Byrne, Henry, b.1854-, former Jesuit novice
Born: 01 November 1854, Cabra, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 29 August 1873, Milltown Park, Dublin
Left Society of Jesus: 1875
Educated at Belvedere College SJ
LEFT due to ill health resulting in death; Brother of Fr Vincent Byrne SJ (DOB 1848; Ent 1866; Ord 1880; RIP 1943)
Callanan, Richard, 1945-2015, former Jesuit novice
Born: 09 February 1945, Gilford Park, Sandymount, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1962, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 13 May 2015, Royal Hospital, London, England (London)
Left Society of Jesus: 28 May 1964
Father (Richard) was an Army Officer at Beggar’s Bush Barracks, Dublin.
Youngest of three boys and one girl.
Early education at a Convent school in Dublin and then he went to Belvedere College SJ for five years and finally to Clongowes Wood College SJ for five years.
Film Director; Co-founder of Focus Theatre
Co-founder of Focus Theatre who became TV producer in UK
Richard Callanan: February 9th, 1945 - May 13th, 2015
Richard Callanan, who has died aged 70, was a founder member, with others including Deirdre O'Connell, Tom Hickey, Sabina Higgins (née Coyne) and Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy, of Dublin's famous Focus Theatre, which flourished from 1963 to 2012.
He later made a successful career as a BBC television producer, winning two Bafta awards for children’s programmes in the 1990s.
He also made significant contributions to further education with the Open University (OU) and, after retirement, with the University of the Third Age (U3A).
Callanan had joined the BBC in 1969 to work with the newly established OU. One of his fellow trainee producers at the time was Nuala O’Faolain.
His interest in drama first surfaced at school, at Belvedere and Clongowes, and he was later an active member of Dramsoc at UCD, where he studied English and history from 1965 to 1968.
Among his roles was Antony, opposite Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy's Cleopatra and the title role in John Osborne's Luther.
He was part of the production team for the Focus Theatre's first show, Kelly's Eye by Henry Livings. It was at the Focus too that he began what was to become a lifelong friendship with the actor Sabina Coyne, now Sabina Higgins, wife of President Michael D Higgins.
At UCD, Callanan was also a leading member of the Literary and Historical Society, appearing in the first Irish televised student debate with Patrick Cosgrave, later an adviser to Margaret Thatcher, and John Cooke, who became a High Court judge.
Jesuit training
Callanan had spent two years, after leaving Clongowes, as a seminarian at the Jesuit novitiate at Emo House in Laois, a stage of his life that was terminated, according to his brother Fionnbar, “by mutual consent”.
An Open University colleague, Nick Levinson, remarked at Callanan’s funeral service that his old friend retained the ability to be self-critical, which he speculated might have been a hangover from his Jesuit training, which helped him to “see both sides, and face both ways” when pondering a course of action.
One of Callanan’s special gifts, Levinson said, was casting actors. Among those he recruited were Patrick Stewart, Leo McKern and Ben Kingsley, all of them at a relatively early stage of their careers.
Callanan eventually left the Open University to work for the BBC, especially in children’s television.
In retirement, Callanan returned to further education with the University of the Third Age, where, his colleague Patricia Isaacs said, “he led a group on modern literature, sharing his great love of Irish poets in particular with members”.
Richard Callanan was born in Dublin in 1945, the youngest of five children of Richard Callanan, one of the first recruits to the Army of the Free State, who rose to the rank of major-general, and Margaret McGuinness from Longford, both of whom had been active in the War of Independence, and later, in the Civil War on the pro-Treaty side.
He is survived by his widow, Sally Burr, by his children, Sam, Megan and Joe, his brother Fionnbar and his sister Mona. A sister, Eithne, and a brother, Niall, predeceased him.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/27/richard-callanan-obituary
My friend Richard Callanan, who has died aged 70 after a fall, made important contributions to two great educational endeavours: making TV programmes for the Open University and co-ordinating groups for the University of the Third Age (U3A).
He was a maker of arts programmes for the Open University between 1969 and 1979; and among those he recruited to appear in OU productions were Patrick Stewart and Ben Kingsley. Richard was largely responsible for the famous appearance of Max Wall as Vladimir opposite Leo McKern as Estragon in Waiting for Godot in 1977. He went on to become well known too as a producer and director of children’s programmes: in 1990 he won a Bafta as producer of the BBC series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men; and in 1993 a second for Archer’s Goon.
Richard was born in Dublin, the youngest of five children of Richard Callanan, an Irish army officer, and his wife, Margaret (nee McGuiness). He was educated at Jesuit schools and spent two years training to be a priest at Emo House, in County Laois, before the arrangement was terminated by mutual consent. From 1964 until 1967 he studied English and history at University College Dublin – during which time he became a founder member of the city’s Focus theatre – before moving to London to study for a diploma in modern social and cultural studies at Chelsea College.
Richard’s Jesuit education provoked some stark recollections of the pedagogic arts from him. It also, though, helped him to “see both sides and face both ways”. He never forgot the importance of drawing out his students and he was a supremely attentive listener. This attracted him to what the U3A, in north London, had to offer.
U3A’s guiding principle - “those who learn shall also teach and those who teach shall also learn” – was natural to him and his work on James Joyce, WB Yeats and Seamus Heaney was revelatory. He also taught a Shakespeare course to students in a residential home for the elderly, Mary Feilding Guild, who were not able to make even the shortest journey to reach normal classes. Prognostications of failure because of the age of the students were triumphantly repudiated.
He is survived by his wife, Sally, and his children, Sam, Meg and Joe.
Davys, Francis J, 1915-2003, former Jesuit novice and priest of the Southwark Diocese, England
Born: 26 December 1915, Montrose, Ailesbury Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 03 June 1944, St John’s Seminary, Wonersh (Southwark Diocese)
Died: 25 June 2003, London, England
Left Society of Jesus: 31 December 1937
Father (JF Davys) was a Bank Manager who died in 1929. Mother was then supported by private means.
One sister.
Early Education at a Convent school he then went to St Gerard’s Bray in 1925. In 1930 he went to Belvedere College SJ for two years. He then went to Rosse College, Camden Street, Dublin to prepare for a Bank examination and then went to work for the Royal Bank of Ireland, Grafton Street, Dublin in January 1933. He studied at the Institute of Bankers, North Wall Quay, North Wall, Dublin
https://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/389521.a-kind-and-holy-priest/
A kind and holy priest
4th July 2003
A CLERGYMAN with strong connections to Richmond, Ham and Mortlake has died.
Canon Francis Davys, one of four children, including an elder sister and two younger brothers, was born on December 26th, 1915, in Dublin.
Known as Frank, he was educated at St Gerard’s Bray and Belvedere College, Dublin. On leaving school, he joined the Royal Bank of Ireland and felt himself called to become a Jesuit novice at Emo Park, Offaly.
He then transferred to Southwark Diocese and completed his studies at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh, where he was ordained priest on June 3rd, 1944.
His first appointment was to a church in Blackheath. After three years, he was appointed a notary to the Marriage Tribunal. In 1948 he took up the position of assistant secretary to the Southwark Rescue Society, where he worked for five years. In June 1953, he became assistant priest at a Reigate church for two years, after which he went to one in Worthing.
His next appointment, again as an assistant priest, was to a church in Cobham in 1958.
He arrived in Richmond in April 1961 when appointed to St Elizabeth’s Church, where he remained for 24 years.
The parish was divided in 1985 and Canon Davys was made the first parish priest of St Thomas Aquinas, Ham, and made arrangements for its consecration.
He continued to serve as Catholic chaplain at the Royal Star and Garter Home, completing 31 years of service there.
After seven years at Ham, he retired to Wimbledon Common before moving to St Mary’s Convent, Worthing, and finally to St George’s Retreat, Burgess Hill.
He was made an honorary canon in 1967 and served the diocese on the Schools Commission as well as being chairman of governors at Christ’s School, Richmond, and St Elizabeth’s Primary School, Richmond. During this time the school moved to new premises in Queen’s Road. He was Dean of Mortlake from 1978 to 1991.
Canon Davys had been ill for some time and suffered a heart attack on the afternoon of June 25th. He died peacefully at home at 11pm aged 88.
Friends say he was a “private man by temperament, a kind, courteous and holy priest with a sense of humour and ever sensitive to the needs of others”.
His Requiem Mass will be held at St Elizabeth’s Church in the Vineyard on Wednesday, July 9th, at noon.
O'Brien, Louis J, b 1924, former Jesuit novice
Born: 21 May 1924, Marlborough Street, Derry, County Derry
Entered: 28 September 1943, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Left Society of Jesus: 11 September 1945
“Louie”
Father was Director of the Municipal School of Music in Dublin and family resided at Merrion Road, Dublin.
Fourth of seven boys with two sisters.
Early education at Derry and Dublin Convent schools he then went to the Christian Brothers school in Westland Row, and then to Belvedere College SJ for six years.
LEFT 16 October 1943; Re-entered; LEFT again 11 September 1945