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Born: 24 December 1929, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 16 March 1951, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1962, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 02 November 1997, Gonzaga College SJ, Ranelagh, Dublin

Born: 23 July 1925, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 11 March 1944, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1955, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 27 November 2002, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Br James (Jim) Barry (1925-2002)

23rd July 1925: Born in Mallow, Co. Cork
Early education in St Peter's, Bray, and Presentation College, Bray
11 March 1944: Entered the Society at Emo
12th March 1946: First Vows at Emo
1946 - 1956: Emo- Gardening.
15h August 1955: Final Vows
1956 - 1958: Milltown Park - Gardening, Farming
1958 - 1964: Clongowes - Supervisor of Staff
1964 - 1965: St. Ignatius, Galway - Supervisor of Staff.
1965 - 1974: Catholic Workers College - Assisted in the Community
1974 - 1975: Crescent/Mungret - arranging for closing down of school buildings
1975 - 1991: Gonzaga College - Supervisor in College; Sacristan
1991 - 2002: Leeson Street -
1991 - 1997: Minister; Assistant Treasurer
1997 - 2002: Minister; Assistant Treasurer; Health Prefect

Following several months of concern about his health among members of his community, Jim was prevailed upon to go to Cherryfield for a rest on 25th October, 2002. He was transferred to St. Vincent's Private Hospital for tests on 4th November, where he was diagnosed as having an advanced form of lung cancer. He was half-way through a course of radium treatment, when his condition deteriorated suddenly on the evening of Sunday, 24 November, and he was found to have contracted pneumonia. That night, and during the following day, he experienced periods of distress, but on Tuesday he became more comfortable, and slipped into a coma. He died peacefully on Wednesday, 27" November, at about 7.30 p.m.

Fergus O'Keefe writes:
Jim Barry may have been born in North Cork but his first years were spent in West Cork. His father lived and worked in Timoleague. Jim always identified with his native county's successes in hurling and gaelic football. The family moved to Bray, where he received his early education. He always remained close to his family and was a regular visitor to his brother's and sister's homes in Bray. One nephew, Oliver Barry, an Oblate, is a parish priest in England.

Jim spent thirteen years in Emo as postulant, novice, refectorian and gardener. He had a powerful physique, tall, spare and strong. A novice on experiment in those days tells of being put standing on the head of the refectory squeegee, already weighted with lumps of lead, while Jim hauled it to and fro to bring up the shine on the waxed floor. He had a droll sense of humour, asking another novice, “Do you know how to play darts?" "Then dart down there with some plates.” At harvest time when all hands used be called to the farmyard to help, Jim was to be seen heaving huge sacks of grain effortlessly from the threshing machine to the waiting trailer. When the novices, teenage townies most of them, would begin to wilt, Jim would spur them on with an encouraging word and that memorable basso-profundo chuckle that seemed to rumble up from his boots. He was a faithful supporter of the local Emo footballers and would often travel to matches or to Croke Park with them.

For ten years (1946-1956) Jim worked in the walled garden at Emo with John Treacy who had worked there in earlier times under the head-gardener, Dan Deegan. Dan could remember the Earl of Portarlington on horseback marking out with canes the spots where the Wellingtonia avenue saplings were to be planted. John used to speak, engagingly, of “the Lord's time”. Years later when Jim was in Dublin the papers carried a death notice for a John Treacy in Emo. Several members of the Province travelled to Emo for the funeral, only to discover that retired gardener John was in attendance, too. Next time the canny Jim was visiting Emo, John chided him, “You never came to my funeral!”

After two years spent in the garden and on the farm at Milltown Park, Jim was appointed to Clongowes. From 1958 to 1964 he had charge of the many staff there, skilled and unskilled. Most of the refectory and cleaning staff then were young lads who lived on the premises. Jim's room adjoined their dormitory (now the SRPA loft) and he would have had them into work by 6 a.m. In those days there were no summer projects, as now, when staff could be retained and gainfully employed while school was out. Instead Jim organised ambitious schemes, joining in the work - and the fun - himself. One year it was all hands on deck to rip up the worn-out wooden floorboards of the boys' refectory. Dry fill was wheel-barrowed in, concrete poured and skimmed, tiles laid and sealed – a perfect finish, still good to this day. In the course of another summer, indoor and outdoor staffs combined to surface the entire length of the side avenue, boiling the tar, spreading it, coating it with limestone chippings and rolling it, proud as punch and enjoying themselves in the summer sunshine under Jim's genial supervision.

A year in Galway was followed by nine assisting in the community at the Catholic Workers College. Changes of Jesuit personnel and policy in what became the College of Industrial Relations did not affect Jim greatly and he always seemed content there, getting on well with community, staff and students alike.

In 1974 he was chosen for a daunting task - to assist Fr Scan McCarron in closing down Mungret College, disposing of furniture, etc. One morning Sean failed to turn up for Mass. Jim went to his room and found him dead. Being on his own after that, he was anxious about security; so he spread the rumour among the locals that the college was haunted. If Jim was to be believed (frequently problematic – Jim was a past master at 'codding', the national pastime), the rumour was not unfounded. One night the remains of several Jesuits that had been exhumed from a small burial plot close to the school were being held on the premises in readiness for reinterment next day in the enlarged Jesuit plot in the old Mungret Abbey cemetery. As Jim told it, Sean and himself were wakened in the middle of that same night by persistent ringing on the door bell.

Except for that year in Mungret, from 1964 on Jim was to then spend thirty-six years in Dublin. In those days he was a familiar, if incongruous, sight setting off to visit family in Bray, this gentle giant on his wee Honda 50. There was a touch of bravado about his regular trips to the Forty Foot for the Christmas Day swim and many an afternoon in between, wrapped only in a faded gaberdene. No leathers for Jim! No persuading him to invest in a bigger bike. He had always tried to save money wherever he had worked; so he was never going to start spending on himself.

As part of the administrative team at Gonzaga (1975 1991), Jim was, as one colleague recalls, "very dependable, a great companion." He related well with staff, treating all with respect and good humour. Some became his friends for life. Standards of maintenance, decoration and cleanliness improved greatly under his leadership. With the proliferation of prefabs, so difficult to keep clean, Gonzaga, of all places, had become a bit of a slum. Jim and his staff were happy to see the end of them. He coped well with two successive sets of contractors, come on site to build, first, the eight-classroom block and, later, the science building. With his keen eye for good workers, he spotted a likely candidate for groundsman in the foreman on the latter building. Typical of Jim's tongue-in-cheek humour was his instruction, to the consternation of the same groundsman, that the great purple beech on the front lawn, the glory of the college grounds, would have to come down. Needless to say, it is still standing, as magnificent as ever.

Those were happy years for Jim. The boys used to crowd into his little office at breaks to join in the craic. He shared their enthusiasms, especially for sport. The boys were fond of him - he was a ready and sympathetic listener. In his own schooldays at Presentation College, Bray, he had been known to take a penalty at soccer with such force that it carried both ball and goalie to the back of the net. His rugby loyalties were divided between Gonzaga and Pres Bray, where a nephew was on the cup team. Jim supported winners and was annoyed when Gonzaga let the Senior Cup slip out of their grasp in the semi final. He switched allegiance to Liverpool at a time when they were on the up-and-up in the League.

It was the same when Jim went to the races. He always seemed to back winners; at least, the community never heard of him losing. He loved horses and claimed to be able to spot the winner by “the glint in the eye”. Even for years after Jim had left Gonzaga, appreciative parents would present him with an annual pass to the enclosure at Leopardstown Racecourse. At the races past students would gather round as soon as they saw him. At Jim's funeral the mother of a past Gonzagan spoke of him as “a dote”. She recalled that whenever the parents were organising a function he would welcome them with a warm smile and would have everything they needed set out for them.

Sadly, in latter years Jim seemed to lack the energy to attend race meetings. His years at Leeson St (1991-2002) were dogged by ill-health, yet he was determined to carry out to the full all his tasks as Minister, Assistant Treasurer and Health Prefect. His total dedication, even when his energies were fading, was remarkable. Rather than look for help, he would still try to do everything himself, even when he was no longer able. His feet gave him trouble; he couldn't walk or stand for any length of time. His prayer-life was undemonstrative. Every morning he would spend half-an-hour in the community oratory and again ten minutes at night.

Over his last few weeks at St. Vincent's Private Hospital his sheer goodness made a deep impression on the staff there. Despite his suffering and weakness he was totally undemanding, He never once rang the bell for assistance. Most of all, the nurses loved his smile, bashful maybe, but always warm. The only word his friend Fr Todd Morrissey heard him say was “Tough going”.

-oOo-

In the November issue of the Messenger, Paul Andrews writes of Jim: “Fifteen years ago he was operated on for cancer, something went wrong, and he was at the point of death. Later he told me about the day of extreme crisis. Though apparently unconscious, he was aware of a sense of foreboding around his hospital bed, and he felt his body in terrible shape while medics worked feverishly to keep him alive. Then Jim's mind withdrew from the body, and he remembers moving across a bridge towards a bright, beautiful place on the other side. He was happy, buoyed up by a feeling of joy and anticipation. Round the middle of the bridge the joy was interrupted. People were pulling him back, and when he came to himself he was, sadly, in the hospital bed, in a painfully sick body, disappointed and rather angry at being hauled back from happiness. For the next fourteen years he laboured in an increasingly sick body, and was noted for his tender care of sick people. Perhaps he could convey to those who were facing the end, that there was a lot to look forward to, and that the last act of life is beautiful. When his final sickness overtook him, he went in extraordinary peace”.

◆ The Gonzaga Record 1991

Appreciation

Jim Barry SJ

Brother Barry, Jim to his friends, left Gonzaga this summer quietly and unexpectedly. He occupied the post of Administrator for seventeen years. Jim is a big man, strong and quietly courageous. Gonzaga's urban setting and attractive grounds have made it the target of occasional hostility. Jim's determination stood the test of many such an unpleasantness. The school's ivory redoubts had a powerful defender. His practical abilities were many and varied. He repaired broken windows, hacksawed sealed lockers, repaired over-head projectors with equal patience and thoroughness.

He was most frequently found, untipped cigarette in hand, seated in his narrow Spartan office. To offer him a 'safer' brand was to cause him quiet amusement. He welcomed callers, who frequently remained conversing until displaced by his next client. He became confidant to students whose status did not normally bring them into benign contact with adults. He had a remarkable understanding of and tough sympathy for the marginalised underdog. His influence in certain circles was as considerable as it was informal. He was unofficial Form-Tutor to the Gonzaga underworld.

Jim's comments were refreshingly free from the evasions and obfuscation of institutional man. His analysis of school current affairs had an uncompromising clarity, simple yet thought provoking.

His role involved a complex of major and minor responsibilities. They ranged in time from 8 o'clock in the morning until 11 o'clock at night. They varied, expanded or contracted entirely, frustratingly at the whim of others. He opened all doors, conferring all keys. To lose one was, in his eyes, the grossest of moral turpitudes. Staff members who erred in this regard skulked belatedly to his office to cringe and be shriven. They received a replacement key imploding painfully under his querulous gaze. One staff member was so fearful and guilt-ridden that he changed the lock on his classroom door, financing the deceit himself. Inevitably, Jim discovered this crime and sentenced him to years of internal exile. He had subtle ways of exercising sanctions against those who would not accept his standard of security or order.

His interests extended well beyond the perimeter of the College. He was a keen racing man and follower of Gaelic football. When his beloved Cork was playing, Jim had no time for objective comment. You were 'for him or agin him’ in most things. His willingness to be available each day to carry out often irritating tasks patiently and efficiently was at times truly heroic. I will remember his tall strong figure with waves of pupils washing around him as he dispensed Mars bars and packets of biscuits at lunch-time.

John Mulgrew

Born: 1785, Phillipstown, County Offaly
Entered: 01 February 1817, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 06 October 1829, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Clane, County Kildare

in Clongowes 1817

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
For many years he discharged the unpleasant and difficult task of attending to the boys and visitors, and though often detained until a late hour at night, and obliged to be at his post again in the early morning, he exercised a wonderful command over his naturally hasty temper, and was always faithful in the performance of all his spiritual duties.
Suffering delicate health, he was sent home to relatives by the Superior, hoping the change might effect a cure. He approached death with such tranquility, that on the day before his death he was able to go outside and mark a suitable site for his own grave.
Note from John Cleary Entry :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him : Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Michael Bennett 1785-1829
Br Michael Bennett was born in 1785, and entered the Society in 1817 as a temporal coadjutor.

He spent the greater part of his life as a Jesuit in Clongowes, where he discharged the difficult task of attending the boys and visitors, and though often detained by his duties until a late hour, he was always at his post again in the early morning. He exercised wonderful command over his naturally hasty temper, and was uniformly faithful in his spiritual duties.

Having fallen into ill health, he was sent home to his relations by his Superior, in the hope that a change of air might affect a cure. With such tranquility did he await death, that on the eve of his death, finding himself able to, walk outdoors, he availed himself of the opportunity to mark out a suitable site for his own grave.

He died happily on October 6th 1918.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
BENNETT, MICHAEL, a Temporal Coadjutor who died on the 6th of October, 1829.

Born: 11 June 1833, County Louth
Entered: 30 April 1856, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Clane, County Kildare
Professed
Died: 20 November 1878, Richmond Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Clongowes Wood College SJ community at the time of death.

by 1869 At Home Sick

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a cook in Belvedere and Gardiner St and then went to Clongowes. From 1869 he was “netia domus” and he died at the Richmond Hospital Dublin 20 November 1878.

Born: 09 November 1878, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 18 March 1902, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1913, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 14 April 1944, Dublin City, County Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 19th Year No 3 1944

Obituary :

Brother John Brady SJ (1878-1944)

After years of intermittent suffering, death came peacefully to Brother Brady on April 14th. He was born in Dublin on November 9th, 1878, and, after some years spent in the Railway Works at Inchicore, he entered the Society on March 18th, 1902. Already he was known to the Fathers at Gardiner St, where he was a faithful member of his sodality, and more than one of his co-sodalists of those days came to pay their last respects to his remains when they heard of his death.
After his novitiate, Br. Brady spent three years in Dublin at Gardiner St, and Belvedere, and the rest of his life was divided between Clongowes (seventeen years) and Milltown Park (sixteen years). During most of this time he was refectorian or dispenser, and those who had much to do with him in these capacities will long remember gratefully his remarkable efficiency and devotion to duty. With these qualities he combined an unfailing sense of humour which made him a doubly welcome member of any community to which he was attached. For many years he suffered from deafness, but never would he allow the Inconvenience so often caused by this physical defect to make him irritable or impatient - rather, a good joke and a hearty laugh were the familiar accompaniments of his conversation.
In the year 1938-39, Br. Brady had a very serious operation, and, owing to the state of his heart, could not be given the full anaesthetic. His wonderful courage on this occasion made the surgeon describe him later as the bravest man he had ever met. Those who had opportunities of knowing Br. Brady's deep spiritual life, shown especially by his regular observance, will appreciate whence came this courage. It supported him again through the last years of his life when he suffered from angina pectoris, and attacks of agonising pain seized him with increasing frequency. He never complained, and when able he continued to carry on his daily tasks.
A few days before the end, he had one of these attacks which kept him motionless near the hall-door of Clongowes for nearly half an hour while the Community were at dinner. That was on Sunday. On the following Thursday night, he was unable to lie down owing to the pain, and the next day he was anointed and sent by ambulance to hospital. There he had one violent attack but seemed to recover and was settling down to sleep. Then, almost unexpectedly and without pain, he died. But we may be confident that Almighty God has welcomed His good and valiant servant to his eternal reward. R.I.P.

◆ The Clongownian, 1944

Obituary

Brother John Brady SJ

In “The Clongownian” of 1910, under “Choir Notes”, there is the following item, dated May 25th : “At 5.30 our less fortunate companions went to the study to discuss wall building with old Balbus or feast on Algebraical factors. We remained below to enjoy the fine menu provided by Br O'Grady. The table was very artistically decorated by Br Brady, who left nothing undone that could conduce to our comfort”.

There is something especially pathetic in this entry of thirty-three years ago, as both those mentioned have this year gone to their reward after lives spent in just those occupations that are mentioned in the entry.

With the exception of four years, Br O'Grady had been continuously in Clongowes from 1882 until his death last December. In spite, however, of that long connection of over sixty years, he was but little known to the boys of the school, though many, at least of the older generation, will remember him on the ice as a graceful and accomplished skater. His work was confined mostly to the kitchen and its environments where he laboured unostentatiously, but most effciently, during all those years. With the preparation of how many “feeds” he must have been connected! How many enjoyed the good things that he prepared without, perhaps, giving a thought to the hand that had prepared them and the care that had been lavished upon them ! But it was not for the thanks of those who benefited by his work that Br O'Grady laboured. He was a true religious and worked for a Master Who never fails to reward His faithful servants. Clongowes and its interests will be better served by Br O'Grady in heaven even than they were when he lived and worked amongst us.

Br Brady's connection with Clongowes was very much shorter than that of Br O'Grady, but it brought him into closer con tact with the boys, as he was for many years in charge of the refectory. He took a deep interest in them and in everything connected with them, even their games, especially the Line Matches. He possessed a great sense of humour, and a joke was ever ready to his lips.

Many will remember how his answer to the question “What second-course to-day, Brother?” was invariably “Plums”, whether or not these dainties were to appear ! For many years before his death he suffered from deafness, but that did not affect his cheerfulness, nor did even the ill-health of his last few years which he bore with great patience and resignation to the will of God.
May they rest in peace.

Born: 19 December 1872, Drumcolliher, County Limerick
Entered: 30 March 1894, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Professed: 15 August 1905
Died: 24 February 1949, Meath Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 24th Year No 2 1949
Clongowes :
We regret to announce the death of Br. John Brennan in his fifty-third year in Clongowes. He had been failing during the past year but continued to do duty as infirmarian to the College until he was attacked by violent pains on the night of 12th February. He was taken to hospital in Dublin next morning and was operated upon two days later but he never really rallied and he died in the early morning of the 24th February, having received the Sacrament of Extreme Unction some days previously,
Br. Brennan's remains were brought to Clongowes on the evening of the 24th and were received by the Rector and Community in the presence of the boys. Fr. Rector celebrated the Requiem Mass next morning, and after the Absolutions bad been performed by Fr. Provincial, the funeral procession, headed by a guard of honour from the College F.C.A., proceeded down the front avenue to the College cemetery. Here Br. Brennan was finally laid to rest in the presence of all the boys of the College, many of the Past and a big gathering of Jesuits from Tullabeg, Emo and all the Dublin houses. May he rest in peace.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 3 1949
Obituary
Br. John Brennan (1872-1894-1949)
Br. Brennan was born in County Limerick in 1872. In early life he was in business in Limerick City, and was at this time a keen oarsman. Entering the Society in 1894 he did his noviceship in Tullabeg, and in 1896 was sent to Clongowes as Infirmarian and Sacristan. In the early years he used to go each summer vacation to St. Vincent's Hospital for training and experience in the work to which he devoted his life, and which he was carrying on, despite declining strength, up to a fortnight before his death.

An Appreciation :
“Br. Brennan's services to Clongowes were so great and so constant that it is difficult for any individual to summarise them. When I first went to the school he was already a legend to me, for he had won the life-long affection and gratitude of my brother, while nursing him through a rheumatic fever which should have killed him. To me in those still pre-First-World-War years he seemed already a veteran, one of the ‘Big Three’ into which he fitted so smoothly that there seemed a natural link between Dr. O'Connor, Miss Elison and ‘The Brother’. We are often reminded of the feeling of security that buttressed our dated childhood, but, looking back in nothing does it seem more remarkable than in the confidence these three good people inspired. School life might be disturbing or anxious, exams, places on teams, ‘Reports’, all loomed up with the exaggerated importance youth can give trifles, but illness, and particularly serious illness gave one no worry, you just surrendered, responsibility ceased, they did the Test, and you knew they would do it perfectly. I really think they did.
Of course there was another side of Br. Brennan's activities. In healthy life you knew him not only as a member of the Big Three, but as an outstanding figure of the big Five or Six of which Br. O'Grady was the mystery man, and Br. Brady the most familiar, and of which most happily for Clongowes Brs. Corcoran and Fennell survive. With them you saw him in the distance sharing walks and duties, or just occasionally on the touch-line at an outmatch. He carved, he was sacristan of both chapels - clean linen and lace became him and floors as shinning as a good hospital, and a freshness and flowers and light, and a most unobtrusive figure with deft, swift movements of Monstrance, vase or cruets. He had that very rare gift in an Irishman, wonderful taste in the arrangement of flowers.
And of course in the surgery he presided twice daily over the oddest kind of club. While he worked away with pill, mixture and tonic, while the bandage unrolled and the scissors snipped and the sticking plaster was sparingly used and denied to urgent beggars, ‘The Brother’ was surrounded by a score of boys, all talking, squabbling, idle, but by some miracle, well-behaved and fairly happy. He never raised his voice, he never threatened, no never punished or invoked authority, he used no sanctions, either of privilege or affection, he was kind to all and the universal friend, but no boy could boast of intimacy or favours, yet he was everyone's favourite. He did not strike one as remote or aloof, but rather as armed with the invulnerable dignity of a soul completely self-possessed, dedicated and in harmony with his own way of life. It was a lesson and example invaluable to boys tacking and veering and jockeying for position, restless as yachts or race-horses before the face of life. So marked was this unruffled calm in Br. Brennan that it could be on odd occasions intensely irritating to an impatient nan at what be believed a crisis calling for action. But, looking back, it must be granted that ‘hasten slowly’ got Br. Brennan there every time.
The passing years of course affected this picture. He lost Miss Elison and The Doctor, but he found new and happy partnerships with Dr. Fay, whom he had treated in the Lower Line, and with every one of the succession of young and active Matrons with whom in recent times Clongowes has been so singularly blessed. A succession of Ministers valued him at his worth, and that meant highly. For the rest, years added to his status. He never laid down his arms, like Mr. Chips, but he became a tradition. It was not just the hospitality which in an unrationed age he dispensed on Union Days that made a little chat with him one of the first requests of all returning O.C.s. It is no disparagement of any man or his work to say that among the Old Boys of the dispersion there were more inquiries for Br. Brennan than for any of the masters or prefects whose role might once have seemed more conspicuous. More than one wrote annually or bi-annually for a score or more of years during which the friends had scarcely ever met.
So the years went by, more than fifty of them, in Clongowes, with perhaps diminishing external activity but quietly increasing affection, esteem, and even pride. And always that constancy of service to boy and man and God. Was Br. Brennan ever late of a morning ? Did he ever miss spiritual reading or Litanies? Well, certainly not to the observation of anyone. That we could all see. God alone, I think, saw the inner life of one, who was in such intimate touch with Fr. Fegan and Fr. Sullivan and a score of ‘saints’, who helped each one, and went his own sure way to God. Now he has, with characteristic lack of fuss and delay, gone home at last. He leaves us, poor and mourning his absence but rich in memory and proud to have known and admired him”.

◆ The Clongownian, 1949

Obituary

Brother John Brennan SJ

Brother Brennan was born in Drumcollogher in December, 1872, so that according to the Calendar he was an old man when death visited him last February in the Meath Hospital. But he was not really old; his slim, figure, his youthful alertness of mind and speech and manner and movement, his readiness to do a good turn for anyone at a moment's notice, his spontaneous enjoyment of any bit of fun, all forbade the suggestion of age.

He had been destined for a business. career, and one cannot doubt that he would have made a success of it, had he not abandoned it after a few years, to offer himself to the Society. He came to Tullabeg in the autumn of 1893, and began his formal novitiate in the following March. I was a novice there then, and among my fellow-novices were Brothers Corcoran and Fennell; so that I can claim. to have been, from those early days, the associate and friend of the Triumvirate which was, one may say, to rule Clongowes for half a century.

It was, I think, in 1896, at the end of his noviceship, that Br Brennan came to Clongowes to be infirmarian, and infirmarian at Clongowes he remained to the end. He was very keen on his work, and during the vacations attended courses at Vincent's Hospital. A venerable Father, who was a young Scholastic at Clongowes in 1896, has told me of the delight of Br Brennan at getting a shin battered on the football field, to be disinfected and bandaged.

During those fifty-three years, 1896-1949, innumerable Clongownians have known and loved him. Indeed, to know him was to love him. I have never heard him spoken of but in terms of affection and praise, and I have never heard him utter an unkind or even depreciatory word of anyone else. A conversation with him seemed to promote in one a certain kindly hopefulness; not on account precisely of anything he said, but of the kind of atmosphere that was about him.

During the last few years he had much to suffer physically and he endured it. with unfailing cheerfulness and courage, and welcomed a joke or a funny story as if there was nothing in the world to trouble him. Just before the last operation, when he knew that he might probably be facing death (as in effect it turned out that he was), I had an intimate conversation with him, and I treasure the memory of it. Here, I felt, is a soul very clear to God.

The operation was quite successful, but unfortunately, pneumonia set in and exhausted his last resources of strength. The chaplain, who was called in, in haste, to administer the Last Sacraments, told me of the intense joy with which he received them, and told me also how much he was loved by everyone who had to do with him in the hospital. God be with his soul!

MFE

-oOo-

May one whose good fortune it was to have known and worked with Brother Brennan for half a century pay a sincere tribute to a man who by his kindness, skill and loyalty has endeared himself to countless generations of Clongownians. No one who has ever come under his care will forget his genuine sympathy for suffering, or his humourous method of treating “foxes”, and he had an uncanny knack of distinguishing the “real” from the “Malade Imaginaire”' as the writer has cause to know. Still one forgets the “Black Jack” and remembers only the subsequent doses dispensed so graciously in the Castle at close of Union Day. His interest in, and knowledge of, Clongowes Past and Present was amazing, and he remembered only their successes. His death has left a gap that it will be difficult to fill. His name and fame will endure as long as there is a Clongowes. May he rest in peace.

T B

Born: 16 July 1869, Charleville, County Cork
Entered: 29 October 1890, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 15 August 1901
Died: 08 March 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 19th Year No 2 1944
Obituary :
Brother William Canty SJ (1858-1943)

Brother Canty died a happy, peaceful death at Milltown Park, on March 8th. He was born at Charleville, on July 16th, 1869, and entered the Society on 29th October, 1890. He came into touch with the Society through the instrumentality of Mrs. O'Mahony, two of whose sons, after having studied in Clongowes, became Jesuits.
Nearly all Brother Canty's work for God was confined to the tailor's shop, where he was not only a model of tireless work, but also very expert. He valued highly the quiet of such a scene of activity : “It's so much easier” he would say, “to get in a fair amount of prayer when you have no one disturbing you”. He was for a time Sacristan in Galway, looking after the altar boys as well as the Church. The best comment on his good influence on these lads was the visit that two of them, now living in Dublin, paid to Milltown to visit the remains.
His was a quiet, unobtrusive figure. He was the servus bonus et fidelis to whom the rich reward is promised. One felt in him, as the years went by, the growth of the spiritual deeper and simpler. It was another example of what Fr. Martindale has so truly said of St. Alphonşus, the type. “It may be that old men of this type I will not say the complete expression of the type, like Alonso are not so seldom to be met with in the ranks of lay-brothers of religious Orders. Perhaps anyone who has lived in a larger house of some such Order a house of Studies, for instance, will remember more than one of these gentle old men, full of profound spiritual insight expressing itself often in acts of the most pathetic childlikeness or downright childishness”. Again he says, and we should like to make his words our own, “Let so much, then, be said in homage of Alonso, and in affectionate recollection of not a few of his brothers, still, or not long since, among us”.
Some of this simplicity in Br. Canty's character appeared in his love of the birds. Twice or oftener in the day one might see him come with a few crusts from the Refectory, which he crumbled for the sparrows, finches and even blackbirds. They had got so used to his kindly ministrations and quiet ways that he could walk among them without disturbing them unduly.
One of the gifts he had received from God was that of unfailing good health. He said he had not ailed for 17 or 18 years. On this account he may have been a trifle rash in ignoring the bronchitis that attacked him and which developed into pneumonia, and carried him off after a few days illness. He said, just after the anointing, that he was glad to die in Milltown above any other house in the Province, his reason being that in no other house would he find so many Priests who would speed him on his way with the gift of the three Holy Masses. There were over 50 Priests in the house at the time,
He has left a kindly, holy memory behind him. May God give him the eternal reward of his temporal labours in His House,
He worked in many Houses of the Province : Tullabeg, Clongowes, Galway, Mungret and Milltown Park. He had celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit. The details of his years of service being : Tullabeg 10, Clongowes 12, Galway 9, Mungret 6, and Milltown 16, R.I.P.

Born: 20 December 1790, Edenderry, County Offaly
Entered: 09 October 1825, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 08 September 1841
Died: 21 June 1866, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He did a very long Postulancy at Tullabeg, while it was being built, being received there in 1817 by Peter Kenney. he had come with an architect by whom he had been taught masonry.
He eventually Ent formally at Clongowes 09 October 1825.
For forty years he was employed as a mason in different houses, and died at the Dublin Residence 21 June 1866
He was a man of great integrity and true simplicity. Always the same, of a most even temper, he was very well suited to the Society. Even in his long Postulancy and Novitiate, he was remarkable for his deep humility and patience.

Born: 24 November 1837, Ballinasloe, County Galway
Entered: 09 September 1860, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1876
Died: 07 November 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had been in business in Dublin before Entry where he had Dan Jones as Novice Master.

He was a very smart businesslike man, masterful and very capable in managing servants and refectories in Colleges. he spent most of his life in this role at Clongowes and Mungret.
1900 He was transferred to Clongowes and was House Steward, and later Cur Val (1904). They boys there used call him “Napoleon Carter” as he was supposed to be so like the famous General.
One of the medallions over the Altar at the Old Chapel in Milltown (later O’Brien Library) is a picture of him. Tradition says Dan Jones got him to sit for it.

Born: 01 May 1783, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 1815, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Died: 05 September 1818, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare

He doesn’t appear in the HIB Catalogues 15 -->; He is in the Jesuit Universal Defuncto List - No 0.182

Born: 19 January 1773, County Offaly
Entered: 01 February 1817, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Professed: 08 September 1837, Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare
Died: 24 December 1840, Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him : Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.
He was for many years land steward at Clongowes. he was a truly edifying religious.
Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

Born: 12 July 1830, Trim County Meath/Loughanure, Clane, Co Kildare
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare
Professed: 15 August 1868
Died: 29 March 1911, Mungret College, County Limerick

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was born at Trim but brought up at Loughanure, on the Meath and Kildare border.

At the time of Entry he had good knowledge of carpentry and building. In the 50 years he spent in the Province, he is in nearly all the houses, wherever a trusty man was needed to oversee and tale charge of a building project, or some important structural change safely through. So, he was at Crescent for the building of the Church there. He was also in Galway during the building of the Church there. Later he went to St Beuno’s in Wales during the construction of the new library there.
1887 By this time he began a special relationship with Mungret. He taught carpentry to a number of young men who came to the house to be trained as Brothers for the Missions. Later he went to Milltown as clerk of works for the building of the chapel there, and then back to Mungret to supervise the building of a new storey on the old buildings of the former Agricultural College.
Even though age had begun to undermine his strength he was still able to do a fair share of work by overseeing the work of others. He was a man of reflective and contemplative style, and his conversation often gave evidence of true insight and good judgement. Among the football and cricket students he was their oracle for the weather!
He was an observant religious, peaceful in his dealings with all, never querulous, and he bore the increasing infirmities of age with great patience. Winters became more taxing, but he always seemed to emerge from this season hale and hearty. Even toward his end, there had been hopes by all that he would be seen strolling thought the grounds and corridors. He said “If the east wind holds it will carry me off, if it changes I shall pull round again for a bit, please God”.
He died peacefully 29/03/1911, and after the Requiem Mass he was brought to the small cemetery and buried between William Frayne and David MacEvoy, and close to the grave of William Ronan.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others who had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were Christopher Coffey, John Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Christopher Coffey 1830-1911
Christopher Coffey was born in 1830 at Loughanure, on the borders of Meath and Kildare. In 1858 he entered the Society as a coadjutor Brother. He had a good knowledge of building and carpentry, so during the half century he spent in the Society, he resided in those houses where building or structural works were necessary.

This he was at Crescent for the building of the Sacred Heart Church. Similarly he was in Galway for the building of the Church of St Ignatius. He was actually sent across the water to St Beuno’s for the erection of the library there. In 1887 his special connection with Mungret began.

In Mungret he taught a class of young men who had come to be trained as coadjutor brothers for the foreign missions. He interrupted this task to go to Milltown Park for the building of the chapel, but was soon back in Mungret to assist at the building of the new storey to the original house.

He was an observant religious “just before God, walking in all the Commandments of the Lord without blame”. In his old age he was remarkably edifying and cheerful under his disabilities.When hopes were expressed by his friends of seeing his familiar figure round the grounds and corridors for many more years, he used say “If the east wind holds it will carry me off; if it changes I shall pull around again for a bit, please God”.

He retained his faculties to the last, and fortified by the Rites of the Holy Church, he passed away peacefully on March 29th 1911, and he was buried in the cemetery at Mungret, close to the grave of Fr Ronan.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1911

Obituary

Brother Christopher Coffey SJ

Another of the old familiar faces has vanished from our midst. Few of our past students but will remember Br Coffey. On and off he had lived some twenty years in the college. During that time he had ever the cheery “good-day” for all, the big and the little, the young and the old.

Born at Trim in 1830, and brought up at Loughanure, on the borders of Meath and Kildare, Christopher Coffey entered the Society in 1858 as a Lay Brother. He had at the time a good knowledge of building and carpentry, During the half century he spent in the Society he resided in nearly all the houses of the Irish Province, wherever a trusty man was needed to take charge of a rising edifice or to see some important structural change safely through. Thus he was at the Crescent House, Limerick, for the building of the Church of the Sacred Heart some 46 years ago. Similarly he was at Galway, when the Church of St Ignatius was built, and he went later on to the College of St Beuno's, N Wales, for the erection of the new library there.

His special connection with Mungret began about 1887, when he taught carpentry to a number of young men who had come to this house to be trained as Lay Brothers for the foreign Missions, under a plan which was in trial for a couple of years. Later on he was at Milltown Park, as clerk of the works for the building of the chapel, and back here again when the new storey was being added to the old buildings or former Agricultural College.

As age undermined his strength he could still do his share for the general good by overseeing the labours of others. He was of a reflective and even a contemplative turn of mind, and his conversation often gave much evi dence of true insight and sound judginent. Among the football and cricket enthusiasts of the school he was looked up to as their trusted oracle of the weather.

He was an observant religious, and we may say of him that he was “just before God, walking in all the Commandments of the Lord without blame”. Peaceful in his dealings with all, he was in no wise querulous, bearing, the increasing infirmlties of old age with admirable patience: Last winter had tried him severely; but in spite of the ups und downs he would re-appear seemingly hale and hearty as ever. Even to nearly the end, hopes were entertained of again seeing his familiar figure stroll about the corridors and grounds. . But In his own philosophic way; he said - “If the east wind holds it will carry me off, if it changes I shall pull round again for a bit, please God”. He retained his faculties to the last, and fortified with the rites of Holy Church he passed away peacefully on Wednesday, the 29th of March. . On the following Friday, after Requiem Mass and Office, his re mains were borne to the little' cemetery, and were there laid to rest between those of Brs Frayne and MacEvoy, and close to the grave of Fr Ronan, where with them and some other fellow-workers he awaits the final trumpet-call. RIP

Born: 01 September 1869, Ballycumber, County Offaly
Entered: 08 October 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 15 August 1902
Died: 08 November 1956, Clongowes wood College SJ, County Kildare

◆ Irish Province News 32nd Year No 1 1957 & ◆ The Clongownian, 1957

Obituary :

Br Kieran Corcoran (1869-1956)

With Br, Corcoran there passed away a figure that had become something of a legend in the life of Clongowes. We of a later vintage lived with him and saw his passing; but who, with a solitary exception, can recall his coming over fifty years ago, or indeed can think of a Clongowes without that stalwart figure moving impressively about its lawful occasions? For even till about a couple of years ago, when his heart attacks became more crippling, he bore himself upright as always, and though his work became more and more curtailed, he sought employment about the house, and it is not so long ago since one saw him, as ever, in the midst of buckets and crates of eggs making his weekly tally! After three months as a Postulant he joined the Noviceship at Tullabeg in 1891, whence he was posted to Galway in 1893, taking his first Vows in the October of that year. From 1893 to early in 1904 he was stationed in our Gardiner Street house and the list of positions he filled makes impressive reading. There he pronounced his final Vows in 1902, and from there he left in February of 1904 to begin his unbroken half-century and more in Clongowes Wood till the day of his death. Jubilee succeeded Jubilee, and on his Diamond one in 1951 he was favoured with a letter from the hand of Very Rev. Father General; and in 1954, the Golden Jubilee of his sojourn in Clongowes Wood, was marked by celebrations and many messages of congratulation.
The maintenance of the fabric of the College was his prime care all those years, that and the employing and supervising of the small army of artisans and servants involved in that care. This he did with conspicuous skill and mastery and he could rightly claim (if ever he thought of it) that his activities vitally touched the lives of masters and boys, asleep or awake at many points. How much of that is simply taken for granted in a big institution and how small the meed of recognition! The host of daily, almost hourly, activities involved in "maintenance" of a large and sprawling and, in places, antiquated building who thinks of them? The endless inspections and checking; the planning ahead; the expert knowledge in many fields; the sudden improvisations called for and demanding sound judgment; crises in lighting or heating or drainage systems, all these involve considerable responsibility and systematic care. Suffice it to say that through all the years of his stewardship Br. Corcoran was seldom or never unequal to the heavy task laid on him by day or by night. For he was thorough in all he did, deeply conscientious and rigidly systematic. Only the best workmanship, whether it was sweeping a Gallery or slating a roof could pass muster with his eagle eye. Workmanship of the best, materials of the best and a job that would last “to and through the Doomsday's fire” if necessary was what he demanded, and he had the knack of getting these from his staff. And he never spared himself physically in his endless routine of daily and hourly inspections. In fact so rigid was his sense of routine that one could almost infer the time of day from his passing, whether it was in and about the building or “beating the bounds” on his daily perambulation of the main and Kapolis avenues! As a result the spick and span state of walls and floors and ceilings everywhere in the place from endless scrubbings and paintings and polishings were justly the admiration of his Brethren and of visitors. He took a pride in his office, and had he been capable of boasting he could justly have pointed to the myriad of improvements he effected (the walls of the Lower Line Gallery were in whitewash when he first came!) throughout his fifty years as an enduring monument to his memory.
And sustaining and inspiring in all this was his sterling worth as a Religious. He impressed all with his deep Faith and simple and genuine piety; his unfailing presence and punctuality at every religious duty; bis reverence for the priestly state and his considerateness for others. In pressing forward for the good of the College he never lost sight of the claims of the individual, and in the exercise of the considerable authority that rested with him he strove for fairness. The handicap imposed by frequent heart attacks must have been a galling one to a man of his disposition, and his endurance of this; his uncomplaining acceptance of God's will, especially in the last year or two, when he had often to keep to his bed or his room, was impressive to those who had any dealings with him.. Characteristic of him was his rejoinder at the very end to one who counselled him to say his prayers internally" instead of vocalising them (as was bis wont), “Oh, but one would have to be very sick to do a thing like that!" And to a visitor leaving his room at night he motioned with his hand to the alarm-clock beside his bed and murmured, "The clock, the clock, wind it! For meditation! It was set for half-past six, and this was the day before he died.
Fully conscious to the end, and in his 87th year, he passed away without pain on the 7th of November in the room he occupied so long in the very heart of the School he served for half a century with such fine loyalty, and with young life pulsating all around him. On the 9th he was borne to his grave down the long avenue so familiar to him in his unvarying daily walk, the community and entire school preceding the coffin. May he rest in peace!

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Kieran Corcoran 1862-1956
Br Kieran Corcoran was identified with Clongowes for over fifty years. The maintenance of the fabric of the College was his prime care, together with the running of the whole place, both Castle and College, Methodical, efficient, though kindly with all, he managed the domestic staff and got astonishing results out of them. As a result, the spick and span state of the walls, floors and ceilings everywhere in the place, from endless scrubbings, polishings and paintings, was justly the admiration of his brethren and visitors.

Sustaining this continual effort was his religious spirit. He impressed all with his simple faith and deep piety. He had a natural dignity which commanded respect and reverence for his cloth.

He entered Tullabeg as a novice in 1891, and in 1954 he celebrated the golden jubilee of his stay in Clongowes. He died on November 7th 1956 in the room which he had occupied for over half a century, in the very heart of the school he had served so well ad majoram Dei Gloriam.

Born: 18 May 1832, Clane, County Kildare
Entered: 09 September 1860, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1873
Died: 03 October 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent many years of his life as a shoemaker at Clongowes, Milltown and Mungret.
He finally retired to Tullabeg and he died there 03 October 1904. he was assisted there in his last moments by the saintly Michael Browne, Rector and Master of Novices.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - PATRICK. Began in Clongowes. Came to Noviceship 09 September 1860.

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

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

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

Obituary :
Brother Michael Dineen

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

Born: 05 June 1814, County Dublin
Entered: 23 January 1851, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare
Died: 25 March 1858, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
It was as a postulant that he edified all by the care he took of a sick Brother, tending on him day and night (poss John Nelson, RIP 1843).

He was very straightforward and simple, always tranquil and of even temper.
He had poor health and died holily at Clongowes 25 March 1858.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Irish Province News 29th Year No 4 1954

Obituary :

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

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

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

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

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

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

Born: 31 December 1785, County Meath
Entered: 07 September 1819, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 25 October 1867, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
From his earliest years he was trained by his uncle in farming. he acquired excellent knowledge in cattle, sheep, horse and tillage etc. He became a a land steward for a rich landlord, managing a number of his farms very successfully. Feeling himself called to Religious Life, he visited Clongowes, and asked to be admitted as a Postulant c 1817. Shortly after that, Peter Kenney dismissed him following some negligence on the farm. Soon after that he had the courage to apply again, and was admitted at Tullabeg 07 September 1819.

He spent early all his religious life at Tullabeg, being land steward there for almost thirty years. He was most diligent in his duties, and though he suffered from age and infirmity, he never complained nor shirked from his duties. He developed a wonderful power of conciliating all the neighbours adjoining the College lands.
1857 He was sent to Clongowes in the hope that the change of air might restore him somewhat. He was again in the role of “villicus”, and did this for a couple of years. He was obliged to cease work when his health and age got the better of him, and he approached death with a joy and confidence that he was going to a better life. He died 24/10/1867 at Clongowes, and is buried the Clongowes Cemetery, where his grave is marked by a small cross.
As well as hard work, he was remarkable for his great spirit of prayer, ad in spite of a very busy life was always faithful to his daily meditations and other prayers. His devotion to the Blessed Virgin was also noteworthy.

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

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Patrick Doyle 1785-1867
Br Patrick Doyle was born in Meath in 1785 and was land steward to a rich land owner. Feeling the call to religion, he visited Clongowes and was admitted as a postulant in 1817. Shortly afterwards, Fr Kenney dismissed him for some negligence on the farm. However, he appeared again and was admitted in 1819.

He spent most of his life on the farm at Tullabeg, being land steward there for thirty years. In 1857 he was sent back to Clongowes as steward.

He was remarkable for his great spirit of prayer, and his devotion to Our Lady was noteworthy. He received the news of his approaching end not only calmly, but joyfully, and he expired on October 24th 1867, and was buried in the Clongowes cemetery.

Born: 10 February 1841, Ballynahowan, County Westmeath
Entered: 07 September 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 05 September 1897, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was ‘villicus’ at Tullabeg and for a long time at Clongowes, where he died 05 September 1897.
A most useful Brother.

Note from Laurence Brady Entry :
He was a companion on the farm to Eugene Duffy.

◆ The Clongownian, 1897

Obituary

Brother Eugene Duffy SJ

As Br Duffy has been so intimately connected with Clongowes, it is only just that we should pay some slight tribute to his memory.

Those who saw him last summer, strong and healthy, full of good humour as he ever was, little thought that the early days of Autumn would see him lying cold and lifeless in the little cemetery he tended with such loving care. Though Br Duffy, to a stranger, seemed in perfect health, he suffered from an internal disease; how much he suffered no one can ever tell, for he bore it all with an heroic patience which marked the true Jesuit.

Always forgetful of himself when he had the interests of others to serve, it was this which caused his death. Being away from the college on some business, he neglected to take proper nourishment, with the result that he brought on a fresh attack of his old enemy, and after a couple of months of intense pain, borne with the patience which was characteristic of the man, he died on the 5th of September, almost the very day on which he had entered the Society thirty - one years before.

-oOo-

As manager of the farm, Br Duffy had made such a reputation that people, came from miles around to consult him and get his advice, and it is only now that he is gone one is able to judge what his loss means.

By the poor of the country he was simply beloved, for they knew well the kind friend he was, and when at length he was laid in his last cold resting place, and the damp earth rattled on his coffin, many a rugged cheek was wet with tears, and rich and poor alike, who had come to pay this last tribute to his memory, turned away with sad and heavy hearts for the loss of him who lay there so calm and peaceful. RIP

Born: 01 February 1789, Edenderry, County Offaly
Entered: 01 February 1817, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 08 September 1837, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Died: 06 March 1855, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was brought up very piously by parents whose ancestors had made many sacrifices for the faith.
He became a shoemaker, and in his 28th year became a postulant and joined the Society.
After First Vows at Clongowes, he was employed in the humblest of offices in the house.
He was then sent to Tullabeg where he lived for 28 years.
A truly edifying religious, he was an example of every virtue, both to Ours and externs. Love of prayer, great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, modesty, meekness, industry, and above all love for fraternal charity were the virtues that everybody gave testimony to in his regard. Obedience was his great virtue, and he was most careful in fulfilling the smallest orders, at the exact time, and this is proven by the following fact : during very many years his duty was to ring the bell for class hours, and at the end of recreation, and never once did it happen that he was late to give the sign for the next duty.
He died 02 March 1855 and was buried in the old Rahan Cemetery, quite close to the south wall.
Note from John Cleary Entry :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him: Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.
Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

Born: 28 June 1872, Glasthule, County Dublin
Entered 01 February 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1904
Died: 26 July 1959, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 34th Year No 4 1959
Obituary :
Br Denis Fennell

Denis Peter Fennell was born in Glasthule on 28th June, 1872 and died in St. Vincent's Hospital last July. Of his 87 years, over 59 were spent in Clongowes, where he worked patiently and efficiently as accountant and assistant to the Procurator to within a week or so of his death.
From his boyhood he deeply venerated the priestly and religious state and he first cherished the ambition of entering a seminary and devoting himself to God as a priest in the foreign missions preferably, he said, in a remote and painful mission. Family circumstances, however, imposed a delay and he joined the office of the Freeman's Journal in Dublin in 1889. Here, during an exciting and critical period of Irish history, 1889-1892, he worked in the capacity of shorthand-typist and junior secretary to the Manager, meeting the editors of the three papers published from that office and listening to the interesting and informative conversation of journalists and reporters during the dramatic years of the Parnell “split”. He had some interviews with the Provincial, Fr. Timothy Kenny, at that time, and it was suggested that he should pursue his studies and enter as a scholastic; but the disedifying aspects of the controversies then raging and the fact that his newspaper decided to his dismay to advocate the continued leadership of Parnell convinced him that it was time to flee the world. In any case he had, he believed, received a light in prayer that he would please God far more and do far more work for Him as a brother than as a priest. This, he said, overcame his natural reluctance to forego his first zealous desire, so he applied for admission at once and entered Tullabeg on 4th August, 1892.
Before his noviceship had been completed he was sent to Clongowes to undertake some urgent work and he remained there until it was time to return to Tullabeg for his vows. At once he was sent back to Clongowes and he remained there until his death in 1959 with but one break of six years. From 1918-1921 he was in Tullabeg and from 1921-1924 in Belvedere. He was to state towards the close of his life that he felt most grateful to God for this interruption of his long years of service in Clongowes. The sojourn in the quiet of our midland Thebaid and later amid the busy streets of Dublin helped, he felt, his love of solitude and shaped an inclination towards the mystical life, preparing him for the long term that awaited him among the account-books and money bags of Clongowes. Indeed, he once stated with an endearing simplicity that for a Jesuit he was exceptionally contemplative! He mentioned too that while a few past pupils, notably Sir Gilbert Laithwaite and Mr. Bobby Keogh, invariably went in search of him when they visited the old school, as regards other Old Clongownians, however much he might esteem and like them, he usually succeeded in following the counsel of the Imitation of Christ to keep from the company of men as much as he could”.
While he was in Tullabeg he wrote a little book entitled The Loving Adorer of Jesus. It consisted of 96 closely-printed pages of prayers in verse, and was, he proudly said, “honoured with the imprimatur of Archbishop Byrne and published by the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland”. He insisted on its being published anonymously but a few of his religious brethren and some old friends came to know the secret.
His long years of devoted service in Clongowes were passed within a narrow compass - his office, the chapel, his room. Apart from these places and in dispensable visits to the refectory, only the library saw him. Here he would peruse the news columns of the daily papers for half-an-hour or so, sometimes while Fathers waited with a kindly smile for the old man to finish his reading. His view of the world was that of the prelude to the meditation of Two Standards and he believed that he could see in the daily news items the working out of the conflict between the forces of Christ and the forces of the Evil One, thus drawing matter for contemplation even from the morning paper.
The study of history too was a favourite hobby of his and here again his standpoint was the same. I do not know if in his youth he had read De Civitate Dei or l'Histoire Universelle, but in heaven he will have discovered an affinity with Bossuet and St. Augustine. Not surprisingly his interest began with Irish history, as he felt that his vocation had been to some extent determined by it. His views were, of course, occasionally extravagant and unbalanced, for he lacked professional training in that study. But he had as much as some of those who looked askance at this hobby of his and had read more widely and systematically than most. In his service of God in Clongowes he was a model of punctuality, exactitude and method: even if the method was peculiarly his own it was intelligent and it worked. Members of that community have said that it was always a pleasure to deal with him. He was kindly, deferential, soft-spoken, always a perfect gentleman. When Fathers who were about to travel went to him to collect a viaticum, he invariably inquired anxiously if they were sure they had enough a solicitude not always remarked in keepers of the common purse-courteously and charitably presuming that their devotion to holy poverty was not less than his own. Finally, he was a religious who kept on working to an age when most others would have drifted into a well-merited retirement. The very large number of Jesuits who attended the funeral Mass said by his nephew testified to the esteem in which he was held by the Province in general and by all who had connections with Clongowes in particular. The community there will miss him and the Brothers have lost an old companion who was interesting, well-informed, edifying and withal possessed of a deep and charitable sense of humour - a remarkable man and a remarkable Jesuit Brother. May he rest in peace after his long labours.

◆ The Clongownian, 1953

Jubilee

Brother Denis Fennell SJ

In February Brother Fennell celebrated his Diamond Jubilee as a member of the Society of Jesuis. He first came to Clongowes in November, 1894 and, with the exception of the years 1918-24 which were spent in Tullabeg and Belvedere, he has passed his long and devoted life here.

Early on in his life in the Society, Brother Fennell's talents in book-keeping were recognised by his superiors. He was appointed accountant and assistant to the procurator of Clongowes and has been employed in this exacting work ever since. Over the long years he has given splendidly efficient but unobstrusive service in the procurator's office and Clongowes owes him a debt of deep gratitude. It is characteristic of Brother Fennell's devotion to duty that he spent the most of his Jubilee day at the books. His sixty years of signal service have in no way diminished his ardour for work and we pray that Brother Fennell with his useful talents may long be spared to us.

Editors of the Clongownian in the past have been under deep obligations to Brother Fennell, who since his arrival in Clongowes, set in order many valuable memorials of the College's history. His collections of press cuttings, and printed documents relating to social activities in the College for the past century and a half (nearly) will in days to come make historians of the College bless his memory. A feature of Brother Fennell's Jubilee celebrations was the number of letters of congratulations and enquiries from many of our Past. Ad Multos, Annos.

◆ The Clongownian, 1960

Obituary

Brother Denis Fennell SJ

Last July, shortly after the boys had left for the holidays, died the oldest member of the Clongowes community, Brother Denis Fennell, in the 88th year of his age. And it is almost certainly true to say that when they returned after the vacation not a single boy missed him or even noticed his absence. For he was one of the many who in the background or behind the scenes perform the work, humdrum and tedious, on which so much depends, without which the school could not continue. For almost 60 years he had toiled for God in Clongowes, spending his days among ledgers and bills and receipts, passing the rest of his time in prayer or exploring the curious by ways of history, a study which he loved much, At last, unthanked by any of those whom he had served in successive generations through such long years, he quietly left to meet his Master, a likeness of the good and faithful servant of Our Lord's parable.

Schoolboys are thoughtless - they have, most of them, received so much loving care from their parents and others that they take for granted and as a matter of right anything that is done for them. But perhaps their elders are often at fault in allowing them to ignore so blithely the realities of life and their debt to others. The passing of a man like Brother Fennell should furnish matter for reflection for our past and present boys, for their parents, and indeed for some of our facile theorists in the popular subject of education,

He was born in 1872 in Glasthule and from an early age was attracted to the priesthood. Family circumstances however seemed to impose a delay in carrying out his plans and he took to newspaper work, joining the staff of the Freeman's Journal and serving on that paper during a most interesting and dramatic period of Irish history, an intelligent young observer of events that included the Parnell “split”. Before very long the impulse towards the religious life made itself felt more strongly and he received, he believed, a light in prayer that God wished him to become a religious brother rather than a priest. And so this talented young man left behind the world and the prospect of an interesting career.

The story of the long years that followed is briefly told: almost all of them, after the noviceship, were spent in Clongowes where his skill in accountancy was to prove most useful until the end of his life. For him the service of the school was the service of the Divine Majesty, and was therefore performed with no thought of reward, no hungering for human gratitude or recognition. Such is the foundation of supernatural dedication on which a school like Clongowes is built; such is the capital of selfless enthusiasm and service on which a school like Clongowes runs; and it is lives of prayer and toil like Brother Fennell's that bring down God's blessing on its activities. And here is the secret which is apparently so seldom penetrated even by those who profit most from it. It is surely fitting that such devotion should be occasionally acknowledged and that those for whom Brother Fennell worked so hard should pray for him now that his long years of labour are ended.

Born: 04 May 1921, Shanaclough, Oola, County Limerick
Entered: 14 August 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1960, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 08 September 1995, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 92 : August 1996

Obituary
Br William (Willie) Fitzgerald (1921-1995)

4th May 1921: Born in Shanaclough, Oola, Co. Limerick
Education: Oola NS, Co. Limerick
Employment: 10 years farming
14th Aug. 1950: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1952: First Vows at Emo
1952 - 1959: Emo, Farm Steward Tertianship,
1959 - 1960: Roehampton, England
15th Aug. 1960: Final Vows, Emo
1960 - 1967: Emo, Farm Steward
1967 - 1995: Clongowes - Plant maintenance, House and College
1st June 1995: Admitted to Naas Hospital. Convalescence in Cherryfield Lodge
8th Sept. 1995: Died at Cherryfield Lodge

There is a tradition in the neighbourhood around Clongowes that there is always a “holy Jesuit” at the College. In recent years the pupils at the school would have had no doubt about who the “holy Jesuit” was. Br. Willie Fitzgerald was their idea of a holy man. They have their own stringent criteria for assessing holiness. And according to their criteria he never failed: he was invariably helpful and he repaired the same window they had broken yet again with the same patient good humour. He never gave out to them. Maybe his reputation said more about his fellow Jesuits in Clongowes than about Willie, but the reputation stood the test of time.

In a college where Fr. John Sullivan had set the standard, his fellow Jesuits noticed the similarities: Willie had a most extraordinarily cheerful willingness to help, no matter what time it was, no matter how inconvenient it was, and no matter how often he had had to do it even that very day. And that same cheerfulness survived nearly thirty years of breakages, broken windows, missing slates, clogged drains and blown bulbs. He often uncomplainingly repaired the same window twice in the same day.

For him love was found in deeds not in words. As with John Sullivan he knew when he was being taken advantage of, yet neither of them lost their temper, neither used recrimination even when they knew the damage was malicious. When you come across that kind of thing you know you are dealing with something special. As the boys in Clongowes knew in both cases, for nothing fake could take that much.

Br. Willie was hard to find, except twice a day, in the chapel. No matter what had disturbed his sleep during the night he was up and in the chapel as usual at 5,10 the next morning. In this too he was like John Sullivan. It was quietly done, but he was never late, never absent. He was there unobtrusively at different hours when nobody else was around. And we knew we were blessed; he prayed for us, the community, the boys.

Like John Sullivan too he suffered and always in silence. He suffered much from arthritis and was nearly crippled before he underwent the hip-operation, Afterwards there were strict injunctions that there was to be no climbing of roofs, no lifting of ladders. There was no stopping him. There was work to be done, and he did it. In his final illness there were long periods of pain, sleeplessness, but as always it was borne without complaint.

Vocation - that mysterious calling to imitate Christ - for Br. Willie it was not to imitate him in his teaching ministry but in his serving ministry. “I have come not to be served but to serve". For Willie it was a pouring out of self, without question, without complaint, AND doing it willingly, doing it cheerfully.

I think for the pupils of the school it was a choice they found difficult to envisage. With their young talents they dream of taking a place in life commensurate with their gifts. His vocation was challenging, all the more challenging because it was free. Willie Fitzgerald had talents that few guessed at. He had been best in his class at school, he had been a talented actor as a young man, and a keen sportsman. He would cycle to Carlow of a Sunday for a GAA match. Gerard Manley Hopkins was his favourite poet, and he could recite whole poems of his by heart. He had many talents but he chose a life of service as his way of imitating Christ.

I entered the noviciate in 1950, the same year as Willie Fitzgerald; we took our vows on the same day. I heard him make his dedication of himself; I saw him over more than forty years live out that dedication, not as a burden but cheerfully and willingly - just like his warm salute every time you met him.

Willie had a hermit streak, but he was a vital member of his community because he prayed for us. It was typical of him that when he was in Naas hospital during his final illness other patients and their visitors gravitated towards him and asked for his prayers. In his final days in Cherryfield I visited him and before taking my final leave of him I made sure to add my request to that of others, pray for me”. I know a good thing when I see it. The Community miss all the things he did around the place, but we feel sure of his prayers. Willie Fitzgerald died on 8th September 1995.

JL

◆ The Clongownian, 1996

Obituary
Brother William Fitzgerald SJ

“Willie Fitz”, as we called him in the Jesuit community, died peacefully after an illness of some months on the morning of 8 September 1995 in Cherryfield Lodge, the same day as young Stephen Downes a few miles away in Beaumont Hospital.
Willie came from Oola, Co. Limerick, where he was born on 4 May 1921. He farmed there until joining the Jesuits on 14 August 1950, at the age of 29. Almost uniquely for a Jesuit, his whole life was lived in just two houses: St Mary's, Emo, where he entered and remained a member of the community until 1967, shortly before the house was closed, and then Clongowes. In Emo he looked after the farm; here he was part - or several parts - of the maintenance staff. As we discovered after his death, although we had suspected it long before, he did the work of three men and no neat description of his job or his duties could properly encompass all the labours with which he filled his days.

He was a skilful handyman in several departments, in addition to the mechanical jobs for which he was formally responsible. Much of the work he did was hard, physical labour. He worked with complete fidelity and reliability. Broken windows never remained broken for long. The boiler was switched on and off personally - Willie never had much time for mechanical devices and preferred personal supervision. But the hallmark of all his work and his personality was his unfailing cheerfulness. This, more than the work itself, was one of the clues that Brother Fitzgerald was an unusually holy man. He was impossible to put out of countenance. Whatever the demand, he responded without complaint.

The present writer remembers him being called from his bed (or at least from his bed room - he retired late and rose extremely early) long after the midnight hour to secure entry to the top floor of the infirmary for a lay teacher who had got locked out. This necessitated Fitz going down to his workshop, carrying a heavy ladder to the back of the building and climbing up outside and through a window on the back-stairs. We, who were waiting inside, knew he had arrived when we heard his characteristically jovial singing on the other side of the door. That small, but revealing, incident was repeated time after time and typified his complete availability to others, utterly unmindful of any cost to him self. This is surely one of the principal marks of sanctity in a human being.

He was physically very robust and agile, until the end of his life. The heavy ladder he hoisted on his shoulders that night was one of countless loads we saw him carrying round over the years. The sight of Fitz up a ladder erected against a precariously wavering flag pole on top of the “29 Building” to run up the flag for Union Day inspired severe misgivings in others but he clearly thought nothing of it himself When he travelled, his favoured mode of transport was the bicycle. He went for long trips when he was allowing himself a little time off and, when he went home on holidays once a year, he cycled to Oola and back. We had no evidence that he even broke the journey.

All the while, he was making a more important journey and scaling other heights. We knew that he prayed - not as so many of us pray, as if, in the words of the Curé of Ars, we were saying, “I am just going to say a couple of words, so I can get away quickly”, but more like John Sullivan (and the reminiscence is not by chance), about whom a fellow scholastic once marvelled: “Mr Sullivan actually talks to Jesus in the chapel”. We only caught glimpses of this in Fitz - from the nature of things and because much of it was in the early hours when no one else was about - but we were keenly aware of it.

He was, in any case, a deeply private man. He was not unfriendly or unsociable. He was anything but unapproachable. But you did not feel he needed conversation or recreation, In some ways, living his slightly reclusive life, he was almost more a Carthusian than a Jesuit. He kept a certain kind of reserve, always, for example, addressing the rest of us as “Father” or “Brother”, never by our first names. He lived in obscurity, unknown except by the small circle of his family, his fellow-Jesuits in the community and those he worked with or met through his work. That was the way he wanted it and it revealed another dimension of his profoundly Christian personality, a humility which had no false note.

He had a good, alert mind and he was a shrewd observer of what was going on around him. We remember the sight of him in the community library after tea (his taken early), studying the newspaper, always The Irish Independent. He was keenly interested in sport, especially hurling and football. He had a hearty sense of humour, which could be sharp but was never unkind. We were amused and touched to discover that he used to send jokes to Ireland's Own, in the hope of winning the small prizes offered. Whoever the money was for, if he did win, it was certainly not for himself.

There was a depth of goodness and humanity in Willie Fitzgerald, which touched every one and he was a completely real person. Although his contact with the boys was some what indirect, “Brother Fitz” was a very familiar figure, always working, always on the move, always good-humoured and cheerful, and many of them had a sense of his special quality.

The day he died was the 43rd anniversary of his First Vows as a Jesuit. Those of us who had the privilege of living with him know that few have lived those vows with such awe-inspiring goodness and commitment as Willie Fitzgerald did. We convey our deep sympathy to his family.

Born: 01 January 1841, County Mayo
Entered: 20 June 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1876
Died: 21 June 1903, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Aloysius Sturzo was Novice Master to Thomas at Milltown.
After his First Vows he remained at Milltown as Cook.
He was then sent to Gardiner St as Refectorian. He was known there as a man who always had a god word for you, especially for externs he came in contact with,
1886-1888 He spent a year each in Clongowes and Milltown.
1888 He returned to Gardiner St.
Eighteen months before his death he had a serious operation for cancer, which prolonged his life a little. He was a most edifying patient during his final illness, and died on the Feast of St Aloysius at Gardiner St 21 June 1903

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Thomas Flatley 1842-1903
Br Thomas Flatley, who was born on January 7th 1842, entered the Society 24 years later. He did his noviceship at Milltown Park under Fr Sturzo.

The greater part of his life he worked at Gardiner Street. While there, he ever lost the opportunity of saying a good word in due season, to the many externs with whom he came in contact.

Eighteen months before his death he underwent a sever operation, which only prolonged his life for a short while. His conduct during his last illness was most patient and edifying, and he died calmly on the Feast of St Aloysius, June 21st 1903.

Born: 07 September 1900, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 30 April 1925, Tullabeg
Final Vows: 02 February 1936, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 20 October 1967, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948

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

Irish Province News 43rd Year No 1 1968

Obituary :

Brother Edward Foley's death came as a shock to most of us. He looked so fresh and youthful that few realised that he was just three years short of the seventy mark. When we heard the details of his last illness the comment was “just as he would have it, no full”. For the record we give the details. On October 19th he said that he was very tired, too tired to remain on his feet. The doctor wisely suggested anointing. He received the last sacraments and slept his last sleep.
Brother Ned, as he was known, was a favourite everywhere, and he shared his light-hearted laughter wherever he went. The community to which he belonged was always the better of him being of it, whether it was the three-man community of Manresa in its earlier days or the almost one hundred strong of Tullabeg.
He had the ability to settle in wherever he was; he could adapt himself to circumstances or rather he was independent of them. In his exile in Tullabeg his laughter filled the recreation room in an enthusiastic game of cards or his voice filled the back kitchen as he sang while he peeled the potatoes. In Manresa where he was lonely he made friends with the local cat and it was amusing to see pussy at his heels the whole length of the avenue.
His light-heartedness was not an unfeeling indifference to people and things, on the contrary it was a deep thoughtfulness that had measured accurately the value of life, “Why worry?” he used to say “make the most of what you have”.
This thoughtfulness made Br. Foley's opinion on things most valuable. His criticism of a film, a play, a football game, or on more sedate things like music, a building or a sermon was always well worth hearing. The late Father Meaney, who preached well, when in the Crescent frequently read his sermons to Brother Ned and added or expanded where Brother Ned suggested that idea was not clearly explained.
His judgement of men was still more valuable. He could measure a boy on the staff, a scholastic, a Superior or a minister quicker than most, and his measure would be an accurate one, and a generous one.
His witty retorts were good, always made in a roguish way that could not offend. When the new drinking glasses he put on the table in the Crescent were criticised by Father Dillon-Kelly of happy memory : “I suppose they are Woolworth's best, Brother”. “I beg your pardon, Father, these are from Barbara Hutton's” - and he got by.
Brother Foley always got by, whether it was a Long Table dinner with the preparations left to the last minute or getting into Croke Park on an All-Ireland Final as when he put out his chest and swung his arms and joined the Artane Boys' Band as Brother in Charge.
Brother Foley had been working as a watch-maker before he joined the Society in 1925 at the age of twenty-five. A short while after his noviceship in Tullabeg he went as a founder member to Emo where with Fr. Corbett and Brother Tom Kelly (no longer in the Society) he did real hard work preparing Emo, which had been unoccupied for many years for the coming of the novices in
1930.
The Crescent was his home for fourteen years from 1932-46. Here he was cook, infirmarian, in charge of the staff and general factotum in the house and, for good measure, in the summer he took on the sacristy and Church collections. It was no trouble to him. He had that rare gift of being able to delegate, moreover, he could select a reliable delegate, and still more, he instilled a loyalty that made one feel privileged to have been chosen. This was so because he himself was most obliging and generous; a meal at an unusual time - “I'll have something for you”; a boy on the staff anxious to get to some special engagement - “You run off, I'll stand in”. He did these good turns so spontaneously and so cheerfully that one was more than happy to be able to do something for him by way of return.
From the Crescent he went to Clongowes for one year and in 1948 he went to the newly opened Retreat House at Manresa where he worked again as a general factorum for six years. In 1954 he spent one year in Tullabeg and then moved to Gardiner Street. This assignment was not an easy one. Though it brought him to his own locality in Dublin and to the Church where as a boy and a young man he had served on the altar, yet he was second in command to Brother Furlong. Brother Furlong, ageing at this time, had been over fifty years in office when Brother Foley arrived to take over, Here more than anywhere else the true Brother Foley showed itself. With a wisdom that was natural to him, and with a patience that was truly supernatural he smilingly played second fiddle and played in tune. While in Gardiner Street the first signs of illness showed themselves. He lost considerable weight and be came emaciated diabetes was diagnosed, but this he took in his calm philosophical way.
The last years of his life - 1962-67 - he spent at Manresa and there he died on October 20th, and died as he would have wished, giving trouble to no one.

Born: 29 June 1833, County Kildare
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 24 December 1884, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a baker by trade, and a Manductor to the Brother Novices at Clongowes.
1866 He was sent to Gardiner St, and he worked hard in various posts until his death there Christmas Eve 1884. By a strange coincidence, Fr Joseph Lentaigne, who had received him as Provincial, died in the same community the day before. Both coffins were laid on the High Altar on 26 December 1884.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others which had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were Christopher Coffey, Peter Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

Born: 08 May 1778, County Dublin / County Meath
Entered: 09 October 1828, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final Vows: 24 September 1841
Died: 01 February 1842, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a very good carpenter, and made himself very useful at Tullabeg in its early days. Very little is known about him, except that he had the name of being a very good religious and very devoted to prayer. He was 50 year of age when he entered the Society.

He died at Tullabeg 01/02/1842, and is buried under a yew tree in the centre of the old Rahan Cemetery. No cross marks his grave. Father John Curtis was Superior at the time, and there were eleven other Jesuits in the community.

Note from Patrick Byrne Entry :
He is buried in the old cemetery at Rahan, in the same grave with Brother Gaffney.

Born: 01 September 1786, Leixlip, County Kildare
Entered: 07 September 1819, St Stanislaus, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 04 December 1866, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a carpenter by trade. It is not certain when he first went to Clongowes, but after several petitions, he was finally accepted in the Noviceship at Tullabeg 07/09/1819.

He spent the greater part of his life in the Society at Clongowes. He was very hardworking and made himself very useful. He was industrious and skillful and “paratus ad omnia”. Nothing was beneath him, although he often had the lion’s share of the work to be done. He wore the oldest clothes, washed and cleaned the dormitories, and this and other similar kinds of work were his delight. He was both innocent and remarkable for his singular good humour, d though naturally quick tempered, he never showed it in his work, governing it with humility and modesty.
During the last years of his life he suffered much. The fact that he had been so active and now unable to be so pained him greatly. In time he became both blind and deaf, and he bore all these sufferings with great patience. He died peacefully 04/12/1866, after 47 years of service in the Society.

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

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Michael Gallagher 1796-1866
Br Michael Gallagher was born in Leixlip County Dublin in 1796. A carpenter by trade, he became a Jesuit Brother in 1819.

The greater part of his life was spent at Clongowes. He was a “paratus ad omnia”, nothing was beneath him, although he always had the lion’s share of disagreeable work.

Though naturally of a quick temper, he scarcely ever sign of it, but governed it by humility and modesty. During the later years of his l;ife he suffered much, especially from being incapable of work, when he had been so active. He became blind and deaf.

At a ripe age of seventy years, forty seven of which he spent in the Society, he died peacefully and full of merit on December 4th 1866.

Born: 08 February 1793, Kilworth, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1819, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 30 January 1893, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
John was the eighth Brother to join the Irish Province. He began his Noviceship in the company of John Doyle; Patrick Doyle; Peter Egan and Michael Gallagher, who all Entered on the same day. He was “Master Tailor” and widely known to the Province - there is hardly one he did not clothe, either as boys or Jesuits.

Joseph Dalton writes of him :
“After many years in the College, he did not - though he probably felt it - ‘quorus magna pars fui’, he was moved to Dublin and St Francis Xavier’s Church and Presbytery, where he spent the rest of his days as tailor, assistant infirmarian, and Reader i the Community refectory. This last duty he performed very correctly and wit great ‘gusto’, even in his old age. He was greatly liked by all for his simple piety, respectful manner and kindness to the sick. He was well known by many from all parts of Ireland, who knew him when they were boys in the Colleges, and they spoke of him always with respect and affection. His fellow Lay Brothers looked on him as a Patriarch among them, and treated him with great respect.”

He was a truly edifying religious.

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

Born: 23 November 1900, Rosses Point, County Sligo
Entered: 08 June 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 06 February 1984, North Infirmary Hospital, Cork

Part of Clongowes Wood College SJ community, County Kildare at time of his death.
Grew up Carrigaholt, County Clare

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 59th Year No 3 1984
Obituary
Br William Glanville (1900-1919-1984)
Br Glanville's father was a lighthouse keeper who married twice. Of the first marriage there were two children, our Br William being one of these. The first wife was an O’Malley from Co Galway, whose brother was MP for East Galway - not that Br Glanville ever imparted this piece of information. He was born at Rosses Point outside Sligo. In the second family there were sixteen children, and apparently the second Mrs. Glanville was very kind to all the children, and remembered by Br Glanville with deep gratitude and affection.
They moved to Carrigaholt, west Clare, when he was very young, and it was from there that he entered the noviciate at Tullabeg in 1919 at the age of nineteen. Early in his Jesuit life he spent ten years at Rathfarnham Castle from the mid-twenties, when the Australian Jesuits were attending the university. He acted as cook in other houses until the early 'fifties, when he was assigned to Clongowes as sacristan, a position that suited him and which he really loved. He remained at Clongowes for the last thirty-one years of his life in the Society; thirty-one happy years for him and for Clongowes.
His sudden death, while not unexpected by the community, has nevertheless left them with a genuine sense of loss, because they liked him and respected him for his qualities and his admirable example as a Jesuit. To the Clongowes community he is naturally associated with the sacristy and floral decorations with his own peculiar touch fitting for the occasion. They still remember his footsteps in the early morning about 4.30 on his way to the People's church; they remember him day after day in his own corner in the domestic chapel quietly saying his prayers; they remember his quips and asides during the early dinner; but above all they remember his quiet, unassuming, gentle manner. He was a very shy man, and yet a man who thoroughly enjoyed life - after his own fashion.
He kept a few letters all his life including one from Br Kevin Bracken (brother of the famous Brendan Bracken) who wrote to him from Australia in 1923. Two letters he treasured were from Captains of the school who wrote thanking him for all his trouble in making the altar so beautiful for some celebrated occasion. His three remaining sisters who live in the United States were his regular confidantes about his health and Irish affairs of interest to them.
For a man so timid and shy it's amazing how many friends he made over the years. These friends wrote to him constantly; he visited them from time to time, and never forgot their birthdays. . He enjoyed meeting people on his weekly train journey, and would often on the following day recall with a chuckle remarks that had been passed. The ticket-collector, for example, on the Dublin-Cork train always presented him with tea - gratis. More than once this same man drove him to his home at Mallow, and arranged that on his days off his substitute would have tea ready for Br Glanville. Towards the very end he found the train trips hard, but was determined to keep on his feet as long as possible. On Friday, 2nd March, he selected Cork as his journey's end and took the train there. After arriving at Glanmire station, he was walking slowly towards the city centre when he collapsed on the side walk. A number of people came to his assistance, one of them being a nurse, who noticed that his heart had stopped, Some time later an undertaker arrived on the scene and managed to get the heart going again. An ambulance took him to the North Infirmary hospital (near the bells of Shandon). However, there in the coronary care, unit the staff were convinced that damage had already been done to the brain. The Daughters of Charity, who run the North Infirmary, were very kind and attentive. He never regained consciousness, and died peace fully about 7 pm on Tuesday, 6th March.
The large gathering at his requiem Mass at Clongowes on the Thursday was certainly a tribute to Br William, Practically all the Brothers of the Province arrived, and particularly notice able was the number of priests who con celebrated. Br Glanville would have loved it all. It was a beautifully fine day with good sunshine, and with their guard of honour the boys did him proud. It was a fitting finale to sixty-five years' service as a Jesuit in the Irish province. May the What does it mean to be a Jesuit? The Lord be good to him.

◆ The Clongownian, 1984

Obituary

Brother William Glanville SJ

On Friday, 3 May 1984 a phone call from a hospital in Cork gave the disturbing news that a Brother Glanville had collapsed on the street and was brought unconscious to the hospital. For some years back Brother availed himself of the free ticket for the old to take a trip every Friday north, south, east or west. As the mood or a very definite purpose took him such a call on the odd friend. In spite of very bad arthritis, in defiance of most inclement weather every week he boldly “sailed” out, and oniy on his return did we learn he had been in Limerick, Galway, Dundalk or Cork, having on some of these visits just time to take a sandwich before having to board the train for the return journey. What he really loved I think, was the movement of the train, the passing ever changing panorama of the countryside, and the chats with chance acquaintances on the journey. For though shy enough with his brethren, he was quite unin hibited with passing strangers, possessing, as he did, a rare and quiet sense of humour that he preserved till his death.

The collapse on the street ended in a few days with his death, never having regained consciousness. His passing from our midst was felt deeply by all the community, and lay staff. His attachment to his duties as sacristan to both churches was most edifying, remembering the real pain and struggle he had to get round at all. He's unfailing humour made his company a thing of pleasure. While he had been in Clongowes for many years, and had been always a devoted servant of his duties, profane and religious, he had shown the same qualities in the three or four other houses where he had been stationed. It was at his funeral here that his real popularity, and the deep appreciation for the man himself was seen by the presence of most of the Brothers of the province, and the very large number of priests, who concelebrated the funeral Mass. We, and they, felt we had lost for a time some one, whose absence would be felt, and whose company could not be easily filled. RIP

G O'B SJ

Born: 13 April 1846, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 16 October 1876, Milltown Park
Final Vows: 15 August 1888, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 29 December 1906, Tullabeg, Co Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a shoemaker by trade and did excellent work first at Milltown and then at Mungret.
He was considered very hardworking and had become huge in size.
He died at Tullabeg 29 December 1906

Born: 06 June 1900, Mountrath, County Laois
Entered: 28 November 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 26 December 1992, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

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

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Painter before Entry

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 75 : Christmas 1993 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary
Br Patrick Guidera (1900-1992)

6th June 1900: Born, Mountrath, Laois
Worked as painter/decorator for 20 years in the family business
28th Nov. 1933: Entered the Society at Emo
1935 - 1941: Belvedere - Painter
1941 - 1942: Crescent College - Maintenance
1942 - 1948: Emo - Plant Maintenance
1948 - 1990: Tullabeg - Plant and Church maintenance/Fundraiser
1990 - 1992: Cherryfield Lodge
26th Dec. 1992: Died at Cherryfield Lodge

Pat Guidera was a few days short of his thirty-third year, when in the belief that God was calling him to the religious life, he arrived at the door of the Jesuit Novitiate, St Mary's, Emo Park. It was the evening of May 28th, 1933. The decision which brought him that evening from his home in Mountrath to the steps of St Mary's was not an easy one for a man of his age and experience.

Pat was the eldest son in a large family; he was a skilled painter and decorator whose work was widely appreciated. His father and younger brothers had come to rely on his skills and on his ability in dealing with the business side of his and their work. He was, too, a devout Catholic, a popular neighbour, a mature man with, as he tells us himself, serious plans to marry and father a family of his own.

Such in a nutshell was his position when the call to the religious life, of which he had been vaguely conscious, became more insistent. The Hound of Heaven was not to be denied! It was on the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress in 1932 that Patrick made his first outward response. Through the Brigidine Sisters at their convent in Mountrath, he made contact, with his first Jesuit, the late Fr James Whitaker who was conducting the Sisters' annual Retreat. Under this priest's kindly and understanding direction, Pat finally made up his mind to apply for admission as a religious Brother in the Irish Province of the Company of Jesus.

Thus it was that Pat Guidera, after much soul-searching and prayer, came to leave all' to follow the Christ who went down to Nazareth and lived a life of dependence on his parents to whom He was subject. The surrender of his independence as a mature man was, perhaps, at the core of his sacrifice. Indeed, few, if any, of his fellow novices, had anything like the sacrifices to make as those required of him on answering that same call. Surely that tells us something of the mutual love between God and himself as he knocked at St Mary's door. Even then he was a man after St Ignatius' own heart - a man of generous spirit and desiring to be detached from “all that the world loves and embraces”.

After his first chat with the master of novices, Pat realized that Canon Law required him to wait six months in residence at St Mary's before admission to the Noviceship. This proved a wise provision in his case as it gave him time and space to reconsider in a prayerful atmosphere his decision to leave a comfortable home, to forego the happiness of married life and to bind himself to a life of obedience and dependence. It was during these first months he came to appreciate the wise and firm direction of the late Fr John Coyne of whom Pat was untiring in his praise all his long life. He began his two-year noviceship on Nov 22nd 1933, and immediately entered on the Thirty Day Retreat; after this experience, he never “looked back”.

Now in later years Brother Pat would say that he found his noviceship years a real trial. It is to his credit and to the continuing power of the grace of vocation that he persevered and happily made his first Vows as a Brother in the Society of Jesus.

During the next eleven years, 1935-46, he had ample opportunity to exercise his talent as a painter and decorator, first at St Mary's Emo, then at Belvedere and for a short period at Rathfamham. And as was the common practice at the time for every member of the Province, he was expected to be ready and able to help out in spheres of activity for which he had no special training or aptitude. Brother Pat, no doubt, found the words, Ad dom! after his name in the annual Catalogus. In practice it direct ed him to be at the service of all whenever he might be needed. In this, too, he was like his Master who was 'among us as one who serves'. So, as the years went by Brother Pat could be found at work as a carpenter, or electrician, a motor mechanic and chauffeur, a builder in stone, a plasterer, a glazier and general handy-man. This was the patter of his daily work from February 2nd, 1946, when he made his final vows in the Company of Jesus, up to a few years before his death on December 26th 1992.

Sometime in 1948, he was asked to leave St Mary's Emo and go to Tullabeg on loan for the purpose of painting and decorating the People's Church there. However, he remained in Tullabeg for the next forty-two years, 1948-1990. During the years up to 1962, Brother Pat's life was hidden from most of us, even from some of his fellow Brothers! Being a jack-of-all-trades and master of most, he was difficult to find in the labyrinth that was old Tullabeg House and farm out-offices. Moreover, he rose earlier than most and was always a step ahead in his morning prayers. He often breakfasted on the foot and after a long day's toil was the last to retire. In part, this was the kind of life he chose to live. If one permitted a mild criticism, it would be that perhaps our brother was too wedded to his work. But he'd surely have a reply to that.

It would be true to say of him that he was a worrier, a man not easily satisfied with himself or his work, whatever it might be. And if his efforts did not always please others, they did not always please himself. His standards as a religious were high, and high, too, were the standards of work he set for himself. Often finding himself pulled from “Billy to Jack”, often expected to make “a silk purse out of a sow's ear”, our Brother occasionally found his fellow Jesuits disapproving either of his way of acting or of his actual work. He would listen in silence, make little or no defence, offer no excuse, but with head bowed and with a characteristic back ward shovelling of his feet, he would depart with his new instructions, which he feared would not remedy the situation. In such situations, the example of Jesus, the Son of the Carpenter of Nazareth, was a source of strength to him. His way of silence in the face of criticism, of obedience to lawful authority, of charity to all was the way Brother Pat continued to strive to follow Him who is the way for every religious. Like many of his contemporaries Pat lived his life in the Second Degree of Humility with many an excursion into the Third. And in his last years, he came to be like his Master in others ways, too, not least in his love of prayer, in his love of the Mass and in his devotion to the Mother of Jesus. In 1991 he visited our Lady's Shrine at Medjugorje and in 1992 he visited Knock with a group from Rahan and Tullamore.

In 1990, the Lord asked one more sacrifice from his faithful friend - to leave Tullabeg and retire to Cherryfield Lodge. In time he came to accept that too. In the story of his life as told to, and beautifully edited by Fr Eddie O'Donnell, SJ, there is much to admire, much to smile at, and not a little to make one wonder at the loving providence of God.

Edmond Kent SJ

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1995

Obituary
The above is Fr Kent's account of Br Pat's life, but Pat, in the months before he died wrote his own autobiography, “The Story of my Life”. What follows are his own words on his years in Belvedere (1935- 41):

I spent most of my life as a Jesuit Brother at Rahan, near Tullamore, County Offaly. I was stationed there for over forty years, from 1948 to 1990. Since that period deserves a chapter all to itself, what I'm going to do here is bring you from the year I took my First Vows (1935) up to 1948. Okay?

Immediately after taking my vows in Emo, I was transferred to Belvedere College, the Jesuit day school in Dublin. My first job there was to repair the roof of the community building with the help of a couple of handymen. I bought lead sheeting from Lenehan's shop in Capel Street - which is still going strong - and had the work finished in no time.

Then I was asked to paint all the windows on the front of the house. This entailed the erection of a scaffolding, which was quite an awkward operation on account of the “area” beneath the building. We managed it all right. At that time there was a lot more painting to be done on the windows than there would be today. The windows were “Georgian”, with a lot of small panes like those in the houses nearby. In later years, these were replaced by single-pane, plate-glass windows, a mortal sin from the architectural point-of-view.

At that time in Belvedere, there was a fountain in the middle of the school yard. It had a pond or basin around it. I was asked to clear it away altogether. I started this work with the help of a few construction workers but a twenty-six week builders' strike had just started and these lads were told not to work with me. A group of workmen came into the yard and kicked up a shindy, so I was left on my own. One of the priests in the community - Fr Charlie Scantlebury SJ, who was editor of “The Sacred Heart Messenger” for many years - came out to give me a hand.

The militant workmen returned and tried to beat him up! Punches were exchanged and I had to go to his rescue. We waited for the strike to finish before completing that job, although I did a lot of work on it early each morning myself.

Another task I was given was to install electric chandeliers in the Front Parlour. I knew nothing about electricity but decided to have a go all the same. When I was nearly finished, I remember standing up on a ladder to cut off some loose ends with a sharp knife. Suddenly, there was a sheet of flame, a flash like lightning, that knocked me off the ladder. I will never forget that narrow escape.

My next assignment was to paint the school hall, or the “Gymnasium” as it was called. It's where the boys did their drill as part of the curriculum. It's also where the school operas were staged and where the Old Boys held their annual dinners. Everyone was very pleased with the work I did there, especially with the college crest and its motto, “Per Vias Rectas”, painted on the centre of the side wall. Fr Charlie Byrne SJ, was particularly delighted. He was in charge of putting on the operas - usually Gilbert & Sullivan - and he realised he had found someone who could do a proper job on the scenery in future.

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, there were a lot of shortages in Dublin. Coal boats couldn't cross over from England so we had to make do with turf. During the winter of 1939 itself, we still had a fair bit of coal left but Fr Rupert Coyle, SJ, in an effort to spare the fuel, told me to leave off the boiler in the Senior School during the Christmas holidays. There was a bad frost, unfortunately, and the pipes burst, flooding the whole building from top to bottom. There was an awful lot of damage done. I can leave you to guess whose job it was to clean up the mess.....

In 1940 the Rector of Belvedere, Fr John Mary O'Connor, SJ (affectionately known as “Bloody Bill”) received a letter from his opposite number in Rathfarnham Castle, Fr P G Kennedy SJ (the famous ornithologist) asking if he could send me over to paint the chapel. Like Emo and Belvedere, Rathfarnham Castle had ornate Georgian ceilings. The ceiling in the chapel took me over a month to paint. Like Michelangelo in Rome, I had to lie on my back on top of a scaffolding for days on end painting the intricate ornamentation.

When the ceiling was finished I did the walls and the sanctuary and then painted the front and sides of the altar. To restore the altar to its original glory, I had to purchase special gold-leaf paint which was manufactured in Dublin by a firm called Phillips (it can only be obtained from a firm in England nowadays). The Rector and his second-in-command, Fr “Dolly” Byrne SJ, were both very satisfied with what I did.

Then it was back to Belvedere, where the Minister, Fr Leo Donnelly SJ, had a major enterprise awaiting me. Away back in 1881 the Jesuits had bought a house on Temple street (opposite the Childrens' Hospital) and for two years it had been run as a third-level college called after St Ignatius. During the Second World War, this building was being used to house the domestic staff of Belvedere, but it was very dilapidated. I was asked to construct a bridge from the back of Belvedere College, across Temple Lane, into the back yard of “Temple Chambers” as the place was known then. This took quite a while, On account of the shortage of building materials during the war.

Anyhow, we got the bridge built and had to cover it in because it was the object of numerous missile attacks by kids from ... (nearby).

Then I had to renovate Temple Chambers. Another Brother and myself used to sleep there at night, Our rooms were right at the top, with the domestic staff occupying the lower storeys, now nicely re-papered: My room must have been at the front, because I remember being kept awake at night by the crying babies in the hospital across the street. Early in 1941, one of these babies was suffering from a rare-insect bite and screamed all night for weeks on end. He grew up to become Fr Eddie O'Donnell, SJ!

Later in 1941, the Rector of Milltown Park (Fr John McMahon SJ) who had admired my work in Rathfarnham, asked if I could come over and paint the domestic chapel at Milltown. This was a fairly straightforward job in comparison with the one at Rathfarnham. It took me less than a month to repaint the entire chapel.

When I returned to Belvedere during the summer of that year, most of the community were away on holidays. The Bursar, Fr John Calter SJ, was in charge and he asked me to paper and paint the room of Fr Frank O'Riordan. This was a tall order because Fr O'Riordan used to practise playing golf in his room! He'd hang a blanket, so I had to spend ages repairing the plug marks in the walls before the re-papering could start. All went well, however, and Fr Calter was delighted with the finished product, so delighted, indeed, that he decided to move into that room himself! When Fr O'Riordan returned, there was an awful rumpus. But I wasn't there to hear it because I had been transferred to Clongowes Wood.

Born: 15 June 1834, Clane, County Kildare
Entered: 28 February 1868, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 November 1878
Died: 06 May 1908, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1874-1876 He was at UCD
1876-1881 He was sent to Galway
1888 He was sent to Clongowes and he died in hospital but was buried there 06 May 1908
He was a painter by trade. he was considered a very handy, painstaking, hardworking and most obliging man. He was quiet and retiring in manner, but was often chosen as Manductor for the Brother Novices.

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

◆ The Clongownian, 1908

Obituary

Brother Daniel Hampson SJ

The hand of death has been heavy on Clongownians this year. Few were so intimately connected with Clongowes as Brother Daniel Hampson. He was here for a great number of years, but now be is gone. Many prayers have gone with him for he was much beloved. We all liked him and admired his goodness. He astonished everyone by his marvellous memory. The department of the Magazine over which he presided was one to tax the best of memories his was seldom found wanting. Brother Hampson was respected by all classes in the neighbour hood. He was very zealous, particularly for the Propagation of the Faith, and he distributed the periodical of the Society and made the annual collection with great earnestness. Punctuality was one of his most noted characteristics. He was for many years Sacristan, an office which he filled with great zeal. He wound up a long, earnest life, devoted with great singlemindedness to God's service, by a pious death. He has now gone to his reward, and the regrets and prayers of many past Clongowoians will follow him.

Born: 24 June 1832, Scariff, County Clare
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 25 January 1897, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Novices had traditionally made their Novitiate at Clongowes under Father Bracken until 1860, when with a few exceptions, the Brother Novices were moved to Milltown. John was one of the exceptions, and did all his Novitiate at Clongowes. He remained there until 1867 as Infirmarian and Sacristan.
1867-1872 he was sent to Gardiner St as Sacristan, and then in 1871 he was made Buyer and Dispenser.
1872-1877 He was sent back to his old job at Clongowes for a short time, and then sent to Galway as Sacristan.
1877-1881 he was sent to UCD as Buyer and Dispenser.
1881-1882 He was sent to Limerick for a year.
1882 He was sent back to his former job at Clongowes, and remained there until his death 25/01/1897.

Old Clongowonians recall fondly the kindly smile and gentle word they always received from him as Infirmarian. Others also testify to his patient and loving care for them when they were sick. Although aged 65 and suffering from heart disease, he continued to work to within a few months of his death. Though he had cared for others most of his life, especially sick people, now confined to his room it troubled him that he was something of a burden to others as they cared for him.
The last thing he did was to sit up, take hold of a crucifix and kiss, He then lay down and died.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others who had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

Born: 03 December 1849, Dooneen, Quin, County Clare
Entered: 04 November 1885, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Final Vows: 25 March 1896, St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, County Offaly
Died: 26 April 1938, St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - The first Jesuit to die at St Mary’s Emo - Buried at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 13th Year No 3 1938
Obituary
Brother James Hassett
On 26th April, Brother James Hassett passed peacefully away after a brief illness. For the past few years it was clear that the old man was failing, but with characteristic determination he remained at his post to the end.

Brother Hassett was born at Dooneen, near Quin, in the Co Clare, on December 3rd, 1848. He was the eldest son of a strong farmer who owned over 2,000 acres of land, in three farms, and on the death of his father he inherited the three farms. For ten years he worked these farms and supported his younger brothers and sisters. When one of his brothers, Laurence, who is still living, was old enough to look after the farms, Brother James decided that the family no longer needed his help. One day he mentioned to them that he was thinking of entering religion, and a few days later he set off for Dublin, saying that he was “going to make some enquiries”. He never returned. His brother, Laurence, waited up for him in vain that night and again the following night. On the third day a letter came from James telling Laurence that he had made the farms over to him and was not returning.
He had seen Father Tom Browne (Provincial) in the meantime and had been accepted for the Society. He entered as a Postulant in Dromore on 25th July, 1885, received his gown on November 4th of the same year, was admitted to his First Vows on November 5th, 1887, and to his Final Vows on 25th March, 1896. Brother James remained in Dromore aa “Villicus” till the house was closed down in 1887. He was then sent to Tullabeg, where he remained till 1901, when he was transferred to Clongowes to take charge of the farm. Four years later he was back again in Tullabeg and there he remained till Emo was opened in August, 1930. One might have thought that the work of starting a farm would be too much for an old man already in his 82nd year, but Father Fahy knew his man, and he entrusted the difficult undertaking to Brother Hassett. A better choice could not have been made.
In spite of many difficulties he soon had things running smoothly. He was alive to every need, foresaw every difficulty, thought out and wisely arranged for every eventuality, and for the next seven and a half years not only looked after every detail of the farm work, with a vigilant and discerning eye, but worked himself with a will. “" He is a terror for work”, a man remarked. We in Emo have reason to be grateful to Brother Hassett for the material assistance which he rendered from the beginning, but that is not his only, or even his chief, claim on our gratitude. When Emo was opened, the Society was quite unknown to the people of the neighbourhood. The first impressions made would be likely to be lasting. From the nature of his work, Brother Hassett, though of a most retiring disposition, necessarily came in contact not only with the farm hands but with many of the neighbours. What was the impression produced? Respect, admiration, veneration do not seem to be excessive epithets. Nothing less would give an idea of the truth. “It is not praying for that man we will be, but to him,” one of the farmhands remarked a few days after his death. And what of the impression created by Brother Hassett in his own Communities? Lean of Me for I am meek and humble of heart were words most assuredly, that fell not on deaf ears in the case of Brother James. Why stress it? All who knew him know it. That humility which not only caused him to fly the praise of men, but made him so deferential and submissive - strong man as he was, with strong views , that regularity which brought him with amazing exactness to every duty, that prayerfulness which led him to the chapel, first of all the Community, each morning and again in the evening when his work was done , that spirit of work which kept him on his feet and at his post when he was tottering to the grave, that deferential respect which stamped him as a perfect gentleman. These are some of the thoughts that come to the mind when the name of Brother James Hassett is mentioned. “Father General was much moved when I told him about Brother Hassett”, wrote the late Father Joseph Welsby, on the occasion of Brother Hassett's golden jubilee. And Father General showed his appreciation by sending him a picture of St, Alphonsus Rodriguez, endorsed with Father General’s signature and the words, written in Father General’s own handwriting : “God bless Brother Hassett! Pray for me!” Rome II. xi. 1935.
In recent months it became more clear that the end was fast approaching. He had taken to using a stick - “the old man's staff” as he remarked with his own quiet humour - and occasional weaknesses were an outward sign that the old heart was giving out. It was on Good Friday, April 15th, that he went to bed - a most appropriate day. Like his Master, he had finished the work that God had given him to do. He had not the slightest fear of death, and when the call came on 26th April, he passed most peacefully into eternity. His brother Laurence and his two nephews, one of whom is a priest in the Killaloe Diocese, came for the funeral. Father Hassett said the Mass and read the prayers at the graveside. He is buried in Tullabeg, where he spent so many years, where he wished to lay his bones. The scene at the graveside was most impressive. There was the Tullabeg Community, the Tullabeg farmhands and neighbors (some with tears in their eyes), Fathers and Brothers from Emo, Clongowes and Gardiner Street, including Father Vice-Provincial, and the whole Emo farm staff. And, to crown all, we had the Benedictus beautifully rendered by the Tullabeg Choir. In life, Brother James Hassett fled from the honour of men, but he could not escape it in death, His Brothers in religion were there to show their appreciation of his worth and their admiration of his holiness. May he rest in peace.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother James Hassett SJ 1849-1938
On April 26th Br James Hassett died after a brief illness. He was born in Quin, County Clare in 1848. On the death of his father, he inherited three farms, which he worked until his younger brothers grew up. Then, deciding that the family no longer needed his help, he made over the farm to one of his brothers and entered the Society in Dromore County Down in 1885.

He remained in Dromore after his Vows until that house was closed. Then he was in charge opf the Tullabeg farm until 1901, when he went for four years to Clongowes. Back again in Tullabeg, he remained in charge of the farm until 1930, when Emo was opened. Although in his 82nd year, Br Hassett soon had the Emo farm running smoothly, and not only was he alive to every need, but worked himself with a will for the next seven years and a half.

To say that Br Hassett won the respect, admiration and even veneration of outsiders is not an exaggeration. And what was the impression in his own communities? The humility which made him so respectful and submissive; the regularity which brought him with amazing exactness to every duty; the prayerfulness which led him first of all to the community Chapel each morning and again in the evening when his work was done; the spirit of work which kept him at his post even in the last weeks of his life; and the deferential respect which stamped him as a perfect gentleman. These are some of the thoughts which come to mind when the name of Br James Hassett is mentioned.

He is buried at Tullabeg, where the greater part of his life in the Society was spent.

Born: 31July 1850, Multyfarnham, County Westmeath
Entered: 08 October 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Professed: 15 August 1902
Died: 28 December 1909, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a bricklayer by trade and very skilful in anything to do with building. While in Dublin he was involved heavily with the Nationalist movement, and knew a lot about Fenians. He also served with the Ambulance Service during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 where he suffered much. When he returned to Dublin his health was poor and he suffered on and off from the effects of tat severe war.

Had made two attempts to join the Society, and eventually did 08 October 1891..

1900 He was sent to Clongowes where he built the Infirmary. During his last years there he developed heart trouble. He died, as he said himself, at peace with everybody on the Feast of the Holy Innocents 28 December 1909.
He was very pious and edifying. He was always obliging, skilful, handy and a singularly gentle and quiet person.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Entered 04 November 1888. LEFT. RE ENTERED 08 October 1891

Born: 08 December 1830, Draperstown, County Derry
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 05 March 1915, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He worked on the land for many years at Clongowes. He was a very strong man and did great work for the College. During his last years the Provincial dispensed him from all work, and he made up for this with the piety of his life, and incessant visits to the Blessed Sacrament and prayer. He was held in great respect.

It is not well known, but a year after arriving at Clongowes as a Postulant, he went to the Rector and told him he was resolved to return to his home. His stated reason was that since he arrived, not the slightest interest had been taken in his spiritual welfare by any of the community. He might as well be an ordinary farm labourer, he said. He saw no advantage of staying in Clongowes over his old life which had been good and spiritual. The Rector was greatly distressed and found he could not deny what Francis told him. He pleaded with him to remain and promised he would be looked after. All the Priests were working overtime, and none was in charge of the Postulants. Francis had made up his mind however, and the Rector told him he would be most welcome if he ever returned.
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. He took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others who had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.
He filled many offices in his time. At one stage he was House Steward, and I knew he used buy eggs at the gate. Before that he had been a baker, [ ] and what not. He was a man of the most powerful build, though below medium stature. He used to relate as one of his earlier experiences, that he was appointed to act as a kind of “night Prefect”, sleeping in a cubicle near the “scholars”, he was roughly impeded by one of the scholars in his way up the stairs, who were men rather than boys, but who suddenly found themselves, by a well directed use of his massive shoulders, sprawling all over the place and humiliated. They respected him after that for his physical - as they had, no doubt, always respected him for his religious - qualities.
His last years were ones of restful and entirely prayerful preparation for eternity. He was untiring in saying the Rosary and most devout to the Blessed Sacrament.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Francis Hegarty 1830-1915
Br Francis Hegarty was born near Draperstown on December 8th 1830, and he died at the ripe old age of 85 at Clongowes on March 5th 1915. He had the distinction of leaving as a postulant because there was little or no spiritual direction being given to him. This was nobody’s fault as there were very few priests in the community, and each was fully occupied in his own office. He was assured of a welcome if he should return, which he did after an absence of a few months.

On his return he found Fr Bracken installed as Novice Master, a man whom he cherished all his life long with the greatest affection and reverence. His second postulancy was long and very hard, 4 years. However, he was a man of deep spirituality and he stood the strain well.

He was admitted to vows with seven other postulants : Brothers Coffey, Brennan, McEvoy, Maguire, Hanley, James Rorke and Temple, all of whom, like Br Hegarty – the last survivor – persevered until death.

He was remarkable for his physical strength, though below medium height. He used to relate as one of his earlier experiences, that when he was appointed to act as a sort of night prefect, sleeping in a cubicle near the “scholars”, how he was roughly impeded by these scholars in his progress up the stairs, and they were men rather than boys. But, they suddenly found themselves, by a well directed use of his massive shoulders, sprawling all over the place. From then on, they added to a respect for his religious qualities, a healthy respect for his physical prowess.

During his last years he was dispensed from all work by Fr Provincial, but he made up for that by the piety of his life, incessant prayer and visits to the Blessed Sacrament.

Born: 19 November 1840, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1865, Milltown Park
Final Vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 27 May 1900, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare

in Vita Functi 1900 Catalogue as JOHN

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His mother was a Catholic and his father a Protestant, and he was raised in his father’s faith. He became a Catholic around nineteen and Entered 07 September 1865, where his Novice Master was Aloysius Sturzo.

1869 After First Vows he remained at Milltown, and then as Janitor and Cust Tricl. at Tullabeg.
1871-1872 He was sent to Limerick, and later on to Clongowes as Dispenser to everyone’s satisfaction (1875).
1880 He was sent back to Limerick, and in 1881 transferred to Galway, and later still to Milltown.
1883 He was sent to Gardiner St as Buyer and Dispenser.
1884 The last five or six years of his life were spent at Clongowes. He was in charge of the Boys Refectory, and he did an admirable job, making sure the boys were comfortable, and he was scrupulously clean. No area of the school was more admired than brother Johnson’s Refectory.
He had been in poor health and used to go up to Dublin for a “Turkish Bath”, and returning on the same day. A few days before his death he had come to Dublin as usual, but unfortunately left the “cooling room” too early, so that when he returned to Clongowes he had started to develop pneumonia. Learning of his impending death, he prayed most fervently. His patience and submission were most admirable. He was assisted in his last moments by his Spiritual Father, Michael Browne, and died 27 May 1900.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Thomas Johnson 1840-1900
In Wicklow on November 19th 1840 was born Thomas Johnson a temporal coadjutor. His father was a protestant and his mother a Catholic, so Thomas was brought up and educated as a Protestant. But the prayers of his good mother prevailed at last, and he became a Catholic at about 19 years of age. On September 7th 1865 he was admitted as a novice at Milltown Park, with Fr Sturzo as his Novice-Master.

He spent many years of faithful and edifying labour in man capacities in our houses, Tullabeg, Limerick, Galway and Gardiner Street. The last years of his life were spent at Clongowes, in charge of the Boy’s Refectory.

He had been in poor health, and he used to run up to Dublin for an occasional “Turkish Bath”, returning home the same day. Some time before his death he came up as usual, but unfortunately lefty the cooling room too soon, caught a chill, and on his return home developed pneumonia.

On hearing of his approaching death, he prayed fervently, and his patience and submission were most admirable. He was assisted in his last moments by his Spiritual Father, FR Michael Browne, and gave up his soul to God in the liveliest sentiments of faith and ardent love on May 7th 1900.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Brother Thomas Johnson (1840-1900)

In the last century, very few of our Brothers were associated with the Crescent and even then for but a few years at a time. Yet, two at least, of their names should find a place in this biographical index.

Brother Thomas Johnson (1840-1900), born in Co Wicklow, was the son of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. According to the custom of the time, the boy was brought up in his father's beliefs but at the age of nineteen, he became a Catholic. He was admitted to the Society in 1865 and a few years after his religious profession was sent as sacristan to the newly opened church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick. His stay was short but he returned in 1871 and remained two years at the work of sacristan. For sometime after his departure, there were no Brothers attached to the Crescent community. In his time, Brother Johnson's spirit of work and edifying religious life made him a valued member of the Province. His death took place in Clongowes.

Born: 22 July 1910, Dolphin's Barn, Dublin
Entered: 19 January 1934, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 14 March 1982, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 57th Year No 2 1982
Obituary
Br James Kavanagh (1910-1934-1982)
Brother James Kavanagh was born in Dolphin's Barn, Dublin, on 22nd July 1910. His father was from Wexford and his mother from Cavan. He received his early education at the local national school and James's street Christian Brothers' school. He did well at his studies and was keen on most games. At eighteen he started work in T. & C. Martin & Co., D'Olier Street, and remained with them till he joined the Society. As a young man his favourite sport was soccer. He played first for Bridewell, then advanced to Shelbourne. He said that had it not been for an accident to his ankle, soccer would have been his profession. For his entertainment he went to dances and loved music and enjoyed a few drinks with the lads in their favourite pub, His Jesuit vocation he attributed to a week-end retreat in Rathfarnham, where Fr Patrick Barrett (d. 1942) usually spotted a possible vocation and in James's case was right on target.
He entered the Jesuit noviciate at Emo at 5.30 am on the morning of 11th on 19th July 1933, three days before his 23rd birthday. He himself told the following story: as a novice, he got a fit of the 'blues', feeling 'fed up', so he went to the master of novices and told him he wanted to go home. Of course the novice-master tried to calm him down and said, “Now, James, all this will pass away in time,' 'No, Father', said James: I have made up my mind.' So a car was to take him to the railway station after dinner the next day. He came down from the dormitory with a suitcase in each hand, left them in the hall, and went into the domestic chapel to pay (as he thought) his last visit. While praying before the blessed Sacrament he became worried about his decision to go, asked for divine guidance, then concluded that he was mistaken in wanting to leave. He came out, went straight to the master of novices and told him he wanted to stay. “You're most welcome”, said he. For the rest of his life James had no doubt about his vocation. After his First Vows on 19th July 1936, he was sent to Clongowes, where he spent six months. Here he learnt from Br Corcoran (d. 1956) the management of domestic staff.
The 1937 Status assigned Br James to Milltown Park as supervisor of domestic staff and dispenser. Here he was to stay till 1952. In those years Milltown was noted for its large community - at times over a hundred - and it was not easy for with the problems of maintaining supplies. There were problems too with staff; the supervisor training them as cooks or waiters, then after a year or more seeing them move to higher-paid jobs and having to begin all over again with others. Many of his former staff, nevertheless, returned to thank James for his guidance and kindness. With the community he was popular: his sense of humour and general interest in people made life less lonely for others. It was he who discovered the tragic Milltown fire at 5.20 am on the morning of 11th February 1949. He actually carried Fr Bill Gwynn (age 84; d. 1950) to safety. Fr James Johnston lost his life in that fire, and the Theologians House was completely burnt out. In the noviciate Br James had been trained as a cook: as such he was sent to Mungret, where as in Milltown he did a fifteen-year spell. He was a very good cook and actually liked cooking. He took a great interest in the students and with his general knowledge of sports won many friends among them. In later years he often spoke with affection about the years he spent in Mungret, and was really sorry when he heard that it was to be closed.
In 1967 he returned to his native Dublin and there spent the rest of his life. His next post was Gonzaga, where he was supervisor of domestic staff and dispenser. While here he was drawn into the high-level consultations on what 31st General Congregation envisaged as the role of the Brothers. In accordance with its 7th Decree, Fr General Arrupe recommended that an advisory commission on our Brothers be set up in every Province. Fr Brendan Barry, then Irish Provincial, set up our Commission on Brothers (1968), to which Br James was appointed as member and secretary. It was remarked in these pages that this commission had been very busy holding its own meetings, sending out circulars and convening regional meetings of Brothers, In 1969 Br James was chosen by Fr General as one of the four representatives of the English Assistancy to attend the World Congress of Brothers in Rome (May 1970). He was happy and glad to report on the long-overdue reappraisal of the Brothers' vocation and role which the Society had undertaken. After five years Br James moved down the Gonzaga avenue to the College of Industrial Relations, where he became Secretary. To quote CIR’s appreciation from last year: “His genial personality and genuine understanding of the Dublin working man won him many friends amongst the scores of students who check-in nightly at the enrolment desk. On his part, Br James had a remarkable memory for names and faces and personal details, a talent which helped to forge close links between students and College”.
In January 1981 he became very sick: he felt that his health was failing, After six weeks in St Vincent’s hospital it was obvious that he would not be able to continue working in CIR. He asked to be transferred to Milltown Park, and there he went. For the next year he was looked after by Br Joe Cleary, and James on many occasions praised his kindness and patience. As time went on he improved a little and asked the Rector to give him some kind of work to do. However, in January last he had a recurrence of his previous sickness, was put back in hospital for two weeks, came out only to deteriorate surprisingly quickly, and finally was moved back to hospital (2nd March). He died very peacefully on 14th March.
It is difficult to avoid superlatives in speaking of Br Kavanagh, and it can truly be said of him that he was an excellent Jesuit Brother. He was a most exact religious, filled with deep piety and devotion to the blessed Sacrament, our Lady and the saints. He was particularly dedicated to spiritual reading and was familiar with most of the spiritual classics. He was highly efficient in his work and had a wonderful memory for details. To the poor he was always generous and helped a number of people to find employment. There was a balance in his life-style: he loved music (not “pop”); he thoroughly enjoyed a good film and a game of cards, and never lost. interest in Gaelic and soccer games; horse-racing also took his fancy. One can say that James was a happy man and a good community man: one who responded easily to any social demands that came his way, May he rest in peace!

Born: 29 January 1835, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 22 December 1862, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1873
Died; 02 January 1904, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he was sent for a year as Sacristan to Galway.
He was then sent to Tullabeg, and the rest of his life in the Society was spent here or at Clongowes, normally in the role of Sacristan or Dispenser. He is probably best remembered in the latter capacity, as he was anything but extravagant!
He was considered to be a quietly loyal and faithful brother who have edification by his manner and his religious life. He died at Clongowes 02 January 1904.

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

◆ The Clongownian, 1904

Obituary

Brother Peter Kehoe SJ

The photograph of Brother Peter Kehoe SJ, which we reproduce in this number, will recall a familiar face to many past students of Clongowes · and Tullabeg. After a laborious and saintly life, Brother Kehoe quietly passed away on January 2nd, 1904. He had been long suffering from asthma, but he would never allow it to interfere with his daily work. Indeed, during the last days of his illness, he could not be persuaded to give up the keys of his office. The saintly old man always answered that he was determined to die in harness. On the very morning before his death he ascended with difficulty the stairs, heard Mass, and received Holy Communion. His strong will overcame all obstacles, and led us to believe that his end was not so near.

Brother Kehoe was born on January 28, 1835, and was baptised in the Cathedral of Enniscorthy by Father James Roche. He entered the Society in 1862, and came to, Clongowes. On the 20th April, 1863, he left Clongowes for Milltown Park, · About 1864 he went to Galway, but only remained there a short time - his services as land steward were needed in Tullabeg. Here he remained for many years, and few can tell the enormous good he did in his own modest way. His success on the farm requires no comment, it is known to all - wonderful economic principles ruled his whole life. He remained for two years in Tullabeg after the amalgamation, and then went to Milltown Park. In 1889 he came back to Clongowes as dispenser, and remained there until his death. For three years (1897-1900) he filled two important posts - he acted as land steward and dispenser. There are many stories about success gained through love of holy poverty. Those who saw the wan, emaciated face of Brother Kehoe felt that, though most generous in dispensing to others the good things of this world, he was a hard master to himself. A noble emulator of the sainted Brother St Alphonsus Rodriguez, and now his companion, we hope he will not forget us.

Born: 15 April 1813, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 02 February 1843, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1863
Died: 14 November 1892, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Entered after a long Postulancy, and Father Bracken was his Novice Master.
From Entry he was a tailor at Clongowes, until he moved to Tullabeg in 1883, and remained there until 1886.
1886 He moved from Tullabeg to Milltown
1887 He was sent to Gardiner Street and lived there until his death 14 November 1892.
He was found in the bathroom early one morning and had been ill for some time.

Born: 30 July 1903, Merchant's Quay / Thomas Street, Dublin
Entered: 01 July 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1937, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 09 December 1995, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Blacksmith before Entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 51st Year No 2 1976

Rathfarnham Castle
The happy death of Fr Jerry Hayes took place on Wednesday, 21st January. Though he showed signs of failing for some six weeks and knew that the end was fast approaching, he was in full possession of his mental faculties up to about ten days before he quietly passed away at about 3 pm in the afternoon with Br Keogh’s finger on the ebbing pulse until its last beat. For Br Keogh it was the end of thirty-three years of devoted care and skilful nursing and a patience which never wavered. For Fr Hayes it was happy release from a whole life-time of suffering heroically borne. Br Joe Cleary, who took over with Br Keogh for about the last six years, rendered a service which Fr Hayes himself described as heroic. Despite his sufferings and his physical incapacity, Fr Hayes lived a full life of work and prayer and keen interest in the affairs of the Society and the Church and of the world, and of a very wide circle of intimate friends with whom he maintained regular contact either by correspondence or by timely visits to them in their homes or convents, We have no doubt that the great reward and eternal rest which he has merited will not be long deferred. Likewise, we considered it wise and fitting, that the necessary rest and well deserved reward of their labours should not be long deferred in the case of those who rendered Fr Hayes such long and faithful service. This we are glad to record Brs Keogh and Cleary have. since enjoyed in what Br Keogh has described as a little bit of heaven.
As one may easily imagine, Rathfarnham without Fr Jerry Hayes is even more empty than it was. Yet, we feel that he is still with us and will intercede for us in the many problems which our situation presents both in the present and in the future. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis!

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 86 : July 1996

Obituary

Br Edward Keogh (1903-1995)

30th July 1903: Born in Dublin
Early education: CBS James's St.
Before entering the Society he was a Farrier and taught the violin.
1st July 1926: Entered the Society at Tullabeg
26th Nov, 1928: First Vows at Tullabeg
1928 - 1934: Tullabeg, Mechanic and Cellarer
1934 - 1943; Mungret, Supervisor of Domestic Staff
2nd Feb. 1937: Final vows at Mungret
1943 - 1985: Rathfarnham Castle, Infirmarian, Mechanic, Sacristan. He looked after Fr. J. Hayes for some 30 years.
1985 - 1995: Cherryfield Lodge, Assisting the administration, until his final year when he retired.
A selection of his poetry was published privately in the 1990's.
1995: For six months Br. Keogh was unable to walk by himself and had to be wheeled about. His health deteriorated gradually, and for the last six weeks he was confined to bed, but remained alert until the end. He died peacefully on Saturday morning, 9th December 1995.

Brother Keogh was always, I think, a peaceful man. He lived a very eventful life, but it always seemed to proceed serenely. He was born in Merchant's Quay, then moved into Thomas Street where his father had a business, a forge. He received his early education in Basin Lane with the Irish Sisters of Charity whom he loved greatly. Then he went to the Christian Brothers in James Street who communicated to him a love of literature, of reading, and accurate use of words which stayed with him always and developed in his later life into a gift for writing that was poetical and mystical.

But he really was not a man for books. He left school at 15, took a job for a while in Jacobs. Then his father took him into the forge. It was an exciting place, but he did not like it particularly, especially after a horse kicked and broke his wrist. Then he emigrated for a while to Glasgow. He also did some busking around about this time, taking the train to Bray to make some money playing his violin. But the Holy Spirit was not idle all this time. He was sweetly and gently disposing all things.

In 1924 he made the fateful contact with the Jesuits. He did an enclosed retreat in Rathfarnham. There he confided to the Director, Fr. Barrett, I think, that the thought of becoming a religious had crossed his mind. Maybe a Cistercian, perhaps, but he was not sure. Fr. Barrett suggested that he might think of coming to us, of joining the Society. He was delighted with the idea and two years later he entered the Society at Tullabeg.

He used to relate sometimes - with his wry humour and without comment - that his family did not come to the Station to see him off but a very good friend came to wish him goodbye. This friend gave him a present, saying it might be useful to him in Tullabeg - it was a present of a leather pouch - containing two cut-throat razors.

After he took his vows he remained on in Tullabeg and was photographed by Fr. Browne on top of a chimney pot of the Fathers' residence there. He described himself as “a class of man who could put his hand to anything his Superiors asked him to do”, adding the diplomatic caution: “within reason of course”. He was given many different jobs to do, in Tullabeg, Mungret, Clongowes until he was finally assigned to Rathfarnham.

He remained there for 42 years. He was infirmarian to all the Scholastics but his main charge was to care for Fr. Hayes. Fr. Hayes became a cripple just after finishing his tertianship. He was a man who fought his incapacity, strove to overcome his handicaps and in a methodical way to do whatever work he could. He needed everything to be in the right place if he was to function properly. Fr. Hayes was a strong minded man, determined, bearing a heavy cross. Br. Keogh served his needs from dawn to nightfall, waking him in the morning, preparing him for the day, getting him ready for Mass, bringing him his breakfast. The Jesuit Scholastics used to help him and bring Fr. Hayes to meals, to the chapel, out for fresh air in the grounds and back to his room and sometimes, too, we took him out visiting, to Loreto Abbey where his Sister was, up the mountains for a special outing for half the day.

There were times when strains developed between them and Br. Keogh would be told not to come back for the day or maybe even two or three days. He always accepted these difficulties calmly, even with a hint of humour and arranged in the background that all Fr. Hayes' needs were met by somebody else. He would tactfully inform the Scholastic Relief Team how the situation was and advise on the best help they could give Fr. Hayes in the circumstances. But never was there from him a word of criticism or unkindness about his patient or the slightest outburst of self-pity from him. Such was his greatness and patient magnanimity.

The Rathfarnham Years, in my opinion, were the defining years in Br. Keogh's life. Indeed, we could borrow a thought from Manley Hopkins poem on another great Jesuit Brother, St. Alphonsus Rodriquez:

Yet God
Could crowd career with conquest while there went
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Rathfarnham Ned cared for Fr. Hayes

Years of great achievement, years of heroic service and self denial.

After Rathfarnham he came to Cherryfield and lived with us for ten years. They were happy years for him and he used to say that he could not be looked after better anywhere in the world. They were happy years also for those who lived with him, there was always a sense of laughter and fun when he was about and the staff enjoyed caring for him. I never heard him complain about his health. For weeks, I think, we will be recalling incidents and stories of his wit and warmth and humour

He died peacefully on Saturday morning, 9th December. He died with a contented sigh as if to indicate that his work was ended and that he commended his spirit into the hands of God. As we pray for his happiness today, I don't think we are being presumptuous if we feel that he has already received from his Lord the great commendation:

“Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and join in your master's happiness”.  (Mathew, 25,22)

Paul Leonard SJ

Born: 15 April 1809, Moyvally, County Kildare
Entered: 02 February 1843, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Finla vows: 25 March 1859
Died: 24 August 1894, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent all his Jesuit life at Clongowes as Dispenser and general Manager. Hardworking, modest, kindly to all, he was esteemed by all the boys and community. He died there 24 August 1894.

Born: 01 January 1787, County Wicklow
Entered: 09 October 1821, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare
Died: 09 January 1831, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was singularly honourable and straightforward. His one thought seemed to be the diligent discharge of his duties. He was most careful to avoid anything that might give offence to others, or wound charity in any degree.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LAWLESS, PETER. This meek and humble Temporal Coadjutor died at Clongowes on the 9th of January, 1831, Soc.9.

Born: 01 March 1828, Banagher, County Offaly
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 01 February 1901, Crescent College, Limerick

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
From the very beginning of his religious life he practised the austerities to which he was addicted in his later life. One of his fellow Novices said “I remember how we used torment him by pulling the board he slept on from under his bed”!

1863-1870 He was Villicus and Cook at Tullabeg, and he left behind him the reputation as one of the best land stewards that ever was there. He reclaimed much of what had been considered waste land around the College and made it profitable, and he infused a not altogether spontaneous spirit of energy into the inhabitants of Rahan.
1870-1871 He was sent to Gardiner St for a year.
After this he served mostly as a Cook in Milltown, Clongowes, Crescent, UCD and Mungret for periods varying one to five years.

He was remarkable for his austerity and great spirit of prayer. For thirty years he never ate meat, save on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, where he would accept meat on his plate, but he was never seen to eat it. After his death at Crescent, a wooden board was found under the sheet in place of a mattress. His room, if you can call a cupboard beside the organ loft a room, was a place he was happy to sleep in as he had recourse to the Blessed Sacrament whenever he wished. If ever you needed him outside his normal work hours, you could find him rapt in prayer before the Tabernacle. His life was always one of being in prayer, and he had little time for the softness of the world, saying “If we’ve got enough to keep body and soul together what more do we want?” and “It will be time enough to rest when we go to heaven!”
He was full of charity towards the poor. As Cook and Dispenser, he pushed his generosity as far as obedience would allow. When he was Dispenser at Mungret, the Rector eventually put a stop to his charity, so great was the crowd of beggars which was always around him. After dinner you would find him addressing the assorted beggars who came to him, encouraging them to keep away from sin, say prayers and go to confession - “Keep the Grace of God about you, and believe me you’ll be better off in every way, and won’t have to be begging this way around the country”. Another Brother, a good friend of his, would often remark if asked where Br McEvoy was : “Oh!” nodding towards the back door “He’s round there giving a Mission at the back door!”
His constant prayer over forty years was that he might be allowed work up to the last, and die without giving trouble to anyone, and his prayer was answered in a remarkable manner. He had been a Cook at Crescent for some years, and on the evening of his death he had cooked dinner as usual for the community. That night at eleven o’clock, he went to the Rector, telling him he was very ill and requesting the Last Sacraments. The Rector, seeing that he was in a bad way, did as requested, and Br McEvoy seemed to rally a little, and then went into a deep sleep. Early in the morning, before the call, he died 01 February 1901.

Note from Christopher Coffey Entry :
He died peacefully 29 March 1911, and after the Requiem Mass he was brought to the small cemetery and buried between William Frayne and David MacEvoy, and close to the grave of William Ronan.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others which had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother David McEvoy 1828-1901
On February 1at 1901 died David McEvoy, la Brother renowned for the austerities he practiced from the very beginning of his religious life.

He was born near Banagher on March 1st 1828. He was Villicus in Tullabeg from 1863-1870, and was responsible for the reclamation of a great deal of waste land round the College. He left behind the reputation of one of the best land stewards the College ever had.

For thirty years he never ate meat. On Feast days he used to take a piece of chicken on his plate, but was never known to eat it. He had a remarkable spirit of prayer and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. For this reason, he took as his bedroom what was little better than a lumber room near the organ loft, so that he could visit the Blessed Sacrament at any hour of the day or night.

His austerity and spirit of prayer were only equalled to his love for the poor. As Dispenser in Mungret, his charity had to be curbed by the Rector, so great was the swarm of beggars at the back door. It was his custom to exhort his clients to a better life, to say their prayers and go to confession. “keep the grace of God about you” he would say to them “and you’ll be better off every day, and won't have to be begging this way round the country”.

His constant prayer over forty years was that he might die in harness and without causing any trouble to the community. So it was.

On the day he died he cooked an evening meal for the community. That night at eleven o’clock he went to the rector’s room and asked for the last Sacraments. Fortified by the last Rites, he sank into a deep slumber and passed away quietly an hour before the morning call on February 1st 1901.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Brother David McEvoy (1828-1901)

In the last century, very few of our Brothers were associated with the Crescent and even then for but a few years at a time. Yet, two at least, of their names should find a place in this biographical index.

Brother David McEvoy (1828-1901), a native of Banagher entered the Society in 1858 and was stationed at the Crescent from 1878 to 1883 and again from 1897 until his death on 1 February, 1901. Throughout his life he was known to be a man of singular holiness. During his years at the Crescent he asked to be allowed to occupy a lumber room in the house instead of the room offered him. The only light of the room of his choice came from a tiny window opening on to the old organ gallery. It was known that he spent long vigils at the same window from which he could see the altar. On the night of the 31 January, 1901, he called at the rector's room and asked to be anointed. The rector was perplexed by the strange request, but noticing that the good Brother looked rather weak and that he repeated his request with more than customary earnestness, consented to anoint him. Some five hours later Brother David passed to his reward.

Born: 21 September 1823, Enniskerry, County Wicklow
Entered: 30 April 1856, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Professed: 15 August 1871
Died: 16 March 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He worked as a Dispenser, Infirmarian and Sacristan up to 1871, and he died at Milltown 16 March 1872.
He was also at Gardiner St as Sacristan for a time.

Born: 19 March 1824, Rush, County Dublin
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 18 March 1894, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

by 1871 at home for health

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had been a number of years in the Metropolitan Police before Ent.

He was a Novice in Clongowes under Father Bracken.
After First Vows he was sent to Gardiner St, and worked there until he became invalided in 1870 and had to live outside the Society fro a few years.
1873-1888 He was Refectorian at Milltown.
1888 he was sent to Gardiner St again and lived there until his death 18 March 1894
He was very methodical in his work, and had a particular like of gardening, spending most of his free time at this. He was in every respect an edifying and exemplary religious.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. He took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others who had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

Born: 15 June 1933, Stenagress, Glenfarne, County Leitrim
Entered: 01 July 1968, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Lusaka, Zambia
Died: 16 April 2020, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Father - Francis

by 1980 at Lusaka Zambia (ZAM) working

Early Education as Grocer in Ireland and England; Rathmines Tech, Dublin; Catholic Workers College, Dublin

1970-1974 Milltown Park - Secretary to Provincial; Studying
1974-1975 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Studying Theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co Kildare
1975-1980 Milltown Park - Secretary to Provincial
1977 Studying Theology at Milltown Institute; Assistant Secretary to Provincial
1978 Tertianship in Tullabeg
1979 Member of Special Secretariat
1980-1984 Lusaka, Zambia - Secretary to Rector of St Dominic’s Major Seminary
1984-1987 Loyola House - Minister; Province Secretary
1985 Editor of Province Newsletter
1987-2020 Milltown Park - Province Secretary
1993 Canterbury, Kent, UK - Sabbatical at Franciscan Study Centre
1994 Administration in Provincial’s Office
2017 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/br-john-maguire-sj-one-of-leitrims-treasures/

Br John Maguire SJ – ‘One of Leitrim’s treasures’

Brother John Maguire SJ died peacefully in Cherryfield Lodge nursing home, Ranelagh, Dublin, on 16 April 2020. Due to government guidelines regarding public gatherings, a private funeral took place on 18 April, followed by burial in Glasnevin Cemetery. A small number of relatives attended. Fr Bill Callanan SJ and Fr John K Guiney SJ represented the Jesuits. Around 100 messages were left on the online Condolences Book (RIP.ie), such was Brother John’s influence on the lives of lay people and religious over many decades. Many remember him for his quiet reassuring presence and for his wise judgement and administrative skills while working for the Irish Jesuit Province.

Brother John was born in Glenfarne, County Leitrim, in 1933. Before entering the Jesuits at 35 years old, he worked as a grocer in Ireland and England and attended Rathmines Tech and Catholic Workers College in Dublin. After his novitiate at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois, he worked as secretary to the Provincial and studied at Milltown Park, Dublin, followed by theology studies at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He continued his studies and administrative work in Milltown Park and did his tertianship in Tullabeg, County Offaly.

From 1980 to 1984, Brother John was a missionary in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was secretary to the rector of St Dominic’s Major Seminary. He also took his final vows there.

Upon his return to Ireland, he worked as minister for the Loyola House community in Dublin, acted as Province secretary and editor of the Province newsletter. He continued his work as Province secretary, took a sabbatical at the Franciscan Study Centre in Canterbury, England, in 1993, and was involved with administration in the Provincial’s office right up until 2017. In recent years, he lived in Cherryfield Lodge nursing home, where he prayed for the Church and the Society of Jesus.

The private funeral which took place on 18 April was officiated by Fr Bill Callanan SJ and assisted by Fr John K Guiney SJ. Fr Guiney, director of Irish Jesuit Missions, thanked the four members of Brother John’s family who travelled from Leitrim on the morning of the funeral. He was grateful for their presence in the difficult circumstances where it was not possible to do a normal Jesuit funeral and to fully celebrate Brother John’s wonderful life as a Jesuit companion.

Fr Guiney thanked the Maguire family for giving Brother John to the Society and for his service of so many in Zambia and Ireland. He said that his gracious, gentle, dedicated and humble service touched the lives of so many down through the years. His sister Peggy was unable to attend because of government constraints, but she was well represented by her family. Brother John occupies the last place available in the old graveyard at Glasnevin Cemetery and the next Jesuit burial will take place in the new one.

A number of other Jesuits have expressed their condolences for the loss of their dear brother in the Lord. Tom Layden SJ, former Irish Provincial, commented:
“May John rest in the peace of the Risen Lord and may the hope of the resurrection bring comfort to his family and friends. I thank the Lord for John and his gifts of kindness, quiet competence and friendliness.”

Kevin O’Higgins SJ, Director of Jesuit University Support and Training (JUST) in Ballymun, said:
“It is lovely to see so many tributes to John. Like St Peter Faber, one of the first Jesuits, John was a ‘quiet companion’, always courteous, anxious to help, unfailingly kind and generous. After a lifetime of dedicated service, may he now rest peacefully in God’s love.”

Paddy Carberry SJ, former novice director and editor of Messenger magazine, commented:
“I have known John for many years, and worked closely with him at one time. He was always kind, obliging, gentle and good-humoured. I will miss him. I have offered Mass for him. My condolences to his family and to all who miss him.”

The Provincialate staff in Milltown Park remember him as a great colleague. They said:
“Brother John helped new staff settle into their jobs in so many little ways and was welcoming and good humoured to all who came into the office.
“We have memories of him loving the fun at coffee breaks, for his gifts of homemade biscuits and for his tin whistle playing.
“He was a gentleman in every sense with a lovely simplicity, albeit with a touch of delicious roguery! He was one of Leitrim’s treasures. May he rest in endless peace.”
Paddy Moloney, who used to visit Brother John in Cherryfield Lodge, also paid tribute to him.
“John was gentle, and was particular about any job he did. He liked the garden, flowers, was a player of the tin whistle and played in bands in his hometown. He was in a small 3 piece Irish music group in Dublin.

The other two remained his friends for life. My wife Aline worked as a receptionist in the Curia and knew him when he was well and said he was interested in people and she always found him helpful.”

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

https://ordo.jesuitssouthern.africa/obit/04-16-2020%20%E2%80%93%20John%20Maguire.pdf

Br John Maguire, S.J. (1933- 2020.

In Zambia 1980-1984)

16 April 2020

Brother John Maguire SJ died peacefully in Cherryfield Lodge nursing home, Dublin, on 16 April, 2020. John was known for his quiet reassuring presence, and for his wise judgement
and administrative skills while working for the Irish Jesuit Province.

He was born in Glenfarne, Co Leitrim, in 1933. Before entering the Jesuits at 35 years old, he worked as a grocer in Ireland and England and attended Rathmines Tech and Catholic Workers College in Dublin. After his novitiate at St Mary’s, Emo, he worked as secretary to the Provincial and studied at Milltown Park, Dublin, followed by theology studies at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He continued his studies and administrative work in Milltown Park and did his tertianship in Tullabeg, Co Offaly.

In 1980 John was missioned to Lusaka, where he was secretary to the rector of St Dominic’s Major Seminary, Fr Peter Lwaminda. He lived at Luwisha House and every morning, Fr. Lwaminda would send a driver to bring John to the seminary. John was always very dapper and neat and gave the impression of how it was also in his life: dapper, neat, everything organized and in place; and hence placing considerable premium on control, orderliness, knowing what to expect - but in a good and human way that could make allowances for departures from norms.

In community, he was a first class companion and equally a first class religious. He was always cheerful. He was interesting and lively in table conversation and in the recreation room and was never absent from Mass or any religious duty. While in Lusaka he took his final vows. In 1984, although Fr Lwaminda wanted to keep such a valuable administrator, John returned to Ireland.

In his personal life, John manifested the same kind of organizational control that he brought to his office responsibilities. Demure in personality and in his exterior, he was always neat, efficient and thoroughly reliable. Though quiet and somewhat shy, he was an excellent community man who related very well to every member of his core community as well as to the many visitors who came its way. He is well remembered for his unfailing good humor and for his ability to be sympathetic and understanding in his dealings with others. He always conveyed the sense that he was happy in his Jesuit life and in what wass asked of him, though at times one got the feeling that he needed to relax and let down his hair. A strong feature of his life was the interest he showed in the apostolates of his brethren and the concerned way he kept himself up-to-date on these.

Upon his return, he worked as minister for the Loyola House community in Dublin, acted as Province secretary and editor of the Province newsletter. He continued his work as Province secretary, took a sabbatical at the Franciscan Study Centre in Canterbury, England, in 1993, and was involved with administration in the Provincial’s office right up until 2017. In his later years, he lived in Cherryfield Lodge nursing home where he prayed for the Church and the Society of Jesus.

Born: 22 October 1901, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Entered: 30 April 1971, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Final Vows: 08 September 1981, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 14 March 1982, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 57th Year No 3 1982

Obituary
Br Edward Maher (1901-1971-1982)

Although Br Ned was granted four score of years, his life as a Jesuit spanned little more than a decade. Before becoming “Brother” he had already filled the roles of father and grandfather. The present writer first made the acquaintance of Mr Ned Maher when he (Ned) came to have a chat with Fr Cecil McGarry about entering the Society. A very dapper man with a thin Ronnie Colman moustache; alert, brisk, humorous, at once affable and serious. All these adjectives could be applied to him twelve years later, right up to the time of his last (and really first) illness when it saddened e to see the alertness and humour fading into an almost puzzled resignation.
Ned was born in Philadelphia on 22nd October, 1901, was educated at Belvedere, Clongowes, UCD and Georgetown University. After a short spell working in a bank he took up business, in which he remained for the rest of his lay life. He entered the Society on 30th April, 1971, took his first rows on 29th April, 1973 and pronounced final vows on 8th September, 1981.
A jumble of memories comes to me as I remember Ned; his love for operatic works on stage or radio. The only holiday he allowed himself was a few days every year at 35 lower Leeson Street from which he could, with chosen companions, easily attend the operas at the Gaiety theatre. He was one of the few men I know who appreciated the works of Wagner.
Chess was a game he liked. I cannot say whether he was a skilful player, but he would take on any of the novices who knew how to play. Reading he loved, though within a rather restricted field. Surprisingly (though maybe not in a person of Wagnerian tastes) he focused his reading on the war histories and the memoirs of famous commanders. For one form of recreation he felt no attraction at all ... walking. We used joke him about never having seen the other end of our property, “Walking” for Ned was a purely functional exercise; to get to a bus or bank or post-office; and he hadn't any inclination to look at the birds of the air or the lilies in the field; they hardly existed for Ned.
Maybe I am remembering only the marginal things about Ned, the mere phenomena, as the existentialists would say. But surely it was in and through these “marginals” that one got to know and love the whole essence, flavour, tang and colour of the personality that was Ned. Devotion to crosswords, Curly Wee, Verdi and Puccini were always “in place”, in the place where “desipere” is the mark of a wise man.
So much for play. What about his work? Apart from one short and unsuccessful period as staff-manager in Mungret he was Bursar in Manresa House and secretary of the Retreat House. He really loved work; figures and account books were his delight. Being secretary to the Retreat House involved a huge correspondence especially with regard to booking-in retreatants. Since he was not too familiar with all the permutated titles of religious congregations, many an LSA sister would find herself on the list as OLA or vice versa. One day about five years ago I dropped in to see Ned and found him typing away in his tiny room, Thinking of the lovely house he had left I asked him to tell me honestly if he ever had moments of regret at leaving all that. He simply said “I would not want to be. anywhere else”.
It might be a bit too facile to write that Ned was a man close to God. He was of a generation that did not easily unburden the secrets of the heart. He belonged to the dutiful, carnest type of religious and was definitely conservative in his views on religious practice. But the surprising element in his make-up was his ability to combine these conservative attitudes with a marvellous and spontaneous capacity for getting along splendidly with younger people, especially with the novices. Because he was given the grace of living close to the young in the Society he was able to love them while rejecting, through incomprehension, or even antipathy, some of their tastes in music, clothes et cetera. The same was true on the part of the younger people. Love and respect in the Society goes beyond personal tastes in external things. The presence of the old and the young can be a blessing when both find the presence of the Lord in each other. It was this way with Ned and the novices.
Of course he never lost touch with the young of his own family and it was a source of great joy to him that his son Paul and daughter-in-law Mary kept in such close touch with him. His daughter Judith with her husband Michael were most attentive to him. It was a lovely sight on some Sunday afternoons to see the three generations of the Maher family strolling around the Manresa grounds:
Finally, just to remind those who knew him well of two familiar sayings of Ned: On being addressed at breakfast “How are you this morning, Ned?” his invariable and jocose reply was “Poorly, thank God”. And when a novice would tease him, as they constantly did, Ned would be heard to say in mock seriousness “Go away, BOY”.
Ned himself went away very peacefully at 4 am on the morning of 14th March with Fr Rector, his son Paul and his daughter Judith there to bid him a last farewell.

◆ The Clongownian, 1982

Obituary

Brother Ned Maher SJ

Although Br Ned was granted four score of years, his life as a Jesuit spanned little more than a decade. Before becoming a “brother” he had already filled the roles of father and grandfather. He has been described thus: “A very dapper man with a thin Ronnie Colman moustache; alert, brisk, humorous, at once affable and serious”. All these adjectives could be applied to him right up to his last (and really first) illness.

He was born in Philadelphia on 22nd October 1901, educated at Belvedere, Clongowes and UCD and Georgetown University. After a short spell working in a bank he took up business, in which he remained for the rest of his lay life. He entered the Society of Jesus on the 30th April 1971, took his first rows on 29th April 1973 and pronounced final vows on 8th September 1981.
Apart from one short period as staff manager in Mungret Br Ned was bursar in the Jesuit house in Dollymount and secretary of the Retreat House there. He really loved work; figures and account books were his delight. He had a great love of opera and reading and related very well indeed to the novices who live in Doilymount.

Of course he never lost touch with the young of his own family and it was a source of great joy to him that his son Paul and daughter-in-law Mary kept in close touch with him. His daughter Judith with her husband Michael were most attentive to him. Ned left this world peacefully at 4.00 a.m. on the morn ing of the 14th of March with his Rector, his son Paul and his daughter Judith there to bid him a last farewell.

Born: 10 September 1882, Dorset Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 27 February 1920, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 08 September 1945, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 20th Year No 4 1945
Obituary :
Br. James McCabe (1882-1909-1945)
“I'm asking Our Lady to take me on her Feast-Day, my Vow-day,” said Bro. McCabe to the Superior of St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street (Fr. Tyndall) as he lay in St. Vincent's Hospital on the Eve of 8th September. On receiving the Papal Blessing at the hour of death, he joined in the prayers and was fully aware he was dying. He sent for his relatives and said good-bye to them in a manly and courageous manner.
That evening he became unconscious, and in a gentle sleep passed away about 10.15 on the morning of the 8th.
Br. McCabe was born in Dorset Street, Dublin, on 10th September, 1882, and was educated at Marlboro' Street schools. He secured a clerkship in the Dublin Post-Office and worked as a postman in the Fairview District till 1909. He entered the noviceship the same year, and received his gown on 7th September. After his Vows, two years later, he spent eleven years of faithful service at Mungret College, during the greater part of which he held the offices of mechanic and refectorian of the boys' refectory. After three years in Clongowes, on the death of Br. McCormack at Gardiner Street, he was called to the latter Residence where he was destined to spend the last twenty years of his life as dispenser and prefect of the domestic staff. His talent as a mechanic was exploited to the full during these years and proved of great practical utility, sparing the House, incidentally, much expense. He was an adept at managing the loud-speaker apparatus which had been installed in the Church during the period when Fr. F. Browne was Superior. Hardworking and conscientious to a fault, Br. McCabe never spared himself even during the last years of his life when he began to lose his old vigour. He made light of the internal complaint which afflicted him during the months which preceded his death, but was at last persuaded to go to Hospital. The surgeon diagnosed cancer in an advanced stage, which an operation was powerless to check.
Many business firms and tradesmen sent Fr. Superior expressions of generous sympathy when his death was announced.
After Requiem Mass celebrated by Fr. Superior at 11 a.m. on Monday, 10th September, Br. McCabe was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Rev. Fr. Provincial reciting the prayers at the graveside. R.I.P.

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

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

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

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

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brother of Timothy McEntee - LEFT 1921

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

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

◆ The Clongownian, 1954

Obituary

Brother Hugh McEntee SJ

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

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

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

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

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

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

Transcribed HIB to ZAM 03 December 1969

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

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

Southern Africa Province Province Obituary - sent 04 August 2023

Br Gabriel McKinney, S.J.

(1934-2023. In Zambia 1962-2023)

1 August 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go well, Brother Gabriel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go well, Brother Gabriel. Rest in Peace.

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

Born: 22 April 1825, County Meath
Entered: 07 October 1860, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Died: 08 September 1865, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a carpenter by trade.

Born: 26 November 1938, Hardwicke Street, Dublin
Entered: 06 April 1958, St Mary's , Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1971, Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare
Died: 29 May 2000, Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin

by 1991 at Toronto Canada (CAN S) Sabbatical

Born: 20 May 1788, County Offaly
Entered: 01 February 1817, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 11 January 1870, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
While still a young man he was sent to Dublin to learn tailoring. he was a Postulant at Clongowes in 1815, where he spent time as a tailor and in charge of the clothes department.

He then Ent at Tullabeg and was admitted with Brothers Cleary, Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Sherlock and Thomas Devitt. He spent the rest of his life tailoring at Tullabeg, where he was also Sacristan. It was in his role in the Church as Sacristan that he was met by many people, encouraging all to a better life, especially to Confession.
He had a long illness and he died quite peacefully 11 January 1870 at Tullabeg, and he is buried there at the Old Rahan Cemetery.
John Grene wrote of him “Vir bonus, simplex ac devtione plenus”.

Note from John Cleary Entry :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him : Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.

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

Born: 14 March 1853, Castleknock, County Dublin
Entered: 18 March 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1894, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 14 December 1931, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Glazier and Painter before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 2 1932
Obituary :
Br Joseph Mulvany
Br. Joseph Mulvany was born near Castleknock on 14 March 1853. While he was a boy, his family moved into Dublin, and he went to school at Richmond St. During his school-days, he was an altar boy in Gardiner St. He began his noviceship at Milltown Park in 1882 and finished it two years later at the newly established house in Dromore, Co. Down. During his life of 49 years in the Society, he discharged, at one time or another, nearly every duty that falls to the lot of a lay-brother. For some years, when stationed at Belvedere, he is entered in the Catalogue “Adj Dir. assoc. S. S. Cor,”. Sacristan seems to have been his speciality, for he held that important position for no less than 38 years. For 26 years he was stationed at Milltown, 8 at Belvedere, 5 at University College, Stephen's Green, 4 at the Crescent, 3 at Clongowes, 2 at Gardiner St,, and 1 at Dromore.
Most people will remember Br. Mulvany as sacristan in Milltown. He did his work in the Chapel with a regularity and fidelity to routine that were characteristic of him. Towards the end of his time, when scholastics who were helping him decorated the altar in some novel way, he would murmur disapprovingly, “more in sorrow than in anger”. It was never
done before Gradually he was relieved entirely of any work, he was becoming so weak. He used to hobble about in the garden, sit in the little kiosk saying his beads. He must have said millions of heads, His fidelity to the spiritual duties used to impress those that lived with him.
For a few weeks before his death, he complained of being very weak, but with a will to live, about which he did not mind being joked, he kept up as much as possible. He was at dinner in the refectory three days before he died. Had he lived for a few months more he would have celebrated his Golden Jubilee in the Society. He died at Milltown on Monday 14 Dec. 1931.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Joseph Mulvany 1853-1931
Br Joseph Mulvany was born at Castleknock on March 14th 1853. His family moved into the city, and so young Joseph was enabled to go to O’Connell’s Schools, and to become an altar boy in Gardiner Street. He entered the Society at Milltown in 1882, and completed his noviceship at Dromore County Down.

His work in the Society was mainly as Sacristan, at which he excelled, holding that post for upward of 38 years, the majority of them at Milltown Park. When he grew too feeble to work, he used hobble around the garden and sit in the kiosk telling his beads. He was never without them, and his litany of rosaries must have run into millions.

He died at Milltown on December 14th 1931 within a few months of his golden jubilee as a Jesuit.

Born: 07 August 1934, Newbridge Avenue, Ringsend, Dublin
Entered: 10 August 1966, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1985, Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia
Died: 12 March 2015, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1974 at Canisius Chikuni, Zambia (ZAM) working
by 1979 at Babati, Tanzania (AOR) working for “Concern”
by 1995 at JRS Malawi (MOZ) working

Early Education at National School; Ringsend Vocational School

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/br-martin-murphy-sj-may-he-rest-in-peace/

Br Martin Murphy SJ: may he rest in peace
Death has finally got the better of Martin Murphy, but after a mighty struggle. Born in Ringsend, he learned his building skills and qualifications (a Diploma from the Catholic Workers College) before he entered the Jesuits at the age of 32. Over the next 50-odd years he practised or taught motor mechanics, building maintenance, construction, irrigation and pastoral care of refugees. Nearly thirty of those years were given to Africa, especially Zambia and Malawi.

Martin was strong as an ox, but he suffered enough sicknesses to fill a text book. His multiple health problems, touching all his senses and most parts of his sturdy body, involved treatment in four hospitals. He made full use of medical help, and carried his oxygen supply with care as he walked the pavements round Gardiner Street. He would not let medical problems absorb his energy.
At the age of 73 he embarked on a 5-year course in theology with the Tallaght Dominicans. He worked his way right up to the last assignment, on “The Just Society”, at which he balked. Why? they asked. “Because I never lived in a just society, and do not know what it is like.” Dear Martin was a strong and distinctive presence in the Irish Jesuits, a model for anyone who with God’s help has to fight sickness. “Death, be not proud.”

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 160 : Summer 2015

Obituary

Br Martin Murphy (1934-2015)

7 August 1934: Born in Dublin.
Early Education at National School; Ringsend Vocational School
1961 - 1965: NCIR. Socio-Economics Study (Diploma)
10 August 1966: Entered Society at St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
15 August 1968: First Vows at St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
1968 - 1969: St Mary's, Emo - Mechanic; Maintenance
1969-1975: Chisekesi, Zambia - Construction; Irrigation; Teaching at Canisius College, Chikuni
1975 - 1978: Milltown Park - Maintenance
1978 - 1983: Tanzania, East Africa - Working for “Concern” at Babati, Tanzania
1983 - 1984: Tullabeg - Tertianship
1984 - 1986: Lusaka, Zambia - Minister at Luwisha House
15 August 1985: Final Vows at Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia
1986 - 1992: Mazabuka, Zambia - Concern Development Project
1987: Youth Development Project at St Paul's, Nakambala
1992 - 1993: Santry - Pastoral Care of Refugees
1993 - 1994: Limbe, Malawi - Working for JRS
1994 - 1995: Mozambique - Working for JRS
1995 - 1996: Clongowes - House and College Maintenance
1996 - 2015: Gardiner St - Assists Director of Arrupe Society
2009 - 2014: Hospital visitation; Studying at Priory Institute, Tallaght
2014 - 2015: Residing at Cherryfield Lodge

In October 2014, Martin was admitted to hospital after a fall. He had many health problems, which meant treatment in four hospitals. He moved to Cherryfield Lodge on 25th February 2015. He was happy to be in Cherryfield again, where he died peacefully on 12th March. May he rest in the peace of Christ.

After a mighty struggle, death finally got the better of Martin Murphy on March 12, 2015. His sisters had prayed to St Francis Xavier that the Lord would spare him further suffering, and in response he died on the final day of the Novena. His funeral was delayed because an autopsy was required, and so he was finally laid to rest on March 19, the Feast of St Joseph. Martin had had a strong devotion to Joseph the Worker, so things fitted in nicely at the end of his life.

Like Joseph, Martin was a great worker: before he joined the Jesuits, he worked for Cramptons, the builders. His grandfather had been in the same trade, and had helped to build the Titanic! This came to light only when Martin showed up in Youghal in 2012 for the launch of Eddie O'Donnell's book on Fr Browne and the Titanic! Sadly, Martin's building work, so helpful to many people, carried the seeds of his own death, because as we now know, he died of asbestos poisoning.

His early education was in the National and Vocational Schools in Ringsend, where he was born. He then began his building career, From 1961-65 he did a Diploma in Socio-Economics at the Jesuit-run NCIR. It appears that he was so impressed by the Jesuit teachers there that he decided to join them in 1966, at age 32. He waited till his mother died to do this, as he was one of her carers.

Martin was a perfectionist, took pride in his work, and always did a great job. He could turn his hand to anything, including leatherwork. He was also a great teacher of his crafts and skills. I had the good fortune to discover him early on, and we became lifelong friends, even if not without some awkward moments! In 1967 I wanted to build a back wall to the handball alley in Milltown and got his help, though he was a novice at the time. It was very definitely his wall, not mine, but he never emphasised the fact. We worked in the early mornings before my classes began, and he would then continue through the day, while I dug academic furrows. One dull morning Martin looked up with an innocent smile at the Milltown buildings and asked, 'Why is it that the scholastics mostly pray in the dark'? Later Martin built the bindery which still stands at the back of the Library. And when a Le Brocquy mosaic of the Madonna and Child came our way mysteriously in the late seventies, he put it up single handed, though it weighed three quarters of a ton. It is now in the Milltown Community foyer. He was, as one of the Brothers said admiringly, “a mighty man”.

He liked philosophy, and especially the ideas of Bernard Lonergan. He could get so animated about these that when driving in Zambia he would slow down to get his point across, which lengthened journeys considerably. At the age of 73 he embarked on a 5-year course in theology in the Priory Institute in Tallaght. He worked his way right up to the last assignment, on “The Just Society”, at which he balked. Why? they asked. “Because I never lived in a just society, and I don't know what it's like”. He enjoyed the phrase “the hermeneutic of suspicion” because it gave him the leeway he needed to be devastatingly honest.

Africa
He went to Zambia in 1969, and worked there and in Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, with occasional breaks, for 25 years. He built churches and schools, dug wells and cultivated a huge garden. He practised or taught motor mechanics, building maintenance, construction, irrigation. He also engaged in pastoral care of refugees. He was well loved by those who worked with him. He delighted in planning and carrying projects through. He loved the moment when he could hand over a set of keys of a new building and say: 'The job is done’. But he had time for soccer also. I have it on reliable authority that when he was playing in Dublin for Transport FC, he was considered to be of international standard. And the Zambians used watch him admiringly: Kalango mulilo! they'd shout - “Look at his fire!”

The Acting Provincial of Zambia, Jim McGloin, said in his message of condolence: “The hidden nature of the work is often the case for the Jesuit Brother. Although Brother Martin did the actual building of the Church in Chikuni Mission in the 1970's, it was the parish priest who received the credit. The serving tables in Luwisha House are still used today, thirty years later, but no one remembers that it was Brother Martin who built them.... While the workmanship was appreciated, the worker often went unnoticed. Yet the professional workmanship of Br Martin itself stands as its own monument. And those who saw his effort and dedication were grateful.'

Martin had used his many talents 'to help others' in simple ways, as Ignatius would have wished. But by 1995, the outer job was done: he had to retire because for the remaining twenty years of his life, ill health dogged him -- glaucoma, diabetes, arthritis, lung problems. But even when exiled from Zambia he always kept in contact and retained a deep love for his 'first mission'.

The inner side
Martin had his own unique relationship with God - his secret scripture. He prayed. He loved his time in the Holy Land. He lived simply. But like the rest of us, he had his own fixed attitudes, his weaker points, his awkwardness. A mature man by the time he joined the Jesuits, he had, not surprisingly, something of a Trade Union perspective on things. This included a keen sense of what he perceived as injustice, foot dragging, and so on. The Jesuit way of proceeding, he felt, was not always the most efficient. With his critical mind, he found it hard to be asked to do things by people who, he felt, didn't know what they were talking about. He had little time for eloquence that was not matched by action. “They can talk the talk” he'd say “but can they walk the walk?”

Martin would tell it like he thought it was, and his craggy style disconcerted more than a few, and left people feeling uncomfortable. He was, one might say, of the warrior class. Critical of many in authority, at the same time he was a great defender of the small and the poor. He volunteered for Tanzania because it was one of the twenty poorest countries in the world. He was both admirer and critic of Julius Nyerere, founder of the state of Tanzania. But his mischievous humour carried him a long way. He would say outrageous things just to get a reaction: often he didn't want to be taken too seriously. And he could get caught out himself on occasion, as when he had an appointment with a consultant about his glaucoma: the great man was late and eventually came into the waiting room to apologise, only to find Martin reading the Irish Times. And he would smile and laugh at himself. A stern commentator on the foibles of humankind, he also had a great and welcoming smile.

Stay Clear! God at Work
God was steadily at work in him, as in us all. That work is to make us grow in love', to bring out the best in us. In the final phase of his life, a deep mellowing took place while he endured enormous discomfort, especially in his breathing. He carried his oxygen supply as he walked the pavements round Gardiner Street. He did not complain. His time and energy were taken up with coping with his own illnesses. He made the rounds of many hospitals and consultants, and his reports of medical encounters were never dull. To one man who wasn't measuring up, Martin said: “Take a good look at my face!” “Why?” said the consultant. “Because”, said Martin, “you won't see it again!” His humour never deserted him, and he would get great joy out of recounting such incidents. He told me how grateful he was to his family for all their care and love; and to the Cherryfield staff for looking after him so well. In turn, they enjoyed his company; he had a word - often funny - to say about everything. They loved him. And he became a grateful man.

So when the moment of death came, and Martin met the Lord face to face, the “inner job” was substantially done. Like Peter in the Gospel, he jumped out of the safety of his life's boat and struggled to the shore where Jesus was waiting, watching. Surely like Peter, Martin heard Jesus say, “Bring the fish you've caught, and come, let's have breakfast!”

Then, we may surmise, came the one-to-one chat with Jesus, who now could safely ask him: Martin, do you love me more than these others do? There would have been no digging-up of the failures of the past. No comparisons and contrasts with others. The present state of his heart was all that mattered. He would have answered like Peter: Lord, “You know everything, you know I love you”. That would be enough. Because in the evening of life we will be examined in love.

It so happened that when the news came to me that Martin had died, I was reading a book titled Love is Stronger than Death, by Cynthia Bourgeault. It tells of a Trappist monk in Colorado who had a turbulent personality and was awkward in his relationships. Community life fell short for him, and so he moved out and became a hermit. He wrestled much of his life with God and others. But at the end he became liberated and happy. I felt this man's life and Martin's had parallels! In our final conversation a week before he died, he had told me he had been struggling, not with the problem that others were not measuring up, but that he wasn't measuring up. He found it consoling to hear Pope Francis' remark from The Joy of the Gospel, “When everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved”. Perhaps, then, he felt, all would be well at the end, because God's love is stronger than our failings or our death.

And so, off he went, happily, into eternal glory. He is now fully alive, radiant with his best self, supporting us on our pilgrim way, looking forward to the great reunion when all will be made well.

Brian Grogan

https://ordo.jesuitssouthern.africa/obit/03-12-2015%20%E2%80%93%20Martin%20Murphy.pdf

Br Martin Murphy, S.J. (1934-2015.
In Zambia/Malawi 1969-1975; 1984-1991)

12 March 2015

Brother Martin Murphy, who was born in Ringsend, Dublin on 7 August 1934. He learned his building skills and gained his qualifications – including a diploma from the Catholic Workers College, before he entered the Jesuits at the age of 32. Over the next 50-odd years he practiced or taught motor mechanics, building maintenance, construction, irrigation and pastoral care of refugees.

He worked in Zambia on two different occasions: from 1969 to 1975 and from 1984 to 1991. When he left Zambia permanently in 1991, the Provincial at the time wrote: “I am grateful to you for the work you have done here, especially in and for our communities. Much of the effort and dedication you put in was done inconspicuously and not noticed by many of the Province.”

The hidden nature of the work is often the case for the Jesuit Brother and was for Martin also. The catalogue states that he was a builder at Chikuni Mission from 1969 to 1975, but it does not say what he built. One has to ask those who might remember and the list is impressive. Although Martin and his team did the actual building of the new church in Chikuni Mission in the 1970s, it was the parish priest who received the credit for it! He also strengthened the tower of the old church, which is a national monument today. When he tore down the old church, which was considered unsafe, he constructed the hall at the parish with the bricks and roofing. Also the section of Chikuni Hospital that faces the road was built by Martin and his team. He built a carpentry workshop behind the community house in Chikuni; there he made the tables and chairs for the community dining room.

From 1984 to 1986 he was the minister at Luwisha House in Lusaka. Apart from his work of serving the community, he also built the serving tables in the dining room. In 1987 he moved to Mazabuka where he worked in the ‘Youth Employment Project’ at the Christian Brothers’ school and undertook building projects at the school. He lived at the parish in Nakambala during this time. He left the Brothers’ project in 1989 and the following year started a development project where he offered a training programme in carpentry, gardening, block making and painting for young people. However, in 1991 he was forced to return to Ireland because of the beginnings of poor health.

Martin spent two other periods in Africa, though not in Zambia. From 1978 to 1983, he worked for ‘Concern’ in Babati, Tanzania and from 1993 until 1995 his health was good enough that he was able to work for JRS out of the Limbe, Malawi for projects in Mozambique. At the end of that spell, he had to return to Ireland permanently.

Even when Martin was away from Zambia, however, he always kept in contact and was interested in the Jesuits and their works here. Although he was deeply involved in his work no matter where he was, he always had a love for his ’first mission.’

In his early days in Zambia, Martin, along with Gabriel McKinney, played a lot of football with the local teams in Chikuni. Because of his fearlessness, he was given the name, Kalanga Mulilo (the one who sees fire). We thank God for the gift of this fearless, and sometimes fiery, Jesuit Brother, for the years of hard work he gave to the Jesuits and people of Zambia, for his zeal for justice and development, for his willingness to take on new missions and for his undaunted spirit in the face of poor health.

Martin had his own unique relationship with God – his secret scripture. He prayed. He lived simply. But like the rest of us, he had his own fixed attitudes, his weaker points, his awkwardnesses. A mature man by the time he joined the Jesuits, he had, not surprisingly, something of a Trade Union perspective on things. His included a keen sense of what he perceived as injustice, foot-dragging, and so on. The Jesuit way of proceeding, he felt, was not always the most efficient. With his critical mind, he found it hard to be asked to do things by people who, he felt, didn’t know what they were talking about. He would tell it like he thought it was, and his craggy style disconcerted more than a few, and left people feeling uncomfortable. He was, one might say, of the warrior class. Critical of many in authority and at the same time he was a great defender of the small and the poor.

By 1995 the outer job was done: he had to retire because for the remaining twenty years of his life, ill health dogged him – glaucoma, diabetes, arthritis and lung problems. Martin died on 12 March 2015 in Dublin.

12 March: 7 August 1934 – 12 March 2015

Br. Martin MURPHY – Irish, born on August 7, 1934 and entered the Society of Jesus on August 10, 1966. He made his last vows on August 14, 1985. He was in Mozambique in
1994/95, sent by JRS, to guide the construction of the Lifidzi School of Arts and Crafts. He passed away on March 12, 2015.

Born: 03 June 1877, Elphin, County Roscommon
Entered: 03 June 1917, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1928, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 01 February 1942, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Merchant before entry
◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 17th Year No 2 1942
Obituary :
Brother Patrick Murray

Brother Murray died at Clongowes on February 1st. He had only left the College infirmary three days previously in the best of form after a fortnight's rest treatment, and was to resume work on the following Tuesday. Passing the chapel on the way to lunch at 12 o’clock, he entered to pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. There while saying his prayers, he got a sudden heart attack. Fr. Rector administered Extreme Unction, and within five minutes, Brother Murray had passed peacefully away.
Though his sudden death caused such a shock to the Community the boys, and great numbers of people around the College, with whom he was a very popular figure, it was eminently the kind of death that he himself would have desired. For many years, he had been intricately associated with the chapels at Clongowes as sacristan. fact, it was almost impossible to go to any of the chapels without meeting Brother Murray there, and seeing him- and indeed hearing him - praying. His fervent ejaculations - often aloud when he thought no one was present - were an almost continual feature of his life. Whether he was working in the magazine where the boys keep their clothes, or in the sacristy, or driving the car, prayer was very seldom absent from his lips. He was indeed a men of prayer, and it was a fitting end that he should have died while praying before Our Lord in the Tabernacle.
Brother Murray in early life adopted the drapery business as his vocation. Having spent some years in Messrs. Pim & Co., Dublin he carried on a successful business of his own in Delvin, Co. Westmeath. After seven years of happy married life, his wife died. From that moment, he made up his mind to dispose of his business, and devote his life to the service of God. This resolution he put into effect a few years later when he entered Tullabeg on June 3rd, 1917 on his 40th birthday. He presented one of his motor cars to Tullabeg and a second - the Krit - to Clongowes. After five years, spent in Tullabeg and. Milltown, Brother Murray came to Clongowes where he remained for the last 17 years.
Three qualities endeared Brother Murray to all who knew him. His genial good humour, his readiness to do anything for everyone and his transparent piety. We shall miss him very much in Clongowes. His familiar figure, in the People's Church serving Mass after Mass, as he loved to do when occasion arose, doing a hundred and one jobs for the boys, rushing out to the laundry, or the garage, driving the car in his own inimitable and somewhat nerve-racking way, his hearty and utterly spontaneous laugh, his anxiety to give clothes and
boots to the poor, even his reading in the refectory - all seemed part and parcel of Clongowes life. But he has gone to the Master, Whom before all and above all, he loved and served, R.I.P.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, after Requiem Mass in the Boys chapel, in the presence of his three brothers, the Community, boys, and many people from the neighbourhood, the funeral procession led by the Community, followed by the whole school, and the public took place to the College Cemetery. The choir sang the Benedictus and Fr. Provincial said the last prayers. Very Rev. Frs. Fergal McGrath and P. Kenny were also present.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Patrick Murray SJ 1877-1942
As he passed the chapel in Clongowes on his way to lunch on February 1st 1942, Br Patrick Murray dropped in for a short visit to Our Lord, and there in the presence of the Master he had loved and served so well, he died.

It was a fitting and beautiful end to a holy and cheerful life. Having been a successful draper in Delvin County Westmeath, Patrick Murray, on the death of his wife, sold all his goods and gave the proceeds to the poor. His two cars he gave to the Society, one to Tullabeg, and the other, known as the “Krit”, to Clongowes. He was truly liked by all, the boys, the people, the Community. He was ever easy to do all kinds of odd jobs, to drive the car, or best of all to him, serve at Mass. Many Jesuits will remember him for his reading in the refectory, a task he loved and in which he was inimitable.

Truly happy both naturally and supernaturally in his life, he is to be envied in the manner of his death.

Born: 28 September 1778, Armagh, County Armagh
Entered: 01 February 1817, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Professed: 08 September 1837
Died: 16 September 1843, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

in Clongowes 1817 - hospitality

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
A native of Armagh, and in his early life he was a tradesman there, using his own and his mother’s names. At the time of the 1798 Rising he suffered great losses because he refused to join the insurgents, and his business was plundered daily by the soldiers.
He left Armagh and settled in Manchester where he again established a comfortable life. His regularity and piety drew the attention of Fr Bromhead there, and though his influence Ent the Society at Stonyhurst.

A few years later he was transferred to Clongowes, where he lived the rest of his life.
(cf copy of eulogy which Hogan possessed)

His life an Clongowes edified a large community, where again, his regularity and piety were the distinguishing characteristics and ornaments of his career. He suffered apoplexy on 16 September 1843 and died the following day.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.
In 1840, he was Dispenser and carpenter at Hardwicke St. He was a very humble and obedient religious. He died at Clongowes 16 September 1843.

Note from John Cleary Entry :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him : Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.

Born: 23 September 1904, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1935, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 25 March 1967, Gonzaga College, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 42nd Year No 3 1967
Obituary :

Br Patrick Nolan SJ (1905-1967)

Br. Patrick Nolan was born in Dublin on 23rd September 1905 He received his early education at the National School, Haddington Road, and then went on to the Christian Brothers at Westland Row. A young boy at the time of the 1916 Rising, he could give you a pretty full account of the doings around Mount Street Bridge, and the Haddington Road area in general. He came to have strong views on the political upheaval of those times, but it was always interesting to hear him relate his experiences of his childhood in Dublin. For five years, 1919-24, he was an apprentice in the business of Messrs P. Conway & Co., Exchequer Street, Dublin. He entered the Society on 1st May 1924 at Tullabeg. After his First Vows he remained on at Tullabeg as Manuductor from 1928-31. He was then sent as cook to Clongowes Wood where he had a long spell, from 1931-45. These included the war years which was a very trying time for anybody grappling with the problems of fuel and food, and hungry boys.
We next find him at the Crescent College, Limerick, where he was cook and dispenser from 1945-52. His next appointment took him to St. Ignatius' College, Galway, where he was cook, dispenser, and in charge of staff from 1952-60.
In 1960 he went to Gonzaga College, where was cook and in charge of staff until his death on 25th March 1967.
What most struck one about Br. Patrick was probably his versatility. He had a very enquiring mind and many interests. Dealing with the domestic staff can be a very frustrating experience. He had long years of it. It must be very disheartening to take a boy who knows nothing, train him as a cook for several years, then watch him move on to a higher paid job, and begin all over again with somebody else. This is a regular pattern in our houses. To his great credit Br. Patrick never tried to hold a domestic staff member by any argument of gratitude. He liked to see them move on to a job where they could afford to marry and settle down to a normal life.
In spite of the time-consuming nature of his job. Br. Patrick managed to cultivate side-lines. He got interested in music, and was quite capable of re-stringing a broken-down piano if need be. He had a real appreciation of classical music. Of late years he became interested in the repair of broken-down radios. He became quite an expert in this field. He often regretted the lack of technical training which forced on him a hit-and-miss method. But it is really remarkable how expert he became in the field. He was extremely intelligent and would have profited greatly from a wider education followed by technical training. One can only rejoice in the long overdue re-appraisal of the vocation of the Brothers which the Society has recently undertaken. In a rejuvenated Society with full education and proper technical training of the Brothers, one feels that Br. Nolan would have contributed outstanding service to the Society and the Church. On one issue he became rather unbalanced. He had no love for the “sons of Israel” and was inclined to see them as sinister figures behind most modern social movements. One learned to keep off the subject with him. But he could be a very pleasant companion, was a good religious, and under the most trying circumstances no community in which he worked ever saw the Minister put up a notice saying : “No dinner today”. Do we all take this simple daily routine of our meals too much for granted?
Br. Patrick had not been very well for some years. He suffered a good deal from nervous tension and exhaustion. But he learned to live with it, and carried on his full day's work. His death came as a great shock. And there is many a poor person outside the Society who will miss his cheerful arrival to fix up a radio or T.V. that has broken down. May he rest in peace.

Born: 26 June 1780, County Carlow
Entered: 23 January 1816, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County KIldare
Final vows: 08 September 1837, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County KIldare
Died 22 April 1862, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County KIldare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a tailor by trade. As a young man he went to England for work, and eventually found work as a servant in Stonyhurst. On hearing that the Society had been restored, he returned to Ireland, and Entered at Clongowes 23 January 1816.
At Clongowes he was put in charge of the “Magazine and tailor’s shop. he got on so well that he soon became one of the most useful and obliging Brothers. He was never seen idle. A few years before his death, his Superior released him from all responsibilities, as he was in advance years, and he wished to allow him his final years in devotion to God.
he died a holy death, full of faith and confidence 22 April 1862. He is buried in the College Cemetery.
Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1837 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

Born: 18 October 1858, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 05 January 1879, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1891, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 15 December 1943, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Had a brother a scholastic in the Missouri Mission

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 4th Year No 2 1929
Jubilee :
Br. O'Grady celebrated his Golden Jubilee in the Society on Jan. 10th. He spent 42 out of the 50 years in Clongowes, intimately connected with that important department on which, in great measure the material, and, to some extent, the spiritual progress of a Community depends. On the 10th a big crowd of his Brother friends assembled at Clongowes to wish him many more years of health, holiness and active service.

Irish Province News 19th Year No 2 1944
Obituary :
Brother James J O'Grady SJ (1858-1943)

On December 14th a very peaceful death brought to a fitting end the long and saintly life of Brother O'Grady. He was born in Dublin on the 18th October, 1858, and was educated by the Christian Brothers. After a short time in business he entered the Society at Milltown Park, January 5th, 1879. Immediately after his noviceship he was sent to Clongowes where, with the exception of three years (1895-6 and 1903-5) in St. Ignatius College, Galway, and one year (1896-7) in Tullabeg, he was to spend the rest of his life. He was cook and dispenser there until a couple of years before his death, and during that time it would be impossible to estimate his value to the College, whether as an exemplary religious or an efficient and painstaking official. Those who served under him, cooks and servants, had the highest esteem and regard for him. He was always most courteous and even-tempered in his dealings with them, and always most anxious to help them in every way, and many who afterwards got good positions in hotels and elsewhere owned that they owed their success to what they had learned from Br, O'Grady in Clongowes.
As a religious, Brother O'Grady was a model, being always most regular in his observance of rule, most hardworking and most charitable when speaking of others. Clongowes feels that it has in Br. O'Grady a most eloquent advocate before the throne of the Master whom he served so long and so loyally. R.I.P.

◆ The Clongownian, 1944

Obituary

Brother James O'Grady SJ
In “The Clongownian” of 1910, under “Choir Notes”, there is the following item, dated May 25th : “At 5.30 our less fortunate companions went to the study to discuss wall building with old Balbus or feast on Algebraical factors. We remained below to enjoy the fine menu provided by Br O'Grady. The table was very artistically decorated by Br Brady, who left nothing undone that could conduce to our comfort”.

There is something especially pathetic in this entry of thirty-three years ago, as both those mentioned have this year gone to their reward after lives spent in just those occupations that are mentioned in the entry.

With the exception of four years, Br O'Grady had been continuously in Clongowes from 1882 until his death last December. In spite, however, of that long connection of over sixty years, he was but little known to the boys of the school, though many, at least of the older generation, will remember him on the ice as a graceful and accomplished skater. His work was confined mostly to the kitchen and its environments where he laboured unostentatiously, but most efficiently, during all those years. With the preparation of how many “feeds” he must have been connected! How many enjoyed the good things that he prepared without, perhaps, giving a thought to the hand that had prepared them and the care that had been lavished upon them ! But it was not for the thanks of those who benefited by his work that Br O'Grady laboured. He was a true religious and worked for a Master Who never fails to reward His faithful servants. Clongowes and its interests will be better served by Br O'Grady in heaven even than they were when he lived and worked amongst us.

Br Brady's connection with Clongowes was very much shorter than that of Br O'Grady, but it brought him into closer con tact with the boys, as he was for many years in charge of the refectory. He took a deep interest in them and in everything connected with them, even their games, especially the Line Matches. He possessed a great sense of humour, and a joke was ever ready to his lips.

Many will remember how his answer to the question “What second-course to-day, Brother?” was invariably “Plums”, whether or not these dainties were to appear ! For many years before his death he suffered from deafness, but that did not affect his cheerfulness, nor did even the ill-health of his last few years which he bore with great patience and resignation to the will of God.
May they rest in peace.

Born: 20 May 1848, Aclare, County Sligo
Entered: 30 July 1875, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1888
Died: 02 July 1927, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Canon O'Grady, PP of Behola in Achonry, and Father O'Grady a Salesian of Warrenstown were his brothers.

He was a farm steward, 12 years at Clongowes, 12 years in Tullabeg and six years at Mungret. He was reputedly a very able man of business.
He died at Milltown 02 July 1927

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 4 1927
Obituary :
Br James O’Grady :
After a strenuous life, Br. O'Grady went to his rest and reward last July.
Two of his brothers were priests, and, when he was thinking of entering the Society as a lay-brother, I was suggested to him by one of our Fathers that he was still young enough and had brains enough to study for the priesthood. But the life of a lay-brother had stronger attraction for him, and he began his noviceship at Milltown on the goth July, 1875. This story is told on the authority of his brother, the late Canon O'Grady. In the domestic order he filled nearly every office that a lay-brother could fill, Infirmarian, Sacristan, Refectorian, etc., but it was as farm-steward that his big work was done. He held that important post for thirty years, twelve in Clongowes, twelve in Tullabeg, and six. in Mungret. He threw himself with his whole heart into his duties, and with remarkable success. A shrewd business man in Dublin declared that one of the best judges of cattle in Ireland was the Jesuit, Br O'Grady. And it was said that the Clongowes brand on a. beast, when the brother was in the College, was bound to raise the price. About the year 1919 his health failed, and he had to undergo a severe operation. From that date his suffering was, at times, intense, but it never lessened his confidence in God, or the high spirits that characterized him. He continued to be the life and soul of the brothers' recreation, enjoying with a boy's delight every bit of fun that came in his way. When nearing eighty he often shouldered his spade or his fork and worked for hours in a way that would shame a younger man. Indeed it was said that over-exertion while hay-making brought on the stroke that killed him. His holy and peaceful death took place at Milltown Park on July 2nd 1927, in his eightieth year. He was born 20th May, 1848. RIP

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother James O’Grady 1848-1927
Br O’Grady was a well known and popular figure in the Province for many years. Born in May 1848, he entered the novitiate in 1875.

He filled many posts in the course of his useful life, but it was as farm steward at Clongowes that his big work was done. Thirty years in all he acted in that capacity, and he acquired a reputation for judging cattle second to none in Ireland.

About 1919 his health failed and he underwent a severe operation. From then onwards his suffering at time was intense. Nevertheless he carried on, the life and soul of the Brother’s recreation, with a cheery word for everyone, admirable in his handling of the house staff, and dear tot all the theologians in Milltown Park. He still maintained his interest in the farm and at eighty years of age, often shouldered his spade or fork and worked for hours. Indeed it was said that over exertion at haymaking brought on the stroke that killed him.

He died a holy death at Milltown Park on July 3rd 1927 in his eightieth year.

Born: 25 April 1928, Kildare Town, County Kildare
Entered: 24/ March 1952, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1963, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 26 December 2011, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

by 1958 at Rome, Italy (ROM) working
by 1963 at Tullabeg making Tertianship

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 147 : Spring 2012

Obituary

Br Joseph (Joe) Osborne (1928-2011)

25 April 1928: Born in Co. Kildare.
Early education in CBS, Naas and Blackrock College, Dublin
1946 - 1952: Worked as jockey and horse trainer
28 March 1952: Entered the Society at Emo
29 March 1954: First Vows at Emo
1954 - 1957: Milltown Park - in charge of house and staff
1957 - 1958: Rome SJ Curia - Secretarial work
1958 - 1961: Crescent College, Limerick - Sacristan
1961 - 1966: SFX, Gardiner Street - In charge of staff
During 1962: Tullabeg - Tertianship
3rd February 1963: Final Vows St. Ignatius, Leeson Street
1966 - 1967: Galway - In charge of staff, Sacristan
1967 - 1968: Clongowes - In charge of staff
1968 - 1970: Manresa - In charge of staff; Sacristan
1970 - 1974: Crescent College, Limerick - In charge of staff: Infirmarian
1974 - 1980: John Austin House - Minister
1980 - 1982: St. Ignatius, Galway - Sacristan; Infirmarian
1982 - 1983: Belvedere College - CLC
1983 - 2011: Leeson Street - CLC
1991 - 2003: Subminister; Sacristan; CLC
2003 - 2010: Sacristan
2010 - 2011: Residing in Cherryfield
26 December 2011: Died Cherryfield

Br Osborne went to Cherryfield in 2010 when his health began to fail. He settled down well but broke his hip in a fall shortly before Christmas. He returned to Cherryfield for Christmas but got pneumonia and died on December 26th 2011, aged 83 years, in St Vincent's Hospital. May he rest in the Peace of Christ

Obituary : Paul Andrews
More than most Jesuits, Joe Osborne had to be seen in the context of his birthplace, Craddoxtown in County Kildare, where the rich soil builds the bones of great race-horses, especially hunters. Joe's father, also Joe, was a well-known and successful trainer who had won at Cheltenham, Punchestown, Naas, Leopardstown and elsewhere. As Gerry Cullen, Joe's brother-in-law put it, Joe Senior (schooled in Clongowes) was the one who must be obeyed. Joe's mother, Helen Cunningham, was a delightful lady whose brother, Professor John F. Cunningham, was a prominent gynaecologist. There were priests in her family. Joe's sister Vera married Liam Cosgrave, a former Taoiseach and good horseman.

Joe moved from primary and secondary school in Naas to Blackrock College for a couple of years, then returned to the horses. Bonnie Flanagan dedicated her book Stillorgan Again but Different to Joe. One photo shows him leading the field at Leopardstown. I quote from the “Any list of famous jockeys who rode in Leopardstown would be incomplete without the name of Joe Osborne, son of the trainer of that name, of Craddoxtown House, Co Kildare. Friend and colleague of such legendary figures as Pat Taaffe and Martin Moloney, Joe astonished the Jockey Club by his decision in 1951 to embark upon the religious life. He never rode again. Pat Taaffe said of him: 'Joe had more wins than I, but he gave it all up to enter the Jesuit Order”.

He joined the SJs at 24, having consulted his brother Paddy on the matter of what he felt was his vocation. He had made a brilliant success of his first career, but felt there was more to life than steering horses over the jumps in Punchestown. He told Paddy he was not content with his present life, and that he felt this deep call to something else. Paddy diplomatically wished him well in whichever career he chose. There were family connections with Jesuits and CWC, so the Jesuits were his choice.

He could have been a priest but preferred to become a brother. On his 70th birthday his friends put together an album on his life: “From Saddle to Sanctuary” which delighted Joe, and spoke eloquently of the affection in which he was held. You could see there the handsome young horseman, with a taste also for tennis, swimming, dancing and cards (he only played if money, not matches, were involved). In the Jesuits he gave up the saddle, but not dancing. Light-footed, with endless energy and a strong sense of rhythm, he was a superb ballroom dancer, and indulged this talent whenever the opportunity arose.

He worked in ten Jesuit Houses in Ireland, and for a short spell at our Generalate in Rome. His ministry included: Secretarial work, Charge of Staff, Infirmarian, Minister, Sacristan, CLC office work for 20 yrs. All ordinary jobs, and all done with great grace.

Brian Grogan, Joe's superior at the end, has his own treasured memories:

Visiting him in Cherryfield, I found a man lying on his back, with the TV on, rosary in his hands. I finally asked him would he like us to fix the Telly to the ceiling. What occupied his mind in his waking hours he did not say, Memories? There are the Secret Scriptures of each of us. I asked him once was he looking ahead to better things. “Begobs, yes, that's what matters!” “Joe, you'll be 7 lengths clear!” “That'll be great!” That was the beginning and end of our discussion on matters eternal! Later I discovered that Joe rarely if ever spoke about God; he lived his relationship with God, and felt that was enough.

His smile: It is there in the earliest photos, and shone out at the end. His habitually worried look would yield immediately to a great welcoming smile when you met him. There was a twinkle in his eyes. Perhaps there was little conversation but he communicated gratitude and joy that you had come along.

“He was the best of the best” – so said one of the Cherryfield staff. By which she meant his endless courtesy and appreciation of whatever was done for him. He was never demanding. Never a harsh word. 'A man of low maintenance was my term for him and he enjoyed it. As the nurse said: he did not have the illusion that he was living in the Four Seasons Hotel, he was grateful for whatever could be done for him. Now Ignatius considered ingratitude the greatest sin of all. Not to be grateful, he felt, was to miss the point of life completely. Why? Because life is a gift: people are gifts; all that is done for me is gift. Joe got full marks here, and I'm sure Ignatius must have embraced him with joy. No doubt Joe bad learnt this courtesy at home first!

Once Joe opened the door for a visitor and brought him to the parlour. The visitor remarked to the Jesuit whom he had come to see: “I have never been so graciously received as by that man! Who is he?' He had a deep sense of respect for others. He thought of them as better than himself. He saw around him “The image of God, multiplied but not monotonous” as GKC said of Francis of Assisi.

Joe would wish to apologise for any way in which he offended anyone. In tum we ask his forgiveness for any way in which we offended him. He was a loving and sensitive man. It appears that a well-intentioned but insensitive interaction with a Superior a number of years ago hurt him and diminished the joy of his later years. I know personally that Joe was a forgiving man. When he was in Vincent's, recuperating from his hip surgery two weeks ago, a nurse rang me to say that he would neither eat nor drink, nor do his physiotherapy. I went in and spoke to him on the merits of exercise if he was to get on his feet again. I obviously went on a trifle too strongly, as I discovered only later. The night before he died I asked his forgiveness for pushing him. “There's no need to worry about that now he said -- they were the last words I had with him."

His last years in Cherryfield were uneventful until a week before he died, when he broke a hip. He was discharged from hospital just before Christmas, developed pneumonia on the morning of 26h and became unconscious. He died peacefully on the evening of St Stephen's Day. A friend remembers: “I never heard him speak critically of anyone. His life seemed to be one of faith and hope and charity. He never discussed religion; he lived it. Joe, you have truly won the race that matters.'

Born: 14 August 1913, Laurel Villas, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 12 March 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 15 August 1978, Croom Hospital, Croom, Co. Limerick

Part of the Sacred Heart community, Limerick at the time of death.

Educated at Crescent College SJ

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 53rd Year No 4 1978

Crescent Church, Limerick
This summer will be remembered as the one in which we lost two of our Community within a few short hours. Brother James Owens died on the evening of August 15th, and Father William Hogan in the early hours of the following morning. Both deaths were quite unexpected. Brother Owens sustained a heart attack while undergoing a slight leg-operation in Croom Hospital. Father Hogan, while doing a holiday supply with Fr Bernard Rowley in Frimly, Surrey also had a severe heart attack, and died within a few hours.
The funeral Mass of Brother Owens, on August 17th was concelebrated by a large number of Jesuits, religious and secular priests. On the 23rd August the concelebrated Mass and funeral to Mungret cemetery of Father Hogan took place. At the Mass for Br Owens Fr J Dargan represented the provincial; at the Mass for Fr Hogan the Provincial was present. On both occasions Father Superior preached the homily. In both cases the Bishop was represented by Canon Tynan. Father Hogan’s work in the Crescent brought its special “tone” to the ceremonies: the funeral procession through the Church to the muted tones of the dead march was very impressive. The procession was comprised of large numbers of clergy, relatives, the members of the Sodality in their blue cloaks, and the general public. Later we learned that at the time when Fr Bill’s remains were being taken to London Airport a Mass was being concelebrated at Fr Rowley’s church in Kent: among the concelebrants were the English Provincial, two members of the English Province and two members of the Irish Province.

Obituary :

Br James Owens (1913-1978)

A letter from the Sacred Heart Church, the Crescent, Limerick, included the following:
"On August 17th 1978 the Funeral Mass of Br Jimmy Owens was concelebrated by a large number of Jesuit, religious and secular priests. The Congregation included a large number of Brothers, as well as family friends and members of the general public, Father J Dargan represented Father Provincial, and the Bishop was represented by Canon Tynan. Father Superior was the chief concelebrant; and the funeral took place to the cemetery in Mungret.
Brother Jimmy Ownes died unexpectedly at Croom Hospital, Limerick, on August 15th, 1978.
He was born in Limerick on August 14th 1913. He entered the Noviceship in Emo on March 12th 1932, and pronounced his First Vows there on March 13th 1934.
From 1934 to 1951 he was Refectorian at Milltown Park. Those of us who studied Theology there remember well his quiet, cheerful character. His devotion to his job and his efficiency in performing it are best attested by the fact that they went almost unnoticed. The dining room - the ‘Refectory’ - is, unhappily, a place we become really aware of only if it is neglected or inefficiently managed. In Jimmy’s day you just went into the Refectory, sat down without reflection, and ‘got down to it’: everything needed ready at hand in the cleanest of environments.
On August 15th 1946 Brother Owens pronounced his Final Vows in Milltown Park. He was Refectorian in Clongowes for almost nine years: 1951-1957 and 1959-1962. The two years 1957-1959 were spent as Refectorian in Rathfarnham Castle. The years 1964-1967 were also spent at Clongowes and he was in Galway 1967-1975.
The last years of his life were spent in his native city, Limerick: in the Crescent from 1975-1978; and he died unexpectedly there in Croom Hospital on August 15th, 1978”.

Father Cassidy writes from the Crescent:
“Brother Jimmy Owens came to the Crescent three years ago - where he had, as a boy, completed his Secondary Education up to Leaving Certificate. From his arrival in 1975, although his health was already greatly impaired, he carried out his duties, spiritual and practical with an affability and cheerfulness that gave no intimation of his physical troubles. He had an established ability to deal with all problems with peace and acceptance. When he died one felt that he had done well the particular work given him in this world, and slipped away as quietly and unobtrusively as he would have wished. The tender and affectionate regard with which he was held by the public and by members of his own family was abundantly evident at his death. May such gentle and good men be always with us”.

Born: 24 June 1789, Mountmellick, County Laois
Entered: 09 October 1821, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 18 May 1860, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Uncle of John Peston Jr, who lived most of his life at Tullabeg - RIP 1904

He was a shoemaker by trade, and appointed to this task in Clongowes, and remained at this job for more than forty years. With his care and diligence, he won the esteem of both Superiors and students. Even in his advancing years, he did not stint on hard work. He also taught many others the trade of shoemaking.
He died piously and peacefully in Clongowes 18 May 1860

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

Born: 30 June 1821, Mountmellick, County Laois
Entered 23 January 1851, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 25 July 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Nephew of John Pexton Sr, who lived most of his life at Clongowes - RIP 1860

He made his Postulancy at Clongowes under Father Bracken before formal Ent.
Almost all of his life in the Society was spent at Tullabeg. The exceptions were a short stay at Gardiner St where he was the janitor, and 1893-1896 when he was Infirmarian and Manductor of the domestic staff at Milltown.
1896 He returned to Tullabeg, and he died there 26 July 1904.
He was a shoemaker by trade and he proved very useful when Tullabeg was a College.
He was dear to all for his innocence and piety, and he served the Society well for 62 years, as a model of obedience and uprightness.

Born: 26 June 1794, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 February 1817, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 20 March 1846, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was the son of a housekeeper in Dublin Castle.

He was one of the first Brothers at Clongowes. Later he was sent to the chapel in Hardwicke St, and then moved with others into Gardiner St.
He was a tailor, cook, sacristan, buyer, refectorian and dispenser, always laborious, pious, simple and edifying, though often suffering from ill-health.
He died of consumption or something like it 20 March 1846 at Gardiner St.

Note from John Cleary Entry :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him : Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.

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

Born: 07 October 1887, Castletownbere, Co Cork
Entered: 07 June 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 13 December 1937, Crescent College, Limerick

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 13th Year No 2 1938
Obituary :
Brother William Power
1887 Born, Castletownbere, Co. Cork, 7th October
1914 Entered, Tullabeg, 7th .June
1915 Mungret (Coadj. now.) Ad preyed. et dom
1916 Mungret, Ad praed. et dom.
1917-19 Mungret, Ad dom., Cur tricl. Apostol. etc
1920-21 Mungret, Ad dom., Cur tricl. Apostol. etc, Dir fam
1922 Milltown, Cur. tric., Infirm., Ad dom
1923-24 Milltown, Dir fam, Infirm., Cur. pen., Disk
1925 Clongowes, Cur. tric., Ad dom
1926-29 Tullabeg, Ad dom
1930-35 Belvedere, Praef. fam., Cust cell., Vis, med. et exam
1936-37 Crescent Mechan., Ad dom

Br. W. Power died in Limerick, Monday, 13th December, 1937. RIP

The following excellent appreciation of Br. Power is given just as it was received :
It is not easy for one who has known Br, Power for a great many years, in fact since his noviceship, to realise that he is gone that never again we shall hear his loud hearty laugh. For Br Power, when in his best form, could laugh. To most casual acquaintances he was a puzzle as his inherited stammer made his speech at times a trifle difficult to follow. But when one came really to understand the real man it was surprising to discover in him a very deep spiritual strain, and a big grip on the things that mattered He was big in every way, and though most people only knew of his faults, his hot temper and impatient manner, they little suspected that the man before them was of outstanding ability, of exceptionally quick mind which made him impatient of slow thinkers, and, above all, of slow workers. As a worker he was unequalled, as the writer knows, for he worked (or tried to keep up) at his side in several houses. He was not always able to finish, as gruelling bad health a weak heart, stomach trouble of long standing would often lay him low in the midst of some undertaking.
He rarely spoke of his health, and I have known him to suffer torment and yet do two men's work in that state.
In one house he did a great deal of underground or hidden work in the literal sense, as he repaired old cellars, mended drains, old floors, and when these jobs were finished he repaired worn roofs, window ledges, chimney pipes, all of which work contained a great deal of discomfort and risk for one in poor health.
He said his prayers and kept before his mind the important duties of his vocation, and was moreover a big man in the sense that he could be absolutely depended upon as a loyal and self sacrificing friend. He had many true friends amongst the staff who worked under him, and the proof of this is in the fact that they remained with him for so many years.
He never paraded his piety, but to one who knew him it was quite evident. He hasn't left many friends, in the sense of cronies after him, but he has left behind a number who will remember the many kindly turns he did.
We may be sure a great part of his purgatory was endured during life, and that the Master will be merciful to, one who loved Him so well and worked so well for His cause".

Born: 30 July 1840, County Limerick
Entered: 30 July 1863, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1874
Died: 14 December 1904, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1865-1874 He was sent as Sacristan to Galway.
1874-1875 He was sent as Dispenser to Clongowes.
1875-1876 He was sent to Limerick as Sacristan, and he assisted at the opening of the Sacred Heart Church.
He also spent some time at Tullabeg where he was responsible for the Domestic staff.
When Tullabeg closed as a College he was sent to Milltown, and later at Galway again as Sacristan.
Finally he returned to Clongowes and he died there 14 December 1904.
He was a simple soul and worked hard with goodwill.

Born: 10 March 1784, County Longford
Entered: 02 December 1812, Palermo, Sicily, Italy - Sicilian Province (SIC)
Final vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 10 July 1868, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

In Clongowes 1817 - infirmarian O’REILLY

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He was a model religious.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
When he had finished his Noviceship in Sicily, he was sent back to Ireland with many book and some marble. His ship was wrecked at Dundrum Bay, Co Down, and he was kindly received there by the Russells of Killough. Finally reaching Dublin, he was sent to Clongowes, and worked there for many years.
1834 He was sent to Gardiner St, and worked there until his death 10 July 1868.
He was much esteemed by all who visited the Church at Gardiner St.
Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

◆ The Clongownian, 2009

The Origins of the Clongowes Library : The adventurous journey of Br Philip Reilly SJ from Palermo to Co. Kildare

Father Michael Sheil SJ

There is a marble plaque, still in existence, which recalls the beginnings of the 'Higher Line Library' in Clongowes. Dated 1837, it records:

Ad
horas subsecivas
amoeniter ac literate
decurrendas
hoc aperuit conclave
coll. cluen.
MDCCCXXXVII

“The Clongowes Record” speaks of the initiative of Fr Henry Rorke “who filled many offices in his long and serviceable years in Clongowes - Minister, Prefect of Studies, and more” and who equipped the Higher Line Library:

“...so used till 1886, it has long been the Rhetoric classroom; but its original purpose as a place of true recreation and relaxation is finely shown in Fr Paul Ferley's inscription, still there on the mural tablet”. The record further adds that “Historical reading was especially cultivated in close connection with the Clongowes Debating Society”.

But the story of a library in Clongowes goes back much further, as seen in the letters of Br Philip Reilly, whose account of his perilous sea voyage from Palermo in 1815 with the nucleus of a library in the newly-opened college of Clongowes Wood makes for fascinating reading. In one letter, sent to Fr Peter Kenney from his ship in Youghal on 10th October 1815, he gives a marvelous description of sea travel in those far-off days. He had left Palermo on 26th July on the schooner “Mary”, registered in and bound for Belfast “with all the books on board” and two weeks later called in at Girginti to take on board a cargo of sulphur. After seven days there “we set out for old Ireland” and, fifty-four days later put into Youghal “in distress”. His graphic account continues:

This is but little of my sufferings. The captain, who is a drunken rascal, had put to sea without laying in scarcely any provisions, and we have been reduced to the utmost misery. These six weeks we had not a morsel of bread but that which could walk with vermin, Our tea and sugar were ended before we reached the Straits of Gibraltar, and for twelve days we have been on a miserable allowance of bread and beef. All this will appear nothing when I tell you I have twice been on the brink of eternity, with all hands on board, once in the Mediterranean, and last night on the mouth of this harbour, by drunken fits of the captain. Last night the ship struck twice or thrice on the bar here; and, if God had not spared us, we should all have settled our accounts in eternity. I do not know if we shall be allowed to ride our quarantine here, or whether we shall be sent to Belfast; of which I shall give you the first notice, that you may send me the amount of the freight of the books, which will be from £16 to £20, as I believe that they measure three tons. I am of the opinion that, should I get the books free of duty into any of these harbours, I ought not to trust them again by sea to Dublin. If you could make interest with the Commissioners, it would be well; of all which you will inform me after my next. Pray much for me, I do not know what yet may happen to me. Give my love to all. Your affectionate son, PM Reilly

In a second letter to Fr Kenney about a fortnight later, Br Reilly recounts how, aided by fair winds and clear weather, the Mary reached Dublin safely by noon the following day and then continued its way northwards up the Irish Sea. “We were, as I have mentioned, bound for Carlingford to have the books taken out”. However, the captain said that with night drawing on, he could not put in there as he did not know the harbour; so he put up helm and steered the course for Belfast. But, to our great surprise, after suffering all the horrors of a stormy night, we found ourselves surrounded by land on all sides in this Bay of Dundrum (near Newcastle, Co. Down). At the instant our ship struck and I thought that she was in a thousand pieces. Providence of God! We were not ten perches (c 50m) from a whole shoal of rocks, on which, if she had struck, all the world would not save us.

But the Mary had struck on fine sand and Br Philip and his precious books were safe.

Books of account
In a third letter, from Killough, he continues to enquire if the books have been insured, for on the next day they were due to be taken ashore. From Dundrum Bay they would have to be transported to Killough for storage (at a rate of five pence per cwt) and thence on to Dublin. He requests money, £20, to have the books plus “polished stone, prints and private papers” released into his keeping, saying that “I intend going to Strangford as soon as I have the books assorted, to know if they there will make me any allowance for the damaged part of the books”.

In an old account book belonging to Fr Kenney one finds reference to charges incurred for

• books, marbles and crosses of agate from Sicily by brig to Belfast, stranded in Dundrum Bay near Killough on the night of 23rd October 1815 e.g.
• books bought = £161 4s 8p
• carriage of books from the Sand Bank to Killough
• and then from Killough to Grand Canal Harbour, James's St, Dublin – £10 14s 6p

Included also are some interesting items, such as:

• cash for extraordinary trouble caused to Mr Hamilton, officer
• Mr Reilly's first expenses waiting to see the books removed
• expenses attending three memorials to che Treasury Board of Customs and
Lord Lieutenant

and, finally, a real gem of an entry:

• To a new hat spoiled with rain and snow, and expenses incurred by illness caught by cold, also chaise to bring Mr Reilly to town, when suddenly called for...

• to make up a grand total of £234 0s 5p.

Eventually, the much-travelled consignment arrived safely at destination to form the foundation of the College Library. Its custodian also found himself in Clongowes, where one of his duties was 'the management of a certain important institution called "The Shop Some things never change!

Br Reilly was born in Longford on 17th March 1784 and had entered the Society of Jesus in December 1812. He made his last vows on 8th September 1837 and died in St Francis Xavier Community, Gardiner Street, Dublin, on 10th July 1868, after many years spent as Sacristan in the church there.

Thus, from the tiny mustard seed of that precious cargo on its perilous journey from Sicily to Kildare, has come the splendid state-of-the-art Library in the former Refectory-then-Theatre in the first House of the restored Society in Ireland. The spirit of both Br Reilly and Fr Rorke must surely bless the endeavours of all who enter this
place of true recreation and relaxation

• ad horas subsecivas amoeniter ac literate decurrendas.

Born: 09 December 1917, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 March 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 15 August 1949, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 13 March 2003, St Vincent’s Hospital

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

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
After his novitiate, Br Frankie Roe was posted to Belvedere College to take charge of the Boys Tuck Shop. A fellow Jesuit, who was a boy at the school, remembers: ‘It was there that I first met him when I was a small boy of 8. He was in charge of the Tuck Shop and was to us a person of significance. But my main memory is of his kindness to the youngest boys and how he protected us from what seemed to us to be the giant marauding 11 year olds. Never would he allow the older ones to push us youngsters out of the queue. He consoled us when we were in trouble and encouraged us at all times’.

Br Roe, born in Dublin on 9 December in 1917, was the seventh of eight children, all of whom predeceased him. Among his brothers were two All-Ireland Handball champions and he himself was no mean performer in the sport. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and after schooling worked with Independent Newspapers.

He entered the Society at Emo in 1939. For 64 years he served the Lord in the Society in many places, in Ireland and Africa and in a variety of roles. He was refectorian in a number of houses, – Clongowes, Milltown Park, Loyola House, Tullabeg – twenty eight years in all. Added to that, he was also sacristan in the houses as well.

He decided to offer himself to the missions in Zambia. He came out for two years, 1977 to 1979, at the age of sixty. He worked at Choma Minor Seminary School as minister and library assistant and then moved on to Kizito Pastoral Centre, Monze, as general factotum.

In everything he did he was a perfectionist – highly competent, diligent, and meticulous in the attention that he gave to his tasks, precise in word, deed and in every detail of his manner. All of these tasks he carried out effectively and industriously but almost always with a touch of the frustration that is the lot of the perfectionist. He had great difficulty reconciling himself to be among the ‘imperfectionists’ who populate our world.

He returned to Ireland and found the ideal position and with it something approaching happiness. In 1981 he became bookbinder of the Milltown Library. It demanded the skills that he had in abundance and afforded him an environment that suited his temperament perfectly. He applied his skill assiduously and took immense pride in his work that he carried out flawlessly and generously. He did all the work himself and no longer was he at the mercy of the shortcomings of others. He was truly master of all he surveyed in the bindery. In these years, his relationships with others blossomed. He greatly appreciated the librarians and they, in their turn, positively treasured him. Within the library staff the feminine balance seemed to have pleased him significantly. His departure from the library left a gap that will not be filled.

For two and a half years he battled with cancer uncomplainingly. In Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Nursing Home, he found something approaching perfection, particularly in the staff, who were devoted to him, whom he so deeply appreciated and of whom he was so extraordinarily undemanding. He died on 13 March 2003 in St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Worked at Independent Newspapers before entry

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Br Francis (Frankie) Roe (1917-2003)

9th December 1917: Born in Dublin city
Early education at St. Columba's CBS School, Dublin
Worked for several years in the Irish Independent office
7th March 1939: Entered the Society at Emo
8th March 1941: First Vows at Emo
1941 - 1945: Belvedere College - Sacristan; Tuck shop
1945 - 1950: Clongowes College - Refectorian (boys)
18th August 1949: Final Vows at Clongowes
1950 - 1958: Milltown Park - Refectorian
1958 - 1962: Belvedere - Assistant Librarian, Sacristan
1962 - 1963: Loyola House - Sacristan / Refectorian
1963 - 1966: Tullabeg - Sacristan / Refectorian
1966 - 1977: Milltown Park - Refectorian
1977 - 1979: Zambia - Choma Minor Seminary: Minister; Library Assistant; worked at Kizito Pastoral Centre, Monze
1979 - 1980: Milltown Park - Sacristan; Ministered in the Community
1980 - 1981: Clongowes - Assistant to the Headmaster; Librarian
1981 - 1984: Milltown Park - Book binding
1984 - 1985: Cherryfield Lodge - Worked at Milltown Park Library; book binding
1985 - 2000: Milltown Park - Book binding
2000 - 2003: Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin
13th March 2003: Died in St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.

Brother Roe was admitted to Cherryfield in November 2000, suffering from prostate cancer. His condition began to deteriorate in September 2002. He was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital on 21" February, and he died peacefully three weeks later.

Noel Barber writes:
Brother Roe was the seventh of eight children all of whom predeceased him. Among his brothers were two All Ireland Handball champions and he, himself, was no mean performer in this sport. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and after his schooling worked with Independent Newspapers. Just over 64 years ago, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Emo on March 7th 1939. Over his 64 years in the Jesuits, he served in many places in Ireland and Africa and in a variety of roles. In everything he did, he was a perfectionist - highly competent, diligent, and meticulous in the attention that he gave to his tasks, precise in word, deed and in every detail of his manner. However, he was not only a perfectionist; he was also kindly and generous. After his novitiate he went to Belvedere. It was there that I first met him when I was a small boy of 8. He was in charge of the Tuck Shop and was to us a person of immense significance. But my main memory is of his kindness to the youngest boys and how he protected us from what seemed to us to be giant marauding 11 year olds. Never would he allow the older ones to push us youngsters out of the queue. He consoled when we were in trouble and encouraged us at all times. He was a most benign presence and we were sorry to see him leave at the end of our second year. He went on to many tasks, all of which he carried out effectively and industriously but almost always with a touch of the frustration that is the lot of the perfectionist. He had great difficulty reconciling himself to the imperfectionists, who populate our world.

However, he did find the ideal position and with it something approaching bliss. In 1981 he became bookbinder of the Milltown Library. It proved to be perfect for him. It demanded the skills that he had in abundance and afforded an environment that suited his temperament perfectly. He applied his skill assiduously and took immense pride in his work that he carried out flawlessly and generously. He did all the work himself and no longer was he at the mercy of the shortcomings of others. He was truly the master of all he surveyed in the bindery. In these years his relationships with others blossomed. He greatly appreciated the librarians and they, in their turn, positively treasured him. Within the library staff the feminine balance seemed to have pleased him significantly. His departure from the library left a void that will not be filled.

For two and a half years he battled with cancer uncomplainingly. He gradually spent more and more time in Cherryfield Lodge, until he became a permanent resident. There, as in the Library, he found something approaching perfection, particularly in the staff, who were so devoted to him, whom he so deeply appreciated and of whom he was so extraordinarily undemanding

In the Gospel from St. Luke that was read at his funeral Mass, Our Lord points out to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead; or as he puts it earlier in the same chapter, “Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory? No doubt the joy of discovering that Christ had risen blocked some obvious questions, such as “Why? Why should the innocent suffer? Why must Christ suffer? Why should the Passion have to precede the Resurrection?” The message of the Gospel is a stark statement of the Law of the cross. The cross is the way to glory; that cross that is a folly and a scandal, unintelligible in itself and acceptable only in the light of Faith, However, the message of Christ and the demands that it makes on us would be hollow if Christ himself did not take on the depths of human suffering. After all, the first readers of St. Luke's Gospel were facing persecution and some were prepared to die for their Faith. To those and many others who follow them to this very day Christ did not point out the narrow, difficult path while taking a different route himself.

All lives are configured to that of Christ. It is in accepting this that we mysteriously find full life. This was something of which Br, Roe was convinced and that he accepted in faith. It was this convinced faith that provided him with that serenity and calm with which he accepted his illness, the humiliating dependency on others, the enfeebled body, the weakening mind and ultimately his death that finally conformed him to his Master whom he served so loyally, unobtrusively and dutifully.

Born: 18 July 1845, County Down
Entered: 28 February 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 16 September 1886, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

2nd Year Novitiate at Gardiner St

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was sent in his Second Year Novitiate to Gardiner St as a Cook and Dispenser.
He was later sent to Clongowes to carry out the same work, and he died there 16 September 1886.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - DOB is actually Baptismal date; Killed in an accident at Clongowes

Born: 11 February 1893, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 02 June 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1926, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 08 August 1979, Milltown Park, Dublin

Born: 25 July 1834, Clane, County Kildare
Entered: 02 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 07 May 1883, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He worked at Tullabeg, Limerick and Milltown where he died 07 May 1883.
He was considered one of Father Bracken’s best Brothers. He was a baker by trade, but also an excellent cook. His death was greatly regretted. he was a very good-natured man and kind to all on the Experiment.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others who had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

Born: 26 February 1918, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final vows: 15 August 1948, Belvedere College SJ
Died: 31 May 1998, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1979 at Lahore, Pakistan (MIS PAK) working

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 101 : Special Edition 1999

Obituary

Br Patrick Ryan (1918-1988)

26th Feb. 1918: Born in Dublin.
Pre-entry experience: He did a commerce course in the Technical School, Parnell Square.
He was employed as a clerk for 4 years.
7th Sep. 1937: Entered the Society at Emo.
8th Sep 1939: First vows at Emo.
1940 - 1941: Galway, Cook
1941 - 1945: Clongowes Wood College, Cook.
1945 - 1958: Belvedere, Sacristan
1948: Tertianship at Tullabeg,
He took Final Vows on 15th Aug. 1948, at Belvedere.
1958 - 1977: Gardiner Street Church, Sacristan (Assistant sacristan/Parish work since 1975)
1977 - 1978: Milltown Park, Sacristan
1978 - 1980: Pakistan, Administration, Loyola Hall.
1980 - 1993: Milltown Park, sacristan.
After that, he helped with administration: post, papers, etc.

In latter years, Pat went across to Cherryfield Lodge for an occasional rest and nursing care. He loved the place, and the nurses were very fond of him. His last stay lasted six weeks during which he showed signs that old age was catching up on him. Even when his voice went, he could converse in a whisper till the end. He died perfectly resigned and at peace on Sunday morning 31st May 1998.

Homily at the funeral Mass of Br. Pat Ryan, SJ
Pat Ryan died peacefully at Cherryfield Lodge early on the morning of May 31st, 1998 - the Feast of Pentecost. Today we gather to give thanks to God for Pat Ryan's life, and to pray that he will now enjoy God's presence for ever. Pat dedicated his life to the Lord in the Society and worked in a number of Jesuit apostolates with great dedication and fidelity - the longest of these were in Gardiner Street, where he was Sacristan for eighteen years.

Our readings today speak to us about the Christian vision that inspired Pat's life over eighty years. Brother Patrick Joseph Ryan was born on the 26th February 1918. He attended the Local National School in Phibsboro, and followed this with a commerce course at a technical school. Pat then worked for four years as a clerk before entering the Society of Jesus in 1937. His work in the Society began with some assignments that he did not like very much. He served as an assistant cook in two of our Colleges and then from 1945-1958 he was in Belvedere College as a sacristan and general houseman. From 1958 to 1977 he was a sacristan in our large public Church here, St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street. From 1975 to 1977 he trained in a new sacristan and worked as a member of the newly established parish team. In 1978 he was appointed to replace the Sacristan at Milltown Park and also to work in the Library. Providence had its own special plans for Pat at that time and I will return to that a little later!

As Pat came in recent weeks to recognize that he was nearing the end of his life, he expressed in a very peaceful and serene way his gratitude to God, to his family and relatives, to his many friends in the Society of Jesus and outside for the many blessings he had received during the course of his life. For many of us here in the Jesuit Community at Milltown Park, Pat's great appreciation for his vocation to the Jesuit way of life will be linked with a memorable celebration we had at Milltown last September as we celebrated Pat's sixtieth anniversary as a Jesuit.

Pat's faith was nourished in his family, where he received a strong sense of Christian values. This led him to join the Society of Jesus in 1937. His first assignment was as a cook in Galway - a job he didn't like too much! Pat spent long periods after this in three communities: Belvedere, Gardiner Street and Milltown. Since 1980 he has been a member of the community at Milltown, spending short times at Cherryfield Lodge when he needed some quiet and some nursing.

Pat spent two years in Lahore, Pakistan from 1978 to 1980. He enjoyed the completely different perspective on life that this stay in Lahore gave him. He wrote in a letter; “There is no other way to describe it all only that it is a completely different world out here. In six weeks here I have heard and seen things I never really knew existed. I went into a Mosque the other day and saw the Muslims at Prayer. Very devout. Indeed, I had to take off my shoes and I was provided with a very small hat to wear. If some of my fellow Irish Jesuits had seen me they would have wondered what had happened to ultra conservative Pat Ryan ... The one thing I must admit I do find hard here is the loss of the companionship of my fellow Irish Jesuits. Unfortunately I was spoiled by the friendship of the young men at Milltown during my very happy stay there. However it is a small price to pay for the opportunity to giving testimony to my belief in God and I am happy to do so”.

In his eighteen years as sacristan here in Gardiner Street, Pat worked very hard in the Parish and in the Church. In his own quiet and efficient way Pat lived out his Jesuit vocation in a life of service inspired by his love for Jesus Christ, his Lord and Master. In Milltown Pat was able to continue that life of generous service. In recent years, he knew the limits that his health put on his activities. But he paced himself well - like any good Everton player!

In the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, we are invited in the Contemplation to Achieve the Love of God, to grow in our awareness of the way God is present in all life and is giving Himself to us. Pat's life showed that sense of God's presence and he learned to find God in all things. One of the places that Pat found God was in his great love of soccer. He was a great Everton fan, with Everton colors proudly displayed on his door! That simple enjoyment of soccer, that sense of fun about life, that ability to joke with his community and friends were great gifts he brought to us all.

Pat died early on the morning of the Feast of Pentecost, at 12:20 am. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes as a gift to the Christian community. In Pat's life we have glimpsed what the fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, gentleness, patience, self-control. Pat's faithfulness, his gift of “keeping going” (to use a phrase which Séamus Heaney uses to describe his brother going through the ordinary activities of the day) have been an inspiration to us - a breath of the Spirit. We now give Pat back to God who has given him to us. We return him to God with a profound sense of gratitude.

Frank Sammon

Born: 26 January 1835, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Entered: 02 May 1856, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 11 May 1894, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a tailor by trade. He worked at Milltown as a tailor for many years. He was later sent to Tullabeg, and when it closed in 1856, he went to Clongowes, where he worked until his death 11 May 1894. He was a model of industry.

Born: 01 May 1781, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 February 1817, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 04 January 1822, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Being asked on the night before his death if he wanted anything, he replied, looking up to Heaven “What can I want but to be united to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a man of great innocence and saintliness of life, and was remarkable for his obedience and for his charity to the poor. To help them in their necessities he scraped every little fragment of food he could find and gave it to them. He was fervent in every practice of piety.
He died on the Octave of the Feast of Holy Innocents towards whom he had always manifested a special devotion.

Note from John Cleary Entry :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him : Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.

Born: 24 June 1833, Clane, County Kildare
Entered: 14 September 1860, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1871
Died: 02 November 1887, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was an excellent cook, and he looked after the communities of Milltown, Gardiner St and Tullabeg to great satisfaction.

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

Born: 31 December 1816, Ardee, County Louth
Entered: 30 April 1856, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1866
Died: 26 November 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

1901 Census inicates born in Meath.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
According to himself, a sermon by the famous Dr Cahill was the occasion of his deciding to enter Religion. The key statement by Dr Cahill was “Woe to him who is alone”!

Note from Daniel Scully Entry :
He had a very long illness, and was carefully nursed by his old friend Brother George Sillery, who told many amusing stories about him.

His Noviceship was spent first at Clongowes and then at Tullabeg.
1861 He was sent to Belvedere, and was there for 38 years.
1900 He was sent to Tullabeg, and he died there 26 November 1901

His simple homely ways, his unaffected gentleness and piety made him a favourite of everyone. Nothing seemed to affect his mood and temper, even in very trying times. His standard response to anything was a calm “Aye”!
He had a long and fairly uneventful life. He was always either in the Chapel, at Prayer or at Work. At the same time, he was not an austere ascetic, he had a great sense of humour and love a joke. He loved to tell amusing stories from his life, and also quote some of the rhymes he had stored up calling it a “Bit of poethry”!
In his later years he began to dote a bit, and there are a legion of stories on his exploits, one of which included his rousing the Community for prayer in the small hours of the night. The Rector woke one night at 2am to find him standing by his bed, swinging a piece of burning rope around his head and telling him it was time to get up! It was said that on more than one occasion he all but set the house on fire! he had a great affinity for matches, a large quantity of which he kept in his room, and he would journey through the house at midday lighting any gas jet he could find. In the end his memory failed him completely. Often when he had recently completed a meal, he would turn up in the refectory asking what time the meal would begin. Famously, at one domestic exhortation which went on a bit long, he suddenly threw up his hands and spoke in a fairly loud voice “Blessed Mother of God, will he ever stop”! These and many other similar stories made his name a household one, especially in the Novitiate, where he died 26 November 1901.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother George Sillery 1816-1901
Br George Sillery was born on December 31st 1916 and entered the Society in 1858. According to himself, the cause of his vocation was a sermon he heard preached by the famous Dr Cahill in Dublin. His text was “Woe to him that is alone”. The preacher dwelt with such persuasive eloquence on the evils of a solitary life, that Br George resolved to seek in religious life a remedy for the loneliness and spiritless derelictions of this world. His noviceship was spent at Clongowes and Tullabeg, after which he came to Belvedere in 1861. In 1900 he was transferred to Tullabeg and he remained there until his death.

His life was long and uneventful. It flowed on its unvarying round of prayers and work till he reached the patriarchal age of 85. In the latter years of his old age he began to dote, and he lost all sense of time. Just when the Litanies were ending in the evening he was often heard asking when they wold begin. Once, when a domestic exhortation lasted rather long, old Br George, sublimely oblivious of his surroundings, suddenly threw up his hands and said in a fairly loud voice “Blessed Mother of God, will he ever stop”. These and a thousand other anecdotes made his name a household word among the novices in the Novitiate, where he died on November 26th 1901.

Born: 10 August 1791, County Wexford
Entered: 07 October 1821, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Clane, County Kildare
Died: 20 May 1865, Kolkata, Bengal, India

by 1839 in Calcutta Mission; We have a date of death from somewhere and he disappears from the 1844 Catalogue, having been in up to 1841

Born: 12 March 1818, Killarney, County Kerry
Entered: 23 January 1851, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 14 January 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent almost all his Jesuit life at Clongowes as Horticulturalist. He had charge of the Farm for many years.
1866 He was sent to care for his own health to Tullabeg, where he led a most saintly life. He was a model Brother all through his hard life. He died at Tullabeg 14 January 1893.

Born: 17 March 1818, Banagher, County Offaly
Entered: 01 June 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 29 March 1890, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent all his Jesuit life as a tailor at Clongowes. He was a holy old man.
He was one of Father Bracken’s eight Brother Novices who Ent 1858 and persevered to the end. He died at Clongowes 29 March 1890.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others which had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

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

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

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

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

Born: 31 July 1790, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 09 October 1821, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1838
Died: 20 December 1855, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare

Disappears from Cat from 1847 till death when it is said age is 70;

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
Received into the Society by Peter Kenney.
It seems he spent his entire religious life in Clongowes, apart from a few years at Tullabeg.
He suffered many trials and crosses. His death resulted from an accident, where he had a severe fall in the Chapel.
Renewing his vows he died piously 20 December 1855 and is buried at Mainham.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Thomas Wade 1790-1855
Br Thomas Wade was a Corkman born on July 31st 1790.

He spent his entire religious life in Clongowes, with the exception of a few years at Tullabeg. He suffered many crosses and trials. His death was the result of an accident – a fall in the chapel. Renewing his Vows with the Holy Name on his lips, he expired peacefully on December 20th 1855, and he is buried in Mainham Cemetery.