Showing 19 results

Born: 24 June 1823, Termon, County Donegal
Entered: 13 August 1851, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows:15 August 1861
Died: 10 March 1887, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 16 September 1809, Stralongford, County Donegal
Entered: 16 July 1843, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Died: 14 April 1855, St Louis College, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 04 September 1923, Pound Street, Carndonagh, County Donegal
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows; 05 November 1977
Died: 26 December 2015, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Part of the Coláiste Iognáid, Galway community at the time of death.
Buried at Carndonagh, County Donegal

Transcribed HIB to HK: 03 December 1966

Father was a businesman.

Second of three boys with two sisters.

Early education at Carndonagh NS for seven years, and then at Mungret College SJ for five years.

by 1952 at Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death Notice

Father Anthony Farren SJ, who returned to his homeland of Ireland in 2001 where he lived in retirement in Galway after almost 50 years’ service in Hong Kong, died at 12:30am on 26 December 2015 last year.

His funeral was held at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Carndonagh on 29 December.

A memorial Mass will be offered for his intentions at 7:30pm on January 13 at the chapel of Wah Yan College in Kowloon, where he was principal from 1960 to 1966, in addition to remaining on the staff until 1978, before returning as supervisor from 1985 to 1997.

Born on 4 September 1923, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1942, coming to Hong Kong in 1950. He was ordained a priest on 31 July 1956.

Au Lok-man wrote in a letter published by the Apple Daily that although there was no apparent relationship between Father Farren’s native Ireland and Hong Kong, he crossed the seas to serve its people for almost 50 years, many of whom will mark the moment he passed from this world with deep gratitude for his life.

May he rest in peace.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 10 January 2016

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He first came to Hong Kong in 1950 for Cantonese language studies and then he taught at Wah Yan College Hong Kong for a year.

He returned as a Priest in 1958 to Wah Yan Kowloon and in 1960 he was appointed Rector. As a young dynamic man in his 40s, he was highly respected by other local Catholic Schools such as St Francis Xavier College (Marist Brothers), La Salle College (Christian Brothers), Maryknoll Convent, and St Rose of Lima (Franciscan Missionaries of Mary). As Rector, he lived Jesuit life prudently and peacefully. As a Principal he was looked up to as a model teacher and he was liked. He spent much time with the teachers and he encouraged everyone.

During his time Wah Yan Kowloon was at its peak. The large Chapel of St Ignatius with 600 seats was opened just before he came. He took a keen interest in the Masses there, principally for the students and their parents, past students and friends. After six years there was a rule that Jesuit Rectors would change and so he moved to Yah Yan College Hong Kong as an English teacher. He again returned to Wah Yan Kowloon in the 1980’s as Rector and in 1991 Supervisor. Thomas Leung succeeded his as Rector in 1997, and Tony went back to Wah Yan Hong Kong, and he remained there until he retired to Ireland in 1999.

He is still remembered with love and respect by many. He was known to be a man of patience and discretion, peaceful and simple.

Note from Paddy Finneran Entry
He came to Hong Kong as a young priest with Peter Dunne and 5 Scholastics - Liam Egan, Paddy Cunningham, Matt Brosnan, Tom O’Neilland Tony Farren. He spent two years at the Battery Path Language School learning Cantonese.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 163 : Spring 2016

Obituary

Fr Anthony (Tony) Farren (1923-2015)

It is a long way from Carndonagh to Hong Kong where Tony gave forty six years of his life as teacher and friend to numerous pupils and past pupils. That journey began with a shorter journey, though an arduous one for a twelve-year-old, when he took the bus and train to Mungret College.

The most striking thing about Tony's room in Galway, where he lived for eleven years on his return from Hong Kong, was the scattering of letters with Chinese stamps and photos of Wah Yan past pupils and their families. It was obvious was that his past pupils held their former English and history teacher, football, tennis and debating coach and priest, in great esteem.

Esteem wasn't lacking among his fellow Jesuits. Twice he was appointed rector of the Jesuit community - a duty, according to one of his contemporaries, that weighed heavily on him, especially when his first appointment came only two years after Tertianship, and he was at the same time made headmaster of Wah Yan College where he worked. Equally unusual was his appointment some years later to a second term in the same community. It testifies to the level of trust shown by both those who made the appointments, and by his fellow-Jesuits who welcomed him as their superior. Tony was the opposite of ambitious. He saw himself as an ordinary guy serving his brethren; but in the consistency and quality of that service over many years, he was truly extraordinary. He was a rock of sense with a sharp eye for people's needs. That caring kindness was evident even in the last days of his life.

A sign of our growth in faith is gratitude. Tony was immensely grateful to his family, for their care for him in later years when staying in the family home, and for their many visits. However he hated people to fuss over him and he didn't want parents away from their families coming up to Christmas. They didn't always listen to what he said. On my last visit just before his death, he told me that he had sent out an edict to his family: no visits! And what was the result? Three nieces arrived, followed by two nephews! So I jokingly said to him: weren't they were very disobedient? Yes, but the right sort of disobedience, he answered with a smile.

The marks of family stay with us to the grave. Family affects our faith: With all its imperfections and changes, it gives us a first experience of love, and therefore of the Lord of love. It is hard for anyone to believe in the unmerited love of God who has not enjoyed the unmerited love of a parent. In Tony those marks were evident: in his stability and strength, his gentleness and kindness. It showed in his football, the ideal centre half, masterly but unselfish, feeding his forwards. It showed in his work, a natural leader, inspiring huge loyalty. Tony's pastoral care of students in Hong Kong left a lasting mark, as his plentiful post and visits testify to. His students would happily come from Hong Kong to Cherryfield to touch base with him again - distance no object. After Tony came back to Ireland, his old friend Dr Simon Au, came here every year to visit.

I only knew Tony when he was in his 80s, in Galway. Even then, he wanted to be fully informed of all that was going on in the church and school, Wanted also to fulfil his priestly duties in whatever way he could. Galway parishioners spoke of his kindness to them. When he was no longer able to say a public Mass, he still continued to hear confessions every Saturday afternoon. When I visited him three days before his death, his voice was weak, but his mind clear. We parted by giving one another a blessing. What was striking was his enormous gratitude to the nursing staff. He was emphatic that he couldn't be receiving better care anywhere else. The nurses and carers for their part loved and cherished him.

Being a teacher was in his DNA. His nephews and nieces recalled how on his infrequent but lengthy stays in Carndonagh, he taught them swimming, tennis, played football with them and took a keen interest in their studies, he was their fond priest uncle.

While a pleasant presence in community, ever attentive to visitors, Tony maintained a certain reserve. There was an anxious side to him, and maybe it was this that made him slow to share more of himself? No more than the rest of us, he could be impatient with the foibles of some of his brothers,

He was ready for death, was anointed and shriven, peaceful. As we give back his soul to God and his body to Carndonagh, we Irish Jesuits would like to thank the Farrens for giving us such a man. The great mystery of God's providence is how God uses us fragile creatures to accomplish great achievements. May the Lord now complete what He began in Tony many years ago and reward him for his goodness: all those goodbyes to family and friends to remake that journey to Hong Kong, not to mention the letting go of all those Hong Kong friendships when he felt the time had come to return to Ireland at seventy-eight because he thought he could be of more use back in Ireland. May he rest in peace.

Charlie Davy, with help from James Hurley

Born: 24 September1879, County Donegal
Entered: 07 September 1898, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1916
Final Vows: 02 February 1917
Died: 24 June 1945, Preston, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1904 came to Tullabeg (HIB) teaching
by 1916 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 21 October 1887, Crowanrudda, Kilcar, County Donegal
Entered: 01 February 1907, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 25 April 1918
Final Vows: 02 February 1926
Died: 21 December 1960, Roehampton, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Transcribed HIB to ANG : 1908

First World War chaplain

Father was a coal merchant. Parents lived at Nile Street, Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

Only boy with one sister.

Educated at a convent school in Greenock, he went to Glenleighan NS, Finstown, County Donegal. He then went to St Mungo’s Academy, Crownpoint Road, Glasgow, Scotland for one year. He then went to St Eunan’s Seminary, Letterkenny, County Donegal.

by 1920 came to Milltown (HIB) studying
by 1925 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - St Eunan’s, Letterkenny, County Donegal student

Born: 09 April 1932, Ard na Gréine, Castleknock, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, St Ignatius, München, Germany
Died: 12 September 2019, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1961 at Heythrop, Oxford (ANG) studying
by 1965 at Münster, Germany (GER S) making Tertianship
by 1966 at Munich, Germany (GER S) studying
by 1985 at Vocation Sisters, Angmering Sussex, England (ANG) working
by 1999 at St Augustine’s Priory, Hassocks, Sussex, England (ANG) working

Son of Richard Lavelle and Patricia O’Mara. Father was a doctor.

Third of four boys with one sister.

Early education was at Ballinasloe NS, County Galway, he went then to Belvedere College SJ for eight years.

Born: 15 November 1829, Stranorlar, County Donegal
Entered: 02 May 1858, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 21 February 1912, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 15 February 1828, Ballyshannon, County Donegal
Entered: 19 July 1851, Montréal, Québec, Canada - Franciae Province (FRA)
Died: 18 May 1853, Fordham College, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)

Born: 17 March 1879, Moville, County Donegal
Entered: 10 March 1897, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 22 September 1912
Final vows: 02 February 1915
Died: 06 February 1966, Carnforth, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Transcribed HIB to ANG : 1900

by 1914 at Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship
◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Transferred to ANG Provice for Zambesi Mission

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Educated at De La Salle College, Dundalk, County Louth

Lived and worked at the Morning Star Hostel, North Brunswick Street, Dublin

by 1981 at Lahore Pakistan (MISS PAK) working

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 112 : Special Edition 2002

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Born: 15 August 1823, Clonmany, County Donegal
Entered: 11 July 1857, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1867
Died: 10 December 1889, The Gesù, Philadelphia, PA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 16 October 1916, Parnell Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1934, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1953, Sacred Heart College SJ (Crescent), Limerick
Died: 04 March 2008, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Father, Philip, was a butcher in Parnell Street and he died in 1919. Mother was Mary (McGee). Family resided at Belvedere Avenue, North Circular Road Dublin. Mother resided after father’s death at Parnell Street, Dublin, supported by the butcher’s shop which was managed by the eldest brother.

Youngest of six boys.
Educated at a private school and then at O’Connells school (1925-1933). In 1933 he went to Mungret College SJ
Dermot Peakin - by 1985 Diarmuid Ó Peicín;

by 1967 at Handsworth, Birmingham (ANG) working
by 1968 at Erdington, Birmingham (ANG) working
by 1970 at Walthamstow, London (ANG) working
by 1971 at London, England (ANG) working
by 1975 at Dockhead, London (ANG) working
by 1976 at Redcross, London (ANG) working
by 1977 at London W2 (ANG) working
by 1978 at Rotherhithe London (ANG) working

Born: 1551, Armagh City, County Armagh
Entered: 26 June 1582, Brünn (Brno), Czech Republic - Austriacae Province (ASR)
Ordained: 1577, Cork - before Entered
Final Vows: 29 June 1594
Died: 06 August 1616, Neuhaus (Jindřichův Hradec), Bohemia (Czech Republic) - Austriacae Province (ASR)

1587 At Brünn BOH Age 26 - of middling health.
1590 Vienna CAT At Vienna hearing confessions.
1593-1600 At Turocz (Turóc, Slovakia) ASR Age 42 Soc 11. Minister twice at Brün, has taught Grammar and Syntax in different Colleges and now teaches Greek, is Confessor of College and Consultor of Rector.
1600-1603 At Vienna College Spiritual Father.
1603-1616 At Neuhaus College, Bohemia. Temporary Librarian and Prefect of Health. Confessor of students and Germans.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica”:
Friend of Primate Creagh;
Educated at Paris and Pont-à-Mousson; Minister of Neuhaus College in Germany (for 24 years confessor of the holy foundress of that College, and of Germans and foreigners)
(cf sketch of his life in “Hist. of Austrian Province AD 1616; and "Hibernia Ignatiana" 28028, 122)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ:
According to himself his baptismal name was Fersi (=Fear sithe, man of peace); The name Florece was given because the baptising priest knew no Irish. He later asked the General if he could be known as Pacficus (Latin) or Solomon (Greek.! The General suggested he use the name he was known by, so he used Florence.
Already a priest before Ent 26 June 1582 Brünn (Brno) ASR
He began life as a page or valet to Archbishop Creagh of Armagh. Having acquired some Latin he wanted to be a Priest, but was discouraged by the Archbishop, who made him promise to drop the idea. Later the Archbishop, when a prisoner, relented and Florence, with little Latin but deep piety - he made the pilgrimage to Lough Derg three times - was Ordained by the Jesuit Bishop Edmund Tanner of Cork in 1577. He then spent four years in Paris where he managed to complete two years of Philosophy under the influence of the Irish Jesuit Richard Fleming, and was received into the Novitiate at 26 June 1582 Brünn (Brno).
After First Vows in the Society, because he was already a Priest, Initially He had been sent to Olomuc, but returned after a few months he returned to Brünn (Brno) to work as an Operarius at the Church there. He was very conscious of his the gaps in his own Priestly formation, and he asked the General to be allowed to remedy this. He was given a year to himself to study cases of conscience, and though by the standards of the Society he was an un- educated priest, he showed himself a man of prudence in spiritual direction
After only five years in the Society he was made Superior of the Jesuit Church at Brünn (Brno).
He exercised his church ministry later as Operarius at Vienna, Turocz (Turiec, Slovakia) and Neuhaus (Jindřichův Hradec, Czech Republic) (1596) and it was here that he was to spend the last 20 years of his life, where he was regarded as a sound spiritual guide, especially by priests and Religious. For a time he was Minister and prefect of the Church, and he died there 04 August 1616.
He volunteered to serve on the Irish mission and Father Holywood was anxious to have him sent to Ireland because of his fluency in Irish. There was a lull in the requests on the arrest of Holywood, but he resumed his efforts after release. But his poor health and increasing deafness saw his Austrian Superiors decide to keep him in the Province,

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Florence Moore 1550-1616
Florence Moore was born in Armagh in 1550. As a boy he had such a love of corporal austerities, that he went three times on pilgrimage to St Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg, and spent nine days each time in severe penances. He was attached to the household of Fr Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, by whom he was singularly loved, and who promoted his studies for the priesthood. He spent eight years at Paris and Pont-à-Mousson studying. Dr Tanner, Bishop of Cork, former Jesuit, ordained him in 1575. Four or five years later he went to Rome where he was received into the Society by Fr Claude Acquaviva in 1582.

Finally he was sent to the new College at Neuhaus founded by the Viceroy of Bohemia, where he spent the rest of his life. He did such useful work as a confessor that the Jesuits of Bohemia refused to release him for work in Ireland, in spite of repeated requests from the Superior of the Mission.

Before his death he made a general confession of his whole life, and when tempted by the devil with bewildering doubts, he used refer him to that confession, and when the devil appeared in visible form, he banished him by kissing the crucifix.

He died on August 4th 1616.

Born: 23 February 1926, Kamaduru, North Circular Road, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1944, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1962, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 19 November 2009, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Father was an accountant.

Older of two boys with three sisters.

Educated at a Convent school for three years and then he went to Crescent College SJ for nine years.

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 142 : Spring 2010
Obituary

Fr Niall O’Neill (1926-2009)

23rd February 1926: Born in Limerick
Early education at Crescent College
7th September 1944: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1946: First Vows at Emo
1946 - 1950: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1950 - 1953: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1953 - 1956: Belvedere - Teacher
1956 - 1960: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1959: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1960 - 1961: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1961 - 1962: Clongowes- Lower Line Prefect; Teacher
2nd February 1962: Final Vows
1962 - 1967: Crescent College, Limerick - Spiritual Director (pupils); Confessor; Teacher
1967 - 1973: Tullabeg - Missions / Retreat Staff
1973 - 1989: Sacred Heart Church, Limerick
1973 - 1984: Missions / Retreat staff
1984 - 1989: Missions / Retreat staff; Promoted the Apostleship of Prayer and the Messenger
1989 - 2000: Tory Island - Parish Curate
2000 - 2001: Gort an Choirce - LeitirCeanainn, Dun na nGall
2001 - 2006: Gallen Priory Nursing and Retirement Home, Ferbane - Residential Chaplain
2006 - 2009: Della Strada, Limerick - Prayed for Church and Society
19th November, 2009: Died in Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Liam O'Connell writes:
Niall O'Neill grew up on the North Circular Road, Limerick. His family was important to Niall, and he remained close to his brother and three sisters. His father, Dick, died in his 40's, and a photograph from the ordination day of Niall and his mother, whom the family called Mater, had pride of place in Niall's room. All of his family shared a devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes, and a commitment to the care of the sick, and over the years their annual pilgrimages there also became a family reunion.

Niall took great pleasure in the achievements of his nieces and nephews, and they in turn were great at keeping in touch with him. He introduced them to music at an early age, buying guitars and a set of uileann pipes for them. They were most grateful to him for this, and many of them followed musical careers.

In 1944, during the World War, Niall left the Crescent and began his life as a Jesuit, when he went to Emo. Years later when Emo closed, Niall salvaged the bell from there, called the Challenger, and he used it to summon people to Mass on Tory Island. After studies in UCD and in Tullabeg, Niall taught as a scholastic in Belvedere where he also ran the Field Club, and he became a lifelong friend and supporter of the Belvedere Youth Club. In later years he went as chaplain with them on their annual seaside camp in County Meath.

During the years of study Niall belonged to a great group of Jesuit companions. These included Tom McGivern and Gerry Keane, who later worked in Zambia and Singapore, but they still remained his steadfast friends. Contemporaries enjoyed Niall's personal qualities, his rugged determination, his patriotism, his good humour, his talent as a musician, as a sportsman, as an actor, and as one of the authors of the pantomimes and reviews they produced regularly. In these they poked gentle fun at everybody and everything, and they maintained a sense of balance and good humour at a time of Spartan living conditions.

As a schoolboy Niall and a friend cycled from Limerick to Portlaoise on a bird watching expedition, to see the first collared doves in Ireland, and as a Jesuit this love of nature continued to enrich his life. Years later he attracted hundreds of 'twitchers' to Tory, by alerting the BBC to the presence on the island of a bird rarely seen in Europe. He amassed a specialised collection of Irish bird books, and even when in Cherryfield be sent for his binoculars so that he could continue to be close to the natural world.

After Tertianship Niall became Lower Liner Prefect at Clongowes. Then in 1962 he went to Limerick, to Crescent College as a teacher and Spiritual Father. In 1967 he joined the Retreat and Parish Mission staff. This new work brought him to every diocese in Ireland, giving parish missions that lasted up to two weeks at a time, and he worked closely with Seán Noonan and Kevin Laheen and Noel Holden. Niall had a great love of the lore of country places, and took many fine slide photographs of the places he visited.

For much of this time Niall continued to live in the Crescent, until he went in 1989 to live as the resident priest in Tory Island off the Donegal coast. He described this as the happiest period of his life, and he adapted his Munster Irish to Caighdeán Cuige Ulaidh. At this time he began to say the Divine Office and Mass in Irish, a practice he continued till the end. On Tory he also visited the sick, worked as a peacemaker, welcomed visitors, and brought encouragement and friendship to many, especially the housebound. He also had time to fish for his supper, and to wander in all weathers all over the island. In recent years he used to look at his collection of videos of life on Tory. These included pictures of the Ferry journey to Tory, programmes about Tory recorded from TG4, homemade videos that recorded the island way of life, and some great Atlantic storms.

We also have some beautiful photographs of Niall from Tory; processing outside the church with altar servers, with their vestments blowing in the wind; bounding over rocky outcrops with two beautiful dogs; ringing the bell for Mass, and smiling with delight as he greeted friends. In recent Niall used to receive a large post every day, and the Donegal postmarks on many of these letters were a sign of strong and lasting friendships formed on Tory.

In the year 2000 Niall had a stroke, and had to leave his beloved Tory. He always was a determined person, and entered into his rehabilitation programme with great resolve. He lived for a year in Cherryfield and then in Gort an Choirce, Letterkenny, before becoming Resident Chaplain, in Gallen Priory Nursing and Retirement Home, Ferbane, Co. Offaly. Gallen Priory is the site of a 5th century hermitage of Saint Canoc, on the River Brosna, and it is one of the oldest Christian sites in Ireland. Niall loved his time here, and became great friends with the sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny who lived there, and with the staff and the patients of the Priory. Again Niall was a constant friend the these people visited him often in Limerick for his last three years.

And every morning he spent two hours in his own little sanctuary, down by a bend in the River Brosna. Here he built a shaded seat at the base of an ivy clad tree, and trained the ivy so that it formed a canopy that gave shelter from the wind and rain. He prayed here, surrounded by a beauty that only comes slowly to those who know how to sit and wait. Here among the wildlife, including all the songbirds and otters and kingfishers, and other rare species he said his prayers. Ignatius of Loyola asks us to consider how God works and labours for us in all things created on the face of the earth. On this bend on the River Brosna, where the sky is constantly changing, Niall made time for God, and allowed God to touch his heart. Here he was like the person in Coleridge's poem:
“He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all...”
In 2006 Niall had to move again, because of ill health, this time back to Limerick, to Della Strada, Dooradoyle. He became a regular patient and visitor to Ward 2C in the Regional Hospital. Here he established a strong friendship with the nurses and doctors.

Niall was blessed by their professional and personal care, and by their friendship. Later Niall was to receive the same loving care at the Jesuit nursing home, at Cherryfield Lodge in Dublin.
Niall was stubborn and determined, and during national elections his trenchant views might not have been shared by many of his colleagues. But everybody who got to know him learned to have enormous respect for his integrity and his faithfulness to the Gospel, and they were grateful for the prayerful support we received from him. He had a public disagreement with another Jesuit colleague about Tory Island affairs, but in his final months Niall used this colleague's mortuary card as a bookmark and he became reconciled with him through in prayer.

People were struck by Niall's happiness. His faith and his Jesuit vocation brought him great joy, deep down contentment, the sort of joy that is bigger than any of life's difficulties. This was true especially in the last three years, when he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, which at first made speech difficult, and then impossible. However Niall never seemed to be wrapped up in himself. He was a great host to visitors to Della Strada, and even in illness he became their willing chauffeur. And whenever colleagues and friends faced a difficulty, they valued his prayers and his support.
During these three years of sickness, Niall spent much of this time praying, in the chapel with the curtains to the outside world drawn back, to let the world of nature in. God works and labours for us in all things created on the face of the earth. Every morning he put an apple on the ground outside the window of his room, to feed two blackbirds who became his companions. Then for much of the day he put a cushion on his lap, used his bad hand to steady a writing pad, and he proceeded to write long letters to his friends.

Niall O'Neill was closely connected to God, to God's creation and to his family and his Jesuit friends in the Lord. And that's not taken away by death. That faithful life and prayerful support is stronger than death, and we continue to be enriched by his faith and his hope and his love.

Born: 24 June 1820, Lifford, County Donegal
Entered: 04 September 1848, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 27 September 1912, St Mary’s, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 02 September 1881, County Donegal
Entered: 07 September 1901, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 20 September 1914
Professed: 02 February 1920
Died: 05 December 1975, Reading, Berkshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1916 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 01 February 1612, County Donegal
Entered: 06 April 1646, Kilkenny City, County Kilkenny
Ordained: Rome, Italy - pre Entry
Died: 02 November 1663, Galway Residence, Galway, City, County Galway

1649 Given at Galway
1650 Catalogue Taught Humanities, a Confessor and Catechist. Age 38

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied Humanities, Phiosophy and a little casuistry before Ent. He knew Latin, English, Irish and Italian.
After First Vows he taught Humanities for three years, and was a Confessor and Catechist (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI)
He was a Writer, an “egregius et facilis Poeta”, and had taught Humanities, Poetry and Rhetoric.
A singularly good man, stationed in Galway.
Was of the Poet Clan of Tyrconnell, the “Mac an Bhaird”

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied and was Ordained at Irish College Rome. He returned to Ireland 1644 before Ent 06 April 1646 Kilkenny
1648 After First Vows he taught Poetry and Rhetoric class at the Galway School. he himself was a poet. In the Report of Mercure Verdier to the General he describes him as “egregius et facilis poeta”. In the disputes over the censures proclaimed by the Nuncio, Maurice took the Nuncio' s part but, as Verdier reported: “modestly and peaceably”. On the fall of Galway to the Puritans, Father Ward had to leave the city but managed to continue his missionary work nearby until the Restoration. The clergy of his native diocese availed themselves of his good offices in resolving a feud over the episcopal succession.
He died at Galway 02 November 1663

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Maurice Ward 1616-1663
Maurice Ward was a native of Tyrconnell, born in the early 17th century. He studied humanities, philosophy and casuistry in Rome. He entered the Society in Kilkenny in 1646.

In 1646 we find him living as chaplain to Sir Epharaim Brown in his house in Galway. He was very fluent in Irish, English, Latin and Italian. He was a facile poet and writer, though there is no exact account of his writings available.

He died young at Galway in 1663 at the age of 47, having been 17 years a Jesuit.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WARD, MAURICE. When Pere Verdier visited Galway early in 1649, he found this young Jesuit living as Chaplain in the house of Sir Zepherin Brown, he describes him as “vir insigniter bonus et sincerus, egregius et facilis Pocta”. He died on the 2nd of November, 1663, aetatis 47. Soc. 17.

Born: 31 July 1830, County Donegal
Entered: 21 October 1859, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1868
Final vows: 15 August 1875
Died: 17 December 1901, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)