fresh from Ireland to begin what from that on became the necessary two years' language study preliminary to missionary work. He also took several classes each day so as to help our young missionaries to profit by the work they had to do under the far-from-expert Chinese teachers.
In November, 1938 the Japanese invaded South China and captured Canton. The sufferings and misery in the city were very great and Fr. MacDonald with Fr. G. Kennedy spent several months in Canton on work for the relief of the suffering. His knowledge of Chinese was of immense value to the joint Protestant and Catholic committee which was sent from Hong Kong for that work.
Unfortunately, it was only too clear that the strain of all this work, together with the unceasing concentration all day long on language study at this time he had several secretaries working with him in the composition of a Chinese dictionary - had once more undermined his health. Finally, in July, 1939 he had to withdraw from the Hong Kong Mission and though at home, he continued to work on his Chinese dictionary, that work also had finally to be abandoned.
With his love of the Chinese language, Fr. MacDonald imbibed also a very great love for the Chinese people, and something of their innate courtesy and even modes of thought. They felt that ‘Mok San Foo’ understood them and even those who spoke not a word of English, and who looked on Europeans generally as unpredictable people, were to be seen coming to Ricci or Taai Chung to consult him in their troubles. As you saw him bow, Chinese-fashion, with beautiful courtesy to even the poorest who came to him, and as you listened to him address them in their own language, even with their own peculiar (shall I call them) mannerisms, you felt that here was one who really had made China, its language, its thoughts, its people, his very own”.

Mungret
Fr. MacDonald on his return to Ireland was stationed at Emo from 1940 to 1945 and in the latter year was transferred to Mungret College, Limerick. Of his life in Mungret a colleague, who had been a fellow novice, writes :
“Fr. MacDonald spent the last twelve years of his life in Mungret. Whether he realised it or not, when coming in 1945 that return to his great work in China was not to be, he certainly lost no time in settling down to the life of an ordinary member of the teaching staff. He had taught for six years as a Scholastic in Australia, and during twelve years in the East he had well noted the zeal of Chinese boys, when given the opportunity of a secondary education. It is to be feared that the Irish boy did not always measure up to full standard in that respect, but that did not take Fr. Dan by surprise nor depress him unduly, Pretending to be shocked at their lack of zeal, he would tell them very seriously how different things were in the Orient, how the Chinese lad disliked the end of school term and approaching holidays. It was not for holidays they had come to school, It was for education and more education that was what they were paying for. How different!
In the class room he was not what one would call a driver, but he knew the art of good control and could punish for an offence or irregularity in his own effective way, never with undue severity. His diligence in preparation for classes. was truly extraordinary, as witness the volumes of notes, which he left behind, all written with extreme care in his own delightfully legible handwriting. At the end of the year he would contrive to acquire a store of cast off, half used, exercise books. These would supply the material for the notes of the next year.
But it was not only in the boys' studies that he was interested; he was interested in everything concerning them, particularly in their games. In all Weathers he was a constant spectator of the Sunday outmatch - it was one of the few recreations he allowed himself - and he would be sure to be at Thomond Park to cheer the team on. His experience in Australia had given him a keen interest in several games and no little facility in the important work of training teams.
After ten years on the teaching staff, during which he was Spiritual Father to the Apostolics, he was appointed Superior of the Apostolic School. It seemed an office eminently suited to his gifts of nature and grace, an outlet for his zeal for the foreign mission field. In the second year of his regime the School increased to the record number of 81.
No terms of praise would be too high for Fr. MacDonald's contribution to community life. Though most indulgent as regards others, he seemed to have set himself against any exemption from common life. His quiet sense of humour could see the bright side of most situations, and a little turn of phrase accompanied with his own genial smile left a very pleasant memory, Recreation in his company was pleasant indeed. He was always occupied and yet he had time for everybody-time, as some one said, to suffer fools gladly.
He literally worked to the end. No one in the community had any suspicion that all was not well with him. He kept his troubles to himself. It is now under stood that he had suffered a good deal for at least twelve months, but through it all he had a smile and a helping hand for everybody. Only on 13th May, when he sent for Father Rector and asked to be anointed, was it realised how serious was his condition. The end came quickly. After two days of considerable pain and suffering, patiently and silently borne, he passed to his eternal reward. May he rest in peace”.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Dan MacDonald 1891-1957
Fr Dan MacDonald in the words of his contemporaries, was a miniature St Ignatius, both in appearance and character.

Born in the Archdiocese of Armagh, he was educated at the Seminary there by the Vincentians. His family gave many members to the Church. His brother was Vicar and Dean of the Archdiocese, his nephew became Administrator of Dundalk.

For the greater portion of his priestly life he laboured in China, being one of the founder members of the Hong Kong Mission. He became a thorough master in the language, and he was engaged in producing a dictionary in Chinese. So intense was his application, both in schools and on the dictionary, that his health broke down and he returned to Ireland. At his death he was in charge of the Apostolic School at Mungret.

He died in harness, asking to be anointed on the 13th May 1957, and he passed to his reward the following day.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1957

Obituary

Father Daniel MacDonald SJ

It is with great regret we announce the death of Fr Dan MacDonald which took place at the Regional Hospital on May 14th. Fr MacDonald had spent some time both in Australia and Hong Kong both as administrator and teacher and so was well qualified when he came to Mungret College in 1945. He excelled as a teacher particularly in mathematics. Last summer twelve months he was appointed Superior of the Apostolic School to which work he devoted all his energy.

He had the boys welfare very much at heart, and took a deep interest in their games. Affable and genial in manner he had many friends among both the Past and Present, and there are many both inside the College and outside it who will mourn his passing. To his relatives we offer our deep sympathy. RIP

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: 12 March 1856, Rathangan, County Kildare
Entered: 13 September 1873, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1887
Final Vows: 02 February 1894, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Died: 17 August 1937, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Sydney, Australia

part of the St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death

Brother of Peter Murphy Scholastic RIP 1872

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg, County Offaly

by 1886 at Oña Spain (ARA) studying
by 1893 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1895

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Luke Murphy entered due Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, 13 July 1873. His juniorate studies were at Roehampton, London, and philosophy studies at Stonyhurst. He taught Mathematics Italian and French at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, 1879-85, before theology studies at Oña, Spain 1885-89. He taught Mathematics, Italian, French and Spanish at Clongowes, 1889-95, excluding 1892-93, when he did tertianship at Tronchiennes, Belgium.
He arrived in Australia 5 September 1895, and was soon after appointed rector of St Patrick's College, 25 June 1896, and afterwards rector of Riverview from 31 July 1897 until September 1900. His final appointment was to St Aloysius' College in 1903. During his time there he taught senior students and lectured at St John's College, University of Sydney.
Murphy was above all a scholar and a teacher for 52 years right up to a few days before his death. He does not seem to have been a successful administrator, but he liked teaching and did it well. He always showed interest in his former students. He preferred the quiet life, and seldom appeared in public, and made no remarkable pronouncements.
He was a humble and sincere man. He was remembered for his charm of manner, unfailing cheerfulness, thoughtfulness, urbanity, pleasant wit, devotion to duty, and exactness in fulfilling his spiritual duties. He was always eminently the priest.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 12th Year No 4 1937
Obituary :
Father Luke Murphy
1856 Bom at Rathangan, Co. Kildare, 22nd May. Educated at Tullabeg.
1873 Entered at Milltown, 13th September
1875 Roehampton, junior
1876 Laval, Philosophy
1879 Tullabeg, Praef. Doc
1885 Oña (Spain) Theology
1889 Clongowes, Doc
1892 Tronchiennes, Tertianship
1893 Clongowes, Minister
1894 Clongowes, Doc
1895 Melbourne Australia, St Patrick’s College , Doc
1896 Melbourne Australia, St Patrick’s College , Rector
1897 Riverview Sydney, Rector, Cons Miss
1900 St Francis Xavier, Kew, Doc
1901 St Patrick’s College, Melbourne. Doc
1902 Loyola Sydney, Ad disp P Sup - Lect Phil in Coll St John
1903-1937 St Aloysius Milsons Point, Sydney, Doc
For 13 years Father Murphy was “Lect. Phil. in Coll. St John”. For 12 years, according to the Catalogue, he was: “Cons. Miss”. His last record in the Catalogue is as follows “Doc. an. 52 Mag.; Cons. dom an 33. He was then stationed at St, Aloysius College Sydney.

Father Luke Murphy left Ireland for Australia 42 years ago, so that, comparatively very few of the present Irish Province will remember him. Those who do remember him will certainly call to mind one of the most loyal and sturdy members that ever won the admiration of his fellow Jesuits. No doubt, Father Luke had a mind of his own, and when there was question of duty he held on to it right sturdily. Yet the fund of good humour with which he was filled kept him very far from anything like unpleasantness. He was an excellent companion, and enjoyed a joke or a lively recreation as well as any man.
His last record in the Catalogue, as given above, reads “Doc. an. 52 Mag”. There is no addition telling of teaching higher matter that would win in admiration, it is a plain, unvarnished “Doc”. This is not merely a pretty way of putting things. It had its stern reality in Fr. Luke's life. For 52 years he was face to face with all the drudgery, the monotony, the physical fatigue of the ordinary class-room, and these few words may well be put beside, and bear comparison with more attractive and catching records. It should be remembered that when Father Luke was over 80 years of age he was still to be found in the class-room, teaching little boys often stupid little boys or giddy little boys, the four simple rules of arithmetic, or trying to get in to their heads the mysterious, the seemingly incomprehensible beginnings of Algebra and Geometry.
And, who will deny it! Father Luke may be enjoying at this moment up in heaven a reward equal to that of those heroes who spent their lives, and often lost them in their efforts to bring the message of hope and salvation to the savage nations dwelling on the deserts or in the wild forests of the world.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1923

Golden Jubilarian

Father Luke Murphy SJ

The Jewish Law not only proclaimed the Sabbath rest on each seventh day, but also a Sabbath year, a “rest of the land”, each seventh year, and after seven times seven, for forty-nine years had passed, came the great fiftieth year of jubilee. This great fiftieth year was ushered in by a trumpet blast- & jobel-proclaiming to all the sons of Israel the beginning of the year of rest and rejoicing. In that year the soil was not tilled, all lands that had been sold were returned to their original owners or to the heirs of these, and all bundsmen of Hebrew blood were liberated from bondage.

On the 13th of September of this year Fr Luke Murphy entered on his jubilee year in the Society of Jesus, for fifty years ago, on the 13th of September, 1873, he knocked at the door of the novitiate of the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin. In the jubilee year of Fr Murphy we find little to correspond to the Jewish jubilee rest from ordinary toil, for in characteristic fashion he finds his rest in his usual routine work. But we certainly find something to correspond to the jubilee trumpet which ushered in the great holy, fiftieth year of the Jews in the innumerable letters and telegrams of congratulation which signa lised the 13th of September. They came from all points of the compass, from friends clerical and lay. Corresponding also in a slight degree to the public character of the jubilee trumpet were the feeling re ferences made, at the first social function of the Old Boys' Union after the 13th of September, to our much loved jubilarian. But still to compare such semi-public recognition of the excellencies of Fr Murphy to the blast of the jubilee trumpet would be hardly just and Fr Murphy, deprecated very strongly, in characteristic manner, the publication in the papers of the arrival of his jubilee year. Hence we take the oppor tunity of announcing in the College Maga
zine to all his friends the great good tidings.

The writer of this meagre appreciationi was first privileged to meet Fr Murphy when as a boy at Riverview in the late nineties he found him a Rector who mingled in a fine harmony the wine of sufficient sternness and the oil of great human syinpathy. He was always so full of appreciation for boyish difficulties, and kindness is certainly the characteristic which remains most in my memory of Fr. Murphy as Rector of Riverview.

The privilege of living with him in maturer years as a fellow worker at St Aloysius' College has deepened and confirmed this first impression. No wonder then is it that all the boys of Riverview who were privileged to have him as Rector have for him a feeling of real affection, an affection that the pass ing years have not chilled. A characteristic act of his as Rector, showing as it does the desire to help not only present but past boys of the College, was the foundation of the Riverview Old Boy's Union, for Fr Luke Murphy suggested and carried out the establishment of this Union.

The other great characteristic of Fr Murphy is a quiet steadfastness of purpose, the mark of him whom Horace extols as . “just, and tenacious of his project”. The work is always there-for twenty years now at St Aloysius' College he has taught the higher branches of mathematics to the boys --and done it always in the same unosten tatious, perfect manner. No wonder the boys know that he is an ideal master. Yet mathematics is only one of Fr. Murphy's strong points of learning. A deep theo logian and philosopher, a master of the classics, and of French and Spanish - he spent years of study in France and Spain - he never obtrudes his learning, and only those who know him intimately know how much of it there is.

As guide, philosopher, and friend above all to so many souls in Australia, Fr Murphy has the affectionate admiration of us all. The jubilee rest is not yet his, for at an age when many would ask for relief from teaching he still teaches a very full day. But with the satisfaction which must be his at the realization of all that he has attempted all that he has done, at least the joj of the jubilee year will be there. We know that Fr Murphy looks not for an earthly rest, but for the great Sabbath rest of eternity, and this, as it has been the strongest is the last impression one has of him. He is essentially a man who works not for th world's admiration and the world's rewards, and this we think is the reason of his continued, vivid interest in the arduous, the comparatively obscure work ofteaching, and of his excellence both as teacher and a man.

PJD.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1933

Diamond Jubilarian

Father Luke Murphy SJ

Ten years ago (1923) there appeared in “The Aloysian” a graceful tribute to Father Luke Murphy, for in the September of that year was celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his entrance into the Society of Jesus. Another decade has gone by, and this year his many friends and old pupils congratulated him on his Diamond Jubilee. We shall allow the curious to decide why the sixtieth year should be styled “Diamond” - and leave to them, also, the further puzzle as to what we shall call his next Jubilee - and we hope there will be the need for a suitable name. Now that he has contracted the jubilee habit, there does not seem to be any good reason why he should not continue to exercise it.

The fact that, probably, these pages will meet his severely critical eye, pre sents a difficulty; for it does not give one a full liberty of expression.

Father Murphy was born on May 22, 1856, and entered the Society of Jesus at the unusually early age of seventeen. He has now spent sixty years in Religion, and forty-five in the priesthood - surely, no ordinary record. But when we recall the varied activities of those long years, our admiration is greatly enhanced. His early studies: in the Society of Classics and general literature were passed in Roehampton, London; and he studied Philosophy for three years at Laval, France. From this latter period he brought with him that accurate knowledge of French which has been so beneficial to many generations of boys.

He excelled in two branches of educational work - two not often combined in the same teacher - namely in Languages and in Mathematics. In both of these he showed that rare accuracy and thorough carefulness in daily preparation, which made his teaching such a conspicuous success. Naturally he demanded accuracy and care from his pupils - as so many of them will now gratefully admit.

With a mind matured by a wide study of Literature and Scholastic Philosophy, and with the added culture acquired by foreign travel, it is not surprising that we find him early in his career as teacher entrusted with important classes in the flourishing College of St Stanislaus, Tullamore, Ireland. He prepared boys for public examinations in French, Italian and Mathematics, and for some time assisted in the direction of studies. After five years of this useful work, he was sent by Superiors to Oña, Spain, for four years study of Theology, and its allied branches, preparatory to ordination as a priest. Besides reading a distinguished course in Theology, he acquired a sound knowledge of Spanish - another weapon added to his armoury as teacher. Then followed the final year of training for life work - the Tertianship or second novitiate - at Tronchiennes, Belgium, on the conclusion of which he was appointed to the staff of Clongowes. Wood College,
Ireland, where he was one of the brilliant Masters who placed Clongowes in the very front of Irish schools. At Clongowes, too, during his later years there, he held the important post of Minister - no sinecure in a school of three hundred boarders, with a correspondingly large staff of teachers and domestics.

In 1896 he came to Australia - where for some years he was Rector, first, at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, and then at St Ignatius' College, Sydney. Returning to Melbourne, he taught for a few years at Xavier College; but in 1902 he came back to Sydney - this time to St Aloysius College, Bourke Street. The next year St Aloysius was transferred to its present site, Milson's Point - and since then (1903) Father Murphy has played an invaluable part in the life of the school, both as teacher and, for some time, as Prefect of Studies. Nor were his energies confined wholly to the classroom: for he lectured in Philosophy at St John's College within the University of Sydney, from 1903 to 1914, and was Confessor to important Religious Communities during those years and almost continually since then. With an unselfishness and a methodical punctual ity quite characteristic he was always ready to offer his help in difficulties. I may refer to one instance. The Presentation Sisters established a foundation at Haberfield, a far-out suburb of Sydney. Their hopes of securing a chaplain were at the time very slender. His Eminence, Cardinal Moran, advised them to apply to St Aloysius' College. They did so, and the proposal seemed wild, and wild it was, considering the distance. When the matter was put before Father Luke, he accepted the onerous duty without a moment's hesitation. For about thirteen years he had to catch a boat from Milson's Point to Circular Quay somewhere around 6 am, had then a tram journey of forty minutes, and gave the good Sisters the consolation of daily Mass, said punctually at 7 am.

So far, we have only what is little more than an outline of the sixty years Father Luke has been a Jesuit. Those who lived with him at periods during : that long span, and those who worked side by side with him, have enshrined him affectionately in a space all his own. The severest test of a man is how he is rated by those with whom he lives in close relationships of domestic life. Most decent people are able to present a pleasing front to the casual acquaintance. Home-manners, and home-moods, are not as a rule our best - and precisely because one does not feel called upon to practise that self-control, which intercourse with strangers always exacts. One forgets that cheerfulness, thought fulness and urbanity might like charity, very well begin at home: for they are an exercise of that virtue, Father Luke has never forgotten, or it was natural for him to remember in practice, the kindness that is due to those with whom we live. The result is, that wherever one goes there will be found in the inquiry, “How is Father Luke?”, or in the message, “Remember me to Father Luke”, a warmth and sincerity that ring true. He could joke - yes, he could tease pleasantly; but the barb was always missing - yet, with such a swift mind, who could have pointed it more keenly-had he so willed? Many, both inside the Society and outside it, will recall his claims to “Kingship” over his “serf”, dear old Father Thomas McGrath, his wildly absurd outward seriousness; the vehement and (simulated) fierce repudiation by the venerable old man of all his claims to regal authority! How much innocent fun we had from those contests. Eheu fugaces!

When one looks round for some striking characteristics in Father Luke, several occur at once. There is his. extraordinary sense of duty. This has shown itself in his amazing punctuality - one of the compliments a gentleman pays to others. It has appeared also, in the scrupulous care he has invariably given to preparation for class-work during the forty-eight years he has been teaching in Secondary Schools, or in the preparation for any other task that superiors assigned to him. We doubt if he has ever omitted, in all that time, his evening revision of work for the following day. His sense of duty kept him sedulously along the paths allotted to him, and he shunned, as with horror, the limelight. Yet, with his wit, his command of expression and his learning, he could have adorned a more glittering stage than the humble plat form of a boys school.

Wordsworth addressed Duty as the “Stern Daughter of the Voice of God”. That, surely was and is Father Luke's conception of it - and he would have re echoed the same poet's sentiment:

“Stern Lawgiver! yet thou d'ost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace”

There is the secret-the voice of duty was for him the “Voice of God” - a consolation and a support in the drabness of a hum-drum life.

Part, and no small part, of his fidelity to duty, was and is his exactness as to time, and place, and method in all the details of religious life. No trifling ef fort this, of self-denial. It is a martyrdom, as St Bernard says, not by reason of that heroicity of any one act, but by its long-continuance - in his case, for sixty slowly moving years.

There is yet another characteristic of our venerable and venerated Jubilarian. It is one which has impressed, not only those within, but hundreds outside, his religious brotherhood - namely, the priestliness of the man. This was seen in carriage and movement - never hasty or hurried; not pompous or affected; not self-conscious, but dignified and calm, as became a minister and ambassador of the Most High. It was thus he appeared, not only at the altar, but in public. Not that he was at all unap roachable. Far from it. He was always ready to enter into a chat with young and old, workers or employers, and discuss with them their special interests or occupations. His judgment was valuable, as was to be expected from one whose experience of men and things was so wide, and whose mental training in Philosophy and Theology was so full and so accurate. No wonder, then, that for over forty years he has been a member of the advisory councils in the various colleges where he lived.

I thank the Editor of “The Aloysian” for having given me the privilege of writing this appreciation of Father Murphy - an appreciation inadequate to its subject. But, deficient as it is, it may help to draw, from the obscurity where he would hide them, a few of the traits of a remarkable man, and a great Jesuit priest. In the “De Senectute” Cicero says: “Conscientia bene actae vitae, multorumque benefac torum recordatio, jucundissima est”. Surely, Father Murphy has that consciousness of a well-spent life, and the remembrance of many deeds well done and such a pleasure will sweeten the years yet to come. May those years be many and happy! We feel - in fact, we know - that his big heart, still as fresh las ever in kindliness and interest, will often turn towards the fellow-workers and the pupils of the past. That he should in prayer remember them, is the “envoi” with which we close this brief tribute to a valued and loyal friend.

PJ McC SJ

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1937

Obituary

Father Luke Murphy SJ

The obsequies of the late Father Luke Murphy, SJ., veteran Irish Jesuit, who died in Sydney on Tuesday, 17th inst., took place on the 19th inst, in St Mary's temporary church, North Sydney, and the interment immediately afterwards in the neighbouring Gore Hill Cemetery. There was a crowded congregation, including more than 50 priests, representatives from communities of brothers and nuns, pupils from Loreto Convent, Kirribilli, and Monte Sant Angelo and other schools, as well as all the boys from St Aloysius' College.

Solemn Office of the Dead was intoned and Requiem Mass was celebrated, Very Rev Father E O'Brien PP, VF (representing his Grace the Archbishop of Sydney), presiding. The celebrant of the Mass was Very Rev Father Austin Kelly SJ (Rector of St Aloysius' College, Milson's Point); deacon, Rev Father W Allen SJ; sub-deacon, Rev Father T Perrott, SJ; master of ceremonies, Very Rev Father Peter J Murphy PP; and preacher of the panegyric, Rev Father T A Walsh SJ. The cantors of the Office were Rev Fathers J Byrne and B McGinley,

Father T A Walsh's Panegyric
In the course of an impressive panegyric, Father T A Walsh SJ, said:

We are gathered together this morn ing to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered to God for the repose of the soul of Father Luke Murphy, so long associated with St Aloysius College. We are in the awful presence of death, the penalty of the primal sin, the debt we all must pay. But the image of death loses its terror when we recall the con soling words of Holy Writ. “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord”. When we consider the personal sanctity of Father Murphy, his high ideals, his lofty aspirations, his sense of duty, his sincerity and charm of character, we may rightly place him among those devoted labourers in the vineyard who, blessing God, died in the peace of Christ.

Father Luke Murphy came from Kildare, Ireland, and entered the Society of Jesus as a youth of 18. His preliminary studies were made in England, France and Spain. Gifted with exceptional ability, Father Murphy attained the highest distinction in his philosophical and theological career. As a scholastic and priest in his own country he taught mathematics with singular success in the Jesuit colleges of Tullabeg and Clongowes Wood. He arrived in a Australia towards the end of 1896. Still continuing his teaching of mathematics, he became Rector of St Patrick's College, Melbourne, and afterwards Rector of St Ignatius' College, Riverview.

For 52 years Father Murphy taught regularly in the class rooms, and was attached to St Aloysius College for 35 years. He was a Jesuit for 62 years. There was nothing particularly spectacular about the life of Father Murphy. His life was hidden; he seldom appeared in public, he made no remark able pronouncements, nor did he con tribute articles to our various publications. Father Murphy was pre-eminently a schoolmaster, and devoted his time, his talent and energy to the education and sanctification of youth. He was amongst the humblest and sincerest of men; nothing pained him more than to hear his ability praised and his scholastic distinctions repeated. He scorned delights and lived laborious days serving his Divine Master in the heroic toil of the classroom.

A Man of Great Faith
On an occasion like this, before an assemblage of friends and pupils, it is only right to refer to some of the well known virtues of Father Murphy. He possessed a faith that saw God in everything. God was the beginning and the end of all, and he accomplished God's will with cheerful, ready submission to constituted authority. His literary attainments, classical learning and mathematical ability might have won him eminence from the highest intellectual centres, but the plain classroom and plainer blackboard were the scenes of his spiritual and scholastic successes. As a member of the Jesuit Order, Father Murphy was esteemed for his sincerity, his candour and unswerving devotion to duty. He asked no privileges, he sought no distinction, he taught to the end. Like a good soldier of Christ, he laboured in prayer, penance and the instruction of youth.

But the night cometh when no man can work, The earthly labours of Father Murphy have ceased. No more shall we hear his voice in the classroom, no more shall we be cheered by his genial presence at recreation, His work is accomplished, and his eternal destiny is decided by the All Just, Omnipotent God whom he adored and served. We, his Jesuit companions, will miss his kindliness, his cheerfulness and splendid accomplishments. He edified all by his religious life, his spirit of prayer, his amazing charity and generosity. The members of the diocesan clergy, the religious communities, the teaching Brothers and Sisters, revered the memory of Father Murphy. He was ever ready to assist them by his wise counsel, his learning and priestly ministrations. The pupils of St. Aloysius' College, both past and present, revered him, because they realised that his heart was bent on working for their advancement, not merely in the attainment of secular knowledge, but in the knowledge of the dignity and destiny of the soul.

We have loved him in life, let us not forget him in death. We shall offer our prayers for the speedy flight of his gen erous soul into the Mansion of his Master and Saviour, Christ the King. We shall remember him in our Masses, in our Communions, in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament. May the soul of Father Murphy speedily gaze upon the beauty and splendour of the Beatific Vision. May every power and faculty of his soul be filled with the glory of the elect. May he soon greet in the Kingdom of God his companions, Ignatius Loyola, St Francis Xavier, Stanislaus and Aloysius Gonzaga.

The Last Absolutions were pronounced by Father Austin Kelly SJ, who also recited the last prayers at the graveside in Gore Hill Cemetery. RIP

◆ The Patrician, Melbourne, 1937 & ◆ The Clongownian, 1938

Obituary

Father Luke Murphy SJ

It was with a real sense of personal bereavement that many thousands, priests, brothers, nuns, and scholars, learnt of the death of Reverend Father Luke Murphy SJ, at the Mater Misericordiae Private Hospital, North Sydney, on Tuesday, 17th August. He was still teaching right up to the preceding Friday, when he contracted a chill, which brought to a close a long and distinguished career of 52 years of unremitting labour in the classroom, thirty-five of which were spent at St Aloysius College, Misson's Point, Sydney. In addition to these long years devoted to the education of Catholic youth, Father Murphy gave generously of his time, his knowledge, his sympathy, and his strength to priests, brothers, nuns, and the laity in priestly ministration, in enlightened counsel, in spiritual direction. This servant, who loved his Master so well, was consoled at the end by the reception of the Last Sacraments, administered by Reverend Father J Rausch SM.

Father Murphy was born on May 22nd, 1856, at Rathangan, County Kildare, Ireland, and after completing his secondary education at St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, entered the Society of Jesus, at Miltown Park, Dublin, on September 13th, 1873. He was then sent to Roehampton, the Juniorate and Novitiate of the English Province of the Society, later going to Laval, France, where he read a brilliant course in philosophy, after which he returned to Ireland to teach for several years at his own Alma Mater. In 1886 he again went abroad, but this time to Oña, near Burgos, Spain, for his theological course, which he completed in 1889, being ordained priest, however, a year earlier. From Spain he went to Belgium for his tertianship, at the end of which he returned to Ireland to teach at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, where in his last year he was Minister.

In 1896 he came to Australia and soon after arriving in this country was appointed Rector of St Patrick's College, which position he relinquished in 1897 to become Rector of St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney. On completion of bis term of office at Riverview in 1901, he returned to St Patrick's for a few months till he was appointed Prefect of Studies at St Aloysius College, and it was there that he long taught mathematics with outstanding success; in addition he lectured in Philosophy at St John's College, within the University, from 1903 till 1934. Father Murphy was a deeply cultured man, being widely read in Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, English, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, and Theology, and this knowledge brought out and emphasised the priestly character of the man. No one was more intolerant of cant and sham than he, and yet no one more burning in loyalty, more tender in sympathy, more understanding in difficulties. Those who knew him, and they are legion, are the poorer by his death and not for many another from so many hearts will more fervent petition go to God that He will grant eternal rest to his soul. In Father Murphy, the Society of Jesus has lost a distinguished son, an obedient subject, an exact religious and a saintly priest. RIP

Born: 20 August 1862, Rathmore, County Kerry
Entered: 02 February 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 01 August 1897
Final Vows: 02 February 1899, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 20 February 1943, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales

Came to Australia 1889 for Regency
by 1898 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1902 at St Aloysius, Galle, Sri Lanka Mission (BELG) teaching at Seminary
by 1923 at St Wilfred’s Preston England (ANG) working
by 1943 at St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales (ANG) health

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
A highly intelligent and interesting man, Denis Murphy began his career in the Society in 1882, and after initial Jesuit studies arrived at Riverview for regency in December 1888. He taught the public exam classes in Latin, Greek, French and mathematics, and was an assistant prefect of discipline until 1893. In the years 1893-94 he taught the lower classes at St Patrick's College before returning to Ireland for theology After tertianship he spent time in Ceylon and England.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 10th Year No 3 1935

Works by Father Denis J Murphy SJ :

1. “English Idioms and Pronunciation” - Written for Indian students of English. It gives in parallel columns incorrect and correct English idioms. A pamphlet of 25 pages, very helpful for schools in India
2. “Current Errors in English History” - Two booklets, of about 100 pages each, give true history of important events according to best historians, and show how false is the Protestant version.

Irish Province News 18th Year No 2 1943

Obituary :
Father Denis Murphy SJ (1862-1943)
Fr. Murphy's death occurred at St. Beuno's College, St. Asaph, North Wales, on the morning of 20th February. After spending some time in a Preston Nursing Home he had been transferred to St. Beuno's last summer and, the' unable to offer Mass since 2nd June, he kept up his former interests and maintained contact with Preston, the scene of his labours for the twenty years previous to his death, as well as with the Province. On the very morning of his death Fr. Socius received a letter from the Brother who was looking after him, reporting Fr Murphy's anxiety to give full information of the Masses he had been saying up to his illness and mentioning that he still retains his buoyancy and good spirits and begs to be kindly remembered to the Provincial and the community at Gardiner Street.
Born at Rathmore, Co. Kerry, in 1862, he entered the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, on February 2nd, 1862, and spent five years as master in Melbourne before pursuing his theological studies. He was ordained priest by the late Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, in 1897, and after occupying the post of Prefect of Studies at St. Ignatius' College, Galway, for three years, volunteered for school work in Galle, Ceylon, then under the care of the Belgian Jesuits. Monsignor Van Reeth, S.J., Bishop of Galle, had come to Europe in 1901 in search of a Head for his recently established school for native boys. Father Murphy offered himself for the position. Under his tactful and talented management; the college, from being a collection of mere floorless huts, where boys were taught the elements of the three Rs, became a secondary school of distinction, St. Aloysius College, where pupils were prepared for the Senior School Certificate of Cambridge. After twenty years of unbroken service in the tropics Father Murphy was compelled through ill-health to return to Ireland in 1922. In the autumn of that year began his twenty years' association with the parish of St. Walburge's of Preston, where his priestly zeal and remarkable gentleness of disposition won him all hearts. The diamond jubilee of his entrance into religion was made the occasion last February, of remarkable popular rejoicings in Lancashire.
Fr. John Delaney has kindly set down the following details of Fr Murphy's work in Ceylon : “On his way home to Ireland from Australia for his theology, Mr Murphy's boat called at Colombo. While on shore he visited the Irish Oblate father who was then Parish Priest at St. Philip Neri’s the Garrison Church of the town. Chatting about Mission work on the Island, the Oblate father impressed so much on Mr. Murphy's mind the crying need of English speaking missionaries in such a place that he determined to apply to his Superiors for permission to return as a priest and work in Ceylon. He was strengthened all the more in his desire, as he found that the Society had two dioceses Galle in the South and Trincomali in the East of the Island, as well as the papal Seminary in the Hill Capital, Kandy, where the future clergy of India and Ceylon were being formed by the Jesuit Fathers.
During his tertianship he offered himself to the Provincial for Mission work in Ceylon, His generous offer was accepted, though Fr. Murphy heard no more about it for some time. On his return to Ireland he was appointed to Galway and asked to work up the school there. Many there are to-day who still remember and speak with admiration of the untiring zeal and the fine spirit of work he showed at St. Ignatius.
While Fr. Murphy was working in Galway the Belgian Jesuit Bishop, Dr. Joseph Van Reeth, who was in charge of the Galle Diocese Ceylon, came to Rome on his ad limina visit. While touring Europe in quest of subjects who would help him to found and work up a College in his diocese - a project very dear to his heart - he applied to the Irish Provincial, who remembering the Tertian's generous offer, placed the Bishop's request before him. Fr. Murphy packed up and set sail for the East, accompanied by as German Scholastic, who had joined the English Province for Mission work. That was in 1901. His work was to continue till 1921.
Fr. Murphy's activities in Ceylon can be placed under two heads : (1) the educational, or (2) the directly spiritual :
Arriving in Galle and taking charge of the Boys' School that had a roll of 82 pupils, he commenced his solid, persevering, self-sacrificing work that was to culminate in the great St. Aloysius' College of to-day - a fully equipped Secondary School with Elementary and Commercial Branches complete, side by side with an up-to-date Scientific Department containing a magnificent Laboratory that is regarded as one of the best in the Island.
Getting down to the very rudiments, Fr. Murphy began to lay the solid foundation of a thorough grasp of the English tongue for which the pupils of St. Aloysius' College became so renowned in later years. Parsing, analysis, rich vocabulary and correct idiom he hammered at continuously in season and out of season. People saw the wisdom of his plan and he himself was greatly encouraged when at the end of the first year he succeeded in getting his two Candidates through the Senior Local Cambridge Examination.
Then, he set about training his own pupils, first as monitors then as teachers, some of whom he sent to the Training College, gradually staffing the school with his own past pupils. During his regime he succeeded in capturing twice the much-coveted Government scholarship offered in open competition to all the Colleges of the Island. Before he returned to Ireland he had the satisfaction of seeing over 500 boys housed in a magnificent set of buildings the new St. Aloysius College-designed and completed on really oriental lines. His remarkable spirit of work had a contagious quality, too. His Old Boys testify even, to-day to that, and assert that with his great slogan "Certa Viriliter" emblazoned on the College Coat of Arms as their motto. Fr. Murphy really infused a genuine spirit of work into their lives. His directly spiritual work was equally successful. Starting off with a highly intensified spiritual life himself and remarkable for his spirit of prayer, love of poverty, penitential practises - rarely did he sleep on a bed - he gathered around him souls whose great desire was to be disciples of The Master. He was loved by the children for the wondrous charm of his simplicity. Converts reverenced him as their father. Children of Mary in the Convent and the College were anxious to place themselves under his spiritual direction. Members of religious congregations, many of whom hailed from Ireland, drew inspiration for their lives from his word and his example. His kindness, gentleness and discernment, his Christlike demeanour were an unfailing attraction for all.
For many years he crossed over regularly to Madras for the Annual Retreat of the Irish Presentation Nuns. Their first Convent in Madras was an offshoot of Rahan near Tullabeg. The former Rahan Parish Priest was a brother of the late Archbishop of Madras. These were the links between the two communities. From humble beginnings these Irish Presentation Nuns gradually developed their influence till to-day they are a power in the land through their schools, convents and colleges including the famous Training College of Madras, where the foundations of Catholic education of South China are so well laid.
The secret of Fr. Murphy's success lay in those supernatural qualities which his late Jesuit Superior in Galle discerned when he spoke of him as “a genuine religious and a very saintly man”. The same encomium as was paid twenty years after, when a late Provincial of England alluded to him as “the saint of St. Walburge's” R.I.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Denis Murphy SJ 1862-1943
On his way home from Australia, Mr Denis Murphy – as he was then called – called in at Colombo, and was much struck by the lack of priests there. He volunteered for the Mission of Ceylon. His offer was accepted in 1900 on the appeal of the Bishop of Galle for a man to run his recently established school for native boys. Under his management, the school, from being a mere collection of floorless huts became a secondary school of distinction, the present College of St Aloysius. For twenty years Fr Murphy worked in Ceylon.

Then through ill health he returned to Ireland, and he worked for another twenty years on the English Mission at Preston. He celebrated his Diamond Jubilee as a Jesuit in 1942, having been born at Rathmore in Kerry in 1862.

He died at St Beuno’s on February 20th 1943, leaving behind a permanent monument to his zeal in the College of St Aloysius, Ceylon.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1902

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon.

A Jesuit. Father. well known to many .. of our students, and one who takes a great interest in the apostolic school, writes from Galle, Ceylon :

“Some six years ago this diocese had only six Catholic schools. Now there are thirty-six, each & source of numerous conversions and fonning the nucleus of a Chris tian community. The total number of children now attending the Catholic schools is about 2,500; six years ago it did not exceed 700,

We have, however, numerous difficulties to contend against. The Buddhists are encouraged and organised by European spiritualists, like Colonel Alcot and Miss Besant. Then there is the bitter opposition and bigotry of the. Protestants, who have plenty of money and have been in the field a hundred years before us. The Catholics are: poor, and find it difficult to support the priests or teachers. Above all, the workers are too few. Imagine thirty-six schools and forty-two churches and chapels, many of them thirty or sixty miles apart, worked by some eight priests ! Thus it happens that Catholic teachers and children are often months without seeing a priest. And it occurs again and again that schools decay and Catholics 'turn Protestant and Buddhist owing to the want of a priest to look after them.

But wherever a priest is the school fourishes and conversions multiply. Down at Matura, five years ago, there were two flourishing Wesleyan schools. Rev. Fr Standaert SJ, then opened his school of two boys in the church verandah, Now Fr. Standaert's school numbers one hundred and fifty children ; of the Wesleyan schools, one is fast dying, the other already dead.

The climate though hot, is wholesoine and invigorating, sea or land breezes nearly always blow; while our diet, dress, and houses are well adapted to a tropical climate. Hence, I feel the heat less than during an Australian summer”.

-oOo-

The same writer says in another letter :

“The Catholics, having endured a terrible persecution under Dutch Calvinists for 150 years up to the year 1800, are now fast multiplying. Their number at present is about a quarter of a million ; Trotestants are 60,000; the rest, Some 3,000,000, are Buddhists and Mohammedans. This (locese has over 7.coo Catholics scattered over an area as Targe as Munster. Two hundred converts are made yearly. In this diocese we have only twelve priests and need help Dadly. The Singhalese are a gentle loveable race, pos sessing an eastern refinement. Their modesty and humility seem to fit them admirably for the reception of Christianity. Here in Galle a higher Catholic school is sorely needed to keep our boys from Buddhist and Protestant schools. We teach from the alphabet to Senior Cambridge.

Some 'twelve months ago this (St Aloysius), school had a little over one hundred pupils, there are now over two hundred. About half are Catholics, the rest are Buddhists, Mohainmedans and Protestants. Gentle, good, ainiable boys they are. We are getting converts amongst them. About a dozen are now preparing for baptism. The scenery of Ceylon is beautiful, especially around old Kandy, the hill city of the kings, which I visited lately”.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1904

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon.
“I was very glad to hear that you hope to be able soon to send help to Galle. The need is great, and the harvest is ripe. English-speaking priests are sorely needed in Ceylon and India. First, as English teachers in colleges. Second, as Preachers in churches Thirdly, because Continental priests don't well understand British character, ideas and methods, which of course permeate British Colonies. This is certainly an agreeable mission, with. many thousaud Pagans awaiting the light. Caste males no difficulty here; but is a terrible barrier in India, I am sorry I cannot write more, as I hear this eve ping the Singhalese chart of the Via Crucis in the native tongue, while our pious congregation, in many-coloured native costumes, gather in. Still we are only one in thirty-five of the population of Galle. There is great room for conversions. So pray for me with my littie Catholics and non-Catholics.

NOTE - Though Father Murphy is not a Past Student, we think his letter will interest many of our readers, es pecially those who remember him in Galway.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1905

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

A great friend of the Apostolic School, now a missioner in Ceylon, writes from St Aloysius College, Gaile

Ceylon
My dusky lads admire the Mungret photos and would like to be in such a grand college. In Ceylon, though the Protestants have built many fine Colleges, the Catholics have only one large College building - St Joseph's, Colombo, but we hope to have a fine college built in Galle very soon.

Of my 240 boys about half are Buddhists and Mohammedans, good little fellows, with the natural law writ clear and deep. Few leave us without Catholic principles and a desire to embrace the true faith, but parents oppose, and helpless boys must prudently yield now; later on we hope they will follow their convictions. We must rely for converts chiefly on the young, the old Buddhists being too corrupt in heart and mind.

Our rival colleges here are the Anglican, the Wesleyan with some 400 pupils, and the Buddhist College supported hy English Theosophists. The latter college was fast dying last year and nearly all its pupils were leaving for St Aloysius' College; but Colonel Olcott came, bought up a large building, bronght out a Cambridge MA, and now that Buddhist institution flourishes.

It is difficult to exaggerate the need of English-speaking priests in India and Ceylon. English education is now spreading rapidly. Every bishop has a college in his diocese and naturally requires as teachers those whose mother tongue is English. Amongst Europeans here, too, there is great need of priests of their own nationality,

So you see there is a splendid field of labour open to Mungret in these lands.

The bishop of Kandy and a Singhalese priest are just giving a mission here. The dialogues, in which the private lakes the rôle of a Buddhist or Protestant asking for information from the bishop, are very interesting and instructive for the people. The bishop, an Italian, learned this plan from the Jesuits in Rome,

-oOo-

The same writer, in another place, sends the following most interesting items :

The people of this country, until some three months since, were cursed by drunkenness, leading to countless murders. But a temperance movement, like Father Matthew's, has spread through the island in an extraordinary manner, and already public houses and law courts are empty; publicans and lawyers are in poverty. For a Buddhist people it is marvellous. They have watchers near every public house, and pledge-breakers are boy. cotted and macle to take on their backs stones or baskets of sand to the Buddhist temples.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1908

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon - Rev D Murphy., writes from Galle:

We need English), or still better, Irish, aid very badly here, especially for college work. We have now a nice college of some 300 dusky lads and my poor self the only Paddy! We have white boys, chiefly of Dutch descent, called Burghers, and yellow boys - Singhalese and Portuguese - with many black boys of Tamil blood, The latter are industrious when made to be, and by nature very. gentle and obedient.

The Eastern memory is very good. The mind is acute but lacks reasoning power. All these qualities of mind and character are improving under European education.

Lying and theft seem a second nature to young and old here - quite shocking at first. But our boys quickly learn that “honesty is the best policy” in word and deed; so I find them now truthful and honest when they find both esteemed and rewarded; while the opposite bring punishment and disgrace. Amongst my 300 boys I have not had for many months a complaint of loss of books (stolen), which was quite a plague formerly. Our Catholic boys have much piety.

At games we do well. The college holds the champion ship for foothall over the Buddhist, Anglican, and Wesleyan colleges - past and present. The Aloysian club holds the foolball championship of Galle: Aided by four old boys the college played an excellent team of eleven English officers and men from HMS Sealark; and after a hard hour's game the match ended in a draw; and our English opponents acknowledged that Ceylon boys can play a splendid game. Of course all this makes our lads proud of their college, and fosters esprit de corps. The evenings are quite cool enough for Association; but Rugby cannot flourish in the tropics.

An English theosophist bas revived the Buddhist College here in Galle, which was almost dead four years since, having sent nearly all its pupils to us. Our boys though Buddhist grow with Catholic ideas and principles, If we could only gain the parents' permission many would become Catholics. We must wait and pray, con tent with those we do gain.

I like Ceylon climate better than Ireland's. We have no winter, nor is the heat too great; a fresh land or sea breeze constantly blows.

I hope some more will come to us from Mungret. The Easi has greatest need of English speakers.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1909

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon - Rev D Murphy., writes from Galle:

Very glad missionary thoughts are turning Eastward, especially to India and Ceylon where English speakers are very badly needed. We must help in English countries French and Belgians, who want our aid in a most special way for education and English preaching English Protestant Missionaries swarm over Ceylon and India, but alas ! how few Catholic. May God send us some priests and nuns froin Ireland! I gave two retreats last Xmas in Madras to two large convents of Irish nuns, over thirty in each. Without them the various bible societies with Protestant Englislı nuns in abundance would have nearly all female education in their hands. South of Madras there is not one English speaking nun in India. Very sad !

We are more fortunate in Ceylon. We have the Good Shepherul Sisters from Ireland in Colombo and Kandy, and here in Galle we have a large convent of Belgian and Irish, with threë natiye sisters, all doing excellent work and famous for their Limerick lace. A beautiful convent by the sea bas been established at Matara, twenty seven miles from Galle.

Mr Piler is coming to us next month. You cannot imagine what a change one scholastic makes here or how much good he can du, surrounded and hard pressed as we are by Buddhists and Protestants. We have nine native teachers and a school of 300 fine lads, gentle, obedient; and industrious ; but only halt are Catholics We teach from alphabet to senior Cambridge and soon to London matriculation.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Denis Murphy (1862-1943)

Born at Rathmore, Co. Kerry, entered the Society in 1882 and was ordained in 1897 at Milltown Park. He had spent his regency at Australia before his theological studies. After his ordination he was appointed prefect of studies at St Ignatius', Galway and discharged the duties of his office with marked success for three years. He then volunteered for work with the Belgian Jesuits in Ceylon and for twenty years did splendid work in building up the College of St Aloysius at Galle. He was forced by ill-health to return to Europe in 1921 and was appointed to Sacred Heart College. Here he was engaged in teaching as well as being a member of the church staff. At the end of the year, however, feeling called to do mission work in England, he was sent at his own request to the Jesuit church at Preston where he laboured to the end. He remained a member of the Irish Province, although he had spent only four years of his long life in the actual work of his Province.

Born: 05 October 1908, Listowel, Co Kerry / Ballysimon, County Limerick
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 07 February 1942, Manresa House, Roehampton, London, England
Died: 07 April 1973, Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin

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

Early education at Mungret College SJ.

Chaplain in the Second World War.

by 1948 at Riverview, Sydney Australia (ASL) teaching
by 1962 at Holy Name Manchester (ANG) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Lol Kearns Entry
“While driving in convoy on the first stage of our journey to Brussels, my driver ran the car into a tree north of Magdeburg and my head was banged into the glove compartment in the dashboard. I saw Fr Morrison again at CelIe as he bent over my stretcher and formed the opinion that I should never look the same again.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/into-journal-remembers-jesuit-chaplain/

INTO journal remembers Jesuit chaplain
Irish Jesuit and Second World War chaplain Fr Michael Morrison features in the Irish National Teachers Organisation’s InTouch magazine for the January/February 2019 issue.
Fr Morrison was born in Listowel in County Kerry, was educated by the Jesuits in secondary school, joined the Society and taught at Belvedere College SJ in Dublin. He enlisted as a chaplain with the British army, initially ministering in the Middle East and later transferring to the Derry Regiment of the Lancashire Fusiliers.
He arrived with British and Canadian forces to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Northern Germany in April 1945, which was the first camp to be liberated on the Western Front. At that time, there were 60,000 individuals within the camp with conditions described as ‘hell on earth’ – 13,000 people died from sickness and starvation in the weeks after liberation.
While at Bergen-Belsen, Fr Morrison administered the last rights, held Mass for people of different religions and conducted a joint service over a mass grave with, for example, the Jewish British army chaplain. In a letter home, he wrote: “What we met within the first few days is utterly beyond description”, and it was reported that he spoke very little about what he witnessed in later years. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Morrison lived in his early years at Ballysimon on the outskirts of Limerick city. The Christian Brothers educated him at Sexton Street, and then he went to Mungret from 1922, where he excelled himself at hurling. In his last year at school he was a member of the junior team that won the O'Mara Cup.
He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 September 1925, and after his home juniorate at Rathfarnham, studied philosophy at Tullabeg. He did regency at Belvedere and Mungret, 1933-36, teaching mathematics and was involved with sport. He studied theology at Milltown Park, 1936-40, and was at Rathfarnham, 1940-41, for tertianship.
During the Second World War he was a military chaplain with the British Army in Egypt 1941-46, serving with the Eight Army and was present at the fall of Tunis. He was later at Belsen in 1945, working in Camp Number 1, the Horror Camp. Herded together in this camp were 50,000 people where typhus was raging When Morrison's unit entered the camp between 7.000 and 10,000 people were found dead in the huts and on the ground. The majority of the living were seriously ill. Many thousands died subsequently Morrison anointed about 300 people daily, helped by very few chaplains. He celebrated Mass on 22 April 1945, the first time at the camp. It was a moving experience for those able to attend.
After the war he went to Australia, teaching briefly at St Aloysius' College, and then at Riverview, 1947-48. He finally did parish work at Richmond, 1949-58.
After leaving Australia, he spent several years attached to the Jesuit Holy Name church in Manchester. He returned to Ireland later, and taught at Mungret, and then at Belvedere College as college bursar, 1963-73.
Morrison was a good listener, allowing others to speak. His quiet, matter-of-fact way of viewing things rendered him one of the most factually objective witnesses of the day-to~day circumstances of World War II. His health deteriorated in his latter years after a series of strokes. He was a man of strong principles, loyal to his duties, and, in his sickness, always unwilling to be a burden.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 16th Year No 2 1941
General News :
The Irish Province has to date sent 4 chaplains to England for home or foreign service for the duration of the war. They are Frs. Richard Kennedy, Michael Morrison, Conor Naughton and Cyril Perrott. The first three were doing their 3rd year's probation under Fr. Henry Keane at the Castle, Rathfarnham, while Fr. Perrott was Minister at Mungret College. They left Dublin on the afternoon of 26th May for Belfast en route for London. Fr. Richard Clarke reported a few days later seeing them off safely from Victoria. Both he and Fr. Guilly, Senior Chaplain to British Forces in N. Ireland, had been most helpful and kind in getting them under way.

Irish Province News 17th Year No 1 1942

Chaplains :
Our twelve chaplains are widely scattered, as appears from the following (incomplete) addresses : Frs. Burden, Catterick Camp, Yorks; Donnelly, Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk; Dowling, Peebles Scotland; Guinane, Aylesbury, Bucks; Hayes, Newark, Notts; Lennon, Clackmannanshire, Scotland; Morrison, Weymouth, Dorset; Murphy, Aldershot, Hants; Naughton, Chichester, Sussex; Perrott, Palmer's Green, London; Shields, Larkhill, Hants.
Fr. Maurice Dowling left Dublin for-Lisburn and active service on 29 December fully recovered from the effects of his accident 18 August.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

Australia :
Frs. Fleming and Mansfield (who is a member of the Australian Vice-Province) were able to leave for Australia via America in July.
Frs. Lennon and Morrison are still awaiting travel facilities.

Irish Province News 48th Year No 3 1973

Obituary :

Fr Michael Morrison (1908-1973)

Fr. Michael Morrison was born in Listowel, Co. Kerry, in October 1908, but in his early years moved to Ballysimon on the outskirts of Limerick city; he was one of three children, another boy, Jim, and a sister, whom their mother, early bereaved of her husband, devotedly brought up.
In Limerick he attended the CBS, Sexton Street, primarily and in 1922 went to Mungret, where because of his skill and vigour in the hurling team he was the object of an amount of hero worship among those who found difficulty in earning a place on one team whereas he, by natural right, had a secure billet on both senior and junior teams. In his last year at school he was a stalwart member of the junior team that won the O'Mara Cup.
He entered the novitiate in 1925 and having negotiated many a “novices' jump” proceeded to Rathfarnham in 1927 where during the next three years he was occupied with the humanities. Through no fault of his he was drafted, to Tullabeg for philosophy in 1930 without having completed his university degree - he had spent a year in the home juniorate, because of pressure for accommodation for an overflowing community in Rathfarnham.
After philosophy he spent two years of regency at Belvedere where again his athletic skill in training teams was in requisition. Apart from this particular expertise he was a good teacher especially with mathematics at which he shone even as a boy. He spent a final year of college in his Mungret Alma Mater.
He began his course in Theology at Milltown in 1936, and was ordained in 1939. In 1941 Monsignor Coughlin, the principal chaplain in the British Army, made a strong appeal to the Irish Jesuits for priests to serve with the troops. Fr Michael was one of the first appointed. Soon he was in Egypt moving back and forth with the fortunes of the army in the desert. He was in the final breakthrough of the Eighth Army and was present at the Fall of Tunis where he met Fr Con Murphy, SJ, who had come the other way with the First Army.
Fr Michael did not cross over to Italy with the Eighth Army, but returned to England with his Units in preparation for the attack on the Northern flank of the German Army.
On the 12th April, 1945, the chief of staff of the First German Parachute Army made contact with the British Eighth Corps to ask for a local armistice. He explained that a terrible situation in the POW., and civilian internment camps had arisen at Belsen. Typhus was raging, and the Germans were unable to handle it. Would the Eighth Corps take over?
A truce was immediately arranged. A neutral area was set out around Belsen. The German SS camp staff were to stay on indefinitely. The Hungarian Guard was also to remain. A section of the Wehrmacht was to guard the area but was to be returned behind the German lines fully armed after six days.
Fr Morrison was with the 32nd Casualty Clearing Unit near Belsen at the time and it immediately moved to the camps. Then began for him a period of great trial and anguish. He was principally occupied in Camp Number 1 - known now to all the world as the Horror Camp. Herded together in this camp were fifty thousand people. Thirty-nine huts housed the men, forty-one, the women.
When Fr Morrison's unit entered the camp on April 17th, between seven and ten thousand people lay dead in the huts and on the ground, Of the living the majority were in periculo mortis, and many thousands were dying.
The first date for which statistics were available was April 30th, and on that day five hundred and forty eight people died. It was difficult to assess the number of Catholics, but at a guess it was in the region of 30 per cent. In February, 1945, there were 45 priests in the camp but only 10 were alive on April 17th, when Fr. Morrison arrived. Of these 10, only one, a Pole, Fr Kadjiocka, was able to give Fr Morrison any help. Soon afterwards several other chaplains arrived. The number Fr Michael anointed daily during this first period in the camp was about 300. He wrote in a report :

The joy and gratitude shown by the internees at receiving the sacraments more than compensated for the difficulties. (difficulties such an understatement!) of working in the huts. One was conscious too of being a member of a living unified Church and of the bond which held us together. In the camps were Poles, Hungarians, Czecks, Jugoslavs, Greeks, Rumanians, Ukranians, French, Belgians, Dutch, Italians, and all were able to partake of the same sacrament.
On Sunday, April 22nd. Mass was celebrated for the first. time in Belsen Camp. There was a torrential downpour that morning and it was suggested that Mass be postponed until some other day, but the congregation would not hear of it ... they were drenched through but that did not diminish the fervour and enthusiasm of their singing.

Fr Michael very seldom spoke of his trials at Belsen and it would be difficult for the boys in his latter days at Belvedere to appreciate that the bowed priest who moved about so haltingly with a stick, and was nevertheless, so ready to speak with everyone, had such a distressing experience in his life.
After demobilisation, Fr Morrison went, lent, to Australia where he taught in Riverview College and served in St. Ignatius' Church, Richmond.
Michael was by disposition inclined to let others talk, it could hardly be said of him, on any occasion that he “took over”. His quiet, matter-of-fact, way of viewing things rendered him possibly the most factually objective witness of the day-to-day circumstances of the war situation summarised above. In later years he was, as noted above, averse to alluding to it and memories of it probably deepened the loneliness that affected him when his health declined.
After his return from Australia he spent several years attached to our Holy Name church in Manchester and on his coming back to Ireland after a short term in Mungret he was assigned as Economus to Belvedere, an office he retained until his health gave way; He retained his interest in games and enjoyed a game of golf.
Sadness visited him in the way of family bereavement. After his mother his sister and brother predeceased him; he retained his interest in their families but with the incapacity induced by several strokes and the consciousness of waging a losing battle a strong philosophy was necessary to buoy him up. This he fortunately possessed and the circumstances of his final seizures was characteristic : on the morning of his death he mentioned casually at breakfast that he had had another slight stroke; superiors were immediately informed but in the meantime he began to make his way, alone, upstairs to his room. The exertion brought on another and fatal attack. He was anointed and brought to Jervis Street Hospital but efforts to revive him were unavailing; he was a man of strong principle withal boyish, loyal to his duties, unwilling to be a burden. May he rest in peace.
His obsequies were carried out at Gardiner Street, April 10th; apart from his immediate relatives and a large number of ours there was a big congregation of Belvederians present and past.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1973

Obituary

Father Michael Morrison SJ (died 7th April, 1973)

Father Michael Morrison came to Belvedere late in life and was, perhaps, not very well known to its present alumni because he was not on the teaching staff. Until he be came ill he was bursar of the college. He was born in Listowel, but he went later with his family to live in Ballysimon, Co Limerick. He attended Mungret College for his secondary schooling. He was a superbly good hurler and had the distinction of being on the Junior team and of being picked for a place on the Senior team at the same time.

Michael entered the Jesuit Novitiate in 1925. Then came his humanity studies at Rathfarnham and his philosophy course at Tullabeg. In 1933 he was appointed as a scholastic to Belvedere and had charge of the Junior Rugby team which reached the final in his second year, but failed to win it. After the match there was quite a controversy about an unusual decision of the referee!

He began his course in Theology at Milltown in 1936, and was ordained in 1939. In 1941 Monsignor Coughlin, the principal chaplain in the British Army, made a strong appeal to the Irish Jesuits for priests to serve with the troops. Father Michael was one of the first appointed. Soon he was in Egypt moving back and forth with the fortunes of the army in the desert. He was in the final breakthrough of the Eighth Army and was present at the fall of Tunis where he met Father Con Murphy SJ, who had come the other way with the First Army.

Father Michael did not cross over to Italy with the Eighth Army, but returned to England with his Units in preparation for the attack on the Northern flank of the German Army.

On the 12th April, 1945, the chief of staff of the First German Parachute Army made contact with the British Eighth Corps to ask: for a local armistice. He explained that a terrible situation in the POW, and civilian internment camps had arisen at Belsen. Typhus was raging, and the Germans were unable to handle it. Would the Eight Corps take over?

A truce was immediately arranged. A neutral area was set out around Belsen. The German SS camp staff were to stay on in definitely. The Hungarian Guard was also to remain. A section of the Wehrmacht was to guard the area but was to be returned behind the German lines fully armed after six days.

Father Morrison was with the 32nd Casualty Clearing Unit near Belsen at the time and it immediately moved to the camps. Then began for him a period of great trial and anguish. He was principally occupied in Camp Number 1 - known now to all the world as the Horror Camp. Herded together in this camp were fifty thousand people. Thirty-nine huts housed the men forty-one, the women.

When Father Morrison's unit entered the camp on April 17th, between seven and ten thousand people lay dead in the huts and on the ground. Of the living the majority were in periculo mortis, and many thousands were dying.

The first date for which statistics were available was April 30, and on that day five hundred and forty eight people died. It was difficult to assess the number of Catholics, but at a guess it was in the region of 30 per cent. In February 1945 there were 45 priests in the camp but only 10 were alive on April 17th, when Father Morrison arrived. Of these 10, only one, a Pole, Father Kadjiocka, was able to give Father Morrison any help. Soon afterwards several other chaplains arrived. The number Father Michael annointed daily during this first period in the camp was about 300. He wrote in a report:

“The joy and gratitude shown by the internees at receiving the sacraments more than compensated for the difficulties ('difficulties —such an understatement !) of working in the huts. One was con scious too of being a member of a living unified Church and of the bond which held us together. In the camps were Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Jugoslaves, Greeks, Rumanians, Ukranians, French, Belgians, Dutch, Italians, and all were able to par take of the same sacrament.
On Sunday, April 22nd Mass was celebrated for the first time in Belsen Camp. There was a torrential downpour that morning and it was suggested that Mass be postponed until some other day, but the congregation would not hear of it ... they were drenched through but that did not diminish the fervour and enthus jasm of their singing”.

Father Michael very seldom spoke of his trials at Belsen and it would be difficult for the boys now at Belvedere to appreciate that the bowed priest who moved about so haltingly with a stick, and was nevertheless, so ready to speak with everyone, had such a distressing experience in his life.

After demobilization, Father Morrison went to Australia where he taught in Riverview College and served in St Ignatius Church, Richmond. He returned to Europe in 1958 and worked for some years Manchester before becoming Bursar at Belvedere.

May he rest in peace.

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: 11 November 1861, Paulstown, County Kilkenny
Entered: 13 September 1879, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1894, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1900
Died 12 March 1942, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Younger brother of Thomas Maher - RIP 1917

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

by 1898 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1899

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Came from a very respected family and two sons were in the Jesuits. An older brother Thomas was in the Society - RIP 1917.

Note from John Naughton Entry :
1896 He finally returned to Gardiner St again, and was President of the BVM Sodality for girls, being succeeded by William Butler and Martin Maher in this role.

Note from Martin Maher Sr Entry :
He went from there to Willesden in London, and he died there 27 March 1917. His brother, Martin said the requiem Mass.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Martin Maher was educated at St Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg, and entered the Society from there in 1879. He came to Australia as a priest, working at Riverview from 1899 as prefect of studies. He held the same office at St Aloysius' College in 1901, and left in early 1902 to return to Ireland to become rector of The Crescent. He was one of the most respected administrators of the Irish province. After The Crescent, he was rector of Milltown Park, and served two terms as master of novices, as well as being socius to the provincial and a lecturer in theology.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 5th Year No 1 1929

Tullabeg :
Fr Martin Maher, Master of Novices, celebrated the Golden Jubilee of his entrance into the Society, 16th September. Fr Martin was ordained in 1894. He spent three years in Australia, returning to Ireland in 1902 as Rector of the Crescent. From that date he put in 16 years as Rector (Crescent, Tullabeg, Milltovlm). In 1905 he was appointed Socius to Fr Provincial, and held that office for 6 years. He has commenced his 13th year as Master of Novices. No wonder Fr. Martin received such a huge spiritual bouquet on the occasion of the Jubilee. Fr. Provincial, accompanied by his Socius, carried it down to Tullabeg and presented it in the course of the day. During the evening festivities, Fr. Provincial, and Fr, S. Bartley (Rector of Tullabeg) paid some very well earned compliments to the Jubilarian who made a most kindly reply.

Irish Province News 17th Year No 3 1942

Obituary :
Rev Martin Maher SJ

The death of Father Martin Maher took place at the Residence, Upper Gardiner Street, on 12th March. He was, born at Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny, in 1861, and on the completion of his secondary education at Knockbeg, Carlow, and at St. Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, entered the Society of Jesus in 1879 at Milltown Park. There also, in company
with his brother, the late Fr. Thomas Maher, SJ., he completed his philosophical studies, after which he attended University College, Dublin, whose professorial staff included many well-known Jesuit teachers like Fr. John O'Carroll, the famous linguist, Fr. Gerard Manly Hopkins, poet and literary critic, who was Greek professor, Fr. Denis Murphy and others.
In 1885 he began at Belvedere College with the late Fr. Thomas A. Finlay as Rector, his career as an educationalist to which he was to devote many fruitful years of his life both in Ireland and Australia. He was ordained priest in St. Francis Xavier's Church Gardiner Street, by Dr. William Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin on 29th July, 1894, and, on the completion of his theological studies which he pursued with remarkable distinction, was appointed professor of dogmatic theology, a subject he taught for 10 years. For long periods of his life he held posts of importance and responsibility, being Rector of the Sacred Heart College, Limerick, of the Novitiate, St. Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, and of the House of Higher Studies, Milltown Park, for some 20 years. He was Socius to the Provincial for 6 years and Master of novices for fourteen. He was attached to St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, from 1933 to his death, being in charge of the large sodality for young women, whom he addressed with unfailing regularity each week.
A man of great intellectual gifts and personal charm, he was of a quiet and self-effacing disposition. As a. priest of the Catholic Church he served her with rare oneness of purpose and with a profound love of her liturgy and ceremonies, and did much during his life to advance the study and appreciation of sacred music. A talented preacher and giver of retreats he was in much demand during his long life especially among religious communities.
As he would have wished, Fr. Maher died in harness. Up to Christmas he continued to direct his sodality, Then increasing weakness forced him to confine himself to the confessional, where he worked up to the week-end before his death.
He became aware some months before his death that the best medical skill could do nothing for him, and often spoke of his approaching end. On March 10th, two days before his death, he was able to celebrate Mass, but, at his own urgent request, was anointed that day. The following clay he remained in bed, but was so bright and cheerful that it was hard to realise the end was so near. That night it was arranged that he should be visited at short intervals. The Father who visited him at 4 a,m. found him sleeping peacefully, but two hours later he was found to have passed away. R.I.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Martin Maher1861 SJ 1712-1942
Fr Martin Maher will best be known in the Province as a Master of Novices, though he filled with success, many administrative and academical posts from Rector to Provincial Socius, from teacher of Humanities to Theology professor, He was Rector of Crescent, Tullabeg and Milltown Park over a space of twenty years, Socius to the Provincial for 6 years, and Master of Novices for fourteen.

Born at Paulstown in 1861, he entered the Society at Milltown in 1879. He was a gifted man who developed every talent the Lord gave him, a good preacher, a much sought after giver of retreats. He was very keenly interested in sacred music and the liturgy, and di much during his various periods of office to promote both.

A man of deep and simple piety, he was rather shy in manner and reserved. He was a model of the rules of modesty, most meticulous in his observance of the rules and completely dedicated to his duty of the moment, whatever it was, big or little. He told his novices that every day at the visit to the Blessed Sacrament, he used to pray for the grace of a happy death. His prayer was answered in a signal manner.

Although suffering from an incurable disease, he remained working up to two days before his death, dying as he wished, in harness and fortified by the last anointing on March 12th 1942.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1942

Obituary

Father Martin Maher SJ

“The passing of Father Martin Maher means to me the loss of a dear friend. This must be true too in the case of a great number he met in his long, devoted ministry. When last we met he reminded me that it was 51 years since he taught me Mathematics at Belvedere. I am glad his labours are over - I think he suffered a good deal in recent years. Pray accept my sympathy for yourself and his colleagues at Gardiner Street for the loss of this holy priest”.

These words of Richard Cruise are we think the most fitting tribute that we can pay to Fr Martin Maher in the short space at our disposal. Fr Maher taught in Belvedere in the five years preceding 1890 and again in 1899. Subsequently he held almost every possible position of trust and responsibility in the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, and, despite several severe illnesses, he worked for souls with the utmost devotion to duty right up to the week of his death on 15th March, 1942. Requiescat in pace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1942

Obituary

Father Martin Maher SJ

The death has occurred at St. Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner St., of Rev. Martin Maher, S.J., one of the best known members of the Jesuit community.

A brilliant educationist, he was an authority on liturgy and sacred music, and did much work in this direction in the training of youth.

Born in Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny, Father Maher was educated at Knockbeg College, Carlow, and St. Stanislaus College, Tullamore.

In 1879 he entered the Society of Jesus at Milltown Park. He completed his philosophical studies with his brother, the late Rev Thomas Maher SJ, and later entered University College, St Stephen's Green, where the members of the staff included such well known figures as Rev John O'Carroll, the famous linguist, and Rev Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ, the poet and
literary critic.

In 1885 Fr. Maher became a teacher in Belvedere College under Fr Tom Finlay SJ, and he devoted many years in Ireland and Australia to this type of work.

On the completion of his theological studies he was ordained in Gardiner Street in 1894 by the late Archbishop Walsh. He read a brilliant theological course and was appointed Professor of Theology at Milltown, where he remained for ten years. He spent some years in Australia, where he did much valuable work.

He was formerly Rector of the Sacred Heart College, Limerick; the Novitiate, St Stanislaus College, Tullamore; and the House of Higher Studies, Milltown Park, altogether a period of over twenty years. He was Assistant Provincial for six years at Gardiner Street.

Since 1933 Father Maher was attached to Gardiner Street Church and was Director of the Young Women's Sodality, whom he addressed every Monday with unfailing regularity.

“Irish Independent”

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Martin Maher (1961-1942)

Of Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny, received his education at Knockbeg College and entered the Society in 1879. He was ordained in Dublin in 1894. Ever since his ordination, Father Maher was marked out for positions of high responsibility in the Irish Province. For some few years he was assistant lecturer in theology at Milltown Park when he was sent out to Australia where he spent three years, 1899-1902. His short stay in Australia was long remembered for his brilliant work as prefect of studies at Sydney. On his recall to Ireland, he was at once appointed to the rectorship of Sacred Heart College but three years later was summoned to other fields of responsibility. Until 1930 he held such positions of trust as rector and master of novices at Tullabeg, secretary to the Provincial and rector and professor of theology at Milltown Park. His later years were spent at Gardiner St Church, Dublin.

Born: 21 August 1859, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 31 January 1880, Sevenhill Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Died: 24 February 1883, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 1882

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education at St Patrick’s College, and Melbourne University.

First Australian Jesuit to join HIB

Died at Riverview of a stroke, following a cricket match in which he had played, 24 February 1883. His death had a profound effect on the students, all went to Confession that night and Mass the following day. At the funeral, they walked in procession, three abreast.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William Wrigley was the first native-born Australian to join the mission of the Irish Jesuits in Australia. He entered at Sevenhill, 31 January 1880. He had previously studied at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, and gained a BA at The University of Melbourne. As a novice he had some ear trouble, which it was feared might prevent him from being admitted to vows. He was sent to St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and took vows in the chapel at Riverview, 16 June 1882, as the doctor declared that his deafness was gradually decreasing. He soon proved to be a very capable master, a good religious, and, in Joseph Dalton's view, the most useful and efficient of all the Australian Novices.
On Saturday, 24 February 1883, Wrigley bowled for the college XI against an Old Boys' team, and, jubilant at the college victory in one innings, led the race back to refreshments. He vaulted a gate at the southern edge of the field, close to where the infirmary was later built, and fell down on the other side, unconscious. He appeared to be dead, but according to the doctor, did not really die until about 8 pm. The school greatly mourned his loss.

Born: 21 October 1906, Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1944
Died: 21 May 1981, St Louis School, Claremont, Perth, Australia- Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Williams had a sad childhood. His Irish mother and Welsh father died leaving five small children, three boys and two girls. He was looked after by a relative of his, Father Patrick McCurtin, and was a boarder at Mungret.
Williams entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 September 1928, did his university studies in Ireland, and priestly studies at Louvain, arriving in Australia in 1942, two years after his ordination. He taught at Riverview and Campion Hall, Point Piper, Sydney In 1949 he went to Perth as prefect of studies at St Louis School where he remained for the rest of his life.
For fifteen years he was prefect of studies, and completed his tasks with the greatest exactitude and precision. He was a severe disciplinarian, keeping his distance from his students, which he regretted in his latter days. However, he was a good educator, teaching religion, history and economics. The public examination results of his students were most respectable. He gave himself completely to his tasks. He stayed on in Perth even when St Louis ceased to be a Jesuit school, helping with confessions of the junior students. He symbolised the long-standing Jesuit view that education was worth the discipline and effort of achievement.
He was a fastidious man, elegant in dress, and correct in style and presentation of his person. He was complex and cultivated, at heart a very simple priest, at home with academics as well as ordinary people. He had an irreverent sense of humour that balanced a deep loyalty to the Pope and to the Church. He was a man of tradition. In later life he was courteous and gentle. At the same time he was a prayerful man, with special concern for the Holy Souls, and devotion to Our Lady.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 56th Year No 4 1981

Obituary

Fr John Williams (1906-1928-1981) (Australia)

Many of us, who knew Fr John Williams well and held vivid memories of him, were shocked by his sudden death (21st May 1981). We were contemporaries or near-contemporaries of his in the juniorate (1930-34) here in Rathfarnham.
John was the eldest of twenty-one novices who arrived in Tullabeg on 1st September 1928. At 22 he was above the normal school-leaving age. He appeared to be delicate and highly- strung, yet he was a model of hard work, both academic and physical. One of the strictest religious observance, in all things he was a perfectionist. Games were not in his line, but he found an outlet for his energy in pushing the lawn- mower. The condition in which he maintained the grounds all around the lake was surpassed only by the immaculate condition of his bicycle, his script - the acme of neatness — and the order of his academic work. As a novice he was very severe on himself, but was good-humoured and a delightful companion at recreation.
John Williams received his early Jesuit training at Mungret Apostolic School, now long closed. Fr Patrick McCurtin, rector of the Crescent, Limerick, had a special interest in John, and invited him to stay over the summer in the Crescent and assist Br James Priest in the Sacred Heart church. It was from Br Priest that he learned the art of decorating altars, John had flair for sacristy work, and on “doubles of the first class” used to transform the altar of the old domestic chapel in Tullabeg. (That chapel now forms the ground and middle floors of the retreat house wing).
John was a slogger: slow but sure, and afraid of nothing. He did a year in the “home juniorate”, but it was in theology, especially moral, that he blossomed. There was not a definition in the two volumes of Génicot that he had not at the tip of his tongue. With the thoroughness characteristic of him, he knew those twelve hundred pages literally inside out. He could moreover apply them: well had he learned from Fr Cyril Power to ask “What's the principle?” - and find it. John was gentle in character and generous in nature. May he rest in peace.
J A MacSeumais

Here follow some extracts from the homily given at Fr John’s requiem Mass. The speaker was Fr Daven Day SJ, himself a past student under Fr Williams at St Louis, Claremontm Perth. WA (Source: Jesuit Life circulated in the Australian Province).
To understand Fr John Williams you need to know that he was partly Irish and partly Welsh, and as he used to say after nearly forty years in Australia, he was also largely Australian. Tragically, his Irish mother Margaret and his Welsh father George died young and left five small children, three boys and two girls.
John had a sad childhood which in later years he often spoke about. It was fortunate that a relative of his, Fr P McCurtin, was teaching at Mungret, where John was sent to board. Fr McCurtin took him under his wing and for this John remembered him with life long affection.
After studies in Ireland and Louvain, two years after his ordination, John arrived in Australia in 1942, and in his first seven years taught in Riverview and Campion Hall, Point Piper. Then in 1949 he came to Perth as Prefect of Studies at St Louis, and here he has been ever since.
For fifteen years Fr Williams was Prefect of Studies at St Louis, and it is probably in this role of priest-educator that he is best remembered. Along with Frs Austin Kelly and Tom Perrott, the founders of St Louis, Fr John Williams formed a trio.
Fr Williams was by training and temperament an educator. Increasingly the institution meant less to him and the boys more. It was a privilege to see him move from being the formator to being the guide, then to the new stage of being a listener. He gave himself completely to the school, but it showed the calibre of the man that he was able to face up to the possible death of the school with equanimity, When the Jesuits were being posted elsewhere at the end of 1972, he asked to stay, and was appointed superior of the small Jesuit community which remained.
A man of God, he had a deep prayer life, an unaffected love of our Lady and a special devotion to the Holy Souls. All his priestly life he was involved in giving retreats and spiritual direction of sisters.

Fr Day mentioned that “Right up to his last weekend he was at Karrakatta (cemetery) on his weekly round of blessing the graves”. It is there that he lies buried, along with Fr Tom Perrott and three other Jesuits. Here are some extracts from a tribute paid by another former student, John K Overman, a school principal:
My first contact with Fr Williams came, as it did for so many of the boys at St Louis, Claremont, at the end of a strap. He had a marvellous facility for appearing on the scene of schoolboys’ evil-doing. To my horror, he appeared at the door of the classroom just as I was enjoying a run across some desk tops!
To the boys at St Louis through the Fifties, “Bill” was all but synonymous with Jesuit education. We never learnt his christian name, but we knew it began with because his signature appeared so much. Parents' notes excusing failure to do homework had to be presented to him and the small white card given in return and signed by Fr Williams in his neat, regular, meticulous hand.
The office of the Prefect of Studies was a tiny cell of a room and boys lined up, sweaty of hand and palpitating of heart, waiting their turn. Fr Williams was a tall, elegant man with light, wavy, brushed back hair that was impressive for its grooming and rhythmic evenness. His speech was clear, accurate and beautifully articulated. He smoked a cigarette in a very long holder and he would care fully lodge it in the slots of his ashtray as a boy came in and waited.
His severity was reserved for us boys. Years later when my wife and I were married in the St Louis chapel, Fr Williams prepared the altar for us, and we considered it a great honour that he should bother. He was a charming man who loved cultivated conversation, spiked with incisive comments and humour. His memory for historical and economic information and for the quotation of phrases from the Latin and English classics was encyclopaedic.
During the last few years Fr Williams’ health deteriorated but he remained optimistic and courteous. Last year he began a letter to me: “It was very kind of you to write ...” He lived the Jesuit motto, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam. I will thank God all my days that He permitted me to know and be influenced by: this remarkable Jesuit. May he rest in peace.

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

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

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

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

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

◆ The Clongownian, 1948

Jubilee

Father Thomas A Walsh SJ

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

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

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

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

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

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

G B

◆ The Clongownian, 1952

Obituary

Father Thomas Anthony Walsh SJ

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

I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

R J Murphy SJ

II

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

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

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

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

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

MB

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

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

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

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931
WWII Chaplain

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

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

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

Born: 01 February 1843, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 08 January 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 15 August 1883
Died: 04 August 1917, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia

Older Brother of Peter - RIP 1912; Uncle of Paddy Kenny - RIP 1973

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 3 February 1888-2 December 1894
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission: 1 February 1895-11 February 1901

by 1875 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was of a very old Catholic family in Tullamore. His older brother of Peter - RIP 1912

He spent some years studying at Louvain where he passed ad gradum.
When he came back to Ireland he was sent to Galway, and he worked hard in both the School and Church for many years.
1882 He was appointed Rector at Galway, a position he held until he was appointed Provincial by the then Visitor, Robert Fulton (MARNEB) in 1888.
1888 Provincial. He held this post for six years, and during that time he was sent as Visitor to Australia. He was a most successful administrator.
1894 He was sent to Australia. By 07 February 1895 he had been appointed Mission Superior there. He did this for six years as well.
1901 He was appointed Minister at the Sydney College.
1903 He was appointed Rector at St Patrick’s Melbourne, and he remained in this place until 1916.
His last two years were spent at Richmond, and he died there 04 August 1917. He had helped posts of one kind of Superior or another for almost 32 years.

Note from Morgan O’Brien Entry :
1889 In the Autumn of 1889 he accompanied Timothy Kenny and Thomas Browne and some others to Australia

Note from John Murphy Entry :
During his final illness he was well cared for in the community. His needs were attended to by Timothy J Kenny the Superior and George Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Timothy Kenny was educated by the Vincentian Fathers at Castleknock, Dublin, and studied for the priesthood at Clonliffe and at Maynooth. After ordination, he worked in the town of Maynooth, and then entered the Jesuit noviciate in Ireland, 8 January 1872, at the age of 29. He revised his theology at Louvain, 1874-75, and taught at Galway, 1875-88, becoming its rector in 1882; he was also prefect of studies. It was here that he became a friend with the bishop of Galway, Dr Carr, who was later archbishop of Melbourne.
His energy and administrative skills were recognised, and he was appointed Provincial of the Irish province until 1894. He visited both the Austrian and Irish missions in Australia in 1889, with a view to negotiate a union. Far from deserving credit for the amalgamation, he dithered over it until the Austrians were out of patience.
Sent to Australia in 1894, Kenny was mission superior until 1901. He resided at North Sydney. After a few years as minister at Riverview, he was appointed rector of St Patrick's College, 1903-16. During that time his letters expressed much concern about the future of the college. He was a tired man, and the many problems of the college added to his depression. During his term of office, compulsory military training was introduced. Former students believed that the discipline learnt during cadet training raised their morale and improved their attitude towards one another.
He spent his last few years doing parish work at St Ignatius', Richmond.
Kenny was a man of many gifts, pious, full of zeal, and prudent, even too prudent, but kind and generous to the individual. He seemed to be a man of nervous temperament and lacking in self-confidence - the kind of Superior who is kept in office because he can be relied on not to give trouble. He spent half his Jesuit life in Australia. He brought to the problems of his age a mind attuned to the previous century, fighting against the perceived evils of his day, especially the abuse of the virtue of purity.

Note from Patrick Keating Entry
The Irish provincial, Timothy Kenny, while visiting Australia in 1890 believed Keating to be “the most admirable man I ever met”. That being the opinion that counted, Keating became the next Irish provincial

Born: 31 December 1877, Preston, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 08 September 1894, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia
Ordained: 26 July 1911, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 02 February 1914, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 17 December 1960, St Vincent's Hospital, Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission : 29 June 1923-1931.
Part of the Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia community at the time of death.

Transcribed : HIB to ASL - 05 April 1931

by 1906 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1910 at Innsbruck Austria (ASR) studying
by 1912 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
Sullivan, Jeremiah (1877–1960)
by J. Eddy
J. Eddy, 'Sullivan, Jeremiah (1877–1960)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sullivan-jeremiah-11800/text21111, published first in hardcopy 2002

Catholic pries; schoolteacher

Died : 17 February 1960, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Jeremiah Sullivan (1877-1960), Jesuit priest and philosopher, was born on 31 December 1877 at Preston, Melbourne, tenth of fourteen children of Irish-born parents Eugene Sullivan, farmer, and his wife Mary, née Doran. Jeremiah attended the convent school at Heidelberg and St Patrick's College, Melbourne. He entered the Society of Jesus on 8 September 1894 at Loyola, Greenwich, Sydney, and was a novice under Fr Aloysius Sturzo. After studying literature and classics, he taught (1899-1905) at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, where he was prefect of discipline, debating and rowing.

In 1905 Sullivan sailed via Ireland to England to read philosophy (1905-08) at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. He proceeded to theology, first at Milltown Park, Dublin (1908-09), then at Innsbruck, Austria (1909-11)—where he was ordained priest on 26 July 1911—and finally at Posillipo, near Naples, Italy. 'Spot' (as he was nicknamed) was back in Ireland, at Tullabeg College, for his tertianship (1912-13). Returning to Sydney and Riverview, he was prefect of studies (from 1913). In 1917-23 he was rector of Xavier College, Melbourne, where he was also prefect of studies (from 1919). During this period the college acquired Burke Hall in Studley Park Road, Kew.

In 1923 Sullivan became the first native-born superior of the Jesuits' 'Irish Mission' in Australia. He visited Rome and Ireland several times. As a superior, he consistently showed good judgement; he was mild and generous, but could be firm when necessary. The last superior before Australia was raised to the rank of a Jesuit vice-province at Easter 1931, Sullivan was better liked by his men than either his predecessor Fr William Lockington or his successor Fr John Fahy. He again spent some months at Xavier, as headmaster in 1931, and was the sole Catholic member of the fledgling Headmasters' Conference of Australia, which was founded that year. In 1931-34 he served as superior at the parish of Hawthorn. From 1935 to 1946 he lived at the regional seminary, Corpus Christi Ecclesiastical College, Werribee, as administrator, consultor, and professor of pastoral theology and philosophy. His students regarded him as a genuinely humane Australian priest. While rector (1946-52) of Loyola College, Watsonia, he continued to teach and became a father-figure to the many young men in training.

A handsome and striking-looking man in his prime, with a stately walk and a sonorous voice, Sullivan was all his life a prodigious reader. He was hampered from early manhood by indifferent health. His great power and breadth of mind, his joy in work and his capacity for doing almost anything well, drove him in his earlier years to attempt too much and do too many things. Spot was never narrow or petty in any of his actions, but kind, understanding and sincere. His peers and subjects respected him as a good leader. He was very reserved, a gentleman in every sense of the word, and deeply spiritual. Sullivan died on 17 February 1960 at St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, and was buried in Boroondara cemetery.

Select Bibliography
D. Strong, The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography, 1848-1998 (Syd, 1999)
Society of Jesus Archives, Hawthorn, Melbourne.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Jeremiah Sullivan, one of fourteen children, attended school in Heidelberg and St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, and entered the Society, 8 September 1894, at Loyola College, Greenwich. After his juniorate at the same place, 1897-98, he did regency for six years at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, before leaving Australia for Stonyhurst, where he studied philosophy, 1905-08. He studied theology for one year at Milltown Park, Dublin, then two years in Innsbruck, Austria, and one year at Posilipo, Naples. Tertianship was at Tullabeg.
He returned to Australia in 1913, and was appointed prefect of studies at Riverview until 1917, before becoming the first Australian born rector of Xavier College, Melbourne, until 1923. lt was during this time that the college won the football premiership, two cricket premierships and a dead heat at the head of the river. Burke Hall was also acquired.
Sullivan was afterwards appointed superior of the mission until 1931. He was later superior of the parish of Hawthorn till 1934, then professor of classics and church history at the
regional seminary, Werribee. His final appointment was to Loyola College, Watsonia, where he was rector, 1946-50, and lectured the juniors in Latin.
Commonly called “Spot”, he was a very handsome and striking looking man with a stately walk and rich, sonorous voice. He had a remarkable memory and was a prodigious reader. He was capable intellectually, a good superior with sound judgment, mild and generous, but firm when necessary The province liked him more than either his predecessor, William Lockington, or his successor, John Fahy. He had a great capacity for work, “was a gentleman in every sense of the word” and a deeply spiritual man.
He did everything in a big way. He was a man who was never narrow or petty in any of his actions. He was always kind, understanding and sincere, judicial and courageous in all his dealings, and one who was accepted by his peers as a good leader. As rector of Xavier College, his wisdom and understanding were much appreciated.
He was a learned priest, historian, classicist, and mathematician. He was also a reserved person who spent little time in strictly pastoral work. His end came suddenly, but he had been in poor and declining health for his last four years .

Born: 27 September 1872, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 01 February 1921, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Died: 25 January 1930, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Sturrock was quite a well-educated man and a good musician. He enjoyed singing at novices concerts. After leaving school he joined the GPO and was a valued worker. He owned some property at Geelong, and was a man of substance before he entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 1 February 1921.
He worked at the noviceship after vows performing domestic duties until 1928 when he went to St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, for a few years as assistant editor of the Messenger. His last few years were at Riverview in charge of the boys' books, and as sacristan.
His death was a very painful one, diagnosed, after death, as cancer of the pancreas. His superior thought he suffered from imaginitis, and so he was not well treated for his condition. He considered to be a most steady, dependable and cheerful person.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 5th Year No 3 1930
Obituary :
Br John Sturrock

Br. Sturrock was born on the 27th Dec. 1872, and began his novitiate at Loyola, Sydney,on the lst Feb 1921. He remained at Loyola for seven years, and amongst his duties being “Script. hist, dom”. He then passed a year at St. Patrick's, where, he was “Adj. Dir, Nunt. SS Cord”. In 1929, he went to Riverview, was “Aedit and Cust, Lib. Alum”. His holy death took place on Jan. 25th 1930.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1930

Obituary

John Sturrock

During the Christmas vacation, early in January of the present year, the remains of Brother John Sturrock were laid to rest in Gore Hill cemetery. Brother Sturrock had been with us only about a year and a half, having come from Melbourne, where he had been acting as a clerk on the staff of the “Messenger”. He had previously been at “Loyola”, Greenwich, where he served for some years after completing his novitiate. Before entering the religious life he had been an official in the GPO, Melbourne. During his stay amongst us he gave great edification by his holy life and remarkably cheerful and gentlemanly manner. He always wore the inestimable ornament of a genial smile, and though he must, of late years, have suffered intensely, for he was a victim of internal cancer, he was of such a stamp that, when eventual autopsy revealed what he had gone through, all were amazed to remember that he had never lost his cheerful and extremely sociable disposition, nor ever voiced the smallest complaint. Following so soon our loss of the saintly Father Pigot and good Brother Forster, the departure of this dear soul has left us sensibly poorer. RIP

Born: 19 September 1900, Cape Town, South Africa
Entered: 18 March 1923, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 14 June 1932, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1936
Died: 19 August 1972, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL: 05 April 1931

by 1927 at Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Arthur Stone had English, Anglican parents, who came to Australia from South Africa. He became a convert when at the parish school at North Sydney at the age of ten. Then he went to the Marist Brothers High School, Darlinghurst, and was head prefect in 1918. He went on to study engineering at the University of Sydney. He later worked as a civil engineer in the NSW Department of Main Roads. He played rugby league with the North Sydney firsts, and joined the Jesuits, 18 March 1923, at Greenwich.
Most of his studies as a Jesuit were in Ireland, at Rathfarnham, as a junior, 1925-26, and theology at Milltown Park, 1929-33. He studied philosophy at Heythrop, England, 1926-29, and did tertianship at St Beuno's, 1933-34.
He returned to Australia and taught at Riverview, 1934-39. But his heart was in pastoral work, working between North Sydney and Lavender Bay, and he was eventually parish priest, of North Sydney, 1947-53, and Lavender Bay, 1953-59. He walked the streets visiting his people, and related well to then. This was shown in the 1950s when he asked the cardinal for permission to attend a concert given by Johnny Ray, the first of the pop stars. The request was so surprising that it was given. The story was well told in the parish magazine. This made up for his lack of conversation in the Jesuit community.
He also worked in the parish of Richmond, 1959-68, and then retired to Canisius College, Pymble, being almost paralysed. He could not say Mass, but heard confessions at St Patrick's Church, Church Hill, in Sydney. At Pymble he enjoyed watching Australian Rules football on television every Saturday during the season.

Born: 02 December 1904, Brisbane, Australia
Entered: 05 April 1923, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 24 August 1938, Leuven, Belgium
Final vows: 02 February 1942
Died: 26 September 1992, St Joseph, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1930 at Granada, Spain (BAE) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Austin Ryan was educated at St Joseph's College, Sydney, and entered the Society in Sydney, 5 April 1923. His Jesuit training was wholly overseas, including philosophy in Spain. He gained a BA in classics from the University of Ireland, and a Licentiate in theology from Louvain. He was ordained, 24 August 1938, and later professed of the four vows. He retained his ability to read Spanish for the rest of his life. His story about scholastics having to don swim wear under the shower and being provided with a spoon to tuck in their shirts while dressing amused more modern scholastics.
After a few years of teaching at Riverview, 1941-42, Ryan was appointed professor of church history and oriental questions at the theologate, Canisius College, Pymble, 1943-46. He returned to Riverview teaching classics from 1947-52, followed by a year of pastoral ministry at St Ignatius' Church, Richmond. He spent some years between 1954-59 teaching experimental psychology to the scholastics at Loyola College, Watsonia, and was the prefect of studies and minister of juniors. He also edited the province periodicals “Hazaribagh” and “Province News”.
From 1960-69 Ryan was a brilliant and inspiring teacher of Latin, Greek, Italian and Hebrew at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and was a wise and understanding spiritual father to the students. His integrity and unfeigned sincerity won him the respect of his students.
His next appointment was teaching Latin and Greek to the novices at Loyola College, Watsonia, 1970-72. He was far from happy here, and even talked about leaving the Society. One of the Fathers, believing that he was being helpful, continually reminded Ryan of his rubrical failures at Mass. From 1976-81 he returned to Riverview teaching Latin, Greek, French and German. This also was not a success, he was still very unhappy.
Apart from short postings at Campion College, Kew, and the provincial residence, from 1982-92, he remained at Campion College praying for the Society and tutoring in Greek, Latin, Italian and German.
Ryan was a truly international Jesuit, a gifted linguist and scholar, and a fine raconteur. He was lively at recreation with an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes. He worked hard all his life, and was always an available confessor. He suffered depression especially when he felt he could not cope with his work. The province was indebted to him for recording the 'curriculum vitae' of many deceased Jesuits.

Note from Frank Dennett Entry
He enjoyed the work as a Province Archivist, as it gave scope to his historical scholarship and precision. With the assistance of Austin Ryan he compiled a short biography of every Jesuit who had lived and worked in Australia.

Born: 07 June 1904, Nymagee, NSW, Australia
Entered: 12 February 1923, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 23 August 1937, Leuven, Belgium
Final vows: 15 August 1940
Died: 01 May 1974, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1929 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Donald Roset was educated at CBC Waverley and Riverview, where he established a record for the mile race U17 at the GPS sports. He joined the Society, 12 February 1923, and after his novitiate at Greenwich went overseas, first to Rathfarnham, 1925-28, where he gained a BA with honors.
He studied philosophy at Jersey, after which he returned to Australia as third prefect at Riverview, 1930-34. Theology studies at Louvain followed, and tertianship at Tronchiennes, 1939. He returned to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, where he stayed until 1954, having completed a term as rector and prefect of studies. From there he went to Riverview until his death. He was prefect of studies from 1955-58.
Roset was a small man but extremely energetic and hardworking. He put himself entirely into everything he did, and worked hard at his studies. He had a great sense of duty, and a personality with a keen deadpan wit that could sometimes be taken as over seriousness or lack of humour. He once said in his deep rather unmusical voice “three of my community let me down last year, one of them left the Society and two of them died”. He did worry a lot, but was very kind and never bore a grudge.
He taught French most of his life, and was considered good teacher by his students. His advice as prefect of studies was wise and helpful. The last few months of his life, during which he suffered a stroke and complete inactivity were particularly difficult for him.

Born: 28 May 1905, Clontarf, Dublin
Entered: 19 September 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1939, Coláiste Iognáid SJ, Galway
Died: 12 February 1978, St Peter’s Parish, Bray , County Wicklow

Part of Loyola community, Eglinton Road, Dublin at time of his death.

by 1928 in Australia - Regency at Riverview, Sydney
by 1938 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 53rd Year No 2 1978
Obituary :
Fr Joesph Kelly (1905-1978)

On Sunday, February 12th, 1978, Father Joseph Kelly SJ, died after celebrating Holy Mass. He had been, from 1975-1978 Assistant Parish Priest in the Parish of Little Bray, and had lived at St Peter’s Presbytery, Little Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Father Joseph Kelly was born in Dublin on May 28th 1905, and after concluding his schooling at Belvedere College he entered the Noviceship in Tullabeg on September 19th 1922. Ill health prevented him from completing the Arts Course which he began at UCD in 1924; and he spent the years 1926-1930 Prefecting in Riverview College, Sydney. After completing Philosophy in Tullabeg he went for Theology to Milltown park where he was ordained priest on July 31st 1936 by Archbishop Alan Goodier SJ. His Tertianship was spent at St Beuno’s and he pronounced his Final Vows in St Ignatius College, Galway, on February 2nd 1939.
Father Joseph Kelly then began a life of hidden and continuous work that allowed of little relaxation.
He was Minister of the Community and Prefect of the Church in St Ignatius, Galway, from 1938-1942. There followed twelve years as Higher Line Prefect in Clongowes. In 1954 he went to Dublin - to Manresa - where he remained until 1960. His work in Manresa was giving enclosed Retreats to men, and travelling to various places to give the Spiritual Exercises. The years 1960-1973 were spent at Tullabeg at the various hidden but exacting work which included that of Confessor in the Church and Promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer.
He spent two quiet years at Loyola, Eglinton Road (1973-1975) before going to the Parish Church of Little Bray where, - very much still “at work” he died suddenly after celebrating Holy Mass.

◆ The Clongownian, 1979

Obituary

Father Joseph Kelly SJ

In the month of August 1930 Tullabeg was opened as the Jesuit House of Philosophy. I had finished one year of Philosophical Studies at Milltown Park and went with the other students to Tullabeg.

Joe Kelly arrived late in September from Sydney in Australia to begin a three year course of Philosophy, and it was here that I spoke to Joe for the first time.

I had, of course, heard a good deal about Joe - I had been with him for two years in Belvedere - but, to my knowledge, I never spoke to him - he was a big boy on the SCT and three years my senior, I knew that severe migraine type headaches had made it impossible for Joe to continue his studies in UCD and Fr John Fahy, the Provincial at the time, decided to send him to Riverview College in Sydney.

During the journey to Australia, Joe formed a strong bond of friendship with Father Cyril Power who had been appointed Professor of Moral Theology in Werribee College in Melbourne. These two were alike in some respects definite in their views and forthright and outspoken in expressing them. I have always had the greatest admiration for both of them. . The severe headaches which ended Joe's studies in UCD continued to be his cross for many years and once again brought an end to his work - this time in the ministry in the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick and in St Ignatius' Church in Galway.

When in 1941, I was asked by my friend and Provincial, Fr J R McMahon to go to Clongowes as Lower Line Prefect, I was pleased that I would once again be associated with Joe who had been appointed Higher Line Prefect. Thus began a partnership that lasted for twelve years. This must be close to a record for Clongowes.

Boys are quite accurate in their judgements and the Clongowes Higher Line from '41 to '54 recognised that they had in their HLP a man of outstanding qualities and they were quite correct in this. Intellectually, Joe would have been capable of taking his place among the literary men of the Province - he had a sharp penetrating mind and a talent in literary style that would stand comparison with the best of his time. But, of course, his health prevented him from putting these talents to use.

As a therapeutic measure Joe took to carpentry and, of course, he soon became an accomplished carpenter. Later under the tuition of John Cribben he became also a useful metal worker.
During the war, as there was no petrol available for the mowing machines, Joe converted these machines so that they could be horse drawn, In order that the creases and athletic tracks could be kept mown, he frequently worked with these machines from morning until evening.

His insistance that everything in his Line should be as near perfection as was possible, was evident in the care which Joe devoted to the boys' games. He spared no effort in labouring to this end especially in the training of the College Athletics Team and the Senior Rugby Team. He initiated the Triangular Contest with Newbridge College and the Cadet College in Athletics, Rugby and Basketball.

In Athletics, Joe reaped some rewards for his painstaking care in the training of the boys for the different events by winning both the Leinster and the Al Ireland Shield more than once. But the Senior Rugby Cup eluded him. Year after year, Joe turned out Rugby Teams well tutored and drilled and capable of winning the Senior Cup. But year after year they were dogged by ill luck of one kind or another. His best team was beaten by the misfortune of fog! I remember sympathising with some members of his team and one of them replied “We had all hoped that we would be the team to give Father Kelly the reward he so well deserves”.

Joe's vocation was, in God's Providence, to a life of suffering. He suffered physically from continuous, un-interrupted headaches and, knowing his intellectual capabilities and fully aware of the fact that he was unable to use them must surely have caused him mental anguish. Towards the end of his life the Lord asked him to endure also the Spiritual anguish of what St John of the Cross called the “Dark Night of the Soul”.

He endured all these sufferings manfully and when Almighty God called him to Himself, Joe was working in the Sacred Ministry in the Parish of Little Bray, serene and happy like one who has fought the good fight and was now ready to meet his Lord.

KO'D

Born: 23 November 1856, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 01 January 1878, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1889
Final Vows: 15 August 1894, Xavier College, Kew, Australia
Died: 31 May 1931, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

RONEY or ROONEY - changes in Cat 1900

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

by 1886 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
Came to Australia 1892

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Roney was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers, and entered the Society 1 January 1878, at Milltown Park at the age of 21, probably after some further education. He studied philosophy at Milltown Park, and theology at Louvain, 1886-88, with regency at Belvedere and Tullabeg Colleges, 1882-85, teaching physics, chemistry, French and mathematics. He returned to teaching after ordination, first at Belvedere, 1888-89, and then at the Crescent, Limerick, before arriving in Australia in 1890. Tertianship was completed at Loyola College, Greenwich, the following year.
From 1891-1900 he taught for die public examinations and was hall prefect and prefect of discipline at various times, at Xavier College, Kew. Then he worked in the parish ministry, at North Sydney, 1900-08, at Hawthorn as minister, 1908-10, at Norwood, 1910-13, as superior and parish priest, followed by Richmond, Lavender Bay, and Toowong, 1919-24, again as superior and parish priest.
His final years, 1924-31, were teaching languages at Riverview. He suffered much in this final period from an internal trouble. While preparing for an operation he developed heart trouble from which he died suddenly.
Roney was a zealous, active and prayerful priest who had an irascible temper. The boys at Riverview would provoke him into one of his passions, though he begged them not to! When he was superior at Toowong he quarreled with one of the parishioners whom he accused of wanting too high a price for a piece of land which he wanted for the church, and when he took to denouncing her from the pulpit he was removed from office. He was also a great champion of Irish rights in the days of Home Rule.
He was remembered as a most sincere priest. Inaccuracy in narrative or argument always incurred his censure. He had a great love of literature and the ancient classics, and a deep knowledge of modern languages, especially French language and literature. He was a man of prayer, spending an hour before the Blessed Sacrament every evening.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 6th Year No 4 1931
Obituary :
Fr John Roney

Fr. John Roney was born 3 Nov. 18533, and entered the Society at Milltown 1 Jan. 1878. He began Philosophy immediately after the noviceship, spent two years at it, then put in two years at Belvedere and one at Tullabeg teaching. 1885 saw him at Louvain, where he completed Philosophy, adding two years Theology before returning to Belvedere for a year, and another at Crescent.
In 1900 he sailed for Australia, made his Tertianship at Loyola (Sydney), and spent the next nine years at Xavier as Prefect or Master. During this period, he was Minister for eight years in various Residences, Superior of Norwood for two years, and Toowong for six. He was Miss. Excurr. in 1904, an unusual work at that time in Australia. Superiors sent him to Riverview in 1925, as Spiritual Father and Master, where he remained until his death. In all he was 23 years Master.

We owe the following appreciation to Mr G Ffrench. It is a true picture of the man, not only during his stay at Riverview, but of his whole life :
“This note merely gives impressions Fr. Roney in his last years in Riverview, some half dozen years ago, he was active still. He was Spiritual Father of the Comunity and was teaching French in the three top classes.
It is easy to visualise him sitting in the library during recreation watching a game of billiards, reading the Tablet, conversing - or rather arguing - with someone. He was a well of interesting information. His varied career had made him rich in experience and anecdote. He was accurate, sometimes overwhelming accurate in conversation.
This same accuracy distinguished his teaching. On a point of French grammar he would give you the rule in a neat formula, and then the exceptions in an order which aided memorising them.He slaved for his classes. No matter how late at night it was when one got down to his room to go to confession, Fr. Roney was always to be found at his table, with a pile of theme books on either side of him. His work often took him till 2 o'clock in the morning. Every mistake was underlined, every theme annotated. Was all this necessary? Perhaps not. But it showed an admirable devotedness to duty.
Indeed, unswerving, unmeasured fidelity to duty was the most characteristic feature of the man. It appeared everywhere. His observance of rule was truly edifying. His exhortations were always ad rem. Their chief theme was the necessity of the interior life which over work and the spirit of competition tend so much to dissipate. He never wearied of urging the practice of a monthly recollection. He was in our busy world of school, toiling from morning till far into the night, but he was not of it.
Fr. Roney had high ideals and strict views. Being honest, he was consequently, hard on himself. It is not surprising that he expected much from others, inferiors and superiors alike. During the years he was superior in the residences, he appears to have been an exacting one. Some quite amusing stories are told of his rencontres with defaulting subordinates.
When his own superiors failed, or seemed to him to fail in their dealings with him, he was wounded. He bore such wounds to the grave. Vain to reflect now that perhaps greater width of vision. deeper sympathy with the difficulties of others, a keener sense of humour might have lightened his troubles. For him these troubles were real and heavy. He bore them like a
true Jesuit. Fr. Roney was too humble a man to be embittered, too honest a man not to he saddened. Not all who saw him walk resolutely over to the boys' Chapel every evening, and there spend an hour in prayer, knew that within that bowed figure a bowed though not a broken spirit was meditating on indifference and praying for it.
One who knew him long and well once put it, “John Roney is rough, outspoken if you like, but he is a very holy man.”

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

Obituary

Father John Roney SJ

Xaverians of the early nineties will learn with regret of the death of Father John Roney SJ. He was a priest who had lengthy experience in Australia. He was born in 1856. He studied for the priesthood at Louvain. After coming to Australia he undertook parochial work and was successively in charge of St Ignatius Parish, Norwood (South Australia), St Francis Xavier's (Lavender Bay), St Mary's (North Sydney), and Toowong (Brisbane). He was on the teaching staff here at Xavier from 1891 to 1899, and at the time of his death he was teaching at Riverview. RIP

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1931

Obituary

John Roney

On May 31st, Trinity Sunday, we sustained a very heavy loss through the death of Father Roney. He had been suffering for a couple of years from an internal troule, which, while it did not in any way interfere with his work as a cleric and teacher, yet was a cause of much inconvenience and suffering to him. Dr Curtis thought an operation would remove the trouble and so sent him to St Vincent's Private Hospital, to be treated by a specialist. It was realized that preparation for the operation involved considerable risk for a patient of his 72 years, but he was ordinarily so robust and agile, that there seemed to be every hope of a successful issue. At first his constitution responded satisfactorily to the treatment, but somewhat unexpectedly, a disposition to heart-failure developed, and it was seen that he would not survive the treatment necessary to prepare him for the operation. He felt that his end was approaching, and disposed himself accordingly, receiving all the last sacraments in a spirit of cheerful resignation to the holy will of God. The end came rather suddenly. We heard that he got a turn for the worse on the morning of Trinity Sunday, and he passed peacefully away at about one o'clock on that day.

Characteristic of this fine priest was his striking sincerity. Inaccuracy in narrative or argument always incurred his censure, This quality made him somewhat formid able in the classroom, where his students found it wise to be more than usually atten tive to his admonitions.

In addition to profound scholarship in literature and the ancient classics, he possessed a deep knowledge of modern languages, being specially learned in French language and literature. He was a man of prayer, one of his most edifying devotions being an hour spent every evening in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

The following notice of his death, which appeared in the “Catholic Press” of June 5th, will give some details of his long and fruitful apostolate. He came to Australia in 1889, so that his labours in this hemis phere spread over 42 years :

Father Roney SJ - Death After Long Career
“An Irish priest who had a lengthy experience of the Australian misson, in four States of the Commonwealth, died in Sydney on Sunday. Rev Father John Roney SJ, whose active ministry was exercised to the last, leaves to a wide circle of friends memories of a deeply religious man, who fulfilled with honour and unflagging zeal the sacred obligations of the priesthood. As a humble religious, counting obedience as a precious help to perfection, or in the capacity of a superior, which office he held on several occasions, he was equally zealous, kindly, and attrac tive to the thousands who came within his influence.

Father Roney was born in Belfast in 1856, and educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. He studied for the priesthood at Louvain, that great centre of Catholic learning in Belgium. After coming to Australia he undertook parochial work, and was successively in charge of St Ignatius' parish, Norwood (South Australia), St Francis Xavier's (Lavender Bay), St Mary's (North Sydney) and Toowong (Brisbane). He was for a time attached to the teaching staff at Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, and at the time of his death was master of languages at St Ignatius' College, Riverview. Those who knew him as a young priest speak with admiration of the interest he took in matters concerning the emergence of Ireland to freedom and prosperity. In the days when the Home Rule question agitated the public mind, he was a fearless champion of Irish rights.

Requiem Mass.
A Solemn Office and Requiem Mass were celebrated in St Mary's Church, North Sydney, on Tuesday morning, for the repose of his soul. His Grace Archbishop Sheehan presided, and was attended by Right Rev Monsignori J P Moynagh PP, PA, VF, and T Hayden DD, PP The Mass was sung by Rev F X O'Brien SJ, who was assisted by Rev Fathers J Craig SJ (deacon), V Conlon SJ (sub-deacon), and E Corish SJ (master of ceremonies). The Schola sang the Office and the usual Gregorian hymns at the Absolution”"

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father John Rooney (1856-1931)

Entered the Society in 1878 and made his higher studies at Milltown Park and Louvain, and was ordained in 1888. He spent one year on the teaching staff of the Crescent and set out for Australia in 1890.

Born: 31 March 1847, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 September 1864, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1877, St Beuno’s, Wales
Final Vows: 15 August 1881
Died: 24 June 1934, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

Transcribed HIB to ASL - 05 April 1931

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1867 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1868 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1875 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1881 at Manresa Spain (ARA) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1894

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :

Note from John Murphy Entry :
During his final illness he was well cared for in the community. His needs were attended to by Timothy J Kenny the Superior and George Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
George Kelly entered the Society, 15 September 1864, at Milltown Park, and studied rhetoric at Tronchiennes, 1866-67. Regency followed at Clongowes, 1869-70, where he was a division prefect and taught algebra. He studied theology for two years at St Beuno's, 1874-76, returned to Clongowes, 1879-80, and did tertianship at Manresa, Aragon province, 1880-81. He was appointed to St Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg, 1881-86, first as minister and then as rector. He returned to Clongowes, 1886-92, and finally worked at University College, Dublin, 1892-94.
Kelly arrived in Australia, 22 March 1894, and was minister at both Xavier College, 1894-97, and Riverview, 1897-1900, before doing parish ministry at North Sydney, 1900-10, where he was at various times minister, superior and parish priest. He was also a mission consultor. He went to the parish of Hawthorn, 1910-34, where he was superior and parish priest, 1910-15. He was a man much sought after as a spiritual director.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 9th Year No 4 1934

Obituary :
Father George Kelly
Father George Kelly died in Melbourne on the 24th June 1934, in the seventieth year of his life in the Society.

The following is a sketch of his life as told in the Catalogues.
He was born on the 31st March, 1847, educated at Tullabeg, and began his noviceship at Milltown Park on the 15th Sept 1864. He made the juniorate in Tronchiennes, philosophy at Stonyhurst, and commenced active life as a prefect in Clongowes in 1869. After five years at this work we find him at St, Beuno's for theology, and, when the four years were completed, back to Clongowes as Minister. He held the post for two years, and then travelled to Manresa in Spain for tertianship. But his health broke down and he finished the year at Milltown Park.
In 1881 he was appointed Minister of Tullabeg and two years later Rector, holding this position he played his part in the amalgamation of Tullabeg and Clongowes in 1886.
His health was poor, and he remained in Clongowes as Procurator until 1892 when he went to University College, Stephen's Green as Minister. After two years he travelled to Australia. According to the Catalogues his work in Australia was as follows : 1894-97 Minister at Kew; 1897-1900 Minister Riverview; 1900-02 Minister Miller St; 1902-10 Superior
Miller St.; In 1910 he went to Hawthorn as Superior, and remained attached to that house until his death. In 1915 he ceased to be Superior. From about 1916 to 1921 the health seems to have been somewhat impaired, but in 1925 he is once more described “Open”, and from that year on to the end he was able to do good, useful work.
He died in his eighty seventh year, and, had he lived to September, would have completed seventy years in the Society. RIP

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1934

Father George Kelly SJ

Xaverians of the late 'nineties will remember Father George Kelly, and will learn with regret of his death. He died on June 23rd after having spent twenty four years in the Hawthorn parish, and was 87 years of age. He came to Australia from Ireland forty years ago, and during that time he did a great deal of splendid work, and was much sought after as a spiritual advisor.

He was born in Dublin in 1847, a year famous in Ireland, and was educated at St Stanislaus College, near Tullamore. In 1864 he joined the Society of Jesus, and studied in England and Spain, and was ordained in 1877. He was for a time at Clongowes Wood College, and in 1883 was appointed Rector of his old school, from which he returned as Minister to Clongowes in 1886. The two schools were amalgamated that year and he gave great assistance in this difficult work, Two years later he became Dean of the University College, Dublin, and six years later he sailed for Australia. He worked both in Sydney and Melbourne, was Minister both at Xavier and at Riverview, and Parish Priest of St. Mary's North Sydney, and also at Hawthorn. RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1935

Obituary

Father George Kelly SJ

Fifty years back Father George Kelly was well known in Clongowes and Tullabeg. At that time precisely he was Rector of Tullabeg, the last of the line before the amalgamation of Tullabeg with Clongowes.

The fiftieth anniversary of that historic: change will occur next year, and, no doubt, it will be duly celebrated. But we were all hoping that Father Kelly would live a little longer. In a couple of months' time he would have had the unique jubilee of seventy years à Jesuit. Then, perhaps, he might have been encouraged to wait for the jubilee of the amalgamation. But he was destined to celebrate these two jubilees in Heaven.

George Charles Kelly, the son of Matthew Edward Kelly, was born in Dublin in 1847, His family, which came originally from Inch, on the borders of Counties Kilkenny and Waterford, was highly connected in ecclesiastical circles. A grand uncle of Father Kelly's, Dr Patrick Kelly, Bishop of Waterford, was largely responsible for the success of the famous Stuart Election in Waterford City in 1826, when the Protestant ascendancy was overthrown and the way immediately prepared for Catholic Emancipation. A cousin of Father Kelly's was Dr. Matthew Kelly, Canon of Ossory and Professor at Maynooth, who was proposed as the successor of Dr. Newman in the Catholic University, but who died before the proposal could be adopted. Evelina Kelly, Mother Sacred Heart, an aunt of Father Kelly's, was the foundress and first Reverend Mother of that flourishing in stitution, High Park Convent, Drumcondra.

Like other relatives who followed him later, his brother, Matt, and cousins, George and Charles Matthews, George Kelly went to school to Tullabeg. He spent eight years there, and besides gaining academic distinctions, he was a member of the House Cricket Eleven.

On leaving school, George Kelly entered the Jesuit novitiate along with his school fellows, James Daly, afterwards the famous Prefect of Studies in Clongowes, and Charles Morrogh, who had a distinguished career on the Australian Mission. After the novitiate, Father Kelly went to Tronchiennes in Belgium for his preliminary studies. Later he was at St Beuno's, North Wales, where he studied theology and was ordained priest in 1877, and at Manresa in Spain for his tertianship. Both before his ordination and afterwards, Father Kelly was stationed for some years at Tullabeg and Clongowes. Rector of Tullabeg just before the Amalgamation, he came with his Tullabeg boys to Clongowes in 1886. Here in Clongowes he occupied the important post of Procurator for six years, during which time his exceptional talent for finance was of great service to the College. For five of those years I was at school in Clongowes, and it was then that I formed a lifelong admiration and affection for Father Kelly. His duties at that time did not bring him much amongst the boys, but as a privileged relative, I experienced his great kindness. He would take me to visit various places found about, and under his protection I would penetrate to parts of the Castle usually out of bounds and not come away empty handed.

In 1892, Father Kelly was appointed Minister and Dean of University College, St Stephen's Green. But for some years his health had been far from satisfactory, and now gave cause for serious alarm. Then it was regretfully decided that he should try the Australian climate, and accordingly he set sail in 1894. The success of the venture was proved by his subsequent long and useful career. So weak was he when embarking at Tilbury Docks, that he had almost to be lifted on board the liner. Five years later, on my arrival in Sydney, when Father Kelly came to meet me at the boat, I found that the genial climate of Australia had given him fine health and strength,

In his new country Father Kelly's first post was Minister at Xavier College, Melbourne, from which he was later transferred to the corresponding post at Riverview College, Sydney. In 1900, to the regret of all in Riverview, he was changed to North Sydney, to do parish work, a work which occupied all his succeeding years. Superior of the North Sydney parish for some six years, he went to take charge of the Hawthorn Parish in Melbourne in 1910, and remained in Hawthorn till his death, on June 24th, 1934.

In earlier years, in Ireland, Father Kelly had already shown a talent for administration and finance that would have fitted him for the most important positions. With his quiet, well-balanced mind, his just sense of values, and his shrewd common-sense, he was frequently consulted by his fellow Jesuits as well as by the laity. As parish priest he endeared himself to all. With charm of manner he invited.confidence, and with calm judgment gave sound, practical advice. Many a troubled heart he could set at rest. His confessional, in consequence, was a most popular one, and he was there in attendance for long hours. One day, a few years ago, when visiting him in hospital, I asked Father Kelly who was the visitor that had just left him. He replied, “I have no idea who she is, but I have heard her voice in the confessional for the last ten or fifteen years”.

With this and other parochial work, in return for the health Australia gave him, Father Kelly's life was a busy one to the end. Even in his eighties, one could scarcely look upon him as an old man. He was so erect in carriage and so alert, so spruce in body and mind.

In his funeral oration, Archbishop Mannix struck the dominant note when he said that Father Kelly, by his special gifts, seemed to have a power for doing good that was denied to others, “He was a real gentleman”, the Archbishop said, and with this all who ever met Father Kelly would agree; for he was a gentleman all the time. And for this reason amongst others, the older ones amongst us, who live on in this rough and ready age, must regret that his mortal life should end. For in Father Kelly there passed away one of those perfect types of the Victorian, or should we say, the old Irish gentleman,

With his attractive presence and his equipment of solid culture, Father Kelly might have adorned and gone far in a worldly career. I could picture him, for example, starring in an ambassadorial rôle. But his life was laid in better lines, in what we might call the diplomatic circles of the Kingdom of Heaven, where as a wise counsellor he won souls to God. What good he did in these hidden ways, with that courtesy and gentle persuasion of his, cannot be measured on this side of eternity. RIP

Born: 17 March 1846, Tipperary Town, County Tipperary
Entered: 28 August 1865, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 21 September 1880, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales
Final Vows: 15 August 1890, Australia
Died: 15 May 1913, Lewisham Hospital, Sydney, Australia

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

Younger brother of Thomas - RIP 1887
Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 3 December 1894-11 November 1900.
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission: 05 April 1890-1894

by 1868 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1869 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1871 at Maria Laach College Germany (GER) Studying
by 1878 at Innsbruck Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1879 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
Early Irish Australia Mission 1884; Mission Superior 05 April 1890
PROVINCIAL 03/12/1894

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Younger brother of Thomas - RIP 1887. They were very close.
Early education was in America and then Clongowes.

After First Vows he did his studies at Amiens and Rome, later at Maria Laach and Innsbruck, and in the end at St Beuno’s. Wherever he went, the same spirit of kindness and good humour went with him, and this was true throughout his life. On Australian who went to visit him in Rome was greeted warmly at first, but when he mentioned that he was to see Father Keating, the courtesy was unbridled.
1870 He was living in Rome at the same time as the “Robber King of Sardinia” Victor Emmanuel laid siege to and conquered the city. he was a student at the time, and not inactive in the siege, going here and there to tend to the injured and dying. He was truly a martyr in desire. The conquerors drove the Jesuits from the Roman College. By 1872 the Jesuits were banished from Maria Laach and Amiens, and he was in these places.
1877 He was sent for studies to Innsbruck where he joined Thomas Browne and Francis Carroll.
1880 He joined Joseph Dalton in Australia, and succeeded him as Rector of Riverview.
1890 He was appointed Mission Superior in Australia.
1894 He was recalled to Ireland as provincial of HIB, and he remained there for six years.
1901 He returned to Australia as Rector of Xavier College, Kew. He then moved to North Sydney, for a time at St Mary’s, then Lavender Bay, succeeding John Gately. While working in these Parishes, his gentleness, friendliness and care for every man, woman and child, won the hearts of all. When he left Lavender Bay for a second stint as Rector of Riverview in place of Thomas Gartlan who had been sent to Melbourne, the people gave him a wonderful send off.
His death took place at Lewisham Hospital (run by the Nuns of the Little Company of Mary) 14 May 1913. The funeral was hugely attended and the Archbishop of Sydney, Michael Kelly, both presided and Preached. The Jesuits at Riverview received countless letters and telegrams from all parts of Australia condoling with them on the death of Father Keating.

Catholic Press, Sydney :
Rev W A Purves, Headmaster of the North Sydney Church of England Grammar School wrote : “I am sure everyone who knew Father Keating feels an individual loss. For myself I never knew quite so courteous and kindly and entirely charming a gentleman; and for you who knew well his other great and endearing qualities, the blow must indeed be heavy. I think sch personalities as his have a strong influence in maintaining friendliest relations among us all, and whilst in a sense one cannot mourn the second and better birthday of a good man, one cannot but miss him sorely.”

Rev Arthur Ashworth Aspinall, headmaster of the Scots College, in conveying his sympathy to the Acting Rector, the Staff and Pupils of Riverview, wrote :
“It was my privilege to meet Father Keating years go and more recently, I realised the charm of his cultured personality, and can thus in some degree realise the loss which the College and your Church has sustained. The State has too few men of culture not to deplore the removal of one so much honoured in the teaching profession.”

Note from Thomas P Brown Entry
1877 He was sent to Innsbruck for Theology with W (sic) Patrick Keating and Vincent Byrne

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Although born in Ireland, Patrick Keating received much of his early education in the USA. His secondary education began at Clongowes Wood College, Kildare, Ireland, where he had a reputation as a fine athlete and was a good rifle shot. He entered the noviciate at Milltown Park Dublin, 2, August 1865. His juniorate studies were at the College of St Acheul, France, his philosophy at the Roman College, and theology at Innsbruck and St Beuno's, Wales, 1877-81. Regency was undertaken after philosophy at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, 1871-77, where he was assistant prefect of studies and taught university students.
Keating was living in Rome in 1870. On 20 September the troops of Victor Emmanuel laid siege to the city of Rome. He risked his life by helping the wounded on the streets. The Jesuits were driven from the Roman College. So Keating finished his third year philosophy at Maria Laach during the Franco-Prussian War.
After his ordination in 1880, he taught religion, French and Italian for a short time, 1881-82, at Clongowes Wood, and the following year was socius to the master of novices at Milltown Park, during which time he completed his tertianship.
In 1883 Keating arrived in Australia, joined Joseph Dalton at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and succeeded him as rector in 1888. He was appointed mission superior in 1890 and resided at Riverview. In 1894 he returned to Ireland as provincial, residing at Gardiner Street.
He returned to Australia in 1901 and was appointed rector of Xavier College, Kew, and taught for the public examinations. From 1908-11, he performed parish ministry at North Sydney and at Lavender Bay, Sydney, and in 1912 was appointed rector of Sr Ignatius' College, Riverview. He died in office the following year following a cerebral haemorrhage.
Patrick Keating was one of the most accomplished Irish Jesuits to come to Australia. He was spiritually, intellectually and athletically gifted, and respected for his administrative skills. People spoke of “his urbanity his culture, his charm, his good looks, his human insight and his ability to inspire affection”.
Christopher Brennan, the Australian poet and former student of Keating, paid him an outstanding tribute. He believed him to be “the most distinguished personality that I have ever met, a standard whereby to test and judge all others. To come into his hands ... was to be initiated to a quite new range of human possibilities”. He praised Keating for his 'rare qualities of gentleness and sympathetic comprehension.
His Jesuit community praised his great spirit of exactness and neatness, the kindness he extended to all, his strong sense of duty, a tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and his work in adorning the chapel. Under his direction, Brother Girschik made a line cedar vesting press for the sacristy at Riverview, which still stands.
Writing to Ireland in 1894, Dalton, at Riverview, believed that Keating's students had great confidence in him and “liked him well”. John Ryan, mission superior, did not lavish praise upon him. He believed him to be good at administration, but not with finances, not overly strict in discipline; firm and decisive, but easily influenced by anyone of strong mind, cool of temper, but not fatherly or sympathetic, somewhat superficial, cold and at times sarcastic, discouraging more than encouraging. The Irish provincial, Timothy Kenny, while visiting Australia in 1890 believed Keating to be “the most admirable man I ever met”. That being the opinion that counted, Keating became the next Irish provincial.
In his speeches as rector of the various colleges, Keating showed his openness, appeal to reason and genuine belief in the goodness of human nature. He was truly a cultured humanist. He kept well informed about contemporary ideas in education and gave critiques of them, continually stressing the traditional classical education of the Jesuits. He was concerned at Riverview by the rather poor quality of Jesuit teachers, men “rather broken in health”, who were not helping the boys achieve good examination results.
At the time of his death, Keating was one of the most significant Jesuits in Australia, much loved and most appreciated by those who experienced him, both as a kind and courteous gentleman, and as a cultured scholar.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick Keating SJ 1846-1913
Fr Patrick Keating was born in Tipperary on March 17th 1846. Although born in Ireland he received his early education in America, then completing his secondary course at Clongowes Wood.

As a Jesuit, he was present in Rome when it was captured by Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia. In the midst of the bombardment, he went here, there and everywhere, assisting the wounded civilians and soldiers. He, with his companions, were driven from Rome and proceeded to Maria Laach in Germany and then to Innsbruck.

Fr Keating went to Australia where he became the first Rector of St Ignatius Riverview, and then Superior of the Mission.

He was recalled to Ireland to become Provincial in 1894. After his term as Provincial, he returned once more to Australia, where he filled many administrative posts and became a widely-known and popular figure in public life. He figures largely in the long and brilliant school-story of Fr Eustace Boylan”The Heart of the School”. Fr Keating (Keeling of the story) is a winning and lovable Rector of Xavier.

At his death in Sydney on March 15th 1913 there were many generous tributes to his work and character, not only from Catholics, but from persons of all religious denomination.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 42 : Easter 1986

Portrait from the Past

PATRICK KEATING : 1846-1913

Province Archives

The following appreciation of a former Irish Provincial appeared in the CATHOLIC PRESS of Sydney on 22nd May 1913.

Born in Tipperary on 17th March, 1846, Fr. Keating occupied almost every position a Jesuit can occupy except that of General. His last sickness was brief. It was only a few days before his death that he became ill. His medical attendants pronounced his case serious - cerebral hemorrhage - and the last Sacraments were administered to him at once by the Rev. Father C. Nulty, S.J. He was taken to hospital the following day, and had been a patient only twelve hours when he died.

Of Father Keating, as boy and man, as student and teacher, as pastor of souls and Provincial of the Irish branch of his Order, it may be safely said that his whole life was one well-sustained effort to be ready for the final sunmons of the Sovereign Master who has called him home so suddenly. He was Superior of the Australian Mission of the Society of Jesus in 1894. At a later date he governed the Irish Province. He was for some years Rector of St. Francis Xavier's College at Kew, and before he went to Riverview as Rector for a second time, he had been zealously labouring as pastor of souls among the people of North Sydney.

Although he was born in Ireland, Father Keating imbibed the rudiments of knowledge in America. His high-school studies began at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare. He entered the Novitiate at Milltown Park, near Dublin in 1865. His later studies were made at the College of St. Acheul, in France; at the Roman College of Maria-Laach, in Germany; at the University of Innsbruck, in the Tyrol; and at St. Beuno's College, in Wales Wherever he went, the same spirit of genuine kindness and genial good-humour that we ourselves witnessed invariably went with him, An Irish-Australian who visited Rome a few years ago called at one of the principal colleges there. The Professor who showed him over the place was kind and courteous; but when the name of Father Keating was mentioned to him, then to kindness and courtesy were added all manner of friendly offices. The Professor had been an old class-fellow of Father Keating, about 40 years before, and his face glowed with pleasure at the very mention of his name.

Father Keating was living in Rome in 1870. On September 20th of that year the troops of the robber King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel, laid siege to the city of the Popes, bombarded the walls of Rome, and entered into its streets as conquerors. While all this was going on, Mr. Keating, as he then was, was not inactive. In the midst of balls and bombs, in the midst of whizzing bullets and falling masonry, at the risk of his own life, he went here, there and everywhere on his mission of assisting to the best of his power the wounded and dying soldiers and civilians. He was truly a martyr in desire. The same bandits that deprived the Pope of his dominions deprived the Society of their college. They were driven from the Roman college in 1870. In July, 1872, they were banished by the German government from Maria-Laach, a college they had acquired only ten years before. If Father Keating had remained only a little longer, at Maria-Laach and St. Acheul, he would doubtless have driven out of house and home like so many of his brethren, at the point of the bayonet.

In 1877, Father Keating was sent to Innsbruck, where he studied for a time with Father T. Browne and Father Carroll, of North Sydney.

Three years after his ordination, which took place in 1880, Father Keating came to Australia. He joined the late Father Dalton, founder of the college, at St. Ignatius', Riverview, and succeeded him as Rector. He held the position for six years, and was then appointed Superior of the Jesuits in Australia. He was recalled to Ireland in 1894 to be Provincial of the Irish Province, an office he filled with distinction for six years. He returned to Australia in 1901, having been appointed Rector of Xavier's College, Kew. He was transferred to North Sydney some years ago, and for a time was on the staff at St. Mary's, Ridge Street. Thence he was placed in charge of St. Francis Xavier's, Lavender Bay, succeeding the late Father Gately. While working amongst the people of the parish, Father Keating's gentleness, geniality, zeal and solicitude for the welfare of every man, woman and child in his flock, won the hearts of all, as they did everywhere he laboured throughout his career.

When he left Lavender Bay in January 1912 to assume the Rectorship of Riverview for the second time, in the place of Father Gartlan, who was transferred to Melbourne, the people entertained him, and demonstrated their affection for hin in no unmistakable way.

The late Father Keating belonged to an old Tipperary family. An elder brother, Father Thomas Keating, S.J., came to this country two years before him. In Ireland he had been Rector of Clongowes Wood College. In Australia he joined the teaching staff of St. Aloysius' College, then in Sydney. He died many years ago in St. Francis Xavier's College, Kew. The deepest affection existed between the two brothers. Both were excellent religious and most saintly men. Their immediate relatives reside in a fine place close to Chicago, USA.

Father Keating's death took place as described at Lewisham Hospital on May 14th, 1913. The obsequies were largely attended and were presided over by His Grace, the Archbishop of Sydney, who, after Mass, preached the panegyric, basing his discourse on the inspired words of St. Luke:- “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching. Amen, I say to you, that He will gird Himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them, and if He shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Be you then also ready; for at what hour you think not, the Son of Man will come”. His Grace said the Divine Redeemer spoke these words tacitly for circumstances like those in which they were now assembled. One of their number had been called away, his soul had gone to eternity, and the earthly tenement of that soul lay on the catafalque before them like a house broken through, the spirit gone. This fact shocked them, but Holy Faith told them that blessed was the soul that was found watching, as Father Keating's was.

Now that they were gathered together according to the traditions of the Church, to mourn together, they must attend to the spiritual profits to be derived from the occasion, and first of all heap up powerful supplications for the soul that had been called away that it might speedily, if not immediately, enter into the joy of the Lord. The sacred liturgy which guided them to that bier to send forth their last prayers, and to accompany those mortal remains to the grave, wished that they would first of all derive consolation from the solemnities, and secondly, edification. The good man would be encouraged to greater perseverance, the tepid would be made fervid, and those who might be asleep in the sleep of sin, induced by the concupiscence of the flesh, would be wakened up. Father Keating served God and guided youth in the paths of learning and holiness which were characteristic of himself when his soul inhabited that human frame, with its vital organs stilled in death, and like a house abandoned. The earth would go back to the earth until the Last Day, but the soul was at that moment in the strange land from which no traveller returned. What did they think had been its lot? A week ago Father Keating had been with them in the flesh as a brother, as a fellow-worker, but suddenly he was caught up and taken from their midst. Well for his friends to know what a life Father Keating had led, happy for them that the record he wrote upon their memories was ripe in personal sanctification and spiritual victory. Therefore, he was found watching in the observance of the rules of his Order, watching at his post of duty, Father Keating had triumphed, he had fought the good fight, and kept the faith. But though they looked upon him as one already saved, he might be crying out for their suffrages from the fires of Purgatory. Sinners though they be, they could help him, for in the economy of God's Providence prayer was the Key of Heaven. God would hear their supplications on behalf of the faithful departed, but he would be dear to their prayers when they themselves were bring purged. Hence, let them studiously avail themselves of the period during which the recollection of Father Keating would be living amongst them to send up this prayer from the bottom of their hearts: “Eternal rest grant him, O Lord, and let perpatual light shine upon him. From his iniquities cleanse him, for all human frailties forgive him. What is man taken from this vale of tears that he shall be justified in the sight of God? Purify, O Lord, all this is to be purified, and take the soul of your servant and our brother, and peruit him to pass quickly, if not at once, into the joys of your heavenly abode”.

The Archbishop then vested in cope and mitre, and pronounced the Last Absolutions. As the strains of the “Dead March in Saul” throbbed through the church, the coffin was raised on the shoulders of the bearers and carried to the main entrance, the Archbishops and priests accompanying the remains to the hearse, where the Benedictus was chanted.

The Jesuit Fathers at Riverview received countless letters and telegrams from all parts of Australia condoling with them on the death of Father Keating.

In the course of his letter, the Rev. WA Parves, head-master of the North Sydney Church of England Grammar School, wrote: “I am sure everyone who knew Father Keating feels an individual loss. For myself, I never knew quite so courteous and kindly and entirely charming a gentleman; and for you who knew well his other great and endearing qualities, the blow must indeed be heavy. I think such personalities as his have a strong influence in maintaining friendliest relations among us all, and while in a sense one cannot mourn the second and better birthday of a good man, one cannot but miss him sorely”.

The Rev. A. Ashworth Aspinall, head-master of the Scots College, Bellevue Hill, in conveying his sympathy to the acting-Rector, the staff, and pupils of Riverview College, wrote:- “It was my privilege to meet Father Keating years ago and more recently, and I realised the charm of his cultured personality, and can thus in some degree realise the loss which the college and your Church has sustained. The State has too, few men of culture not to deplore the removal of one so much honoured in the teaching profession.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1913

Obituary

Father Patrick Keating SJ

The news of the death of Fr. Keating came as a shock to us in Kew. Schools change fast, and there are few of the boys of his time amongst us this year, but his passing stirred up again in many of us the very kindly feeling that accompanied his presence when he was amongst us before.

Fr Keating was born in Tipperary, in 1846. He left his native land for the United States when still young, and found his home for a time in Illinois; but he returned to Ireland as a student of Clongowes, of which his brother at that time was Rector. Some old Xaverians will remember Fr Thomas Keating as he came to Australia later, and was on the staff of Xavier for a few months of 1887, teaching classics in the Honour Class till within a couple of days of his death.

According to contemporary accounts, Fr Keating was very prominent in school life at Clongowes, leading in class and sports. He was a good all round athlete, and to his early training must have been due the fine physical development which he retained to his later years. He was a good rifle shot, and kept up his interest in everything touching on school life to the end.

His studies took him to France, Germany, Austria and Rome, and he had many interesting recollections of life in those places. He was present in Rome during its bombardment by the Garibaldians, which resulted in the breach of the Porta Pia and the spoliation of the States of the Church. In 1883 he came to Australia, and was a master in Riverview till 1990, when he was appointed Superior of the Society of Jesus in Victoria and New South Wales. In 1894 he was transferred to Ireland, as head of the Irish and Australian Province, and after seven years spent in that office he returned to Australia to be Rector of Xavier in 1901. In 1908 he was sent to North Sydney to take up parish work at Lavender Bay, wliere he had as his assistant Fr Corish, who had been minister here with him for some years. The good work done by these two old Xaverians there was such as those who knew them both could expect. The same' kindly spirit accompanied Fr Keating. always, finding everywhere the same return. He liked his work, and him self was liked by young and old. So it was with a feeling of distress that he received the cabled order to return to Riverview as Rector. But the buoyancy of his spirit soon showed itself, and, as was his way, he entered heart and soul into his work there. During the illness of Fr Brown he was called upon to take up again the burden of Superior, until he was relieved after a few months by the appointment of Fr Ryan.

As he was settling down now to work, as he hoped, undisturbed, he was taken ill on May 12, and died early on the morning of the 15th. His death was the occasion of most generous expressions of a kindly feeling on all sides, induced as was evident, not so much by his position as by his personal qualities.

Fr Keating was a man of many parts as we knew him. His unfailing kindliness and courtesy made everyone feel at home with him; and, what is" after all perhaps the best test of a character, those who lived on closer terms with him, felt that in parting with him they had lost a friend.

May his soul rest in peace.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1913

Father Patrick Keating SJ

At the last Old Boys' dinner I promised to say something about Father Keating in this “Alma Mater”. At that time his death was too poignantly near to allow (so it seemed) of any direct emotional expression in English verse or of elaborated and transposed elegy in one of the classic tongues; and I stipulated for mere personal reminiscence. in pedestrian phrase. And then, as I came to carry out my promise, I felt a certain disgust with what I was trying; it was not worthy of the dead man, and all that I owed him, and who was I to utter my school-boyish reminiscences: among others so better called to speak? So, at. the risk of exhausting all the editors' kindness - and patience, I destroyed what was beguin, and I waited and waited, until at last I have, perhaps, fallen between two stools - the Pindaric ode and the Boswellian note-book - missing both.

I first came under Father Pat Keating in the year 1885. It was my happy chance to spend the five best years of my boyhood under two Keating brothers. At old St Kilda and St. Aloysius', in Bourke Street, I had for two years sat under Father Tom, that gentle ascetic with the full head of silvery hair, and beneath it a face like that of a kindly Moltke, and the shrewd fold of the eyelids; Father Pat had the same, but whereas his eyes never missed anything (I remember well!), Father Tom's often seemed to be gazing within. But how could there be two Fathers Keating? I wondered and wondered - for a boy is slow to catch such a likeness: he knows father and uncle, but has no idea or fancy of how they were boys and brothers together, how much less then will he imagine his masters as standing in human kindship to each other or anyone at all? - and it was months before some better-informed schoolmate, who had preceded me from St Aloysius', amazed me with the truth. My amaze was further excusable in as much as there was twenty years between the brothers, and Father Tom had seemned such a very old man. How different Father Pat!

To live at a boarding school has this advantage, that one meets one's masters outside the class-room, adi comes into touch with their personality. I was probably just at the right age to undergo the influence, and absorb the charm of a personality when I met Father Keating and that, perhaps, has helped to make ineffaceable the impression I received from him. But time and favouring occasion are of no avail unless the personality, unless the man is there. And Father Keating was unique.

Distinction is a subtle thing: unmistakable to perception, intangible to analysis and definition. Everyone, I think, who uses and understands the word must have, in his mind's eye, some persons, and pre-eminently one, to make his idea of distinction palpable to his thought and fancy. For me, Father Keating always was and shall be that man; easily the most distinguished personality that I have ever met, a standard whereby to test and judge all others. To come into his hands, at that age and at that conjunction of things, was to be initiated to a quite new range of human possibilities. It is not always nor altogether an easy and flattering thing, such initiation. One feels oneself rebuked, by the unspoken contrast between what the other is and one's own crudeness; so at least it was with me, and it is another proof of Father Keating's rare qualities of gentleness and sympathetic comprehension that he bore for a long time with the wily discourtesies of what was, after all, only a distorted admiration. At last he had it out with me, man to man, and that made me his friend for ever. It showed me, behind all that perfection of word and manner and bearing that might have been the envy of any diplomat or man of the world, the simple and affectionate humanity that was always there, in Father Keating, for those who wanted it or appealed to it.

It is curious how, when one reflects upon one's impressions of Father Keating, one never thinks of him in terms of this or that; it is always the man and the personality that lives before one. Not that one abstracts from the things he was, but they do not force themselves to the front. Thus, Father Keating was of course Father Keating, and a priest of the Society, and one never knew him otherwise and yet even that seems, as it were, absorbed into the nature of the man that one remembers. And so with the rest. He was a fine athlete, and it was a sight, regularly expected, regularly recurring, to see him lift a leg-ball right out of the cricket-ground; but it seemed all to be done by the way. Just so, for all his fine knowledge of the classics (and how much else!) one hesitates to call him a scholar; that name seems to be better reserved for smaller men who have chosen the one-sided development of a single faculty. And yet the classics will help me to express, to some degree, what I feel. I remember how he enjoyed doing Horace; and there was a certain Horatian felicity and perfection of style about everything he did. I think he was aware of it, and it was a pleasure to him; but the thought never came and never can come to one that he tried after it; it was all so natural, so himself, Even so, the word “gentlemanly”, would be all too common, in fact all too shoddy for Father Keating's exquisite ways. It was just that: he was unique, he was hirrself.

When I first knew him, Father Keating was in his early prime, only just forty. I had three years with him; then during my University years I saw him continually. Then we went our ways in life (and his took him far), and after 1894 many a year went by without our meeting; when, one day, a letter arrived, in his well-known hand, telling me that he had discovered my whereabouts and asking me round to St. Xavier's. I found him there, just a little stooped and his hair whitening, but otherwise the same as ever. I was looking at the bookshelves as he came into the room, and he asked me what had caught my notice. It was the life of Coventry Patmore, and I remarked what a great poet he was: “But not as great as Homer, surely”! said Father Pat. He showed me where his old copies of Homer and Horace stood, but regretted that parish work left him but little time for such reading, Then, I remember, some incident of his morning's round led him to remark on the lack of politeness in our youth: “I remember I had a lot of trouble with you”, he said, turning to me with a smile. I confessed that I had been something of a cub and that I had deserved to catch more than I did catch.

I was Father Keating's guest twice after his return to Riverview. One noticed, just now and then, a little sign of approaching age: a slight uncertainty of vision, where the eyes had once been so keen; a slight uncertainty of movement, where the hands had once been so precise. But old age had not yet overtaken him, and it seemed as if he yet had many a happy year before him. I was thinking to myself: “It's too bad, you haven't been up to Riverview for some time now”, and planning to get a day free in a fortnight or so, when, one morning, the paper opened on his portrait and I knew that I should not see him in this life again.

We were a small class in those days at Riverview, Steve Burke and myself; Harry Fitzgerald was with us for a while, but I think we always regarded him as an outsider; we had gone through St Kilda and St Aloysius' side by side, and come up to Riverview together. Our little class was tended by three teachers, Father O'Malley, Father O'Connell, and especially Father Keating. And now they are all gone: Steve is dead and Father O'Connell and Father O'Malley, and now, at last, Father Keating. Life begins to get lonely when one thinks of the best days of one's boyhood and finds none of those who were an intimate part of them to share or stimulate one's memories. And for me a great part of what is dear and precious in life was carried away as I saw his coffin borne out of the church, and whispered to myself just the simple farewell, “Good-bye, Father Pat”.

-oOo-

The Late Father Keating

In setting out to write this little sketch of Father Keating, we are fortunate in having his autobiography at hạnd. It was begun at Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, during his rectorship of that College, on a piece of notepaper, and on the last sheet we find the last entry, recording, his entrance into office as Rector of Riverview, in January, 1912. A feeling that it was perhaps too intimate to expose to the gaze of all who may read has prevented its inclusion; its substance is our guide in what will follow. Father Keating often used to say, in his characteristic way, that one should leave one's things in order and not cause people unnecessary trouble, even at the end; and we have no doubt that it was sheer good nature that urged him to leave us his life in miniature.

Father Patrick Keating was born at Tipperary, in Ireland, on the 17th March, 1846; of an excellent Catholic family which had the distinction of giving three of its members to the service of God, in religion. His elder brother, Thomas, like himself, became a Jesuit; a sister is a Sacred Heart nun in America. In 1850, a little boy of four years old, he went to America with his parents, to live at Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. His first education was obtained at a private school at Elgin; in 1861 he was sent by his parents to the Jesuit College, at Clongowes Wood, Co. Kildare, Ireland. After four years at Clongowes, in 1865, being then nineteen years of age, he entered the Irish Jesuit novitiate, taking his vows two years later, in 1867. He spent the next two years studying thetoric at St. Acheul, Amiens, and in 1868 went to Rome to study philosophy at the Roman College. He was in Rome during the Session of the Vatican Council at which the dogma of Papal Infallibility was declared, and in the same year, 1870, the Italian army entered Rome through the breach in the Porta Pia, after the famous siege.

It must have been a stirring time! We have heard Father Keating describe the walks the philosophers would take in the city during the siege. There was one poor fellow who had both legs blown off by a shell. Father Keating and his companions took pity on him, and told him he should resign himself to the misfortune God had sent him. “But how can I?”. he cried, “what can I do without legs?” Then they carried him to his home. There must have been many such scenes, and one can easily imagine the charitable “Mr” Keating of those days, often rendering such assistance.

The Roman College was appropriated by the government - it is still in use as a caserna, or military barracks and the philosophers moved to Maria-Laach, in Rhein Preussen. Here Father Keating completed his third year of philosophy. During his stay at Maria Laach the Franco-Prussian War was going on, and we have been told some interesting stories of the community at the German house, where Frenchmen and German would fraternise, forgetting or trying to forget national animnosities, while their compatriots were killing each other almost within view of the College. In 1871 he returned to Ireland to act as Prefect of the Lower Line at St Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, and to teach the classes of rhetoric and poetry till 1877. In this year he went to study theology at Innsbrück, in the Tyrol. After two years at Innsbrück, he was sent to complete his theology course at St Beuno's College, North Wales, and here he was ordained, in 1880, on September 21st. He next returned to Clongowes and taught for a year, going to his tertianship ini 1882.

During most of his “third year:, he acted as Socius to the Master of Novices in Milltown Park, Dublin. He spent the last three months of the year of the tertianship at Hadzor House, near Worcester. In 1883 he came to Australia with Fathers Sturzo and Edward Murphy, and taught at Riverview for seven years. In 1889 he was appointed Rector of Riverview, and in 1890 Superior of the Australian Mission. In 1899 he was recalled to Ireland to act as Provincial of the Irish Province. In 1901 he returned to Australia as Rector of Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne. In 1908 he took charge of St Francis Xavier's Parish, Lavender Bay, North Sydney. In 1912 he succeeded Father Gartlan as Rector of Riverview, entering on his office early in January.

During this, his second rectorship of Riverview, he again won the respect of all. The boys thought him a little strict at first, but his sterling character soon won their admiration and affection. We who lived intimately with him then had an opportunity of noticing more closely his salient characteristics. There was a great spirit of exactness and neatness; a kindness extended to all; a strong sense of duty; a tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and a great desire to beautify and adorn the chapel, and all connected directly with it. There was renovation and improvement in many quarters, but the chapel got most of it, and nothing seemed too good for God's own house. Under his orders, Brother Girschik made a fine cedar vesting press for the Sacristy, and we know that it was his intention to complete the Chapel furnishing before all else. We were hoping to have him with us for many years when God saw fit to take his to Himself, after a little more than a year of office.

On Monday, May 20th, he took the mid-day meal with the Community, and chatted after dinner in his usual cheerful way. During the afternoon he told Father Pigot that he felt unwell, and he was advised to rest himself. In the evening his illness took a serious turn, and next morning we were grieved to hear that he was very ill. He had developed a cerebral hemorrhage, and the doctors said that the only chance of recovery lay in his immediate removal to the hospital, and con stant skilled attention.

He showed the greatest resignation and sweetness throughout. He often used to say, when in health, that he would be ready to go “on the last journey at any moment”, and this was literally true of him. When Father Corcoran went to his room early on the Tuesday morning, he said, quietly, “Well, Father Minister, I will be going home before you, after all. I believe I am going there now”. Father Corcoran was on the eve of his departure for Ireland, his homeland, and the remark was characteristically supernatural.

He was taken to Lewisham Hospital that morning, and edified all by his patience, even joyfulness, at the call of God. When he was brought to his room in the hospital, he looked round quietly and smiled, and said, “Everything is so nice and neat; so it's here it is to be”. When told by the Sister that he might die, he said, “Yes, but I received the last Sacraments two days ago, and am ready”. He passed away gently and unobtrusively - his death was like his life - in complete peace and resignation, early in the morning of Thursday, the 22nd May. He really was “going home”,' and why should he be sad?

On Friday evening the remains were brought to the College, where an escort was waiting at the avenue gates to welcome all that was left of one whose death had made a void in the hearts of many in Riverview. The Rosary was recited by all, and when the Chapel was reached we said the Vespers for the Dead, and then during the evening many a boy, and many a master, would say a prayer for the soul of their dear Rector. Next morning we sang a short Requiem Mass, and then the remains were conveyed to St Mary's, Ridge Street, North Sydney. Here an immense concourse of members of the clergy and laity had assembled to take part in the Solemn Office for the Dead and Requiem. His Grace the Archbishop presided. Very Revs T O'Reilly PP, VF, and J P Moynagh PP, VF, acted as deacons at the Archbishop's throne. The chanters at the office were Revs L Chatelet SM, and T Hayden. The Mass was celebrated by Rev E Corish SJ, the deacon being' Rev J HealySJ, and the sub deacon Rev Father Ignatius CP, (an old Stonyhurst boy). Among the clergy: present: were Right Rev Monsignor O'Haran DD, PA, Right Rev Monsignor. O'Brien DD, Right Rev Monsignor Coonan PP, VG,. and Venerable Archpriest Collins PP, Very Rev P B Kennedy OFM, Revs H E Clarke OFM, R Piper OFM, F S McNamara OFM, M P Kelly, OFM, Very Rev P Treand MSH, Revs E McGrath MSH, F Laurent SM, Ginsbach SM, Very Rev Father Francis CP, Revs P Tuomey DPH, W McNally, E Brauer, P Walsh, T Barry, W Barry, T Phelan PP, J Kelly, J Roach, R O'Regan, J Rohan, R J O'Régan, R Darby, P Nulty, A O'Farrell, M Rohan, J J O'Driscoll, T Whyte, P Murphy.

Representing: the Society of Jesus there were present the Community of Riverview College, also Fathers J Colgan, J Brennan, P McCurtin, E Sydes, J Forster, R O'Dempsey, R J Murphy, T Cahill, T Fay, T Carroll. There were also representatives of the Marist. Brothers and Christian: Brothers; De la Salle Brothers, Sisters of the Little: Company of Mary, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy, Loreto Nuns and Sisters of St Joseph. Many prominent members of the Catholic laity were present, including a large number of Riverview ex-students. One seemed to recognise old Riverview boys everywhere, and all ages were represented.

Among the laity present were the President of the Ex-students Union, Mr A W M d'Apice BA, LLB, Hon Thomas Hughes MLC, Messrs T J Dalton KCSG, James Dalton KSG (Orange), T Mac Mahon, C. Brennan MA, C G Hepburn, F W T Donovan, T McCarthy, P Minahan, I B, Norris BA, LL, Lieutenant-Colonel Fallon, J Lane Mullins, B A McBride, G E Flannery, BA, LLB, P J ODonnell, G B Bryant, C Moore, Roger Hughes BA, A Deery, P Moore, Bryan Veech, A Moran and very many others. All the great public schools were represented at the church or at the funeral, the Headmasters' Association being specially represented by the Rev C J Prescott MA (Newington College), Brother Borgia (St Josephs College), and Mr Lucas (Sydney Grammar School).

After the last Gospel His Grace the Archbishop: delivered a touching panegyric based on the text from St Luke, “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching”.. His Grace referred to the shock which such a sudden death must give to all, and to the temper of consolation to be found in our Holy Faith, and the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, by which we believed that we could help our suffering departed friends by our suffrages to God, that their purging pains might be shortened, and they might soon enter into the life of bliss, a life which Father Keating had “richly deserved”, we might hope with assurance, by his many good deeds. We should all be ready like him, at the call of our: Maker, to render an account of our stewardship. After His Grace the Archbishop had pronounced the last absolutions, the funeral procession proceeded to Gore Hill Cemetery. The cortège was headed by a detachment of cadets from St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill, St Aloysius College, North Sydney, The Sydney Grammar School, and the Church of England Grammar School,
The cadets from Riverview College formed the immediate guard of honour to the hearse, and: the detachment marched with reversed. arms, while muffled side-drums rolled a plaintive accompaniment to the marching. Major J Lee Pulling, of the Church of England Grammar School, was in command of the military escort, and was assisted by Lieutenant Murphy, of St Aloysius College Corps, and Lieutenant Loughnan, of Riverview, while Staff-Sergeant Major Harvey represented the Fifth Brigade.

The cortege was a very long and representative one, many, who had attended the long church service walking in the funeral procession to the graveside, as a last tribute of respect.

At the graveside the Rev J Corcoran SJ, performed the burial service, at the termnation of which the Riverview choir chanted the “Benedictus”. The guard of honour saluted our departed Rector by presenting arms, and then rested on reversed arms, while the bugler of St Joseph's College Corps sounded the “Last Post”.

Father Keating was a man of great culture and charming personality. He was a master of the Latin and Greek languages, and conversed fluently in French, German, and Italian, As one can see from the life account we have given, he spent many years of his life in various parts of Europe, as well as America and Australia, and perhaps this contact with diverse types of men gave to him much of the urbanity which was to many his greatest charm. One remembers the interesting way he would chat about his stay in Rome during the siege of 1870, of the Vatican Council, of his life at Maria-Laach, and the almost constant habit he had of breaking off into snatches of foreign popular airs.

The charm of his personality seems to have been felt by all who knew him. Among the very numerous letters and telegrams which came to the College for several days after his death, there were many from old boys, from parents of present boys of the college, from those who had found in him a strong guide and a warm friend. But perhaps what impressed one most was the obvious effect of his personality on those who had not known him so intimately as his confrères, his pupils, or his clients. From headmasters of the schools, from mernbers of the legal and medical professions, from the clergy, from men of commerce, came a continual stream of letters, in which one and all attested their conviction of his sterling worth. Mr W A Purves MA, headmatser of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School, wrote: “I am sure everyone who knew Father Keating feels an individual loss. For myself, I never knew quite so courteous an entirely charming a gentleman. I think such personalities as his have a strong influence in maintaining friendly relations among us all, and while in a sense one cannot mnourn the second and better birthday of a good man, one cannot but miss him sorely”.

In a letter from the Rev Ashworth Aspinall MA, headmaster of the Scots College, we find these words: “It was my privilege to meet him years ago, and more recently, and I realised the charm of his cultured personality, and can thus in some degree realise the loss which the College and your Church has sustained. The State has too few men of culture not to deplore the loss of one who so muclı honoured the teaching profession”.

The letters received from old pupils were characterised by a note of warm affection, Everyone who knew Father Keating intimately loved him. At the Annual Dinner of the Old Boys' Union, held shortly after his deatlı, several told of incidents illustrating all those things that went to make up “dear Father Keating's” character - how he had reproved one for his good, and almost crushed him with sarcasm; how he had encouraged another, how he had entered into the sports of the boys to gain their hearts, how he had shown sympathy with the sorrows of the new boy whose heart ached with thoughts of the home he had left. The homesickness of one new boy seemed incurable. Father Keating, Rector of Riverview at the time, won his affection and it was lifelong and cured his homesickness by chaffing him about his untidy hair, and brushing it for him in quite fine style with his own hair brush! Perhaps the occasion may excuse the writer for telling of Sunday mornings he remembers himself, when Father Keating's room would be invaded by an army of small folk - Father Keating always loved the little ones and a judicious selection would be made from the throng. We would go off bird-nesting, and the two hours before dinner-time would pass in a flash. Everyone would enjoy the walk, Father Keating himself most of all. It was difficult to say why one liked him so much; perhaps it was the simplicity of his view which suited the young ones. He seemed, like them, to have an insight into the things which are more real because invisible and intangible, the really beautiful things which Plato imagined to be stored away in some ideal place where all is perfect and without spot.

Looking back one sees that those early days of companionship were indeed a time when the common things of nature.
“did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream”.

Further intercourse with Father Keating at a more mature age has strengthened this feeling; the key to his charm lay in the simple child-like, single view of all, which gave a zest to life. One felt in his presence the value of living, and the joy; the supernatural became evident in his cheerful, bright view of all eventualities, actual or possible. It did one good to know him, and one felt a participation of the strength which the supernatural view of all things gives, a strength proof against all vicissitudes, against the onslaught of external or internal foes, an unutterable security which seemed to be his reward for his perfect life; and which radiated in some way from Father Keating to all those who had the privilege of knowing him.

PJD

-oOo-

Lines to Father Keating, Scholar and Priest

Was it from wells of ancient classic lore
He drew his cultured sweetness, and the store
Of high and holy thoughts that made his life
So gracious, yet so firm-amid the strife
Of warring creed and class - that if the world
Had crashed, and all its fragments wildly hurl'd
Thro' space, his soul had still stood unafraid?
Perchance 'twere so! But something he displayed,

Ne'er caught from Greece or Rome's most glorious days,
That, more than classic culture, won the praise
And love of men. For now, the Light of Old
Is but a lonely star, that sternly cold,
Keeps from the frighted herd of clouds apart,
Or stoops to let them pass with scornful heart,
And glimmers thus thro' life, and dies at death.
Not thus was he! His was the mighty Faith.
Unclouded, glad, and simple as the sun,
That saw and met life's sorrows one by one,
The weariness—the sadness—and the crime,
The “tears of things” but straight, o'erleaping Тіmе,
Reached out to Heav'n with hands of eager prayer,
And caught and flung the mantle of God's care
O'er all the world-and what before was night
And night's wild storm-lo! now was Peace and Light.

DF

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

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

Father Pat Keating (whose brother, Fr, Tom Keating was then at Bourke St.) was a most remarkable man in many respects. A scholar in every sense of the term, he was a man of a most striking personality. Strikingly handsome, he was an all round athlete. It would be hard to find a game requiring strength and skill, which he could not play well. He used to play as a member of our team when the teams of the most formid able cricket clubs about Sydney visited Riverview. Being an all round expert at the game, he used to surprise these strangers, as the following incident will show. A match was being played against one of Sydney's best clubs, and the visitors won the toss. Father Keating went on as one of the bowlers. I was sitting near, and just to the rear of Father O'Connell, who was sitting next to the club's scorer and Secretary. Their admiration of Father Keating's bowling was freely expressed. As the bowler at the other end was also of good quality, the visiting team was out in a short space of time, and Father Keating was one of the opening batsmen. When he proved himself as expert with the bat as he had with the ball the visitors applauded heartily; but when he drove a ball from the visitors' best bowler far into the bush beyond the boundary, the gentlemen with the scoring book jumped to his feet and shouted: “By- that - parson can play cricket”. We did not laugh-aloud..because “language” was bad form; but I noticed that Father O'Connell's back underwent some decided convulsions for some time after.

Father Keating was a man of untiring energy. His day began before five in the morning, and he was still at work at ten o'clock at night, and this year in and year out. His was the first Mass celebrated, and for several months, I, with another boy, served this Mass. Father Keating always acted as prefect of the late or “voluntary” study—from nine to ten pm, and many a knot he solved for me when construing. It was he who awakened in me the admiration for Cicero which I have ever since retained. Though a man naturally of a quick and violent temper, no one could believe such to have been the case except on his own admission. He had so far trained himself in this respect that no one ever saw him exhibit the slightest annoyance or impatience, in word or action, although his face might flush. Some of the wilder spirits used to try to annoy him, but they never succeeded. He succeeded Fr Dalton as Rector at Riverview, and after he had been called by his Order to serve in the United Kingdom he was again made Rector at Riverview, and held that office until his death, which came alas too early, and we may well say we shall never see his like again. He united in himself so many great and admirable qualities, and such high attainments in the intellectual sphere, and yet he was the most humble and approachable of men. A great priest, a great scholar, a cul tured gentleman, a sterling friend, a model of the highest type of manhood, a great member of a great Order, the death of such a man leaves this world much poorer.

◆ The Clongownian, 1913

Obituary

Father Patrick Keating SJ

A cablegram received yesterday at St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, an nounced the death at Riverview College, Sydney, Australia, of the Very Rev Patrick Keating SJ. Although his field of duties during the greater part of his full and laborious life lay outside Ireland, there are still very many amongst us to whom the announcement of his death will cause a pang of bitter regret. Among the older generation, to whom he was a familiar figure, whether in his schooldays at Clongowes, or in the later years as Master there, and in Tullabeg, his name will come back as a fresh and invigorating memory. Prominent in his class, first in games, first in the affection of his school-fellows, such was he during his earlier years, and his later life did not belie the promise of his vigorous youth.

He was born in the town of Tipperary, and from there his family proceeded to America while he was yet very young. Later on he returned to pass his schooldays in Clongowes. He entered the Society of Jesus immediately after his course of rhetoric, and having gone through the full course of studies of literature in France and philosophy in Rome and Ger many, he was called back to Ireland to take up the work of teaching for six years before proceeding to his final theological studies. These were made in Austria and in England. In the year 1883 he volunteered for missionary work in Australia. His name and fame are well known in the Commonwealth. He directed with signal success the destinies of the important College of Xavier in Melbourne, and, later, Riverview, Sydney. Having been for many years Superior of the whole Australian Mission, he was recalled to Ireland to undertake the government of the Irish province. Having accomplished the work with conspicuous success, to the general regret of his friends in Ireland he was recalled to the broader field of his labours, and directed by his gentle and effective sway the Xavier College, Melbourne, before he was sent to undertake again the direction of the great Riverview College, overlooking Sydney Harbour. This position he occupied for some time past, and his later letters from there, received in Dublin during the week, gave his friends no indication either of weakened health or failing powers.

Thus the cable yesterday came as a great shock to his brethren. Father Keating was a man of varied parts. In a remarkable degree his gentleness, prudence, and knowledge of men were evinced in all his dealings and intercourse with others. He seemed particularly suited to the work of conducting retreats to the communities, but his labor lay mostly in other fields. It was, however to those who knew him most intimately, who enjoyed his confidence and friendship, to those who shared with him the intimacy and amenities of community life - it was to his brethren in religion to whom the charm and worth of his character were best known. His death is a serious loss to the Australian Mission as well as to the whole Jesuit Order in Ireland.

“Freeman” May 16th, 1913.

Born: 21 April 1852, Glasgow, Scotland
Entered: 08 January 1873, Sevenhill Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Ordained: 1883
Died: 28 October 1884, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)

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

Early Irish Mission to Australia 1880

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
James Power arrived in Victoria, at the age of ten, and entered the Society at Sevenhill, 8 January 1873. After the noviciate he began rhetoric studies and theology.
In 1880 he was sent St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and from 1880-83, was at St Aloysius' College (St Kilda House), teaching physics, debating and prefecting. He returned to Riverview, 1883-84. Enjoying mechanics, he did a great deal of useful work in the early days at Riverview. However, his long-standing ill health became worse. He returned to Sevenhill in 1884, died there the same year, and was buried in the crypt.

Note from Daniel Sheahan Entry
Daniel Sheahan was received as a novice at Sevenhill, 8 January 1873, along with James Power.

Born: 12 November 1870, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 13 August 1887, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 29 July 1906, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1909, Milltown, Park, Dublin
Died: 12 October 1948, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Educated at Belvedere College SJ

2nd year Novitiate at Tullabeg;
by 1894 at Cannes France (LUGD) health
Came to Australia for Regency 1896
by 1902 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Albert Power came from a pious Catholic family, uninterested in politics. Their life centred the Jesuit church in Gardiner Street, and the Jesuits educated Power at Belvedere College. Albert's vocation was believed to be a great blessing by the whole family.
He entered the Society, 13 August 1887, First at Dromore, and then moved to Tullabeg under John Colman. He studied for his humanities degree as a junior at Tullabeg and Milltown Park, Dublin. His health was not good, and he was sent to Australia, 1895-1901, to teach the classics at Riverview. He was prefect of studies from 1899-1901. He returned to Europe and Valkenburg, for philosophy, and to Milltown Park for theology, 1903-07. He lectured in dogma and scripture, and held the office of prefect of studies and rector at Milltown Park, 1907-18. He was a consultor of the province from 1914-18.
Power returned to Australia to become the first rector of Newman College, Melbourne University, where he tutored in history and English. He was appointed the first rector of the diocesan seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, as well as being consultor of the mission in 1923. He taught Latin, Greek, history, elocution, and Hebrew, as well as scripture at various times, and was much sought after by nuns for spiritual direction, which was “wise, firm and sure”. He had a special liking for Our Lady's Nurses at Coogee, founded by Eileen O'Connor, a good and holy lady.
Power had much Irish piety, but was not good in the apologetics of dealing with non-Catholics. He was a clear teacher, but not an original thinker. He had great devotion to God, the Church, the Society and to all in trouble. His published works included: “Six World Problems” (NY: Postet, 1927); “Our Lady’s Titles” (NY: Postet, 1928); “Plain Reasons for Being a Catholic: (NY: Postet, 1929), and many ACTS pamphlets, including “The Sanity of Catholicism” and “Do Catholics Think for Themselves?”. He retired to Xavier College in 1945 and remained there until his death.
Power was a very small man, and called 'the mighty atom' because of his abundant energy and ceaseless activity. He was first and foremost a devout Irish Catholic and all his later learning did nothing but reinforce the faith he had learned from his mother. But the intensity of his faith and devotion appealed enormously to the devout and to struggling souls, and he had a very wide spiritual clientele, especially among women.
He was also a genuine classical scholar and a first class teacher, much appreciated at Riverview by staff and students. He deepened his knowledge of scripture and was able to expound it better than most people. He was not particularly contemporary with theology, but in Latin, Greek or Hebrew, he was an expert. While his sympathies were somewhat narrow, and he found it hard to understand different personalities, he was a highly respected priest.
From external appearances, Power was a very successful Jesuit, projecting confidence and friendliness. His diaries, however, revealed an inner struggle to become the kind of person he believed that God and the Society of Jesus expected him to be. He typified most Jesuits who seemed to experience a continual tension between their individual personality and the expectations of formal authority.
But being a Jesuit for Power was not all romance and adventure to the ends of the earth. It also meant some internal changes in the person. Through socialisation processes in the Society, he believed that to be a good Jesuit he should avoid the things of the “world”. For him this meant obedience to the rules of the Society avoiding material and secular distractions, such as visiting “externs”, or interest in the political or social questions of his time. In the diaries he expressed the struggle within him to be such a person. In particular he recognised a tension in his life between fear and love, believing that love, confidence and hope were better motives for the Christian life than fear.
While respecting and admiring men who preached an austere life with much mortification and self-denial, he was never comfortable with that more traditional spirituality which had frequently caused him tension and “nerves”. Power suffered from scruples, and he needed to be encouraged in his convictions about a more joyful spirituality. However, he was sufficiency clear-minded to observe that too much self-introspection inflamed the scrupulous conscience and led to depression. He would prefer to convince himself that somehow his personal problems would be resolved once he became close to God.
He enjoyed meditating on the life of Christ, entering well into St Ignatius' use of the senses as the retreatant contemplated Christ in his humanity Power was more comfortable relating to a loving and caring Christ. In his diaries, sermons and lectures, he expressed a spirituality that accepted the whole human person, intellectual and affective.
Power's spirituality reflected much of the emotion of the French spiritual writers whom he claimed to value and whom he read at various stages through his life. St Francis de Sales was a good counter balance to Michael Browne's severe spirituality He read de Maumigny, de Ravignan, Lallemant, and St Therese. All these authors wrote about the importance of human emotions in the spiritual life. Human and consoling thoughts of joy and hope were needed in a soul that was torn by self-doubt and anxiety,
Power regularly expressed recognition of the movement of strong spirits within him, especially guilt, but as he grew in understanding of himself and learnt how to discern these spirits, he could offer himself sound advice, but he was not always able to put it into practice. He also worried about not possessing many human qualities. He wanted to be more patient, amiable, large-minded, more generous and self-sacrificing, courteous, and tolerant.
Despite his weaknesses, through direction and resection, Power seemed to grow in his spiritual life, becoming less introspective, more controlled and happy with his life. Learning to live with tensions, and working hard through teaching, writing, spiritual direction, and retreats, towards the end of his active life, he found the confidence to record :
“ I find it hard to resist a cry for help from someone i distress (of body or soul). And I think I can say - honestly- that during the past twenty years I have rarely (if ever) refused help when I could give it......”
Living in an age that generally promoted a severe spirituality Power exemplified those Jesuits who experienced tension when presented with an exclusively austere spirituality and he came to prefer a more fully human integration - a balance paradoxically more natural and instinctive to the older Irish traditions in which he had his roots.

Note from the Joseph A Brennan Entry
He was also chosen to superintend the foundation of Corpus Christi College, Werribee, whilst awaiting the arrival of the Rector, Albert Power.

Note from William McEntegart Entry
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.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
Obituary
Fr. Albert Power (1870-1887-1948) – Vice Province of Australia
A native of Dublin Fr. Power was educated at Belvedere College, and entered the Society at Dromore in 1887 at the age of 17. After a brilliant course at the old Royal University of Ireland, he taught at Riverview College, Sydney, and later studied philosophy at Valkenburg, Holland, and theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1906. He joined the professorial staff at Milltown Park, first as Professor of Dogmatic Theology and later of Sacred Scripture, and was Dean of Studies and Rector from 1910-18.
In the latter year Archbishop Mannix founded Newman College at the University of Melbourne and entrusted it to the Fathers of the Society. Father Power led a band of pioneer teachers to Newman and was its first Rector. From 1923-30 he was Rector of the new Regional Seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and continued until 1945 on its teaching staff. He was also for most of this period Spiritual Director of the seminarians, so that for nearly a quarter of a century he played a distinguished part in the training of the secular priesthood of the Archdiocese. In 1947 when celebrating at Xavier College, Kew, the 60th anniversary of his entrance into the Society he was honoured by the largest gathering of his former priest-students ever to assemble in Melbourne.
Father Power was a popular lecturer in the Catholic Hour broad cast from Melbourne. His books include “Plain Reasons for Being a Catholic”, “The Catholic Church and Her Critics”, and “Six World Problems”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1949

Obituary

Father Albert Power SJ (1870-1948)

Fr Power was born in Dublin on November 12th, 1870 and died in Melbourne on October 12th, 1948. He had thus nearly eighty years on earth. Of these, forty-two were spent in Ireland, thirty-six in Australia, and in both he had accomplished so much that it was a constant source of wonder to those who lived near him not only that one small head could carry all he knew, but that one small frail body could perform all it was called upon to do. He worked smoothly, tirelessly, unobtrusively, but efficiently. It is, indeed, difficult to write about him without seeming to exaggerate, and no one would depreciate this more than himself, for he was naturally shy and retiring, as well as genuinely humble. Born in an intensely pious home he went early to Belvedere. Without the physique, aptitude or inclination for games he must have lived a little apart from the hurly-burly of a great school and concentrated all his energies on acquiring knowledge and holiness.

At the age of seventeen he entered the Noviceship and glided into the current of the new life so smoothly that it will have held less trials for him than for most. Certainly he took the Ignatian mould to perfection. Throughout his whole life he exemplified the “Book of the Exercises” as well as he was later to preach it to others. After the Noviceship he studied for the old Royal University and taking the Classical Course, he won all possible distinctions until he ended with first place in MA. Of the Classics he always remained a lover and a master. They were to serve him well in his sacred studies. He became in time something of a polymath. In his lectures he would often turn aside into very out-of-the-way paths of learning. This was not to the taste of all listeners, but for others it was a source of delight. He was never the dry-as-dust specialist.

In Philosophy and Theology he had the same success as at the University. So that it was only natural he should gravitate to Milltown Park at the end of his course, where he remained as Professor (a part of the time as Rector) until in 1918, he was invited to return to Australia, where he had spent six years as a scholastic teaching Classics. This time he went in the higher capacity of Professor of Theology and first Rector of Werribee College, near Melbourne, which Dr. Mannix had founded as a higher Seminary for the Archdiocese of Melbourne and its suffragan Sees. It was here his greatest work was done and here his last thirty- years were spent.

Dr Mannix had practically commandeered. him from Milltown Park. The Irish Province felt the sacrifice but made it whole-heartedly for such an important end. The personal victim felt it keenly; for he had thrown deep roots into the subsoil of ecclesiastical life in his native land and had made innumerable friends. He was human enough for all his exalted virtue, to feel the wrench acutely. But there was no hesitation. The call was too clear to leave a doubt about God's will. And that was for him always the thing that really mattered.

As a reward for his sacrifice Fr Power found a wider field for his talents, his zeal, his restless pursuit of the greater glory of God than he would have found at home. He was able to contribute to the growth and development of the young Australian Church, already so glorious and destined perhaps to far greater glory, in the days to come, by helping in the formation of its young clergy, and incidentally, by the spiritual direction of many of its nuns, No one was more in demand for their retreats or as extraordinary confessor.

But if Dr Mannix commandeered him in life he seems to have done so even more imperiously in death. He robbed the Jesuits of the handful of clay to give it what one might call an ecclesi- . astical state funeral. The Archbishop himself presided at the solemn requiem in St Patrick's Cathedral, three hundred and fifty clerics from all over the continent chanted in the stalls and Rev James Murtagh paid tribute to the dead Jesuit's services in a panegyric at once generous and palpably sincere. He résumés all in the words : “Fr. Albert Power was surely one of the mnost saintly, scholarly and influential priests Australia has ever known”.

Before quitting Ireland he had gone far towards establishing for himself a hardly less honourable reputation in the Irish Church, where he had already won the titles of “Albertus Magnus”, and “The Mighty Atom”. There was a spiritual dynamism about him which really did suggest what we now know as atomic energy. But it was harnessed not to the chariot of Mars but to the Ark of Salvation - which makes a difference!

It is to be hoped that both in Australia and Ireland the memory of him will long remain to be an inspiration in the spiritual warfare we are all committed to, the principles of which he taught and practised so long and so well.

Born: 30 January 1904, Campbell Town, Tasmania
Entered: 10 March 1924, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 07 September 1939, Heythrop, Oxford, England
Final vows: 15 August 1946
Died: 18 September 1987, Newman College, Parkville, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1930 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Phillips received his early education in Tasmania before entering the Jesuit noviceship at Greenwich, Sydney, 10 March 1924. He did his university studies at University College,
Dublin, where his interest in history was enkindled. He then studied philosophy at Chieri, Turin, Italy.
Regency was at Riverview, where, with Gerald Lawlor, he produced a notebook called “Notes on European History”, designed to remedy deficiencies in the presentation of Catholic aspects of history. He is also credited for being the first Riverview debating master to admit that the GPS competition was the most important phase of the Debating Society. In this aim, Phillips was the first “team coach” of Riverview debating in the modern sense. It was during his term of office that the Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition was established. In all three years of his leadership Riverview reached the final of the GPS competition and won two of them, 1935-36, and it also won the oratory competition.
It was during his theological studies at Heythrop College in England that his predilection for scriptural studies appeared. However, he was not able to return to Australia immediately after ordination because of the war. En route to Australia, a German torpedo hit his ship but it did not explode.
He began to teach scripture, but had no special training for it. He spent many years at Werribee and Glen Waverley. His grasp of biblical studies eventually became quite encyclopaedic, and he was rated highly among professional scholars.
In 1954 Phillips was asked to take over the Catholic Central Library after the death of William Hackett. Under his management it became more a bookshop than a lending library.
After his retirement from teaching, he gave his full attention to the library, working long hours into the night, catching the last tram home to the Jesuit Theological College. He became notorious for preparing his own meals, and eventually from malnutrition. His contemporaries had always respected his learning and zeal. As he aged, he mellowed, and a wide circle of friends genuinely mourned him.

Born: 13 December 1892, Santa Maria del Camí, Mallorca, Spain
Entered: 01 February 1915, Gandia, Valencia, Spain - Aragonite Province (ARA)
Professed: 15 August 1916
Died: 21 August 1945, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain - Aragonite Province (ARA)

by 1925 came to Riverview, Sydney, Australia (HIB) working

Born: 07 December 1885, Newbury, Berkshire, England
Entered: 09 October 1914, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 13 October 1970, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death

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
Frederick Parr was an Englishman and a convert who was a cabinet maker by trade, and had been a soldier. He migrated to Australia about 1912, lived at Prahran and worked as a carpenter at Xavier College before entering the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 9 October 1914. He spent his Jesuit life doing carpentry and domestic duties at Sevenhill, 1917-20 and 1926-28 Riverview, 1920-25, Xavier College, 1925-26 and 1928-49, and Pyrnble, 1950-70.
Besides his trade he was interested in ornithology and kept an aviary for many years at Xavier College and at Canisius College, Pymble. He was a good sportsman at cricket, soccer, billiards, swimming, shooting and boxing, frequently talking about these interests and achievements with the community.
At Riverview he helped coach cricket. He developed arthritis while at Xavier and this became progressively worse over the years. He also had an operation on his leg that left one leg shorter than the other. He used a stick to help him move about.
His workshop at Pymble was full of wonderful bird paintings, which became the source of admiration to many, but especially the local children. Before his final fall and broken leg, he would daily visit St Ives for the evening paper, to find the results of the English soccer, and to have a chat with the local families. In his latter days he showed great faith and trust in his medical advisers. Never was he heard to complain about any condition he was discovered to have. His final days were spent in the Cherrywood Private Hospital, where he was respected for his bright smile and cheerfulness despite much pain.
He was a quiet, polite little man and for years did unobtrusive work. He was always an appreciated member of the community, one of the real lovable characters of the province.

Born: 01 November 1888, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1905, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, St George's Cathedral, London, England
Final Vows: 01 February 1924, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 07 August 1963, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Brother of Gerald - Left 1926

Came to Australia for Regency 1910
by 1913 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1919 at St Mary’s, Kurseong, West Bengal, India (BELG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William Owens, affectionately known as “Gerry” was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1905. He remained there for his juniorate 1907-10, and prepared for his university exams at Milltown Park, 1910-11. He taught at Galway, 1911-12, before philosophy studies at Stonyhurst, 1912-14. He taught students for the public examinations at Xavier College, Melbourne, 1914-18, before theology studies at Kurseong, India, Milltown Park and St Beuno's, Wales, 1918-22. Tertianship followed at Tullabeg, 1922-23.
Owens returned to Xavier College in 1923, and remained there teaching until his death in 1963. During these years he was also consultor, 1931-62, prefect of studies, 1934-41, in charge of senior debating, 1926-42, and worked with Old Xaverians. He was spiritual father and still teaching at the time of his death.
He was an institution at Xavier College, independent minded and a real individual. He was much appreciated as an eloquent teacher of modern history Latin and Greek. He taught with great ease and distinction, treating his students as adults, and helping many to gain high honours and distinctions each year. He was a teacher whose great command of English, Greek and Latin inspired many boys to a love of learning, wide reading, and quiet discipline. He gave students the sense that secular interests could coexist happily with faith. His style of life, prayer and scholarship was inspiring.
He was a man of mature judgment, where he himself was not involved, and could be charming. He had a nervous disposition that caused ill health, and he was painfully reserved. He read widely and was an authority on the classics, English and French literature, and all modern political movements. He had many friends and was very loyal and generous to them. He always seemed to be on hand for direction and consultation.
In his early days at Xavier he was a keen tennis player and a good left-hand bowler. For over 50 years he was a first class golfer and played regularly at Kew, even taking a day off school every week to play. He was a good example of a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Though he looked very frail he really had a strong physique. He survived a serious heart attack some years before his death but recovered very quickly He had a second heart attack two years before he died. Again he recovered quickly and was back at work, but this time he had to relinquish golf.
He was a popular retreat-giver, and much in demand. For years he gave retreats in convents throughout Victoria.
He suffered a severe blow in 1926 when his younger brother Gerald left the Society. Gerald had just completed a biennium in moral theology and had been appointed to Werribee, but does not seem to have arrived. He went to the USA and married.

◆ Irish Province News 39th Year No 1 1964 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1964

Obituary :

Fr William Owens SJ

Fr. William Owens was one of a large group of Belvederians who entered the Society at Tullabeg in the early 1900s.
Taking his vows in 1907 he studied up to Second Arts under the old Royal University - and when that institution was replaced by U.C.D. he went to Dublin to attend lectures for his degree in Classics.
He taught for one year at St. Ignatius College, Galway, and then went to Stonyhurst for philosophy. He was then sent to the Australian mission and taught at Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne. Owing to shipping difficulties this was 1914-during World War I he was unable to return to Dublin for his theology but made his first year at Kurseong, India. At the end of the year, however, it was possible for him to return to Dublin and Milltown Park for the remainder of his theology.
Fr. Owens was ordained at St. George's Cathedral, Southwark, in 1920, and did his tertianship at Tullabeg under Fr. Joseph Wellesby.
Having completed his tertianship Fr. Owens returned to Australia where he was to spend the remainder of his life teaching at Xavier College - except for a term spent at Riverview College, Sydney.
He excelled as a teacher of Modern History and the Ancient Classics - and was well versed in English and French Literature. Year after year his pupils took high honours and distinctions and left school well prepared for their courses in the universities. With a rare capacity for friendship, he commanded great influence among the many generations of boys who passed through his hands; loyal and generous he was always ready with counsel and directions and kept in close contact with them in after life.
Though frail and delicate looking, Fr. Owens was really a very strong man. In his early years he was a keen tennis-player, a good left-hand bowler, and he played golf regularly on the Kew links where for many years he was a well-known figure. He survived two heart attacks in later life—but they did not prevent him continuing to teach.
Fr. Owens was an excellent religious - rose early and said Mass with great devotion. He was a very popular retreat giver and was in great demand among religious throughout Victoria in that capacity.
He was faithful to the class-room to the last - on the 7th August, 1963 he took his morning classes as usual though he had a very heavy cold. At 7p.m. he went to St. Vincent's Hospital where he received the Sacrament of the Sick and died an hour later, May he rest in peace.

Born: 15 August 1909, Ballygawley, County Tyrone
Entered: 14 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1943
Died: 11 November 1962, Xavier College, Kew, 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
John O'Shaughnessy was educated by the Marist Fathers at St Mary's College, Dundalk, and entered the Society 14 September 1927, at Tullamore. There he was described as energetic, strong and cheerful, but not much given to speculation and anxious to be always active.
After his vows he completed his juniorate at Rathfarnham, 1929, and in the course of his first year was involved in a motor accident. He received head injuries. It is possible that this affected him for the rest of his life. He studied philosophy at Tullabeg, 1930-33. lt was during this time that he was transferred to the Australian vice-province. Regency was completed at Riverview, 1934-37, and theology at Milltown Park, 1937-42. Tertianship followed at Rathfarnham.
Before returning to Australia, O'Shaughnessy was engaged in parish ministry at St Walburge's, Preston, UK, and he then taught at Riverview, 1945-48. He was minister at North Sydney, 1949 and 1954-57, and Lavender Bay 1950-53. For a few years he was the mission promoter for Sydney. Then followed yearly appointments to Hawthorn, Richmond, Glen Waverley, St Aloysius' College and Xavier College. He did not take to teaching easily, finding it taxed his concentration, but this only made him more painstaking in the preparation of his classes.
He was a lively, cheerful, generous, energetic and conscientious man. He was scrupulously careful in his work and perhaps became over-scrupulous towards the end of his life. He was a good worker. pleasant companion and exemplary religious. He had special interest in the Apostleship of Prayer, and worked hard at organising it, even among the community! He was devoted to the sick and appreciated for his kindness. He was a pastoral priest, and enjoyed doing Sunday supplies and giving retreats. lt was while he was giving one of these retreats that he took ill and died.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 38th Year No 1 1963
Obituary :
Fr John O’Shaughnessy SJ
Prayers are requested for the repose of the soul of Fr. John O'Shaughnessy whose happy death took place at Melbourne on 11th November 1962. Fr. O'Shaughnessy was a member of the Irish Province until his assignment to the newly-established Vice-Province of Australia in 1931, while he was still a Junior at Rathfarnham. He had entered the Society at Emo in 1927. At the time of his death he was a master at Xavier College, Melbourne, previous to which he had been engaged at parish work for several years. May he rest in peace.

Born: 18 February 1864, Athlone, County Roscommon
Entered: 14 August 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1895
Final Vows: 02 February 1899, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 10 May 1907, Bruges, Belgium

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Came to Australia for Regency with priests James O’Connor, George Buckeridge and Joseph Tuite 1886
by 1898 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1904 at out of Community (TOLO) - health

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he studied Rhetoric and Philosophy at Milltown.
1886 He went with three Fathers for his Regency in Australia, where he taught with great success for five years.
When he returned he studied Theology at Milltown and was ordained after his Third Year.
He was then sent to Crescent.
Failing in health the doctors advised he go back to Australia. He broke down mentally on the voyage and returned eventually to Belgium, where he died 10 May 1907

Note from Oliver Daly Entry :
He was in Australia for about twenty years, including being Superior at Hawthorn, and he returned to Ireland in charge of Father John O’Neill who had become deranged.

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

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
]ohn O'Neill was sent to Australia in 1887, and in 1888 taught at Xavier College. In 1889 he moved to St Aloysius' College to teach mathematics and Latin to junior boys. It appears before the year was finished he moved to Riverview, serving for a time as second division prefect until the end of 1891, and then moved back to St Aloysius' College in 1892. He returned to Ireland, but was posted again to Riverview for 1903, but the thought of it was too much for him, and after a month left for Belgium where he cared for his health.

Born: 11 September 1882, Adelaide, Australia
Entered: 07 September 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 16 May 1918, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1921, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 24 February 1933, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Older brother of Richard O’Mara - RIP 1977

by 1908 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
by 1909 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1910

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas O’Mara, brother of Richard, came from a well known Adelaide family, prominent in business, which donated “Ellangowan” to the Society. A window in the chapel at Riverview is a memorial to him. O'Mara was educated at Xavier College and came to Riverview in 1896, entering the Society, 7 September 1904, at Tullabeg. Having completed his noviciate and juniorate studies, O’Mara studied philosophy at Gemert, Holland.
He returned to Australia for regency at Riverview, 1910-15, where he was editor of “Our Alma Mater”, and a division prefect. He returned to Ireland and Milltown Park for theology studies in 1915. He was ordained priest in 1918. Tertianship followed at Tullabeg, 1919-20.
His first appointment back in Australia was to Xavier College where he was hall prefect, choirmaster, and minister, and involved with debating. He taught later at St Patrick's College,
1930-31, and was appointed headmaster of Burke Hall, 1931-32. He spent a few years, 1928-30, in the parish of Hawthorn. However, his health began to decline and he went to Sydney, dying soon after his arrival.
O’Mara is remembered as a happy religious. His cheerfulness was characteristic of his life. His students remembered him for his kindness and helpfulness, which made him very approachable and encouraging.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 8th Year No 2 1933
Obituary :
Father Thomas O’Mara - Australia Viceprovince (ASL)
Father O'Mara died in Australia on Sunday, 19th February, 1933.
He was born 11th September, 1882. On 7th September, 1904, he began his novitiate at Tullabeg, and when it was over spent another year there as Junior. He was then sent to Gemert where he put in three years as Philosopher. On returning to Australia in 1910 he was stationed at Riverview where he remained for give years as Master, Prefect, Editor of “Alma Mater”. 1915 saw him back in Ireland for Theology at Milltown Park, and when the four years were over, Tullabeg once more as Tertian.
Back again in Australia , in 1921 he was appointed to Xavier, Kew. and here he worked for seven years, four of them as Minister, then to Hawthorn as Oper for two. In 1930 we find him at St. Patrick's with “an. 14 mag” after his name.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1933

Obituary

Father Thomas O’Mara SJ

Very early in the first term came the sad news of Fr O'Mara's death. Perhaps it was not quite unexpected, for he had been failing in health for some time, and we had all been witnesses of a mysterious loss of weight, and a great struggle to maintain normal health. But still it was hard to realise that he was gone. He was only 50 years of age, and he was young for 50. He remained always young, and he enjoyed the company of “youngsters”, and for this reason perhaps the happiest period of his life was the period of only a few months he spent in the Preparatory School, as Head Master and in charge of the “youngsters”.

Fr. O'Mara was born in South Australia, and was educated at Xavier and at Riverview. He came to Xavier in 1900, and matriculated in 1902. In 1904 he went to Ireland made his novitiate at Tullamore, and later philosophy for three years at Gemert, in Holland, where the French Jesuits were in exile. He returned to Australia in 1910, and was appointed to the staff of Riverview, where he taught, edited the “Alma Mater”, and was a Division Prefect as well. In 1915 he returned to Ireland, where he made his studies preparatory to ordination, and was ordained priest at Millown Park in 1918. Two years later he returned to Australia and to Xavier, where he remained for the next six years.

In 1922 he succeeded Fr Bourke as Minister, and this post he held till the end of 1925. His genial ways and good humour made him universally popular in an uninteresting occupation of presiding three times a day at the boys' meals. From Xavier he went to Hawthorn, and though he was there less than a year it was extraordinary the number of friends he made. He radiated happiness everywhere, especially amongst the school children of St John's, who still remember a famous excursion he made with thein. Ill-health cut short his work at Hawthorn, and he joined the teaching staff of St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, after less than a year of parish work. There he remained a couple of years, and in 1932 he was appointed Head Master of our Preparatory School, Burke Hall. Ill health continued to follow him but he displaved extraordinary courage in battling against it. He never complained, but one who knew him very well at this time said he was a very sick man. Despite this, he worked on, and when the duties of Head Mastership be came too much for him, he remained on the teaching staff, and his only request was that he should be allowed to underttake as much teaching as he could fit in His health continued to decline. He went to hospital, where he spent some weeks, and from there he went to Sydney for a change and rest. His health continued to give way slowly, and after a few months, during which he still gave signs of the wonderful cheerfulness that was so characteristic of him, he died in the Mater Hospital, Sydney, and after Requien Mass at St Mary's, Ridge Street, where his school friend, Fr Thomas Walsh SJ, preached a few touching words over his remans, he was buried at Gore Hill. Fr McCurtin also celebrated Mass at Burke Hall for the repose of his soul. It was served by the boy-prefects and attended by a large number of people, showing once again their esteem for the late Fr O'Mara. To his Mother we offer our deepest sympathy, as well as to his sister and brothers. RIP

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1933

Obituary

Father Thomas O’Mara

Father O'Mara was a South Australian, born in Adelaide on September 11th, 1882. He was of a well-known family, his father being Mr Thomas O'Mara, prominent in South Australian business circles, to whom a beautiful memorial window stands out in the Chapel of the College. He came to Riverview in 1896, and on the completion of his college career, he entered the Society of Jesus on September 7th, 1904. Two years later, his example was followed by his brother, who is at present the Very Rev R O'Mara SJ, Superior of the Sacred Heart Parish, North Sydney. Having completed his novitiate and preliminary studies, Father O'Mara was appointed to the teaching staff of Riverview, where he laboured for three fruitful years, till, in 1915, he went to the Seminary at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained to the Priesthood in 1918.

Returning to Australia in 1920, he was appointed to the teaching staff of Xavier College, Melbourne, where he laboured for several years. Later he was at St Patrick's College, Melbourne, and was eventually ap pointed Superior of Burke Hall, Studley Park, Melbourne, which post he relinquished after some months on account of failing strength. Early in the present year he came to Sydney, and, his health being unsatisfactory, he repaired to the Mater Misericordiae Private Hospital, N Sydney, where he closed his laborious and edifying life in a holy and peaceful manner or February 24th of the current year.

Father O'Mara will always be remembered by contemporary Riverviewers as a religious of a peculiarly bright and happy disposition. Indeed, this bright and cheerful quality was characteristic of him both in the schoolroom and wherever he moved. He was always at hand to render :his surroundings attractive and charming, being specially gifted as a lecturer on travel and other subjects. But he will be specially remembered by all old boys who lived with him for an extremely kind and helpful way of dealing with them, which.. made him approachable and most encouraging in the hour of need. May his holy soul rest in peace!

Born: 07 October 1832, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 30 September 1850, Issenheim, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1867, Rome, Italy
Final Vows: 02 February 1870
Died: 23 August 1910, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia

by 1854 at Laval France (FRA) studying Philosophy 1
by 1862 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy 1
by 1863 in Rome Italy (ROM) studying Philosophy and Theology
by 1869 at Paderborn Germany (GER) making Tertianship
Early Australian Missioner 1870 - first to New Zealand 1879

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He made his Noviceship in France with William Kelly, and then remained there for studies with E Browne and Edmund Hogan.
1855 He was sent for Regency to Tullabeg teaching Grammar and the Choir.
1858 He was sent as Fourth Prefect to Clongowes with Joseph Dalton (1st) and William Delaney (3rd)
1859 he was sent to Tullabeg as Lower Line Prefect with Andrew H Rorke as Higher Line
1860/61 He was back at Clongowes.
1861 He was sent to Rome for Philosophy and Theology, and he was Ordained there 1867. William Delaney was a fellow Theologian there
1868-1869 He was sent to Paderborn for Tertianship
1869-1870 He was sent to teach Grammar at Tullabeg, and after his Final Vows 02 February 1870, he was immediately sent to Australia with Frank Murphy
1870-1878 He was sent as Prefect of Studies and Spiritual Father at St Patrick’s Melbourne.
1878-1890 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.
1890 He was sent to St Patrick’s Melbourne again as Spiritual Father.
1892 He was sent to Hawthorn as Operarius.
1899-1903 He was sent to Richmond as Operarius.
1903 He was sent to Norwood, Adelaide and he died there 23 August 1910
He was a holy, learned and hardworking man, and with his death disappeared the last of the Pioneer Irish Jesuits of the Australian Mission. He spent forty years there, but he never forgot old Ireland, and loved to think and speak of “The friends he knew long ago, Where the Shannon and Barrow and Blackwater flow”.
He was a great friend of the working man everywhere, and wrote articles in Michael Davitt’s “Labour World”.

Note from Thomas McEnroe Entry :
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.

◆ 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
Joseph O'Malley was educated as a secondary student at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, 1844-46, and entered the Society in France, 30 September 1850. He completed his juniorate there before regency which was done partly at Tullabeg and partly at Clongowes, 1855-61. He went to the Roman College for philosophy and theology, 1861-68, and to Paderborn, Germany, for tertianshdp. He returned to St Stanislaus College Tullabeg in 1869 teaching physics, and directing the choir. He arrived in Melbourne in May 1870, and until 1878 taught at St Patrick's College. He was also involved in pastoral work. In 1878 he was sent to New Zealand as superior of a college at Waikari, Dunedin. He remained there teaching until 1883 when he returned. He taught senior English at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, until 1890, organised a choir, instructed music and prefected the library. He was spiritual father for some years. In teaching he devised a system of mnemonics for the use of students. The system aimed at combining topical rhymes with catch words, each letter of which had a numerical value. He had a pamphlet printed for English history from the date of the Conquest, and another for European geography. Later, he was sent to St Patrick's College for two years, where he also helped the editor of the “Messenger”. Parish work followed at Hawthorn, 1892-98, Richmond, 1898-03, and Norwood, 1903-04. He returned to Riverview, 1904-5, and finally was in the parish of Norwood, 1905-10. From written accounts he seemed to have been a humorous, whimsical and original character, as well as a hardworking and self-sacrificing Jesuit. He wrote extensively about the education question in Victoria during the 1870s, and many articles in the Advocate. In 1875 he published a pamphlet Secular Education and Christian Civilization, and it would seem that this work had a large influence. It became something of a textbook for the Catholic protagonists pressing for a review of the Secular Education Act, a campaign that resulted in the second Royal Commission on Education. He was also an eloquent and vehement, not to say fiery, orator, and on at least one occasion displeased superiors for speaking too forcefully on some socio-political question. He was a great displeased superiors for speaking too forcefully on some socio-political question. He was a great friend of the working man everywhere, and wrote articles in Michael Davitt's Labour World. This did not please the Father General Anderledy or Father General Martin, the latter describing him as “Dyscolus turbulentusque”. However, this did not prevent him from being appreciated and loved by the faithful to whom he ministered. He was a popular retreat-giver for the clergy (by 1872 he had given the Melbourne priests retreat three times in a row. Apart from mnemonics, articles of his in the press covered the topics of temperance, smoking, “Modern Thought”, music, the Catholic Press, St Patrick, and the Catacombs. He attended the 1885 Plenary Council of Australasia as theologian to Bishop Moran of Dunedin - one of the seven Jesuits present at that Council in various capacities. O'Malley was a musician of real distinction, hence his involvement with choirs and music in whatever house he resided. He wrote a volume of compositions which was passed for publication, but which the publishers to whom it was offered - Sampson, Lord, Marston and Co - did not think would pay.

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

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

Fr Joseph O'Malley was like Fr Nolan, an old man. He was the Professor of English, History and Geography, and he was well qualified to discharge the duties of that office. He was a purist in English, but not a pedantic. one. He frequently pointed out that terms, which some considered “slang”, were perfectly legitimate words, which had become displaced by more unworthy ones. One Sunday at Religious Instruction class, one of the boys remarked that he would be satisfied if he had Fr. O'Malley's "show" of going to Heaven. Immediately one of the senior boys, who dearly loved to see a debate develop, broke in with: “Order penal studies for him, Sir, for using slang”, Fr. O'Malley said: “Tom, I should not make too certain of that. Many such words are perfectly classical. Take for instance the common expression “hard lines”, which most people would regard as slang, is a Scriptural expression, for we read of one whose “lot was cast in hard lines”. Fr, O'Malley devised a system of Mnemonics for the use of the students in the study of History and Geography. The boys rejected such aids with scorn, at first, but very soon they were convinced of the utility of the system, which aimed at combining topical rhymes with catch words, each letter of which had a numerical value. He had a pamphlet printed for English History, from the date of the Conquest, and another for European Geography. He forced into the service every letter of the alphabet, which gave a greater range in the formation of suit able catch words. The great advantage of this system was that its key could be mastered in about five minutes, and once mastered, was never for gotten. It was not intended to displace the ordinary text books on the above subjects, but to act as an aid to their study. For the purpose of teaching European History Fr O'Malley had special large sized, linen bound, exercise books, specially ruled and bound. Each page was divided into one hundred divisions, each of which represented a year. These were ruled with lines for the entry of important events of that year, with its catchword incorporated. The page was also divided into halves and quar ters by heavier boundaries. In addition each page had a strip of coloured paper pasted at the top, and this was different on each page. The idea was to form a mental record, or photograph, of each page, and of the facts recorded thereon. In class there was a competition in the forming of the most suitable catchword for each important event, and when the best avail able was ascertained, it was duly entered up. The system worked splendidly, and even those most opposed to it were soon forced to admit its merits.

Fr O'Malley was the best preacher of all the Fathers in the house in my time. He was indeed a most impressive preacher, of the quiet, restrained type, and he used no gestures. He had so thoroughly applied his memory system to his own work, that if, six months after he had delivered a sermon in the chapel, one of the students quoted a short passage of that sermon from a note made at the time of delivery, Fr O'Malley could supply the context, both before and after the extract quoted. I have known this to take place many times. As I remarked before, Fr O'Malley was at this time an old man, and a heavy one, and I was, therefore, very much surprised to see him put his hand on a fence, and vault over with the agility of a boy. His mental activity and vigour were even more striking. With us he enjoyed and merited the reputation of a saint. It was said that since his ordination, thirty-five years before, he had celebrated Mass every day with the exception of one day on the voyage to Australia, when the sea was too rough to attempt it. Like nearly all the Fathers he had a strong practical turn, and was an artificer, and possessed a fine set of tools. These he would willingly lend to those who understood the working of them, and would take care of them. On each tool, cut into the woodwork with an engraving tool, appeared the words “To be brought back”. If the tool was wholly of metal, the same words would appear, etched upon the metal with acid. When he inspected his kit there were no “absentees”.

Born: 22 November 1905, Mullinahone, County Tipperary
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 25 March 1943
Died: 28 July 1981, Xavier College, Kew, 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
Michael O’Mahoney must have come from a pious family, as his brother, John, became a priest and a sister became a nun. Michael attended the local National School until he was thirteen years old. Then he was educated by the Christian Brothers in Kilkenny, and by the Jesuits at Mungret College, Limerick, where he gained his matriculation. During the next three years he served his apprenticeship in a mixed business.
O’Mahoney entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 September 1927. He completed a home juniorate at Rathfarnham Caste, Dublin, in English, Irish, Latin, French, mathematics, history and geography. His philosophy studies were also completed at Tullabeg. Immediately afterwards he was sent to Australia for regency, one year at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and three and a half years at Xavier College, Kew. During those years he taught mathematics, history, and religion. He was also appointed rowing master and coach, and given charge of the junior debating society. He was master of ceremonies, division prefect and football coach.
These years were followed by theology studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, and he was ordained 31 July 1940. His tertianship followed immediately at Rathfarnham Castle. Instead of returning to Australia, O’Mahoney volunteered for service as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force during World War II. For the following three years he served on various RAF stations in England tending to the spiritual needs of the pilots.
From 1946-59 O’Mahoney once again took up teaching religion and mathematics at Xavier College, Kew. He was rowing coach from 1954-58, and in addition was a part time chaplain with the RAAF.
In 1959 he moved to St Ignatius' College, Norwood, where he taught religion and mathematics.
In 1971 he assumed a new role by joining the parish of Hawthorn. The following year he went to Sevenhill. and from 1973-80. was on the parish staff at Glenelg, SA. Over the last few years of his life, O’Mahoney did not enjoy good health. He joined the Xavier College community for his last years.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 56th Year No 4 1981

Obituary

Fr Michael O’Mahony (1905-1927-1981) (Australia)

Michael O'Mahony, a late vocation by 1927 standards, was naturally senior novice of the young men who entered that year at Tullabeg. It was only later that one could realise the sacrifice involved in his vocation, whether one considered his parents or Michael himself. If he had lived forty years later, he would certainly have become Ireland's agricultural representative-in-chief at Brussels, But from the earliest days of his noviceship we remarked his more than ordinary solid piety and charity. His sense of humour was rather limited, but he won the affection of all his fellows in spite of that. Early on in his noviceship he was appointed master of outdoor manual works: at these he himself worked like the strong man he was and directed efficiently the efforts of others.
It was a relief for him to be appointed to the “home course” in Rathfarnham, whence at the end of 1930 he began philosophy in Tullabeg. He must have found his studies there heavy going but he plodded on with a will. Michael’s attitude to ecclesiastical studies in general might be summed up thus: The Ten Commandments, The Creed and no nonsense.
If in the lecture-rooms his voice was muted, on the soccer field his physical presence was formidable. All who knew him in Tullabeg as “The Admiral” will recall his boating prowess on the Grand Canal. Even the stalwart Joe Kelly, with Australian experience, could rise to no higher rank than first mate. For his crew The Admiral chose only the heavy- weights. One day Brendan Brennan, his younger contemporary in Mungret and the noviceship, had the audacity to commandeer the Admiral’s boat and man it with less-talented oarsmen including the present writer. We had not got as far as the first lock when the wrathful Admiral and his hefty men in the second-best boat overtook us and passed us out ignominiously. Happily it was a sunny day, and our shirts and trousers were dry again when we reached Pollagh. We did not meet Michael there - he was well on his way to Shannon Harbour.
His final philosophy exam. provided a minor redletter day for his admirers. As the strong sternman arrived from his examination, a strip of shoddy carpet led to his room, while some discarded remnants of the previous Christmas bunting formed a crazy triumphal arch. We were not destined to meet Michael again until his return from Australia.
In theology, Michael was at last more at home in his books. He could compose a worthy sermon, but in spite of his fine manly physique he never succeeded in developing a strong preaching voice. This was no fault of his. I can recall vividly the doggedness with which he prepared a Missa cantata in his fourth year. I was his chosen teacher and could observe the humility of the man and his gratitude. It was the Missa cum jubilo that we were preparing for a feast of our Lady, and Michael must have felt it a point of honour to give of his best for the occasion. This perhaps was not surprising. In his uncomplicated way of piety, he was devoted to the Rosary and the Mother of God.
I never met him again until his last visit to Ireland, some ten or eleven years ago. He looked then a score of years younger than his actual age - so Australia must have been kind to him. In his earlier years, this kinsman of Charles Kickham would of himself have chosen to labour and die in Ireland. The boating experiences at Tullabeg apart, he was really the stuff of which a “soggarth aroon” is made. We can be sure that on his return to heaven he had full hands to show at the tribunal of Christ.
P Ó F

From The Xaverian, the magazine of Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, comes the following tribute:
Fr O'Mahony came from county Tipperary and was educated at Mungret College near Limerick. He entered the Society in 1927, did his early studies at Rathfarnham and Miltown, and came to Australia and to Xavier in 1934. He taught Mathematics in the Intermediate and Sub-Intermediate classes, and was a very good teacher - painstaking and efficient. He took care of the Junior Sodality and was Master of Ceremonies and Rowing Master. In 1937 he returned to Dublin, studied theology at Milltown and was ordained in 1940. After his tertianship year at Rathfarnham he went to England and worked in a parish near Leeds, later becoming a chaplain in the Royal Air Force.
Back in Xavier in 1947, he resumed his classes in Mathematics and the coaching of boat-crews. In 1959 he was transferred to Adelaide and taught at St Ignatius' College, Norwood. After a couple of years he took up parish work, first at Norwood and then at Glenelg. This work was very congenial to him. All through his years at Xavier he was out in some parish for Sunday Masses. He was very devoted to the sick and to those in troubled homes, and he was left many friends in Glenelg where he worked for seven years.
About two years ago he had a serious breakdown in health, and after a period in the Calvary hospital in Adelaide, came to Melbourne for a rest and a change. He returned to Adelaide for a short time, but eventually came back to Xavier. The memories of his former days at the School and the visits from his many friends helped him to regain his confidence and improve his health. Two days before he died he fell on the stairs. He was considerably shaken and never really recovered. After receiving Holy Communion on Tuesday morning, 28th July 1981, he died very peacefully. Requiem Masses were concelebrated on the next two days, and he was laid to rest among his fellow Jesuits in Kew cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Born: 24 December 1873, Blackrock, Cork City
Entered: 07 September 1892, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1910, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 13 March 1944, Manresa, Toowong, Brisbane, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1896 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1898 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1911 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William O'Keeffe entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1892, and after his juniorate at Milltown Park, 1894-95, studied philosophy at Jersey and Enghien, 1895-98. He taught the juniors mathematics and physics at Tullabeg College, 1898-1901, and mathematics at Clongowes, 1901-07. Theology followed at Milltown Park, 1907-10, and tertianship at Tronchiennes, 1910-11.
As a priest he taught mathematics and physics at Clongowes, 1911-16, as well as being spiritual father to the students and director of the BVM Sodality He was sent to Australia in
1916, taught at Riverview, 1916-30, and directed the sodalities. He was also minister, 1920-30. He then became engaged in pastoral ministry, as superior and parish priest at Norwood, 1930-40, while also a consultor of the vice-province, and later he performed similar duties at Toowong, 1940-44.
He seemed to be a man who was quiet and thoroughly competent in everything he did. His move from Riverview upset the rector, William Lockington.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 19th Year No 2 1944
Obituary :
Father William O’Keeffe SJ (1873-1944)
A cable sent to Rev. Fr. Provincial from Australia on 14th March, announced the death of Fr. O'Keeffe, Superior of the Holy Name Brisbane. From letters recently to hand from the Vice-province, it appears that he had been suffering from heart trouble for some time and had been transferred to a Brisbane Hospital.
He was born in Cork City on Christmas Eve of the year 1873. the son of Mr. Cornelius O'Keeffe, solicitor, and was educated first at Downside and later at Mungret College. He entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on 7th September, 1892, and on the completion of his philosophy at Jersey and Enghien, taught mathematics and physics to the Juniors from 1898 to 1901, and from 1902 till 1907 was mathematical master at Clongowes. He was ordained priest at Milltown Park by the late Dr. William Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, in 1910, and after doing his third probation at Tronchiennes taught mathematics again at Clongowes, from 1912-1916, and looked after the People's Church as well.
He was transferred in the latter year to Australia and spent the next fourteen years at Riverview, for the last ten of which he held the post of Minister in addition to his duties in the class-room and confessional. Appointed Superior of Norwood in 1930 he ruled the destinies of that Residence till 1940 when he was changed to Brisbane.
Fr. O'Keeffe was a popular and beloved figure both here and in Australia by reason of his kindly unobtrusive charity and his rare fidelity to duty. In the class-room he excelled as teacher of mathematics. The extraordinary pains he took in preparing for his classes accounting in large part for the notable success he achieved at Clongowes as a younger man. As a priest he found ample scope for his zeal in the People's Church at Clongowes, where he was a popular confessor and won the hearts of all by his selfless devotion to the sick and the poor of the neighbourhood. These same qualities were in evidence during his long association with Riverview, where he was an outstanding success as confessor to the boys, and at Norwood and Brisbane, which afforded the widest field for his priestly activities. R.I.P.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1944

Obituary

Father William O’Keefe SJ

An Active life was closed when Father W O’Keefe Superior at Brisbane, died on March 14th this year. A native of Cork city he was one of the early group of lay-boys here and was captain of the house in 1890. He entered the Society and followed the usual course of studies, Juniorate and Philosophy at Jersey and Enghien. He taught our Juniors from 1898 to 1901 and in Clongowes from 1902-1907. He then passed on to theology and was ordained in 1910 at Milltown Park. After his Tertianship at Tronchiennes he returned to Clongowes and taught there for four years, during which time he had charge of the People's Church. He was Minister and teacher at Riverview between 1916 and 1930. In that year he was appointed Superior of Norwood and there he remained until his change to the charge of Brisbane in 1940. He spent a long life divided almost equally between the classroom and the confessional. In both, his charity, patience and zeal brought him success and won him the lasting admiration and love of pupils and flock. RIP

Born: 10 March 1850, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1870, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 10 March 1881 St Mary's, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia

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

by 1873 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1875 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
Early Australian Missioner 1879 - 2nd Scholastic to do Regency

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He studied Rhetoric at Roehampton and Philosophy at Tullabeg in 1877.
1878 He sailed for Regency in Australia, as had been recommended by doctors. His companions on that voyage were Herbert Daly and Charles O’Connell Sr. He taught at Riverview, Sydney, and died there of decline 31 March 1881.

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

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John O’Flynn entered the Society in Ireland, 7 September 1870, was a junior at Roehampton 1872-74, and studied philosophy at Stonyhurst. 1874-77.
He arrived in Australia on 9 November 1878, and taught mathematics to the junior classes and for the university examinations at St Kilda House, 1879-81. He had been sent to Australia because of illness and died of a haemorrhage at the North Shore residence.

Born: 08 September 1873, Barronstown, County Tipperary
Entered: 09 September 1892, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1908, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1911, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 27 November 1942, St Vincent's Hospital Fitzroy - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger brother of James O'Dwyer - RIP 1925
Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1896 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
Came to Australia for Regency1898
by 1910 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
Thomas O'Dwyer, brother of James, was educated at Clongowes, Ireland, 1887-92, and entered the Society, 7 September 1892, at Tullabeg. He was a junior at Milltown Park, 1894-95, studied philosophy at Valkenburg, 1895-98, did regency at Xavier College, 1898-1903, and at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, 1903-05, studied theology at Milltown Park, and did tertianship at Linz, Austria. 1910-11.
O'Dwyer returned to Australia in 1911 and was sent to St Patrick's College, where he was prefect of studies from 1913, and rector for a year 1918-19, Then he was appointed rector of St Ignatius' College, Riverview, until 1923. He also taught and organised the senior debating. After a rest in 1924, he went to St Patrick's College, where he was prefect of studies from 1924-31, and rector from 1931-42. He was a consultor of the vice-province, 1935-42. He died suddenly in office very shortly after saying Mass one day.
“Toddy” as he was affectionately called, was a very well liked man, gentlemanly, straight and kind, a fine scholar, and a good teacher of history He was a founder and secretary of the Catholic Teachers' Association in Victoria, 1925-42. His gentle nature was much more suited to St Patrick's College than to Riverview. People liked and respected him as a priest of great simplicity and sincerity, kindness and charity. Above all he was most unobtrusive, yet a hard worker.
He was a deeply spiritual man, and spent hours visiting patients at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, and hearing confessions on Saturdays. Like his brother James, he was unable to
pay people compliments, but he was courteous in his praise of others. Unlike James who was compulsive and full of energy Tom was hesitant in beginning any new undertaking, but always gave a sympathetic hearing to plans for developments .
Being a sensitive man, he was deeply affected by the early death of his Jesuit brother James. Even more tragic was the assassination of his other brother, Sir Michael, by a fanatical Indian student, Udharn Singh, 13 March 1940, in Caxton Hall, London, for the massacre at Amritsar, 13 April 1919, while he was Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab. Over 379 protesters were killed and 1,200 wounded. The “Massacre” was officially condemned, and many Indians considered Michael a tyrant.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 18th Year No 1 1943
Obituary :
Father Thomas O’Dwyer SJ
Fr. O'Dwyer died as Rector of St. Patrick's College, Melbourne on 27th November. As appears from a cable sent his brother in Barronstown, Co. Tipperary, by William O'Dwyer, Flemington, he had celebrated Mass that morning (Friday), got a stroke after breakfast, received the Last Sacraments while perfectly conscious, and then died.
Born at Barronstown as the youngest of a large family of sons on the Feast of Our Lady's Nativity, 1873, he was educated at Clongowes, where his elder brother James was already a Jesuit master. He entered the Society at Tullabeg' on 7th September, 1892, and on the completion of his philosophy at Valkenburg began his career as teacher in Australia to which he was to devote some forty years of his life.
Returning for theology to Ireland, he was ordained priest in 1908, and after his tertianship at Linz in Austria he was for a year Minister in Clongowes. He resumed work as master in Australia the following year. With the exception of four years as Rector of Riverview College, Sydney, the remainder of his life was spent at St. Patrick's, Melbourne, 1919-'23, as teacher, prefect of studies, and since I931 Rector. He was brother of the late Sir Michael O'Dwyer, Governor of the Punjab, who met his death in London under tragic circumstances some years ago.
Fr. James, the famous educationist and Rector for many years of the Xavier College, Melbourne, pre-deceased him in 1925.

Irish Province News 18th Year No 2 1943
Australian Vice-Province

From a letter of Fr. George O'Neill, Werribee, Melbourne. dated 29th November, 1942 :
This Vice-Province never before got such a painful shock as it has received in the absolutely sudden death of Fr. Thomas O'Dwyer (Rector of St Patrick's College Melbourne) On last Thursday I was chatting with him and he seemed all right. This morning (Saturday) he was laid in earth amid deep and widespread mourning, the grief of his Community at St. Patrick's being specially notable. He had been doing all his work up to the last. It would appear, however, that two or three months ago. he had consulted a. doctor and had been warned that he was not quite safe in the matter of blood pressure. On Wednesday night he was phoned to by the Mercy Nuns at Nicholson St where he acted as daily chaplain, asking him to say Mass early for them as the Coadjutor Archbishop was to say Mass there at 7.l5 or 7.30. He agreed. and made the early start next morning. The time came for his breakfast in the Convent parlour while the Archbishop was finishing Mass, but when the lay-sister came in after a time she found Fr. O'Dwyer lying on the ground and vomiting. He tried to reassure her, but she ran to the Rev. Mother and they phoned for a doctor who came at once. He saw that the situation was serious and that the last Sacraments should be given. Then the Cathedral (not far off) was called up and presently the Adm. came along with the Holy Oils. The Archbishop, who had meantime finished his Mass, came on the scene and anointed Fr. O'Dwyer, having previously given him absolution for which he was still conscious. The Provincial (from Hawthorn) also arrived. Then an ambulance was got and took the dying man to St. Vincent's Hospital where he died at 9.30 am. We are accustomed here to funerals rapidly carried out, so it was not strange that all was over in the following forenoon. Some 100 priests were present , an immense crowd of boys and girls, and of the ordinary faithful, and the two archbishops. Dr. Mannix spoke some happy words with much feeling.

◆ The Clongownian, 1943

Obituary

Father Thomas O’Dwyer SJ

Fr Tom O’Dwyer was one of six brothers. who were all in either Tullabeg or Clongowes. Of these, the most closely connected with Clongowes, was Fr James, who was on the teaching staff here for several years after the amalgamation, holding a position in the esteem and affection of his boys that can. have been held by few indeed.

Fr Tom's connection with Clongowes after he became a Jesuit was confined to one year, 1910-11, when he was Minister. Most of his work, and great it was, was done in the colleges of the Society in Australia, where : he spent forty years. He was Rector of St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, for several years, and was twice Rector of St Patrick's College, Melbourne, holding that position when death came suddenly to him last November. He had just finished celebrating Mass in the Mercy Convent when he had a heart seizure. Fortunately. Archbishop Simonds was at hand to give him the last rites of the Church.

Archbishop Mannix presided at the Requiem in the Cathedral of Melbourne and delivered an eloquent and touching panegyric. “I am not surprised” he said, “to find such a huge gathering of priests and people in the Cathedral this morning. We all feel we have lost in him a personal friend, who with absolute sincerity could be depended upon whenever we needed help, sincerity or friendship. He was always natural and always simple. Everyone could approach him, and no one came near him without being the better for it. He gave great service to Australia as a teacher. He was one of those splendid outstanding Irish Jesuits who have made their mark very deeply in the Catholic history of Australia. We cannot spare one of them, and not least him who has gone from our midst. It will be no exaggeration to say that St Patrick's College will not be the same without him. The deep interest he took in the boys, the sympathy with which he watched their careers, and the gentle understanding with which he made allow ance for faults, especially characterised Fr O'Dwyer. I am sure that the boys of St Patrick's College will miss him very much.

They, and we have lost a great friend here, but we have gained one in a better place”.

May he rest in peace.

Born: 24 September 1860, Barronstown, County Tipperary
Entered: 01 October 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1895, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1899, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 29 October 1925, Burke Hall, Kew, Melbourne, Australia

Older brother of Thomas (Toddy) - RIP 1942

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1897 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Tullabeg. The distinguished William Delaney was Rector there at that time, and James proved himself distinguished while there, in the classroom and on the playground. he ended his days there as Captain of the College.

After his Novitiate he was immediately sent to Belvedere for Regency. A year later he went to Milltown for Philosophy. He returned to Regency, this time for six years at Clongowes, where he earned a reputation as a brilliant teacher.
He then went to Milltown again for Theology, was Ordained there in 1895 and then went to Drongen for Tertianship.
After Tertianship he returned to Clongowes teaching.
1901 He was sent to Australia and was immediately appointed Prefect of Studies at Riverview.
1904 He was sent to Xavier College Kew.
1906 He was sent to the Richmond Parish.
1908 He was appointed Rector of Cavier College Kew. and remained in that post until 1917. During his tenure Xavier took its place in the first rank of Australian schools.
1918 He was asked to play a leading role in the founding of Newman College.
He was then sent teaching at St Aloysius College Sydney, before becoming the first Superior at Studley Hall (later Burke Hall), a position he held until his death there 29/10/1925

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
When the Irish provincial, John Conmee, came to Australia in 1908, he was not happy with conditions at Xavier College. “It is from almost all aspects, a failure - enormous debt (£30,000), fails miserably and increasingly at exams, fails in all athletic contests ...”. He believed that the college needed an educational rector who would improve the college intellectually and spiritually and remove the debt. James O’Dwyer was appointed rector in May 1908.
He entered the Society at Milltown Park, 1 October 1880. His Jesuit training was at Milltown Park for both philosophy and theology, and tertianship was at Tronchiennes, Belgium. During regency he taught physics and mathematics at Belvedere College, 1883-86, and Latin, Greek, and mathematics at Clongowes College, 1886-92.
O’Dwyer first appointment in Australia was as prefect of studies at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, 1901-04, but it seems that, as he did not continue the policy of previous prefects
of studies, he did not win the approval of the rector, Thomas Gartlan. O’Dwyer certainly did not approve of student absenteeism for sporting functions without his approval. Both rector and prefect of studies were strong, determined men - O’Dwyer was transferred to Xavier College.
It was during his term as rector of Xavier College, 1908-18, that his best work in Australia was achieved. He became one of the few Jesuit educationalists in the history of the Australian Province. At Xavier College he improved the school numerically, financially and educationally. At a time when science was unpopular as a school subject, he elevated its status. He built the laboratory, introduced electric light, enlarged the cricket oval, improved the Rowing Club and laid down the tennis courts. He also re-introduced secular masters after an absence of fifteen years and began the St Vincent de Paul Society in 1909. He also taught English literature and history, and encouraged a professional attitude to the teaching of religious knowledge.
O’Dwyer was one of the strongest of the rectors of Xavier College with extraordinary energy and force of character. He was most outspoken on every issue, showing a wide vision of life and detailed his educational philosophy more clearly than his predecessors. He stressed that “the aim and ideal of our education is to turn out cultured Christian gentlemen”. This was the Jesuit ideal for three centuries, and it was best achieved by following centuries of tradition, while taking care to keep in touch with the improvements of the physical sciences. More than many rectors, O’Dwyer believed that Jesuit traditions and the British Public School image had much in common, and the Public Schools of Victoria were continuing this great tradition of turning out men of character much needed for the future of Australia.
In his many addresses to parents and students, O’Dwyer stressed that hard work and character formation were more important than success in examinations or gaining prizes. He wanted his students to rise above their environment. with minds trained in wisdom. True education for him involved the soul, the life of the spirit, which produced truth, reverence, modesty and holiness. Christ was presented as the moral motive for Christians, and the syllabus used in education ought to be the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. The importance of religious education was continually stressed.
At a time when religious rituals were exactly prescribed, such as the custom of daily Mass for boarders, O'Dwyer questioned whether this enforced practice did not turn the boys against religion. It took another 50 years before compulsory Mass ceased. He was also a champion of pedagogical excellence. He constantly mentioned the poor quality teaching among Jesuits in Australia, and asked Irish superiors to send good teachers, especially in mathematics and science. Very little change occurred. He wanted Jesuit scholastics to be trained in pedagogy for teaching, but superiors held to the old belief that Jesuit formation was sufficient for all Society ministries.
Apart from his work within the colleges, O’Dwyer was also influential within the wider community In Victoria he was the Catholic representative on the Board of Registration, and was sought after for sermons and lectures. He gave the Cathedral Hall Winter Lectures in Melbourne one year, and regularly spent his holidays giving retreats.
In addition, he was not slow to comment on the education system in Victoria, all the time advocating an academic environment that would assist students to progress easily to the university.
The strong leadership that O’Dwyer exercised showed him to be a man of great zeal and enthusiasm, inspiring confidence and trust in others. He was extremely loyal to colleagues, boys and the Church. He was not given to praising people to their face, choosing rather to express his appreciation of them to others. He wasted no time on compliments. He was never familiar and not easy to know well, but was admired for his personal strength of character.
O’Dwyer was very British in outlook and spoke eloquently about the importance of the Empire and patriotism. During the Great War, he proclaimed the privilege of lighting for the
rights of King and country Vice-royalty were always welcome at Xavier College during his term of office. He strongly supported the Public School spirit at the College, a spirit that, in England he believed, had produced the best leaders in the Empire.
After his term of office as rector of Xavier College, he was given charge of preparing for the opening of Newman College at The University of Melbourne, a task he performed with
distinction. He must also be credited for the real work in founding the preparatory school to Xavier College, Burke Hall, and was appointed its first headmaster, 1921-25 . He died in office much mourned by the Melbourne Catholic community for his dedicated service to the Church and education.
It took time to know O’Dwyer as a person. He was reserved to a degree, even shy, and though he would let you know what he thought, he scarcely ever let you know what he felt. He could appear largely unemotional and lacking the finer sensibilities, keeping these emotions and feelings to himself. He was a man of action, and was impatient of delays. Yet, at the same time, he had no time for censorious criticism. If he had a complaint against anyone, that person alone heard about it. He was strong, sincere, and straight. These qualities earned the respect of his colleagues, and they seemed to treat him the same way.

Note from Toddy O’Dwyer Entry
Brother, Sir Michael, assassinated by a fanatical Indian student, Udharn Singh, 13 March 1940, in Caxton Hall, London, for the massacre at Amritsar, 13 April 1919, while he was Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab. Over 379 protesters were killed and 1,200 wounded. The “Massacre” was officially condemned, and many Indians considered Michael a tyrant.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 1 1925
Studley Hall (Burke Hall) : The success of this school is mainly due to the late Father James O'Dwyer, who died on October 29th R.I.P.. His death is a big loss to Dudley and to the Mission, to which he rendered invaluable assistance.

Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926

Obituary :
Fr James O’Dwyer
Fr James O'Dwyer died on Thursday, 29th October, 1925. His loss was severely felt, not only by the Society in Australia, but by his brother priests and by all those who are engaged in the great work of education. The crowded congregation assembled in St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the solemn office and High Mass were celebrated on the Saturday after his death gave eloquent testimony of the high opinion in which he was held by the general public. Some of the leading Protestants of Melbourne took part in this tribute to his memory.

Fr. O'Dwyer was born in Co. Tipperary in 1860. At the age of sixteen he went to Tullabeg, then a flourishing College with Fr. Wm. Delany as Rector. Young O'Dwyer was equally distinguished in the class-room and on the play-ground, and ended his school days as Captain of the College. He entered the Society in 1880, and immediately after the Noviceship was sent to Belvedere as Master. After a year he returned to Milltown for Philosophy. At the end of the third year he was appointed to Clongowes, where, during six years, he earned the very highest reputation as a brilliant master. He made his Theology at Milltown, ordained in 18957 went to Tronchiennes for Tertianship, and when the year was over he again found himself a master at Clongowes. He remained there until 1901, when he sailed for Australia. He at once became Prefect of Studies at Riverview and held that office until 1904, when he was transferred to Kew. Two years later he had his first experience of Parish work at Richmond. It did not last long, for in 1908 he was appointed Rector of Kew. During his rectorship, which lasted until 1917, Kew took its place in the very first rank of Australian schools a position it still occupies. To play a leading part in the starting of Newman College in I9I89 was Fr. O'Dwyer's next work. For the two following years he was engaged in teaching at St Aloysius' College, Sydney, and then became the first Superior of Studley Hall. Except for one year, when ill health incapacitated him for active work, he held that position until 1925 when God called him to receive the reward of his great labours.
Fr. O'Dwyer was not only a great schoolman, but as a preacher and lecturer he held a very high place. He was also much sought after by religious Communities, and by the secular
clergy to conduct their retreats.
At the High Mass and Office at St. Patrick’s, on the Saturday after Fr. O'Dwyer's death, His Lordship, the Bishop of Sandhurst, the Right Rev. Dr. MacCarthy, presided.

Irish Province News 1st Year No 3 1926

At Kew, Dr, Mannix paid the following tribute to Fr James O’Dwyer “I was very sorry to hear of the death of my dear friend Fr O’Dwyer desire to-night to sympathize with the Jesuit Fathers, and to assure them that I should like to be allowed to share the loss they feel. Fr O'Dwyer was a man in a thousand. He was one of the greatest educational experts in Australia. The debt that Victoria owes to Fr O'Dwyer will never be paid - but his work still remains.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father James O’Dwyer 1860-1925
Born in Tipperary on September 24th 1860, James O’Dwyer went to Tullabeg at the age of sixteen. It was then a flourishing College with Fr Delaney as Rector. Young O’Dwyer was equally outstanding in classroom and on playing field, and ended his schooldays as Captain of Tullabeg. He entered the Society in 1880.

He made his name as a brilliant Master in Clongowes, where he spent six years as a scholastic. After his ordination in Milltown and his Tertianship, he returned to Clongowes until 1901 when he sailed for Australia. He at once became Prefect of Studies at Riverview.

In 1908 he was appointed Rector of Kew, a post he held until 1917. During his Rectorship, Kew took its place in the very first rank of Australian schools. He played a leading part in the starting of Newman College in 1918, and he became the first Rector of Studley Hall, a position he held until his death.

Fr O’Dwyer was not only a great schoolman, but as a preacher and lecturer he held a very high place. He was much sought after by the clergy for their retreats.

He died on October 28th 1925.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1925

Obituary

Father James O’Dwyer SJ

Born, 24th September, 1860: died 29th October, 1925)

The Editor asks me for some notes on the more intimate side of Father James O'Dwyer, omitting, as he suggests, all reference to the positions of trust he filled, the important works he accomplished, the brilliant and intellecu tual quialiies of his sermons and public lectures and so on. I daresay the Editor fixed on me for this task because inore than any other I was in daily and close association with Father O'Dwyer during the whole ten years of his rector at at Xavier.

Few, if any of his fellow-workers had better opportunities than myself of kriowing him; and yet, I inust confess, it took timne to know him intimately. He was reserved to a degree, even shy, and though he would let you know what he thought, he scarcely ever let you know what he felt. The impression produced on me for some time - even for some years - was that he was largely unemotional and lacked the finer sensibilities. I look back now on that impression with surprise. As intimate association with him increased I saw that earlier impressions had to be corrected. He was, in fact, a man of deep feeling and of a sensitiveness that few, I think, suspected. But he was wonderfully silent about what he felt: as a rule, you had to find it out by casual indications or rare and unguarded admissions, For instance, it came to me as a surprise to learn some years after the occurrences that matters, concerning which I had regarded him at the time as “thick-skinned” and insensible, had caused him many a sleepless night,

If I were asked to me what seemed to me to be his most striking characteristic - a dangerous, and, perhaps, illusory thing to attempt - I would select his loyalty. Whether it was really his most prominent characteristic or not, at all events it was sufficiently noteworthy to call for attention, and, to me at least, it was always touching. He was extraordinarily loyal both to his colleagues and to the boys under his charge, while his loyalty to the Catholic Church was the overmastering passion of his life.

Looking back over ten years of close collaboration with him at Xavier, I can not recall a single occasion on which he expressed to myself a word of formal approval of my own work, I am inclined to think that somewhat similar was the experience of all my co-workers. He wasted no time on compliinents. You felt his approval rather by his decisions and you appreciated it all the more. But in speaking to you of his colleagues who were not present, his appreciation of their work was most heartening. He referred to them in the most enthusiastic terms. No one could be warmer in his recognition of their work. He was utterly sincere, straightforward, and manly. In his presence you might be reminded with a certain abruptness of some omission, or something that should be “done at once” - a favourite expression of his - or of something that should have been done long ago; but though he wasted no compliments on you, you could be absolutely certain that behind your back no one ever heard of anything but appreciation of your work. You knew it because that was his invariable practice regarding every one of his community. He wanted to get things done, to see things moving, and he was certainly impatient of delays; but he had no time for censorious criticism. If he had any fault to find, he kept it to himself or reserved it for the person corcerned. He was a strong, sincere, and loyal man, and the better you knew him the more you admired him.

Equally notable was his loyalty to the boys. He was enthusiastic about thenı; keenly alive to their fine points; and scrupulously careful about their reputations. He took, I fancy, a kind of sacramental view of their faults and never discussed them. You certainly heard him.say a good deal about the fine qualities of the boys, but never a word about their misdemeanours. No doubt, in the Study Hall at assembly he came down forcibly on publicly known breaches of college law - as boys of his time will remember - and even decreed vigorous correction at times; but no one resented that - not even the culprits themselves - though they must have found it unpleasant at the time, the boys felt it was all in the game, and the public spirit of the school was solidly behind the Rector. The boys really like a good lead, and they felt they got it from Father O'Dwyer.

I was after somewhat surprised to note how completely the boys understood him. Undoubtedly he was often abrupt and impetuous, and even seemed to me at times to be a trifling harsh in his manner; but if there was any apparent harshness, the boys never seemed to notice it in the least. They never held off from him; they were frank, straightforward, and trusting in their whole attitude towards their Rector. They understood him; they appreciated the interest he took in thern; they admired his manliness and his high principles; and they were proud of him as a leader. More, they felt he was a friend and loved and trusted him as such.

His loyalty to the Church was inspiring. It had the breadth, the depth, and the strength which became one who was at once a scholar and an enthusiast. To him the Catholic Church could never be regarded as something about which, in any circumstances, we may be shamefaced or apologetic. To him, the Faith was the one thing that really matters in this world, not only for the individual, but also for nations, empires, and civilizations. As he was a close and deep student of history, he was conpetent to appeal on behalf of the Church to the Nineteen Great Witnesses - the Nineteen Centuries which have rolled over the shifting destinies of the nations, and which, as they look down the long avenues of history strewn with the wreckage of human institutions, pass this solemn judgment: “One institution stands through all the changes; one in stitution was built by the hands of God and will not pass away; one institution outlasts the long-drawn ravings and the futile prophecies of hostile criticisin is generation succeeds generation”. Father O'Dwyer's loyalty was founded upon the deep and profound study of history and of philosophy and theology, and he gave to his convictions a depth and breadth which could only come from religion, backed up by culture.

A French writer has said that fame is the privilege of being known to those who know you not. Another defined popularity as the esteein of men who take us for something altogether different from what we really are. Fame or popularity of that kind may be treated with indifference or contempt. Far different fron that was the genuine esteem in which Father O'Dwyer was held by those who really knew him. The more intimately people knew and understood him, the more they esteemed him. He had the love and esteem of those who came in close contact with him, and understood his aims and his work. He was not a man who invited familiarity, From his aggressive pushfulness, his initiative, his energy and his impatience with shilly-shallying, he was a man with whom it might be said no one was really familiar. Even the people who were most friendly with him felt slightly restrained by something in him. Yet, as I have said before, the boys felt that he was their true and real friend and, feeling that, loved and trusted him. In Newman College, among the students, Father O'Dwyer was quite at home. He was as much at his ease with the University students as he had been with the Xavier College boys. Laer, when he was appointed head-master of the Xavier Preparatory School, some might have wondered how he would get on with the children, many of whom were practically babies fresh froin the nursery. Well, I think that in many ways the part of his life that he would have chosen, if asked, as the happiest time of his life, was while he was in charge of Studley Hall, Here he plotted and planned and kept things moving as he had done at the College and was the happiest of men in the midst of the young life of the Preparatory School. Here, as at Xavier, he won the trust of children - that hardest of all things to capture. It seems to me that no greater tribute could be paid to Father O'Dwyer's qualities than that given by the spontaneous trust in him alike by men, boys and little children.

Furthermore, no class of men or women were more loyal, more respectful, or more affectionate to Father O'Dwyer than those who served under him in the capacity of servants. He gained their respect and affection by his ready sympathy, by his appreciation of their work, and by the tactfulness and kindly courtesy of the true Christian gentleman.

Of that last and greatest loyalty of his life-his religious obedience I would not speak for very sacredness. Yet was it, I think, the beacon light of his life. In his own handwriting he wrote on the fly leaf of the Boys' Rules of Xavier College these beautiful words:

“True guidance in return for loving obedience (did they but know it) is the prime need of man” and...
“Great souls are always loyally submissive reverent to what is set over them; only small, mean souls are other wise”."
How truly was his own life an exemplification of those words,
May he rest in peace.

Eustace Boylan SJ

A LITTLE POSTHUMOUS PUBLICATION

The Editor of the “Xaverian” has ever felt that justice should be done to the Editor of the “Xaverian” for 1918 - the year that Father O'Dwyer ceased to be Rector of Xavier and this all the more because in righting the living he is but paying tribute to the humility of the dead. In December, 1918, when the changes of Rector had been officially announced and Father Jerernialı Sullivan succeeded Father James O'Dwyer as Rector of Xavier, the Editor drew up a simple, honest, sincere, plain and unflattering account of the stewardship of Father O'Dwyer and to it added in a poor broken way, a word of appreciation of his work and worth. Out of respect for his old Superior and never dreaming the upshot, he imprudently asked Father James to read the proof sheet and give his permission for its production. He did the former willingly enough, and expressed his gratitude but to the latter gave a refusal so decisive and so earnest that compliance had to be. Accordingly the “Xaverian” went out minus the precious manuscript. Then came the storm of criticism foreseen and predicted by the poor Editor as he argued and argued - but all to no effect - With Father O’Dwyer...... of the Leaving Classes who apprecraitopn, perhaps, more than as boys — the love of literature and grasp of religious truth which his teaching instilled.
Far deeper, however, than these benefits (great as they are) will be found, in the hearts of the boys, the grateful thought and remembrance of Father O'Dwyer's personal kindness to them. The memory of this will live on when many another golden text - be it of Science or Scripture - has been forgotten, and will teach the Xavier boy both how to live and how to die. Rumour runs that Father O'Dwyer leaves Xavier for higher - if not better things - for the Rectorship of Newman College. We know not. But, whether Rector of Newman College or of no College, “the School, both old and new, will not forget” his kinduess to it, nor fail to pray that he who blessed so much may, in ......

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1925

Obituary

Father James O’Dwyer

Within the last few weeks there passed to his eternal reward a great educationalist in the person of Fr J O'Dwyer, brother of our late rector, Fr T O'Dwyer, and formerly sometime prefect of studies in this College. He had been rector of Xavier College, Melbourne, and was the first rector of Newman College, Melbourne University. He was largely in strumental in putting that institution on its firm bass, and must be credited with what has been recently described by an independent observer, as its phenomenal success. “Here, as there, Fr O'Dwyer was always : tireless worker, with complete forgetfulness of self, and unbounded zeal for the work he had in hand. At the time of his decease he filled the post of headmaster of Studley Hall, the preparatory school of Xavier College, which establishment also has attained, under his wise rule, to immediate and conspicuous success. A crowded attendance of clergy and laity on the occasion of the requiem in S Patrick's Cathedral, gave testimony of widespread appreciation for his splendid. works, and general regret at his demise.
RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1926

Obituary

Father James O’Dwyer SJ

James O’Dwyer SJ had had the most intimate connections with Clongowes, for after a brilliant school career at Tullabeg that had been made by Father Delany he came as a scholastic to teach Rhetoric here, numbering Father Rector among his pupils. He is one of the small band whose teaching has survived to be a tradition and a model. Intensely intellectual, he was full of an almost missionary zeal for imparting knowledge, and his method was quite as much inspiration as exposition. He was that rare thing, a practical enthusiast who was fully qualified and a master of his own work. Going as a priest to Australia, he continued his educational work in a wider field, was ten years Rector of Xavier College at a time when its career was one of rapidly growing success, and then for many years the first Superior of Studley Hall, its preparatory school. His charming and original character, with its strongly-felt ideals and strongly-expressed opinions, could not fail to make many friends and perhaps a few. enemies, a per sonality to be followed and opposed. He fought with conspicuous skill, vigour and success in the battle for Catholic Education in a Protestant country.

◆ The Clongownian, 1931

Appreciation

Father James O’Dwyer SJ

(OT 1876-1880 ; Master at Clongowes 1887-1892 and 1897-1901; first Rector of Newman College in the University of Melbourne, Rector of Xavier College and of Burke Hail, Melbourne).

By Fr George O'Neill SJ

“The Clongopwnian owes a debt of commemoration to the late Fr James O'Dwyer; but it is not easy to pay that debt satisfactorily. For, though Fr O'Dwyer died as recently as 1925, he is to Clongowes of to-day a man of a past generation; and “the generations” are still as “hungry” as when the poet so described them - “ever wearying of the old and wolfing down the new”. So long ago as 1901, Fr James was led by the call of duty very far away from Tullabeg and Clongowes, and, once he reached his new world he became absorbed in the task he set before him, and cut off with, perhaps, excessive completeness his links with the old country. A student at Tullabeg from 1876 to 1880, a master at Clongowes from 1887 to 1892 and again from 1897 to 1901, he will have left vivid memories of what he was as a schoolboy and a Jesuit among a fairly “old guard” of Clongownians and a much smaller remnant of the men of St Stanislaus. By such as these, at all events, whatever their numbers, we have no doubt that an appreciation of him, however imperfect, will be welcomed; while, perhaps, a chance perusal of it will catch the attention and even appeal to the soul of some younger readers, and as for the antipodes we have no doubt that when “The Clongownian” of 1931 'arrives out there, it will gain a living and warm reception for anything it has to say in reverent commemoration of Fr O'Dwyer a man in whom hundreds of Australians have recognised and still recognise one of the most successful educators of youth that have ever appeared in their country.

Fr O'Dwyer made himself, indeed, an Australian with the Australians. He was, none the less, a true son of Irish soil. Sprung from a family settled immemorially in the “Golden Vein” country, near Tipperary, he and his brothers grew up a large and gifted circle. One, by sheer force of ability rose to a place among the highest in the difficult field of Indian Government, and, as Sir Michael O'Dwyer, confronted its problems with energy and ability; another, now Fr Thomas O'Dwyer SJ, as Vice-Rector of St Patrick's College, Melbourne, Rector of Riverview College, Sydney, and in other capacities also served well the Society to which he and his brother James gave them selves in their early days.

Provincialism or narrow nationalism of any sort was no part of Fr James's mind or character. For that he was too much of an enlightened Catholic and too much of a man of culture. These characteristics were justly dwelt upon by the preacher at his funeral service, Fr Eustace Boylan SJ, who thus spoke :

“The most prominent characteristic of Fr O'Dwyer's life was a passionate loyalty to the Catholic Church. This gave unity to all his efforts in study, in teaching, and in preaching. He regarded the Church as the only thing that really mattered in the world - the great rock, marking out the true goal of human progress. His loyalty was founded on a deep study of history, philosophy and theology, which gave his mind a depth and breadth that could result only from religion backed up by culture. In the battle for progress and improvement, his one central idea was the progress of the Church to the greater glory of God”.

It is a panegyric such as might have been spoken concerning some canonised son of St Ignatius. And, while it was true in a generous measure of Fr James, he possessed, furthermore, the strength of will and character that could make his ideals active forces in all manner of surroundings, as well as the spirit of self-sacrifice that does not count the cost to self. As teacher, preacher, Rector, and much else - especially from the time of his ordination as priest in 1895 to his last illness in 1925 - he wore himself out by hard and incessant labour. His strenuousness, combined with his ability, “made him a prince of teachers”. There was no room for slovenliness or slackness in his conception of a well-ordered life, and those he train d had to “take it or leave it” on that understanding. Utterly straightforward himself, so un relentingly expected truth from others. Here came in the inevitable touch of human imperfection. His forcefulness in the moulding of his pupils, while it had, on the whole, a desirable result, was sometimes, felt to be a little exaggerated and oppressive. So too in his judgments of character and his views on things in general, though you could not call him narrow, yet there was certainly a tendency to be one-sided, to see things too absolutely in black and white. He was not readily indulgent to views and tendencies, or sympathetic in judging characters, that were unlike his own. In his later years, however, this inborn positiveness appeared tempered and softened. It must, at all times, have given him occasion for meritorious self-repression; for never did it interfere with his obedience as a religious, never with his exercises of charity, and seldom with his capacity for team-work in any good cause. You might find it hard to draw him into a hive of action; but, once you got him in, you could count infallibly on his loyal co-operation.

He might have gained, doubtless, something in breadth of view had he been favoured with a course of studies less locally confined. His long years at Tullabeg and at Milltown Park might possibly have narrowed, not expanded, a mindless bent on self-improvement than his was; but he was a keen learner, He ranged as widely in general studies and reading as opportunity permitted, and, like Coleridge's hermit, receptive of lights from every quarter:

“He loved to talk with mariners.
That come from a far countree”.

Just before entering the Jesuit novitiate he had been given a useful glimpse of many lands in a tour which he took with a school fellow under the capable guidance of Fr Conmee, and ever after he guarded as gold the reminiscences of those weeks, especially of his Italian experiences. After his ordination in 1895 he was sent for the customary ten months of recollection to Tronchiennes in Belgium, and there he valued and utilised his opportunities of exchanging ideas with men of many nationalities and temperaments.

Thus formed, he. could not fail to make his mark, or rather a deep impression, when, in 1901 he entered upon the business of his best years - his teaching and leadership among the Catholic schools of Australia. His capacity and adaptability were proved in University; secondary and primary scholastic business; and whether his work lay in the newly (and daringly) started Newman College of Melbourne University, or in Xavier Public School, or in its preparatory school, Burke Hall, he never failed to rise to the height of his task. That task - as he conceived it - was that of an educationalist and an apostle. Ready, apparently, for any work, he changed easily from readiness into enthusiasm. One of his colleagues wrote on the occasion of his death :

“One thing especially impressed me in his life, and that was the way in which he ever thoroughly settled down in every place to which he has been sent, and joyfully and whole-heartedly carried out any and every kind of work he has been given to do”.

The Council of Public Education, the Association of Registered Teachers of Victoria, the head-masters. of public schools and the heads of the University colleges of Melbourne placed on record their sense of regret at the death of Fr O'Dwyer and their deep appreciation of his value as a thinker and worker in educational matters. “The Council”, wrote one of these bodies, “deplored the death of one who had given so freely of his ability to further the cause of education”. Regrets were widely expressed that he had shortened so valuable a career by reckless expenditure of his strength and indifference to health and rest.

These personages and committees were in the main non-Catholic. They, as well as other non-Catholics, had been deeply impressed not only by the abilities but also by the moral and priestly qualities of their deceased colleague. Nevertheless it is rather to Catholic sources we must look for evidence as to the internal spirit that underlay Fr, James's unremitting activities. When we turn to such witnesses we may particularly notice the tributes they have paid to his practice of the gentler virtues - those that were least congruous to his natural temperament. It was not, for example, his zeal or his forcefulness that Fr Lockington SJ, selected for praise in his condolences on his death. He wrote :

“He has done rare work for the Church and the Society and will be greatly missed by all of us. The outstanding feature in his character - one in which he was a model for all of us - was his invariable charity towards everyone. He had at times men under him who must have tried him sorely, yet,-always the good word!”

Mother MacRory, religious of the Sacred Heart, sister of His Eminence Cardinal MacRory and Superior of Sancta Sophia College in the University of Sydney, gave this testimony :
·
“I am sure Christ, our Lord received with a benign countenance one who had so often and so beautifully spoken about Him. Dear Father James seened to have a special gift of inspiring personal love for Our Lord. He is a great loss; but he has done a great work, and it will endure”.

It was indeed true, as the last writer's words remind us, that, quite apart from his educational activities, whereby not merely had hundreds of his pupils been formed into excellent Christians but also a numerous élite had been led into the ways of perfection. Fr O'Dwyer's labours and success as a conductor of retreats, as a preacher and a confessor, would alone have entitled him to grateful and reverent memory. But on these aspects of his life-work we cannot now further dwell.

Our final quotation concerning him shall be a tribute paid to his memory by a man of letters, Mr T J Cleary, who thus refers to Fr James's co-operation with him in various services rendered to the cause of Catholic literature in Australia :

“Your very able brother was a kind and good friend to me while I was editor of ‘The Austral Light’. We edited together Archbishop Carr's Lectures and Replies, and the manner in which he smoothed over the harsh words exchanged was almost a revelation. When he had finished; the note of controversy had departed and the Lectures as now published leave no indication that they emanated from a controversy with Dr R . By his death, too, we lose the greatest gentleman among the clerics since Dr. Carr's death”.

Fr O'Dwyer's funeral at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, on November 25th, 1925, presided over by the Bishop of Sandhurst, gave impressive testimony to the esteem in which he was held and the regret occasioned by his loss. Since then nothing has been done to perpetuate his name; but so he himself would have wished it. He had laboured for nearly forty-five years, indifferent to praises, testimonials or titles. His ambitions were fixed on successes and rewards that do not fade away with time, and much that he achieved will remain even on earth as of permanent value.

Born: 15 August 1858, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 12 November 1883, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 01 March 1930, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Came to Australia 1892

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Robert O'Dempsey was educated at Clongowes, 1871-77, and did ecclesiastical studies in Rome. He entered the Society as a priest at Milltown Park, 12 November 1883. He taught at Belvedere 1886-89, Clongowes, 1889-90, and Mungret, 1890-91, before a year of theology at Milltown.
O'Dempsey was sent to Australia in 1892, and taught for a few years at St Aloysius' College Bourke Street, at Xavier College, 1895-97, Riverview, 1897-98, and St Patrick's College, 1900-01.
He became engaged in parish ministry at Richmond, 1901-03, Hawthorn, 1903-12, Lavender Bay, 1912-22, as first parish priest, and Norwood, 1922-23, He was superior for that year. Later he went to St Aloysius' College, as spiritual father and director of sodalities.
O'Dempsey was a friend of the Sydney archbishop and Monsignor O'Haran. He had a remarkable knowledge of Latin and Greek, and was a notable cricketer. As a pastor he was most devoted, regularly visiting the sick and members of die parish, showing much gentleness and sympathy. He was recognised as a lovable priest.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926
Residence. SS. CORDIS, SYDNEY :
In 1878 Archbishop Vaughan handed over the Parish of North Shore to the Society. The church was exceedingly small, had very little church furniture and the Fathers were obliged to hire a Presbytery at 16s. a week. The Residence S.S. Cordis completed by Fr D Connell in 1923. The parish now numbers some 3,000 souls. It has two splendid primary schools, with an attendance of about 740 children. These schools. the Brothers' residence and the hall capable of holding 1,000 people, owe their existence to the energy of Fr Corish. In 1924 there were 45,000 Confessions heard, and about 50,000 Communions given. Attached to the church are two Sodalities, a Catholic club, a debating club, an athletic club a tennis club, and a branch of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Irish Province News 5th Year No 3 1930
Obituary :
Fr Robert O’Dempsey
On the 15th August 1858 Fr.O’Dempsey was born in Enniscorthy. He was educated at Clongowes, and entered the Society at Milltown as a priest, on the 12th Nov. 1883. The second year's novitiate was made at Dromore. From 1885 to 1891 he was prefect or master at either Clongowes, Belvedere or Mungret, then repeated theology at Milltown, and in 1892 went to Australia. For the next nine years his time was divided between the Colleges of St. Aloysius Kew, Riverview and St. Patrick's. 1901 brought a change, he became Operarius, spending two years at St. Ignatius, ten at Hawthorn, ten at Lavender Bay, one at Norwood, where he was Superior and Consultor of the Mission. 1923 saw him Spiritual Father at St. Aloysius' where he remained until his happy death on Saturday, March 1st 1930.
The following sketch of his work and character, by one who knew him well, will show what manner of man Fr O’Dempsey was :
“During the last years of his life Fr O'Dempsey was in charge of the Star of the Sea Church, Milson's Point, Sydney. He did not spare himself, even when old age and ill-health had wasted his body. 6.30 found him, every morning in his confessional. He said Mass at seven and returned to hear confessions until breakfast. He spent at least four hours every day visiting his district. Daily he taught catechism in the state school. Wednesday evening he gave to the St. Vincent de Paul. On all Thursdays he had evening devotions. On Saturdays confessions from 4-6 and 7-9. Sunday was a particularly heavy day. Mass and short sermon at seven, Sermon at ten, Sunday school at three, and devotions at 7.30. A hard week for an old man, and yet what struck one was his unchanging light-hearted and good humour. He had a fluent knowledge of Italian and heard a large number of confessions in that language .
He was an eloquent and forceful preacher, and, even to the end, spared no pains in preparing his sermons.
He was a wonderful man in a community. Never was he out of sorts in recreation, and his humour and great fund of stories made the hour after dinner a real relaxation. His deeply spiritual life and sound judgment fitted him perfectly for the position of Spiritual Father, which he held during his residence at St. Aloysius' College, to which the Star of the Sea is attached. He will be greatly missed.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1930

Obituary

Father Robert O’Dempsey SJ

The death on the 1st of March of this year of Rev Father O'Dempsey SJ, removed a very lovable priest, whose years of active ministry in several Australian States were many and distinguished. Father O'Dempsey was born in Wexford 72 years ago, and among the friends of his youth were his Grace the Archbishop, and Right Rev Monsignor O'Haran.

He made his secondary studies at the Jesuit College, Clongowes Wood, and later went to Rome for his ecclesiastical studies. On completion of studies in Rome, Father O'Dempsey returned to his native diocese, in whose service he did not remain long, for in 1883 we find his name in the roll of Jesuit novices at Milltown Park, near Dublin. Eight years later, Australia welcomed him.

Xavier and St. Patrick's Colleges, Mel bourne, were his earliest appointments. He was Superior at Norwood, South Australia, and for a period attached to the staff of Riverview College. He was the first.parish priest of Lavender Bay, and for the past eight years had been in charge of Star of the Sea Church, at Milson's Point.

In scholarship, Father O'Dempsey was remarkable for his knowledge of Latin and Greek and in the sporting field was known as a cricketer of outstanding merit.

But long after Father O'Dempsey's ability in learning or sport have been forgotten his devotion to duty will be remembered. Though advanced in years and suffering from bad health, he never failed to visit regularly the sick of the district under his care. Frequently, in the heat of summer, when stronger men would have found exertion make a de mand on their strength, Father O'Dempsey would be seen, on foot, on his round of visits. And those whom he visited speak feelingly of his gentleness and sympathy. A practical illustration of how he was appreciated was to be seen in the crowded congregation which filled the church at the Requiem Mass at Lavender Bay.

◆ The Clongownian, 1930

Obituary

Father Robert O’Dempsey SJ

We are indebted to an old Editor of “The Clongownian”, Fr Corr, for the following notice of Fr Robert O’Dempsey SJ, which appeared in the “Sydney Catholic Press”.

The death on March 1, at North Sydney, of the Rev Father R O'Dempsey SJ, has removed a very lovable Priest, whose years of active ministry. in several Australian States were many and distinguished. Father O'Dempsey was born in Wexford, 72 years ago, and among the friends of his youth were His Grace Archbishop Kelly and Right Rev Mgr O'Hagan. He made his secondary studies at the Jesuit College, Clongowes Wood, and thereafter proceeded to Rome for his ecclesiastical course. It took him but a short time after his return to the Ferns Diocese, for which he was ordained, to decide that his vocation lay in community life. He chose the Jesuit Order, which he entered in 1883. Eight years later Australia claimed him.

“Xavier and St Patrick's Colleges, Melbourne, were fortunate in securing his services as a teacher; he also occupied the position of Superior at Norwood, (South Australia), and later again did yeoman work at Riverview. He was the first Parish Priest of Lavender Bay, and for the past eight years had been in charge of the Star of the Sea Church, Milson's Point. In scholarship he was especially remarkable for his knowledge of Latin and Greek; and the sports field knew him as a very capable and enthusiastic cricketer. His knowledge of Gregorian Chant was considerable.

Jovial of disposition, he was, therefore, an agreeable companion in any community, and the Fathers will miss the brightness he shed around him. RIP

Born: 24 December 1840, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 01 February 1871, Milltown Park
Ordained: - pre Entry, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, County Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1884
Died: 02 April 1912, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

Early Australian Missioner 1879

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a cousin of Canon Hegarty PP of Glanmire.

Early education was at St Sulpice and Cork and then he went to Maynooth and was Ordained there. He was in the Cork Diocese then for a few years, including chaplain to a Convent before Entry.

Towards the end of his Novitiate he was sent to teach Mathematics at Clongowes, and remained there until 1877.
1877-1879 He was sent to Tullabeg to teach Mathematics.
1879 He was sent to Louvain for further Theological studies - Ad Grad. He was then sent to Australia in the company of Hubert Daly and John O’Flynn.
1880-1881 He was sent as Teacher to St Patrick’s Melbourne
1881-1884 He was sent as teacher to Xavier College, Kew.
1884-1896 He returned to Riverview, to teach Maths and as Assistant Prefect of Studies, and also taught Philosophy at St John’s College in Sydney University.
1896-1902 He was sent to St Aloysius, Burke St, teaching Philosophy.
1902-1911 He returned to Xavier College, Kew teaching and doing many other jobs, including Operarius.
1911 He was sent to Manresa, Hawthorn where he was House Confessor, Operarius, Rector’s Admonitor and President of the League of the Cross Sodality. He died there 03 April 1912.

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

He was a very bright, friendly and genial man, a great favourite with all who knew him, of great intellectual gifts, especially in Mathematics and Philosophy.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Charles O'Connell appears to be the first Jesuit educator to outline a Jesuit system of education for Australia. He was a distinguished mathematician and philosopher, as well as a good musician. As prefect of studies at Xavier College, Kew, 1881-83, and at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, 1883-96, he outlined a detailed philosophy of education that showed a breadth and humanity that marked the basic environment of Jesuit schools. His comments on the public examination system were not reserved for the parents of students, but were to enlighten the wider community.
Very little is known about O'Connell’s early life and training, except that be trained at St Sulpice, Paris, and Maynooth, and worked as a priest in Cork. He entered the Society, 1 February 1871, from the diocesan clergy in Ireland, at the age of 31. After the noviciate he taught mathematics and German at Clongowes College, 1873-77, before revising his theology at Louvain, Belgium in 1879.
He arrived in Australia, 9 November 1879, and was appointed for a few years to St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, and to Xavier College, Kew. Most of his teaching days were preparing students for the university examinations in mathematics, physics and German. When he was in Sydney he also lectured in logic at Sr John's College, University of Sydney It was during these years that he met with a painful accident because of a gun bursting in his hand, depriving him of the free use of some of his fingers.
Apart from his obvious culture, O'Connell was an able administrator. His involvement in public debate on the education system followed the spirit of William Kelly and Joseph Dalton who had taken prominent roles in public comment. O’Connell promoted the cause of Catholic education, especially higher education, in its most appropriate forms. His exposition of Jesuit education was not only a testimony to his intellect, but also to his ability to apply theory to practice.
It was said of him that he was a very bright genial man, and liked by all who knew him. He was always kind and willing to help people in need, giving the impression that he was being favoured by the asking. His time was at the disposal of anyone, and he would return often with various solutions to a difficulty when the proposer had almost forgotten having approached him. He had a wide range of intellectual interests. While his preference seemed to be for mathematics, he was a good linguist as well, and had a fair knowledge of some of the less widely known European languages. He had a very logical mind, and was a keen critic. His company in the Jesuit community was appreciated. He collapsed while on his way to say Mass, working until the end.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1911

Obituary

Father Charles O’Connell SJ

Father O’Connell died at Hawthorn on April 2nd of this year. He was born in Cork in 1840, and made his ecclesiastical. studies at the College of S Sulpice, Paris. After ordination he worked in his native city for a short time, till he entered the Society of Jesus in 1871. Soon after his arrival in Australia, he was transferred from St Patrick's College to Kew, in 1880, where he remained as Prefect of Studies till 1883. In that year he went to Riverview College, Sydney, which he left at the end of 1901 to return to Kew. During his stay in Sydney he taught logic in St John's College in the University. There, too, he met with a painful accident through a gun bursting in his hand, which deprived him of the free use of some of his fingers. He stayed at Xavier till 1908, when he was moved to Hawthorn, where he was occu pied in parish work tiil lis death. Fr O'Connell was a very generous and kindly man, always ready to help, and giving the impression that he was being favoured by the asking. His time was at the disposal of anyone, and he would return often with various solutions to a difficulty, when the proposer. had almost forgotten having asked him. He had a wide range of in tellectual interests. Whilst his chief liking seemed to be for mathematics, he was a good linguist as well, and had a fair knowledge of some of the less widely known European languages His writing was, unfortunately, restricted to occasional papers, which were of a quality that made one regret their small quantity. He had a very logical mind, and was a keen critic; and this keenness was a reason why he left so little that was permanent. His kindly and charitable characteristics were des cribed by Monsignor Phelan in generous. words that were much appreciated by many of his old pupils and friends, who were present at his Requiein. His end came suddenly, though he had been visibly failing in health for some time. He had left his room to say Mass in the church at Hawthorn, but fell on his way out, and died a few minutes after having received the Last Sacraments. May his soul rest in peace.

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

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

Father Charles O'Connell was a much younger man, and was the only Father then in the house who wore a full beard. He was Professor of Mathematics and was a mathematician of the highest merit. In his own words: “A mathematician lives in a word of his own, and does not care to come out of it”. It was not an uncommon thing to be sent on a message to his room at the infirmary, and to find him with the floor strewn with paper covered with calculations, and Fr O'Connell disguised as a Turk. That is to say, he would have a wet towel wound round his head. He was also the Lord High Executioner of the senior boys who neglected their mathematics. He was the terror of the lazy or careless student, but he had great powers of discrimination, and was quite gentle to those who failed through nervousness or dullness. He visited our class occasionally, and put the boys through their paces. I have seen him invite Hubert Mooney out to the blackboard to demonstrate some well-known proposition in Euclid. Hubert, although a sturdy chap, and not at all nervous, on most occasions, would be unable to do a thing. As he was the best mathematician in the class, and was known by Fr O'Connell to be such, this would annoy most teachers. Not so with Fr O'Connell, who knew that it was a case of “stage fright” and not laziness or perversity. He was a great enthusiast in sport, and took a keen interest in the comfort and welfare of the boys, generally.

Born: 11 June 1849, Youghal, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1887, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 02 February 1900
Died: 25 July 1901, Loyola College Greenwich, Sydney

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

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had entered Royal College Maynooth for the Cloyne Diocese, and after Ordination he worked in Belfast for some years.

He made his Noviceship at Dromore under John Colgan.
He was then sent to Louvain for one year of Theology.
1889 In the Autumn of 1889 he accompanied Timothy Kenny and Thomas Browne and some others to Australia. Landing in Melbourne, he was sent to St Patrick’s College, where he spent some years teaching.
He was later sent to the Hawthorn Mission, and later still some time in Sydney, and finally back to Melbourne.
He had been in delicate health for some time, and so was sent from St Patrick’s Melbourne to Sydney, and he died happily at Loyola College there 25/07/1901 aged 52

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Morgan O'Brien joined the Society as a secular priest, having studied at Maynooth and working in Belfast before entering. He was 38 years of age when he joined the Jesuit noviciate at Dromore 7 September 1887, where he spent one year. He had another year of theology at Louvain before being sent to Australia and St Patrick's College, in 1889. He taught and was hall prefect and prefect of the Sodality of the Holy Angels. He spent two years in pastoral work in the parish of Hawthorn, 1894-95, and then taught at Riverview, 1895-96, at St Aloysius' College, Bourke Street, Sydney, 1896-98, and later at St Patrick's College, 1898-1901, where he was spiritual father and assistant editor of the Messenger. He was in weak health when sent to Australia, presumably because he suffered from consumption, but he did valuable work giving retreats and missions as well as teaching. He was a man of religious simplicity, earnestness and zeal.

Born: 11 October 1888, County Meath
Entered: 14 August 1916, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Final vows: 02 February 1938
Died: 31 July 1957, St Ignatius College, Riverview, 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
Michael O'Brien entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 14 August 1916, and after his noviciate was sent to Sevenhill, where he worked in the winery, performed domestic duties, and cared for the Church.
In 1921 he went to Xavier College for three years, engaged in domestic duties, and then began 32 years at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, where he had many responsibilities. There was little that he could not manage. Whether it was mending watches or digging drains, building walls or tending the cattle, it was the same to O’Brien. Plumbing, masonry, carpentry were all within his capacity Through his whole life he was busy about one or another activity only taking time off early in the morning or late at night to feed his fowls. Except for Mass in the morning he was usually seen in his working clothes.
He will be remembered for many years for his great feats of strength. Alone he could move loads that two other men together would hesitate to attempt. He had a wonderful gift of summing up a situation, or a person, in a few succinct words that had a character all of their own.
He did not take kindly to Charles Fraser shooting his cows in the rose garden, nor in William Lockington showing him how to do his work. One recreation he enjoyed was to attend meetings of the Irish in Sydney, details of which he kept close to himself.
But he will be remembered even longer for his great devotion to serving Mass. For all the years he spent at the college he served one or more of the early Masses except on the very few occasions when he was ill. Even in his last years when rising from his knees was difficult, he insisted on serving and omitting no part of his role. He took a poor view of any priest who ventured to help him by changing the missal at the Gospel. Night after night, before he retired, he spent time in private prayer in the chapel. Overall, O’Brien's contribution to the material wellbeing of Riverview was inestimable.

Born: 01 December 1881, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1899, Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1915, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 17 March 1918, Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 24 February 1974, Little Sisters of the Poor, Drummoyne, Sydney - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1906 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1905
by 1918 Military Chaplain: No 5 POW Cam,p APO, S20, BEF France
by 1919 Military Chaplain: 30 general Hospital, APC 4, BEF France

Brother: Ó Briain, Liam (1888–1974), republican, scholar of Romance languages, and Irish-language enthusiast.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/damien-burke/jesuits-and-the-influenza-1918-19/

Jesuits and the influenza, 1918-19
Damien Burke
The influenza pandemic that raged worldwide in 1918-19 (misnamed the Spanish flu, as during the First World War, neutral Spain reported on the influenza) killed approximately 100 million people.

The influenza was widely referenced by Irish Jesuit chaplains in the First World War. Fr FX O’Brien comments from France in September 1918 that: “I suppose you had your share of influenza that swept over Ireland recently. Here even still, we get traces of it”.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
FX, as he was affectionately known, was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and entered the Jesuits, 7 September 1899, at Tullabeg. He obtained first class honours in Latin and second class honors in Greek during his juniorate and later studied physics at the Dublin College of Science.
As a regent he was sent to Riverview, 1906-12, where he taught senior classes. worked in the boarding house and was editor of “Our Alma Mater”. He had a choir from 1909-12. After theology at Milltown Park and tertianship at Tullabeg, 1912-17, he became a military chaplain, 1917-19 serving the No. 5 German Prisoners of War Company, as well as the 30th General Hospital, BEF France. He arrived back in Australia in 1920 to spend a few years teaching at Riverview.
From 1922-31 FX was rector of St Aloysius' College, and usually prefect of studies as well, taught, directed the Sodality and a choir. Some Jesuits claimed he was too hesitant and undecided be a rector, and not much of a preacher or public speaker.
However, in 1931 he was appointed rector of Xavier College for three years, and then worked in the parish of Richmond for a further two. From there he went as superior to the Toowong Parish in Brisbane and returned to St Aloysius' College from 1940-49, being rector again, 1944-48.
He spent one year at the preparatory school to Riverview, Campion Hall, before returning to parish responsibilities at St Aloysius' College, 1950-55 . He worked from the church of
the Star of the Sea. His final placement was the North Sydney parish. During that time he cared for patients mainly at the Mater Hospital, where he spent his day visiting everybody,
whatever their religious persuasion. He was much loved because of his infectious good will, friendliness, and interest in people. In his earlier days he was much in demand for weddings and baptisms, but in his latter days funerals predominated.
FX was a bright, cheerful, breezy person, wonderful at malting friends, and had a prodigious memory. He made most impression on individuals and families, and he was a good community man. As rector of St Aloysius' College, he left no buildings, there were no departures from tradition and yet he was one of the most loved Jesuits ever experienced at the college. He revived the Old Boys Union, almost moribund for many years. He was president of the Registered Schools Association in 1927, one of the founders and first president of the Associated Secondary Schools of NSW, and was a member of the Catholic Education Council and the Catholic Schools Association. At the time of his death he was the doyen of the province.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 49th Year No 2 1974

Obituary :

Fr F X O’Brien (1881-1974)

When Fr F X O'Brien died in the Retired Priests' Home in Sydney on February 24, the Australian Province lost its oldest and one of its best-known members.
Fr O'Brien (better known as FX) was born in Dublin on 1 December 1881, received his early education from the Christian Brothers at O’Connell Schools, and entered the Society at Tullabeg on 7 September 1899. Endowed with a phenomenal memory for people and events, right up to the end of his long life, he frequently recalled those testing years in Tullabeg under the direction of that redoubtable novice master, Fr James Murphy. Grateful to survive the two years, he passed on to juniorate studies, and later to philosophy in Stonyhurst. In 1906, he was sent to Australia as a missionary (he always insisted on this term), spent six years teaching in Riverview College, Sydney, and then returned to Ireland for theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained priest on 3 July 1915. In 1916 he went to Tullabeg for tertianship, but when the Long Retreat was over, he went to France as military chaplain, where he remained till the war ended in 1918. He then returned to Tullabeg to complete his tertianship and in 1919 returned to Australia. The years that followed were mostly spent in the colleges. He was Rector of St Aloysius, Sydney, Rector of Xavier College, Melbourne, Parish Priest of Toowong, Brisbane, and Rector of St Aloysius College for another term. For the last twelve years of his life, he lived at St Mary’s Presbytery, North Sydney, where he was a most zealous and devoted chaplain to the Mater Hospital nearby. Up to a year ago when he was ninety-one, he was in excellent health, then he had to undergo a prostate operation after which he never recovered his old vigour. He declined steadily, and was placed under the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor in the Retired Priests Home where he died peacefully in his ninety-third year on February 24.
Although a man of sturdy and independent character, Fr O’Brien had a graciousness, affability and friendliness of manner that won him a host of friends. While he loved Australia and its people, he retained a deep attachment to the old country, and was a most faithful member of Irish societies in Sydney. He was a most obedient, humble and loyal Jesuit, deeply attached to the spirit and traditions of what some now call the Old Society.bewildered at the change of direction it has taken in recent years, and saddened by the large number of defections among its priest members. To our traditional spiritual practices, morning meditation, Rosary, etc he was faithful to the end of his life. In Community life, he was always pleasant, jovial, and gracious. There is no doubt that dur ing his long life he served his Master with a loyalty, love and devotion truly worthy of imitation.
The large crowd of over a 1,000 people which filled St Mary's Church for his Requiem Mass on February 27, which included the newly-consecrated Irish bishop, Bishop Cremin an old Mungret boy), the Australian Provincial, Fr Patrick O’Sullivan, and about fifty priests, was an eloquent tribute to the esteem and affection in which he was held. It was fitting that the funeral on its way to the cemetery should make a detour so as to pass by the Mater Hospital where as chaplain over the years he had helped so many to meet their Maker, and where doctors, Sisters, nurses, and even patients stood in silent tribute to a much loved and devoted pastor.
We offer sympathy to Fr O”Brien's brother, Mr Liam O’Brien, emeritus Professor of French, UCG, for whom the bereavement is the heavier in that he had planned to visit Fr F X in Sydney during the coming summer.

Born: 07 June 1865, Tarangulla, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 03 May 1884, Richmond, Victoria, Australia (HIB)
Died: 10 June 1892, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had received his education at Xavier, Kew, Melbourne.

After First Vows he taught for some years at Riverview and then was made a Prefect at Riverview. He was a very hard worker and an excellent disciplinarian. He was an ardent promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer and had a particular interest in the Holy Childhood.
He had a long and painful illness which he bore with great courage. He died a peaceful death at Xavier 10 June 1892.
He was at all times an earnest, unobtrusive and edifying religious.

Note from Patrick Muldoon Entry :
Ent at the new Irish Novitiate in Richmond, and it was then moved to Xavier College Kew. He went there with Joseph Brennan and John Newman, Scholastic Novices, and Brother Novices Bernard Doyle and Patrick Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Newman was educated at Xavier College, Kew, and entered the Society at Richmond, 3 May 1884. After vows, he taught for some years at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and then at Xavier College, where he was also prefect of discipline, undertaking private study at the same time.
Newman was reported to be an excellent disciplinarian and was devoted to his work. He was a delicate person and had a painful illness for two years, which he bore well. Newman was an ardent promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer and also took an interest in the Holy Childhood. He was a man who fulfilled his spiritual duties and at all times appeared to be a good religious.

Born: 24 April 1875, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1892, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1908, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 24 May 1911, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 13 November 1957, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1896 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency1898
by 1910 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
Murphy, Richard James Francis (1875–1957)
by Judith Nolan
Judith Nolan, 'Murphy, Richard James Francis (1875–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/murphy-richard-james-francis-11205/text19975, published first in hardcopy 2000

Catholic priest; schoolteacher

Died : 13 November 1957, Lewisham, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Richard James Francis Murphy (1875-1957), Jesuit priest, was born on 24 April 1875 at Kingstown, Dublin, one of ten children of Richard James Murphy, merchant, and his wife Mary Josephine, née Burden. Dick attended Clongowes Wood College and entered the Society of Jesus at Tullamore at the age of 17. He completed philosophy studies at Maison St Louis, Jersey, Channel Islands, and Stonyhurst College, England, in 1898. Arriving in Sydney in September, he taught at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and from 1901 at St Patrick's College, Melbourne, where he also organised the work of the Professional Men's Sodality of Our Lady. In 1904 he returned to Dublin. After studying theology at Milltown Park, he was ordained priest on 26 July 1908.

In Sydney again, Murphy taught (1910-11 and 1915-16) at St Aloysius' College. An outstanding tennis player, he was responsible for forming the Catholic Lawn Tennis Association of New South Wales. In 1911 he was transferred to Loyola, Greenwich, to direct retreats for laymen. He developed a strong commitment to medico-moral issues and lectured to nurses at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst. In 1912 he was a founder of the Catholic Federation of New South Wales. Launched into parochial duties in 1916 as parish priest (superior) at Toowong, Brisbane, he was appointed to Richmond, Melbourne, in 1919. He spent four months in hospital with pneumonia and serious heart problems, but unexpectedly recovered.

Back in Sydney, Murphy was bursar (1920-21) at Riverview for the college and the entire Sydney Mission before returning to pastoral duties at North Sydney (1921-22) and Lavender Bay (1922-24). He lectured on medical ethics to students at the University of Sydney. His book, The Catholic Nurse (Milwaukee, 1923), led him to found the Catholic Nurses' Guild of New South Wales. While superior (1924-33) at Toowong, he supervised the construction of St Ignatius' Church. Between 1933 and 1953 he was based in the parish of North Sydney. With Dr H. M. Moran, he inaugurated the Catholic Medical Guild of St Luke in 1933; he edited its Transactions, in which he published (1943) two articles, 'Catholic Hospitals of Australia' and 'The History of Nursing in Australia'. A council-member of the Newman Association of Catholic Graduates, Murphy founded the Campion Society in Melbourne in 1934 and introduced it to Sydney, where its autonomy was initially suppressed because Archbishop Kelly 'liked to keep a tight rein on his lay societies'. Murphy established the Catholic Chemists Guild of St Francis Xavier. He also set up an organisation for the religious education of Catholic children in state schools.

Although described as a 'diffident' superior, Fr Dick was an enthusiastic, zealous and energetic man who saw the Catholic laity as 'the draught horses of the Church'. He, Dr Sylvester Minogue (a psychiatrist) and others founded Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia in July 1945. Minogue (overlooking Fr Dunlea) noted that with 'the exception of Father Murphy . . . no other clergyman takes any active interest', and observed that he was 'the only one of us with any practical commonsense'. Lillian Roth, the actress, acknowledged the help she had received from Murphy.

In 1955 Murphy retired to Canisius' College, Pymble. He died on 13 November 1957 in Lewisham Hospital and was buried in Gore Hill cemetery.

Select Bibliography
L. Roth, I'll Cry Tomorrow (Lond, 1955)
D. Coleman, Priest of the Highway (Syd, 1973)
C. Jory, The Campion Society and Catholic Social Militancy in Australia 1929-1939 (Syd, 1986)
St Aloysius' College (Sydney), The Aloysian, 1957, p 24
St Ignatius' College, Riverview (Sydney), Our Alma Mater, 1958, p 184
Catholic Weekly (Sydney), 18 Sept 1952, 21 Nov 1957
AA Assn papers (Alcoholics Anonymous Archives, Croydon, Sydney)
Fr R. J. Murphy, SJ, papers (Society of Jesus Archives, Hawthorn, Melbourne).

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Richard Murphy entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1892, completed his juniorate studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1894-95, studied philosophy at Jersey, 1895-98, and then was sent to Australia and St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and St Patrick's College for regency, 1898-1905. During that time he taught, and was involved with prefecting and helped with the library and music. At St Patrick's, he was involved with the professional men's Sodality He returned to Dublin, and Milltown Park, for theology studies and Completed tertianship at Tronchiennes, 1909-10.
Upon his return to Australia, he spent a year at St Aloysius' College, before being appointed superior of Loyola College, Greenwich, where he was involved with men's retreats and pastoral work. He was also socius to the master of novices, 1914-15.
He was appointed the first superior and parish priest of Toowong, Brisbane, 1916-19, where he remained until a serious illness saw him once again in Melbourne at the parish of Richmond. Then he spent a year at Riverview and a year in the parish of North Sydney, before being appointed priest in charge of Lavender Bay in 1922. He returned to the Toowong parish, 1924-33, during which time he built the present Church. In 1933 he went to St Mary's, North Sydney, where he spent the next twenty years.
During all his active priestly life he took a great interest in university students and professional men. With Dr Herbert “Paddy” Moran, he inaugurated the Catholic Medical Guild, of which he was the first chaplain in 1934. He was also instrumental in forming similar guilds in Adelaide Perth, Brisbane, Bathurst, Goulburn, and Young. He wrote “The Catholic Nurse” (1923), and several pamphlets.
Some years later he initiated the Catholic Chemists' Guild and the Sydney Campion Society. He took a lively interest in the Newman Association of Australia and in the formation of the Teachers' Guild, for teaching religion in government schools.
Alcoholics Anonymous was another body in which he took a great and practical interest. In all these and other activities that claimed his care and organising ability his knowledge of human nature and common-sense approach endeared him to countless friends and associates. His last years were spent in retirement at Canisius College, Pymble, from 1955.
Murphy was one of the best known and most successful parish Jesuits. He inaugurated the Toowong parish and organised it very well, He founded the Catholic Tennis Association in Brisbane and helped to found it in Sydney. As a superior he was perhaps inclined to be too diffident, but he was very prudent and level-headed and a sound and careful organiser. He was full of enthusiasm without being extravagant, and was able to communicate his enthusiasm to others. Though he learned to drive a car, he always preferred to walk as long as his legs would carry him.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926

Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926

Residence. S F XAVIER (Lavender Bay) :
Lavender Bay became an independent parish in 1921. Its First Pastor was Fr R O'Dempsey. He was succeeded by Fr R Murphy, who built the new school, enlarged the hall, and established four tennis courts. The present Pastor so Fr J Magan. All three are old Clongowes boys. The parish contains St, Aloysius' College, two primary schools and two large convents. Numbered amongst the parishioners is His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate.

◆ The Clongownian, 1958
Obituary
Father Richard Murphy SJ

Father Richard Murphy SJ was one of the best-known and loved priests in Australia, whose influence as author and adviser in many fields will long be remembered.

He was a pioneer in numerous Australian apostolic movements, but will be especially remembered as founder of Catholic professional guilds for doctors and chemists and co-founder with Dr Sylvester Minogue of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Commonwealth.

An Irishman, Father Murphy, who had been a religious for over sixty-four years, spent the best part of half a century in Australia.

Born in Dublin, one of ten children, Father Murphy entered the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg in his eighteenth year and studied philosophy at Maison St Louis, Isle of Jersey, and Stonyhurst, England, before coming to Australia in September, 1898.

His first appointment was to the staff of Riverview College, where he remained until 1901 when he was transferred to the teaching staff of St Patrick's College, Melbourne. A special assignment there was organising work for the Professional Men's Sodality. This work first brought the young Jesuit into close touch with professional and university men with whom, as a priest, he was to have such fruitful associations.

Sent back to Dublin in 1904, he spent a year as Dean of Residence at University College, Dublin, where contact with famous scholars gave him more experience with the professional and university mind and outlook.

In mid-1905 he began his four year' theology at Milltown Park and was ordained priest on 26th July, 1908.

After completing his tertianship at Ghent, Belgium, he returned to Australia in July, 1905, and became a master at St Aloysius' College, Milson's Point. Among his pupils there were His Grace, Archbishop O'Brien, of Canberra and Goulburn, and famous stage personality, Cyril Ritchards.

In September, 1911, Father Murphy was placed in charge of the Men's Retreat Movement, when “Loyola” Greenwich (now a business girls' hostel), was opened. Here again Father Murphy came into contact with professional men, among whom his mission seemed to lie.

Next appointed to the parish of Toowong, Brisbane, he was engaged on pastoral work while the present Archbishop of Brisbane, His Grace, Archbishop Duhig, was Coadjutor to Archbishop Dunne.

After three years as pastor there he was transferred to Melbourne, where he suffered a serious illness, which made him convalescent for a year.

On recovery, Father Murphy was appointed, first pastor at the then new parish of Lavender Bay, and from 1924 to 1933 was again pastor at Toowong, where he built a church and introduced the Carmelites to the parish after purchasing the former residence of Mr T J Ryan, an ex-Premier of Queensland, to accommodate them.

In 1933, Father Murphy was appointed to the parish of North Sydney, where he remained for twenty years.

Father Murphy's interest in medico-moral topics had begun about 1911, when he began lectures for nurses at St Vincent's Hospital. Around 1920 he lectured on medical ethics to students from Sydney University at the Catholic Club and during this period his book, “The Catholic Nurse”, was published by Angus and Robertson and reprinted in the USA.

As early as 1924 he discussed with the late Dr H M (”Paddy”') Moran formation of a Catholic Medical Guild, which was finally inaugurated, with Father Murphy as first chaplain, in April, 1934.

Father Murphy also edited “The Transactions of the Guild” and was instrumental in the foundation of similar guilds at Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Bathurst, Goulburn and Young,

A few years later, Father Murphy instituted the Catholic Chemists' Guild and introduced the Campion Society to Sydney.

He was a member of the first Council of the Newman Association of Australia, and his vision led to the formation of the Teachers' Guild for teaching religion to Catholic children in public schools.

An address of his, given in November, 1912, also led to the foundation of the Catholic Federation, which functioned from 1913 to the late twenties.

In later years his interest in Alcoholics Anonymous extended his influence and, even after he had retired to St Canisius College, Pymble, he visited other States to advise on this work.

Actress Lillian Roth acknowledged his help in her fight against alcoholism in her book, “I'll Cry Tomorrow”.

“Father Dick”, as he was popularly called, had the rare capacity to inspire others and transmit to them the quiet but greatenthus iasm that marked his own activities.

His gentle humour and practical sense, his capacity to understand them endeared him particularly to young men.

This was recalled on the occasion of his eightieth birthday when a group of Sydney Campions, mostly professional men, arranged a dinner in his honour and the toast was proposed by Mr. Justice Cyril Walsh.

May he rest in peace.

Born: 05 November 1888, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1905, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 18 May 1920
Final Vows: 02 February 1924, St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, Sydney, Australia
Died: 03 April 1957, Manresa, Toowong, Brisbane, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1876 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying
by 1877 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1910 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1911
by 1919 at St Mary’s, Kurseong, West Bengal, India (BELG) studying
by 1920 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying
by 1923 at La Colombière, Paray-le-Monial, France (LUGD) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Leo Murphy entered the Jesuits at Tullabeg, 7 September 1905. After his juniorate studies in Ireland, he went to Stonyhurst for philosophy. From 1912-18 he taught at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, NSW, being the first OC of cadets and sports master from 1915-18. He departed Australia for theology in Kurseong, India, and Hastings, England, before tertianship at Paray-Le-Monial in France, 1922-23.
He returned to St Aloysius' College, 1923-27, being prefect of studies from 1925-27. Then he became prefect of studies at Riverview, 1928-32, before returning to St Aloysius', 1933-34. He also edited the “Aloysian”.
From 1935 he performed parish duties, first, at North Sydney until 1942, and then at Toowong until 1954. He was meticulous about parish visitation, especially to the poorer families. It was said that he often suffered on behalf of others. Jesuits considered Murphy a good prefect of studies, but better at parish work. He was loved and respected by the people of the parishes he served.

Born: 18 September 1852, Clonmel, Co Tipperary / Dublin City
Entered: 28 September 1869, Milltown Park
Ordained: 29 July 1887
Final Vows: 15 August 1891, Australia
Died: 21 August 1898, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

Twin brother of James - RIP 1908

by 1878 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying
by 1880 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1886 at Oña Spain (ARA) studying
Came to Australia 1891

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a twin brother of James Murphy - RIP 1908. He was also a brother of Canon Henry Murphy of Arran Quay and Lieutenant Colonel William Reed Murphy DSO, who had a distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service.

He went to UCD aged 14.

In the Society he went to Roehampton and studied the “Litterae Humaniores”.
He was then sent to Stonyhurst for three years Philosophy.
He completed his studies in France and was then sent to Clongowes, and he spent five years Regency there, before becoming Prefect of Studies at Tullabeg. Tullabeg at that time was renowned for the brilliant successes of its pupils in the Intermediate education Board at the Royal University, as well as the preliminaries for the Royal Military Colleges of Woolwich and Sandhurst, and the higher division of the Indian Civil Service.
Then he moved to Oña in Spain where he completed a brilliant course in Theology, and was Ordained 29/07/1887.
1887-1889 After Ordination he was sent back to Tullabeg. His health suffered there with chronic phthisis (TB).
1891 He was sent to Australia for the good of his health. He was appointed Prefect of Studies at Riverview, an office he held until his death there 21/08/1898. During his time at Riverview he took a keen interest in all educational movements affecting the colony, ad figured prominently whenever his influence could be of service in furthering the interests of higher education.
During his final illness he was well cared for in the community. His needs were attended to by Timothy J Kenny the Superior and George Kelly. He made many friends in Sydney, all of whom felt deep sorrow at his death.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Murphy, twin brother of James, Irish province, was educated by the Marist Fathers, Dublin and entered the Catholic University at the age of fourteen; afterwards studying “letters” at Roehampton, London, and matriculating with distinction at the University of London.
He entered the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, 28 September 1869, taught French and arithmetic at Clongowes, 1873-79, studied philosophy at Stonyhurst, 1879-82, and theology at Oña, Spain, 1885-89. His regency, 1882-85, was at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, teaching humanities to the senior classes. He was prefect of studies, 1884-85. He returned to this college after ordination until 1890, being superior of the juniors and prefect of studies and teaching rhetoric.
He arrived in Australia in 1890 and completed tertianship at Loyola College, Greenwich, that year. Then he was sent to St Ignatius' College, Riverview, in 1891, where he was prefect of studies until his death in 1898 from tuberculosis.
Murphy was considered a heroic worker, an outstanding administrator, gifted in learning, who shunned publicity and praise, and a man of true charity He was a very good teacher of senior Latin and history, substituting for absent teachers as required. He knew the progress of each boy in the school, and showed great interest in them.
He introduced “test” examinations for the public exam students, and also weekly examinations. He also introduced class repetitions, and class championships (emulation). This allowed the boys of a lower class to compete against boys of an upper class. Sometimes a boy would be asked to submit to questioning from members of the community on Sundays. He also continued Charles O’Connell's approach of commenting on the public examination system in New South Wales. His former students described him as a “truly great man, strict, but scrupulously fair”. He was experienced as hardworking, kind and genial, and respected for his professional approach to learning.

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

Father John Murphy and Riverview

A outstanding figure at Riverview in the nineties was Father John Murphy. He came to Australia in 1891, and for seven years '91-'98, the last of his life, he was at Riverview, where he filled with great distinction the office of Prefect of Studies. He had already completed a brilliant scholastic career, and came to Australia with shattered health. The sunny skies of Riverview kept him with us for seven years, greatly to the benefit of Riverview from a educational point of view, and greatly to the spiritual benefit of all who were witnesses of his edifying life. He was a man of the clearest intellect. I can still remember the mode he had of lining with a thin red line the margin of a history, and by well placed 1, 2, 3, 4 for divisions, a, b, c for sub-divisions, and sometimes even other ciphers for sub divisions (if one will forgive the use of such a word), putting before a reader at a glance quite all the salient point sof pages dealing for example with many details of the French Revolution in the old black covered Modern History Text Book. He was essentially a man of clear ideas. His learning seemed to us boys to cover all branches. He only taught special classes, except when there was a shortage of teach ers, in which case he filled any gap. He graded the classes most carefully; while he would put some boys up classes so that they might cover the ground of two classes in one year, he was equally strict in not allowing anyone who slacked to advance a class at the end of the year unless he had passed in his examinations. He introduced “Test” examinations, which so far as I know, were not then in use i nSydney, for the boys of the classes preparing for the public examinations. These were held a month before the public examination and all knew that they must pass if they were to be sent for the public examination. He introduced a system of weekly examinations. Any class might be examined, it was nearly always only one, and in any subject, and the examination was in the actual work that was supposed to have been done. One never knew until the Sunday morning whether one would have an examination or not. Father Murphy, we believed and I think this is true, set the examinations himself and corrected them. And on Monday appeared the lists. They had in places a P, meaning Penal Studies, or a VP, meaning Penal Studies and a Visit to the Prefect of Studies, a visit which one naturally dreaded. A surprising thing to us boys, at first, was how the P. and VP was placed in position in the list. Often a boy who got about 54per cent. would have P after his name, whereas many who achieved (no doubt with what Father Murphy considered sufficient effort) about 30 per cent. were given an honourable pass. The discretion so shown by Father Murphy was appreciated with the growth in years, and was characteristic of his justice, which saw clearly. There was another custom in vogue during the period of Father Murphy which aided the school work. About once a month, on Sunday, there would be a "class out." There would be no weekly examination that Sunday, but one of the classes would assemble in the presence of the Rector and Community, and would be put through their paces. On such occasions Father Murphy would always ask Father Rector and the rest of the Com munity to question some boy who had the floor, usually after he had him self catechised him. It was an occasion of triumph for a deserving boy and deep humiliation for an idler, and one never knew beforehand which type of boy would be put to the ordeal. Father Murphy also instituted the Class Championship. This was very cleverly engineered so as to allow boys of lower classes to compete, often successfully, with boys of the upper classes, and the emulation was great.

Father Murphy usually said the boys' Mass in the morning, and the vision of that frail, devout figure offering the Great Sacrifice, and distribut ing the Bread of Life was of edification infinite, and has left abiding, holy memories. He was in harness to the end. We boys knew he was not at all well, otherwise he would be teaching; and after one night and day of watch ing, while we were in study, a tolling bell the only such I heard during my seven years at Riverview, announced to us that one whom we all revered and, in spite of his severe justice, could not help loving, had gone to his reward. He was undoubtedly a great man and, if human judgment is ever right in such matters, a saint.

PJ DALTON SJ ('93-99).

The Tribute of Riverview to John Murphy

Father Murphy, who had laboured all his life for others, more than once expressed a wish that his illness might be shortened because he did not like to see others put to trouble for his sake. Yet no one thought it trouble to do everything he could for one whom all esteemed so much, Father Murphy would have wished to be able to work to the end, nor did he remain many days when work was no longer possible. During those last few days he had all the consolation that the good Master gives to those who have done generously and well in his service. It was his special joy to re ceive the Holy Communion each day, and on the last three mornings to have Mass celebrated in his room, On the 21st of August, during the quiet of the evening study hour, he received the last absolution, and calmly and happily passed away to his reward.

Forty-six years before, Father Murphy was born in Clonmel, in the County of Tipperary, for which county his father was a magistrate. He was one of a family who have all since distinguished themselves in life. His eldest brother is now the Very Rev Canon Murphy PP, of Arran Quay, Dublin, and not only holds high rank as an ecclesiastic, but is also a gifted scientist. Another brother-Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Murphy, DSO (Order of Distinguished Service) - has repeatedly won honours in India, especially in the Candahar campaign, His twin brother, Father James Murphy SJ, holds the high position in the Irish Jesuit province of Master of Novices and Rector of the College of St Stanislaus, Tullamore. His sister was lately Superioress of the Loreto Convent, Dalkey, Ireland. When Father John Murphy was about ten years old, his parents removed from Clonmel to Dublin, and there he was educated at Dr Quin's school, Harcourt Street, and at the school of the Marist Fathers. At the early age of seventeen he entered the Jesuit novitiate, and after the two years of probation he was sent immediately, on account of his delicate health, to be prefect at the great Irish College of Clongowes Wood. When he had been at Clongowes he went to study Rhetoric at Roehampton College, London, and having finished his course there and matriculated with distinction for the London University, he was appointed professor to the young Jesuits who were preparing themselves to teach in the Colleges. In 1879 Father Murphy began at Stonyhurst College the study of Philosophy, to which he applied himself for three years. He was then made Prefect of Studies at St Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, whose students were then winning many brilliant successes in the University and Intermediate Examinations. Fr Murphy's health did not long permit him to hold this office, and his superiors sent him for change and rest to Clongowes. After some months at Clongowes, where he was first Prefect of Discipline, he went to Oña, in Spain, and there studied theology for four years. Being ordained priest, he returned to Ireland, and once more took charge of the studies of the Junior members of the Order. But, falling into weak health, it was thought that the fine Australian climate would benefit his health. He came to Sydney in 1891, and for the last seven years of his life was Prefect of Studies at Riverview.

It was only during the seven years that Father Murphy lived and worked at Riverview that we, with few exceptions, were privileged to know him. Some few could speak of debts of gratitude owed to him many years ago, and many thousand miles away; but they tell us enough when they say that time and place and illness had, in his case, only made their outward changes. It was fortunate, indeed, for our College, when it was yet young, to have had him as a director of its studies, for he was a man born to or ganise, and his work will not easily perish. He was a heroic worker, and he had not laboured long among us when the spirit that was in him made its influence felt throughout the entire College. His shattered health did not impede him. We have heard him speak with admiration of those Spanish commanders in the late war who went down with their ships, their country's flag still flying, and we felt that were he in their places he would have done the same. But he sacrificed himself for a nobler object, and when we re member how he toiled for so many years, and how weak and worn he often looked when the day's work was over, we clearly see that his great mind understood of what extreme importance to the cause of God is the good education of the young.

It was for no worldly end that Father Murphy laboured, for he shunned publicity and praise, and we learned from words of his, let fail from time to time during the last few years, that he did not expect that what remained to him of earthly life would be long. Yet the thought of death did not paralyse his energy, but rather urged him to greater efforts, because, like his Divine Master, he looked on death as "the night when no can work, May we all have done our work as well when that night comes upon us.

In Father Murphy we saw a man filled with the spirit of true charity. He was genial and kind, and if he were sometimes stern, it was when he knew that that was kinder. There was no boy in the school about whose progress he did not keep himself exactly informed, for he was most watch ful over those committed to his charge, and took the deepest interest in their welfare. In the hearts of those who knew him best his death has left a void which they never hope to fill. We trust that his memory will long remain, especially in the minds of those to whose good his brilliant talents were devoted. It will guide them and draw them to follow by the way that he has gone. They will prize it more as manhood develops, and when the world's cold experience shows them that his like is not often found. We give below two poems, one by an old pupil of Father Murphy's - Mr J E S Henerie - in which is portrayed the grief and loneliness we felt after the death of so true a friend. The other is written by his old friend, Dr. Beat tie, of Liverpool, in which he expresses, better than we could, the consoling Christian thought that though Father Murphy has gone from among us, his prayers in heaven will be more powerful even than his earthly help.

Pater, Ave Atque Vale - Rev John Murphy SJ

O, you have gone before us
To the dark unknown, Sadly you have left us
To walk alone.

Friend of our youth and manhood
Vanished away,
Like a drift of crimson sunset
At close of day!

We held sweet converse together
Of soul with soul,
Probing the life of nature
From pole to pole

There where his dreams are ended,
And life's long quest,
Jesus, O Lord, have mercy;
Grant him Thy rest.

Paragon of learning were you,
Guide of our life
Sharing its thought and action,
Its peace and strife.

Now we call, none answers;
Vain is our prayer;
Vainly our question falleth
On voiceless air.

Nay, but the years pass swiftly,
And we, too, pass
Out of the world of sunshine
Like autumn grass

On to the world beyond us,
To you now known,
To join all our friends and teachers,
No more alone.

J E S HENERIE ('88-'93).

Ave! Pater, Sed Non Vale - Rev John Murphy SJ

Wherefore farewell! triumphant brother, now
Out of the Vale of Shade. Help him who faints
In weary wayfaring to rest, as thou
Dost rest, in sweet communion of saints.
Wherefore farewell!

Out in the void thy spirit hath not flown;
High in the Household of the Faith thy place,
Spanning from Hades' portals to the Throne.
De ventre matris. - dual fruit of grace!*
Yet with us dwell

Whisper to hearts responsive as of old,
Languishing vainly for thy smile - thy hand:
Thy form etherealized we still behold,
Signifer sanctus! in Ignatian band -
Peerless array!

Athwart the world's dim sordidness, the beam
Of Jesus' army soldiers such as thou
Bright as the angel hosts in Jacob's dream,
Illumes all time with life or triple vow,
Fairer than day.

He sees the sparrows fall - He, strong to save,
Brooks not His own to perish 'neath the sod.
Where sting - where victory, in death or grave?
Sacerdos magnus! Holy one of God!
On Heaven's shore.

Loud let our praise in diapason rise,
For ever joined in Pentecostal throng;
Through earthly aisles and courts of Paradise,
Semper laus ejus, in united song,

J A BEATTIE. Liverpool, NSW, Sept. 1, 1898,

• Father John Murphy SJ, was one of twin brothers, who both became priests.

Father Murphy’s Funeral
Father Murphy was interred at Gore Hill Cemetery on August 23rd. Among those who were present besides the Rector and community of Riverview were Father Kenny SJ, Superior of the Jesuits, Father Brennan SJ, and Father Gartlan SJ, from North Sydney. Father McGrath, from St Aloysius' College; Father Sturzo SJ; the Venerable Archpriest Sheehy (OSB); the Rev M Kirby PP, Pymble; the Superior of St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill; the Hon T Dalton, MLC; the Hon L F Heydon, MLC; Alderman B McBride, Dr Rorke, Mr N Joubert, and Mr Cahill (solicitor). Almost all the present students walked from the College, and among the ex-students and Father Murphy's former pupils who came to pay the last tribute of respect were Messrs T F Kelly, R Lenehan, P J O'Donnell, G McMahon, George Flannery, J E S Henerie, R Henerie, H E Manning, Bernard and Charles McBride, Thomas Dalton, W D'Apice, J D'Apice, F Duboisé, W McDonald, F McDonald, F Rorke, Richard and Arthur O'Connor (though the former was only recovering from an accident) A Deery, W Baker, J Slattery and James Punch.
"Our Alma Mater" (1898).

◆ The Clongownian, 1898

Obituary

Father John Murphy SJ

The many friends and scholars of Father John Murphy SJ, will hear with regret the news of his early, if not unexpected death, which occurred at St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, on Sunday, August 21. Father Murphy was born at Clonmel in 1852, and entered the Society of Jesus when 17 years of age. He studied philosophy at Stonyhurst, and Theology at Oña, in Spain. From 1872 to 1877 he was in Clongowes, the first year as Gallery Prefect, the other four as Master. In Tullabeg he was Prefect of Studies from 1882 to January; 1884, when failing health: obliged him to retire; his brother, Father James Murphy, took his place. At Clongowes, again, he was Higher Line Prefect from September, 1884, to Easter, 1885, when ill-health again forced him to give up active work for a time. In hope of his recovery he: was sent out to New South Wales in the Autumn of 1890, and for the ensuing eight years, ending with his death, he was Prefect of Studies at Riverview. During the time of his work in Australia he did a great deal to further the cause of higher education in Australia, and his “annual reports” contained many pregnant suggestions, while in more than one important matter he prevailed over the unwillingness of the State University of New South Wales. This work, and much more besides, he accomplished in the face of continual suffering, patiently borne, he remained at the post of duty till the last. “In Riverview”, says an Australian writer, “amid fond, familiar scenes, the true priest, the sound scholar, the successful master, and the gracious Christian gentle man passed peacefully away”; and the many that profited by his ungrudging toil both in Tullabeg and in Clongowes will not fail to offer up a prayer for the repose of his soul.

Born: 06 August 1869, Camberwell, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 24 March 1889, Xavier College, Kew Melbourne, Australia
Ordained: 02 August 1903, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1905
Died: 10 June 1918, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Sydney Australia

Part of the St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death

2nd year Novitate at Loyola Greenwich, Australia
by 1899 at St Aloysius, Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1902 at St Mary’s Canterbury, England (LUGD) studying
by 1904 at St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA) making Tertianship
by 1910 in Australia

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Australian born, James joined the Irish Mission in South Australia.
After his Noviceship he was sent to Riverview and Kew for Regency, and then to Philosophy at Jersey. he then travelled to Ireland for Theology at Milltown, and did his Tertianship at Mold, Wales (a FRA Tertianship)
When he returned to Australia he taught at Sydney for a while and was also an Operarius at Brisbane in 1917.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
James Hassett was educated at Xavier College, Kew, and considered a bright, cheerful and thoughtful young man who was a good athlete. He entered the Society at Xavier College, 24 March 1889. After juniorate studies, he taught at Riverview, 1892-95, and at Xavier College, 1895-98, before studying philosophy in Jersey It was here that he contracted a throat and lung condition that never left him. He worked among the poorer English speaking people while studying there. Theology studies followed at Milltown and Canterbury, Lyons province, 1900-03, and tertianship was in Mold, the following year.
He returned to St Ignatius' College, Riverview, 1904-16, teaching and being prefect of studies, 1905-08. He spent a few years in the parish of Toowong, Brisbane, 1916-17, and then moved to St Aloysius' College in ill health from consumption.
His students at Riverview admired and loved him, his teaching being clear and interesting. They gathered around him for conversation as he cultivated the garden in the quadrangle. Out of class he was particularly helpful to underachievers.
As prefect, he trusted the boys, and they respected him even more for that. His innate tenderness and consideration for every boy never waned. Sometimes he would have charge of the study hall and occasionally he would have to send a boy for punishment for some infringement of the rules. However, he usually relented, and sent another boy to bring back the delinquent before his punishment began.
He was forever recruiting boys for the Sodality of Our Lady, and encouraged any boy who might show signs of a vocation to the priesthood. His community considered him a most selfless person, always interested in other people and their lives and always willing to serve.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1918

Obituary
Father James Hassett SJ

If the Judgment turn upon kindness to others - and we have the word of Christ Himself that it does - then the judgment passed on Father James Hassett must, indeed, have been an enviable one.

Born at Camberwell on August 6th, 1869, he came to Xavier at the age of fourteen. Then, as ever afterwards, he was of a bright, cheery nature, ever ready to do a good turn for another fellow - one of those that you come to without fear of repulse for “help with an ekker”,' since Jim had a good storehouse of knowledge, and he always left the door wide open. In athletics, where he could have shone conspicuously especially on the track - his forgetfulness of himself - was the same. One example of this dwells still in the minds of Old Boys who were at Xavier with him. Interest in the annual Sports had been raised to a high pitch by the institution of a combined (St Patrick's and Xavier) sports meeting in the year 1886 - a fact due, not only to the keen competition between the two Schools, but mainly to the great struggle in that year between Lou Nolan and Pat Conley. After a grand race, the honour went to St Patrick's, Nolan winning on the tape. Xavier went home to train, and next year Jim Hassett was her hope. The sports were held on the East Melbourne Ground, Jim was helping some fellow to find a pair of lost shoes, and so missed the train he ought to have caught. Undişmayed, he caught the next, talking all the way, and that at the rate of a mile a minute about the hard luck behind them and the good ahead. It was agreed to wait. Jim ran from Prince's Bridge, cooled the heated committees with sorrow that rang with sincerity, togged, and won the maiden. . Then he sat down and talked and talked till the championship event. It was a great race, but there was no denying Jim. His natural, easy stride quickened like lightning at the finish, and, amid the cheers of both Schools, he bore the laurels “home to Xavier”. Had he wished to take up training seriously, he could have been a champion on the track, but here, as all through his life, he was singularly devoid of personal ambition. He had won for the School, and that was enough for Jim Hassett.

He entered the Noviceship of the Society of Jesus in 1890, in his twentieth year. There he spent two years, which were followed by some years teaching in Sydney. At the conclusion of these, he returned, as a Master to Xavier in 1895. During his four years stay at the School, he taught and prefected. As a Master in class he was clear and always interesting, and out of class he was the help and hope of the dullards. Patiently, day by day, would he work with them (crede experto), until he had at last got something through their thick heads. Even where that was impossible, still would he work on to attain the higher goal he always aimed at, and never failed to reach - their hearts. As a prefect, he was ever and always what the boys call “a decent man”. He loved boys and trusted them, and if perhaps some occasionally abused the trust, it was followed by a genuine sorrow that righted things some how. The “Hassett trust” has, we feel certain, paid a big dividend even now, and will pay a bigger one hereafter. For many an Old Boy of Xavier, Father Jim Hassett, “though dead, still liveth”, and many a sincere prayer will be said for him by men whom he trusted as boys. Mr. Hassett left Xavier to continue his studies for the priesthood in 1898, and the “Chronicle” of that year, speaking of his leaving, says - “His departure for the old world caused quite a furore in our quiet community, where he had won the affection and respect of all he came in contact with”. No wonder, being the man he was.

His philosophical studies were made at Jersey, where he had but indifferent health, contracting throat and lung trouble that never quite left him. Not withstanding this, he did good work on the island, looking after the poorer English-speaking people, and when the time came for him to remove to Ireland, the gratitude of the poor followed him . From Jersey he passed to Dublin to do his theological course. However, his stay there was not to be for long. The French Jesuits, expelled from their own country, came to reside at Canterbury, in England, and, in their language difficulties, they asked for an English speaking student to help them. The appeal found a quick response in the unselfish heart of him who had “learned the luxury of doing good’. Straightway, Father Hassett offered himself. The offer was accepted, and the labour of love was carried on cheerfully and well till the time of his ordination. Ordained, he returned to Australia in 1904, and, with the exception of a few months spent in the Hawthorn parish, the remainder of his life was passed at Riverview College, Sydney. Here, like the Master whom he loved and served, he went about doing good to all, not in a solemn way, but as one who believed that the healthiest thing for Heaven, as well as for earth, was lots of sunshine. In his letters, in his retreats, in his dealings with the boys, in his meetings with the Old Boys who came to visit him (and they were legion), he was ever the same constant, unselfish and day-in-day-out heroic friend. So he worked on for the Master and His cause “all the day long, till the shadows lengthened and the evening came, and the busy world was hushed and the fever of life was over and his work was done. Then, in His mercy, may that loving Master give him safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last”. He has gone to his reward, and may it be - as we feel certain it is exceeding great.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1918

Obituary

Father James Hassett

After a long drawn out illness, during which he suffered much, Father Hassett went to receive the reward of his labours and sufferings. He passed away on Monday evening, May 27th, at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, North Sydney: He looked death fully in the face, and went to meet it full of hope.

The following account of Father Hassett is taken from "The Catholic Press" of May 30th:

“He was some ten months in the hospital, and received devoted attention from the good Sisters of Mercy and their nursing staff. He was born in Camberwell, Victoria, on August 6, 1869, and was thus in his 49th year when taken from his work. With his brothers, who direct Hassett's business college in the southern state, he was educated at Xavier College, and in his 20th year James Hassett entered the Society of Jesus. He was one of the first novices with whom the late Father Sturzo opened Loyola House, Greenwich, in 1890.

After the usual years of study preparatory to teaching, Father Hassett, then Mr. Hassett, taught at Riverview and Xavier Colleges for some years, and went to Europe in 1898. He studied for the priesthood in houses of the French Fathers of the Order in Jersey (one of the Channel islands), Canterbury (England), and after ordination was with then again in Mold, Wales. From his long years among them he acquired a fluency and skill in French that enabled him to teach it later with success. He was ordained at Dublin in 1903, and returned to Australia in 1904.

With the exception of a few months towards the end of his life spent in Hawthorn parish, Melbourne, and in St. Aloysius' College, Milson's Point, Father Hassett was at Riverview College. Every old boy visiting the College knew Father Haşsett, and he knew then and all about them, and such was the good priest's charm of manner and conversation that everyone he met felt he was a very special friend of his. This gave Father Hassett an influence for good over young fellows especially, which has borne fruit in many lives.

The well-kept gardens and lawns of Riverview, that are the wonder of visitors, owe most of their beauty to Father Hassett's unwearying attention. He had charge of the gardens, and with his own hands he dug trenches for tender plants or rooted out the weeds and pruned the roses. He was never so happy as when he met a floral enthusiast. In his priestly ministrations he was tremendously zealous. Indeed, he undermined his constitution through zeal for souls. He never knew when to say “no” to requests for sermons or retreats, for which he was in much demand. Even in latter years he has crowded three retreats into three weeks of vacation, and has come back tired but happy to continue the hard work of teaching. He was spiritual father to the boys, and director of sodalities, and he was a live director-directing in season and out of season; but he had a special gift for the work. Right to the end he was an ardent St. Vincent de Paul worker, He made a point of never mişsing a quarterly meeting, if he could get to the meeting centre at all.

Few could win boys' confidence and retain it like Father Hassett. To the many old Riverviewers at the front he would drop an occasional line or two to show he did not forget; and to the sorrowing parents, when a boy died on the battlefield, a letter was sure to come from Father Hassett. He was a man of untiring energy and self-sacrifice; an enthusiastic worker in everything he put his hand to, and his warm heart made him hosts of friends, who will sorrow over his early call from his labours. His death leaves a gap not easily filled in the ranks of the Order and in the life of Riverview College.

-oOo-

Father James Hassett SJ

I knew him very well indeed. To live with him even for a few months was to know him as others would be known only after many years. But I lived with him for ten years at least, and hence, as I have said, I knew him very well indeed. This thought makes me realise what I consider to be the wonderful sincerity that shone out from his soul, lighting up for his friends the infinite variety of his ever-active and eager sympathetic thoughts about them and all their interests. Never was there one who had less thought for self, except where duty called him to fit himself in arduous ways for devoted and zealous work.

The next thing, though equal, if possible, to this wonderful sincerity was his zeal for others and desire to help them. In a nature so frank, disinterested and energetic, this good will for all sorts and conditions of me was always forceful and always in evidence, especially of course for the young, to whom most of his life was devoted; it was a most charming and attractive feature in a charming and attractive personality..

Among his French friends in the great Jesuit Theological Colleges of Jersey and Canterbury, he was known as “le bon père Hassett”, and this was praise indeed, for you cannot find in all the world better judges with a keener appreciation of goodness of heart.

But I know I need not go so far afield to find witnesses and admirers of this “bon père”, so good to others, without stint or any thought of sparing self, or any sign of personal whim or partiality.

Of his many gifts of mind and character, Fitting him to be a master of any class, from the highest to the lowest, in our Colleges and he loved to have the smallest boys about him as much as the biggest, Elementarians as much as Matriculation Seniors - I need hardly speak in these lines intended for your readers. Many of them have heard his praises from at least half-a-dozen generations of Riverview old boys, and many have no need to learn from others of the pains he took with all alike to prepare them for examinations, in which his teaching was so singularly successful. They will, perchance, forget many incidents of school life, but never, I think, his zeal for their good, both in the hours of school and in the hours of play; and especially, perhaps, how in the midst of his work, in what I might call the hibiscus quadrangle, he would be surrounded by boys listening to the flow of wise banter and serious gaiety which came from that tall stooping figure, working away with his spade as furiously as Adam himself trying to evoke the beauty of Paradise once more, but from a more stubborn earth. I love to think of him thus, digging, planting, rooting out weeds, checking unruly growths, pruning, training the creepers, watering the fair young grass - all so typical of his work for the boys (for he was their spiritual adviser as well as master in class) - energetic, hopeful, optimistic, enlightened, intelligent, loving, devoted, with never a thought of self, the honest hard-worked gardener, intent only on the right cultivation of the plants entrusted to his care, in order to make sure of that at least, and, like a wise gardener, leaving all the rest to God.

R J LITTLE SJ

Born: 23 September 1865, Westbury, Tasmania, Australia
Entered: 30 January 1886, Xavier, Melbourne, Australia (HIB)
Died: 14 June 1899, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

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

Older brother of Cornelius - RIP 1948

by 1897 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was sent to Europe for studies and had started Philosophy at Jersey. His health failing, he was sent to Tullabeg and he died there 14 June 1899.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Hartnett, brother of Cornelius, was educated at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, 1884-85, and entered the Society at Xavier College, Kew, 13 January 1886. After his juniorate there and at Loyola College, Greenwich, 1888-91, he taught at Riverview, 1891-92, St Aloysius' College, Bourke Street, 1892-93; Xavier College, 1893-95; and Riverview again, 1895-96, where he cared for some rowing crews and helped with prefecting. He sailed for Ireland, 1 August 1896, to study philosophy at Jersey, 1896-98, and theology at Milltown Park, 1898-99. He was always delicate and inclined to consumption, but was highly valued by superiors and died showing much patience during his long illness.

Born: 08 February 1913, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 03 September 1930, Emo
Ordained: 06 January 1945, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 15 August 1948
Died: 25 November 1988, Campion College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia- Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger Brother of Jack Moran (MAC-HK) - RIP 1991
Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Tertian Instructor in Philippines

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Val Moran attended Clongowes Wood College, for his secondary education, and was a clever student, regularly taking the prizes in classics. He was also school champion at tennis, captain of cricket and the opening bat, as well as a very useful second-row forward and goal kicker for the first XV rugby. In his last year he took the Union Gold Medal for English essay. He was also prefect of the Sodality and had the most Rabelaisian wit. He was a good mimic of various teachers.
Moran entered the Society at St Mary's Emo, 3 September 1930, and was sent to Australia as a novice because of poor health with tuberculosis. His ecclesiastical studies were all in Australia, and he gained a BA with honours in classics, 1933-35, from The University of Melbourne. Regency was at Riverview, 1936-38, where he taught English, Latin and Greek, and was involved with senior debating and cricket.
Maybe the threat of death from an early age gave him a remarkable freedom and serenity living quietly in the background, always present, emerging only when the moment was ripe, superb in timing, sharp in judgment but not in tone, humorous, eloquent, never using a word more than necessary.
He was a richly talented man, but never proclaimed his gifts ostentatiously. Above all, he was essentially very human and compassionate. He was easy to approach as spiritual father, and always gave wise counsel, while never intruding on one's personal space.
He was expert in the quick and telling comment about people and situations, usually accurate and humorous, but pointed. His teasing of some was always in good fun. His obituaries of Jesuits were a delight to read.
He was an outstanding Church historian, and probably had an unrivalled knowledge of the Society's history and spirituality He was a fine tertian master, not only in information communicated, but also in his spiritual discernment. His homilies at Mass were short and inspiring.
He was arguably die most interesting lecturer scholastics in the Australian province experienced. His lectures were of such fascination that expiry of time was always a cause for genuine regret. During every one he paused for a light comment on some ecclesiastical practice or misdemeanour. Everyone waited for these enlightened words and applauded in an appropriate fashion, but Moran never paused in his presentation.
He had wide appreciation of the Church. He looked for moments of liberty, of opportunity history, pointing out where he felt ecclesiastical dogmatism or fear had prevented the bearing of possible fruit. This was clearly why he was fascinated with Modernism and the 19th century in general.
Despite his illness, which required much rest and care, Moran held many important positions of authority within the province. He was rector of the theologate, Canisius College
Pymble, 1957-62, was a province consultor for some years, assistant tertian master 1969-74, delegate for formation, 1975-76, and province delegate for tertiary education, 1979-80. He wrote an article for Theological Studies, Vol. 40, No.3, 1979, entitled “Lolsy's Theological Development”, and he spent 1981 as a research scholar on Modernism at the Casa Degli Scrittori, Rome. Articles on George Tyrrell appeared in “The Downside Review”, July 1984, entitled “The Breakings of George Tyrrell”, and in July 1985 , “George
Tyrrell: Theological Journalist of Genius”. Other articles he wrote on Tyrrell were, “George Tyrrell at War with the Society of Jesus”, and “Fr Tyrrell and the Censorship of his Writings”. in 1988 he wrote, “The Universal Catechism at Vatican I” for Pacifica Vol. 1.
Moran's contribution to the Society in Australia was considerable and much appreciated, especially by the scholastics with whom he shared his life and scholarship.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Went to Australia mainly for health reasons

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 2 1932

Australia :
Fr. N. Hehir and Br. V. Moran (scholastic novice) sailed for Australia towards the end of last year. An interesting experience was waiting for them at Naples, which we tell in Fr. Hehir's own words “We found ourselves booked to take part in a remarkable ceremony at Naples. A printed programme announced that I was to say Mass in the Gesù coram Cardinali. Fortunately the boat was late. The Provincial said the Mass. On arriving, the two of us were led down the Church (in white soutanes) in the middle of a stirring sermon delivered by the Cardinal Archbishop. Then came a sermon by one of the two scholastics who were being farewelled. Then an embarrassing ceremony - a Neapolitan tradition - apparently followed. All the clergy, led by the Cardinal, kissed the feet of the four missionaries. Lunch followed in the novitiate. Finally we were raced back to catch our boat just before sailing hour.

Born: 24 May 1884, William Street, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1900, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1915, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1918, St Mary’s, Ore Place, Hastings, Sussex, England
Died: 18 July 1947, Curia Generalizia Compagnia di Gesù, Borgo Santo Spirito, Rome, Italy

Educated at Crescent College SJ

Father General's English Assistant - 1946

by 1904 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1906
by 1913 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1918 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying
by 1947 at Rome, Italy (ROM) English Assistant

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
]ohn Hannon entered the Society as a highly talented sixteen year old, and after novitiate and one year juniorate, studied philosophy at Gemert in 1903. At the end of 1906 he was sent to Australia, and spent part of 1906 and 1907 teaching at St Aloysius' College. For the remainder of 1907 until 1912 he taught at Riverview, and in a reflection of his ability he was senior rowing master, 1911-12.
He returned to Milltown Park for theology and after ordination and tertianship he took final vows at the start of 1918 and began teaching theology, which was his basic life's work. He was rector of the theologate at Milltown Park, and in the late 1930s was apostolic visitor for the Irish Christian Brothers throughout the world. He became the English assistant in Rome and he died in office in 1947.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - English Assistant 23 September 1946

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946
Milltown Park :
On hearing of Fr. Hannon's appointment as Assistant, Fr. Rector sent a telegram of congratulation on behalf of Milltown Park. Fr, Hannon has been stationed here for a great many years. He was Professor of Philosophy and Theology and was Rector from 1924 to 1930.

Sacred Heart, Crescent, Limerick :
Fr. Rector sent a telegram of congratulation to Fr. Hannon, a past pupil of the Crescent College, on his appointment as Assistant.
Irish Province News 22nd Year No 3 1947

GENERAL :
The sudden death of V. Rev. Fr. John J. Hannon, Assistant, on the morning of July 18th as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage came as a great shock to the Province, R.I.P. An account of his career appears below. Fr. Provincial sent immediately a message of sympathy to his Paternity in the name of the Irish Province. .
In his telegram announcing Fr. Hannon's death, Fr. General re called to Rome Fr. Van den Brempt, the Substitute Secretary for the English Assistancy, who came to Dublin on July 14th to perfect his English, and went on the Juniors' Villa at Balbriggan the following day. Fr. Van den Brempt left Dunlaoghaire for Holyhead on the night of Sunday, July 20th.

Obituary :
Fr. John Hannon (1884-1900-1947)
Fr. John J. Hannon, English Assistant, died suddenly in Rome, in the early hours of 18th July, as a result of an attack of cerebral hemorrhage. He failed to appear for his Mass at 6.30 a.m. that morning, and was also missed at breakfast. On entering his room shortly after 7 o'clock, Fr. Henry Nolan found him dead in bed, death having supervened some hours previously. The Superior of the Curia, Fr. Martin, the Italian Assistant administered conditional Extreme Unction. Fr. Hannon had been his usual self the evening previously, and had attended to various items of business, including the purchase of a ticket to Malta where he was due to give retreats in early September. He had been, it is true, under medical care for his heart, and was on a diet for some months previously, but few realised the end was so near, though he himself had given various hints that he did not expect to live long. The funeral obsequies took place on Saturday, 19th July after Mass in the chapel of the Curia, which was offered by His Paternity, who also said the last prayers in the Cemetery at Agro Verano, where Fr. Hannon's mortal remains await the resurrection.
Fr. Hannon was born in Limerick on 24th May, 1884 and went to school to the Christian Brothers and later to our College, the Crescent. He entered Tullabeg as a novice on 7th September, 1900, where he also studied rhetoric for a year as a Junior before being sent to Gemert in Holland for his philosophy. It was here that he began to show that special aptitude for scholastic studies to which many years of his later life were to be dedicated. He shone in a class of brilliant students, in the French house, which included men of the stamp of D'Herbigny.
The six years of his magisterium in the Colleges he spent in Australia, at St. Aloysius' and St. Ignatius', Riverview, and was for the final year Prefect of studies at Riverview. He returned to Ireland in 1912 and was sent to Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol for his theological studies, which he completed at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained on 31st July, 1915 by Dr. Browne, Bishop of Cloyne. He made his tertianship during the year 1916-7 under Fr. Ignatius Gartlan at Tullabeg, and was then chosen for a biennium in preparation for a chair in dogmatic Theology in Milltown, going to Ore Place, Hastings in the autumn of 1917. He was professed of the four Vows there on 2nd February, 1918. His biennium had to be interrupted when the new Philosophate was opened at Milltown, to accommodate our scholastics who had, owing to the threat of conscription, to be withdrawn from Jersey and Stonyhurst. Fr. Hannon was one of the professors, and continued teaching philosophy for the next six years. During Fr. Peter Finlay's absence in Rome as one of the Province delegates at the 27th General Congregation in 1923, Fr. Hannon had his first opportunity as a professor of theology, and those who attended these first classes will retain a pleasurable memory of his gift of clear exposition, his youthful enthusiasm for the subject treated, his delightful fluency in Latin. In 1924 he joined the permanent staff of theological professors and was also appointed Rector of Milltown, whose destinies he guided till 1930. During this period he did much to improve the status of the studies and the material development of the House. The Chapel was the object of his special predilection, thanks to the generosity of benefactors he was able to carry out a scheme of decoration which transformed its appearance and to install a new tabernacle set in priceless jewels. Fr. Hannon succeeded Fr. Peter Finlay in the public chair of dogmatic Theology in the National University in 1924, a post he held for ten years. Once a Week during each term of the academic year he lectured to an over flowing and enthusiastic audience, chiefly from the student body of University College, Dublin, for whom he worked exceedingly hard in making available to them in the columns of “The Irish Catholic”, the weekly lecture in full. A new feature of this professorship consisted in written examinations in the matter treated each year, with the offering of substantial money prizes for successful candidates. To an enquiry as to the attendance which these lectures attracted, the College porter once replied: “Why, it's like a Mission”!
Fr. Hannon was. Consultor of the Province from 1931 to 1938, when he was appointed to a post which made it impossible for him to continue in that capacity, we refer to the task confided to him by the Holy See as Apostolic Visitor to the Congregation of Irish Christian Brothers, shortly after the termination of the 28th General Congregation, at which he again represented the Province. In the discharge of his new responsibilities he bad to visit practically every land of the English speaking world. From these extensive travels he gleaned, incidentally, an immense experience of men and things, and first-hand information on questions of Catholic interest, especially the extent and influence of Irish Catholic penetration abroad which impressed him profoundly and was the frequent theme of his conversation and of the eloquent public lectures he delivered later to so many different audiences.
During the war Fr. Hannon bad occasion to visit Rome in connection with visitation matters. During his stay he was entrusted by the Holy Father with the task of visiting prisoners-of-war camps in Italy and giving retreats to Catholic officers and men from various English-speaking countries detained there. We can imagine the comfort which the genial presence of this special representative of the Holy Father brought the prisoners, not a few of whom he had already met when in Australia as a scholastic or whose people were personally known to him. Fr. Hannon went again to Rome as Province elector at the 29th General Congregation which chose Fr. Janssens as General. He himself was elected Assistant to the English Assistancy on 22nd September, 1946, the second in the history of our Province to be chosen to that post of responsibility, the first being Fr. John Ffrench, a Co. Galway man, who died in the Professed House, Rome, in 1873.
Fr. Hannon was scarcely 10 months Assistant, and of these ten months he spent about two outside Rome, on the occasion of his short visit to the Irish and English Provinces in January and February of the present year. A stranger hitherto to the latter Province he made a deep impression on its members by his affability, his wide experience and dexterity in the management of affairs. They and we were looking forward to the possession for many years to come, of such a kindly and influential ‘friend at court’, a wise and prudent counsellor, but God decided otherwise, and called him away suddenly in the midst of his unselfish labours.
The late Assistant was a man of deep unobtrusive piety, of a simplicity and naturalness which were the key to the ascendancy which he so readily won over hearts. He had, to help him, that precious talent of remembering names and faces and could, it may be said without exaggeration, resume again, after the lapse of years, threads of conversation where they had broken off, so retentive a memory he had for people's individual interests, those little joys and sorrows of others which never failed to find a sympathetic echo in his own affectionate heart. Homo sum - humani nihil a me alienum puto could truly, and in the best sense of the phrase of Terence be said of him.
His exceptionally clear analytic mind was paired with ripeness of judgment and practical common sense, gifts these which rendered him such an invaluable counsellor in Curia circles. But, for those who knew Fr. Hannon best, the outstanding gift to him from Heaven was that conspicuous splendor caritatis with which his least word or action was instinct, in whose genial glow hearts were fired, or the mists of prejudice and misunderstanding melted away. R.I.P.

Letter from Fr. J. A. MacSeumais, Air Force Chaplain, 25-7-47 :
“I learned only to-day from the English Province Chaplains' Weekly of the death of Fr. Hannon. R.I.P. I was deeply shocked to hear of it. I saw him for the last time on Tuesday, July 8th, when I said good bye to him as I was leaving Rome that night. . I met Fr. Hannon within a short time of my arrival in Rome on July 3rd. He had written to me previously and informed me of the very full arrangements he had made for me if I came down for the canonisation ceremonies of SS. John de Britto and Bernardino Realino. When I met him on arrival he was most kind and put me in the hands of Fr. Henry Nolan. I saw him every day during my stay at the Curia. He was always enquiring about how I was getting on, suggesting I should see such a place, and he went to great trouble to get me a seat in the tribune for the canonisation for Saints Elizabeth des Anges and Michael Garicoits on July 6th. He was finding the intense heat very trying. He took recreation with Fr. O'Donnell, the American Substitute, and myself on the roof several nights, but be used to retire early, because, he said, he could not sleep in the mornings and had to try to make up some sleep at night. I think he was very glad to see somebody from the Province. His Italian was not perfect, and he probably welcomed a chance of speaking to one of his fellow countrymen. May he rest in peace”.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
John Hannon 1884-1947
Fr John Hannon was one of the best known members of the Province in Ireland and abroad among both laymen and clerics, and was the second Irishman to hold the responsible post of Assistant to the General.

He was a Limerick man born in that city on May 24th 1884. Educated at the Crescent, he entered the Society in 1900. After his ordination in 1915, he became Professor of Theology at Milltown Park and lectured also in Theology at University College Dublin. After being Rector of Milltown Park for six years he was appointed by the Holy See as Apostolic Visitor to the Irish Christian Brothers throughout the world in 1938.

In 1946 he attended the 29th General Congregation as a delegate of the Irish province. There he was chosen as English Assistant. His term of office was, alas, only too short, for he died suddenly in Rome the following year on July 18th 1947.

He was a man of very handsome appearance, of great charm of manner, accompanied by great gifts of mind, an unusual combination which he used for the glory of God and the advancement of religion. He was much in demand for priests retreats and had a very fruitful apostolate among the sick in hospitals. To him we owe the present beautiful chapel at Milltown Park.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father John Hannon (1884-1947)

In the foregoing pages, only Jesuits who have been members of the Limerick community have been noticed in the biographical index. Yet, this centenary publication would not be complete if it did not assign a notice to two Irish Jesuits who were never members of the community. Father Edmund O'Reilly undoubtedly had much to do with the restoration of the Society in Limerick, while Father John Hannon, an Old Crescent boy, became the second Irish Father Assistant at Rome in the four centuries history of the Society.

Father John Hannon (1884-1947), a native of Limerick, received his early education with the Christian Brothers and at Sacred Heart College. He was admitted to the Society in 1900. After his classical studies he was sent to Belgium for philosophy and later spent his regency in Australia. His theological studies were made at Innsbruck and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1915. At the end of his tertianship he continued his studies in theology in preparation for a chair at Milltown Park. For some years after his return to Ireland he taught philosophy. From 1924 to 1934 he occupied the public chair of dogmatic theology at University College, Dublin, while a member of the theological faculty at Milltown Park. In 1938, he was appointed Apostolic Visitor to the Irish Christian Brothers. His studies in this important post brought him to all parts of the world where the Christian Brothers have established themselves. At the end of the war, on the occasion of a General Congregation of the Society in Rome, Father Hannon was elected to the important post of Assistant for Ireland, England, Canada and Belgium (with dependent missions). He died suddenly in Rome some ten months later on 18 July, 1947.